You have your retirement funds in a IRA or 401k but are concerned about the US market and want to diversify to foreign bank accounts, precious metals, stocks and real estate. Perhaps a villa by the sea in Costa Rica for vacations, rental income and retirement. But how do you keep these kind of investments in an IRA? It can be hard to get answer to this question from most US financial advisors I have gather together three articles/websites that include referrals to a book on the subject, a tax planner who can help and a Swiss precious metal storage facility that takes self-directed IRAs.

Caveat investor: When you control how and where you invest your own money you become responsible for all the gains, losses and due diliagence that you want. There is no Nanny State (or at least not your own Nanny) to prevent you from making enormous gains or lossing the lot. Also not every foreign market is the same as each other or the US market - you will need to do some research and in the case of real estate visit the country. By hey a deductible foreign trip is not such a bad thing!

Here are three articles that I have read about self-direct IRAs. I am working with Swiss Metal Assets and Sovereign Man. The last one references a book on the subject and the second one gives a tax planner who can help. And if you have a 401k you probably know how to transfer it to a regular IRA to get started.

FYI I cashed out my IRA a few years ago and paid the 10% penalty plus tax. That was the only way I knew how to get the funds for a business investment at the time. Now I know more.

1. Metals storage abroad

Investing in Physical Strategic or Precious Metals through a Self-Directed IRA is a practical, bona fide way of taking control of your future financial security. This is achieved by utilizing an offshore LLC vehicle which is fully compliant with IRS regulations. An offshore LLC also provides stringent liability protection, allowing an individual a greater level of comfort from fear of law suits and judgements.
from http://www.swissmetalassets.com/wealth-vistors#page--E-page-1

2. How to using your IRA to invest in foreign real estate

If you are looking for a way to safeguard your retirement and for a way to support health and health freedom, this letter is of enormous significance to you. Off shore investing is risky for novices. Off shore investing through a qualified investment vehicle and an experienced Custodian is simple, well-established and, at this time in fiscal history, a very, very good idea.

As the global economy prepares to spiral into hyperinflation and the collapse of the now-nearly-worthless dollar, the United States Government is going through a step by step process to steal your retirement. Their plan? To “protect” your hard-earned IRA and 401 money, leaving you with a “guaranteed” annuity paying you a whopping 3% – backed, you will be delighted and relieved to know, by the strength of the US dollar and the impeccable honesty of the US Department of Treasury.

Under current law, it is legal to move IRAs and, under some circumstances, 401 funds out of the United States (a process called “expatriation” while preserving the significant tax advantages of such funds. Using a “self directed” IRA and/or, if permitted by your 401 plan, a “self directed” 401 structure, you can direct where you would like to have your money invested. It is still, after all, YOUR money, although that will change shortly, according to the Federal Register of DATE [give citation] when your money is turned into a worthless annuity. Once that happens, the money itself will no longer be available to you, even if you are willing to pay a heavy tax penalty like the one you would incur if you took your money out of your IRA or, if allowed, your 401. You probably will not be able to access your annuity funds and you certainly could not put them into an off shore investment vehicle.

At this point, however, if you [wisely] want to get your money out of the reach of greedy, crazed and fiscally demented Uncle Sam, you can still do so by making sure that your funds are in a self-directed program and that the investment vehicle you want to put your money is has been closely examined and approved by an approved Custodian.

Once the investment vehicle is approved, the Custodian will complete the necessary paperwork to move your money into the offshore investment. Your money is now outside the United States, very difficult for the US Government to get its hands on and still within the tax deferred structure of your retirement program.

Why are the Trustees of the Natural Solutions Foundation telling you this? Our Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project, www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org, in Volcan, Chiriquí, Panama, is an approved investment vehicle. Every Custodian who has examined it for a potential investment of a self directed IRA or 401 has concluded that it is a properly constructed corporation which meets all of the necessary requirements and has invested the money of their client as the client directed.

There are rules and restrictions to this way of investing your money, but they do not interfere with your participation in the Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project as either a Beneficial Interest Certificate holder who can live in Panama as part of the project or as an investor whose money is “living in Panama”. In either case, your money is earning interest, safely tucked away offshore where the US Government would have a very difficult time reaching it and you are helping the work of the Natural Solutions Foundation.

How much time is left before you will no longer be allowed to expatriate your savings? We received this information from an Internet source:

Index

Are There Any Government Documents To Prove It?

* In Chapter 3 of the Annual Report on the Middle Class released in February by Vice President Biden and the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, the Obama administration calls for enhancing the “retirement options” The plan, as sketched in the 43-page document, calls for the creation of something called “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” (GRAs).
* U. S. Federal Register; -”annuitization” of Individual 401(k)s. set forth in a set of “Proposed Rules” published on February 2, 2010.

What Government Agencies Are Involved?

Department of Labor and Treasury… among others. The last meeting took place September 14th and 15th 2010, where they laid out the Course of Action. The agenda is now called “Lifetime Income Options for Retirement Plans”

Why Do They Want Our IRAs & 401(k)s AND What Will They Do With Them?

The Treasury Department has (worthless) Bonds to Sell… and Foreign demand is drying up. China no longer wants our Debt.. Do You?

This will be Done in an attempt to balance the U.S. Deficit and Once Again make the U.S. Credit Worthy to China and Other Buyers of our Debt.

The Federal Government will Manage and Control an estimated $3.613 Trillion Dollars in IRAs and $2.350 Trillion Dollars in 401(k)s.

The Equity will be placed in U.S. Treasury Bonds that will Pay out an estimated 3%. One major clause is that upon retirement, the value of the Individual’s Account will be placed into Annuities. Once the individual Dies, the Value of
the Account will automatically become property of the Government. The Program will be structured much like Social Security Accounts (the biggest Ponzi Scheme ever created).

What Financial Firm Will We Need To Trust, In The Handling Our Money?

The March 9 edition of Business Week, notes that new federal regulations designed to “promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams” would help drive cash into government-controlled entities such as American International Group (AIG).

Trust AIG?!

For an in-depth personal discussion on How To Protect Your Retirement Funds and Support Health Freedom at the same time, please contact Ralph Fucetola, JD, our Counsel and Trustee, at Ralph.Fucetola (at) usa.net or Skype him at “vitaminlawyer”.

from http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=8481

3. How the US government will seize your retirement account

from http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/how-the-us-government-will-seize-your-retirement-account-4311/

This entry was posted on September 27, 2012 at 1:28 PM and has received 2161 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have been following the stock market this year (via various economic newsletters and feeling the energy that is changing). And while the markets have not crashed yet in my opinion they are not being held up by much more than air at this point. The latest QE was mostly priced into the markets over the summer. And now that the Fed has committed everything with $40 billion per month of money printing and near to zero interest rates promised for years ahead of time there is not much else that they can do. (The European central bank and Bank of Japan are doing similar things). There are a lot of leading bad economic indicators right now - from the crash of the dry Baltic shipping index, to Chinese orders for raw materials down, even the German economy which was growing until the summer is now contracting. There is also the fiscal cliff in the US in January. I would say it is pretty likely the US and other major stock markets will collapse this year.

Here is some data on corporate earning and the slowdown. Fedex is a bellweather of the economy because so many sales are shipped by them...

FedEx Corporation (NYSE/FDX) has cuts its corporate earnings forecast for the upcoming year after announcing sluggish results from its previous quarter. The reason for the decrease in corporate earnings: weakness in the global economy and customers are moving towards cheaper alternatives. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE/UPS) is in a similar business to FedEx and I will not be surprised if we see troubles in its corporate earnings as well.

As I have been writing in these pages, it’s not only corporate earnings that are declining, corporate revenue at the S&P 500 companies are declining as well. Historically, when there is negative revenue growth in S&P 500 companies, a recession usually follows.

Intel Corporation (NYSE/INTC) has slashed its forecast for third-quarter revenue—a decline that was eight percent more than expected. The fall in revenue is directly related to less demand for its chips—customers reduced their inventories and businesses bought fewer computers. Intel will also be scaling back its capital spending because of its weaker-than-expected business. (Source: Reuters, September 7, 2012.)

Similarly, HNI Corporation (NYSE/HNI), one of the largest office furniture makers in the world, has also cuts its sales growth forecast projection for 2012 by almost 50%. (Source: Business Week, September 18, 2012.)

As a group, the corporate earnings of the S&P 500 companies are expected to drop 2.2% in the third quarter of 2012 from the same period in 2011—the first quarterly drop in corporate earnings for the S&P 500 since the third quarter of 2009. In this third quarter, corporate earnings are expected to slide three percent from the second quarter of 2012. (Source: New York Times, September 16, 2012.)

While the rally in the stock market and the politicians will have the majority of Americans thinking the opposite, the evidence clearly points to the U.S., much of Europe, and now China all witnessing an economic slowdown. In an economic slowdown, corporate earnings and revenue decrease as demand for products and services declines.

Even if you don't believe this 100% but say 50% it would still be worth diversifying any investments that you have (401k, IRA, stocks, bonds, bank accounts etc). And I would include in that diversification cash, foreign bank accounts, gold and farm land. (All of these can be held in a self directed IRA if that is important to you for tax reasons)

More details and ideas at:
http://abundantmichael.com/blog/index.cfm/2012/5/3/9-steps-to-prepare-for-a-financial-crisis--your-crisis-insurance

PS If you REALLY want to see what's coming -- and you can stomach it -- watch this mind-blowing trailer for a film project called "Gray State." WARNING: Extremely disturbing images, but probably quite accurate, too. Less of a wake up call and more like a bitch slap for the slumbering...
http://abundantmichael.com/blog/index.cfm/2012/9/13/What-will-living-in-the-Gray-State-in-April-2013-be-like

This entry was posted on September 27, 2012 at 1:25 PM and has received 1159 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Even if the S&P goes up in dollar terms has it gone up in real terms? Have you noticed the price of gas and food recently...

It's now officially a 3-way race to the bottom between the dollar, the euro, and the yen.

It started on September 6th with the ECB announcing a new, UNLIMITED bond-buying program. A week later, the US Federal Reserve officially announced QE3, another open-ended (de facto limitless) bond buying program. One week after that, the Bank of Japan announced it was adding another 10 trillion yen ($128 billion) to its already massive bond buying program.

The mainstream financial media calls this a 'coordinated offensive', as if these central bankers are brigadier generals in combat. What a bunch of baloney. (though maybe this would make Ben Bernanke the COBRA Commander from GI Joe...) If they really want to use a military analogy, it's as if these central bankers are waging war on their own economies... and SAVERS.

For anyone who borrows money to spend or invest now (which includes governments and big financial institutions), the race to the bottom is a wonderful gravy train to be riding. But for anyone sitting on a pool of savings, it's highly destructive.

In the long-run, shares of best companies in the world will be solid hedges against such intense monetary inflation. But deep down, stocks are inherently risky.
Company fundamentals no longer matter very much; it's all about the debasement of the currencies in which those stocks are priced. The stock market isn't really rising, it's really the currency that's falling. In fact, as I am fond of reminding my friends, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange did exceedingly well during that country's hyperinflationary meltdown.

Moreover, the system risks in the stock market are no longer trivial.

As a small investor, most people only have a claim to the shares that they buy. Brokage houses often use 'street name' registration, which means that if you buy Apple shares through your broker, your broker is actually listed as the shareholder on Apple's books.

This works fine and dandy as long as the system is functioning normally. But if your broker goes down in a sea of flames, what then? Government guarantees backed by insolvent agencies are hardly comforting.

Of course, you won't really hear about these issues in the mainstream financial press; I can just imagine getting laughed off the set of CNBC for suggesting that central banks are manipulating the stock market, or that most small investors don't actually own the shares in their brokerage account.
...

Other ways to preserve your purchasing power include tangible, physical assets. We all know about gold and silver bullion... but rare coins, stamps, art, fine wine, and other collectibles are also excellent stores of value.

Productive real estate is also a great option, especially cash flow positive rental property or fertile agricultural land. As my partner Simon Black frequently points out, owning FOREIGN real estate is one of the best ways to legally move money out of your home country, and it always gives you a place to go in case of emergency.

The strategic consideration in all of these options is PRESERVING the purchasing power of your hard-earned capital, safeguarding your standard of living, and minimizing systemic risk. Sure, I might miss a 50% rise in the S&P or Hang Seng... but I'll sleep soundly knowing that my capital is safe and earning a solid return, no matter how bad the storm.

from http://www.sovereignman.com/finance/its-officially-a-3-way-race-to-the-bottom-8887/

This entry was posted on September 27, 2012 at 1:23 PM and has received 950 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This is a healing community called Healing House that I work with about 2 blocks from where I am living in Cusco Peru. I have taught yoga, meditation and other workshops there. It is a great place. It is actually not so far from NFNC or Sandbox I think
http://www.facebook.com/healinghousecusco

Short video about Healing House (I appear briefly in it) from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB0zVFihH5o

Healing House is a non-profit creative center based in Cusco, Peru—gateway to Machu Picchu and capital city of the Incas. We are a group made up of people from all over the world, who come together to learn, grow and create. To heal means to make whole. At Healing House, we help people realize their wholeness through creativity. To us, creative healing means yoga, Reiki, and meditation; it means art, movement, music and writing; it means gardening and cooking. It means inspiring people to embrace their talents and realize their potential.

Our mission is to inspire and support the creative aspirations and overall wellbeing of the people who work, study and play with us—travelers and locals alike. We encourage people to develop their gifts, and help them offer those gifts to the world. Through this, they learn to create fulfilling lives for themselves. The local Peruvian people we serve don't normally have access to the creative healing services we offer. By offering free classes, therapies and workshop space, we aim to encourage and empower local people to make positive and innovative changes for themselves, their families and their communities.

 

We founded the house in March 2010, and since then we have restored our space, put in a flourishing herb and vegetable garden, and implemented some amazing community service programs. We host weekly art and music workshops for local children, we help local women sell their handmade artisanal goods, and we offer free yoga, meditation and treatments to local people in need. (For more details about our programs, please see "Healing House Programs.")

WE NEED YOUR HELP: With all of the work we have been doing to help other people manifest their dreams, we now need your help. Our beautiful space in Cusco is up for sale, and the landlord needs to sell quickly. If we aren't able to buy this inspiring space, we have to move out.

 

More at http://healinghouse.tumblr.com/

This entry was posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:47 PM and has received 1210 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Just this morning, I got an email from C4L (Libertarian's Campaign For Liberty), where ex-Sen. Frank Dodd (D-CT) effectively says that freedom is "dangerous".

C4L... [Dodd: " "You can't just have a legal, free environment where there aren't any restrictions (on the Internet)."

... As 'The Hill' reported, the Obama Administration is busy circulating a five-page draft of an Executive Order, giving the President control over virtually all private communication systems in America under the guise of "national security."  Under the guise of improving broadband service, the FCC is launching an unprecedented assault on the American people, collecting all types of personal information from law-abiding citizens without their knowledge. Under this scheme, government bureaucrats will be able to gain access to our personal information - including your website history, your tweets, Facebook posts, and even the physical home address associated with your IP address.

Just imagine government bureaucrats armed with whatever they want to know about you right at their fingertips. What you read. What you watch. What you buy. What you say. Who you talk to.]] End of C4L text.

"Perpetual war for perpetual peace" from George Orwell's book "1984" comes to mind. So.... still think you live in The Land of The Free?

This entry was posted on September 26, 2012 at 12:16 PM and has received 901 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Interesting article below on how some wicked folks edits a few wikipedia articles for profit or to promote a certain agenda.  I agree taking all information sources (wikipedia, blogs, company websites, government websites, newspapers, books) with some thought of who wrote this and what did they want to gain from spreading the information is wise.

In my experience most of the articles on Wikipedia are good and when wacky edits are put in they are quickly fixed. There is usually an interesting discussion in the Talk page for the article too if you want to read about controversial "facts". In addition you can see the entire edit history of every article to see who contributed what and when. Try doing that with a newspaper or print book!

In my career on both sides of the media fence - doing press releases and articles for my company, talking with other editors and writers and running events that had advertizers and content contributers I will tell you that approximately 90% of news in quality newspapers is placed public relations. Someone had an angle or spin on the story and wanted it published. And the editor had an insatiable demand for good content and when a PR agency, company, government official, celebrity, scientist or author gives them a well written article (aka press release) they will use it. Editors work under deadlines every week and have pages of content to fill. Sure if the paper has the budget and a conscience they will do fact checking. But the spin remains baked into the article.

When I have read though a newspaper such as the New York Times or UK Independent and ask myself "Who is benefiting from having this particular article published?" the spin and press release behind it often becomes clear. Try it next time you read a newspaper. You may be surprised.

http://www.zdnet.com/wickedpedia-the-dark-side-of-wikipedia-7000004731/?s_cid=e589

I always take Wiki with a grain of salt knowing that the editing is open to the public, people can put any rubbish up even if subject to scrutiny. However it's still useful as an initial reference if you have absolutely no knowledge of a subject or a word

This entry was posted on September 26, 2012 at 11:53 AM and has received 1237 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I believing in bring more consciousness ( = awareness + choice) to all areas of my life. So being conscious in relating, whether with a partner or co-workers or friends make sense to me. While I can learn and grow from any relationship even one started by chance, I think I can get much more learning, growth, support, love and whatever other qualities and results I am looking for when I am conscious in my choices of who I relate with more, and who I chose deliberately to spend less time with or in some cases no further time at all.

Part of consciously relating is knowing what works for you in a particular kind of relationship role. I might have certain qualities and experience I am looking for in a lover, a different list for hiring an employee, another one in the kind of companies I want to work for and a forth list for what kind of friends I want to cultivate. I could even have a list for the qualities I want in my family relationships. After all I get to chose how much and what kind of time I spend with my blood family and if I want different qualities I can send (silent) blessings for them to change, for me to accept them as they are or for me to find a "family of choice" member that fits me better. No relationship has be "stuck as that is how it is and you can't chose differently". Sure every choice I make has consequences and when I am in my power I am responsible (= I get to chose how I respond) for my choices. There might be overlap between my lists based on important value that I personally hold such as in my case honesty, freedom and playfulness and sometimes it is good to have positive relationships that are total out of the list to spice things up!

This is an interesting article below on this topic which prompted me to write the above text. I have not read the book, so I won't comment on that and I have met Dr Wendy and she is talented.

What are your thoughts on conscious relating? And bonus question: how does it work for poly and BDSM relationships and scenes?

My book, Roadmap to Success with Deepak Chopra and Ken Blanchard is available at Book Passage in Corte Madera www.BookPassage.com and on my website.  To order your signed copy, see www.MyTrueLovePath.com.     Here's an excerpt from my chapter Roadmap to Relationship Success.   "Dr. Wendy, Why is it important to have a roadmap in order to have successful relationships?"     Our relationships with others are the cornerstones of our lives. They are the foundation that supports us as we grow. When we have a solid foundation, we can more easily thrive and prosper in every aspect of our lives. When our relationships are successful, they are our greatest source of pleasure and inspiration, and when they are unsuccessful, they can be our greatest source of pain and sorrow.       Given the supreme importance of our relationships, it has always puzzled me that this part of our lives is generally left to chance. If we want to succeed in our careers, we expect to study and train for many years. If we want to learn how to play a musical instrument, or how to speak another language, we know we'll have to put in countless hours of study and practice. Yet, when it comes to relationships, especially romantic ones, most of us believe the fairytale that our true love will appear magically by chance, and then we'll live happily ever after.     Since most of us believe the myth that our relationships should just happen automatically, we also believe that there is no need for us to prepare, to learn skills or become educated about ourselves or relationships. Therefore, most people haven't learned how to develop a supportive relationship with themselves, or how to create successful relationships with others.     Unfortunately, the consequences of wandering around without a roadmap, training or education can be disastrous. Without a roadmap, we may become our own worst enemies, criticizing and sabotaging ourselves rather than supporting ourselves to be our best. Without a roadmap, we may be blinded by lust, and get involved with people who are not good matches for us. Without a roadmap, we may blame, judge and make assumptions about others, often becoming manipulative bullies or disempowered victims.     In the past decade, I've seen many singles who were frustrated and discouraged about dating, couples who bickered constantly, clients with long-term grudges and resentments towards family members, and those who felt mistreated at work and unable to communicate with bosses and co-workers. All of these relationships, whether at work or in our private lives, share common basics. They all thrive on respect, honest communication, trust and support, and they all suffer when these qualities are not present.     We start to learn about relationships before we can talk and patterns begin when we're young. When the people that we care about are supportive of our success, and trust and believe in us, we have the foundation we need to live successful lives. As children, we flourish when our relationships with our family are stable, supportive, and inspire our growth. As adults, we flourish when our romantic partnerships are stable, supportive and inspire our growth. When we have loving, supportive partners at home, we are better able to succeed in our careers and in every other area of our lives.     Most people claim that their romantic relationships are of utmost importance, yet they tend to pair up with romantic partners without gathering enough information to know if they are making good choices. Believing that relationships should just "happen," couples continue to just "happen" to get together and more often than not, they "happen" to not get along well enough to sustain a long-term commitment. Some stay unhappily together, but most separate and move on to the next partner without learning how to make a wiser, more conscious choice next time.     Can you imagine buying a car or house that you happened to stumble across and then expecting it to work well for you for many years? Of course not! We give a great deal of thought to the types of houses we want to live in and the type of cars we want to drive. In fact, most people spend much more time researching which car they should buy than consciously choosing which mate they should marry! Does that mean we care more about cars than relationships? No. It means that we've overlooked an essential component to loving successfully. We haven't realized that with the right roadmap, support and information, all our relationships could run as smoothly as any well-tuned luxury sports car.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.  Have a wonderful autumn!  If you know anyone who may be interested in a complimentary consultation, please pass this along to them.  Thanks!  I welcome any feedback, wish you well, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!   Much love and joy,   Dr. Wendy   Wendy Lyon, Ph.D., Psychology Master Certified Relationship & Life Coach Workshop, Course and Retreat Facilitator (415) 342-1300 DrWendy (at) MyTrueLovePath.com www.MyTrueLovePath.com  www.InJoyLife.com

This entry was posted on September 26, 2012 at 11:46 AM and has received 1443 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Lots of interesting detail here on upcoming Financial Chaos

• Morgan Stanley collapse (and loss of associated broker/401k accounts a la MFGlobal
  • related collapses of Deutsche Bank in Germany and Credit Agricole in France
  • Expect another bank in London to fall, unsure which is most vulnerable.
• The three failures will bring about other failures, like in London, as the entire Western banking system will be brought to its knees
• Operation Twist is out of short-term USTBills with which to offset the long-term USTBond purchases. The self-styled Twister has exhausted its fuel. To keep the game going, the secretly desperate USFed must resort to unsterilized pure hyper monetary inflation of the nasty variety.
• Gold from Allocated Accounts in Western banks was improperly used as collateral on leveraged trades gone bad. They face margin calls that are satisfied only by relinquishment of gold bullion. The scandal over Allocated Gold accounts will eclipse the MFGlobal case, and lead to the Gold price rising over $5000 per ounce. Over 40 thousand metric tons of gold have been improperly used, much in this manner, laced throughout the banking structures.
  • The big banks are ruined and realize finally they are lined up for a slaughterhouse. Since February 29th, they have forfeited over 6000 metric tons of gold.
• The USDollar collapse will come from a foundation of trade settlement no longer conducted in US$ terms.
  • The Petro-Dollar is set to be abandoned, as the Saudi Royal family is deposed.
• South African miners are on strike in scattered locations, such as across Latin America. From the global mine output factor alone, the physical precious metal prices will rise, while the mining stock share prices will fall. Output risk joins jurisdiction risk and dilution risk for the mining companies. For every mining stock winner, expect 20 to 30 losers.
• The USEconomy is suffering from three powerful effects, none obvious, but all deadly. They continue to plague the nation, to drag it down, and to assure a systemic failure.
  • 1. The housing market remains in ruins, unaffected by the sub-4% mortgage rates and revived reckless federal home loan offerings (subprime again) with minimal down payments. No more home equity ATM machines to support the national consumerism mantras.
  • 2. the entire USEconomy corporate landscape is sinking from higher costs and shrinking profits.
    • The most frightening tidbits from the field point to a 50% gasoline demand decline by volume in the last five years, and a 40% decline in California sales tax collected in just the last 12 months.
  • 3. The attack on money market funds is moving apace, in a stealth capital control concept.
    • The new rule concept is called Minimum Balance at Risk (MBR) and is direct capital control applied domestically within the United States. The MBR would be a small fraction (like 5 percent) of each shareholder's recent balances that could be redeemed but with a delay.
•  The recent acceleration in Chinese gold accumulation, either the basis core for a gold-backed Yuan alternative to the crippled toxic USDollar, or the basis core for a new global trade settlement system to be introduced very soon.
• The Swiss Franc pegged to the Euro currency is a disaster waiting to happen.
  • Eventually the peg will break and the Swissy will suddenly be priced 20% to 30% higher, with the Swiss banks the losers.
• Ordinary Germans are already using Deutsche Marks again.
  • They do not wish to anger the Euro Royalty in Brussels, so it is keep quiet. When the Euro came in 13.2 billion in DMarks, worth EUR 6.75 billion (=US$8.3bn) was kept as cash - it has recently begun to re-enter the circulation
• Gold & Silver are awakening from a deep sleep after a year-long price consolidation. While the physical story leans toward growing demand and declining supply, all bullish for the precious metals prices, the paper story continues to reek of strongarms, naked shorting, propaganda, and other devious devices. Prepare for a grand divergence between the physical and paper Gold price

Begin with a preface to a meaningful event that could change the entire US landscape, a redux of what happened four years ago.  Consider the next Wall Street financial firm failure. It is in progress. It is not avoidable. It will have numerous ramifications. It will open the door to account thefts, the burial of documents, the ransack of undesired leveraged positions, the concealment of wrecked derivatives, and a path toward the merger of surviving (selected core) firms. It will urge an extreme defensive posture. Back in 2008, both Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers fell. The former because they had too much gold exposure with anti-US$ hedges. The latter because they led in mortgage exposure. Both failures were greatly exploited. My favorite item was the reload given to JPMorgan on a quiet Saturday morning (convened at 6am no less) at the Bankruptcy court of Manhattan. The shadowy syndicate titan was handed $138 billion to handle the private accounts from the fallen banks. Instead, the funds represented a reload for JPMorgan to continue their gold suppression game. Of course, they have been defending American freedom with vigor, preserving the integrity of the US banking system, and assuring the way of life in the nation, while leeching $billions from the public trough. Since their grant, the unassailable JPM has seen fit to gobble private accounts at both MFGlobal and PFG-Best, with regulatory blessing as the courts sprinkled fascist holy water.

 

 

In the background across the globe, numerous currency storm centers have arisen under the noses of every major central bank and their elaborate connected paper factories. The sovereign bond foundation is full of cracks and rotten planks, upon which the entire global currency system rests. The only people who could have imagined such a grand mess in 2006 and 2007 were the Sound Money crowd, the advocates of gold-backed money, the opponents to debt foundational systems. But then again, we are the nutballs, without a clue, who maintain a myopic view of the world, and see a conspiracy under every rock. Rather, we are the insightful, the alert, the rational clear thinking bunch, the guardians against hidden confiscation through inflation, the intrepid defenders of life savings. We identify the corruption and thus are discredited. Gold will return to its rightful place as the core of monetary systems and trade systems, all in time. The system is imploding at a more rapid pace with each passing month.

 

 

MORGAN STANLEY IMPLOSION

The insider conversation, often called chatter when it become deafening in tone, is that Morgan Stanley faces imminent failure and ruin. Almost two weeks ago, the Jackass provided a tip to Bill Murphy of GATA to post on his popular LeMetropole Cafe that Morgan Stanley fund managers and high ranking employees were preparing for the firm's implosion. A subscriber to the Hat Trick Letter has a good friend whose father works as a fund manager and provided the story. It was not detailed, and bore no follow-up after my request. The older employees are selling all of their stock, some legacy stock from one or two decades ago. Many workers are making contingency plans for their next positions in another firm. When Lehman Brothers was killed, thousands of employees had to find new jobs, some without success. In the last week, the shock waves are being heard from internal Wall Street sources in an unequivocal manner. The implosion is in progress, like the collapse of several platforms and structural cables. The inside is caving in, and the ranking members recognize it, even talk about it openly. Much discussion swirls about a transition to antiquated software that is greatly disturbing the trading desks, causing tremendous problems at precisely the wrong time. A redux of the Knight disaster could be in progress.

 

 

Some like Rick Wiles of TruNews report that MS is heading for the sacrificial altar. Such an event would imply an expected benefit hoped for and beseeched. My view is in parallel but more of a harmful implosion that cannot be prevented, one that the Wall Street titans will face grand challenges to control, one they will not be able to exploit in the hidden corners where they operate. MS is going to the slaughterhouse, not the altar. Its implosion will result from lost control, and the reversion to antiquated systems will only hasten their demise. Wall Street will wish to exploit the failure, like stealing funds, like destroying documents, like concealing derivative positions, like receiving government slush funds for slimy patch projects, their usual Modus Operandi. In criminal parlance, they will create a black hole into which things vanish. They will attempt to add to the confusion, which might itself backfire and deliver more lethal challenges to the entire USDollar & USTreasury complex. This time, the spotlights will shine more brightly to reveal the activity in the shadows and crevices.

 

 

The part that many analysts might miss is that Morgan Stanley has perhaps over 300 thousand private stock brokerage accounts, with over 17,500 brokers. In the past two decades, MS merged with Dean Witter and Smith Barney to become the premier stock house with the most private accounts of any US-based stock brokerage firm. The Morgan Stanley failure might feature the first theft of private stock accounts. The critical jump might occur in account thefts from futures brokerage to stock brokerage, which began in November 2011 with MFGlobal, then appeared in July with Peregrine Financial Group (PFG-Best). All private accounts from MFG and PFG have been pilfered, with a blessing of the theft by the courts, seen in the Sentinel Mgmt Group ruling. The federal Appellate court's August ruling (CLICK HERE) sets precedent for future private segregated account thefts, which were once considered sacred and untouchable. No more in the United States, not in the unfolding of criminality that stretches from USGovt offices to top corporate offices, with blessings sprinkled by the courts. The jump would be a major extension of the Fascist Business Model that nobody talks about. The major financial firms can rely upon this appellate court ruling as precedent, so as to protect their legal right to re-hypothecate client funds in their high risk leveraged positions and loans. It sure would be nice to use my neighbor's house and car to firm up my casino weekends. Stay tuned to the ongoing Morgan Stanley implosion, which could force the vanishing act of 50 to  100 thousand private stock accounts. The firm is the largest stock brokerage firm in the land. The dreadful impact will be nasty and might awaken the US masses. MFGlobal and PFG-Best surely did not.

 

Continues at http://news.goldseek.com/GoldenJackass/1346270400.php

This entry was posted on September 26, 2012 at 2:02 AM and has received 1379 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This prediction of Financial Chaos was written by financial and spiritual pioneer John Templeton in 2005 before the housing bubble burst, before the 2008 financial crash. Publically released in 2010 many of the items in it have already happened, others may be yet to come.

• Peak prosperity (in 2005) is now behind us
• Extra money supply will cause inflation with will cause bank deposits and government bonds to lose real value
• Peak debt (mortgage and other) will default/mark down in value and will be bailed out by government (eg Fannie Mae, Mortgage Back Securities $20 billion federal purchases per month)
• Surplus capacity in air and ocean transport will lead to lower prices and shake outs of inefficient companies
• Many universities will be replaced by electronic learning
• Many intuitions protected from change by government, labor or entrenched bureaucracies will collapse as outside change accelerates over the next 50 years
• Computers and other electronics will rapidly increase in skills, helping people be more efficient including the illiterate (eg iPhone Siri talking servant)
• Increased global competition and downward pressure on company profits
• Top earners, innovators and nations allowing freedom will prosper much more rapidly than the rest of people and countries

John M. Templeton
Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas

MEMORANDUM (June 15, 2005)
 

Financial Chaos — probably in many nations in the next five years. The word chaos is chosen to express likelihood of reduced profit margin at the same time as acceleration in cost of living.

Increasingly often, people ask my opinion on what is likely to happen financially. I am now thinking that the dangers are more numerous and larger than ever before in my lifetime. Quite likely, in the early months of 2005, the peak of prosperity is behind us.

In the past century, protection could be obtained by keeping your net worth in cash or government bonds. Now, the surplus capacities are so great that most currencies and bonds are likely to continue losing their purchasing power.

Mortgages and other forms of debts are over tenfold greater now than ever before 1970, which can cause manifold increases in bankruptcy auctions.

Surplus capacity, which leads to intense competition, has already shown devastating effects on companies who operate airlines and is now beginning to show in companies in ocean shipping and other activities. Also, the present surpluses of cash and liquid assets have pushed yields on bonds and mortgages almost to zero when adjusted for higher cost of living. Clearly, major corrections are likely in the next few years.

Most of the methods of universities and other schools which require residence have become hopelessly obsolete. Probably over half of the universities in the world will disappear quickly over the next thirty years.

Obsolescence is likely to have a devastating effect in a wide variety of human activities, especially in those where advancement is hindered by labor unions or other bureaucracies or by government regulations.

Increasing freedom of competition is likely to cause most established institutions to disappear with the next fifty years, especially in nations where there are limits on free competition.

Accelerating competition is likely to cause profit margins to continue to decrease and even become negative in various industries. Over tenfold more persons hopelessly indebted leads to multiplying bankruptcies not only for them but for many businesses that extend credit without collateral. Voters are likely to enact rescue subsidies, which transfer the debts to governments, such as Fannie May and Freddie Mac.

Research and discoveries and efficiency are likely to continue to accelerate. Probably, as quickly as fifty years, as much as ninety percent of education will be done by electronics.

Now, with almost one hundred independent nations on earth and rapid advancements in communication, the top one percent of people are likely to progress more rapidly than the others. Such top one percent may consist of those who are multi-millionaires and also, those who are innovators and also, those with top intellectual abilities. Comparisons show that prosperity flows toward those nations having most freedom of competition.

Especially, electronic computers are likely to become helpful in all human activities including even persons who have not yet learned to read.

Hopefully, many of you can help us to find published journals and websites and electronic search engines to help us benefit from accelerating research and discoveries.

Not yet have I found any better method to prosper during the future financial chaos, which is likely to last many years, than to keep your net worth in shares of those corporations that have proven to have the widest profit margins and the most rapidly increasing profits. Earning power is likely to continue to be valuable, especially if diversified among many nations.

from
http://arizonaenergy.org/News_10/News_Aug10/Sir%20John%20Templeton%2592s%20Last%20Testament%3B%20Financial%20Chaos%20Will%20Last%20Many%20Years.htm

This entry was posted on September 25, 2012 at 12:38 PM and has received 1102 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

One of the reasons our Empire is ending is corruption. Here is an example of corruption around Wall Street from an article in Rolling Stone.

The great mystery story in American politics these days is why, over the course of two presidential administrations (one from each party), there’s been no serious federal criminal investigation of Wall Street during a period of what appears to be epic corruption. People on the outside have speculated and come up with dozens of possible reasons, some plausible, some tending toward the conspiratorial – but there have been very few who've come at the issue from the inside.

 

We get one of those rare inside accounts inThe Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins, a new book by Jeff Connaughton, the former aide to Senators Ted Kaufman and Joe Biden. Jeff is well known to reporters like me; during a period when most government officials double-talked or downplayed the Wall Street corruption problem, Jeff was one of the few voices on the Hill who always talked about the subject with appropriate alarm. He shared this quality with his boss Kaufman, the Delaware Senator who took over Biden's seat and instantly became an irritating (to Wall Street) political force by announcing he wasn’t going to run for re-election. "I later learned from reporters that Wall Street was frustrated that they couldn’t find a way to harness Ted or pull in his reins," Jeff writes. "There was no obvious way to pressure Ted because he wasn’t running for re-election."

 

Kaufman for some time was a go-to guy in the Senate for reform activists and reporters who wanted to find out what was really going on with corruption issues. He was a leader in a number of areas, attempting to push through (often simple) fixes to issues like high-frequency trading (his advocacy here looked prescient after the "flash crash" of 2010), naked short-selling, and, perhaps most importantly, the Too-Big-To-Fail issue. What’s fascinating about Connaughton’s book is that we now get to hear a behind-the-scenes account of who exactly was knocking down simple reform ideas, how they were knocked down, and in some cases we even find out why good ideas were rejected, although some element of mystery certainly remains here.

 

There are some damning revelations in this book, and overall it’s not a flattering portrait of key Obama administration officials like SEC enforcement chief Robert Khuzami, Department of Justice honchos Eric Holder (who once worked at the same law firm, Covington and Burling, as Connaughton) and Lanny Breuer, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

 

Most damningly, Connaughton writes about something he calls "The Blob," a kind of catchall term describing an oozy pile of Hill insiders who are all incestuously interconnected, sometimes by financial or political ties, sometimes by marriage, sometimes by all three. And what Connaughton and Kaufman found is that taking on Wall Street even with the aim of imposing simple, logical fixes often inspired immediate hostile responses from The Blob; you’d never know where it was coming from.

 

In one amazing example described in the book, Kaufman decided he wanted to try to re-instate the so-called "uptick rule," which had existed for seventy years before being rescinded by the SEC in 2007. The rule prevents investors from shorting a stock until the stock had ticked up in price. "Forcing short sellers to wait for the price to tick up before they sell more shares gives a breather to a stock in decline and helps prevent bear raids," Connaughton writes.

 

The uptick rule is controversial on Wall Street – I’ve had some people literally scream at me that it doesn’t do anything, while others have told me that it does help prevent bear attacks of the sort that appeared to help finally topple already-mortally-wounded companies like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers – but what’s inarguable is that Wall Street hates the rule. Hedge fund types or employees of really any company that engages in short-selling will tend to be most venomous in their opinions of the uptick rule.

 

Anyway, Connaughton and Kaufman were under the impression that new SEC chief Mary Schapiro would re-instate the uptick rule after taking office. When she didn’t, Kaufman wrote her a letter, asking her to take action. When that didn't do the trick, he co-sponsored (with Republican Johnny Isakson) a bill that would have required the SEC to take action.

 

Nothing happened, and months later, Kaufman gave a grumbling interview to Politico about the issue. One June 30, the paper’s headline read: "Ted Kaufman to SEC; Do Your Job."

 

The next day, the Blob bit back. Connaughton was in the basement of the Russell building when a Senate staffer whose wife worked for Shapiro shouted at him. From the book:

"Hey, Jeff, you’re in the doghouse." He meant: with his wife.

"Why?" I asked.

"That Politico piece by your boss."

I was taken aback but tried to downplay the matter. "We just want the SEC to get its work done."

"Remember," he said. "We all wear blue jerseys and play for the Blue Team. I just don’t think that helps."

When Connaughton told Kaufman over the phone what the staffer said, Kaufman exploded. "You call him back right now and tell him I said to go fuck himself in his ear," Kaufman said.

 

Similarly, when Kaufman tried to advocate for rules that would have prevented naked short-selling, Connaughton was warned by a lobbyist that it would be "bad for my career" if he went after the issue and that "Ted and I looked like deranged conspiracy theorists" for asking if naked short-selling had played a role in the final collapse of Lehman Brothers. Naked short-selling is another controversial practice. Essentially, when you short a stock, you're supposed to locate shares of that stock before you go out and sell it short. But what hedge funds and banks have discovered is that the rules provide "leeway" – you can go out and sell shares in a stock without actually having it, provided you have a "reasonable belief" that you can locate the shares.

 

This leads to the obvious possibility of companies creating false supply in a stock by selling shares they don't have. Without getting too much into the weeds here, there is an obvious solution to the problem, which essentially would be forcing companies to actually locate shares before selling them. In their attempt to change the system, Kaufman and Connaughton discovered that the Depository Trust Clearing Corporation, the massive quasi-private organization that clears most all stock trades in America, had come up with just such a fix on their own. Kaufman recruited some other senators to endorse the idea, and as late as 2009, Connaughton and Kaufman were convinced they were going to get the form. "I said to Ted, 'We’re going to change the way stocks are traded in this country.'"

 

But before the change could be made, Goldman, Sachs issued "data" showing that there was "no correlation" between naked short selling and price movements. When Connaughton asked an Isakson staffer what the data said, the staffer, intimidated by Goldman, replied, "The data proves we're full of shit." Connaughton looked at the data and realized instantly that it was a bunch of irrelevant gobbledygook, even firing off an angry letter to Goldman telling them the tactic was beneath even them.

 

But Goldman’s tactic worked. A roundtable to discuss the idea was scheduled by the SEC on September 24, 2009. Of the nine invited participants, "all but one" were for the status quo. Connaughton expected the DTCC representatives to unveil their reform idea, but they didn’t:

Afterwards, I went over to [the DTCC representatives] and asked, "What happened?" Sheepishly, and to their credit, they admitted: "We got pulled back." They meant: by their board, by the Wall Street powers-that-be.

 

Essentially the same thing happened in Kaufman’s biggest reform attempt, the amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill he co-sponsored with Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, which would have broken up the Too-Big-To-Fail banks. But the Brown-Kaufman amendment, which was really the meatiest thing in the original Dodd-Frank bill, the one reform that really would have made a difference if it had passed, just died in the suffocating mass of the Blob. The key Democrats one after another failed to line up behind it, and in the end it was defeated soundly, with Dick Durbin, the number two man in the Democratic leadership, giving it this epitaph: "a bridge too far."

 

Again, those interested in understanding the mindset of the people who should be leading the anti-corruption charge ought to read this book. It's the weird lack of concern that shines through, like Khuzami’s comment that he’s "not losing sleep" over judges reprimanding his soft-touch settlements with banks, or then Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Ray Lohier’s comment that the thing that most concerned him – this is the period of 2008-2009, the middle of a historic crimewave on Wall Street – was "cyber crime."

 

On the outside we can only deduce the mindset from actions and non-actions, but Connaughton’s actually seen it, and with the book you get to see it too. It’s scary and definitely worth a read.

 

from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/a-rare-look-at-why-the-government-wont-fight-wall-street-20120918

This entry was posted on September 23, 2012 at 9:00 PM and has received 929 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.