Filed under: Major Movement , Competitive Strategy , Barrick Gold (ABX) , Commodities , Federal Reserve Back in the late 1970s, the Hunt brothers from Texas tried to corner the silver market . That drove prices to $48 an ounce. Now, 31 years later, silver is shooting higher again. The March silver futures contract closed at $32.296 per ounce , up 72 cents. Since gold is expensive, investors are turning to silver to hedge against inflation. Many fear that the Federal Reserve will not be able to control the spike in commodity prices. The Fed is buying $600 billion of treasuries and keeping interest rates near zero. Continue reading Silver Near a 31-Year High Silver Near a 31-Year High originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
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EU Farming Subsidies for the Royal Family Must Stay Secret
‘Ministers have ordered an information blackout on the massive farming subsidies paid to the Queen, Prince Charles and dozens of other wealthy landowners. Payouts, which in past years have amounted to £500,000 to the Queen and more than £100,000 t…
Urban Magnets for Disaster
When it comes to bad stuff the sky’s the limit. It’s gonna happen, eventually…one way or another. And it could be real bad. And when bad stuff happens, you’re better off being somewhere else. Where? Generally, bad stuff seems to happen most often in cities. Why is that? Cities are where most people live. It is where governments are. And it is where the labor force is most specialized. There are no subsistence farmers living in cities. Nor do urban populations “live off the land.†Instead, they depend on complex networks of commerce. The typical city dweller produces neither food nor energy. He sits all day in an office — completely dependent on others to provide power and food. Then, he goes home — still completely dependent on the division of labor for his most important needs. Progress can be described as the elaboration of the division of labor. In man’s most primitive state, specialization is extremely limited. From what we’ve been told, the early man was the hunter. Early woman gathered…that’s about the extent of it. As the tribe grows larger, specialization increases. One person might tend the fire. Another might be in charge of making clothes or arrows. The advent of sedentary agriculture and towns caused a big leap forward in human progress and, not coincidentally, the division of labor. Some townspeople went out to tend the fields. Others began to focus on woodworking…or iron mongering…or making weapons…or clothes. Some played cards and hung around at bars. There was soon a homebuilding industry…and, not long after, merchants, prostitutes and bankers…and even shyster lawyers and tax collectors. As the division of labor expanded, the average person became richer…and more dependent on others. In order to eat, someone else had to plant…and till…and harvest…and hunt…and gather. And then, when agriculture became mechanized, he depended on faraway people who produced oil and gasoline…and people who built …
Gold, Silver, Copper, Nickel and the Slow Death of Money

A huge opportunity to hedge against both inflation and deflation is lying out there in the open. There are no transaction costs and right now there’s even a built-in discount. But most people will never realize any of this. In 1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, which made it illegal for U.S. citizens to hold gold bullion. Prior to that, the $20 bill was essentially a warehouse receipt for a one-ounce gold coin. Prior to the Federal Reserve Act of 1914, the $20 bill actually told you this. After Executive Order 6102, $20 notes weren’t allowed to be exchanged for gold anymore. Americans couldn’t legally own or trade gold as money and savings, only as jewelry or collectible coins. A year after making monetary gold ownership illegal, FDR revalued gold from $20.67 per ounce to $35 an ounce with the Gold Reserve Act. The Act also required all gold and gold certificates to be turned over to the Treasury. The dollar was debased. A chunk of the gold it used to be good for was legally removed. Instead of “containing†1/20 an ounce of gold, each dollar now only contained (or represented) 1/35 an ounce. And of course you couldn’t actually own the gold itself. In 1971 Nixon severed the last official ties between gold and the dollar. The dollar quickly sunk to its real value, which had been debased by years of money supply inflation. By 1975 Americans were allowed to own bullion gold again, but during the roughly 40 years bullion gold ownership had been illegal, the dollar had been drastically debased. At its former lowest point in the summer of 1980, the dollar …
The 10 Year $1.5 Trillion Tax Hike
While our goal with this blog isn’t to bash the government, we do want to point out what’s likely to impact the markets, small businesses, and families across the country. The US government plays a substantial role in what happens on Wall Street… every single day. ————— The new Obama budget basically shoves a 10 year, $1.5 trillion tax hike down our throats. So much for that “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase” promise . As pointed out by Americans for Tax Reform, here’s what we can look forward to: “President Obama released his budget this morning. Rather than focusing on Washington’s over-spending problem, the budget calls for higher taxes on families and small businesses to pay for even more government spending. Under the Obama budget, tax revenues will grow from 14.4% of GDP in 2011 to 20% of GDP in 2021. By comparison, the historical average is only 18% of GDP. Tax hike lowlights include: Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20% Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership (“carried interest”) as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion. You can read more here. The 10 Year $1.5 Trillion Tax Hike originally appeared in Wealth Daily . Wealth Daily is a free daily newsletter featuring contrarian investment insights and commentary.
A Makeover for eBay

Filed under: Management , Competitive Strategy , eBay (EBAY) We’ve oft heard the saying: “We must reinvent ourselves.” This is the new mantra at eBay. According to chief executive John Donahoe: “Clearly, I hope you see that we are starting to play offense.” EBay ( EBAY ) has long been a dominant player in the e-commerce industry. Started in 1995 , it has brought together buyers and sellers in an auction format. Now, 16 years later and highly successful, the company finds a new competitor in Amazon.com ( AMZN ), which is grabbing market share. In the meantime, eBay has acquired Paypal, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Paypal, an online payment service, helped to propel eBay’s business transactions. Continue reading A Makeover for eBay A Makeover for eBay originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
Corn Surges on Short Supply

Filed under: International Markets , China , Brazil , Market Matters , Economic Data , Commodities , Agriculture March corn futures jumped 24.25 cents a bushel on Wednesday to $6.98. Corn contracts have risen 97% since June. You may be wondering why all this activity in the corn market in the middle of winter. The answer lies in a USDA report that said corn supplies are dangerously low. In fact, they are near the record low set 15 years ago. What that means is that the corn stocks we have must last until our harvest starts in mid summer. Of the 12.4 billion bushels harvested last fall, we will have only 675 million bushels by Aug 31.To add more fuel to the problem, this new report is 9% lower than the USDA”s January projection, as reported in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Continue reading Corn Surges on Short Supply Corn Surges on Short Supply originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments
Microsoft (MSFT): ‘No Respect’

Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT) , Newsletters , Stocks to Buy “Microsoft ( MSFT ) recently released its fiscal second-quarter results; we felt results were really quite strong, with solid gains in most segments and good cost discipline,” says Geoffrey Seiler . The editor of Bullmarket.com explains, “If these results were from another company, the stock likely would have gotten a lift. But Microsoft is the Rodney Dangerfield of companies: it doesn’t get the respect it deserves. “Microsoft reported net income of $6.63 billion, or 77 cents per share, compared with $6.66 billion, or 74 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales grew by 5% to $19.95 billion from $19.00 billion. Continue reading Microsoft (MSFT): ‘No Respect’ Microsoft (MSFT): ‘No Respect’ originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments