Tepid Euphoria Envelopes The Masses

Recent headlines have bouyed the stock markets, and taken the wind from Gold's sails:

Retail Sales Surprisingly Strong in Jan.The Associated Press - 13 hours agoWASHINGTON (AP) — Retail sales posted a surprising rebound in January following a dismal December, although much of the strength reflected rising gasoline ...

Buffett Unveils Proposal To Bail Out Bond InsurersWashington Post, United States - Feb 12, 2008 Warren E. Buffett says his plan to reinsure municipal bonds "would just eliminate one major cloud from the market."

Feds Announce Plan to Delay ForeclosuresThe Associated Press - Feb 12, 2008 Dubbed "Project Lifeline," the program will be available to people who have taken out all types of mortgages, not just the high-cost subprime loans that ...


...And nothing in these headlines, or the stories that follow them will change a damn thing.

On more than one occasion I have explained that retail sales numbers are merely the computation of the "dollars" spent during any given month. If prices are rising, more "dollars" will be spent. Few pointed out that business inventories are rising. The retail sales figures do not measure the "volume of goods sold", just the "dollars" spent. It can be a very misleading figure...but when you're as desperate as Wall Street for a "sign of hope", you'll clutch even pixie dust if you think it'll keep you afloat.

The Buffet "effect" has been vastly overstated by the permabulls in the media. The Sage of Omaha's offer to "reinsure" the bond insurers could easily be compared to that of a vulture descending on a fresh carcass. Mr Buffet is looking to profit at anothers expense to put it simply...he's not out to, nor can he, save anything. And if people would for once look past the headlines they would realize that the Sage is ONLY interested in the "municipal" bonds these woeful bond insures insure. He wouldn't touch the toxic derivatives they've backed with a pole a mile long.

Project Lifeline? What will these clowns in Washington think of next? They should have called it Project End Of A Rope. How many silly named plans to "fix everything" has the government devised and rolled out since August of 2006? Has any of them fixed anything? Why do you think they keep coming up with more? Hey, they have to look like they're doing something, don't they? After all, aren't we supposed to rely on the government to fix EVERYTHING? Sad, isn't it? Project Lifeline won't save anything. The stock market today reminds me of most dogs...hold your hand up over their head as if you have a treat, and they'll sit up to beg for it. LOL you dumb dog, my hands empty! And they fall for it every time too...just like the desperate bulls on Wall Street.

Gold has risen about 30% every year now since 2001, the Dow has barely kept it's head above water...and Wall Street continues to beg for empty promises from Wahington. If I can figure this out, and I'm just a produce clerk, why can't they?


Gold Rising in All Currencies

The United States is the source of the banking implosion, the source of the mortgage bond destruction, the source of the bond insurer disintegration, the source of the risk model meltdown, the site of the credit derivative pyramid topple, the source of the urgent interest rate cuts. WHAT A MISERABLE FAILURE THE US BANKER CUSTODIAN PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN FOR TWO DECADES!!! The USFed will cut rates down below 2%, perhaps even to 1%, in total desperation. The tragedy is that the lower rates will not stop the banking wreckage, will not stop the USEconomic recession, will not stop the housing crash, will not stop the credit derivative meltdown, but will ensure the eventual USDollar demise. --Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.com
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldenJackass/1202917941.php


And leave it to Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster to paint a most eloquent picture of panic with his pen.

The desperation of the cartel and of the sociopathic denizens that control its many diabolical components, which include the Fed, Wall Street, corporate America and our corrupt-beyond-belief government, has become almost palpable. The Plunge Protection Team and the President's Working Group on Financial Markets must be doing double-overtime shifts judging by the laughable and nonsensical market action we continue to witness as all market logic is lost and as chartists and technicians are continually reamed by warped data that their market models could never have anticipated. Welcome to the corporatist, fascist model of government and finance, which both Mussolini and Hitler promoted. If you want some comedic entertainment, forget the Johnny Carson and Saturday Night Live reruns. Just check the market action on your computer screen for some real rib ticklers and belly laughs.
http://news.goldseek.com/InternationalForecaster/1202972640.php


Fancy Another Stimulus Package Or Two?

George Bush might have watched 226 mortgage lenders go kaput since late 2006 (the latest count from ML-Implode.com), but he just signed that $168 billion tax-rebate bill, hoping to stop the current slump in US house prices becoming a genuine depression.

Not enough, grumbles Senate majority leader Harry Reid. The package is "far from a panacea," he says, getting ready for a Democrat White House no doubt.

"Much more should be done. Another stimulus package or two."

Or three. Or four. You just keep writing the checks, Senator – and get the Federal Reserve to keep US interest rates way below inflation.

We'll just keep Buying Gold outright – with no default risk – and store it in privately-owned, ultra-secure gold vaults, far outside the world's banking system.

--Adrian Ash BullionVault
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1202916240.php


Gold and Silver showed some strength overnight. The Dollar down, the Euro up. Oil steady. Gold showed some support yesterday around 900, and Silver around 17. I suspect that as the tepid euphoria over the headlines wanes on Wall Street, the winds will once again fill the sails of our Precious Metals. Wall Street will have this latest headline to wake up too:

UBS Posts Record Loss After $13.7 Billion Writedowns (Update4)Bloomberg - 1 hour agoBy Elena Logutenkova Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG posted the biggest ever loss by a bank in the fourth quarter after $13.7 billion in writedowns on securities infected by US subprime mortgages.