"Will the DOW get to $3000 first, or will Gold?"

"The money power preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes."
–Abraham Lincoln

We’ve been monitoring gold’s vital signs closely, since any foray above $1000 is cause for nervousness. The yellow stuff has always been free to roam, and even to misbehave, below that price; but once above it, the bankers regard each rally with a glower of malice. While it is indisputable that debt deflation’s irresistible power has rendered the central banks incapable of exerting any meaningful control over the sovereign economies they represent, the bankers and the IMF still have the ability to crush any hint of rebellion by those gold bulls who would deign to challenge the monetary status quo. With their relatively large stocks of physical gold, and the complicity of institutional agents such as JP Morgan to help suppress “paper gold” in futures markets, the bankers still have enough influence over bullion’s price to temporarily suspend the laws of supply and demand.
-Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks

What a joke! As I sit here watching the spot Prices on Precious Metals this morning... If you EVER needed a single moment in time to PROVE what a crime in progress the futures market in this country are...you need look no further than the CRIMEX in New York. Today is "Options Expiration Day" for the March Precious Metal contracts. Tomorrow is the last day to trade these options. Countless contracts, held by floundering US Banks [chiefly JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs] are short this rampaging Bull Market, and severely underwater. We cannot allow these banks to lose any more money on more bad bets that they've made. Perish the thought! No, these banks just take some more of that Monopoly Money the Fed conjures up, and uses it to sell some more contracts backed by NOTHING. Yes, they sell Gold via the April contract that DOES NOT even exist. They sell these contracts in size to hammer the markets down to cover their previous shorts at lower prices, and lessen their losses. Meanwhile, joe sixpack out there who is buying Gold and it's related shares gets screwed by the perpetual lie that we all now know as the NY CRIMEX.

The futures markets were developed SOLELY as a means of price discovery for the producers and end users of the metals to decide on a "fair" price for a given commodity. It was NOT designed as a tool for government funded banks to suppress, keep in check, or otherwise obstruct a given commodity market. However, under the blind eye of the SEC's CFTC, just such corruption occurs month after month after month. Today is but ONE GLARING example of the governments complicity in the suppression of Gold prices. The Dollar is down today again, NOTHING positive has come out of the financial markets today...or will be anytime soon. The fundamental reasons for the price of Gold to rise indefinitely are as plain as the noses on the faces these blind government regulators.

Have you been looking to buy Gold "on sale"? Well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Here is your opportunity. You can rest assured that Gold is not going down this morning because of anything falling out of Ben Bernanke's mouth up on Capitol Hill. The Fed and Treasury is devaluing the US Dollar every minute of every day. Do you want proof?

Watch this video, it is all the proof you need that the CRIMEX is a crime in progress. Gold should have seen $2000 a year ago. We should already be half way to $3000. The biggest question you should be asking yourself now is, "Will the DOW get to $3000 first, or will Gold?"

The Crash of 2009 Is COMING To YOU!!
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDEe0Ai6lTM

Now please don't misinterpret my rage here. I have been suggesting for the past several posts that Gold, and Silver, were getting toppy at these levels and a reaction was warranted. But I'd like to see the reaction based on more than the "false" selling of Gold on the CRIMEX. No actual bullion is being sold today. NONE! Today was a scam in the PAPER Gold market that unfortunately is used to determine the price of Gold, and other Precious Metals, in the US. This reaction DOES give investors an opportunity to buy Gold "on sale", but it is the criminality of it that should enrage everyone.

Gold reacted confidently, and found support near 960. A 38% retracemnt of Golds recent rally from consolidation of the breakout at 890. The next level of support at a 50% retracement would be 948.

Silver held near term support at 13.75, but broke its long uptrend line this morning. This uptrend goes back to mid-January at 10.33. Major support off that low rests now at 13.

These markets "should" move quickly higher as we pass through this "expiration's event". I mentioned these dates last week as targets our enemies may be focusing on, and be determined to defend. Many off the Bulls in this market have probably already rolled their positions into April last week in anticipation of higher prices in these markets yet to come. There were few Bullsaround to help defend the metals today, and the shorts took advantage. Use this as an opportunity to take from them that which they so foolishly choose to dispose of. In time they too will be disposed of.

Putin: Post-US World Blueprint
By: Jim Willie CB
Let’s be clear! The Davos Forum was a funeral wake, and Putin rode in on a white horse to announce there is a new sheriff in town!! Davos afforded a unique opportunity for Russian self-styled leader Vladimir Putin to storm the forum stage and to steal the show. Putin presented a basic Blueprint for what should be called ‘The Post-US World’ as the United States and United Kingdom have lost the mantle of leadership and control.

A cherished contact with deep global experience had some very strong words about Davos and the Putin Blueprint. He made additional comments about the Wen trip across major European capitals. In an important message, he said, “Read in between the lines of Putin’s speech and you find all the hints you want. The Chinese and Russians are burying the US alive. The Japanese, Germans, and Gulf States keep a very low profile for the moment. The decisions have been made: wait for 2010. They will use the unfolding chaos to introduce the new currency basket and trade rules… There is a brand new system being designed that will borrow from the past and apply 21st century tools for barter / counter trade / excess capacity etc. An Exchange Platform will cut out the banks altogether… [Chinese Premier] Wen delivered his speech in Davos and went straight to Berlin where they put the final touch on the new world currency basket, sponsored by Berlin-Moscow-Beijing-Tokyo-Riyadh. Moscow and Berlin already have a massive counter trade / barter trade agreement in place, and Beijing was eager to joint that platform as well.” The new global currencies are planned for launch in January 2010. They will be launched amidst growing chaos. Events up to that time will be tumultuous.

The USDollar should not be the true focus of attention. Paradoxically, as it dies a horrible death, its reserve currency status ensures it might be last to crumble. All other currencies are at risk, except perhaps the Japanese yen. The focus of attention should be directed to gold & silver. The pundits, anchors, and supposed experts believe that the rise in the gold price means that price inflation is an imminent but hidden threat. THEY ARE SO WRONG. The threat is of a collapsed global financial foundation, complete with rising chaos from no current viable alternative, as the Untied States finds itself tossed into a dungeon. The process is slow, but the pace is accelerating. The signpost in the dungeon is marked ‘Third World’ with full shame. The charges will go without trial, as the marketplace is brutal. But bank ruin, institutional corruption, exported bond fraud, permission of counterfeit rings, protection of crime syndicates, and abused global reserve currency custodial responsibility lie at the core. Most scrutiny of charges will be conducted much later, when too late, in an examination of the wreckage.

As a reminder, the USGovt federal budget deficit this year should hit 15% of the national GDP size, more than double anything ever witnessed, and more than double what usually causes a 25% to 30% currency correction. This time will be no different. The gold price has responded. Given the turmoil in foreign lands, with their own attendant currency threats, the USDollar is the not concurrent indicator of gold anymore, a topic addressed two weeks ago. GOLD IS RESPONDING, ALONG WITH SILVER. Even the knucklehead financial media and lamebrain financial sector managers have noticed.

The Russians realized the vacuum of banking and political leadership. Vladimir Putin took the high road actually. His criticism of the US failure and corruption was implied. He let the decimation of Wall Street firms, their colossal losses, and their calamitous fall from grace speak for themselves. He would not permit anyone in attendance to yack about how Putin droned on and on about US failure. Failure is painfully obvious for almost all to see. He skipped over much direct criticism to offer solutions, a sign of leadership. No, Putin was the only bright spot in Davos. Putin offered a Blueprint for the next decade, for the ‘Post-US World’ where the US-UK corrupt tag team does not control the helm or sit at the catbird seat. Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev served as dominant figures over a gloomy forum. A Putin spokesman actually told reporters “This is Davos under the Russian flag.” More accurately, the Davos Forum gave Russia, and to some extent China, a chance to exert leadership.

The overriding theme of the Putin plan is a new multi-polar world, where power is shared and no longer concentrated in a dangerous fashion. Putin was as specific as required for a blueprint, which typically does not need to go into great detail. It requires a new structure. When an entire system is shattered, one needs a foundation with large structural descriptions as planks. Putin gave it. He is not a hero, but rather a man who realizes the disorder in progress and the dire need for new direction. The USDollar-based system is dead. Within the vacuum, the global financial and economic system is slowly collapsing. Actually, my view is that the USEconomy is accelerating in its breakdown, unlikely to last through the summer without some very clear evidence of failure. The untold story is that the global system failure has pitted two groups of powerful billionaires against each other. Putin represents a force that pursues greater equitability in commerce, trade, and banking with multi-polar power centers. His opposite force pursues greater concentrated power, more fascist towers, and a beneficial reduction in world population. This thorny topic is given occasional coverage in the Hat Trick Letter, yet is highly controversial and risky to discuss. Broad strokes rather than detail are my choice.

PUTIN CRITIQUE OF GLOBAL FAILURE
Putin openly questioned the reliability of the USDollar as a global reserve currency. He all but said it is dead in the water for that role. He called the one reserve currency a danger to the world economy, in fact! He acknowledged that globalization has multiplied the destructive force, so that the US-UK crises have touched all nations and everyone. To be sure, other nations are epicenters for crisis like Spain. Several nations are feeling the impact of the shocks from the crisis epicenters, like Germany, Russia, and China. Some specific criticism was given. Putin talked about the disproportion between the scale of financial operations and fundamental value of assets. That means huge US-UK financial flows in trading centers against a backdrop of miniscule current valuation of the bank centers. The US & UK bank sectors are insolvent. Putin talked about the differences between the increased burden of international loans and source collateral. That means the Western nations, led by the US & UK, but also Southern Europe, have outsized debt burdens against a backdrop of near nil collateral, a stark trait of insolvency, if not bankruptcy. Putin attacked indirectly the Untied States for printing money with abandon, consuming what Asian factories produce, while Asians respond by saving money in the form of government debt securities. Putin warned the global leaders not merely to treat the symptoms, which is precisely what they are doing, but to work toward serious reform.

Putin warned of blind faith in the omnipotent power of states, and the distorted concentration of assets in the hands of the states. That might be a slap at the central bankers, who are serving as quasi-bank systems unto themselves in a desperate action. Their biggest new ledger item is Dollar Currency Swap. Putin warned that unbridled growth of budget deficits and public debts is destructive. In essence, Putin urged a return to free enterprise principles. The Western leaders are moving toward socialism and fascism. What irony that former KGB leader from the Soviet Union was lecturing the West on the benefits of embrace for capitalism and free enterprise!!!

Putin openly called the current unipolar world obsolete, referring indirectly to the US-UK dominance. This is as close as one could come to hearing that the current system is one step from the scrap heap. Unfortunately, chaos reigns as leadership is absent, insolvency rains down as economic troubles all over, and no leaders seem capable of pulling back the reins. Putin urged a new system of global regulators, an obvious slap at the unspeakably corrupt Securities & Exchange Commission (for stocks) and the unspeakably corrupt Commodity Futures Trading Commission (for commodities). Each is a lapdog steeped in conflict of interest, paid to look the other way to criminal activity, with no urge to prosecute their friends. The SEC and CFTC have been team players for the four major US-based crime syndicates in order for them to conduct their business. They are parasites to the system, while the syndicates spread cancers. Putin all but said to eliminate the Intl Monetary Fund and World Bank. Putin wants to see shared technology across borders. This is a slap against the US, which refuses to export advanced computer technology and telecommunications technology.

Putin made a comment about possible energy shortages and obstructed growth prospects, but urged constructive inter-dependence. This could be regarded as a threat, and should be taken as a claim for leadership. Putin reminded the group of his recommendation in 2006 for cooperation among energy suppliers, consumers, and transit countries. These suggestions fell on deaf ears over two years ago, but now after the Ukraine incidents, their time has clearly come. Putin wants a new international legal framework for energy security, with clear-cut legal statutes. Some of what Putin mentions comes as a reaction to US financial sources that are exerting extreme force on energy prices with political motive. Putin openly called for a balanced price determination system free from the vagaries of financial derivative instruments.

One should interpret this not as an endorsement of the status quo, as reported by the US press media, but rather as an announcement of the new structure to conform to the Putin Blueprint for a Post-US World. The entrenched and defensive US-based and UK-based press media have no interest in mentioning a new framework. Loss of the current framework represents an invitation to the Third World.
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldenJackass/1235063702.php

Stocks Rise as Bernanke Tells Congress Recession May End This Year- AP
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has steadied Wall Street by telling Congress the recession might end this year. In his semiannual report to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke predicted the economy is likely to keep contracting in the first six months of 2009. But he also said "there is a reasonable prospect" the recession will end this year. He warns that a recovery will require getting credit and financial markets to operate normally.

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