MONEY MATTERS

PRIVATE WEALTH FOUNDATIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 01:33:00 +0000

Want more control over your Finances???

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Private Foundation versus a Trust

Private Foundations are rapidly displacing Discretionary Trusts as the preferred instrument for modern tax planning. Both options are very similar in nature but the Private Foundation is a more flexible and easier choice to manage. Since the Private Foundation is an independent legal entity, any assets granted to it are solely and exclusively managed by the foundation. Because the Private Foundation is a not-for-profit entity, there are guidelines and rules that govern how the assets may be leveraged or disposed of. Still, a Private Foundation is able to engage in various commercial activities provided the profits are allocated to promote the foundation’s designated purpose. A Private Foundation can also serve as a “holding company,” owning shares in another company which may, in its own right, conduct trading activity. Profits derived in this manner must also be earmarked for the foundation’s objectives.

Level of Control

Many people opt to create a private foundation because they have significant control over how the foundation operates at almost every level. The most critical aspects are related to funding and disbursement. A one-time grant can provide a foundation with the ability to achieve short-term goals or, if the grant is large enough and properly managed, operate indefinitely. Regular gifts, grants contributions, fund raising or any combination of these funding methods, can also be used to accomplish a foundation’s objective. How funds are spent is open to the desires and decisions of the foundation’s controlling body, whether it is an individual or group. Funds can be directed to specific causes or focused on more specific areas such a research into a particular cause the foundation has determined is underfunded or overlooked.

The Advantages a Private Foundation Provides

A private foundation provides a lot of advantages not only to the donor but, also to friends, family and the community. Focusing specifically on the benefits realised by the donor, there are four important reasons to set up and run a Private Foundation:

READ MORE AT F.A.Q PRIVATE WEALTH FOUNDATIONS

http://www.privatewealthfoundations.net/

A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON ON MONEY

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 14:56:00 +0000

"The truth shall set you free, but first it may piss you off," it has been said. Frankly, the truth is hard to come by.

Admittedly, there is no real accurate historical account of how the world found itself in such a desperate state of enslavement to the Vatican, as it has been so well concealed. It is safe to say it has been accomplished by a very meticulous, elaborate and devious plan in order to bring the entire world under the Vatican's collective thumb. Therefore, to tell the story it is necessary to piece together a wide variety of information from a number of sources. And these sources don't always agree.

With an economic system based upon debt and a worthless fiat currency, where does the value of the US dollar come from? Many will be shocked to learn the truth behind how our financial system has been set up and has operated since the official implementation of the privately owned Federal Reserve in 1933.

The short answer is the value for our money is obtained directly from you and all Americans who have been born in the US since the 1930's. The value is drawn from our life force, our good will as consumers, spenders, wage earners and taxpayers. Thus, we can see where a term such as "human resource" figures into the equation.

Our life force is represented by one very important document which is then used as an instrument of value to back up the worth of the US dollar and to act as collateral against the fraudulent, illusionary US debt. That instrument of value is the birth certificate.

Naturally, this system has been instituted very slowly over many years in a strictly covert fashion. It has relied upon the ignorance and low level of consciousness by the people in order for it to take root. And it begins at the moment of birth and entangles us until our last breath upon this Earthly plane.

When parents sign off on a birth certificate for their new born child, they are authorizing him or her to be entered into the system as a bona fide debt slave. At the same time, each of us is issued a line of credit sanctioned by the world-wide economic system and ultimately controlled by the Vatican.

That credit amounts to anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars within the confines of the system and only accessible via a financial institution, insurance agent, public utility, medical care provider, etc.

Your birth certificate, in turn, is tied to your social security number and becomes the method by which the banks draw upon to establish a line of credit when you come of age to open a bank account, a credit card, apply for a home loan, car loan and/or educational loan, etc. In fact, nearly every business relationship you enter into with a corporation, whether it is a cell phone contract, cable TV, telephone, electrical power, water service, insurance, health care, loan, traffic ticket, lawsuit –– you name it –– all tap into the same credit system.

In effect, these banking institutions are lending you your own credit and then charging you an exorbitant amount of interest for the use of it. If you default on a loan, the banks or the corporations then have the legal right to confiscate your home, property, car, etc. or take you to court for payment.

All of this is accomplished because the Vatican believes it has been bestowed the Divine right through the Papal bull to have dominion over all land, property, valuables and even your own body and your children through their possession of the birth certificates. In their eyes, the people of the Earth are merely debt slaves or paupers, and thus, must not become a burden to the Church. And as such, slaves have no rights, have no say in the matter and by law, cannot own anything. In other words, slaves are property and not human beings.

Yet here we stand, in the year 2013 and we are witnessing the disintegration of this entire corrupt and insane system. And we are now actually getting to see how its demise is being accomplished.

Granted, most people of the world will be shocked to the core to learn the true and absolute powers which lie within Vatican City, the Holy See and the Pope. The Holy Roman Empire has been the most powerful force on the planet for over 2,700 years. The Vatican has wielded indisputable temporal power over world affairs for centuries, including over the US as it sits at the very top of the pyramid when it come to the pecking order of planetary rulers.

Therefore, the very fact they have now authorized the discharge global debt is one of the greatest milestones in the history of the world.

THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Ironically, as the world's people are released from all debt obligations, the USA, Inc. shadow government, also known as Washington, DC will not be afforded the same privileges. The USA, Inc. has been over laid on top the original Republic envisioned by the Founding Fathers by an act of Congress known as the Organic Act of 1871, which established the Washington, DC/District of Columbia corporation.

Despite the illegal formation of this corporation, the Republic of the united States for America, as it was originally intended to be still very much exists. The USA, Inc., the entity responsible for the national deficit, is now bankrupt and we are now witnessing its free fall.

–– As if to further confirm the discharge of the debt and the bankruptcy of the USA corporation, a series of strange events began to unfold over the weekend of August 3rd and 4th.

The US government announced as many as sixteen embassies in the Middle East would be closing for a period of several days. Within hours of that report on CNN, the US State Department declared the embassies instead will be closed for as long as a week, with a further number of African embassies added to the total of nineteen.

–– Then, on Monday, August 5th, the Daily Mail reported HSBC Bank had informed the many foreign embassies and consulates located in England who are account holders, they will need to find another institution to do their business. As the foreign embassies, including even the Vatican, scrambled for an alternative, they found no other banks in England were willing to take on their banking needs either.

Very likely the numerous embassy closings by the US State Department and the refusal of HSBC Bank to retain other foreign embassies as customers are intricately related to the ongoing bankruptcy of the world corporate governments.

–– On August 12, 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder announced he would recommend the states begin to release prisoners in victimless crimes such as drug offenses, tax evasion, etc. It should be noted nearly one quarter of all prisoners world-wide are found in US jails. And yet we are told again and again, by our history books and our media we are a free nation.

Make no mistake about it, the penal system is part of the international slave trade where prisoner bonds are bought and sold like livestock on an underground market. The very fact the US Attorney General would make such a pronouncement is clearly directly tied to the discharge of the global debt.

–– In still another astonishing development, on Thursday, August 22, the NASDAQ stock exchange went dark for a full three full hours during daytime trading. In the aftermath, many Wall Street media pundits and insiders were scratching their heads in an effort to figure out what really happened. They were unable to come up with any definitive answers.

–– On August 23rd a report emerged insisting the down time was due to an attempt to link the NASDAQ exchange with the Global Currency Reset which ultimately crashed the entire system as many as six times. The NASDAQ collapse caused numerous other stock entities to briefly go off line, as well, including: the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); the Toronto Exchange (TSX); the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX); among several others.

Although most sources attributed the outage to some kind of major technical glitch, it is important to note a malfunction of this magnitude had never occurred in the entire 42-year history of NASDAQ, easily the most technologically advanced exchange in the world.

–– Four days after the NASDAQ outage, on August 26th, the Eurex (also known as the Deutsche Boerse or the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) went down for over an hour.

–– Ironically, tech titans Google and Amazon, as well as, media conglomerate, the New York Times, all had similar outages during the month of August. It is highly likely these other technical failures are not merely coincidental but perhaps part of a series of warning shots to the global elite. It should be noted, the heads of Google, Amazon & the New York Times all have been active members of the Bilderberg group.

–– The very same day as the NASDAQ outage, August 22nd, the annual Federal Reserve meeting was convened in Jackson Hole, Wyoming without Ben Bernanke in attendance but with IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde. Ms. Lagarde was interviewed during the conference and proclaimed: "The banking system needs to be unclogged, and liquidity as well as instruments need to move fluidly throughout the system, which has not been the case."

–– On August 23rd, David Wilcock reported in his latest post the US military is now working with the hacker group Anonymous in a united effort to take down the Federal Reserve banking cartel. He also stated the majority of the military is in support of the take-down of the Federal Reserve cartel. If accurate, this report would mark a crucial development ensuring the proper security will be in a place for any type of scenario to institute the Global Currency Reset and the Restoration of the Republic.

–– Meanwhile, the international cabal in an act of total desperation continues to try to ferment World War III in Syria in order to stave off their own bankruptcy and the implementation of the Global Currency Reset. Having already miserably failed to do the same in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt, Syria remains one of the few remaining Middle East countries vulnerable for manipulation through a false flag attack.

Yet, even with a threat of world war, we are seeing more and more of the globe uniting to stand directly opposed an international cabal whose support may have now dwindled down to a mere eight member countries including: the US; Canada; France; England; Israel; Turkey; Saudi Arabia; and Qatar. Another clear sign the game has dramatically shifted. We have come to the point where nearly the whole of the planet has mandated we must begin the move towards a world of peace.

CONCLUSION: THE FINAL PIECES FALLING INTO PLACE

Clearly we are seeing the collapse of an old paradigm no longer sustainable within our rapidly evolving reality. From this point on, we can expect big and spectacular changes to become the norm.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the sheer scope and scale of the Global Currency Reset and all its many components was a far grander and more complex undertaking than any had anticipated. The numerous technical issues which have cropped up recently with NASDAQ, Eurex and the co-ordination with other financial systems such as Forex as well as the newly created International Currency Exchange (ICX) have proven it to be so.

Many, many reports have suggested numerous attempts of the GCR have been done without success thus far. We must now conclude there may still be several important pieces to this puzzle which must align themselves for the Reset to be finally launched. Yet we must appreciate the many steps which have already been accomplished and thus we can confidently determine we are very, very close to completion.

With all of this extraordinary amount of activity, it should be abundantly clear by now we are dealing with a much, much bigger undertaking than revaluing one or two currencies. We are deep within the process of a total global phenomenon unprecedented in human history. As we sit now, humanity is at a critical stage of evolution. We have reached the point of no return.

Besides the upcoming date of September 1st, other significant dates to look towards include September 30th which is the end of the Fed fiscal year and October 8th when the new symbolic $100 bills will be released, ideally by the newly revitalized US Treasury, and not the Federal Reserve.

It is interesting to note the numerology for the date of August 31, 2013, the ending date before a new paradigm kicks in on September 1st –– 8 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 3 = 18. Then if broken down to single integer – 1 + 8 = 9. Nine is the symbolic number for completion.

If you have been following this story for some time, you have also likely noticed a great deal of conflicting and confusing information has peaked to an all time high. Understandably, you may have reached a point where you are ready to throw your hands in the air in a state of exasperation.

As events accelerate towards a crescendo, we may well be in the midst of what scientists have often referred to as the Chaos Theory. In this instance, reality begins to accelerate into an increasing state of chaos. Eventually, it reaches what appears to be an out-of-control stage. At this point, a dramatic shift occurs taking reality to a much higher level, or a more evolved state of being.

Do not be surprised if the world appears to get even stranger as we venture from an old paradigm into a new. From an old, outdated way of being to an entirely, expanded new one.

One of the greatest detriments to change is fear. As we have discussed in many previous news articles, fear can be a extremely debilitating condition which robs us of our innate power. We must resist the temptation to fall into a state of fear as we come to this critical stage in the future of the Earthly experience, despite the threats which seem to emerge from everywhere.

Ultimately, realize these are tests for us to overcome and all are merely an illusion. They are not real. In the process of overcoming our fears, we will accelerate our evolution that much more quickly.

We have outlined a great deal of very profound changes coming into our reality at this present time. These changes are directly the result of an awakening of consciousness within the human experience.

We must understand, all changes start from within. The world is not happening to us, we are directly affecting the experience we are having by our own thoughts and beliefs. All the conditions on the Earth, whether negative or positive, are the makings of the human mind.

Realize how magnificent a time we are living in as we are now witnessing the world transforming right before us. A long, sordid chapter of slavery, subjugation, fraud and fear is thankfully coming to a close. Directly in front of us lies a much more spectacular and enhanced human experience. And it is here now for the taking.

This time period which was long ago prophesied has been referred to in many different ways such as the great shift of consciousness, Heaven on Earth, or the Golden Age. Whatever label it goes by is of least importance, rather it is the feeling it engenders within which makes all the difference.

For sure, many, many challenges lie ahead us. Yet, ten times as many blessings will become accessible to you and your family like never before as we move forward.

Indeed, the time has come to begin to reap the harvest. And what a bountiful one it will be.

Best wishes and peace to all,

–– Scott Mowry

The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 12:36:00 +0000

The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families

By Dean Henderson, published June 1, 2011

The Four Horsemen of Banking (Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) own the Four Horsemen of Oil (Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, BP and Chevron Texaco); in tandem with Deutsche Bank, BNP, Barclays and other European old money behemoths. But their monopoly over the global economy does not end at the edge of the oil patch.

According to company 10K filings to the SEC, the Four Horsemen of Banking are among the top ten stock holders of virtually every Fortune 500 corporation.[1]
So who then are the stockholders in these money center banks?

This information is guarded much more closely. My queries to bank regulatory agencies regarding stock ownership in the top 25 US bank holding companies were given Freedom of Information Act status, before being denied on “national security” grounds. This is rather ironic, since many of the bank’s stockholders reside in Europe.

One important repository for the wealth of the global oligarchy that owns these bank holding companies is US Trust Corporation – founded in 1853 and now owned by Bank of America. A recent US Trust Corporate Director and Honorary Trustee was Walter Rothschild. Other directors included Daniel Davison of JP Morgan Chase, Richard Tucker of Exxon Mobil, Daniel Roberts of Citigroup and Marshall Schwartz of Morgan Stanley. [2]

J. W. McCallister, an oil industry insider with House of Saud connections, wrote in The Grim Reaper that information he acquired from Saudi bankers cited 80% ownership of the New York Federal Reserve Bank- by far the most powerful Fed branch- by just eight families, four of which reside in the US. They are the Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Lehmans and Kuhn Loebs of New York; the Rothschilds of Paris and London; the Warburgs of Hamburg; the Lazards of Paris; and the Israel Moses Seifs of Rome.

CPA Thomas D. Schauf corroborates McCallister’s claims, adding that ten banks control all twelve Federal Reserve Bank branches. He names N.M. Rothschild of London, Rothschild Bank of Berlin, Warburg Bank of Hamburg, Warburg Bank of Amsterdam, Lehman Brothers of New York, Lazard Brothers of Paris, Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York, Israel Moses Seif Bank of Italy, Goldman Sachs of New York and JP Morgan Chase Bank of New York. Schauf lists William Rockefeller, Paul Warburg, Jacob Schiff and James Stillman as individuals who own large shares of the Fed. [3] The Schiffs are insiders at Kuhn Loeb. The Stillmans are Citigroup insiders, who married into the Rockefeller clan at the turn of the century.

Eustace Mullins came to the same conclusions in his book The Secrets of the Federal Reserve, in which he displays charts connecting the Fed and its member banks to the families of Rothschild, Warburg, Rockefeller and the others. [4]

The control that these banking families exert over the global economy cannot be overstated and is quite intentionally shrouded in secrecy. Their corporate media arm is quick to discredit any information exposing this private central banking cartel as “conspiracy theory”. Yet the facts remain.

The House of Morgan
The Federal Reserve Bank was born in 1913, the same year US banking scion J. Pierpont Morgan died and the Rockefeller Foundation was formed. The House of Morgan presided over American finance from the corner of Wall Street and Broad, acting as quasi-US central bank since 1838, when George Peabody founded it in London.

Peabody was a business associate of the Rothschilds. In 1952 Fed researcher Eustace Mullins put forth the supposition that the Morgans were nothing more than Rothschild agents. Mullins wrote that the Rothschilds, “…preferred to operate anonymously in the US behind the facade of J.P. Morgan & Company”. [5]

Author Gabriel Kolko stated, “Morgan’s activities in 1895-1896 in selling US gold bonds in Europe were based on an alliance with the House of Rothschild.” [6]

The Morgan financial octopus wrapped its tentacles quickly around the globe. Morgan Grenfell operated in London. Morgan et Ce ruled Paris. The Rothschild’s Lambert cousins set up Drexel & Company in Philadelphia.

The House of Morgan catered to the Astors, DuPonts, Guggenheims, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers. It financed the launch of AT&T, General Motors, General Electric and DuPont. Like the London-based Rothschild and Barings banks, Morgan became part of the power structure in many countries.
By 1890 the House of Morgan was lending to Egypt’s central bank, financing Russian railroads, floating Brazilian provincial government bonds and funding Argentine public works projects. A recession in 1893 enhanced Morgan’s power. That year Morgan saved the US government from a bank panic, forming a syndicate to prop up government reserves with a shipment of $62 million worth of Rothschild gold. [7]

Morgan was the driving force behind Western expansion in the US, financing and controlling West-bound railroads through voting trusts. In 1879 Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Morgan-financed New York Central Railroad gave preferential shipping rates to John D. Rockefeller’s budding Standard Oil monopoly, cementing the Rockefeller/Morgan relationship.

The House of Morgan now fell under Rothschild and Rockefeller family control. A New York Herald headline read, “Railroad Kings Form Gigantic Trust”. J. Pierpont Morgan, who once stated, “Competition is a sin”, now opined gleefully, “Think of it. All competing railroad traffic west of St. Louis placed in the control of about thirty men.”[8]

Morgan and Edward Harriman’s banker Kuhn Loeb held a monopoly over the railroads, while banking dynasties Lehman, Goldman Sachs and Lazard joined the Rockefellers in controlling the US industrial base. [9]

In 1903 Banker’s Trust was set up by the Eight Families. Benjamin Strong of Banker’s Trust was the first Governor of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The 1913 creation of the Fed fused the power of the Eight Families to the military and diplomatic might of the US government. If their overseas loans went unpaid, the oligarchs could now deploy US Marines to collect the debts. Morgan, Chase and Citibank formed an international lending syndicate.

The House of Morgan was cozy with the British House of Windsor and the Italian House of Savoy. The Kuhn Loebs, Warburgs, Lehmans, Lazards, Israel Moses Seifs and Goldman Sachs also had close ties to European royalty. By 1895 Morgan controlled the flow of gold in and out of the US. The first American wave of mergers was in its infancy and was being promoted by the bankers. In 1897 there were sixty-nine industrial mergers. By 1899 there were twelve-hundred. In 1904 John Moody – founder of Moody’s Investor Services – said it was impossible to talk of Rockefeller and Morgan interests as separate. [10]

Public distrust of the combine spread. Many considered them traitors working for European old money. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Andrew Carnegie’s US Steel and Edward Harriman’s railroads were all financed by banker Jacob Schiff at Kuhn Loeb, who worked closely with the European Rothschilds.

Several Western states banned the bankers. Populist preacher William Jennings Bryan was thrice the Democratic nominee for President from 1896 -1908. The central theme of his anti-imperialist campaign was that America was falling into a trap of “financial servitude to British capital”. Teddy Roosevelt defeated Bryan in 1908, but was forced by this spreading populist wildfire to enact the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. He then went after the Standard Oil Trust.

In 1912 the Pujo hearings were held, addressing concentration of power on Wall Street. That same year Mrs. Edward Harriman sold her substantial shares in New York’s Guaranty Trust Bank to J.P. Morgan, creating Morgan Guaranty Trust. Judge Louis Brandeis convinced President Woodrow Wilson to call for an end to interlocking board directorates. In 1914 the Clayton Anti-Trust Act was passed.

Jack Morgan – J. Pierpont’s son and successor – responded by calling on Morgan clients Remington and Winchester to increase arms production. He argued that the US needed to enter WWI. Goaded by the Carnegie Foundation and other oligarchy fronts, Wilson accommodated. As Charles Tansill wrote in America Goes to War, “Even before the clash of arms, the French firm of Rothschild Freres cabled to Morgan & Company in New York suggesting the flotation of a loan of $100 million, a substantial part of which was to be left in the US to pay for French purchases of American goods.”
The House of Morgan financed half the US war effort, while receiving commissions for lining up contractors like GE, Du Pont, US Steel, Kennecott and ASARCO. All were Morgan clients. Morgan also financed the British Boer War in South Africa and the Franco-Prussian War. The 1919 Paris Peace Conference was presided over by Morgan, which led both German and Allied reconstruction efforts. [11]

In the 1930’s populism resurfaced in America after Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bank and others profited from the Crash of 1929. [12] House Banking Committee Chairman Louis McFadden (D-NY) said of the Great Depression, “It was no accident. It was a carefully contrived occurrence…The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so they might emerge as rulers of us all”.

Sen. Gerald Nye (D-ND) chaired a munitions investigation in 1936. Nye concluded that the House of Morgan had plunged the US into WWI to protect loans and create a booming arms industry. Nye later produced a document titled The Next War, which cynically referred to “the old goddess of democracy trick”, through which Japan could be used to lure the US into WWII.

In 1937 Interior Secretary Harold Ickes warned of the influence of “America’s 60 Families”. Historian Ferdinand Lundberg later penned a book of the exact same title. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas decried, “Morgan influence…the most pernicious one in industry and finance today.”

Jack Morgan responded by nudging the US towards WWII. Morgan had close relations with the Iwasaki and Dan families – Japan’s two wealthiest clans – who have owned Mitsubishi and Mitsui, respectively, since the companies emerged from 17th Century shogunates. When Japan invaded Manchuria, slaughtering Chinese peasants at Nanking, Morgan downplayed the incident. Morgan also had close relations with Italian fascist Benito Mussolini, while German Nazi Dr. Hjalmer Schacht was a Morgan Bank liaison during WWII. After the war Morgan representatives met with Schacht at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland. [13]

The House of Rockefeller
BIS is the most powerful bank in the world, a global central bank for the Eight Families who control the private central banks of almost all Western and developing nations. The first President of BIS was Rockefeller banker Gates McGarrah- an official at Chase Manhattan and the Federal Reserve. McGarrah was the grandfather of former CIA director Richard Helms. The Rockefellers- like the Morgans- had close ties to London. David Icke writes in Children of the Matrix, that the Rockefellers and Morgans were just “gofers” for the European Rothschilds. [14]

BIS is owned by the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, Bank of Italy, Bank of Canada, Swiss National Bank, Nederlandsche Bank, Bundesbank and Bank of France.

Historian Carroll Quigley wrote in his epic book Tragedy and Hope that BIS was part of a plan, “to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole…to be controlled in a feudalistic fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreements.”

The US government had a historical distrust of BIS, lobbying unsuccessfully for its demise at the 1944 post-WWII Bretton Woods Conference. Instead the Eight Families’ power was exacerbated, with the Bretton Woods creation of the IMF and the World Bank. The US Federal Reserve only took shares in BIS in September 1994. [15]

BIS holds at least 10% of monetary reserves for at least 80 of the world’s central banks, the IMF and other multilateral institutions. It serves as financial agent for international agreements, collects information on the global economy and serves as lender of last resort to prevent global financial collapse.
BIS promotes an agenda of monopoly capitalist fascism. It gave a bridge loan to Hungary in the 1990’s to ensure privatization of that country’s economy. It served as conduit for Eight Families funding of Adolf Hitler- led by the Warburg’s J. Henry Schroeder and Mendelsohn Bank of Amsterdam. Many researchers assert that BIS is at the nadir of global drug money laundering. [16]

It is no coincidence that BIS is headquartered in Switzerland, favorite hiding place for the wealth of the global aristocracy and headquarters for the P-2 Italian Freemason’s Alpina Lodge and Nazi International. Other institutions which the Eight Families control include the World Economic Forum, the International Monetary Conference and the World Trade Organization.

Bretton Woods was a boon to the Eight Families. The IMF and World Bank were central to this “new world order”. In 1944 the first World Bank bonds were floated by Morgan Stanley and First Boston. The French Lazard family became more involved in House of Morgan interests. Lazard Freres- France’s biggest investment bank- is owned by the Lazard and David-Weill families- old Genoese banking scions represented by Michelle Davive. A recent Chairman and CEO of Citigroup was Sanford Weill.

In 1968 Morgan Guaranty launched Euro-Clear, a Brussels-based bank clearing system for Eurodollar securities. It was the first such automated endeavor. Some took to calling Euro-Clear “The Beast”. Brussels serves as headquarters for the new European Central Bank and for NATO. In 1973 Morgan officials met secretly in Bermuda to illegally resurrect the old House of Morgan, twenty years before Glass Steagal Act was repealed. Morgan and the Rockefellers provided the financial backing for Merrill Lynch, boosting it into the Big 5 of US investment banking. Merrill is now part of Bank of America.

John D. Rockefeller used his oil wealth to acquire Equitable Trust, which had gobbled up several large banks and corporations by the 1920’s. The Great Depression helped consolidate Rockefeller’s power. His Chase Bank merged with Kuhn Loeb’s Manhattan Bank to form Chase Manhattan, cementing a long-time family relationship. The Kuhn-Loeb’s had financed – along with Rothschilds – Rockefeller’s quest to become king of the oil patch. National City Bank of Cleveland provided John D. with the money needed to embark upon his monopolization of the US oil industry. The bank was identified in Congressional hearings as being one of three Rothschild-owned banks in the US during the 1870’s, when Rockefeller first incorporated as Standard Oil of Ohio. [17]

One Rockefeller Standard Oil partner was Edward Harkness, whose family came to control Chemical Bank. Another was James Stillman, whose family controlled Manufacturers Hanover Trust. Both banks have merged under the JP Morgan Chase umbrella. Two of James Stillman’s daughters married two of William Rockefeller’s sons. The two families control a big chunk of Citigroup as well. [18]
In the insurance business, the Rockefellers control Metropolitan Life, Equitable Life, Prudential and New York Life. Rockefeller banks control 25% of all assets of the 50 largest US commercial banks and 30% of all assets of the 50 largest insurance companies. [19] Insurance companies- the first in the US was launched by Freemasons through their Woodman’s of America- play a key role in the Bermuda drug money shuffle.

Companies under Rockefeller control include Exxon Mobil, Chevron Texaco, BP Amoco, Marathon Oil, Freeport McMoran, Quaker Oats, ASARCO, United, Delta, Northwest, ITT, International Harvester, Xerox, Boeing, Westinghouse, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, International Paper, Pfizer, Motorola, Monsanto, Union Carbide and General Foods.

The Rockefeller Foundation has close financial ties to both Ford and Carnegie Foundations. Other family philanthropic endeavors include Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, General Education Board, Rockefeller University and the University of Chicago- which churns out a steady stream of far right economists as apologists for international capital, including Milton Friedman.

The family owns 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where the national Christmas tree is lighted every year, and Rockefeller Center. David Rockefeller was instrumental in the construction of the World Trade Center towers. The main Rockefeller family home is a hulking complex in upstate New York known as Pocantico Hills. They also own a 32-room 5th Avenue duplex in Manhattan, a mansion in Washington, DC, Monte Sacro Ranch in Venezuela, coffee plantations in Ecuador, several farms in Brazil, an estate at Seal Harbor, Maine and resorts in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. [20]

The Dulles and Rockefeller families are cousins. Allen Dulles created the CIA, assisted the Nazis, covered up the Kennedy hit from his Warren Commission perch and struck a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood to create mind-controlled assassins. [21]

Brother John Foster Dulles presided over the phony Goldman Sachs trusts before the 1929 stock market crash and helped his brother overthrow governments in Iran and Guatemala. Both were Skull & Bones, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) insiders and 33rd Degree Masons. [22]

The Rockefellers were instrumental in forming the depopulation-oriented Club of Rome at their family estate in Bellagio, Italy. Their Pocantico Hills estate gave birth to the Trilateral Commission. The family is a major funder of the eugenics movement which spawned Hitler, human cloning and the current DNA obsession in US scientific circles.

John Rockefeller Jr. headed the Population Council until his death. [23] His namesake son is a Senator from West Virginia. Brother Winthrop Rockefeller was Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas and remains the most powerful man in that state. In an October 1975 interview with Playboy magazine, Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller- who was also Governor of New York- articulated his family’s patronizing worldview, “I am a great believer in planning- economic, social, political, military, total world planning.”

But of all the Rockefeller brothers, it is Trilateral Commission (TC) founder and Chase Manhattan Chairman David who has spearheaded the family’s fascist agenda on a global scale. He defended the Shah of Iran, the South African apartheid regime and the Chilean Pinochet junta. He was the biggest financier of the CFR, the TC and (during the Vietnam War) the Committee for an Effective and Durable Peace in Asia- a contract bonanza for those who made their living off the conflict.

Nixon asked him to be Secretary of Treasury, but Rockefeller declined the job, knowing his power was much greater at the helm of the Chase. Author Gary Allen writes in The Rockefeller File that in 1973, “David Rockefeller met with twenty-seven heads of state, including the rulers of Russia and Red China.”

Following the 1975 Nugan Hand Bank/CIA coup against Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, his British Crown-appointed successor Malcolm Fraser sped to the US, where he met with President Gerald Ford after conferring with David Rockefeller. [24]

Protecting Your Superannuation

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:57:00 +0000

IntroductionSuper has been given a lot of bad press lately. Many people have seen the value of their nest egg drop dramatically. But it is not the Superannuation system that is the problem, rather it is where your money has been invested that has lead to the drop in value.Many people are in the ‘default’ Balanced option that has a large exposure to the share market. This is good if the market is going up but not so good when it is going down. This article describes the simple steps I have been using since July 2007 to take back control of my super, stop the drop in value when the share market falls and still reap the rewards when it rises. I spend no more that a few minutes each week on it and I did it without starting my own super fund.ResultsBefore discussing the method in detail, let’s look at how it would have worked since July 2000. In the following charts, the results for the Switching method described here are always shown in Blue.Switching versus 60/40 Balanced versus 100% Australian SharesThis table shows the returns as of 30 March 2010 for the last 10 years, 5 years, 3 years, 1 years and 3 months. 10 years to 30/3/2010 5 years to 30/3/2010 3 years to 30/3/2010 1 year to 30/3/2010 3 months to 30/3/2010Switching 95.72% 45.31% 14.08% 4.66% -6.44%60/40 Balanced 67.50% 26.99% -2.13% 21.95% 0.82%100% Australian Shares 61.62% 19.86% -16.80% 33.26% 0.54%The chart below shows indicative returns for $10,000 invested in super in July 2000 using the Switching method described here versus 60/40 “Balanced Fund” versus 100% Australian Shares. (See the footnotes for assumptions made.)Most superannuation is in a “Balanced Fund”. The typical Balanced fund is 60% shares and 40% Cash.Following the super switching method discussed below, the $10,000 was switched between a 100% Cash Super Fund, returning a nominal 5%, and 100% Australian Shares Fund. The straight lines in the Switching plot are when the 100% of the balance has been switched to Cash and is getting 5%.As the chart below shows, this method has the desirable features of sustained grow in a variety of market conditions while avoiding deep losses when the share market falls.As the chart and table above shows, over this time scale the Switching method is substantially ahead of both the “Balanced Fund” and the 100% Shares fund..Consistency of the Switching MethodThe consistency of the Switching method is more clearly illustrated by the next three charts which shows the percentage gains (and losses) each calendar year from 2001 to 2009.These charts show that the Switching method has consistently return positive results since 2001. While both the 'Balanced' fund and 100% Australian Shares have had negative years and are much more variable in their results.The low variability of the Switching method from year to year is one of its key features as it gives me re-assurance that I can plan, each year, on having my superannuation funds available next year to support my retirement.Summary of ResultsSo, in summary, a check of the Switching method over the last 10 years (since 4th July 2000) shows a steady rise in value with low variability from year to year. And this consistency does not cost you growth. The performance table shows that over the last 10 years the Switching method is well ahead of both a Balance and 100% share fund, 95% increase in funds for the Switching method versus 67% for the Balanced Fund and 61% for the 100% shares option. (Again see the footnotes for assumptions made in producing these figures.) Having convinced myself that my switching method performed well, I started using it in July 2007.My Switching MethodStep 1: Selecting the Super FundTo use this method I need to be able to regularly change where my super was invested, shares, cash etc. Many funds only allow changes to be made a few times a year. This is not often enough to allow the transfer of the super out of shares when the share market starts going down and transfer it back to shares when the market starts going up.I found that AustralianSuper, an industry super fund, (www.australiansuper.com) allowed me to change the allocation of my super on a weekly basis with out penalty.Email me if you find other suitable funds that provide a similar service. Make sure you check the current terms and conditions before making your choice of fund. * www.hostplus.com.au, an industry super fund, say they allow weekly changes free of charge. * www.intrustsuper.com.au ,"Intrust Super, a 100% Industry Super fund, also allow their members to switch investments weekly and at no extra charge to the member." * www.agest.com.au “We do not currently limit the number of investment switches you can make, nor do we charge a fee for making an investment switch. However, we do reserve the right to change these arrangements in the future. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice if this is to occur.”I transferred all my super from my previous fund to AustralianSuper.Step 2: Internet AccessI need access to a computer with an internet connection to perform the checks described below and to advise AustralianSuper of my switch request. I have a computer and the internet at home, but could just as easily use the internet facilities at the local library or internet café.Step 3: Deciding when to Switch.Each weekend, I spend a few minutes performing the checks described below and then, if necessary, use the AustralianSuper web site to request a switch. AustralianSuper then actions the switch early the following week.If I am currently 100% in Cash, I am asking myself “Is the share market going up? Should I switch to Shares?”. If I am currently 100% in Shares, I am asking myself “Is the share market going down? Should I switch to Cash?”. Initially I transferred all my super to AustralianSuper’s Cash option.To answer the questions I use two Simple Moving Averages (SMA) indicators on the Australian All Ordinaries (au:xao), so first I will describe how I plot those indicators using BigCharts. (www.bigcharts.com). For more information on Simple Moving Averages search on the internetThe Simple Moving Average Indicators (SMA):To plot SMA(3), I first bring up www.bigcharts.com on my computer's web browser. At the main screen (sometimes there an advertisement I have to click through), I type in au:xao for the stock code and click on Advanced Chart. (i.e. the second button, Advanced Chart)This brings up a chart of the Australian All Ordinaries. (shown here as taken on 17th Sept. 2009)On the left hand side of the web page (shown above) I click on the “time frame” arrow and when the box opens I select “2 months”, “Daily”. I then click on the “indicators” arrow and choose “SMA (3-line)”, 10 and then click the Draw Chart button at the top to redraw the chart with these settings.There are three coloured code lines with their legend at the top of the chart, SMA(10) yellow, SMA(20) blue and SMA(30) red. If the SMA(10) line is above the SMA(30) line on the day I check then I take that as an indication that the share market is going up in the short term. If the SMA(10) line is equal or below the SMA(30) line then I think the share market is going down and I switch all my super to Cash.I only want to be in the share market when it is generally rising as well as going up in the short time and I want to be out of the share market when it is generally falling. As an indication of this I use a second SMA time interval of 40 (shown below)If the SMA(40) line is above the SMA(120) on the day I check, then I think the share market is going up in the long term. On the other hand if the SMA(40) is below or equal to the SMA(120) line then I thing the share market is going down in the long term.To see how this works look at the chart belowPlace a piece of paper over the second half of the chart and look at the SMA(40) and SMA(120) lines on the last visible date. Then slide the paper to the right and see how well the SMA line indicated the direction of the share market.As you can see for most of the down trend and most of the up trend, whether the SMA(40) line is above or below the SMA(120) line, is a good indicator of the direction of the market. But these lines change slowly and where they cross is always after the top and the bottom of the market.I don't mind being late to get back into the market when it starts to rise again but I want to get out quickly if it starts to fall. That is why I also use the SMA(10) over SMA(30) to make me switch early if the market starts to fall. The SMA(10) over SMA(30) lines move much more quickly and so cross sooner when the market starts to fall.Deciding When the Switch: The Rules I ApplySo now that I have shown the two sets of SMA indicators I use, here are the rules I apply to tell me when to switch from Cash to Shares and back again. I perform the following checks each weekend using the SMA values for previous Friday.If I have all my super in Shares, when do I switch to 100% cash?As soon as the Friday's SMA(10) line equals or falls below the SMA(30) lineORif the Friday's SMA(40) line equals or falls below the SMA(120) line.If I have any doubt about whether or not the line is on or below the other one, I assume the worst and switch to the safety of Cash.If I have all my super is Cash, when do I switch to 100% Shares?Here I am more cautious because having my super is shares is much more risky then getting 5% in Cash. Before I will switch my super back to 100% Shares, ALL the three following conditions need to be met. 1. the Friday's SMA(40) has to be above the SMA(120) line, indicating a long term rising market 2. the Friday's SMA(10) has to be above the SMA(30) line, indicating the market is going up in the short term 3. The All Ordinaries close on Friday must be above the All Ordinaries open on the previous Monday, indicating the market rose in the previous week.For condition 3) the left hand tick on each black bar is the open for that day and the right hand tick is the close. So left hand tick 5 bars (days) ago must be below the right hand tick for the last bar to satisfy condition 3).Again, if I have any doubt about whether or not one of the above conditions has been met, then I assume the worst and leave all my super in the safety of Cash for another week.Conclusion:I have found that by selecting an appropriate super fund and using the simple rules described above, based a chart of All Ordinaries index available on the internet, that I was able to avoid heavy losses in my super over the last few years while still making gains now that the share market is recovering. I sometimes lose money switching into Shares and out again, but I catch the major rises in the market while avoiding the major falls.Spending a few minutes once a week applying this method, lets me sleep peacefully every night when the share market goes in to a substantial decline because this method has has told me to put all my super into Cash and using this method also removes the worry about when I should put my super back into Shares as the market recovers.Footnotes:Assumptions used to produce the chart of indicative returns since July 2000 and since July 2006. 1. The Cash return was fixed at 5% per annum 2. The profit or loss was applied each time a switch was made. 3. A switch lodged on the weekend was executed at the opening all ordinaries index on the following Tuesday. 4. No dividends from the shares were applied and no superannuation fund fees were deducted 5. The superannuation Share Fund tracks the All Ordinaries Index. 6. The “Balance Fund” is 60% shares and 40% Cash and is rebalanced to 60/40 each 6 months on the first Tuesday in January and July

Protecting Your Superannuation

WHERE IS THE ECONOMY GOING? SHOULD I INVEST?

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:29:00 +0000

I received two questions from readers expressing concerns about issues that I suspect are on a lot of people's minds right now so I thought I'd share them with you today:

From Betty W.: "Keith, my broker is telling me we ought to have a lot more invested in stocks. But my husband and I are uncomfortable because it seems too risky. What do we do?"

Here's two things to think about:

* First - Contrary to what Wall Street would have you believe, risk is not about what you ought to be doing. It's about how much pressure you can take - financial or otherwise - before you come unglued.

* Second - As many people have found out the hard way courtesy of the financial crisis, having an appetite for risk is very different from having the capacity to deal with it. In reality, most investors are far more conservative than they thought.

Here's the thing - thanks largely the introduction of modern portfolio theory and computerized investment modeling, risk has gone from being something investors avoided to something investors gladly took on. And this has permeated every level of investing psychology today with the net result being that millions of people think they ought to have x% in stocks, x% in bonds, x% in real estate etc.

At the same time, Wall Street has been very effective in creating the belief that if you don't pay to play, you risk coming up short. In other words, they've turned the equation around.

This is like telling a five year old that he has to touch the hot stove even though he knows he may get burned. Or, worse, creating the incentive to do so just because the odds of getting burned are small.

This makes no sense.

Therefore, i f you're comfortable with lower numbers and can live within your means, there is absolutely nothing wrong with more conservative allocations than your broker recommends.

Johan W. asks: "Hasn't the Fed saved the day and shouldn't we be piling into US stocks?"

Not in my opinion. The road Team Bernanke is taking is filled with potholes.

A fivefold increase in lending capacity and a doubling of the national balance sheet will not help. Instead of expanding credit, history shows that the Fed should be tightening it.

The thing that most of our leaders have not grasped yet despite their good intentions is that any move to tighten things up will require the Fed to sell billions in bonds - a process that could tank prices and cause yields to skyrocket. (Prices and yields move in opposite directions.) So my guess is that they will do what all politicians do and delay making the decisions that put a real recovery in motion for at least two years or after the horses flee the barn again, whichever happens first.

To be fair, though, Bernanke is not stupid. There is a slim possibility that he may get extremely lucky and that would, no doubt, be great for everybody. But I'm not going to hold my breath. I think the market , particularly as the move to hard currencies or international baskets accelerates, are far more likely to vote with its feet and that the dollar could lose up to 50% of its value in the next 10 years. If that sounds improbable, consider this - the U.S. dollar index has already lost 14.9% since its high in March 2009.

As for piling into U.S. equities, that'd be exceptionally risky for reasons related to Betty's question. Given what we know about world markets and about stocks in particular, you never want to pile into anything - especially now. The risks are simply too high.

Instead, it's better to keep an eye focused on what we know is headed our way - a stronger group of emerging nations that are influencing capital markets like our own in unprecedented ways - and make measured decisions to invest accordingly.

Therefore, to the extent that we do invest in the U.S. (and we do at Money Morning), we want to do so only to the extent those choices have solid cash flows and derive substantial portions of their earnings from global markets that are growing much faster than our own. China, Brazil, and South Korea spring to mind, for example.

In closing, if you're wondering what to do next and how to move forward in the markets, you might find my new book, Fiscal Hangover, helpful. It's due out in a little over a week and it covers how the U.S. role in the world economy is shrinking at unheard-of rates, how government intervention may prevent the U.S. markets from normalizing for years to come, why Asia could become the center of the financial world... and much more. So far, the reviews have been excellent.

With "Buy" and "Sell" Calls on Brazil ETF, Money Morning's Marquez Catches a 148% Move

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:38:00 +0000

Money Morning Staff ReportsAmong the many adages that longtime investors are probably familiar with is one that counsels “you’ll never buy at the very bottom and will never sell at the very top.”But with his recent market calls on the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Exchange-Traded Fund (NYSE: EWZ) in his “Buy, Sell or Hold” column, Money Morning Contributing Editor Horacio Marquez may have done just that.Back on Oct. 27, 2008, Marquez told readers of his popular "Buy, Sell or Hold" column that the iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF was a "Buy." At the time, the ETF that’s designed to reflect Brazil’s overall stock market was trading at $29.94 a share.But that’s not all: Marquez actually made his market call almost exactly at the market bottom for the Brazil ETF, which had actually closed at $100.47 a share on May 20, 2008. After achieving what would turn out to be the closing high for the year, EWZ started a slow decline that accelerated as the summer turned to fall.By the time Marquez penned his column, the Brazilian ETF had plunged 70%, enabling him to make his “Buy” recommendation at what was essentially the bottom for that ETF.And once he did so, the ETF’s share price began to rally almost immediately. Coincidentally, in the four days following the publication of his column, the ETF zoomed 31%.As it turns out, that was just the start.On Friday, Oct. 23, the ETF closed at $74.34, meaning it had zoomed 148% since Marquez’ original “Buy” column was published. That gain came almost in exactly 12 months.

With "Buy" and "Sell" Calls on Brazil ETF, Money Morning's Marquez Catches a 148% Move

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The Dethroning of the U.S. Dollar Will Happen Sooner Than You Think

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:28:00 +0000

The Dethroning of the U.S. Dollar Will Happen Sooner Than You Think

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Is Timothy Geithner A Roadblock to Regulatory Reform?

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:09:00 +0000

By Jason Simpkins Managing Editor Money Morning

Financial disclosure forms revealed last week that some of U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner’s closest aides earned millions of dollars a year working for top Wall Street firms.That finding alone would not likely be enough to cast doubt over Geithner’s ability to take the lead in reforming the financial system. But this isn’t the first time the Treasury Secretary has come under fire for maintaining close ties with Wall Street, while failing to look out for the interest of the average American.Indeed, disclosure of Geithner’s phone records showed that the Treasury Secretary has had Wall Street firms on speed dial for the duration of the crisis, and a government watchdog group recently blamed him more than any other government official for the oversized bonuses that were paid out to financial firms that received taxpayer bailouts. Together, these revelations have undermined confidence in Geithner’s ability to be a dynamic force in pushing for the financial regulatory reform he’s promised. The advisors who came under scrutiny last week included Lewis Alexander, a former chief economist at Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Mark Patterson, a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), and Matthew Kabaker, who earnings millions of dollars at private equity firm Blackstone Group LP.Alexander, who in March left Citigroup to join up with Geithner, was paid $2.4 million in 2008 and the first few months of 2009, Bloomberg News reported. Kabaker, who had a hand in crafting the plan to spur banks to sell their toxic assets, earned $5.8 million working on private equity deals at Blackstone in 2008 and 2009 before joining the Treasury in January.

A large portion of that payout was in stock that Kabaker received when Blackstone went public in 2007.Goldman Sachs Group Inc. paid another advisor to Geithner, Gene Sperling, $887,727 for advice on its charitable giving, and fulltime lobbyist Mark Patterson $637,492, according to Bloomberg.Lee Sachs reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from New York hedge fund Mariner Investment Group.Because these advisors work as so-called counselors, they don’t require Senate confirmation, yet they still help oversee the $700 billion banking bailout and influence financial regulatory reform, including limits on executive pay.

Critics, including those in President Obama’s own cabinet, contend that this presents a conflict of interest.“The influence of money and lobbies on Washington has reached a shameful level,” Paul Volcker, chairman of the newly formed Economic Recovery Advisory Board, told the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. “Not to mention the fact that, since many Treasury nominees have not been confirmed by Congress, Geithner is surrounded by private advisors. Eight months into the new administration, the Treasury does not yet have a staff of [its own] officials. And this raises the question of using informal advisors who come from Wall Street. It should not happen.”It’s not just Geithner’s aides that have ties to Wall Street, either. The Treasury Secretary’s phone records show he had at least 80 conversations with top financial figures since January 28. That includes 10 discussions with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (NYSE: JPM) Jamie Dimon and 22 with Goldman Sachs Chief Lloyd Blankfein. Blackrock boss Larry Fink and Citigroup luminaries Dick Parsons and Vikrim Pandit also ranked high on Geithner’s call registry.It’s not unusual for the U.S. Treasury Secretary to keep close contact with his corporate counterparts, but coupled with his previous position as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of New York, Geither has garnered the perception of being particularly cozy with Wall Street bigwigs.“I don’t mind that he’s talking to Wall Street,” said U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-CA, “The problem is he appears to be listening.”AIG ArbitrageAccusations such as these were underscored by a recently released watchdog report that blamed Geithner for $168 million in bonuses paid out to executives at AIG, a company that received more than $180 billion in taxpayer funds.Neil Barofsky, the Special Treasury Department Inspector General who is in charge of overseeing the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), characterized the payout as a “failure of communication and a failure of management” on the part of the Treasury, which he said “outsourced its oversight” to other agencies.

AIG argued that it had no choice but to pay the bonuses, a large portion of which went the it’s Financial Products group that led to the company’s downfall and exacerbated the financial crisis.AIG asked some of its employees to return the money voluntarily, but so far the insurance company has recovered just $19 million of the $45 million it asked the recipients to repay.While the government – which now owns 80% of the company – has said it has little authority to rescind pre-existing contracts, Barofsky accused both the Treasury and Congress of missing opportunities to demand renegotiations.“Just because it was a legally binding contract didn’t mean there weren’t other alternatives,” said Barofsky.“They didn’t think it was that big a deal – $168 million was a drop in the bucket,” he added. “Their concern was paying back the debt.”Barofsky is currently working alongside TARP “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg to reduce the $198 million in bonuses AIG is scheduled to pay out in March 2010.

Other critics have been even harsher with their criticism.“We have a Secretary of the Treasury who failed to know what he should have known, failed to do what he should have done, and has failed to give us transparency,” U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA told ABC News. “We’re hearing that, one, we’re not getting transparency and, two, even if we get transparency, if we can’t trust the judgment and decisions of the Treasury, then, in fact, we’re not going to get the outcome the American people expect us to get. And we’re going to continue to have non-essential people paid huge bonuses in many cases that are unnecessary with taxpayer dollars.”Window Closing on Reform?Geithner’s ties to Wall Street and his inability to effectively manage the AIG bailout leave questions about his role in financial regulatory reform.Geithner predicted world leaders at the Group 20 meeting in Pittsburgh would sign off on “really far-reaching … pretty detailed” executive-pay standards to take effect by year’s end and set out a timetable for reforming key aspects of financial regulation. But such comprehensive reform has so far failed to materialize.

Similarly, more than a year after the collapse of Lehman Bros., a comprehensive plan for domestic reform has yet to emerge from the halls of Congress.Chairman of House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank plans to “mark up” provisions on hedge funds, insurers and brokerages this week – on Oct 21 and 22 – and bring a reform package to a vote on the House floor in November.“I think we’re making a lot of progress, I think momentum is now with Chairman Frank and [Senate Banking] Chairman Christopher Dodd and, as the president said last week, it’s very important that we try to get this done this year,” Geithner told reporters on Tuesday.However, some analysts believe that the window for significant reform is closing as the U.S. economy edges toward recovery.“As we get a little more distance from the actual collapse and things begin to stabilize, then people think we don’t need to take as much drastic action,” Michael Bernstein, an expert in political and economic history who is currently serving as provost at Tulane University, told NPR. “That’s a very disappointing reality.”In fact, a large portion of the anti-business rhetoric that provided the backdrop to the financial crisis has been replaced by public rants against big government and the vehement debate over healthcare reform that has consumed Congress.

“The president has offered a reform proposal that would grant broad new authorities to government bureaucrats while intruding in private markets and restricting personal choice,” Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the senior Republican on the House Financial Services Committee told The New York Times. “The obvious lesson of the events of September 2008 is that we need smarter regulation, not more regulation, not more government bureaucracy, and not more incentives to engage in harmful business practices.”Meanwhile, big financial institutions and community banks have unified against several pillars of the proposal, including the creation of a new consumer protection agency, and tighter regulation and more transparency regarding derivatives and credit default swaps – the very instruments that have been blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis. They’ve also lobbied hard against restrictions on executive pay, The Times reported.“The clock is ticking and we’re at a cross roads,” Travis Plunkett, chief lobbyist for the Consumer Federation of America, told CNNMoney.

“If we don’t see a substantial move this fall, financial reform may wither on the vine.”News and Related Story Links: * Bloomberg: Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds * Money Morning: Wall Street Back to Business as Obama’s Regulatory Overhaul Loses Momentum * ABC News: Watchdog: Geithner “Ultimately Responsible” for AIG Bonus Fiasco * La Rouche: Paul Volcker: Geithner Is Surrounded by Private Advisors * The Wall Street Journal: AIG Bonuses Were a Treasury ‘Failure,’ Barofsky Says * The New York Times: For Obama, a Chance to Reform the Street is FadingShareThisOctober 19th, 2009Why Are “Insiders” Going Long on Oil?

Insiders have pumped an astounding $3.8 billion into oil and gas funds this year. That's a 171% increase year over year. Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are staking even more money on this trend. So what do they know? That the fundmentals on oil are building tremendous pressure - and are nearing a price geyser. China’s hoarding is just one of the factors... not to mention the faltering dollar or the mounting deficit. This report shows you how to play oil before the price spike takes hold. Click here to read this urgent, free report.This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 4:21 am and is filed under Home Page.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Due to the amount of comments we receive Money Morning will not be able to respond to all questions. If you have not already registered to leave a comment, once doing so you will receive Money Morning's Daily Email.There Are 9 Responses So Far. » 1. Comment by Gene Elliott on 19 October 2009: The figure quoted in this article says AIG paid $168 billion in bonuses to executives and employees. I belive the figure was millions, not billions of bonuses. 2. Comment by Jacob Steelman on 19 October 2009:

Why is anyone surprised that Tim has been talking to his buddies on Wall Street? That is the name of the government game – rig it in favor of the ruling elites. Real reform would be getting rid of the Fed (and thus the government sponsored banking cartel) and institute a private free banking system (free of government intervention) to provide the currency required by the market. I assume that such a private system would create an asset based currency such as gold and silver but it could do something completely different if the market wanted it.

Money (our medium of exchange in a sophisticated economy) is simply to important to be left to politicians and bureaucrats and a cartel insulated from competition. A global economy needs one private currency as a medium of exchange for private commerce and finance, not a currency produced by a cartel to satisfy government’s appetite for money to finance wars and to finance regulations that handcuff business. 3. Comment by Gaetan ROy on 19 October 2009: This administration is trying to fix the numerous problemes inherited from the failed Bush admistration, BUT it is absolutely not doing the right thing for Wall Street: wrong person(rooster in the henhouse) and this has to change rapidly or they will lose next year mid term. There is a scandal with Wall Street. So, for heaven’s sake, Obama should not have an ex-wall street representative there, it is just common sense. What is wrong on this?? 4. Comment by Myron Martin on 19 October 2009: The foxes are definitely in the hen house! It is simply disgusting to realize how the Wall St cabal has raped the taxpayer. These highly paid executives should suffer the fate of their decisions, their GREED knows no bounds. Many of them should get the same treatment as Bernie Madoff since they are running the mother of all Ponzi schemes that has impacted all citizens through inflation and debt creation. 5. Comment by Owen K. on 19 October 2009: I too, wonder why anyone is surprised by this. This is the same Treasury Secretary that was laughed at by the Chinese.

The problems in this economy and this Administration’s handling of the economy are coming to the surface. With regard to Wall Street fleecing the average investor, Caravat Emptor! As a parting thought, anyone who thinks that the current economic crises is coming to an end had better take a hard look. As the old saying goes; “We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” 6. Comment by Francis Chan on 19 October 2009:

The next financial meltdown will certainly split U.S. into pieces, if the president does not take a corrective action to prevent it from happening. The government should laid down some rules and regulations to curb greed level of these Wall Street big boys for the national interest. 7. Comment by Viswa Ranjan Ghosh on 19 October 2009: Treasury and Fed are two different puzzles. The former deals with Fiscal policy while the latter deals with Monetary. If anyone thought that a banker would be able to do justice to Fiscal responsibilities should have thought twice. Geithner was definitely a wrong choice. There were much better eligible candidates for the Treasury role – Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, et al. I was truly sad to see a bureaucrat from the Fed pick up the reigns of Fiscal policy. And, indeed, Geithner has successfully reduced a big chunk of the Fiscal stimulus into a Monetary push (”pushing on the string” as Keynes would have said) to stimulate the economy! Truly sad. 8. Comment by Amanda Wilson on 19 October 2009: Geithner…another man from Wall Street..Goldman sachs…he IS NOT what we need in the treasury department…must look closer at his resume…. 9. Comment by nate on 19 October 2009: it’s all a ponzi scheme… it’s been a ponzi scheme and every “recession” was always corrected with an expansion of debt… now the tax payers are providing the source of the expansion of debt and this new bubble will collapse. we must end the pyramid scheme, but jacob is absolutely wrong. we need a competent, strong government, because that is the only entity answerable to democratic process. the free market is a myth and currency must be controlled by an entity for the public good. take the power of money away from the financial institutions and put it back into the hands of GOVERNMENT… we must take the step back from feudalism and move back to the nation state system. we live in a sovereign republic, now a feudalistic state dominated by interests of the elite. take it back now!

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Will Global Warming Alarmism Disappear Like the Hula-Hoop?

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Will Global Warming Alarmism Disappear Like the Hula-Hoop?

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Many Predict US Financial Collapse in September

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:14:00 +0000

Let us contemplate the day in the near future when the consequences of financial chicanery finally outpace the ability of the governments, central banks and big media to cover up and obfuscate the truth. Many respected voices have now gone on record that September 30 or thereabouts will be that day.

Bob Chapman [Internationalforecaster.com] revealed that the US State Dept has advised embassies worldwide to stock up on a year's worth of the local currency in anticipation of collapse of the US dollar. Look for a temporary banking shutdown timed for around September 2009. As under Roosevelt, some banks won't reopen. 96% of bank reserves are currently held with the Federal Reserve who tells the banks not to loan the money, but rather to save it for further banking acquisition and consolidation. Chapman foresees a bank holiday lasting 4-5 days. Chapman thinks this first bank holiday presages a much more significant bank holiday months to years later which will involve simultaneous devaluations of multiple currencies as well as other significant changes in the banking system.

Harry Shultz [as quoted in marketwatch.com] says "Some U.S. embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies; enough to last them a year. Some embassies are being sent enormous amounts of U.S. cash to purchase currencies from those governments, quietly. But not pound sterling. Inside the State Dept., there is a sense of sadness and foreboding that 'something' is about to happen ... within 180 days, but could be 120-150 days."

Benjamin Fulford [http://benjaminfulford. typepad.com/benjaminfulford/] states that for almost a century the US Treasury Dept has been issuing specialized debt instruments to countries with which the US has had a trade surplus. These complex debt instruments are tailored by complex treaties. Unfortunately, the recent US Treasury funding needs exceed the willingness of these creditor nations to extend additional credit. Fulford writes, "The problem is that after nearly a century of issuing these debt instruments, the chickens are coming home to roost. President Obama tried at the recent G8 plus 5 meeting in Italy to borrow more money than George Bush junior did in 8 years. He was told a resounding no. The result should be total economic chaos in the U.S. by September 30th . "

Jim Willie [goldenjackass.com] writes of an Asian led initiative ending dollar hegemony beginning this weekend. Willie suspects that the Fed/Treasury is covertly loaning foreign central banks the money with which the central banks are now using to buy US debt. Increasingly, US debt is being bought by foreign central banks taking up the slack of investors abandoning US Treasury debt. Willie confirms Chapman's comments and says he solicited and received "multiple confirmations." He adds, "CHAOS WILL PREVAIL WITHIN SEVERAL MONTHS, PERHAPS A YEAR AT MOST{his emphasis}."

Jim Sinclair [jsmineset.com] has recently visited China meeting with its leaders. He states that China is increasingly more willing to take on the United States in its apparent maneuvers to inflate its way out of its debt crisis. In early July Sinclair started a 120 day countdown till breakdown of the US dollar ends market manipulation and all those sour economic chickens come home to roost.

OUT OF TRICKS

Seemingly the Federal Reserve/US Treasury have exhausted their bag of tricks. The Fed is fighting rising interest rates, a difficult task given the hyperinflationary debt financing it is now doing. Once rising pressure on interest rates become too much for the Fed to control, there will probably be several sudden economic and financial surprises cascading with currently known dilemmas: crashing dollar; increasing home mortgage defaults; commercial mortgage defaults reaching critical mass; falling bond and stock markets extending insolvency of pension funds; defaults on debt by state and local governments. And don't forget derivatives and further exposure of corruption and criminality on Wall Street. Bernie Madoff may soon have lots of company.

Unable to produce any more financial wizardry, the cynical federal government is arrayed in full battle dress uniform: 1] Mass forced swine flu vaccinations scheduled this fall performed under the specter of martial law; 2] Rumblings of extending the wars in Asia into Iran and Pakistan; 3] Rekindling the Korean conflict may also be in the cards. Of course, don't forget that both Iran and North Korea are client states of the British World Order. All the recent saber rattling involving Iran and North Korea is wholly orchestrated. We need the distractions from the economic crisis, so our clients Ahmadinejad and Kim provide us with the necessary theater. So what will come first, further banner headlines of dollar collapse and market crashes or the distracting theater of more war or 911 type events?

What will this fall really bring? It is not too far away so we shall soon know. Unfortunately, it may make last fall look pretty tame. When the government answers economic distress by preparing for the worst, then the worst may very well be what happens.

----

WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS - DO SOMETHING NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Isn't the financial crisis worrying - and they're making it worse by bailing out the bankers, instead of intervening in the public interest to sort it all out. I just signed this petition supporting a "buy-in" rescue package instead -- it'll be delivered to the world's top finance ministers at the end of the week, so you might want to do the same: http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_public_rescue/98.php

------------
Watching the markets freefall, we know this crisis will utterly change our daily lives -- we're not just spectators any more, and we’re seeing something new –- people and governments directly intervening in the chaos that until now was controlled by reckless and greedy financiers.

Today and all weekend, extraordinary choices will be made by the world’s most powerful finance ministers, meeting to decide our response to the financial crisis. Together, we must make sure that governments don’t just use our money to bail out the banks, but claim a share of public ownership in these institutions for our future, and oversight powers to fundamentally fix the wider system.

We'll deliver our call for a global buy-in package in 36 hours to G7 finance ministers and again to a bigger Global Crisis Summit planned for November -- please sign the petition at the link below, and forward this email to everyone you know. The decisions made this week will shape our lives for years to come:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_public_rescue

Three weeks ago our petition to regulate global finance was waved by Denmark's former prime minister as the European Parliament voted.[1] Two weeks ago our US members bombarded Congress with phone calls for a buy-in not a bailout -- investing in the banks so they stop choking off capital, while giving the public a share for their money and the power to fix the system -- and yesterday, as Britain launched a bold buy-in of its own, word is the United States might finally change course.[2]

Only concerted action by the global community can build a better system, and we can't leave it to the financiers -- so today, we're launching an emergency campaign calling on leaders for a global public rescue to save all our economies. This is what's needed -- a 'buy-in' to financial institutions not a reckless 'bailout', massive public investment stimulus to stave off global depression, temporary guarantee of loans/deposits, and strict new regulations to fix this broken system once and for all.[3] It's a sensible and public-spirited package supported by progressives and expert economists alike -- add your name here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_public_rescue

Leading economists now agree that citizens and our governments are the only force powerful enough to solve this crisis -- only the public can mobilise the investment and oversight needed to fix the financiers' failings, get the economy moving and revive things on a sounder basis. The Great Depression of the 1930s teaches us that we cannot address this crisis with each acting alone -- only by acting together can countries head off disaster.

How we respond to this crisis will shape our lives for years to come. We're still a long way from tackling the fundamental problems of the global economy, but the tide is moving in our direction. So let's take control of our future in the interests of people not financiers, and raise a worldwide voice across borders for a global public rescue. 3.4 million of us in every nation of the world will get this email -- that's a start. Click below to sign, forward this email to all your friends and family, and let's raise a voice our leaders can't ignore:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_public_rescue

With hope and determination,

Paul, Ricken, Graziela, Pascal, Veronique, Iain, Brett, Milena and the whole Avaaz team

PS Congratulations to all those who supported our phone and email campaign on Europe's climate and energy package this week -- it was a stunning victory, we won 95% of what we wanted and our sources say we made a big difference. More soon!

Sources:

1. Winning the vote on financial oversight and regulation in the European Parliament with Denmark's Poul Rasmussen:
http://www.pes.org/content/view/1401/1700098

Rasmussen's Parliament speech:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20080922+ITEMS+DOC+XML+V0//EN#creitem19

2. New York Times and NYU economist Paul Krugman on the UK plan and US shift:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/doing-the-right-thing/

"This would essentially be the plan supported by most economists":
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/10/ny-times-recapitalization-plan-being.html

3. 18 leading economists from across the political spectrum and around the world -- "Rescuing our jobs and savings: what G7/G8 leaders can do":
http://voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/2340

ABOUT AVAAZ

Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva.

A BULL MARKET???

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:49:00 +0000

CLICK HERE TO CREATE REAL WEALTH
Bill Bonner

Yesterday, the Dow was up 90 points. But gold hit a new record high. So did the commodity index, the CRB.

What should you do with your money now?

Today, we take a break from our usual cogitations to bring you something useful. A suggestion.

"Sell the U.S.," we have said.

"Sell the U.K.," say our colleagues in London. The English have very similar problems to the United States - too much debt, too little profitable output, high costs, too little energy, too little food. What's more, the U.K. economy relies far more on the financial industry than America does.

But today we are feeling positive... helpful... almost earnest. We offer some buy-side advice.

Our colleague in Buenos Aires has persuaded us that Latin America is a buy. (Spanish speaking readers are invited to go directly to read his reports unblemished by our bad translations.)

The whole region is booming, says our man in South America. GDP growth is solid to spectacular. Currencies are rising. These economies are relatively unburdened with the high costs and legacy obligations of Britain and America. And they produce what the world seems to want most - food and energy .

"The economy of Peru is gathering momentum," writes Horacio Pozzo. "GDP growth reached 8.99% in 2007, with a strong growth in consumption (rising at a 7% annual rate) and with outstanding growth in capital investment, at around 23.4%.

"Wherever you look, the Peruvian economy is healthy - with a fiscal surplus of 2.6% of GDP and an external surplus of 1.5% of GDP, with record foreign currency reserves of $28 billion, unemployment of 6.9% and an inflation rate, which reached 3.9% last year, under control."

By almost every measure, in other words, Peru has a more solidly growing economy than either Britain or America.

In Brazil, meanwhile, consumer spending is rising too - up 5.5%, compared to an average of only 2.4% in the '90s. How come consumers are spending more? Simple... there's more money in the country and they have more jobs. Earnings have gone up 148% in just the last five years - to a per capital level of $2,794 in 2007. Unemployment has been going down too. It ran into the double digits in 2001 and 2003. Since then it's been coming down, to the lowest level in the last ten years in 2007 - at 7.4%.

Inflation is still running a bit hot in the Amazon. But the authorities are turning on the air conditioners. The key lending rate of Brazil's central bank is 11.25% and may go up, as officials try to hold down price increases. And unlike the U.S. president, Brazil's top man is actually becoming more popular - with approval ratings above 50% and rising.

Money is flowing to Brazil because the country is a major supplier of raw materials and soft commodities - the very things whose prices are rising so sharply. Just last week, for example, Brazilian suppliers got South Korean and Japanese buyers to accept a 63% increase in the price of iron ore. Wheat, of course, is off the charts.

But how do you take advantage of the boom in Latin America... and without getting whacked by a downturn in commodities? Here at The Daily Reckoning, we are suspicious of commodity prices. As soon as you notice a big spike up in a commodity - such as wheat, currently - you have to expect a big spike down. Commodity producers - with some major exceptions - react quickly to price increases. They produce enough to meet the demand... and then, typically, a lot more. Bust follows boom, sometimes so quickly that an investor has little time to get into position.

The 1970s, for example, were boom years for commodities, generally. But the price of sugar actually peaked out at 70 cents per pound in 1973 - at the very beginning of the boom. Marc Faber explains:

"Despite accelerating inflation rates, sugar thereafter failed to make a new high in the 1970s. After 1981, when interest rates fell, the price of sugar continued to decline and bottomed out at 2.5 cents per pound in 1985. And although interest rates continued to decline in the 1990s, sugar was still selling for just 5 cents a pound in 1999... very simply because supplies exceeded demand."

A boom in commodities is almost always followed by trouble. That's why our old friend Rick Rule says, "most people can't believe how cyclical commodity markets are." He goes on to say that in commodities, "either you are a contrarian or you are a victim."

But Horacio makes a suggestion for how to profit from Brazil's boom without getting on the wrong side of a commodity cycle.

TAM is an airline with nearly 50% of the domestic Brazilian market. Air transport in Brazil is rising at 10% per year. Yet, TAM sells at a price that is only 4 times earnings. And it has a price to book value of only 1.14.

Buy TAM, says Horacio.

Latin America is booming. And our colleagues in Buenos Aires, Argentina are well placed to help you profit from the many value opportunities south of the border. They have launched an email report service entitled Informe Moneyweek that covers both Latin American and international investment opportunities. It's written daily in Spanish by South American market experts, Horacio Pozzo and Paola Pecora. If this is something you would be interested in, I encourage you to click here ... and by the way, it's free!

*** London is a remarkable city.

We took the train out to Luton Airport this morning. Standing on the platform at London Bridge Station we watched the early morning trains come in. Out of them came the working classes, people who wear jeans and watch caps and start work early on construction sites, in restaurants and hotels, and in the few other manual jobs that remain in the city center. Later trains bring in a different class of worker... dressed in suits and ties, who walk across the bridge to the City, London's equivalent of Wall Street, and spend their days separating clients from their money. Millions of people come into the town center each day... "I did not think death had undone so many," remarked T.S. Eliot, watching them make their way over the Blackfriar's Bridge.

The center of town has become so expensive that few real Londoners can afford to live there. Instead, there are working foreigners, such as your editor, rich Arabs, Russians, French, Indians - all manner of flotsam and jetsam from the globalised, capitalist economy.

England has a tax rule, dating back some 200 years, that allows these foreigners to live in the U.K. and pay tax only on the money they earn in the country or bring into it. If, for example, a Russian energy billionaire chooses to live in London, his earnings from Russia are tax-free here. Naturally, this little feature... along with London's financial industry and its civilised, law-abiding society... attracts many of the world's rich and footloose.

Envy is a more potent emotion than the desire for wealth itself. Many people in the United Kingdom are annoyed that so many rich people live in their midst without paying taxes. "It's not fair," they say, "that we have to pay thousands in taxes on our meager salaries, while they earn billions and pay nothing." They have a point. It's not fair. But it might be smart. Clearly, the rich spread their money around. They fill the fancy restaurants... buy the expensive cars... go to the theatre. They buy property too... lifting the ceiling on the London housing market to the highest level in the world. They also spend enormous amounts of money in England's equivalent of Wall Street - the City.

They have money to manage and invest... they do mergers and acquisitions... the keep the clerks busy. They keep the high-priced lawyers busy... the dress-shop girls on alert... and the jewelry companies hoping for a big sale. (Last year, celebrating an important birthday, we bought Elizabeth a very little bauble at Tiffany's on Sloan Square. Now we are on the mailing list and treated as though we were an oil prince.)

Americans, of course, are in a class by themselves. Unlike the world's other peoples, the land of the free taxes its own on their worldwide wealth - no matter where they live or how long they've lived there. We have lived outside the United States for the last 12 years. Yet, every one of those years we filed our U.S. tax return and paid our taxes to the U.S. government - just as if we got something for it.

Curiously, this regime often works to Americans' interest. An American in Paris, for example, who earns his money in the United States, probably pays less in tax than any other group in the city. A special treaty between the United States and France permits U.S. citizens - and only U.S. citizens - to discharge their entire French tax obligation on U.S. source income simply by paying IRS what is owed.

But the non-U.S., "non-dom" foreigners in London have an even sweeter deal. ("Non doms" they are called... meaning, they are resident in the United Kingdom, but not domiciliary of Great Britain.) It was probably too good to last. Recently, the Labor government buckled to pressure from the voters and introduced a new tax on the "non-doms." Henceforth, the non-doms will have to pay an annual tax of 30,000 pounds - or about $55,000 - per year, for the privilege of living in the United Kingdom.

This amount is peanuts to the Russian billionaires, of course. But there are thousands of 'non-doms' to whom it is real money. The City has attracted analysts, fund managers, actuaries and mathematicians from all over the world. There are also large groups of foreigners who have made London their home because it is safer and nicer than where they came from. Whole industries have lodged themselves in London - largely because of the tax feature. A big part of the Greek shipping industry, for example, calls London home.

Now, many of these people say they are leaving. The Greeks say they are going back to Athens. The financial industry says it's going to Geneva. And all of a sudden, there's a gush of interest in Dubai.

We don't know how much effect this new tax will have. But it, along with a decline in the financial industry, makes it a poor time to buy property in London.

*** Speaking of Dubai, a full-page ad in a London newspaper announces a remarkable opportunity. "Dubai Property Investment Weekend," it proclaims.

"Learn about off-plan UAE property and return 40% to 50% of your investment per annum."

Hmmm... a yield of 40% - 50%? How is it possible? We don't know, but the ad tells us that we can invest 69,000 pounds and we'll get an annual return of 33,000.

Ha... ha... ha... ha... ha...

It's nice to see the markets functioning as they should, separating fools from their money. The actual return from an investment in Dubai property is more likely to be preceded by a minus sign. Colleague Kevin Kerr explains why:

"I haven't been there [to Dubai] before, and know very little about the country. I saw a special on "60 Minutes" a few weeks ago while trapped on an airplane and saw how that Palm Island is completely sold out but there isn't a soul living there, it's almost deserted.

"I don't think I really grasped how insane it is until I saw some of these pictures and read about plans for a spaceport, yes a spaceport and a 100,000 employee Dubailand. I know this may seem stupid... But where do they get the water (hello, it's a desert), electricity, and everything else to support an infrastructure this big? Again, I know we are all aware of the building craze there, but I just didn't realise the scope until now."

REAL WEALTH

While The Stock Market Tumbles, Property Is Set For Strong Growth & Returns!

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:49:00 +0000

Have you noticed that the Australian share market has taken a dive for 12 consecutive days now?

Some commentators are even talking about a bear market developing and a possible recession.

It’s already the longest losing streak in more than 26 years and shows no immediate sign of a rebound.

Over the past couple of days, major Australian Super Funds have warned about the likelihood of single digit returns in 2008 as a result of the share market fallout.

Commentators are also saying that if the share market drops much lower, many share investors will move their money into the property market because it is perceived as being SAFER and LESS VOLATILE.

This is generally the case when the sharemarket goes south.

Perhaps you’re aware that residential rents keep climbing because of a shortage of rental accommodation and that builders are going bust since they can’t sell their existing stock due to a general fear about rising interest rates.

Smart investors aren’t worried about rising interest rates because they know what strategies to put in place to deal with that situation.

Interesting isn’t it?

CLICK HERE NOW AND FIND HOW YOU CAN CREATE REAL WEALTH

A New Bull Market Begins Now

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:33:00 +0000

By Andrew Mickey

It’s tough to believe, but there is still one bull market raging on.

With the U.S. markets closed, I was looking forward to taking a day to review some current positions—figuring out what’s going to recover, what’s not… and act accordingly. Even though the markets are down, this is still a time to sell the losers.

But after I woke up today at about 4:30am Pacific Time (I’m still getting my sleep schedule back to normal after coming back from Asia), the first thing I did was turn on my computer to see what was happening and found the markets in the red up and down the board.

Hong Kong was down 5.5%. Shanghai’s main index was struck with a 5.1% loss. India fell 7.7%. The DAX in Germany fell 4.2%. And the TSX Venture Exchange (where the most speculative, yet most highly profitable trades are made) was off 6.5% after the first hour of trading.

It was a bloodbath around the world and the U.S. missed it all…in a way. Today’s U.S. market closure was actually one of the key catalysts for today’s worldwide market turn down.

Despite what the news reports say about London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, the deepest pockets and most powerful money managers are mostly in the United States. And with a day off like today, the extra liquidity and buying demand from bottom fishing value traders just didn’t come through.

So, despite what has happened, it’s all just part of the (much needed) correction cycle we’re in now. But a correction, regardless of how bad it ends up being, is just that—a correction.

Over the past few weeks when it seemed like absolutely everything was getting crushed, there were some good sectors that kept on climbing without a hitch.

Practically everything in the agriculture sector has been on a tear. Gold has been dominating the headlines with its meteoric rise to more than $900 an ounce and then its subsequent pullback. But one of the investments that has survived the raging bear, is slowly gaining steam, and has quite a bit of upside is silver.

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That’s right, good old silver. Sure, it’s not as exciting as gold has been recently, but silver is a lot different. What makes silver different is that it’s a useful metal. It’s consumed. Demand comes from industrial sources and new supply is absolutely essential.

That’s why silver is really starting to get my interest. You see, silver is used for a lot of things. You can find silver in automobile engines, electrical appliances, security systems, telecommunication networks, mobile telephones, television receivers and computers.

Jet engines depend on silver-coated bearings for their performance and safety. All major jet engine manufacturers are required to use silver due to its unique metallic properties .

Bottom line, I want you to understand that silver is used in a lot of stuff… and we need more silver to make more of that stuff. It’s not like gold, which has extremely limited amount of uses.

Over the next two years, gold and silver will likely continue to run. Gold might more than double and make it to $2,000 (after many corrections along the way), but I think silver has a much better shot at tripling in value long before gold ever doubles from here.

It all comes down to utility value. Gold has value because the world arbitrarily affords it that value (just like we arbitrarily assign value to the dollar, euro, yen, etc.), but silver has utility value. It’s used in things. And that makes it a lot less susceptible to being the flavor of the month and “hot money” buying and selling like gold is.

So if you’re looking for a good commodity to buy for the next three months or more, silver is the place to be. Regrettably, all signs are pointing to continued weakness for base metals, oil, and energy over the next couple of months.

Good investing,

Hidden Housing Boom That Still Rages On

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:44:00 +0000

by Andrew Mickey

“Congratulations, you’ve just lost $33,000. Good job! You are now a homeowner.”

Do you think this is what new homebuyers hear from their banker and real estate agent after they sign the bottom line? Certainly not. But they should.

Mark Zandi, Moody’s chief economist, declared, “On a national level, the housing market recession will continue through early 2009. [The housing market is] worsening and is already in the midst of its worst downturn since World War II.”

In addition to that, Goldman Sachs expects home values to decline another 15% nationwide. Since the average price of a house is currently $220,800, a decline that size would make the average loss for owning a home over the next year and a half $33,000. Not a time to be buying a house… quite yet.

Even Caterpillar’s CEO, James Owens, said, “The downturn in the U.S. housing market is the worst it has been since World War II and is likely to weaken further next year.”

All this just shows the worst has only begun for the housing bubble, and it’s going to take a few years to get the housing market cleaned up. However, all is not lost.

Granted, the bleeding won’t be over until 2009… at the earliest. The U.S housing market has propped up the U.S. consumer, and with no housing boom, there’s no consumer. With no consumer, there’s no economic growth… and on it goes.

It can all be a little frustrating. But there is one housing boom that still rages on, and investors have been making a mint.

The U.S. housing market is getting all the headlines for falling to pieces, but the Brazilian housing market is growing stronger and stronger by the day. It’s no secret that Brazil has been attracting a lot of attention from the financial community, but the local housing market has failed to really take off like those of China, India, Japan, the United States, Ireland… pretty much every housing market in the world.

All that’s about to change. According to The Economist, “President Lula of Brazil resoundingly won re-election last October, largely on the strength of support from the poor. Their living standards have been soaring. Income inequality has at last begun to shrink.”

Brazil’s poor are starting to earn money for the first time. They can finally buy the things they want. And, as we’ve seen in every other emerging market, one of the first purchases they make is a house.

It all boils down to basic economics. Brazil has lagged behind the rest of the emerging world. It hasn’t been the runaway success that China and India have been.

Brazil’s GDP growth rate over the past four years averaged 3.3%. That’s well behind the 7.3% average for emerging markets as a whole. That’s why I think Brazil is still just really getting started and there’s plenty more growth left in the country.

Brazil isn’t perfect, but it’s getting better. Poor infrastructure, out of control population growth, and a few other factors have kept Brazil down compared to other emerging economies. Basically, Brazil dug itself a big hole that it took a while to get out of.

Now, the ship has been righted and Brazil is about to really start booming. Exports are soaring. The country has foreign exchange reserves of over $100 billion. For one of the few times in its history, Brazil’s inflation is under control at only 3%. The country is finally getting cleaned up economically.

That’s why the Bovespa Index, which tracks Brazilian stocks, is up about 600% in five years. Although Brazil’s stock market has been on a tear, there’s still plenty of opportunity, if you’re willing to look for it.

According to Bloomberg, “Real estate developers’ shares have underperformed the Bovespa stock index.” In fact, real estate stocks have lagged the boom by about 33%. And it won’t be long until the Brazilian real estate stocks catch up with the other high flyers. But you don’t have to go down to Brazil to take advantage of this opportunity.

Gafisa (GFA:NYSE), one of Brazil’s leading homebuilders, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange just like GE and Exxon Mobil. And with the Brazil housing sector poised to catch up to the rest of the world, this one has the potential to deliver gains that U.S. homebuilders D.R. Horton (DHI:NYSE) and Centex (CTX:NYSE) have delivered over the past few years.

Brazil isn’t the only booming growth story in South America, though. The continent is covered with opportunity, mostly in oil. Although the continent has plenty of natural resources, it’s still relatively unexplored.

That’s why my colleague, Christian DeHaemer, is so interested about what he has uncovered there. Christian has been to places like Cuba, Egypt, India, Bulgaria, Libya, Israel, Turkey and Tunisia and developed a knack for turning crisis into opportunity. In fact, during the Internet bubble, he nailed 680% on Broadcom and 572% on Oracle.

But he says, this small oil company found in South America’s “Gunboat Basin” could return even more. The housing boom in Brazil is a pretty safe bet, and with that safety will come a decent return. But that’s not what Christian is looking for right now. He’s looking for the big win. And what he has uncovered could easily trounce that.

Good investing,

Learn about creating wealth for life.

The Only Three Oil Investments You Should Make

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:30:00 +0000

by Andrew Mickey

It’s been an interesting year. The world economy is continuing to grow. The bull market in commodities is temporarily slowing down. More and more horrible announcements continue to come from the U.S. banks as they come clean. And oil prices have moved up 46%.

But as oil prices surge, leading oil companies haven’t enjoyed the run-up. Consider this: While oil prices climbed 46% this year, Exxon Mobil’s shareholders have only seen a 20% gain.

Considering Exxon has more than 2 million shareholders, that’s a lot of people that have completely missed the run-up.

But there is plenty of money to be made in the oil markets. Just take a look at what other oil and gas stocks have done in just the past year:

- Fox Petroleum (FXPE:OTC BB) has climbed 220%
- Contango Oil and Gas (MCF:NYSE) is up 160%
- Evolution Petroleum (EVP:AMEX) more than doubled from its lows

Even the $40 billion offshore oil rig-operating behemoth Transocean (RIG:NYSE) has added 80% in value over the past year.

Clearly, there are some big opportunities in oil stocks. But Exxon Mobil, Cevron, BP and the other large oil companies aren’t going to be where you’ll get market-beating returns. You have to go one step further.

Oil Catch-Up Investment #1: With oil hovering around the $90 mark, many different types of oil are extremely valuable. Heavy oil that costs $40 a barrel to produce profitably, oil sands (which could take as much as $60 a barrel to produce on a large scale) and deep-sea oil that is miles underneath the ocean’s surface makes sense economically.

Currently, billions of dollars are being poured into the areas because the oil majors are betting big that these new sources of oil will provide enough oil to offset declining production from more conventional sources.

As a result, anyone that can help these companies get these types of oil out of the ground and to market has years of growth ahead of it. The oil service sector still offers plenty of undervalued opportunities and specialty firms that focus on these areas will be solid investments.

More specifically, in the oil sands region of Canada, the owners of the new pipelines as well as local natural gas producers will play an extremely profitable role in getting this barely economical source of oil to market.

Oil Catch-Up Investment #2:

The other big problem for oil companies is that they simply can’t find much oil. Of course, there are quite a few companies that help oil companies out here, but the most important ones are the seismic data and imaging companies.

With oil prices still near all-time highs, the Peak Oil theorists are back out in force, screaming, “The world is running out of oil! The world is running out of oil!”

It’s not. However, the world is running out of easy-to-find, easy-to-recover oil. And those companies that can keep costs low and help oil exploration companies increase their odds of hitting crude when they drill are highly valuable partners.

Oil Catch-Up Investment #3:

Finally, the potentially most lucrative oil investment that will allow you to get back some of those missed returns is the emerging oil producers. Too many investors consider these small companies in far off places to be highly risky.

However, it’s that misguided attitude that has helped keep these stocks undervalued. After all, a barrel of oil in the United States costs $90 and a barrel of oil in Thailand is worth $90. There’s no difference. Oil companies don’t care. Your house’s heating system doesn’t know the difference. Cars don’t either. Why should you?

There’s no reason to. That’s why when Christian Dehaemer told me about a small oil company that he recently uncovered, I could instantly see the potential. It’s not the type of investment opportunity for everyone, but if you’d like to learn more .

Sticking to these three different subsectors of the oil industry should help keep you enjoying the remainder of the oil boom. The way it’s looking, we could be a couple of years away from the end of the run and, as we’ve explored here before, wind, solar, ethanol… are going to provide the solution.

Good investing,

When Bank Stocks Fall, Buy “Antibanks”

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:25:00 +0000

By Andrew Mickey

The housing market is in a rapid state of decline. Aggressive lenders are imploding because they overextended themselves by making risky loans to borrowers without the means to pay them back. The mortgage industry is in decline following a multiyear boom.

The combined weakness in all of these sectors is dragging down the entire economy and stock market with them. However, a few “antibank” stocks are about to heat up.

Overall, the current situation seems pretty familiar, right? Is it the Savings & Loan crisis or the subprime crisis? Tough to tell them apart; they’re both eerily similar.

The causes are the same, impact is the same, and the medium-term outcome is going to be the same… a recession and years of lack of confidence in the economy. Two conditions that do not bode well for the slowing bull market we’ve enjoyed for years.

And just like the S&L crisis, the more we learn about how deep subprime-related problems reach, the more it’s looking like it’s going to take years to get out of this mess. Two decades ago, it took years for banks and banking stocks to recover from the S&L crisis. Meanwhile, the antibanks flourished.

There’s always a good investment opportunity, even in the United States, regardless of how gloomy things look. All we have to do is look back to see what to do now.

Following the S&L crisis, it took U.S. economy about five years to fully recover. And just about the same amount of time for the stock market.

Some of the best-performing investments during that time were in, of all places, the financial services sector. Right now, bank stocks are falling apart. The plummeting share prices of widely held Citigroup, Bank of America, Washington Mutual and dozens of other banks have cost investors a lot of money.

The most aggressive and biggest risk-taking banks, which have been acting with a level of responsibility comparable to hedge funds or defunct Savings & Loan operations, are finally paying the price. And they’re taking the rest of the financial services sector down with them. The fallout has dragged down the S&P Financial Services Index by 20% in six weeks.

When an entire sector falls this fast, there has to be a few values that get dragged down with the rest of the crowd.

There are plenty of businesses that do well when the financial services sector is hurting. In fact, antibanks perform best when the financial markets are at their worst. Antibanks are the companies that do best when interest rates are moderate and stock market values for companies are low.

In 1985, just a couple years before the Savings & Loan crisis really started causing problems, Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, founded one of today’s top antibanks, Blackstone Group (BX:NYSE).

They started with a mere $400,000 in cash and a small office in New York City. Now, 22 years later, this antibank has amassed more than $91.8 billion in assets free and clear. When you account for additional capital infusions along the way, Blackstone has earned an average 23% annual return for the past 20 years.

Antibanking is good business… and it’s only going to get better. As the Fed keeps interest rates in a holding pattern to combat inflation yet help spur economic growth and the stock market falls, antibankers like Blackstone will seize the opportunity.

After all, in the private equity and takeover game, its about being able to borrow more money at lower costs and take over public companies with depressed, even distressed, values.

So, if we’re right and expect bank stocks to fall even further and want to take full advantage of the subprime crisis, we’ve got to look at the antibank stocks. Here are three of them:

1. Blackstone Group (BX:NYSE) – As one of the leading takeover artists in the world, falling stock prices are about to be a boon for Blackstone. And with China owning 10% of the company and sitting on well over a trillion in foreign exchange assets ready for investment, Blackstone’s not going to have much trouble raising money, either.

2. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A:NYSE) – The investment company headed by Warren Buffett has averaged returns of 22% over the past 20 years. This antibank’s value-minded investment strategy, long-term outlook and acquisition-mindedness are likely to keep that impressive average holding up strong. Although, the premium valuation on the shares do limit the potential upside.

3. American Capital Strategies (ACAS:NASSDAQ) – Although by far the smallest of the three, it has just as much upside as the others. A healthy balance sheet and a quickly growing revenue stream are going to pay off well for shareholders of this antibank.

All antibanks are created equal. The “Buffett Premium” is alive and well with shares of Berkshire Hathaway not giving an inch. But two other antibanks have been dragged down with the entire financial sector and offer a much better value.

Antibanks Offering Significant Value

When it comes to the subprime crisis, take a look past all the headlines, multibillion-dollar paper losses, eventual finger pointing, or when Congress will decide to step in and throw some money at the problem… and figure out who’s going to prosper.

It’s kind of tough to have so many losers without a few winners in the bunch. Those winners are going to be the antibanks.

Good investing,

Falling Dollar: The Ailing Greenback Is Eroding Your Portfolio!

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 01:21:00 +0000

by Sara Nunnally

You Need a Profit Protection Plan!

You’re seeing it in the news nearly every day now…

“Dollar Sinks to Euro”
“Dollar Drops to Record Low against Euro”
“US Economic Gloom Brings New Dollar Lows”

Over the past year, the dollar has been down against 15 of the 16 major trading currencies. And with the greenback hitting fresh lows against the young euro on Black Friday, a national consumer buying frenzy, investors have been forced to watch as their hard-earned portfolio gains lose ground in the global market.

Just how much could you be losing because of a weak dollar? Let me give you an example…

If you had invested in Exxon Mobil (XOM:NYSE) one year ago, you could have made about 16.7%. But consider this: Those gains amount to only 3.5% in euros.

On the global stage, your dollars have lost about 13% over the past year!

And things are beginning to look a lot worse. Some OPEC nations, like Iran and Venezuela are calling for oil to be denominated in a currency other than dollars. Of course, these two countries are far from friendly, but several other Persian Gulf countries are threatening to unpeg their currencies from the dollar because it’s costing them more and more to buy goods from Europe.

That could force the dollar even lower, and you can’t afford to lose any more of your portfolio gains. This quote from Peter Schiff, author of Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse, says it all: “The dollar’s fall is now so pervasive that the world is walking away from it en masse. The story has even been given some sizzle with the announcement from Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen that she will no longer accept modeling contracts in dollars… For investors, the urgency to divest themselves of U.S. dollar denominated assets has never been greater.”

We’re not saying the U.S. is on the brink of economic collapse, but the worrisome drop in the dollar has a direct effect on you, the investor.

The good news is you don’t have to sit back with your fingers crossed, hoping for a comeback in the greenback. You can do something about your slipping profits, and it’s very simple.

Millions of people are following this straightforward Profit Protection Plan to safeguard their portfolios.

Step 1: Diversify

Listen to this complicated quote from Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon: “As the dollar declines in value, so does the price of oil in non-dollar terms. Consequently, foreigners bid up the price of oil and other dollar-denominated commodities. The result is that the price of crude oil and other commodities rise in dollar terms as the dollar falls in value against other currencies.”

Boil that down, and you’ve got this simple phrase: “Lower dollar equals higher commodities.” Commodities like gold, oil, silver and palladium… Commodities that are easier than ever to invest in, and more profitable. Take a look.

For the past six months, oil prices have climbed some 40%, and gold and silver prices have climbed 26% and 17.5%, respectively. And though this chart doesn’t show an exact inverted correlation, you can see that in August, when the dollar rallied just a bit, oil prices, along with precious metals, tumbled sharply. But ever since September, we’ve had a falling dollar and rising oil, gold and silver prices.

I think you’ll agree, this chart says it all.

Step 2: Profit

There are a number of different ways to hedge your portfolio with oil, gold and silver. Speculators and hedge funds have made a killing in the futures market, and I’m sure there were folks running out to buy gold bullion or silver coins as soon as prices started running higher.

But there are simpler ways that don’t have as much risk as commodity futures or as much hassle as buying bullion or coins.

Let me show you how easy it’s been for investors to profit from the rise in these commodities.

This is a chart of three exchange-traded funds (ETFs): the iShares Silver Trust (SLV:AMEX), the StreetTracks Gold Shares (GLD:NYSE) and the U.S. Oil Fund (USO:AMEX).

The unique thing about these three ETFs is that they trade very closely to the price of the underlying commodity. Just look and compare this chart to the commodity futures chart and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

A bare six months ago, if you had invested $500 in each of these three ETFs, you could cash out now with a wad worth $1,974.60 and average profits of nearly 32%!

That’s more than double the loss of the dollar over the past year.

As an investor, you could simply buy these ETFs as a hedge against the falling dollar, and not only recoup some of your global purchasing power, but make a nice chunk of change as well.

These are very easy ways to follow the gains higher in oil, gold and silver, and I would recommend every investor get positioned now, just for their own protection.

When to Buy the Best Value in Stocks

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:21:00 +0000

by Andrew Mickey

The best news we could have hoped for… isn’t coming. Even a record-setting Cyber Monday isn’t going to save this Christmas from the recessionary Grinch.

According to ShopperTrak, retail sales over the weekend came in at $16.4 billion. That’s 7.3% higher than last year and a pace more than double the 3.6% growth in total holiday sales expected by most analysts on Wall Street.

Is this weekend an indication of how much spending is going to be done this holiday season?

Not a chance. It never is. And this weekend’s sales numbers were artificially inflated. Today’s news is going to be the last bit of good news from the retail sector and the retail sector party the U.S. economy is pinning its last hopes on, is going to be quickly coming to an end. It’s all part of what I like to call “retail deflation.”

Retail deflation is a problem retailers haven’t faced since 2001. Following the tech bubble meltdown, retailers feared stock market declines and losses of paper wealth were going to cause a serious drop in consumer spending. The end result was quite a bit of competition from retailers for every consumer dollar.

Throughout every mall, big-box store and discount retailer, we saw each of them get more and more nervous with each low-traffic, low-sales day that passed. And when retailers get nervous, they cut prices. They’ve got to move their inventory. If it’s not moving fast enough, they’ll cut prices again.

How to Buy Gold for $50 an Ounce

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:18:00 +0000

by Andrew Mickey

It’s coming -- fast. The dollar is in freefall mode. The Canadian dollar hit $1.10 today. The euro is at an all-time high. Oil passed $98 a barrel. Heck, even the Russian rubble is starting to attract some attention for investors.

China is blowing the wad. It’s selling all its dollars. Officially, China said it’s going to “diversify” its $1.43 trillion worth of foreign exchange reserves. Since the country holds so many dollar-denominated assets, “diversify” can only mean one thing: sell U.S. dollars.

And it has. Every currency is soaring in value against the U.S. dollar. Is the dollar going to be worthless? Not a chance. Exports are rising and there are signs of long-term life in the world’s largest economy.

But the next few years are going to be an adjustment period for the over-extended 20-something set that have been living the good life on someone else’s dollar for too long. I wouldn’t leave the U.S. economy for dead yet. Although a recession appears to be coming just a few quarters away, the long-term outlook for the U.S. isn’t too bad.

But, who has five to 10 years to think worry about that -- let alone, 40 years until retirement. We’ve got to make moves now to protect ourselves.

And when people are fearful over a falling dollar, we’re primarily concerned with the broad fear sentiment, which moves markets much more than reality, there’s no better place to be than gold.

$10 Billion Mineral Mine Hidden in Africa’s Rugged Gold Coast…Your chance at 1250%

A 2,600-year-old Egyptian artefact could launch this tiny $2 stock to $27…

Africa has a $10 billion secret. Right now a U.S mining syndicate has stunned the Kremlin and is seizing a commodity fortune!

Gold has been soaring over the past few weeks. As I write, an ounce of the yellow metal is trading for $837 an ounce. That’s just a few bucks away from its all-time high, which it’s looking like it’s going to pass on its way to $1,000.

So what should we do, you ask. There are a lot of options. You can buy gold bullion or coins. And when gold hits $1,000, you’ll be up a cool 19%. Good, but not great.

Or, you can buy the stocks of gold producing majors that, quite frankly, offer very little upside. Shares of Goldcorp (GG:NYSE), Newmont Mining (NEM:NYSE), and Barrick Gold (ABX:NYSE) have already had there run. But they will probably be able to squeeze out another safe 10% or 20% as gold marches on.

But again, we’re looking for a lot more. And for that, we’ve got to turn to the small-cap and mid-cap gold stocks. Fear & Greed’s top gold play, Seabridge Gold (SA:AMEX), has been beating the rest and still offers some good value.

I uncovered this leveraged gold play last October at a conference in New York City, Seabridge got the lowest turnout of the day. In fact, at the presentation it was just me and Seabridge's president and CEO, Rudi Fronk.

Meanwhile, other presentations from Taser International (TASR:Nasdaq) and Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE:Nasdaq) were standing-room only. Now, a little over a year later, GPRE is down 67% and Taser is up about 50%.

Chasing hot stocks can be a wild game, but solid stocks that no one else cares about usually pay off the best. For instance, Seabridge is up more than 200% since I met Rudi for the first time that day.

The reason Seabridge is such an attractive gold stock is that it’s highly leveraged to gold prices. In fact, when gold hits $1,000 an ounce, shares of Seabridge will probably be trading around $54 per share. That’ll be good for a 40% win from here. Or, if you bought last year, it’ll take your gains up to around 280%.

The way I look at Seabridge is like this. It’s like buying gold for pennies on the dollar. For instance, Seabridge has more than 24 million ounces of measured, indicated and inferred resources. That’s $24.1 billion worth of gold.

However, it doesn’t mine it. The gold reserves just sit there. They might be mined someday; they might not. But as long as gold is above $300 an ounce, those ounces are worth something. And with gold at $837 an ounce, the market tells us those are worth $1.36 billion, or Seabridge’s total market value.

All of that works out to about $50 an ounce. Clearly, one of the best values in the gold industry today.

Now, more than ever, is time to take some protection. There are also plenty of opportunities in the junior mining companies. For instance, in my premium investment advisory, we recently picked up shares of a small gold producer that just added to its massive reserves in Venezuela. And shares haven’t had the run-up with many other gold stocks… yet.

When it comes to buying gold stocks now, it’s best to go with Seabridge or an even smaller mid-tier producer. They’re poised for a big run over the next few months.

Of course, gold is one of the most obvious investment ideas around right now. Tomorrow, we’ll take a deeper look into what else we can do to protect ourselves from the ongoing fall of the dollar. After all, investing isn’t always about big returns, but protecting your financial well-being as well.

Good investing,

Andrew

SOLAR STOCK VOLATILITY: SHORTAGES SPELL PROFIT OPPORTUNITY

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:25:00 +0000

by J. Christoph Amberger, President, TFN

Alternative energy sources are supposed to deliver the United States from its dependence on oil imports. At 90 bucks a barrel, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Of course, sometimes you might end up trading one dependency for another.

The solar cell industry currently illustrates what happens if sudden increases in demand cannot be matched by supplies. It's pretty basic stuff. It happens with oil, with pig bellies, and with orange juice concentrate. Demand drives up prices. That's how the market works.

The bread-and-butter photovoltaics industry, for one, got caught in a massive raw material supply crunch. Makers of photovoltaic cells depend on super-pure -- that's 99.99999% pure -- polysilicon, which is essential for the manufacture of computer chips and solar cells.

In 2003, polysilicon was going for $32 a kilogram (the equivalent of about 2.2 pounds). This year it has climbed as high as $200. And yes, that's correct: It costs more than twice the money for a smallish bag of sand than it costs to buy a barrel of oil at record price levels.

There are some solar tech CEOs who predict a polysilicon glut by 2010 that will cut prices to less than $40 a kilogram, maybe even $20 as global production climbs to 100,000 tons in 2010, from 35,000 tons now.

(If I were a CEO of a solar technology company concerned about stock prices and jumpy customers, I would say that, too.)

After all, polysilicon is a highly refined product that only a handful of companies can make, and whose plants cost $200 million and take three years to come on line. Worse, the semiconductor makers appear to be hoarding supplies at this point, restricting the reasonable growth rates in the worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) market for next year.

Accordingly, with the shortages making news headlines, solar stocks have had a rough week. But that's just how traders like it: Volatility spells profits.

Financial News

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:58:00 +0000

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The first baby boomer in America has filed for Social Security. One down, 76 million to go.
Stocks in this sector are capitalizing on the baby-boomer generation... and doing well for investors.
Learn how to supplement your retirement - and put away some money for that rainy day - with the service delivering cumulative gains of 1,197%.
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Baby Boomer Stocks: Subsidizing Your Retirement and Social Security

by Ann Sosnowski, Editor, Diligent Investor

Well it’s official: The first baby boomer in America has filed for Social Security. Her name is Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, a former teacher from New Jersey. She was born one minute after midnight on January 1, 1946.

And in modern fashion, she applied for Social Security over the Internet.

One down, more than 76 million to go.

If Social Security is left the way it is, without privatization or any of the other motley plans politicians have for it, the system will go broke by the year 2041. Over the next two decades, 10,000 people a day will become eligible to receive Social Security benefits.

This just reinforces two important points: It’s important right now for health companies to do whatever they can to deal with the conditions and diseases attributed to aging. And it’s crucial for you to subsidize your Social Security and retirement income with gains from good, solid stock ideas and recommendations.

In Diligent Investor, I take care of this in one simple way: by picking medical technology companies that will help the aging populace as well as help you build your wealth.

"Secret IPO Registry" Projected to Go From $14 up to $90

A remarkable new opportunity has just become available to individual investors. In short, you can own the biggest IPO winners (like MasterCard and Riverbed Technology) while avoiding the IPO “stinkers” (like Vonage), all with one simple and stress-free $14 investment.

It’s called the “Secret IPO Registry,” and never before has a single investment allowed you to profit off the best new companies on Wall Street without the risk or the hassle of “getting in” on each new IPO offering. Follow this link for the full details.

If you’re a baby boomer or older, looking to add income to your retirement through stocks, you’ve done well with Diligent Investor this year. In the third quarter alone, ending September, subscribers were able to make cumulative gains of 466%, with average gains of 29% on each position.

For the year, you could’ve made cumulative gains of 1,197% with average gains of 28%. That already breaks the 1,000% goal I set out for the year of 2007.

Best of all, the medical technology stocks that capitalize on helping the ailments of the baby-boomer generation are doing fairly well.

Right now, we are holding a company that specializes in using a laser developed during the Cold War to rid vascular blockages for arteries, more often than not in the lower legs of aging patients. This condition of blocked arteries in the legs is called peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, and affects at least 8 million people in the country.

This company, currently showing us gains of 16%, is still quite undervalued at $15. Over the next even five years, I see it moving to $60 per share.

Another stock in our Diligent Investor portfolio geared toward the baby boomers is a hearing aid company. In fact, it’s already giving some of our longer-held positions a run for its money, with gains of 24% after only two months of hold time.

This company has patented digital hearing aid technology that makes it a leader in the hearing aid industry. It’s one of our lowest priced boomer stocks, still a steal under $10 per share.

In addition to these two companies, we have two other boomer positions in Diligent Investor: one that deals with medical systems, and one that deals with eyeglasses.

If you’re looking to supplement your retirement, and put away some money for that rainy day when Social Security may not be available, I’d beat Kathleen Casey-Kirschling to the punch. Learn more about Diligent Investor today, and you’ll be on board for the next year, making over 1,000% gains with other smart investors of your caliber.

Chinese Stocks: Capitalizing on the 41% of Chinese that Eat Fast Food Once a Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:34:00 +0000

Over the last week, I’ve eaten McDonalds food twice. And as someone who works out regularly and tries to keep a tab on how many calories I’m putting into my body, every trip to McDonalds turns into a self-induced guilt trip.

I’ve seen SuperSize Me and I’ve read Fast Food Nation… and I’ve even successfully kept myself from eating fast food for months. But sometimes I have to admit that the stress of the day and the busy lifestyle I lead makes me hang my head in shame and pull into that drive-through, order a Quarter Pounder meal and make sure it comes with a Diet Coke.

I might as well deprive myself of the liquid calories if I’m splurging!

And while I may feel guilty about eating fast food a few times every month, we’ve got nothing on the rest of the world.

Building on the passion for anything Western in current Chinese culture, the Chinese are more likely to order and eat takeout meals than Americans. A whopping 41% of Chinese eat fast food or takeout once a week, compared to only 35% of Americans, as surveyed by ACNielson Corp.

In Hong Kong alone, 61% of the population eats fast food at least once a week; 59% of Malaysians and 54% of Filipinos go to carryout restaurants at least once a week.

To put it all in perspective, only 11% of Europeans go to a fast-food restaurant on a weekly basis.

This just reiterates where fast-food corporations are going to see the biggest growth -- in Asia. The demand is there, and the supply has yet to be capped.

by Ann Sosnowski, Editor, Diligent Investor

This $900 Million Bet Has Global Traders Talking…

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:57:00 +0000

By Keith Fitz-Gerald

Contributing Editor

Article from Money Morning

Insiders trade when they know something. They’re not supposed to, but they do anyway. It’s just a fact of life.

Most of the time, it’s pretty petty-ante stuff, but occasionally a trade comes along that makes even jaded professionals like me sit up and take notice.

Just such a trade surfaced last Wednesday when anonymous parties agreed to buy and sell 120,000 SPY September call options using deep-in the-money strikes ranging from 60 to 95.

If you’re not options savvy, don’t worry. SPY (AMEX: SPY) – also referred to as a “Spider” in trader parlance – is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that mimics the performance of the stock market’s closely watched Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (INX). These strike prices equate to a SPY trading between 600 and 950, or roughly 35.81% to 59.46% below where it was Monday.

Any way you cut it, this is a monster trade because it controls 12,000,000 SPY shares. In fact, at a blended price of $7,500 per option, this works out to a $900 million bet that will play out by Sept. 21, when these options expire.

Why haven’t you heard about this on your favorite cable TV money show, or read about it in the business section of your favorite newspaper? Simple: There are just so many possible explanations for this trade that your head would spin. The chances are good that the current lot of reporters just aren’t able to make heads nor tails out of this deal; and with nobody talking, there are simply no warm bodies to interview.

But that hasn’t stopped the professionals in the trading community from trying to figure it all out. In fact, since the trade first came to light about a week ago, the professional trading community I’m a part of has been abuzz with conjecture. That alone makes this a highly unusual trade because – like any small, professional community – we can usually figure out who’s doing what to whom and why – without even having to rely on more than one or two educated guesses. We just know.

But this time around, nobody’s talking.

Naturally, this silence has put the conspiracy theorists on edge and set the blogosphere aflame. Most of the theories are outrageous, but there are a couple that – quite frankly – aren’t so far-fetched and even make some sense. But I have to stress, once again, that nobody who’s actually a party to either end of this transaction has been identified or is talking, which makes this all the more noteworthy – and maybe even a little spooky.

So absent the “who,” let’s take a moment and see if we can’t focus on, and figure out, the “why.”

Pushing aside anything that has to do with UFOs, the “third gunman” on the grassy knoll, the Philadelphia Experiment, or the Soviet K-129 submarine’s failed nuclear strike on Pearl Harbor, my experience as a longtime global-capital-markets trader tells me that there are actually some very real and very rational possibilities amidst the wild hypotheses circulating on the Internet. But, they’re just that – possibilities. And even with my admittedly conservative analysis, the scenarios I provide here could be wrong … either completely, or in part. Conversely, there may be an element of truth to one or more of these.

TAX MINIMIZING SOLUTIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Sonia) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:22:00 +0000

Every action by a rational man is motivated by profit!

This may not be a “profit” in terms of money necessarily, but a profit gained in other ways. It could be a feeling of having done the right thing, the emotional high you get by helping someone or a lift in self esteem you feel when someone praises your work. This is what motivates rational people, not just money.

I am motivated not just by money, but by the thought my readers are attaining their financial dreams with my help. Do you have any idea how good that makes me feel?

It’s Tax Time in Australia
It’s nearly June 30 and that means that in Australia it’s the end of the financial year and if you haven’t already done so you should consider a few last minute adjustments to your tax situation.

How’s this for a list of things you should have a think about….

Increase Superannuation Contributions to take advantage of the changes
Superannuation Splitting
Transition to Retirement Benefits
Salary Sacrifice arrangements
Defer Your Income
Defer Sales of Assets
Accelerate Your Deductions
Make Repairs to investment properties
Write Off Bad Debts
Write Down Trading Stock
Prepay Bills
Write Off Non-Commercial Losses
Add Any Home Office Expenses
Get Your Depreciation Up To Date
Sale of Investments
Income Splitting
Child Care Rebate Claims
Eliminate Capital Gains Tax
Rebalance your SMSF

These are just a few things you can put in place almost right away. Plus of course, now is the time to consider some strategies for next year that will reduce your tax bill even further, with some careful planning. If you would like to know about the strategies that WILL reduce your tax
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