Welcome to the August 2010 Free Edition of The Dollar Vigilante!
It’s been a fairly quiet month in terms of European nations on the brink of insolvency. The fires in Greece seem to have been squelched for the immediate time being and the European Union staged what investment guru Jim Rogers called a “PR exercise” as The Committee of European Banking Supervisors conducted a bank “stress test” which was, again, to quote Jim Rogers, “a waste of time – and journalistic ink.”
And it was, of course. These stress tests, the same as were done in the US last year, are meant to try to calm the sheeple back into submission. The only shock that would ever occur from one of these government stress tests would be if almost all the banks failed – as they should given their ridiculous reserve ratios and mountains of worthless junk on their balance sheets. But the government would never allow that to occur in this giant con-game known as the current world financial system.
And so, the masses appeased for the moment, the month of July went by rather smoothly.
But under the surface much is simmering. In the Big Picture this month, everyone is worrying about a double dip – a red herring as we point out. And we comment on the Downgrade Wars that have begun and look set to continue to guarantee future crisis’ in every corner of the world.
Meanwhile, in Euroland it almost appeared as though European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet found Monetary God and was about to stop the inflationary stimulus game. For Basic & Full subscribers (click here to subscribe) Ed Bugos points out in his economic analysis that the Euro is inherently more of an inflationary currency than is the Dollar and Trichet will have no power to stop the ongoing printing.
Also, for Basic & Full subscribers we introduce three new holdings in our TDV Portfolio. We are expecting a continuation of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) for the foreseeable future and this month in the TDV Portfolio we outline 3 holdings every investor must have in their portfolio to survive the storm.
As well, for subscribers only, in our Expatriation of Ass & Assets section we reveal our favorite country in the world to gain residency, a second passport and even to live as a "tourist".
For our free subscribers we have insights from the original silver trader, Dr. Tom O’Brien, who sees us as about to enter the hyperbolic phase of the gold market. And Private Parts chimes in from Afghanistan with a rather dour look at how billions of dollars are being spent to essentially keep the Afghan police and army high and happy.
And to finish off we have more tips on how to keep healthy, fit and alive in the upcoming financial collapse chaos.
Thank you for receiving our free newsletter and if you find you like what you see please subscribe to our Basic or Full service to receive much more detailed information on surviving the Dollar Collapse.
Let’s begin!
Jeff Berwick
Chief Editor
The Big Picture
By Jeff Berwick
Watching American TV news or reading American newspapers can be dangerous to your mental and financial health. Whatever information they proffer is usually bereft with inaccuracies, fallacies and propaganda.
But, in order to understand what information the public is receiving it is important to take an hour or two per month to tune in to these propaganda dispensers, such as CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and all the rest.
It is a difficult thing to do for a number of reasons. First, practically everything the talking heads say is either incorrect, a lie or something so unimportant in the grand scheme of things - an obvious diversion from the real important issues (Lindsay Lohan, seriously?) - that it is just painful to watch. And secondly, for those that are not used to imbibing this media version of raw sewage on a regular basis, the amount of flashing graphics, alerts and pace of the discussions and debates are so rapid-fire and more shouted than spoken that you can actually feel your heart start to race after watching just a few minutes of any "news" program.
But, in the interests of hearing what is being preached to the American sheeple this month, we tuned in for a few hours over the course of the last few weeks.
There is ALWAYS a buzz word that seems to be omnipresent as though it has been passed down from some overseer to all the media networks for that month to be repeated over and over. A few years ago it was the "goldilocks economy". Then a few months ago after the goldilocks economy had been eaten by the big bad wolf all the networks started yapping constantly about "green shoots".
Well, as anyone who watches this pablum knows, the green shoots are long past wilted and this month's buzzword is:
THE DOUBLE DIP
Yes, it's the double dip!
You couldn't turn the channel without one media pitchman or another blabbering on about how we may be re-entering a recession. Oh, what a debate over whether we were entering into a double dip recession!
Goldman Sachs' installed US Treasury Czar hit the talk show circuit to assure everyone that everything is fine. He proclaimed he not only didn't foresee a double dip, but, "an economy that gradually strengthens over the next year or two."
But, yet again, it is a classic case of propaganda and diversion. Why? Because we never even exited the last recession. It’s tough to double dip when the economy is essentially a skydiver in freefall without a parachute!
Remember, all US government spending counts towards Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And with the US government stimulating like a prostitute on methamphetamines throughout 2009 and 2010 the GDP numbers are highly overstated to say the least. And that's before the government even begins to massage them in whatever way they deem fit. If you look at the Dow in terms of US dollars in the chart below then, yes, it does appear that we entered into a major decline in September 2008, when the Dow was at 11,500. It then went into a rapid crash, hitting its 2009 low of 6547.05 on March 9 before making what looks like a triumphant comeback and almost erasing all of its losses, hitting 11,309 in late April 2010.
At TDV we don’t spend much time even looking at government supplied numbers as they are objects of some bureaucrat’s imagination at this point. Instead we let the market tell us what is going on.
All one needs to do to see that we barely even had any recovery, whatsoever, even with all the quantitative easing and stimulation is to look at the Dow Industrial Index in terms of real money, gold, instead of in terms of the constantly expanding US dollar.
What an amazing recovery it appeared to be. If you use the US Dollar as your basis for looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Index it appears as though the Index plunged 43% in the span of six months and then had a spectacular rebound, rising to within 5% of where it began its slide a year and a half earlier. And now, as you can see, since May the index is off about 5% and this is what has everybody fearing the double dip, possibly heading back down to its lows below 7,000 again.
But this is why it is incredibly foolish and dangerous to use the US Dollar, or any fiat currency, as your sole basis for evaluating assets. If you look at the Dow index in terms of gold in the chart below there was hardly any recovery at all.
As with all things economic and financial in the US, the picture has been totally skewed by the ever shrinking dollar. Consider that the Dow/Gold ratio in 2000 was 43.7. In other words, in the last ten years, in terms of real money, the Dow is down 81%! A virtual wipe-out. Catastrophic. And something that matches much more the current economic climate in the US, with its real unemployment rate, as calculated by Shadowstats.com in the chart below, at nearly 22%.
As you can see in the chart above, compared to gold, the Dow did begin to decline from a ratio of 14:1 in September, 2008 and bottomed at about 7:1 in May, 2009. This matches up similarly to the drop in the Dow in US Dollar terms - both show a drop of 40-50%. However, look at the so-called recovery since May of 2009. Since it hit its low of 7 it rebounded only slightly and, in fact, has been meandering around 8 for the last 3 months. So, in gold terms, the Dow only experienced about a 15% increase in the last 16 months. That's a far cry from the 95% increase registered in dollar terms.
So, should we be all talking about a potential double dip? Double dip?? The Dow is down 81% in the last decade and US unemployment is at nearly 22%. More like Double Absolutely-Completely-Devastated! The US, in fact, has just completed its first lost decade and there is no hope on the horizon that anything is going to change anytime soon. Just look at this chart of employment “growth” comparing past decades to the 2000s.
And the scary part is, this still isn't over and likely won't be over until we hit a Dow/Gold ratio of 1. Whether that means the Dow at 3,000 and gold at $3,000 or the Dow at 50,000 and gold at $50,000 will just depend on what Helicopter Ben Bernanke and his criminal crew of cohorts does in the coming months.
TRILLONARIO!
That is one of the reasons why unbacked fiat currencies issued by central banks are so dangerous. Because if you use these currencies on which to base your valuation of assets you can end up wildly misinformed. And wildly misinformed investors quickly become broke.
But we have lived in such a centrally planned, false economy for so long now (nearly 100 years, on the birthday of the Federal Reserve in 2013) that most people think it is just natural for prices to always go up. The truth is simple: if the amount of money were to always stay the same then the prices of most things would always either stay the same or, in the case of an advancing technological free market, prices would consistently go down. They would go down because competition, innovation and new technologies would always find ways to give people items for cheaper.
That's a far cry from where we are at today. It used to be that millionaires were rich people. Now you need to be a millionaire just to be able to buy a decent house in any major global city. Just having a million dollars will barely get you a 1,000 square foot apartment in Hong Kong.
Now just one superstar athlete, like Lebron James, has Billion dollar earning potential. R&B singers and rappers can't rap about making millions anymore or they look like underachievers. Houston based rapper Chamillionaire is being inflated into obscurity while R&B singer Travie McCoy just released a song called "Billionaire" just to keep up with the times.
You need look no further than south of the US border to see where we are headed. In Mexico they have a lottery commercial regularly aired on TV called "Trillonario!" Ay mami!
And it's not just US Dollars. It is Euros, Pesos, Real and Yen.
And whether any of them even exist a few years from now is highly debatable.
DOWNGRADE WARS
This race to the bottom for fiat currencies is being hard fought by all involved. No one wants to be the first to reach the bottom but they all have to play somewhat nice as once one or two currencies go under it will likely start a rapid cascade that will soon see most of the major currencies quickly collapse.
For a while everyone tried to play nice but there are now significant cracks showing in the public facade of togetherness.
Many have already forgotten but the first real shot fired in the Downgrade Wars came from the US in late April of this year when US based Standard & Poor's downgraded the sovereign debt of Greece to "junk" status causing Greece to immediately go into crisis.
What had happened is that the US managed to stave off collapse in 2009 with trillions of dollars in quantitative easing and bailouts but by early 2010 it was becoming clear the stimulus was wearing off and the patient was again about to die. Left with very few bullets the US still had one or two tricks left up its sleeve to keep the American public’s mind off of the recession and wars. This trick? Diversion.
Greece and most of the "Club Med" European nations had been in dire shape for years but in this crazy world of confidence-money it would take a downgrade from a major ratings agency to actually make everyone realize that Greece was as good as dead.
Almost all of the western nations, with the possible exceptions of Germany, Canada, Australia and Norway and a few others have been dead for a long time but it's been like a strange version of Weekend at Bernie's, except there are 15 Bernie's. Japanese Bernie is propped up over at the sushi bar, American Bernie and UK Bernie are both leaned against each other on the couch. Greek Bernie is leaned against the Gyro machine, his shirt having just caught fire. Another wacky predicament for the central bank and political smile-sters to try to attend to before everyone catches on that half the people in the room are long dead.
Yet the whole world seems to want to play along. Nobody wants to be the first to admit it. It is only when a major ratings agency finally admits the truth about the sovereign debt of these countries that all of a sudden everyone opens their eyes.
And that is what happened in April when US based Standard & Poor’s, likely on direction from the US Government, decided to downgrade Greece in order to divert attention from the ongoing catastrophe in the US.
What is most shocking to TDV is that people still listen to these ratings agencies at all. The major US based ratings agencies tripped off this entire global financial crisis by labeling securitized liar loans as Triple A when they were outright ticking time bombs. Yet it seems as long as they put their AAA on something, everyone just nods and says, "Yup, that's AAA alrighty!"
But ever since the US pulled this trick on Greece and set the whole European Union under the spotlight things have changed dramatically. The one-for-all, all-for-one exterior that the major players in the G20 had been trying to portray was shattered on that day in late April. And any last semblance the US had of leadership was finally lost.
Timothy Geithner went to the G20 meeting in Toronto in late June to implore the other nations to continue on with stimulus but no one was listening to him or the US anymore. Soon after, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet wrote an op-ed piece in the Financial Times on July 23rd entitled, "Stimulate No More - It Is Now Time For All To Tighten."
A smart idea, if it were to actually happen. Or even were possible.
But here at TDV we know better than to listen to Central Bank hucksters. Even if Trichet was being genuine and did want to tighten and stop the inflation he can't. He can't, at least, without Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy and more defaulting on their debts causing the European monetary union to collapse.
Trichet's commentary in the Financial Times came only a few days after Moody's downgraded Ireland to Aa2 on July 19. Just the latest shot fired in the Downgrade Wars.
Not to be outdone, two days later, on July 21, China entered the fray. China's leading credit rating agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., cut the USA's credit rating from AAA to AA. Of course this didn't even make it into the controlled mass media in the US but it is big news.
IT'S UP TO CHINA NOW
In a huge sea change, China has been reducing the amount of exposure it has to American sovereign debt. But there is just one problem: they have so much American debt that it's nearly impossible to get rid of it all. And certainly without causing the US Dollar to drop to zero, overnight, leaving China without one of its largest trading partners and a pile of worthless paper.
China has been buying up assets and looking to diversify their huge reserves all over the world. They even bought over $8 billion of soon to be worthless Japanese government bonds in May - quadruple the amount they normally buy. Clearly they are scrambling for alternatives to US debt to store their huge amount ($2.4 trillion) of reserves. It should be noted, however, that most of its investment in Japanese bonds all went into very short-term bonds such as 90 day notes. Clearly they know that sitting there too long is dangerous as well.
What China is awakening to is that their pile of US government debt is actually so huge now that it is impossible for them to actually buy much with it. That is because as soon as they start to sell significant quantities the US dollar will collapse almost overnight.
The Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange recently stated, "Gold is globally recognized as a store of value and can be used for urgent payment, but... it cannot become a main channel for investing our foreign exchange reserves."
Translation: “We have so many dollars that we would absolutely overwhelm the gold market if we tried to use our reserves to buy gold.” After all, a rough guesstimate of all the gold in the world adds up to about 10 billion ounces (an amount that all combined would form a cube only about 83 feet per side). 10 billion ounces of gold at recent prices means all the gold in the world is only worth $12 trillion. Therefore, if China were to use all their reserves today to buy gold at today's prices they would buy up nearly 25% of all the gold in existence.
And so they are right, they currently are not able to convert all their reserves into gold because it would be impossible to buy that percentage of all gold without turning the market for gold into complete chaos. But that presumes that current prices stay where they are. There will, very soon, come a day where they can use all their US Dollars to buy gold and it won't make a massive impact on the gold market. How? In the near future gold will be trading for anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 and upwards per ounce.
This means that China's $2.4 trillion will then only buy 2.5%-5% of all gold in existence, a number which is feasible and, in our opinion, a highly likely outcome.
The Dollar Vigilante Portfolio
CURRENT MACRO OUTLOOK
Stock Market: NEUTRAL in short, medium and long term
Neutral in the short to medium term; looking for stock prices generally to keep up with inflation, but no broad-based positive REAL returns expected for the next 5-10 years
USD Index: NEUTRAL short to medium term; BEARISH long term
Interest Rates: BEARISH short, medium and long term
Interest rates to skyrocket higher in the next 1-3 years
Gold: BULLISH in the short, medium and long term
Price target of $1,500 USD within 6 months. 5 year target of $3,000-$5,000 USD
Commodities: NEUTRAL in the short term, BULLISH in medium and long term
Gold Stocks: NEUTRAL/BEARISH short term, BULLISH medium and long term
Looking for potential weakness in the summer months and then expect the HUI (AMEX Gold Bugs Index) to advance 55% in final quarter and into the first quarter of 2011
Basic & Full Subscribers received a full detailing of our 3 top must have holdings to survive the Dollar Collapse. Click here to subscribe now and receive this information. As well, on August 7 we will be sending out a special report to Basic & Full Subscribers entitled "Investing in Junior Mining Companies" which gives you our combined 40 years of wisdom in investing in this sector of the market which can garner gains of 1,000% and more! And on August 15 we are sending a junior stock pick to our Full subscribers list. Subscribe now to receive these reports!
Perspectives From the Original Silver Trader
By Dr. Tom O’Brien
Editor’s Note: We include these casually written statements from Dr. Tom O’Brien each month as an interesting way to get a perspective from one of the most central figures in the last gold/silver bull market
Greetings TDV'ers!
On the morning of July 22, the US Dollar dropped over 900 points and gold made a major turnaround. In my view, this was a classic "Bear Trap" in which during a major bull move, many observers are anxiously looking for a "Top" and anticipate every correction as that Top.
I have made more money faster in moments like this than any other method. As we all know timing is critical and almost every professional commodity trader knows about the traditional "summer doldrums" of price pressure from July - August to a seasonal fall rally. This pattern was true in the 13 years of the last commodity bull run (1967-1980), during the 20 year bear market (1980-2000) and latest Bull phase (2000-?).
I believe we will witness an earlier reaction or correction phase in early August for the biggest leg of a major price increase in commodities and gold.
We are entering the hyperbolic phase - Wave Three - the longest and biggest phase/cycle. The phase we all have been waiting for.
The main trigger will be the collapse of all fiat paper currencies, early detection of hyperinflation and a panic run into hard assets like gold and better - silver.
Just look at grain and livestock charts. They are at major bottoms. I have made money in Live Cattle every year for the last 44 years by simply Buying Dec Live Cattle in June and selling in December.
In 1974, Larry Williams, Head of GoldMines Newsletter was a client of mine when I worked the commodities floor at Merrill Lynch. I made Larry his first million dollars - another client who I did very well for in Live Cattle was a lady with the initials H. R. Clinton, you may be able to guess who that was.
Of course, neither will likely confirm this fact because they were secret "discretionary trading accounts" and they will take all the credit. I really don't care because I made a small fortune as well - churning their accounts.
The trading records were mysteriously "lost" in moves from Dupont-Walston to other locations after the firm failed. Of course, I never kept any personal records to prove my claims. My grievous mistake.
If anybody is "Short" Gold or Silver for any reason, I implore you to reconsider. Just my humble opinion but based on 43 years of trading experience in this High Stakes Game.
Regards,
Dr. Tom
Dispatch From Within The Belly of the Beast
By Private Parts
Editor’s Note: We include these casual comments from a former US NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) currently working as a contractor of the US Government on the ground in Afghanistan as an eye-opening look into what American taxpayer dollars are being used for in the “War on Terror”
Hello from Afghanistan!
It’s summer now and I’ve definitely been busy. After tanning each day on the ISAF sun decks, 3 hour lunches/volleyball, gym time, sauna time (thank you Scandinavian military!) and of course, partying each night at the Euro bars, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get any work done.
But considering the House of Congress is about to flush another $4 billion down the toilet of Afghanistan, even after grilling the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan (SIGAR) last week, I figured I’d take a look at what the IG reported our money was being spent on. (http://www.sigar.mil/pdf/audits/SIGAR%20Audit-10-11.pdf)
I wish I could say I learned something new, but everything in it is already common knowledge here on the ground. And God only knows how many millions were wasted to shuttle the IG and his platoon of geeks around the country while they visited the training centers. Well, here are the highlights (my observations in italics):
- The US has already spent $27 billion on training and equipping the Afghan Security Forces since 2002
- 90% of recruits are illiterate (national illiteracy rate is around 75% but they somehow managed to find more illiterates than the national average!) - It's pretty sad watching them scrutinize ID cards and paperwork at checkpoints when you know damn well they can't even read what they are holding in their hand
- 17% of recruits test positive for drugs - Yeah, and Karzai truly believes in "fighting corruption". Positive testing is under-reported in many districts. And good luck finding any Afghan National Police (ANP) support in rural areas on Fridays, their "prayer day." Most cops are nursing hangovers or are still high from hash or opium from their notorious Thursday night pre-prayer parties! The real rate of drug use in the Afghan Army and Police is probably closer to twice that 17% figure
- The Average ANP monthly salary is around $200/month - Private security companies AND the Taliban both pay significantly more than $200/month to recruits
- ANP attrition rate is around 20%, with their elite ANCOP unit having an attrition rate near 70% - Ask the Marines how "elite" ANCOP is performing in Helmand and Kandahar. Several USMC officers and NCOs, usually tight-lipped, have blasted ANCOP's incompetence and laziness to the press
- ANSF corruption is rampant nationwide
- ANSF steals and resells fuel and supplies from the US and ISAF
- Police checkpoints routinely shakedown truckers and travelers for bribes to cross their districts
- Recruits are often required to pay bribes to their commanders just to receive their own salaries, uniforms and equipment - I saw one ANP unit that had to pay their own Colonel just to get cases of bottled water from a NATO-provided supply CONEX!
But personally, my favorite part of the report was the attached memos. Lt Gen Caldwell (CO of NATO Training) wrote the report was “not only inaccurate, it is potentially damaging.” While Lt Gen Rodriguez (CO of ISAF Joint Command) called the report “accurate.” It’s good to see two of the three American Generals in Afghanistan in total agreement.
Sounds like our $27 billion has built one helluva national security force. Sure, the residents of Marjah begged the Marines not to let the ANP reclaim their old jobs after the Taliban was kicked out of their town and Marines are now hearing the same pleas in Kandahar. But I’m sure that’s just an anomaly.
Has there ever been a more obvious “lost cause” than this Afghanistan nation building? But even so, the Pentagon will get what it wants; more money and more time. They’ll keep trying to force a non-existing loyalty to a central government and worst of all, for the Afghan people at least, they’ll increase the size of a disloyal, underpaid, corrupt security force. (Obama’s goal is to increase ANA and ANP troop levels to 176,000 and 134,000, respectively, by 2011)
Regardless of what DoD public affairs officers spew out as propaganda, everyone here knows that as soon as the US and ISAF pull out, the Taliban, or Haqqani, or whichever militia has the most cash and fighters by that point, will take over this place with relative ease. It’s just too bad we have to waste billions more only to reach what is an inevitable end.
Well, it’s Heineken time. Over and out.
Regards,
Pvt. Parts
Editor’s Note: Private Parts comments on drug use in the ANP is backed up here by this video from Al Jazeera posted on July 26 showing the Afghan National Police getting ready for a day out on patrol… taking hits from a huge marijuana bong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MZWPCrI4RU
Survival & Health News & Notes
By Jeff Berwick
Nary a day goes by when it does not become more clear that those, especially those in the US, are going to have to very soon make a decision. Fight or flee.
More and more as we survey the ever-worsening police-state in the US, with Haliburton building multi-hundred million dollar detention camps and the fence being built on the Mexican border whose purpose, unbeknownst to many, is to keep the Americans in, not the Mexicans out, it is difficult to not have an eery déjà vu to the people of Poland in late summer of 1939. A time when Hitler’s forces had absorbed Austria and Czechoslovakia into its growing empire and Germany’s military was massed at the Polish border clearly preparing for invasion.
In an unbelievable display of disinterest, many Poles spent that summer relaxing and enjoying the summer weather. Not all, mind you. Those who were able to think rationally and use their own brains spent that summer selling off assets and expatriating as fast as possible to another country, preferably far away from Germany’s reach.
Many may look at those who left as being “unpatriotic”. Considering what then went on to transpire in Poland, terms like “smart” and “rational” seem more apt.
The problem in the US right now is even more subterfuge because it is not a foreign enemy, per se, who is about to make life more miserable for the average American citizen but the US government itself. Something for which many Americans still retain a misplaced trust.
For those living in the US, especially those in major centers such as Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago, a real appraisal of your current safety are in order.
This appraisal will have to take into account your personal financial situation, something which we discuss throughout the newsletter as well as analysis and preparation for your own health & safety, as we discuss further below.
HEALTH
Almost everything generally considered to be public wisdom is, in actuality, public wisdumb. If you were to believe what you see on TV and hear repeated by the sheeple around you, you’d believe that eating foods that contain fat make you fat, that going out in the sun without sunscreen is dangerous and that cholesterol is bad for you.
All of those things are patently incorrect and here, briefly are why:
FAT
Thirty years ago in the US the FDA declared a “war on fat” saying that eating foods with fat in them caused obesity. As usual, the western medical establishment was completely wrong. The food item most prone to cause obesity is carbohydrates, not fat. This is why diets like the Atkins Diet and the Caveman Diet work so well. But, because the government has made a concerted effort to remove fat from foods that fat had to be replaced by something. More often than not, it was carbohydrates. The chart below shows the absolute disaster this policy has caused. Obesity in the US rose from near 10% to over 25% in under 20 years. If you or anyone you know is overweight I highly encourage you to watch this video. It will likely explain exactly why you or your friends are fat and you can then do something about changing your diet to quickly rectify the situation: It is called The Bitter Truth at www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Just making that small change in your diet (from sugary carbohydrates to more protein and fat) and adhering to the workout schedule posted in last month’s issue and I can practically guarantee you that within 6-12 months you will be a chiseled, ripped specimen. It really is that easy. SUN Right around the same time that governments and media began vilifying fat in food they also began to brainwash the public that the one and only thing that provides life on this earth is very dangerous. The sun. People are admonished that if they are actually going to go outside and take in some of the healthy energy from the sun as all humans have done for eternity that, at the very least, they better use lots of sunscreen. Many even take it to the point, Michael Jackson-esque, of never going out in the sun or using an umbrella to shield themselves. A low amount of exposure to sun AND/OR using sunscreen can reduce Vitamin D, possibly the most important vitamin in your body, dramatically. And guess what else cuts down Vitamin D production? A low fat diet. It’s as though the government/media have been trying to kill everyone. A low or deficient amount of Vitamin D has been shown to damage your immune system, cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental health including Alzheimer’s diseases and schizophrenia. Also around the same time the word cholesterol became a bad word. Cholesterol, in fact, is a very healthy thing that your body needs to cholesterol is the precursor molecule in several biochemical pathways. In the liver, cholesterol is converted to bile which is then stored in the gallbladder. Bile contains bile salts, which solubilize fats in the digestive tract and aid in the intestinal absorption of fat molecules as well as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Cholesterol is an important precursor molecule for the synthesis of Vitamin D and some research indicated cholesterol may act as an antioxidant. And so, yet another thing the government/media is imploring you to stop intaking which contributes to Vitamin D production. CONCLUSION In the July 2010 issue of Endocrine Today, Dr. Anthony Norman states that over half the population in the first world is deficient in Vitamin D. What a surprise! And, of course, what is the Western establishments solution? Vitamin D pills prescribed to you from your friendly global biopharma company. Forget that! If you have been feeling unhealthy, lacking energy and are overweight just make sure to get lots of healthy fats in your food (olive oil is one excellent example), get lots of sun without sunscreen (although not to the point of burning your skin, obviously) and eat lots of eggs, especially the yolks, uncooked (over-easy) so as to retain all the vitamins and nutrients and healthy cholesterol they contain. Next month we’ll have some information on a new technology that can actually help you get into shape much faster and more effectively than normal workouts, for those who are time constrained.
CHOLESTEROL
As a person who has traveled the world extensively and tried to put myself into dangerous situations just as a matter of course, one of the most important things I believe people must have a basic knowledge of is self-defense.
Self-defense can come in the form of actual “self-defense” classes where you learn how to escape from chokeholds, how to disarm an attacker with a weapon and things of that sort. It can also include just learning basic fighting techniques. As the rapidly evolving world of Mixed Martial Arts is showing us, there are a few fighting styles that are crucial in order to either win a fight or get yourself quickly out of one. BOXING Boxing is pretty self explanatory. Almost all fights involve just one or two wildly thrown right hooks. And so, being trained to know how to dodge or block those hooks and quickly throw a rapid succession of punches can get you out of most situations MUAY THAI KICKBOXING Thai boxing isn’t all that different from boxing but it does teach you how to also use your legs and elbows effectively. Using a “kick” in a fight should only be reserved for professionals and Hollywood actors. And even pros rarely use them as the punch is much more effective and leaves you less open to counter blows. Yet, knowing a few low kicks to disable an opponent’s legs or how to grab their head and thrust your knee upward, even when given from a much smaller opponent can quickly disengage a larger aggressor. JIU JITSU Sometimes, and especially in small spaces, the most effective thing you can do is to know techniques to quickly break an opponent’s arm or throw him to the ground. That’s Jiu Jitsu. WRESTLING Many real fights end up on the ground at some point and wrestling, along with Jiu Jitsu come in very handy when you find yourself on your back with someone on top of you. CONCLUSION Even a few courses in each will leave you with some residual knowledge that you never forget for a lifetime. And, more importantly, having this knowledge exudes confidence. Confidence can get you out of more bad situations than any punch, kick or throw. In fact, if you follow our gym regimen your shoulders will naturally flow back giving yourself a very confident and calm looking stance. That stance alone will dissuade 90% of potential attackers to look for an easier target.
These fighting styles are boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing, Jiu Jitsu and wrestling.
Freedom Watch
One of the biggest worries any gold investor has is the fear that the government will seize your gold as was done by Executive Order 6102 in the US in 1933.
At TDV we haven’t felt that actual seizure of gold this time around will be the main risk. However, we have felt that the government, at some point, will attempt to tax gold. That “some point” has already edged closer as the BureauRats recently took a step towards taxing gold.
Hidden, as most things are nowadays, deeply within completely unrelated legislation, Section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will amend the Internal Revenue Code to expand the scope of Form 1099.
Starting Jan. 1, 2012, Form 1099s will become a means of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service the purchases of all goods and services by small businesses and self-employed people that exceed $600 during a calendar year. Precious metals such as coins and bullion fall into this category and coin dealers have been among those most rankled by the change.
While this legislation shouldn’t and hopefully won’t make it through to law in the US we believe at some point the US government will attempt to tax all transactions in gold and silver. For this reason it is good to keep a large amount of your gold and silver outside of the US or your home country.
You don’t think it’s possible? They are even considering taxing MONEY now. Representative Peter Stark of California recently introduced “H.R. 5783, the Investing in Our Future Act”. In this Act, Stark wants to tax all CURRENCY transactions when you trade one currency for another!
According to Stark, “My legislation would simply impose a small tax — of 0.005 percent — on these currency transactions. The money raised would be put toward investments in children, global health and climate change mitigation.”
Yes, it’s always just “simply a small tax” and, of course, this money would go to, who else, the children!
Q&A – Ask The Dollar Vigilante
Q: I have read your first issue with great interest and am now a subscriber. But I have one question, when you say “Dollar Vigilante” are you just talking about the US Dollar? Or do you mean all currencies? - Don M. Vancouver, Canada
A: We mean all fiat currencies; Dollars, Pesos, Reals, Yen, Euros and Yuan. And more. Ever since 1971 all currencies have been unbacked pieces of paper with pictures printed on them and all of them are destined to history’s dustbin. It will just be a matter of time and which ones go first and which hold on the longest.
Please email any questions or comments you have at any time to TDV@dollarvigilante.com and every month we will endeavor to answer them either publicly or privately.
Conclusion & Items to Watch in Coming Weeks
There are lots of items upcoming on the horizon which could lead to an increase in the global financial system collapse. While headlines in recent days from the Gulf of Mexico state, “Where is the oil?” the BP disaster is still far from over. That oil is somewhere. And if it is just being held below the waterline, semi-dispersed by the more than 1.8 million gallons of highly toxic Corexit, then we could see the entire Gulf becoming a dead zone and any potential hurricane as becoming a human catastrophe. As far as potential financial repercussions, Matt Simmons stated on Bloomberg recently that he believes the ultimate cleanup cost to be over $1 trillion.
Also on our radar is Hungary whose recently elected Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, has decided not to play ball with IMF bailouts. This could very quickly lead to a collapse in the Hungarian forint, which wouldn’t be a big deal except that millions of Hungarians took out loans with banks in Europe denominated in euros and Swiss francs and a collapse in the forint would make most of those loans unpayable, driving the next level of European financial collapse.
On August 7 we will be sending out our exclusive report entitled, "Investing in Junior Mining Stocks". This will be sent to all Basic and Full subscribers and is a must-have for those who wish to invest in these assets. Also, on August 15 we will be sending out our first junior stock pick exclusively to Full Subscribers only.
Click here to subscribe now to our Basic or Full service to receive these upcoming reports!
End Quote
We have been nothing but delighted with the initial response to our new TDV newsletter. We've been inundated with emails thanking us for this service. Two or three of them even called us "heroes" for what we are doing. We certainly don't think we are heroes but it made us think. After all, we aren't really doing anything but just saying the truth about what is going on in the financial and political world. What is so heroic about that?
Well, that leads to our end quote for this month:
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” - George Orwell