Category: Aggregated

WSJ’s John Carney has a report out on a very important story. The plan of the Germans to audit and physically inspect all their gold. Writes Carney: A German federal court has said that country’s central bank should conduct annual audits and physically inspect its gold reserves worldwide, including gold in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition to the FRBNY, Bundesbank gold is stored in London, Paris and Frankfurt. For decades, the Bundesbank has relied on written confirmation of its gold holdings in London, Paris and New York. According to the report from the … Continue reading →

Sometimes less is more (less good data is moar good for stocks) and in the case of Marc Faber’s recent appearance on Bloomberg’s “What’d You Miss”, 66 seconds of honesty was all that the hosts could take. The Gloom, Boom & Doom report editor notes “we have had a meaningful decline in many stocks already,” and warns it is far from over as market face two possibilities of “longer-term unattractiveness”: “a 1987-style collapse,” or a 1973-74-style slow “sliding slope of hope.” In the full interview, Faber goes into more detail on the world’s deflationary pressures amid “colossal financial asset inflation.” … Continue reading →

“And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.” – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath Everyone has seen the pictures of the unemployed waiting in soup lines during the Great Depression. When you try to tell a propaganda believing, willfully ignorant, mainstream media watching, math challenged consumer we are in the midst of a Greater Depression, they act as if you’ve lost your mind. They will immediately bluster about the 5.1% unemployment rate, record corporate profits, and stock market near all-time highs. The cognitive dissonance of these people is … Continue reading →

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- President Obama, in his address on the Oregon Community College shooting, asserts that we are “collectively answerable”. As a responsibly armed American I heartily agree—we are answerable for the disastrous failure of so-called “gun-free zones” to stop mass shootings. The Chattanooga recruiting center, Charleston AME church, and Lafayette theater shootings, and now the massacre at Umpqua Community College all happened in so-called “gun free zones”. Despite Oregon law to the contrary, UCC had a policy that restricted the possession or use of firearms on campus. The UCC student code of conduct states: “students may be subject to disciplinary … Continue reading →

Your days are filled with a constant stream of decisions. A study from Columbia University found that we’re bogged down by a good 70 decisions a day. Some decisions are minor, like what to eat, which route to drive to work, or in what order to tackle tasks. Others are more difficult, like deciding between two job offers, whether to move to a new city for someone you love, or whether to cut a toxic person out of your life. With so many decisions taking up each day, learning to prioritize them and make them effectively is essential to your … Continue reading →

VW was the only major automaker selling affordable diesel powered passenger vehicles in the United States. You could, for instance, buy a diesel-powered Jetta sedan, Golf or Beetle for about $22k. Not anymore. At least, not for awhile. VW announced yesterday (Wednesday; see here) that it will withdraw emissions certification applications tendered to the EPA for all 2016 model year diesel-powered VW passenger car models. This means they will not be legal for sale in the U.S. Which means they will not be sold. Which means, if you want an affordable diesel-powered car, you had better hurry to your local (or not-so-local) … Continue reading →

Is it just me, or does our Secretary of Defense look like a certain comedian from the 1950s? I mean, it’s hard to take this guy seriously. Not because of that, but because of what he says. Take a gander at this article. It seems our illustrious SecDef has made the earth-shattering discovery that people die in wars. Gee, I thought they just went directly to jail, did not pass Go, and did not collect $200. “This will have consequences for Russia itself which is rightly fearful of attacks … in coming days, the Russians will begin to suffer from … Continue reading →

ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN – “We need a new name,” a senior official in Kazakhstan  told me.  “People keep confusing us with all the other crazy “stans.”  We are not like them. Quite right.  Compared to neighboring Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan is an island of tranquility and quiet development. Kazakhstan is the world’s 9th largest nation in size, some 2.7 million sq. kilometers, but has only a modest population of some 18 million people spread from the Caspian Sea in the west (from where Russia just launched missile strikes at Syria) to the border of China in the east.  … Continue reading →

Washington’s impulsive use of power is a danger to America and to the world. Arrogant Washington politicians and crazed neoconservatives are screaming that the US must shoot down Russian aircraft that are operating against the US-supplied forces that have brought death and destruction to Syria, unleashing millions of refugees on Europe, in Washington’s effort to overthrow the Syrian government. Even my former CSIS colleague, Zbigniew Brzezinski, normally a sensible if sometimes misguided person, has written in the Financial Times that Washington should deliver an ultimatum to Russia to “cease and desist from military actions that directly affect American assets.” By … Continue reading →

For far too many years, there have been stories exposing harmful chemicals found in our everyday items. Chemicals such as fluoride and triclosan found in deodorant, cosmetics, and our toothpastes, has led me to find more natural products to replace them. If you think the FDA is on our side and looking out for these harmful chemicals, think again. In fact, the FDA actually conspired with Colgate to hide the evidence of how harmful triclosan truly is. As usual, we need to be more mindful about the products we use and try and find more natural ways to live. Making your own tooth powder … Continue reading →

One of the very first things I did when I first started prepping was to bolster my pantry with basic staples that could be used for a variety of purposes.  When it was suggested that I store salt, and lots of it, I was a disbeliever. After all, conventional mainstream wisdom had taught me that salt was the bad guy. But is it really? I made it my mission to determine whether salt is a good thing, a bad thing, or simply something best treated as an item to “use in moderation”. Salt As the Bad Guy According to the … Continue reading →