September 15th, 2008, a day that will live in infamy. Famous words, much the same, made in 1941 by our President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As the one year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse approaches, I find myself looking at the economic picture and wondering if we really dodged a bullet or if we traded in our single shot rifle pointed at our head for an semi automatic? Did we really just blow up the asteroid, on a crash collision with Earth, or just shatter it into a million more deadly pieces? Our government, Treasury and Federal Reserve all claim we have averted disaster, apparently the recession is over. I would be thrilled to believe this, I truly would, but let us look at the facts.

As I look over my notes and calculations I find some interesting issues and facts popping up. For instance, would it surprise any of you …

Before I get into the “Cash For Traders” topic, I have something to share with you that is very disturbing. I am getting spammed… that’s right, spammed by the White House. I have never asked for e-mails from the White House, nor have I signed up for e-mails from the White House. But for some reason David Axelrod, a close adviser to President Obama, feels he can just e-mail me at will trying to sell Obama’s universal health package.

Mr. Axelrod please stop this practice now! (see White House Spam here)

I never ever envisioned the White House becoming a spammer, nor did I envision the White House resorting to spam tactics. The White House is using the same spam tactics as every other con artist. You know the ones I am talking about… get-rich-quick schemes and work at home

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June 25 (Bloomberg) – “Barack Obama may be the worst thing that ever happened to tax-exempt bonds …. “

We certainly agree and see more trouble for tax-exemption down the road.

Obama Chief of Staff, Emanuel said, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”, and the administration is taking that advice by sponsoring and subsidizing the issuance of fully taxable municipal bonds — “Build America Bonds” (the camel’s nose under the tent).

Presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt have tried to tax the interest payments from municipal bonds without success, but the debt crisis has provided Obama with a way.

Build America Bonds (we prefer “Obama Bonds”) pay 35% of the interest cost for fully taxable muni bonds.

Presumably the subsidy also improves the credit quality of the bonds by having a portion of the interest come from the US Treasury.

Example Bonds YTM Rate Comparison:

We based our credit quality argument on logic suggesting the

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The gold price declined slowly…in fits and starts…all through Far East trading…until shortly before lunchtime in London [7:00 a.m. in New York]. From there, a smallish rally began which really picked up steam shortly before the Comex opened at 8:00 a.m. The usual not-for-profit seller showed up at 8:30…which was the high tick for the day…and that, as they say, was that. From there, gold gave up[?] almost all its gains for the day and closed up $2.30 on the spot price from Thursday’s close. Here’s the Kitco chart that shows the New York activity only…from 8:00 a.m. until 5:15 p.m. Note the capping of the price at 8:30…and the point where the bullion banks pulled their bids at the London p.m. fix [10:00 a.m.].

As I’ve said many times, and I’ll say it again…NO PROFIT-MAXIMIZING SELLER ever sells like this…EVER! This is price management pure and simple…just like Thursday.

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The CRB Index: What Commodities Can Tell Investors About Stocks

by Dr. Scott Brown, Advisory Panelist

In 1933 and 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was doing the same thing Obama is working to do today – reduce the corruption in our capital markets by increasing transparency and regulation.

Most investors know that the SEC and our key securities laws were enacted in those years…

Few know that in 1934, at the request of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began the computation of a daily commodity price index, using quotations for sensitive commodities.

The Commodities Research Bureau Index (the CRB Index) let’s you see what the commodity markets are doing, just like the S&P 500 does for stocks.

For many investors who focus on stocks, the thought of following a commodities index doesn’t intrigue. And it’s unfortunate…

The CRB Index – Very Different From the S&P 500

The CRB

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“It is possible that some brainless members of the U.S. Congress may have introduced a bill that seeks to nationalize pensions, but I hope that it will not be given serious consideration, even by the liberal Democrat majority now in control.”

Earlier today I received an email from a concerned member of the Sovereign Society:

“I just read a rumor that a bill is working its way through the U.S. Congress, that if becomes law, would authorize the federal government to seize all 401k’s and IRA assets. These assets would then be placed in a federally administered plan to provide ‘equal and adequate protection’ of assets for all retirees. This sounds like what recently occurred in Argentina. Have you heard anything about this and is such a scenario possible? If so, then would being offshore prevent a potential seizure?”

I certainly am

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It is important that we understand that the stock market is not the economy. Even people who are not investors tend to make this mistake. It’s easier to make that mistake if you’re personally invested. On the surface, however, it’s obvious that economies don’t change as dramatically as the market does. Paper losses can be painful, but they don’t translate directly into the destruction of real assets.

I am pointing out the obvious because I’m so sick of mainstream media’s economic coverage. We know, in fact, that our so-called Fourth Estate has the collective IQ of an underachieving adolescent. We know this because the mainstream media utterly failed to cover the oncoming credit crisis. They did so even as rational analysts were screaming that Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) were headed for a cliff. When the media spin current events, remember how wrong the pinheads were until

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Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.~Franklin D. Roosevelt

HIDDEN VALUE

Dear Friend,

Last night, America voted to put junior Illinois Senator Barack Obama in the White House.

“Change has come to America,” said Obama in last night’s victory speech.

He wants to restore patriotism and rebuild America, “calloused hand by calloused hand.”

According to Bloomberg, “Obama inherits the toughest environment for a new president since Franklin D. Roosevelt.”We don’t doubt it.

The 47-year-old faces a cracked financial system, an economic recession, a raging bear market in stocks and a trillion dollar budget deficit… for starters.

The economy is bigger than the president, says Andrew Gordon in Investor’s Daily Edge. And it is heading “irresistibly down”.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the labor market.

The economy shed 157,000 non-farming jobs in October. And economists expect a similar rate of job losses in the coming months as the recession deepens.

—Special—

Generate

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