It’s the Ultimate Fighting Event - Worldwide Economic Mud Wrestling! See it now! First, the Honey Hun … German Chancellor Angela Merkel took on a whole pack of central bankers and economists, charging that they were going to make the situation worse by spending money they didn’t have… and causing inflation.

Then, historian Niall Ferguson - Professor Punchy - took a jab at the meddlers in the pages of the Financial Times. His point was simple enough - that the feds were spending trillions of dollars without really knowing what they were doing. If they borrow money to stimulate the economy they are just taking money out of the private economy and diverting it to public spending. There’s no gain in that, he said.

Watch out Niall! The Nobel Knucklehead - economist Paul Krugman - hit back.

We’ll return to this grapplefest. But first, let’s take a look at what is happening

...

Initial Jobless Claims rise…  PPI does too!  Euros get hung out on a line…  Gold makes a comeback! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Thunderin’ Thursday to you! It may not be Thunderin’ where you are, but apparently it was yesterday in my little river town, as I heard we had some shingles blow off… And… It certainly is Thunderin’ over in the Eurozone this morning, I’ll tell you why in a minute. So, let’s get going don’t want to get caught in any of that Thunder!

I finished the last of my 3 presentations yesterday, and called it quits, as far

...

I’m confident that there are thousands of blog lurking gold bugs who are going to want to comment on this article from Mark Leibovit of VRGoldLetter.com. Mark hits on a number of issues, which include a possible conspiracy theory. Mark will be on PBS tonight talking about Gold, and if you visit VRGoldLetter.com, be sure and use the promo code “INO” for a discount.

But more importantly read the piece below and let the comments fly! It’s time for all of those blog lurkers to make their thoughts and opinions known!

———————————————————————————-

In the short term, the precious metals, especially Gold, are trading counter to the stock market, but we have also seen precious metals rally along with stock market during the 2003 and 2008 bull cycle.  Regardless, in the long-term, precious metals should rally because of currency debasement and the resulting inflation which follows.  I have recently inaugurated the

...

For millennia, gold has been a barometer of financial health and the ultimate store of value. It’s long been considered the ultimate safe haven investment when all else fails, or when economic conditions seem too good to be true.

So now that gold has made a second major run – shooting from $600 an ounce to $900 an ounce after punching through the $1,000 plateau last year – is the “yellow metal” still a prudent profit play, or is it an investment that’s already played out?

To answer that question, we must first ask another: Is the global monetary mirage going to keep inflating, or are we already on a sound monetary footing?

Let’s find out.

The global financial crisis has all the world’s major currencies (the U.S. dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen) racing to devalue against each other. This phenomenon of competitive devaluations occurs when inefficiencies in one country weigh

...

GoldDrivers 2009 - Extraordinary Bullish Outlook For Gold Eric Hommelberg

Gold proves itself as only true alternative for the dollar Confidence in currencies shaken to the core Gulf countries are keen to break away from the link with the US dollar Chinese appetite for US debt in decline Former Bank of England official expects dollar collapse Investors fleeing into gold as US prints trillions HSBC, Citigroup, Merril Lynch, Goldman Sachs all turning bullish on gold Senior gold shares ready to move higher after impressive 100% bull run since October 2008 Junior gold shares waking up - bottomed out in December 2008

This piece is an update on “GoldDrivers

...

Some not so breaking news for our readers We signaled a few weeks ago [Nov 12: CNBC Europe - USA May Lose its AAA Rating] Minerd doubts that private savings in the U.S. and foreign purchases of Treasury debt will be sufficient to meet those government cash requirements. That leaves the Fed to take up the slack; that is, monetization of the debt. (in English this means when there is no buyer for US Treasuries we will create the buyer in house: the Federal Reserve. So the left hand will be buying from the right hand i.e. desperation... banana republic style) And lo an behold, the great helicopter drop of all time is being hinted at - the actual buying of US Treasuries by the Federal Reserve (since at some point no one ...

Inflation is no loger the greatest threat to the short term health of the Indian economy. The global credit crunch has now taken over poll position on the list of worries which are likely to determine the evolution of policy over at the Reserve Bank of India. India's inflation continues to slow and hit a four-month low at the start of October, giving the central bank room to keep injecting cash into the financial system without fanning prices.Wholesale prices rose 11.44 percent in the week to Oct. 4 from a year earlier after gaining 11.8 percent in the previous week, according to data from the commerce ministry last week.

Weaker price gains and a shortage of money in the banking system have allowed the central bank to shift its focus from fighting inflation to stimulating an already slowing economy.

...

Inflation is no loger the greatest threat to the short term health of the Indian economy. The global credit crunch has now taken over poll position on the list of worries which are likely to determine the evolution of policy over at the Reserve Bank of India. India's inflation continues to slow and hit a four-month low at the start of October, giving the central bank room to keep injecting cash into the financial system without fanning prices.Wholesale prices rose 11.44 percent in the week to Oct. 4 from a year earlier after gaining 11.8 percent in the previous week, according to data from the commerce ministry last week.

Weaker price gains and a shortage of money in the banking system have allowed the central bank to shift its focus from fighting inflation to stimulating an already slowing economy.

...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelona India is in the middle of a storm at the moment, there can be no doubt about that. But the important point to note is that this storm is not of India's making. The financial turmoil in a number of key developed economies, and above all the United States, is sending shock waves across the global economy, and as is normal, when the earth trembles, it is the most fragile who notice it most. India's economy may be fragile in the sense that it is very vulnerable to what is colloqially known as global risk sentiment, but it is not fragile in terms of being susceptible to having its growth trajectory knocked completely off course. India may be shaken, but her economy will not be broken. Emerging Market Bonds Emerging-market bonds had their worst week in four years this week as the deepening credit crisis raised global recession concerns ...

by Edward Hugh: BarcelonaIndia is in the middle of a storm at the moment, there can be no doubt about that. But the important point to note is that this storm is not of India's making. The financial turmoil in a number of key developed economies, and above all the United States, is sending shock waves across the global economy, and as is normal, when the earth trembles, it is the most fragile who notice it most. India's economy may be fragile in the sense that it is very vulnerable to what is colloqially known as global risk sentiment, but it is not fragile in terms of being susceptible to having its growth trajectory knocked completely off course. India may be shaken, but her economy will not be broken.Emerging Market BondsEmerging-market bonds had their worst week in four years this week as the deepening ...