Gold Rapidly Approaching New High

This next week or 2 will set the direction and amount of change in PM, I think. And no one really knows which it will go, so I will wait and see. Tomorrow night's asian market will give an indication of direction. I think your S&P short play will be interesting. Even with a rating reduction, I still think that most of the Euro countries will be harder hit than the US. Not a popular thesis, but IMO :) I would be lean on GLD puts until you see movement or a large increase in selling of GLD. Getting caught in a $20+ rise in gold would hurt.

Yeah, they're gong to cut spending by 917 billion. They will spend the same at the Federal level and make the States cover more of Medicare, Social Security, and hundreds of other Federal mandates.

Well, good luck with that! Most of the states are in pretty crummy financial shape too... and, unlike the feds, they do not have a printing press handy. If the states don't have it, they CAN'T pay it whether the feds mandate it or not.

As to the debt deal... the result that seems to be coming out of all the squealing and yowling is about as most of us on here suspected... lots of sound and fury signifying nothing. If this is the best that they can do at reducing our huge budget deficit and addressing the national debt, we are well and truly done. Just stick a fork in us and be done with it!

IMHO I still don't see an agreement happening by the Tuesday dead line, even though it looks like the S&P futures seem optimistic about it getting done. Call me a pessimist I guess.

I'm kind of thinking the positive talk coming from the Dems is an effort to make the Rebs look bad when they don't pass the bill returned to the House at the last minute. Its all about who gets the blame. I don't know maybe I'm way off here but that's my gut feeling.

According to this a plan is in place, minus a short coming on votes perhaps tom, which could still happen....

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-congres...3853348.html

I think the drop in the Asian market is obviously due to this new deal assuming again it goes through....

Like others here, I figure an immediate pull back in gold and silver if the deal goes through, but figue it will not take everyone long to realize we still have the same fundamental problems as before, just more debt to come now....

Fewer jobs in America, higher prices for food and everything else one needs to survive. The list of factors that plays into Pm's favor just goes on and on....

I'd like to think that the US dollar will strengthen at some point but there just is not any evidence to support that at this time. Bernanke is clearly pursuing a weak dollar policy in order to reduce imports and increase exports. Unfortunately, this very same policy is doing serious damage to the savings of many Americans via inflation. The long run of very low interest rates has also financially damaged people who save and invest, rather than spend and consume. The income that they can get for their savings via bank savings accounts and CDs is pitiful these days.

We also have a spendthrift congress that has shown no money management skills whatever. They seem to think that going ever deeper into debt is OK and that paying off one credit card with another credit card is a viable way of running the financial business of the country.

The US economy was once a genuine powerhouse and the envy of the world. It produced high quality goods and services at an unparalleled pace and at reasonable prices. Over the past decade or so, however, the government has grown so large that it is literally consuming the nation. It's licenses, regulation, and taxes have stymied business to the point that many business people today do not believe that they can succeed here. This is why they are moving their businesses off-shore. They are going to other countries that welcome business and that treat it very well, indeed. As these people seek to capitalize on these opportunities, the US government seems incapable of understanding why they are going elsewhere and taking the jobs that they have with them.

None of this portends a bright future for the dollar, so PMs seem very much to be a viable way of protecting one's wealth from the inevitable inflation that all this fiat currency printing must cause at some point. While the government and the Fed consistently cook the books to show lower than actual unemployment and inflation, those of us who have to live in the real world are seeing the true results of government mismanagement in the market place each and every day.

The various websites that deal with these issues, such as https://www.shadowstats.com, show that annual US inflation is in the area of 10-11% and unemployment is in the area of 17-18%. My own personal experience is admittedly limited to the area where I live but what I am seeing locally does not support the official contentions for either unemployment or inflation.