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The Goldbugg Report - May 11, 2009

May 11, 2009

WORLD FINANCIAL REPORT ON RADIO MAY 8 2009 SHOW

-How Gold Will Top $2,000 Per Ounce.

-Is Silver The New Magic Bullet for Investors?

-Gold isn't going to $2,000 an ounce, its going much higher.

GOLD

-Unprecedented U.S. money supply to create inflation in time. Very positive for gold. The U.S. government is creating an unprecedented new supply of money, but where's inflation? Analysts at Blanchard & Co. explain why we haven't seen it yet. "Right now, normally it would be incomprehensible that the amount of new money being created has not led to inflation or even hyperinflation. However, the reason we have not seen inflation take off is due to the slowdown of the velocity of money.

Because fear is still rampant, money is not changing hands in the way that was originally planned," says Donald Doyle, Chairman and CEO of Blanchard and Company. "Over the last six months, the money supply has grown exponentially, but because the economy is in such bad shape, we remain in a deflationary recession because so few are lending money, borrowing money, or spending money."

Doyle says this cycle will continue until confidence in the economy returns, and banks, investors and consumers, begin to spend money, as the bailout plan is designed to encourage them to do. Ultimately, Doyle sees Treasury money supply reaching a critical mass that will fan the fires of inflation, increasing it to a level that could potentially produce hyper-inflation. And he says, until the velocity of money returns to normal, the U.S. economy will not see the improvement the stimulus was created to generate.

Doyle says he sees major companies continuing to have financial problems, unemployment continuing to rise, bankruptcies continuing to increase, and ongoing home foreclosures multiplying the existing problems. So what can the Fed do? Doyle sees the Fed having few choices other than printing even more money, adding to the likelihood of an inflationary meltdown in the dollar.

That's why gold and other tangible assets remain investments with a big upside because of their appeal as safe-havens during times of economic uncertainty and as hedges against inflation. "It's not a question of ‘if,' but ‘when'," says Doyle. "Investors still have a window of opportunity to prepare for, or hedge against, the coming erosion of the value of paper assets by diversifying their portfolios with tangible ones, even with gold maintaining a price level above its 1980 high in spite of a bloated dollar." Read more here-

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=82760&sn=Detail

-US$ heads down as China picks gold. “The US should be afraid, very afraid. China is questioning the dollar’s status as a reserve currency and, at US$1,000 an ounce, gold has become the world’s de facto currency” John Ing, Maison Placements in Canada. It is a chilling statement from an expert on both gold and China. But he is just speaking truth to power: In a G2 world (the US and China), he who is the piper calls the tune and China holds a US$2-trillion mortgage on the U.S. and is not happy.

This country, along with others who lend money to the U.S. such as Saudi Arabia, will determine the value of the US$ and gold. And they have spoken. They are not buying more US$ treasuries and are buying gold as a new asset class. China announced that it was doing so quietly and recent reports are that the Saudis and others have been buying bullion and hocked gold jewellery from around the world to be melted down in Middle Eastern refineries.

The only way is up for gold prices because the U.S., which backstops the IMF which is the world’s lender of last resort, has had to become its own lender of last resort. Washington has cranked up the printing presses in an unprecedented way, replicating the behaviour of its spendthrift corporations and consumers. This year’s budget is US$3.5 trillion, bigger than any in history including Napoleon’s when he was taking on the British, Germans and Russians at the same time.

And as Ing points out, the “bi” in this bipolar global economy is China and it is not amused. Beijing has not only started to hoard gold but has continued to talk up a new reserve currency concept to replace the US$. The writing's on the wall and the only reason the Chinese and others don't dump US$s is because it would be like shooting themselves in the feet. Inflation, on top of excessive money supply dilution, will (unless mitigated by growth or stoppage) reduce the dollar’s value.

Ing estimates that the printing of money to bail out banks, autos and the U.S. economy will create a catch-up in gold bullion prices: “Gold should be US$9,000 an ounce to cover the [current and projected] U.S. monetary base.” China has become the world’s fifth biggest gold hoarder, in addition to being the world’s biggest gold producer (through its government-owned mining companies).

I also suspect that China is behind the political sabotage in Mongolia, to its north, which has for five years prevented Ivanhoe Mines of Vancouver from producing gold and copper from its massive discovery. Keeping supplies off markets, and massive ore bodies shut in, is a good way of jamming prices upwards. Read more here-http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2009/05/06/china-bets-on-gold-not-yankee-dollars.aspx

-Central Banks Favouring Gold Again Especially the “Elephant in the Room” China. Read more here-http://blog.goldassets.co.uk/2009/05/07/central-banks-favouring-gold-again-especially-the-elephant-in-the-room-china/

-Major Banks Buy Gold and Silver. Read more here-http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=6653

-John Embry commentary, monetary measures imply big movement for gold. Read more here-http://www.sprott.com/pdf/investorsdigest/digest.pdf

-How Gold Will Top $2,000 Per Ounce. Read more here-http://news.goldseek.com/DailyReckoning/1241121436.php

-Gold isn't going to $2,000 an ounce, its going much higher. Read more here-http://www.321gold.com/editorials/casey/casey050409.html

-Gold, the Apex of the Pyramid. Read more here-http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1241372765.php

-Newmont Mining President and CEO Richard O'Brien says the company has noted a decoupling of the traditional relationship between the weak U.S. dollar and gold prices. However, O'Brien expects them to re-couple in the near future, bringing the inflation risks that will continue to prompt investors to invest in gold. In fact, investment demand continues to support gold prices despite other factors, he noted. Read more here-http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=82660&sn=Detail

-Falling gold mine production will support prices. Global mine production of gold will continue to decline in the face of rising demand, and with less new supply there will be no gold price declines, the CEO of the world's biggest gold miner said.

“The gold industry needs to replace almost 100 million ounces of reserves per year, and clearly this has not been happening,” Aaron Regent, CEO of Barrick Gold told the company's annual shareholders meeting in Toronto. Regent says that gold mine supply actually has been on a downward trend since 2001. Read more here-

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?c=3&cg=4&t=1&id=35637

-Zimbabwe gold production plunges 76%. Despite new rules allowing gold producers to sell directly to world market, major mining houses are still avoiding Zimbabwe. Read more here-

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=82845&sn=Detail

-Warren Buffett's good news for gold. Alec Hogg reports from Omaha on a developing scenario ripe for another bullion boom. Read more here-

http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=82710&sn=Detail or http://www.gata.org/node/7400

-Venezuela wants to buy more gold produced locally. Venezuela more than doubled the amount of gold that local producers must offer to the central bank in a bid to increase its reserves of the metal and reduce reliance on supporting them with U.S. dollars.

The Finance Ministry said today that 70 percent of gold produced in Venezuela must be sold domestically, and 60 percent must be offered first to the central bank, in a resolution published in the Official Gazette. The remaining 30 percent can be exported. Previously, 20 percent had to be offered to the central bank. Read more here-

http://www.gata.org/node/7406

-Gold Today and Nasdaq 1995. Read more here-http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1241714077.php

-U.S. House Prices in Gold. Read more here-http://news.goldseek.com/BullionVault/1241207027.php

-New central bank gold sales plan seen as bullish for bullion. Read more here-http://www.gata.org/node/7396

-Decade of gold sales cost European central banks $40 billion. Read more here-http://www.gata.org/node/7411

-A Short History of the Gold Cartel. Read more here-http://news.goldseek.com/JamesTurk/1241449200.php

SILVER

Gold to silver ratio at 80 to 1 with gold at $2,000 the silver price would be $25.00

Gold to silver ratio at 70 to 1 with gold at $2,000 the silver price would be $28.57
Gold to silver ratio at 60 to 1 with gold at $2,000 the silver price would be $33.33

Gold to silver ratio at 50 to 1 with gold at $2,000 the silver price would be $40.00
Gold to silver ratio at 15 to 1 with gold at $2,000 the silver price would be $133.33

-Gene Arensberg's new "Got Gold Report," excerpted from Brien Lundin's Gold Newsletter, finds the market structure bullish for silver, predicts a sharp reversal upward for natural gas, and quotes GATA board member Adrian Douglas, editor of the Market Force Analysis letter. Arensberg's report is headlined "Silver Bullish, While a Natural Gas Reversal Looms." Read more here-http://www.gata.org/node/7407

-Silver Leads Gold as Dollar Teeters. Read more here-http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1241716773.php

Silver particularly interesting as silver/gold ratio "out of whack" - Niehuser

-Mike Niehuser, founder of Beacon Rock Research, LLC, weighs the historical seasonality of gold and silver against the forces at work in today's market and explains why we could see a significant run up in metals by fall. Interview with The Gold Report. Read more here-http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page32?oid=82703&sn=Detail

-Fortis/VM forecast 700t drop in silver mine production this year. View the report here-http://www.virtualmetals.co.uk/pdf/FSB0904.pdf or http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page32?oid=82735&sn=Detail

-Is Silver The New Magic Bullet for Investors? Read more here-http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1241444272.php

-Ted Butler silver commentary. Gold and silver are uniquely comparable. Both have been known by man throughout history. Both are the most popular precious metals held for investment. Both were money in the past. Because they are comparable, it would seem logical that if gold bullion was worth 140 times more than silver, it would suggest that 140 times more money was flowing into gold.

This year, only 13 times more money came into gold. Last year it was only 5 times as much. In other objective measurements, such as the money flowing into gold and silver bullion coins from the U.S. Mint, only about 3 times more money has flowed into gold than silver in recent years. So the question that a serious student should ask (and the point I’m trying to make) is why is the total amount of gold worth more than 140 times the amount of silver, if nowhere near 140 times more money is flowing into gold? The answer has nothing to do with gold being overvalued, or for that matter, anything to do with gold at all.

The answer is because silver is grossly undervalued. The undervaluation exists because silver is artificially depressed in price and has been for more than 25 years. It’s doubtful you will ever see imbalances like this again in any other asset. That’s why the investor that’s educated on silver can see the incredible profit potential. The coming investment outperformance of silver will be something that’s written about for years to come. Read more here-http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1241543512.php

DEFINITIONS-QUOTES-QUICK HITS

Calgary 2009: Worldwide Precious Metals - Rob McInerney, Lucas R. Bugg http://www.metalsnews.com/picturegalleries/PicturePopUp.aspx?ID=58451

-Ayn Rand (February 2 1905 – March 6, 1982), was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system called Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, Rand emigrated to the United States in 1926. She worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and had a play produced on Broadway in 1935-1936. She first achieved fame with The Fountainhead (1943), and her best-known work the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957.

Rand's political views, reflected in both her fiction and her theoretical work emphasize individual rights (including property rights) and laissez-faire capitalism, enforced by constitutionally limited government. She was a fierce opponent of all forms of collectivism and statism, including fascism, communism, and the welfare state. She was also an atheist, and promoted ethical egoism (which she termed "rational self-interest") as energetically as she condemned altruism (which she called "moral cannibalism"). Read more here-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand video here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzGFytGBDN8 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ukJiBZ8_4k

-We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. Ayn Rand

-"The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different." Aldous Huxley-Read more here-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley

-The new systemic risk to the system is the U.S. Congress. James Robinson III, ex-CEO of American Express

-Charles Allmon is the sage of Growth Stock Outlook, which he founded in 1965 and was one of the first investment letters monitored by the Hulbert Financial Digest, is now 88. He closed the public letter last year but still communicates with institutional clients. Allmon still thinks the stock market could decline to 3,200-4,200 on the Dow by 2011-2012 and that it could cross the price of gold. Read more here-http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/charles-allmon-88-cautiously-buying/story.aspx?guid={5F01F962-DD4B-4AF9-9CCA-65E418ACB3AC}&dist=msr_2&print=true&dist=printMidSection

-Concerns about the international financial system and their implications for the dollar and other currencies and inflation going forward look likely to see gold remain firm for the foreseeable future. The central bankers and politicians mantra of “inflate or die” will likely soon lead to the emergence of real inflationary pressures. Gold.ie

-Stress test shows bank credit losses could be $600 billion. Ten of 19 institutions must raise $74.6 billion in private capital by November. Read more here-http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid={754FEF5D-53E4-4653-9942-6C2318049143}&print=true&dist=printMidSection

-Global Crisis ‘Vastly Worse’ Than 1930s, Taleb Says. The current global crisis is “vastly worse” than the 1930s because financial systems and economies worldwide have become more interdependent, “Black Swan” author Nassim Nicholas Taleb said. “This is the most difficult period of humanity that we’re going through today because governments have no control,” Taleb, 49, told a conference in Singapore today.

“Navigating the world is much harder than in the 1930s.” The International Monetary Fund last month slashed its world economic growth forecasts and said the global recession will be deeper than previously predicted as financial markets take longer to stabilize. Nouriel Roubini, 51, the New York University professor who predicted the crisis, told Bloomberg News yesterday that analysts expecting the U.S. economy to rebound in the third and fourth quarter were “too optimistic.” “Certainly the rate of economic contraction is slowing down from the freefall of the last two quarters,” Roubini said.

“We are going to have negative growth to the end of the year and next year the recovery is going to be weak.” The global economy is facing “big deflation,” though the risks of inflation are also increasing as government’s print more money, Taleb told the conference organized by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Gold and copper may “rally massively” as a result, he added. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20603037&sid=aw8ry7hR04m4&refer=home

-Gold May Be ‘Off to the Races’ Above $950: Technical Analysis. Gold may be “off to the races” if prices break resistance levels at $950 to $960 an ounce, according to Jeffrey Rhodes, a Dubai-based trader with International Assets Holding Corp.

Prices may surpass $1,200 an ounce this year, more than the record $1,032.70 reached in March 2008, Rhodes said. Gold peaked at $1,006.29 this year on Feb. 20. Gold’s support level is at about $850 an ounce, he said. Support is where buy orders may be clustered and resistance is where there may be sell orders. “A number that would get everyone very excited would be $1,005 an ounce,” Rhodes said in an interview April 27. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ansCeuvebmvU&refer=worldwide

-The lonely Gold bug is about to be the toast of the financial world. Soon, holding Gold will be all the rage and everyone will be telling stories of how they bought physical Gold when it was only $250, $600 or $1000 an ounce. Sadly, this is about the time I will be quietly leaving the party and selling my Gold to the new and frenzied retail investors that just don’t get it.

You see, investing in a bull market is supposed to be lonely until the very end. Once everyone’s on board, the bull market will be just about over. Maybe being lonely ain’t so bad after all when it comes to investing. Adam Brochert-Read more here-http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1241615803.php

-Big money moving into comex gold and silver call options. I conclude that smart money is being placed for a massive rise in the gold price in the next 30 days and silver in the next 60 days (which probably means within 30 days for both metals) and again by December.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a pullback in between the two events. This money could not go in to the futures market without blowing the lid off the price as it would represent such a large increase in open interest. Going into the out-of-the-money option market allows flying below the radar. Adrian Douglas-Read more here-http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/Pfv1.cfm?pfvID=7787&SearchParam=Adrian%20Douglas

-China's gold buy raises eyebrows for all the right reasons. The precious-metals market took notice for all the right but not-so-obvious reasons when China announced last week that it ramped up its gold reserves by 76% in the last six years. After all, the world's largest producer of gold, which also happens to be the world's most populous nation and third-largest economy, must have a good reason for its purchases and quite a few experts said the move solidifies gold's place as a monetary asset, and shows that it's destined for a brighter future.

"The important take-away is that China itself is absorbing the bulk (if not all) of the production of the world's largest producer of gold (also China) with the now confirmed intent of building reserve holdings," said Peter Grant, a senior metals analyst at USAGold-Centennial Precious Metals in Denver. "That is very favorable for the longer-term outlook for gold," he said.

Last week, China announced that the amount of gold in its reserves has climbed to 1,054 tons from 600 tons in 2003.

"China, true to its reputation for patience and steady, long-term progress toward its goals, has taken the golden path and now they want the world to know about it," said Michael Kosares, president of Centennial Precious Metals. The nation has become the fifth-largest individual-country holder of the precious metal.

And it didn't just announce its gold accumulation last week. It also asked the International Monetary Fund to sell its entire 3,217 tons reserve, Kosares points out. And why would China encourage sales that could potentially depress the price of the gold it just bought a lot of? So it can buy more, said Peter Grandich, a metals writer at Agoracom, an online marketplace for small-cap investors. Read more here-http://www.gata.org/node/7397

-U.K.’s Royal Mint Uses 75% More Gold as Investor Demand Expands. The Royal Mint, established in the 13th century, used 75 percent more gold in the first quarter amid a surge in demand for bullion to diversify investments.

The U.K. mint made 28,496 ounces of gold coins in the quarter, compared with 16,317 ounces a year earlier, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request. Production last year rose 30 percent to 53,089 ounces, the data show.

Demand for gold and exchange-traded funds linked to the metal accelerated as equities collapsed and governments spent trillions of dollars to combat recessions. The Austrian mint, Muenze Oesterreich AG, sold a record 1.5 million ounces of gold last year, while the U.S. Mint’s sales of 1-ounce American Eagle gold coins more than quadrupled in January to 92,000.

“People are worried about their savings and banks, and a lot of people realize it’s a safe-haven asset,” said Mark O’Byrne, managing director of brokerage Gold and Silver Investments Ltd. in Dublin. “Very few people are selling.” Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aohCdbLOY3BU&refer=home

-China has 'canceled US credit card': lawmaker. China, wary of the troubled US economy, has already "canceled America's credit card" by cutting down purchases of debt, a US congressman said Thursday. China has the world's largest foreign reserves, believed to be mostly in dollars, along with around 800 billion dollars in US Treasury bonds, more than any other country.

But Treasury Department data shows that investors in China have sharply curtailed their purchases of bonds in January and February. Representative Mark Kirk, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and co-chair of a group of lawmakers promoting relations with Beijing, said China had "very legitimate" concerns about its investments.

"It would appear, quietly and with deference and politeness, that China has canceled America's credit card," Kirk told the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American group. "I'm not sure too many people on Capitol Hill realize that this is now happening," he said. Read more here-http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i4estRSYeFBIII9kezxnP4jgoGZQ

-Oil May Break Resistance, Rise to $71.55: Technical Analysis. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=arWZYxpaS.K0

-401 k’s Hit by Withdrawal Freezes. Investors Cry Foul as Some Funds Close Exits; Perils of Distressed Markets. Some investors in 401(k) retirement funds who are moving to grab their money are finding they can't.

Even with recent gains in stocks such as Monday's, the months of market turmoil have delivered a blow to some 401(k) participants: freezing their investments in certain plans. In some cases, individual investors can't withdraw money from certain retirement-plan options. In other cases, employers are having trouble getting rid of risky investments in 401(k) plans. Read more here-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124148012581385199.html

-Stores won't buy into rebound talk. Retail insiders are betting that it could be 12 to 18 months before consumer spending returns to pre-recession levels. Read more here-

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/05/news/economy/retail_consumerrebound/index.htm?postversion=2009050515

-U.S. Restaurants’ Risk of Failing Has Surged, Survey Shows. U.S. restaurants are four times more likely to fail than they were a year ago and as many as 40 percent may face a “severe” cash shortage within the next 12 months, restructuring firm AlixPartners LLP said.

The increased risk may spur liquidations, restructuring, bankruptcies and buyouts, according to a survey of 110 restaurant chains. Debt-to-equity ratios have more than doubled in the past two years, hurt by falling asset and share values. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a8dXXb0J.6HM

-General Motors Corp. said its first- quarter net loss widened to $5.98 billion as sales plunged by almost half, ratcheting up the prospect of a bankruptcy filing by a U.S.-imposed June 1 deadline. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adtEtB9NqfxM&refer=home

-GMAC Reports $675 Million Loss as Loan Defaults Rise. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aq7ENxaOI88E

-Hedge fund manager lashes back at Obama on Chrysler. Read more here-http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKTRE54471L20090505

-The troubled insurer AIG posts first-quarter loss of $4.4 billion 6th quarterly loss. Writedowns narrow as AIG makes strides in unwinding financial products unit. Read more here-

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMDAl0sDqVBY or http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/07/news/companies/aig/index.htm

-Most in U.S. think economy still in trouble: survey. Read more here-http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE54456820090505 or http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/05/news/economy/retail_survey.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009050514

-Fed's Yellen predicts U.S. recovery to be slow. Read more here-http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN0551721120090506

-U.S. cities need national bailout agency: Rohatyn. The architect of the 1970s financial rescue of New York City said on Wednesday the federal government should create a powerful national agency to bail out dozens of floundering U.S. cities.

Felix Rohatyn, the chairman of New York's Municipal Assistance Corp. from 1975 to 1993, said at the Reuters Infrastructure Summit that policymakers should look to the Reconstruction Finance Corp. created in 1932 as a model to aid cities and states as they confront their biggest deficits in decades. Read more here-

http://www.reuters.com/article/Infrastructure09/idUSTRE5457EC20090506

-Bankers see more losses ahead. Credit cards, commercial real estate are just two trouble spots in 2009, Fed survey of loan officers reveals. Read more here-

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/04/news/economy/fed_survey/index.htm?postversion=2009050415

-Consumer credit in the U.S. contracted by a record in March after the jobless rate reached its highest level in a quarter century and banks made it harder to get loans in an effort to buttress their balance sheets.

Consumer credit fell by $11.1 billion, almost three times more than forecast and the most since records began in 1943, to $2.55 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve report released today in Washington. The 5.2 percent drop at an annual rate was the biggest since 1990, the Fed said. Credit also decreased by $8.1 billion in February, more than previously estimated. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a7VgVoYfGFAo

-Why stimulus money goes unspent. Even after federal funds become available, states face hurdles in putting the money to work. Read more here-

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/05/news/economy/spending_stimulus_money/index.htm?postversion=2009050513

-FDIC Cash Reserve Cushion Forecast to Triple by 2016. President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget proposal projects the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s cash cushion, which fell below minimum levels after the failure of 57 lenders in 16 months, will more than triple by 2016.

The reserve ratio, the fund balance divided by insured deposits, slipped below the legal minimum 1.15 percent last year and was 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, forcing an emergency one-time fee on banks to replenish the fund. The administration also is seeking to boost the FDIC’s borrowing authority from the Treasury, to $100 billion from $30 billion, which will let the agency rebuild the insurance fund at a faster pace. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=ajIbdlP8FmfU

-More Millionaires Don’t Feel Wealthy, Fidelity Finds. How much money does it take to feel wealthy these days? About $1.8 million in investable assets, according to a study by Fidelity Investments released today.

The survey found that 46 percent of Americans who described themselves as millionaires don’t feel wealthy, twice as many as last year, Boston-based Fidelity said. Stock market losses were cited by 42 percent of the respondents as the main reason, according to Fidelity’s third annual “Millionaire Outlook.”

“While many millionaires recognize they are doing better than the average investor, last year’s market volatility and loss of assets have forced them to reassess what the term ‘wealthy’ really means to them,” said Gail Graham, executive vice president of Fidelity Investments in a statement. Read more here-

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=ac5izIBxlFrI

-Convicted conman Bernard Madoff turned his investment firm into his “personal piggy bank,” using tens of millions of dollars in client funds to cover costs for employees and family members, court papers say.

Madoff used money from his firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, to pay loans, satisfy capital calls, fund real estate purchases and hire employees for his children, wife, brother and workers, according to a filing by Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Madoff Securities.

“He essentially used BLMIS as his “personal piggy bank,” having BLMIS pay for his lavish lifestyle and that of his family,” David Sheehan, a lawyer for Picard, wrote in a legal brief filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. “Madoff used BLMIS to siphon funds which were, in reality, other people’s money, for his personal use and the benefit of his inner circle. Plain and simple, he stole it.” Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a8x0ApC7C.rE

-China military build-up seems U.S.-focused: Mullen. Read more here-http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE54363X20090504?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

-Robert Gates: bombing Iran would not stop nuclear threat. Bombing Iran would fail to stop the Islamic Republic from building nuclear weapons and could only 'buy time', according to Robert Gates, the US defence secretary. Read more here-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5257343/Robert-Gates-bombing-Iran-would-not-stop-nuclear-threat.html

-Poll: Most Israelis would support Iran strike. Read more here-http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710853310&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

-Iran's Ahmadinejad in new tirade against Israel. Read more here-http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.9fb00f626c815dbdf828c671ccf43420.eb1&show_article=1

RARE COLORED DIAMONDS

-The Rare Colored Diamonds Historical Value Tracker system is the perfect tool for investors to view the potential future value of a rare colored diamond based on the current market trend of a particular type of diamond. Track the potential future value of colored diamonds here-http://www.rarecoloreddiamonds.com/HistoricalValueTracker.html

-Watch BTV interview of Harold Seigel on colored diamonds and his website http://www.rarecoloreddiamonds.com/. Watch video here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWYMJnEz-n4

and http://www.rarecoloreddiamonds.com/articles/index.html

-BTV-Business Television Features Rare Colored Diamonds. Read press release here-http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=162753

-Average diamond cutters in New York make $35,000 a year. A premier cutter can earn up to $2 million, said Jamie Neufeld, regional sales manager for Lazare Kaplan. Courierpostonline.com

-Take a look at this before and after, from rough to polished blue diamond. View here-http://ilovecolordiamonds.com/home.php

-Recessionistas Scoop Up Blue Diamonds. Typically, discretionary spending on luxury goods is the victim when there's a downturn in the economy. But Australian miner Argyle diamonds says that its global auction of a rare collection of blue diamonds has been a sparkling success. Jewelry makers say that diamonds are becoming an investor's new best friend in the wake of the property slump and the stock market slide.

Sydney jewelry maker Ron Crisp is setting a 3-carat diamond into a fashion ring. It's about the size of a Smartie and it's worth a fortune. "The finished article with a retail valuation on it would be about $78,000. It is a substantial ring," he said. Crisp has been making jewelry for 40 years and has never witnessed so much demand for big stones. He says so-called "recessionistas" see the diamond as a good investment.

"Probably the last six months I've always done carat stones, carat-plus but now [people are buying] one-and-a-half carats and two carats more and now we're getting into three carats," he said. In recent months the value of mainstream white diamonds has fallen sharply, in line with the economic downturn. But Josephine Archer from Argyle diamonds says the fancy colored diamond market is surprisingly strong. She has just finished touring Argyle's first blue diamond tender.

"We did undertake the tender with trepidation, and in fact we didn't travel it as globally as we ordinarily would travel a tender," she said. "We were delightfully surprised as we got on the road and we exhibited in Hong Kong and in Tokyo. By the time we got to Tokyo we were getting calls from [people in] India and the U.S. wanting us to travel it further. "They tend to be very sophisticated buyers that have graduated from the whites. The graduation tends to go from whites to yellows, into pinks and then ultimately into the blues.

They tend to be collectors; a lot of these stones don't ever even get set into jewelry. They're held as a collectable item, and we sometimes see them come back on the market a few years later and then end up in somebody else's collections." Argyle is keeping the sale price of its blue diamonds a secret, but in the U.K., Sotheby's wants to sell a 7-carat blue diamond for more than $8 million. Analyst Peter Strachan says the rare colored diamonds are the uber-rich investor's escape during the hard times.

"Collectors, people who are wanting to perhaps diversify their portfolio away from uncertain equity assets or uncertain property assets at the moment, might be looking at holding commodities or some other collectible as a store of value over the long term," Strachan said. Argyle Diamonds says it is planning to push ahead with its pink diamond tender in September. Read more here-http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=26192

INFLATION IS COMING

-Warren Buffett: Inflation on the horizon. The Berkshire Hathaway chief says policymakers will have to raise money to pay off costly rescue plans one way or another. Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett defended the government's handling of the economic crisis, but warned that the purchasing power of the dollar may fall as policymakers stretch to finance expensive rescue plans.

Reflecting on the near implosion of the financial system last fall, Buffett said officials should be judged more leniently when facing "as close to a total meltdown as you can imagine." But he warned that efforts such as the Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program and the $787 billion fiscal stimulus plan passed this year by Congress will have to be paid for, one way or another.

And with political leaders showing little inclination to raise taxes, one sure way to pay for excess spending is to inflate the value of the currency, Buffett said. The biggest losers in a surge of inflation, he added, would include holders of bonds and other fixed-income assets. Read more here-http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/02/news/newsmakers/warren_buffett.fortune/index.htm

-China warns of worldwide devaluations and inflation. Global central banks risk inflation, currency devaluation, and a "big consolidation' in bond markets by pumping cash into their economies, the People's Bank of China said in its quarterly monetary policy report.

The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England this year started quantitative easing, or printing money to buy government bonds, a policy that the Bank of Japan pioneered to revive its economy at the start of the decade. "A policy mistake made by some major central bank may bring inflation risks to the whole world," China's central bank said in the report today. "As more and more economies are adopting unconventional monetary policies, such as quantitative easing, major currencies' devaluation risks may rise." Read more here-

http://www.gata.org/node/7408 or http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5286832/China-fears-bond-crisis-as-it-slams-quantitative-easing.html

FED STRESS TEST SAYS 10 BANKS NEED $75 BILLION WORTH OF NEW CAPITAL

-The Federal Reserve determined that 10 U.S. banks need to raise a total of $74.6 billion in capital, concluding its unprecedented probe of the health of the nation’s 19 largest lenders.

The results showed that losses at the banks under ‘more adverse” economic conditions than most economists anticipate could total $599.2 billion over two years. Mortgage losses present the biggest part of the risk, at $185.5 billion. Trading accounts were the second-largest vulnerability, with potential losses of $99.3 billion.

For some banks, today’s results open an exit from a tense partnership between Wall Street and the government. Others will have six months to fill their capital shortfalls and may be forced to accept expanded federal ownership that could prompt changes in their management.

“The results released today should provide considerable comfort to investors and the public,” Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in a statement. “The examiners found that nearly all the banks that were evaluated have enough Tier 1 capital to absorb the higher losses envisioned under the hypothetical adverse scenario.” Read more here-

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aypbiEbtoJYs&refer=home or http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/07/news/companies/stress_test_announcement/index.htm?postversion=2009050718

-The big banks: How much each needs. Read more here-http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/07/news/economy/stress_test_table/index.htm?postversion=2009050717

THREE MORE U.S. BANKS FAIL

-Three Banks Seized by Regulators, Pushing Year’s Total to 32. Regulators seized banks in Georgia, New Jersey and Utah yesterday, boosting the tally of failed lenders in the U.S. this year to 32 and tapping more than $1.4 billion from the federal government’s deposit-insurance fund.

Silverton Bank of Atlanta, a commercial bank, was shut by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Citizens Community Bank of Ridgewood, New Jersey, and America West Bank of Layton, Utah, were seized by state regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver for all three. Silverton was the largest failure since Downey Financial Corp. was shut in November, costing the FDIC about $1.37 billion.

The FDIC’s deposit-insurance fund, supported by fees on insured banks, fell 45 percent to $18.9 billion in the fourth quarter after 25 banks closed in 2008 amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The U.S. economy contracted at a 6.1 percent annual rate from January through March, the weakest performance since 1957-1958.

Silverton Bank, which didn’t take consumer deposits, provided services to about 1,400 banks in 44 states, the FDIC said yesterday in a statement. The Washington-based regulator set up a bridge bank to take over the operations of Silverton, which had about $4.1 billion in assets and $3.3 billion in deposits. Taking over the bank will cost the insurance fund about $1.3 billion, the FDIC said.

“Silverton had significant loan losses which had eroded its capital position,” Pamela Farwig, an associate director in the FDIC’s division of resolution and receivership, said on a conference call yesterday. “They had a large volume of problem assets centered in acquisition development and construction loans.” Read more here-

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=adrpmdHyCB8s or http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/01/news/companies/bank_failure/index.htm

JOB NUMBERS

-Since the fall of 2007, the number of employees forced to work part-time due to the economic slowdown has doubled to over nine million people – that’s two million more than at any time in 54 years of collecting the data. You can see the spike in the chart above.

You can also see a close correlation between the start of a recession and a sharp shift to using part-time workers. And, conversely, that when an economy recovers, the use of part-time workers falls off quickly.

Lesson of the day? This is one of the few reliable indicators of an economic turnaround, watch it closely. Until you see a distinct reversal in the indicator, ignore the government’s happy talk of green shoots and continue to rig for stormy economic weather. Casey Charts

-Misleading Jobless Claims Data and Recessions. One of the many "green shoots" that has popped up recently for the U.S. economy is the possible peaking of weekly jobless claims, what has been increasingly referred to as a "reliable" indicator for the end of recessions since 1967 when this data was first collected. The chart below, similar to the one published by CR in this item http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/04/end-of-recessions-and-unemployment.html from a couple weeks ago shows the correlation. Read more here- http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1241629200.php

-U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall to Three-Month Low. The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in three months, a sign the worst of the job cuts may be over.

Initial jobless claims decreased by 34,000 to 601,000 in the week ended May 2, the fewest since late January, from a revised 635,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of people collecting benefits climbed to 6.35 million the prior week, the 14th consecutive record, showing companies are still not hiring even as staff reductions abate.

Fewer firings reduce the risk that gains in consumer spending will be cut short. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict the payrolls report Friday show unemployment rose to a 25-year high in April, indicating the labor market will be one of the last areas to emerge from the worst recession in at least 50 years. Read more here-

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avK63SBwQwIs&refer=home

-ADP Estimates U.S. Companies Cut Fewer Jobs as Recession Eased. Companies in the U.S. cut fewer jobs in April, indicating the worst of the recession’s employment losses may have passed, a private report showed today.

Payrolls fell by an estimated 491,000 workers last month, less than economists forecast and the fewest since October, figures from ADP Employer Services today showed. March’s reading was revised to show a reduction of 708,000 workers, down from a previous estimate of 742,000. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=asnDB772FbzE&refer=home

-‘Great Recession’ Will Redefine Full Employment as Jobs Vanish. Post-recession America may be saddled with high unemployment even after good times finally return. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have vanished forever in industries such as auto manufacturing and financial services. Millions of people who were fired or laid off will find it harder to get hired again and for years may have to accept lower earnings than they enjoyed before the slump.

This restructuring in what former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker calls “the Great Recession” is causing some economists to reconsider what might be the “natural” rate of unemployment: a level that neither accelerates nor decelerates inflation. This state of equilibrium is often described as “full” employment.

Fallout from the recession implies a “markedly higher” natural rate of unemployment, says Edmund Phelps, a professor at Columbia University in New York and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in economics. “It was 5.5 percent; maybe it will be 6.5 percent, maybe 7 percent.”

That has implications for policy makers as well as workers. The Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are counting on the jobless rate to fall to a medium-term equilibrium of about 5 percent as the economy recovers. A natural rate significantly above that would drive up the annual budget deficit which will top $1 trillion for the first time this year by reducing tax revenue and pushing up spending on unemployment benefits.

A higher rate would also require the Fed to make a choice: Accept an economy with more Americans permanently out of work, or try to boost employment at the risk of heating up inflation. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aOhkusQ9LifQ&refer=home

U.S. DEBT WORRIES

-The nation’s debt clock is ticking faster than ever and Wall Street is getting worried. As the Obama administration racks up an unprecedented spending bill for bank bailouts, Detroit rescues, health care overhauls and stimulus plans, the bond market is starting to push up the cost of trillions of dollars in borrowing for the government. Last week, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to its highest level since November, briefly touching 3.17 percent, a sign that investors are demanding larger returns on the masses of United States debt being issued to finance an economic recovery.

While that is still low by historical standards it averaged about 5.7 percent in the late 1990s, as deficits turned to surpluses under President Bill Clinton investors are starting to wonder whether the United States is headed for a new era of rising market interest rates as the government borrows, borrows and borrows some more. Already, in the first six months of this fiscal year, the federal deficit is running at $956.8 billion, or nearly one seventh of gross domestic product levels not seen since World War II, according to Wrightson ICAP, a research firm.

Debt held by the public is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to rise from 41 percent of gross domestic product in 2008 to 51 percent in 2009 and to a peak of around 54 percent in 2011 before declining again in the following years. For all of 2009, the administration probably needs to borrow about $2 trillion. The rising tab has prompted warnings from the Treasury that the Congressionally mandated debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion will most likely be breached in the second half of this year.

Last week, the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group of industry officials that advises the Treasury on its financing needs, warned about the consequences of higher deficits at a time when tax revenues were “collapsing” by 14 percent in the first half of the fiscal year. “Given the outlook for the economy, the cost of restoring a smoothly functioning financial system and the pending entitlement obligations to retiring baby boomers,” a report from the committee said, “the fiscal outlook is one of rapidly increasing debt in the years ahead.” While the real long-term interest rate will not rise immediately, the committee concluded, “such a fiscal path could force real rates notably higher at some point in the future.” Read more here-http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/business/economy/04debt.html

INTEREST RATES

-Carney Says Key Canada Rate May Stay at 0.25% Until June 2010. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney reiterated he plans to keep the central bank’s main interest rate at a record low until the end of June 2010, and doesn’t anticipate moving to so-called quantitative and credit easing to give the economy another boost.

The bank’s interest rate reductions, “together with the conditional commitment to keep rates low for a considerable period, is the appropriate policy stance to move the economy back to full production capacity and to achieve the 2 percent inflation target,” Carney, 44, said in an opening statement to the Senate Banking Committee in Ottawa today. His comments echo ones he has made since cutting his key rate to 0.25 percent on April 21. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a0CjRuRPm5NA&refer=canada

-The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to a new record low of 1 percent today, and may offer banks longer-term loans to stem the region’s worst recession since World War II. ECB officials meeting in Frankfurt lowered the benchmark rate by a quarter point, as predicted by all 53 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Separately, the Bank of England left its key rate at 0.5 percent and increased its asset-purchase program. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aS6MaLZUVu_8 or

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/07/news/international/ECB.reut/index.htm

-BOE Increases Bond Purchase Plan, Rate Stays at 0.5%. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a0BFAZFLw9ro or

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/07/news/international/BoE.reut/index.htm

BILL GROSS COMMENTARY

-Gross: Growth Will Slow, Financials Will Get Hit. Bill Gross, manager of Pimco Total Return, the world’s biggest bond fund, says investors better get used to the idea of government involvement in the economy. This year represents a “demarcation point because it represents the beginning of government policy counterpunching,” Gross writes in his monthly commentary.

“A period when the public with government as its proxy decided that private market, laissez-faire, free-market capitalism was history and that a ‘private/public’ partnership yet to gestate and evolve would be the model for years to come.” How should investors cope with this new environment? They “should recognize that this grassroots trend signals an increasing uncertainty of cash flows from financial assets,” Gross says. “Not only will redistribution and reregulation lead to slower economic growth, but the financial flows from it will be” reduced for stakeholders, he explains.

“In turn, the present value of those flows should reflect an increasing risk premium and a diminishing multiple of annual receipts.” Translation: prices of financial assets will fall. As for the economy, Gross predicts “a slower rate of economic growth, not just in the U.S., but worldwide as heretofore libertarian capitalism is bridled, saddled and taught to trot instead of gallop over the investment plains.” Read more here-http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Commentary/IO/2009/IO+May+09+Gross+2+2+4.htm or http://moneynews.newsmax.com/financenews/bill_gross_financials/2009/05/05/210830.html

BEAR MARKET RALLY

-Many investors are looking to the early 1930s for some insight into the current economic-stock market environment. While there are significant differences (global economy, credit default swaps, TARP, FDIC, etc.) between the current environment and that what occurred in the early 1930s, there are also many similarities (bank failures, bankruptcies, severe market declines, etc.).

After all, history may not repeat but it often does rhyme. For some perspective on the current stock market rally that began on March 9th, today's chart illustrates the duration (calendar days) and magnitude (percent gain) of all significant Dow rallies that occurred during the 1929-1932 bear market (solid blue dots).

For example, the bear market rally that began in October 1931 lasted 35 calendar days and resulted in a gain of 35%. As today's chart illustrates, the current Dow rally (hollow blue dot labelled you are here) is slightly below average in both duration and magnitude relative to the average 1929-1932 bear market rally (hollow red dot). Chartoftheday.com

REAL ESTATE-MORTGAGES-FORECLOSURES

-Almost One-Quarter of U.S. Homeowners Underwater as Values Sink. A growing number of U.S. homeowners owe more than their properties are worth after prices extended their two-year decline in the first quarter, Zillow.com said.

Almost 21.8 percent of all owners were underwater as of March 31, the Seattle-based real estate data service said in a report today. At the end of the fourth quarter, 17.6 percent of homeowners owed more than their original mortgage, while 14.3 percent had negative equity three months earlier.

Property values dropped 14 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, reducing the median value of all U.S. single- family homes, condominiums and cooperatives to $182,378, Zillow said. The gain in underwater homeowners will lead to more bank repossessions, the company said.

Many owners “would be more willing to bear the financial consequences of bankruptcy or foreclosure,” Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice president of data and analytics, said in an interview. “You are going to continue to see home prices fall for the rest of this year and some portion of next year.”

The recession cut home values by $2.4 trillion last year, First American CoreLogic said in a March 4 report. More than 8.3 million U.S. mortgage holders owed more than their properties were worth and an additional 2.2 million borrowers will be underwater if prices decline another 5 percent, the Santa Ana, California-based seller of mortgage and economic data, said in the report. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alObJoQNAz.E&refer=home

-Manhattan Financial District Apartments Get Deepest Price Cuts. Real-estate broker Ronnie Diamonde expected the three-bedroom apartment in New York’s Financial District, listed in August for $1.64 million and seen by 145 potential buyers, to sell in eight weeks.

The condominium in the triangular-shaped Cocoa Exchange building was reduced twice by a total 21 percent over four months to $1.3 million, according to Streeteasy.com, a service that tracks New York real estate prices. A buyer will probably sign a contract this week for even less, said Diamonde, of the Corcoran Group, who has three other listings in the building.

The Financial District suffered the deepest price cuts in Manhattan in the first quarter as securities firms shed more than 180,000 jobs in the Americas. Manhattan apartment sales fell 48 percent from a year earlier, real-estate appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. said. Sellers lowered prices on almost a third of condo or co-op listings by an average of 11 percent in the Financial District, according to Streeteasy.

Downtown has been “disproportionately impacted by the layoffs and contraction of the financial-services sector,” said Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based Miller Samuel. In TriBeCa, the site of converted warehouses and the TriBeCa Film Festival, 24 percent of advertised apartments were discounted by an average of 11 percent, Streeteasy said. The deepest cut in the area is at 39 Worth St., which is listed at $5.99 million, a 40 percent discount, Streeteasy said. Read more here-

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20603037&sid=aZ2FN2jxOwHQ&refer=home

-U.S. Home Prices May Be Lost for a Generation. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aiiT.sNeq2YQ&refer=home

-Home Prices: More Downside to Come. Read more here-http://www.321gold.com/editorials/cooke_r/cooke_r050609.html

-Troubled housing market brings wrecking ball down on partially completed SoCal homes. Read more here-http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Partially-completed-SoCal-apf-15147127.html/print

-Commercial Mortgage Delinquencies in U.S. Rise to 11-Year High. Commercial mortgage delinquencies in the U.S. climbed to the highest level in at least 11 years in April as scarce credit made it difficult for landlords to refinance loans, according to property research firm Trepp LLC. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aES8UegfUvkU&refer=home

-The number of default notices sent to California homeowners reached an all-time record during the first three months of this year. It's another sign that the mortgage crisis isn't slowing down any time soon. Read more and view video here-http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/business&id=6776144 or http://online.wsj.com/video/bank-decides-to-demolish-new-homes/509981D0-7AAF-4A29-AE46-A490D7FE2A93.html

-Rich Americans Default on Luxury Homes Like Subprime Victims. Read more here-http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5750zUcnEEs&refer=home

-Foreclosures for Failure to Pay Condo Dues on Rise, Experts Say. Read more here-http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/may/04/foreclosures-for-failure-to-pay-condo-dues-on/

-Foreclosure Trouble Spreads to Those Who Bet the Farm. Read more here-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124148662805485947.html

© 2009, Worldwide Precious Metals.
www.wwpmc.com

The Goldbugg Report - May 11, 2009
Posted by Worldwide Precious Metals on Monday, May 11, 2009

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