Author Archives: mkriegs

Gold Demand in Dubai Now Running at 10x Normal Levels

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

The disconnect between the massive physical buying of gold versus the falling paper derivatives price has now become nothing short of extraordinary.  While we have all seen the figures describing the gold buying frenzy in China and India, now we have some more detailed information about what is happening on the ground in Dubai.  Incredibly, we find that since the April paper price crash, 50 tons of gold has been purchased, which is the equivalent of the entire amount of 51.8 tons purchased in all of 2012.

Read the rest here.

CME President on Gold: “They Don’t Want Certificates, They Want the Real Product”

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

What’s interesting about gold, when we had that big break two weeks ago we saw all the gold stocks trade down significantly, we saw all the gold products trade down significantly, but one thing that did not trade down, was gold coins, tangible real  gold.  That’s going to show you, people don’t want certificates, they don’t want anything else.  They want the real product.

- Terrence Duffy, President and Executive Chairman of CME Group Inc,. on Bloomberg TV yesterday (April 29, 2013)

I’m actually still in a state of shock that the head of the CME Group would make such an observation and in such blunt terms.  I mean the guy admits that volume on his exchanges suck, yet basically claims paper gold (one of their marquee products) is becoming irrelevant.  Remember that CME owns the COMEX…

To read more and watch the video go here.

Highlights from the Incredible 2011 Interview of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange by Google’s Eric Schmidt

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

Ever wonder what would happen if Wikileaks’ Julian Assange sat down for a five hour chat with Google’s Eric Schmidt?  Well, wonder no more!  Yesterday, I decided to read through the entire transcript of their secret meeting and it was worth every minute.  While the interview took place back on June 23, 2011 at the rural house where Assange was staying at the time, it was only released this past Friday.  The topics discussed were incredibly wide ranging including the future of journalism, how Bitcoin is changing the monetary system (kind of interesting how Schmidt had no idea what Bitcoin was, or at least claimed ignorance), teaching nuclear synthesis through interpretive dance, and how humans are tricked into war.  I found his most profound observation expressed in one simple statement: 

I think that the instincts human beings have are actually much better than the societies that we have.

I totally agree with this assessment and I wrote about it last year in my pieceHumanity is Rising.

To read my summary of this 27,000 word transcript, click here.

Paul Krugman Goes on the Attack: Calls Bitcoin “Antisocial”

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

Anyone on the fence with regard to Bitcoin should consider coming to the side of supporting it after reading Paul Krugman’s ridiculous and riddled with errors hit-piece in the New York Times this weekend.  The key tipoff as to where he is coming from in this absurd editorial is in the title itself in which he calls Bitcoin an “antisocial network.”  Anti-social is one of the most favored collectivist/fascist terms and concepts of all time.  A term meant to demonize those in a particular society that think for themselves rather than conform to whatever the oligarchs or dictators in charge of the state deem appropriate or “social.”  Jews would have been seen as “antisocial” in Nazi Germany, just as anyone with glasses would have been deemed “antisocial” in Pol Pot’s Cambodia.  This is a very dangerous term and one that is intended to guilt people into the acceptance of a stale, authoritarian and conformist society.

Read the rest here

Blockbuster Lawsuit: Whistleblower Alleges Reuters Releases Data Early to HFT Clients

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

Very interesting, but unsurprising, allegations have surfaced in a lawsuit brought forth by former Thomson-Reuters employee Mark Rosenblum that alleges the company released sensitive economic data early to HFT (high frequency trading) clients.  Now this should come as no shock to anyone, considering it has become crystal clear that the entire economy is essentially simply one giant oligarch-run fraud that is designed to take the wealth and labor of 99.9% and funnel it all up to them.  This realization is a large drive behind the recent success of Bitcoin, as people are simply desperate to get free of the parasitic banking system at all costs.  From Reuters:

In the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Mark Rosenblum said he was terminated after telling U.S. authorities that the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers was released at different times to different subscribers.

Rosenblum said in his court papers that Thomson Reuters releases the monthly survey to so-called “ultra low-latency” subscribers at two seconds before 9:55 a.m. ET, to “desktop” subscribers at 9:55 a.m., and to the general public at 10 a.m.

Read the rest here.

Foreign Cash is Now Bidding for “Rat Infested” Homes in America’s Latest Housing Bubble

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

I tweeted the following a few days ago:

I can sum up the housing market like this. Rich baby boomers with PE firms outbidding each other as they enter the dementia phase of their lives.

I firmly believe that the above statement sums up what is now the primary backbone of the latest housing bubble.  Alas, there is more.  On top of these boomers that know nothing other than housing and financial speculation, there is a flood of foreign money, in many cases criminal money, being laundered into U.S. real estate.  We now discover that this foreign cash is now preventing regular citizens from buying or even renting in the San Francisco Bay Area.  From Mercury News:

His agent, Sharmila Banerjee, said that “cash is coming from China, India, Russia, but there can be difficulties transferring money from outside the country.” When one such deal fell through, another one of her clients had his offer accepted, she said.

Real estate agent Melissa Haugh said everyone in her office was stunned at the price, paid in cash, for a Santa Clara fixer-upper. “The house had a rat infestation, there were holes in the walls, windows that leaked, mold around windows, water damage to floors. It needed $100,000 in work,” she said.

Read the rest here.

Shocker! Multinational Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

One of the strangest things about the corporate tax debate is that it is nearly impossible to figure out the amount companies are actually paying. Nowhere is there a straightforward number showing how much in federal taxes a firm pays to the U.S. Treasury every year.

- From a recent Washington Post article published March 26

Back in March 2011, I first discussed the extreme extent to which the largest corporations in America go in order to avoid paying taxes, when I highlighted how GE has a unit of 975 people devoted entirely to achieving this end.  It was clear back then that the biggest multinational companies in the nation take advantage schemes and loopholes that would never be available to the average citizen.  Tactics such as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich,” which these corporations expend considerable resources implementing.  Well, now we have an update on the story courtesy of the Washington Post.  We learn that:

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Bitcoin Goes Parabolic: Updated Thoughts

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty BlitzKrieg 

So Bitcoin has finally dipped its electronic toe into the fringes of mainstream consciousness. The results have been, to put it mildly, explosive, divisive and highly emotional.  I can see why.

As I write this, there are about 10.9 million Bitcoins in existence, putting the entire market at around $775 million.  To put this into perspective, even after this parabolic move, Ben Bernanke still prints into existence an average of four new Bitcoin markets every single day.

Supporters of Bitcoin should not only expect an attack from “the state”, we should embrace it.  Just think about how ridiculous the government will look if they attack Bitcoin.  I mean, these guys can’t put a single banker in jail, but when citizens decide to freely exchange goods using a currency of their choice that is where they draw the line!  Bitcoin’s purpose is to both show us the way forward and to make the authorities look foolish as they spastically and irrationally respond to it.  I suspect it will be highly successful in accomplishing both objectives.

Read the entire article here.

Congress Moves to DEREGULATE Wall Street

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

The best part of this story is that Wall Street is, of course, anything but regulated. Nevertheless, the minuscule rules that do apply to the nation’s financial oligarchs are apparently just too much to bare.  It doesn’t seem to bother Congress that the TBTF banks are actively involved in offshore payday lending schemes with rates well over 500%, or that they destroyed multiple municipalities across the nation selling swaps, including picking away at the carcass of the once strong Detroit.  Nope, all that matters is that Congress’ pockets are lined with Federal Reserve Notes.  As expected, this is a bipartisan effort.  From theHuffington Post:

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan cadre of House lawmakers will move on legislation to deregulate Wall Street derivatives Wednesday, less than a week after Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) released adevastating report on the multibillion-dollar derivatives debacle at JPMorgan Chase.

“It is incredible that less than a week after new JPMorgan Whale hearings detailed how the bank’s London office piled up risk, hid losses, and dodged regulatory oversight, that some House members are again supporting the weakening of derivative safeguards.”

Read the rest here