(Click here to see how the cocaine high of low interest rates doesn’t work so well anymore)

Gold is different … You have to buy Gold with real money … This promotes saving … This promotes the principles that made this country great (long ago) … We can’t predict the future price of Gold, but we can predict that if America keeps going deeper into debt, the country is screwed.

Many believe now is the worst time  … If you put down 20% and then lose 50% in value, you will end up like the rest of the country wanting to give the keys back to the bank

It’s called a depression … and they call it that because things get very depressing

If you buy Gold and analysts turn out to be right when they say it could go as high as $7000 an ounce

or you buy real estate and it drops in half … Guess how many houses you could buy with your original investment of Gold … $100,000 in Gold might buy you 14 houses … verses buying a house now and handing the keys back to the banks …

Only time will tell …

Protect or starve …

It’s not that we enjoy bringing you this bad news … This is as depressing to us as it is to anyone … It’s just that you can’t spend 75 years of money over the a 3 year period (2003-2007), take away most of the good paying jobs and have a political class in this country that feels like they are so much better than regular folk and hope that everything will work out just fine in the end.

Sorry to burst CNBC’s bubble, but things won’t be working out …

America as we knew it is over and the sooner we come to grips with the fact that we are broke, the sooner we can prepare for the hell that is coming next … You can’t have half the country upside down in their homes and think you are going to have a strong economy.

Housing built us … Now housing takes us head first into the ground … Prepare for what awaits us next

We don’t give financial advice, but the thing that makes Gold so tempting at any price is the fact that you will always have something … They can take your stocks down to virtually nothing, they can make bonds worthless through state and federal defaults, they can inflate pricing so your dollars can’t buy what needs to be bought, but Gold is a bit different …  Gold has never gone to zero … and Gold tends to do very well in both inflationary and deflationary times … Interesting days ahead …

(click here to see what the stimulus did for America)

When you hear someone in goverment talk “stimulus”, just think of money being burned … same thing

(Click here)

FYI: For those wondering, the management team is in the process of building our new TV studio where we will broadcast WarRoom 10 hours a day live on the internet.  This is going to be something special so stay tuned for updates.

Books have been written about this ill-fated merger, but at the end of the day it’s just another example of how corporate America is more concerned with their stock options than they are creating a long term franchise.  There are reasons why the USA is in the toilet and this is just one of many examples.

We are in the midst of a slow motion depression.  We predicted it here in War Room early last year and it has played out as expected with few exceptions.  I have been surprised by the “strength” of the U.S. stock market up from the lows of 6666, but when you look at it over the long haul, we are still down 45% from the highs and it looks like the recovery has sputtered out.  I am still believer we will see Dow 5500 sometime before the end of 2009.

According to Barrons, the housing Hurricane is coming back … (click here)

Ask the people in Michigan if it’s a Depression … (click here) … You have to have jobs … Take away the home equity loans, take away the credit cards and then take away jobs and what are people supposed to buy food with?  The government will NEVER send people enough monthly money where they can live with any form of style.  It’s survival money and the rest of us are paying for it in the form of future debt.

Rather than seeing our economic system collapse all at once, we are watching it happen in slow motion.  For yours truly it’s like trying to cover a football game that should last 3 hours, but instead goes on for 9 months.  Something tells me that this “game” could go on for the next 15 years.

More homes go into foreclosure and more Americans lose their jobs every day.  If you believe we can have a recovery with this destruction in the background, think again.  No work, no money … No money, no economy … I wish it could get better, but it can’t.  Here in Arizona it is an absolute disaster as we’ve reached the point where homes have a flat value of $80,000, regardless of quality and/or square footage.

You can’t recover with this … (click here)

Meanwhile we keep pumping out product as America prepares for the inevitable … 1-888-950-GOLD

Latest video from Howard Dividowitz … (click here) … Howard is one of the few people to ever turn us down for an interview request, but he’s so dead on accurate with his predictions, we don’t care.

James Cramer’s theory that housing will bottom next month now seems as foolish as all of his other predictions.  Why CNBC allows him to continue airing his shows, I have no idea.  He better pray their isn’t a Glenn Beck led revolution sometime soon, because I don’t think the “natives” will be kind.

GM to build cars in China?  How do you have a functioning economy with no jobs?  How do you have a recovery with everyone sitting around sending messages with Twitter?   I would love to sit here and say that I believe in the majority of the American people and that we always find a way, but I don’t believe a word of it.

More as the day progresses … Very busy … 1-888-950-GOLD

I’ve gotten a lot of email over the past 8 weeks saying that I am all wet with my prediction of GD2, but all you have to do is to scan Drudge and see that this time, there will be no recovery.  You can’t have growth built on debt when you’ve already run the credit cards way past the limits.

If you think we’ve seen the lows in the Dow, keep dreaming.  This is going to get bloody in more ways than we can all imagine.  This is what happens when you spend tomorrow’s money, yesterday.  It’s payback time and America is tapped out.

I explain this over and over and people still don’t seem to get it.  As long as Americans are being layed off and can’t pay their bills, more homes will flood the foreclosure marketplace.  This is going to drive prices DOWN, not up.  I was talking to a friend last night who agreed with me that all the fundementals are rotten and will get worse, yet real estate pricing will somehow “recover”.

That thinking is based on, property having real value, but when you look at it, property is more of a liability than an asset (these days).  Real Estate has high carrying costs and when things are in the dumper, the last thing you want is more bills.  We are heading towards the day of bulk $1 homes.  It hasn’t happened yet aside from a few communities (Detroit for example), but it will soon spread nationwide.  Once people see their neighbors home selling for a dollar, then true fear will set in.

My predicition of Dow 5500 looks like a longshot now (sure I wish I bought in big at 6600), but don’t count it out just yet.  I realize my shortcomings as a short term market timer, but this mess is far from over.  The TV talking heads can coordinate this smiley face 2 month recovery, but they can’t put people back to work.  No jobs … no ability to pay bills … collapse.Â

And Gary is right … Real Estate will get much worse, because the supply of homes that cannot be paid for by normal wages is growing by the second.  This will have a bloody ending.  It will not end well.  They can spin it all all they want, but at the end of the day, if the salaries aren’t there, the ability to pay bills won’t be there.

It’s checkmate and we lose … Prepare for your future or feel the full effect of it … 1-888-950-GOLD

Let’s look at the facts:  On January 6th of 2009 the Dow was at 9015 … We are now at 8500.  Last Fall when the sky was falling, the worst case predicitions for auto sales in 2009 was 10.5 million.  We are currently on a pace for only 8.3 million cars sold.  Jobless claims fell last month and we “only” lost 539,000 jobs.  3 cheers for a “red hot” job market.  Only a half million fresh people will go without work this month.

I want it to get better.  Having America broken is not good for our business.  We sold tons of product when the Dow was in the 14,000 range and at that time getting Gold and Silver on a wholesale basis was a heck of a lot easier than it is today.  Having tapped out customers doesn’t help anyone, ourselves included.

We cannot fix these problems until we create good paying jobs.  You show me good paying jobs with little or no inflation and I’ll show you a country that’s on its way back.  You show me Americans that want to work and don’t have their heads burried in an Iphone chatting away all day (even when they are driving) and then I’ll gladly agree we are back on track.  Right now all I see is employeers that don’t want to hire and workers that don’t want to work.  What kind of recovery is that?

Dow 5500 … Laugh at me now, cry later.

They can manipulate the stock market (for a short while), but they can’t manipulate your desire to go out and buy a brand new GM rattletrap.  You either want one or you don’t and judging from the above article, most consumers still have their smarts about them.

I’m not saying GM doesn’t have some good products.  I’m just saying that management is so polluted and the public is so tired of the games that they have no future in America.  People will never want to do business with these people again.  Also, many people who bought GM products were doing so with cash generated from home equity loans and now that they’ve gone bust, the customers are gone.

It’s over … put a fork in them …

The inside boys that new 6600 would be a hard low have made a killing in the market over the past few months.  It’s hard to argue with those who bought at that bottom.  They were right and I have been proven wrong (so far).  Now granted, we are still down from the high of 14,700, but I think America was in such a mode of panic, that any increase is appreciated.

Where do I think we are heading next? … Dow 5500 or less … If you look back at the 1930’s you will see many false bear market bumps where the inside boys tried to get the masses to join with them before the toilet would flush once again.

We are losing 600,000 jobs a month.  Americans would rather piss their days away on Twitter than taking orders from a boss.  The country is dropping because the mentality that made us great is now considered “obsolete thinking”.  Even Republicans like Jeb Bush are saying that we should forget about President Ronald Reagan and prepare for a new America where we have to kiss a** with people who don’t like to work.

KMA Jeb Bush … KMA Eric Cantor … KMA Mitt Romney … Your Republican listening tour is a pile of waste.  If your “listening” during the day, the first thing you should ask those you are “listening” to is why they aren’t busy at work.  You should be out teaching conservative values, not listening to the unemployed.

Twitter is a perfect example of what’s gone so terribly wrong.  People sit with their eyes glued to the cell phone each day sending moronic messages into cyberspace.  Advertisers won’t touch it, because the last thing they want is to pay having their message sent to those out of work.   I don’t mean to be negative, but this country is gone unless we go back to 1983-1997 thinking.

Update: For those of you wondering what “Twitter” is, it’s a web site that allows people to send 140 word messages to each other via computer and cell phone.  For example, if someone is constipated, they might pull out their cell phone and start pecking away on the tiny keyboard asking the world for solutions to their dilemna.  I go up on the Twitter site for a quick look and it really makes you ashamed knowing this is the hot trend sweeping America.  I can tell you first hand that it’s difficult hiring employees who would rather work than “tweet” their days away.  I can’t get my mind wrapped around the whole thing.  Sorry to rant, but this text messaging needs to be outlawed for the sake of our mental survival.

I’m not anti-Obama or pro-Obama (my theory is these problems started long ago), but if the government is going to take so much control, why not force the right decisions to be made.  Saturn should be handed to someone like a Penske.  He’d fix the thing fast and prove that America can compete with Japan.

Fascinating Rush Limbaugh/Clear Channel $400 million contract article … (click here) … Rush is MUCH more entertaining with a Democrat in the White House.  I thought it was getting VERY dull when he was covering for George W. Bush.  It’s not dull now …

Our new CEO is coming on over the next few weeks.  This is going to be big.  We signed him away from one of our largest competitors and the feeling here is that will create the undisputed number one source for Gold and Silver Numismatics in America.  Our customer service has always been second to none, but my hunch is that it will only get better.  Pleasure working here …

In a way you have to feel really sorry for Elizabeth Edwards … (click here) … Considering Rush calls Edwards the “Breck Girl” maybe his wife should feel fortunate that John didn’t go for a guy, but it still sucks when you are that sick and your husband at the age of 55 can’t keep his hormones in check.  By that age you should be pretty well settled down.  I really feel for her … Then again she should never have allowed him to run for President in the 2008 primary.  What a mess …

Wall Street Journal says real estate still has a long way to fall …. (click here) … Of course it does.  Prices right now are 25-55% too high and that’s after they’ve already dropped by half.  Can you say upside down in your mortgage?  Here in Arizona everyone and their brother borrowed against their home (not us) and now as the value drops they find that they have more debt outstanding than equity.  It’s called being F-ed …  Your life is all but over until the master reset if you participated in the home equity game.  Here in Arizona I have to admit that many deserved what they got.  Never have I seen people so void of talent live so far over their means.  You work at the local Wendy’s and you are living in a $750,000 house with $950,000 of total debt.  What in the heck is that all about?

I know I’ve been slighting War Room lately, but with the new CEO coming in, he has promised  I can spend 4 hours a day here, 2 hours a day doing interviews and 3 hours a day on the phones helping new customers.  He’s going to take a major load off of my shoulders and I am going to continue to pour content on the site.  I love doing this stuff, but over the past few months we have been spread so thin that it’s been a struggle.  I’m here for you guys … Any comments, feel free to email or call … 1-888-950-GOLD

Yet, if you take things from the highs of the 2006-2007 peak, we are clearly in a depression (at least in most parts of the USA).  We have dropped more than the required 10% (for 2 consecutive quarters), probably closer to 40-60%.  Case in point is American autos where last Fall (during the crash) we were told we would probably sell 10 million cars in 2009.  Currently we are on a pace to sell 8.5 million, below even the bleakest predictions.  Considering the peak had 17 million sales, it’s clear to see that the American car industry is in a major league depression.  Same with housing, same with the stock market, same with airlines, same with Vegas, same with most everything. 

Many say that I am doom and gloom but at the end of the day, I’m a realist.  If we could shed debt, create a work ethic and clean up the system, we could recover.   We are doing everything but those things and the price to be paid is going to be brutal.  Instead of seeing the U.S. collapse in one giant flush last Fall, the government bailouts have created an environment where we get to see it in slow motion instead.

I’m not blind to the stock market either.  I know we are up from a low of 6666, to 8500, but as long as 600,000 Americans keep losing their jobs each month, there’s no way you can spin this as being good.  Not only won’t those people be able to contribute to the economy through money spent, they are a clear sign that American business needs less workers to serve fewer customers.  In short, Dow 8500 is mass manipulation, but kudos to Wall St. for pulling this scam off, at least so far. 

New York times seems to agree … (click here)

30 years of investment advice turns out to be total trash … (click here to see Cramer in a dumpster)

I just got off the phone with a friend who says things are going to get straightened out in this country.  He said that they always have been fixed before, so they will be fixed now as well.  When I asked him to tell me exactly what is going to happen that will make things improve, all I heard was silence. 

This depression is going to get worse and worse … Nothing stops the downward spiral … I can write about it forever, but the fact is America is tapped out.  The credit lines are blown and the bills are due and few can pay.  I wish it could get better, but short of a miracle, it can’t.  The sooner we accept reality and adjust to our new America, the better. 

The American people don’t want to work anymore.  It’s not all their fault because they have seen the folly of Wall Street and the Banks and now realize that their financial future was built on feathers.  It’s been proven that crime pays and hard work vanishes, so which way to do you think America will look?   I hate saying this, but it’s real. 

We have to be very picky about who we bring into the fold here, because if you hire the wrong person, things in the office will go missing (quickly).   When confronted the offenders will look back at you in astonishment.  How can you accuse me they say?  Then we play the DVD recording from the office security system and they realize they’ve been snagged.  America 2009 … Be careful who you trust and watch your back because the daggers are coming.

More updates this weekend … We are just getting slammed with fresh business and the top priority has to be filling new orders and keeping customers happy … If that means 17 hours a day, no problem … Talk to you all soon … Gary

He also told me that one of his friends who owned one of those town houses had taken a $100,000 home equity loan during the peak.  I asked him how long it took her to burn through the money and he said she spent it all in 3 weeks and never made one payment. 

I don’t need to predict depression here in War Room anymore because when homes prices fall 75%  you have to realize that the only thing holding us together is Washington, DC and their bag of tricks.  Take the tricks away and many would be on the streets searching for food.  How long can the tricks last?  That’s the big question and I don’t have an answer for you …. just yet.

There were probably 8,000 $1,000,000 (or more) homes built over the past 6 years within a 40 minute radius of my home.  I would estimate that 1/3 of them were to be sold at over $2 million (they never found buyers).  These homes are aprox. 5-6000 square feet and really decked out with fancy stone work.  Most of them currently sit empty hopelessly looking for buyers.  They don’t look rundown (yet), but you can see signs of trouble ahead as these homes require a lot of upkeep to look good.

The low end is even worse.  In Queen Creek, Arizona there are entire neighborhoods in foreclosure.  It’s a total disaster as these home are falling into disrepair rapidly.  My wife and I went out on on Saturday morning to see the carnage and found many $500,000 homes with broken windows and bullet holes through the front doors. 

When will it recover to peak numbers?  Not in my lifetime … In Arizona we are overbuilt at a ratio of 50-1 based on dollar invested vs. dollar than can be paid for.  We just don’t have the job market in Arizona to support what was built.  Unless the $2 million homes start selling for $125,000, the thing will be never be fixed.   If the $125,000 mansion did exist, it would put 99% of Arizona homeowners underwater.  Obama launched the $75 billion real estate fix and so far it’s been like shooting an elephant with a rubber band.

I have a lot to say about the people that created this mess … I’ll save it for later when I am in a really bad mood and can let it rip … Suffice is to say, they were pigs.

We continue to be VERY busy and appreciate your continued support.  Thank God for the Gold and Silver markets and our wonderful staff that helps us bring them to you in “living color” … 1-888-950-GOLD

GM has been designing junk for a long time.  I don’t blame the hard working Americans on the assembly line, I blame the management.  They filled their pockets and gave us third rate product.  Then they tried to guilt us into buying their product with the buy American line.  If they had been serious about building great cars, they would have gotten in touch with Toyota’s best designers and given them huge contracts.  Think of it as going after a hot free agent in the NFL.  You pay big and you get big.  Unless Rick Wagoner learned to design cars, his $25 million a year was pretty much wasted.

and here’s another call that was NEVER played on Youtube … (amazing stuff)

We love to spend money.  Our products are built overseas.  Where do you think the money went?  I don’t think our long term problem is inflation, I think our problem is no work.  If there were jobs, then yes, you could get the economy moving again.  No jobs=Flat line depression.

That’s a Depression …   and I don’t think it will ever turn around.  At some point we will stop dropping, but then we could go flat line for 15 years or more.  There won’t be magic recoveries this time around. 

People slam President Obama for introducing us to socialism, but this started long ago.  If he just told people to starve, we would have revolution now verses 3 years from now.  Our President is buying us some time to see if a miracle can pull us out of the death dive.

Not scared?  … Think again … We came close to a total collapse last October and the day of reckoning has simply been delayed.  It’s coming … prepare … 1-888-950-GOLD

Will we hit Dow 5500 in the coming 7 week?  … I don’t know … I think we could come close … By the end of this year I believe the Dow will drop below 5000 and America will truly feel fear.  We’ll be paying for this mortgage abuse for the next 10-15 years.  The one bubble you never want to have is a housing bubble and we just finished one that will go down in the history books as the worst ever.

My own advice (for me), is wait for new hard lows and then buy into the next bear market rally.  Great way to invest for the long term … huh?

We have to get back to building things.  We have to produce … You can’t have an economy based on consumption and then servicing that consumption.  Someone has to sit on an assembly line putting things together and then you have someone manage him or her and then have someone run the plant etc …

It might not be glamorous, but at least it puts food on the table … We lost those jobs, so we had to replace the production with home equity loans and credit cards.  Now that all those dollars are gone, we have to look at government to refill the well.  The problem is, DC can only loan us enough of our own money to make certain we live in poverty.  It’s called checkmate … 1-888-950-GOLD

“Play dead and he might sit there and eat you” … (click here)

See what Mike Golic really thinks about Nutri-Systems (yuk) … (click here)

The majority of Americans do not want to work (just thought I’d say that for the 600th time) … Maybe when they see what the boss is making they are justified.  Especially when the boss is “running” a company that is deep in dept or getting TARP paper.  This is going to end badly.  I don’t know exactly how, but I do know that if you think we are going to come out of this with a big happy face you are living in dreamland.

I could give two damns that the market is up or down today.  I look at things from a perspective of time.  How much is the market up or down over the past 10 years is the real question.  Back when the Dow had dipped to 10,000 and Anderson Cooper and David Gergan were begging congress to pass Tarp 1 in fear of further drops, I knew that even if it did pass, we would still head lower.  Now we are 2,000 points lower with more destruction to come.  You think we’ve hit bottom?  If you do, then load up on stocks now and pay the price later.

Even CNBC admits March foreclosures soared … (click here)

One in every 56 homes in Nevada in foreclosure and MANY more coming … If the real numbers were out, HALF the homes in Arizona, Nevada, Southern California and Florida are either underwater in equity or behind on payments … It’s a damn disgrace what has happened to this country … (click here)

I know people are starting to pin the blame for much of this on President Obama, but you just can’t blame him for the mess that was created by the Iraq War, the runaway spending of the past decade and Tarp 1 courtesy of Bush and Paulson.  They started us on the road to hell and Barack Hussain Obama is just making sure we continue straight for the fire.  I hate all of it … I want this country to go back to honesty, hard work, dedication to family and respect for one another, but the truth is, it’s all gone.  People want government to supply everything from jobs to health care because the system has collapsed.

If the U.S. government had to bailout Arizona alone then MAYBE that could be done, but when you think of all 50 states going into the toilet, you start to see the futility in what is being done.  America is tapped out and now the bill is due.  Prepare for a future that just boggles my mind.

Now is the time to buy real estate?  Sure … Just because it’s off 50% from the highs, doesn’t mean the price is now a bargain.  I’m starting to think real estate pricing could fall by as much as 90% by the time all the destruction is done.  You will have to give these homes away to find buyers once the floods of rotten real estate hits the market.  You could see a home that was selling for $2 million during the peak, dreaming of a buyer who would take on the responsibility for $200,000.   When you are tapped out, the floor is zero.  Finding a $200,000 buyer for that home may be a God send.  Depression medication will see soaring sales.

Future of GM and Chrysler?  I would lean toward liquidation.  Auto sales in the USA will never return to the 16-17 million number during the madness.  We will be lucky to hit 9-10 million cars sold for many years to come.  Toyota, Honda and Nissan will continue to move cars, while the Koreans (Hundai and Kia) are bringing high end models to the market at low price points.  Who’s going to want to take the chance with GM or Chrysler quality, when cars will have to last for 8-12 years before you can afford a new one?  They need to last longer, so people will go with the higher quality brands.  Take a guess which ones those will be … Sad ending for two great brands …

Nobel Prize Winner Stiglitz says we’re F-ed and he’s probably right … (click here)

I really hate being so negative.  I’ve said many times that increased negativity equals a higher demand for Gold which equals less product for us to sell.  We would sell more product, if it was easier to get.  I want things to get better, but the abuse has been so bad that it’s very difficult to see a road to recovery.  It really bugs me that kids getting out of school today are going to face a far tougher road than I did 25 years ago.  It was fun getting out of school, getting a job, getting fired and then going out and creating all of this from scratch with little initial investment aside from 7 day work weeks.   What are you going to do? … times are different now courtesy of Wall Street and the pigs that put us into this mess.

People have asked for my opinion on the Tea Parties … I think they were a waste of time … Government doesn’t give a damn about us.  They won’t listen to us because they are in it for the money and the money won’t be coming from the wonderful people who took to the streets last Wednesday.  The money comes from the Wall Street.  I respect the people and what they did, but sadly, it’s going to fall on deaf ears. 

I actually think Rick Perry in Texas talking about leaving the USA is a far more powerful concept.  If a state leaves the USA they also leave the debt behind to 49 states.  If 2 states leave, then the debt goes to 48 states.  Keep doing the math forward and you will see that states theatening to bolt is the single best way to force massive reform in Washington, DC.  While the Perry concept seems like a fantasy, if the economic crisis continues for many years (and it will), I wouldn’t be surprised to see states want to go it alone and leave America’s problems behind.  Am I personally for it?  At this point, I’m not sure what I am for.  How do you fix this mess with a $20 Trillion national debt?  I have no idea … 1-888-950-GOLD

I don’t like Facebook, Twitter or Myspace … (click here) … Like I always say, in the old days (late 70’s/early 80’s), if I met a hot girl I would have to work it face to face, not via some texting system.  People get addicted to this stuff and then everything else goes down the drain.  Not sure what the answer is, but my son won’t be using this stuff (I hope).

It’s not about housing prices … it’s about jobs. Interesting article about a billionaire who knows we are still in deep, deep trouble … (click here)

Bullish 10 years from now … (click here)

Special Note: Sorry for fewer updates, but our company is growing so fast it is becoming difficult to keep up with everything.  Customers and orders always come first and then we move over to War Room and Interviews …  I’m posting this update at 11PM Monday night, so that shows you how stretched things are … We have a new COO coming on in the coming weeks (hired him away from a major competitor), so hopefully it will give yours truly entire days to post fresh updates and updated interviews.  We not only want to sell you product, we also want to inform and entertain.  Our goal is to create the World’s number ONE Gold and Silver website and we feel we are close to doing so.

I don’t believe we are out of this economic crisis.  Christmas 2008 things got better for 3-4 weeks and everyone was celebrating Dow 10,000 and then with the New Year it shot right down to 6666.  I don’t know exactly when, but lower prices are coming.  They can manipulate the market over the short term, but it becomes much more difficult to do it for an entire year.  Reality is calling and it wants the phone answered … 1-888-950-GOLD

Update: God Bless Lance Thomas … One of the most powerful 10 minute videos you will ever watch … (click here) … 5 bullets in the neck from gang members while he was trying to run his watch store.

Brilliant article by Robert Reich … (click here) … Reich is a true Liberal, but his thinking on the economy mirrors my own.  With all the BS out there of how things are getting better, it gets tougher and tougher to whistle in the wind that things are actually getting worse.  We’ll just sell more gold (at these lower prices) and do more interviews while we wait for the Dow to take its nose-dive to 5500 (it’s still coming).

It’s now a renters market … (click here)

Electric cars are going to be huge.  So huge in fact that Warren Buffet is investing heavily in the technology … (click here) … The problem is, if they do take off, where are we going to get all of this electricity from considering the fact we haven’t built a new nuclear power plant in years?

Happy News:  All orders are shipped (bet our competitors wish they had our inventory to draw from)

(Click here) … ONLY 53% of Americans think that capitalism is better than socialism.  People don’t want to work anymore.  In the 1930’s there was a rugged individualism that just doesn’t exist today.  I know the market is up big on some from fresh BS news, but we are still heading where we are heading (Dow 5500). 

We’ve been “trained” to think of the stock market as a long term vehicle, but lately people seem to live day by day with it.  The first thing someone asks me when they call is “what is the market at today”.  Even though I am locked in an office with 5 monitors tracking the major news and finance channels, I never lose track that there are 240 trading days in a year and even if the market is up today, there is plenty of opportunity for it to go down tomorrow (and vice versa).  What matters is where we are after a period of time.  I’ve been studying the Dow for 13 years and all I know is that most of my “favorite” stocks from 1998 are now either out of business or merged into companies that “hid them in the corner” (AOL for example). If I had taken my 15 favorite stocks from 1999 and “locked them away”, all the money I had invested would now be gone.  Not only a 0% return, but a total loss of original principle. 

It’s not that I am anti-stocks, just anti-stock market.  I think the entire market is a Madoff and if a company were really solid, they would stay private and keep all the money for themselves.  The only reason they “cut you in” is so that they can eventually “cut you out”.  It’s a real problem, because earned income alone won’t allow you to retire with any form of comfort.  We need those 8% stock market returns.  Too bad they don’t exist.

I’m not wishing for Dow 5500, only preparing for reality …

Hellstorm arrives in America … people can’t pay their bills … (click for dose of reality)

Coming Soon: An interview  with one of the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champions of all time, the legendary Dory Funk Jr. … Dory was just elected into the WWE Hall of Fame and upon his return home to Florida will be sitting down for an extended interview with yours truly … Very excited to talk with one of the all time legends in Pro Wrestling … (many more guests coming soon from all areas of interest)

In any form of gambling I can bet either side without fear … not with stocks … (click here)

Anyone who thinks a solution is right around the corner, needs to think again … (click here) … I don’t see 2010 being any better than 2009.  There are so many more foreclosures coming later this year and real estate prices will continue to drop.  This is scary stuff for even those like yours truly who are prepared for the worst and debt free.  Our economic system is in collapse.

If a house sold for $500,000 and now it sells for $150,000, that does NOT mean it is a bargain.  $500,000 was the bubble price, so to use that as the normal retail is foolish.   You have to wipe out everything after 2002 and start over.  Find out what a good price would be in 2001-2002 and make believe the bubble never existed.

The United States is broke.  The American public is broke.  That wasn’t the case in 2001-2002.  If there are 70 million homes in the USA and only 15 million qualified buyers, then you have 55 million homes that won’t be sold.  You have huge supply and the only demand is people wanting to “steal” property.  When they find out that the “deal of a lifetime” was actually the screwing of a lifetime, they won’t be back for more.

More money will be lost in real estate over the next 18 months than has been lost over the past 4 years combined (and those were very bad years).

Just added: Stunning Video Interview via ABC web with Sir Allen Stanford … (worth watching)

During the appearance Billy C mentioned to me that he thought this market would go to Dow 5500.  He doesn’t trust this rally at all.  He’s also dropped the line that even though Washington, DC is doing everything wrong, we will have a booming recovery.  There is NO recovery.  I think more and more people are starting to want this to crash and burn so they can re-invent the USA.  The current plan of printing dollars, praying for a miracle and talking a lot of BS is NOT working.

How to fix it?  We need to BUILD things here in the USA.  We build, we work, we get paid, we spend what we get paid and we recover (not sure what to do about the crushing national debt).  This concept of having a service only economy is a FARCE.  We need protectionism.  We need to make imports much more expensive so there is an advantage to have things made here.  Who’s going to have the guts to propose and then implement this?  Not the current crowd …

I want to make this clear to Billy C. and anyone else.  Dow 5500 is MY prediction.  I’m the one who stuck his neck out and gave an exact number even while we were having this “huge” BS 20% rally.  I still think the chances of us hitting the “magic number” of 5500 are near 100%.  We are already in a depression, but we are going into an official Great Depression where even the government admits that we are screwed.

Wasn’t ending mark to market last week supposed to fix all?   We are all bubbled out and even freaks like Larry Kudlow who would dance naked on CNBC if they thought it would add 5 points on the Dow are tired of false booms.  We need real estate to go back to 1990 pricing where you could buy a beautiful home for $125,000 and pay $250,000 for an oceanfront second home.  Think it’s impossible?  Get ready because all these sky high prices were built on the backs of mortgage holders that were lucky to be working at the Burger King drive though window.

Take away the credit lines and you take away the airplanes … (click here)

When are we going to accept that we spent 25 years of production in about 6 years?   We consumed at too quick a pace and now we are left with a huge pile of debt.  Debt that we cannot pay.   The only way for things to balance out is to have 15 years of very slow consumption.  The problem with that is the loss of jobs to serve the lowered consumption.  This is why economic bubbles are such a dangerous thing.  They should be avoided at all cost.

Had guests at the house today … They said I was too negative … They think America is on sale right now and that things will improve … Again, I hope they are right because it will relieve inventory pressures in precious metals.  I just don’t see it  … We had the 3 biggest bubbles in American history 1) tech stock bubble 2) real estate bubble and 3) Dow and Nasdaq bubble and Trillions have gone missing.   How are we going to get that back?

If I’m betting on a football game, I can bet on either team and I’m not considered “negative” regardless of who I choose to win.   Why can’t I do that with the economy?  If I reach the conclusion that things will get worse I should be able to play my cards accordingly.    I don’t see being bearish as being negative … It’s just being realistic based on what I see happening … You may feel differently, but that doesn’t make either side “negative” … One side will end up being right … Only time will tell …

Interesting article on banks wanting to give TARP money back, but President Obama and company not wanting to accept the re-payments … (click here) … I don’t believe this line of spin.  I think banks are desperate for TARP money and will end up taking MUCH more from the government.  They gave out loans, people don’t pay their bills, so now they own a bunch of assets that don’t bring in cash.  Thanks to ending mark to market accounting, they can now mark those assets up to the moon, but they are still cash poor because the monthly payments won’t be rolling in.  They need TARP or there would never have been TARP.  If I had been running the show, they would never have gotten TARP, which means they would all be jobless and we would have set up one government bank to take their place.

Quick Fact on Dow:  If they didn’t need your money to pull off their heists, trust me, they would never sell you any stock.  Do you really think they would cut you in at 8% (supposed returns) if they didn’t have to?   The stock market is fixed and even if you get a short term gain, in the end they will take your money and laugh.  You are paying for their adventure (stole that line from Jon Stewart).  The curtain has been pulled back and the Wizard has no clothes (but he has your $$$).

The MASTER speaks … DOW 5500 still VERY possible … (click here) … Imagine how mad people will be as they buy into this bear market rally and then boooom … Down she goes … ANGER, HATE, MIS-TRUST will be at an all time high as people feel like CNBC screwed them out of even more of their hard earned money.  They get the common hard working guy to buy in and then pull the rug out from under their feet.  The fall is hard and certain.  What are you really paying for?  A Stock certificate (that you never get to see) that claims you own a tiny piece of an eventually bankrupt company.  Thanks for the favors Wall Street.

If a CEO is the founder of a company, the sky is the limit in pay, but if you have someone walking into the job, he should be paid the way Toyota pays their CEO’s … around $1 million per year and maybe throw in a perk or two … and they wonder why the Japanese clobber us in the auto industry.  They don’t believe in making heroes out of criminals.

You don’t think workers resent the boss making that type of money?  You don’t think it effects the work ethic of the entire operation.  Shame, shame, shame on the destruction of capitalism.

Comment: Obama’s trip to Europe … he looked great … he always looks great … he speaks great (as long as the teleprompter is warmed up) … some of his moves have been great (firing Rick Wagoner, telling the bank CEO’s they are lucky the masses don’t hang them) … but what worries me about his Presidency is higher income taxes on those who are trying to make their way up the ladder.  I hate what he is doing with the $250,000 is super rich line of BS … What about some young kid out of school who works hard and wants to stash away some money before the earth comes to and end?  He has to pay 45-55% income tax while Hank Paulson took almost $1 billion from Goldman Sachs with virtually no income tax (loop holes and cap gains) …  Sad stuff …

Horrid days ahead … Ending mark to market might give the market a short term high, but as the news continues to rollout, it will be far worse than anyone thought and take away those gains.  They can pop corks on CNBC, our predictions stand.

I am against ending mark to market for two reasons … 1) it’s dishonest to value assets at what you think they might be worth “someday”   2) kiss real estate auctions goodbye as banks will just hold on to property at inflated values for the sake of their accountants

(NY Times agrees with War Room … yes or no)

There are 170 trading days left in 2009 … plenty of time for Dow 5500 … might seem like quite the fight today, but just give reality a little bit of time.  (I still hope I am wrong on this, because it will be a big help to all precious metal dealers when it comes to inventory-I want to be wrong) …

You would think the DOW hit 20,000 today  … They turned off the TV lights at the main studio because the hosts white teeth and big smiles lit up the entire set …

Positive news about cheaper housing … (click here)

Positive news if you are Chinese … (click here)

With the market on this positive run, it’s hard to be a bear.  People say you are rooting against an uptick in America.  I’m not rooting for anything other than a real economy.  Something we haven’t had in at least 12 years.

When I talk economy, I talk ground level.  How are things doing in the real world.  Here in Arizona, if a home is $80,000, it will find a buyer.  If a home is over $500,000 it will find foreclosure.  If a job pays minimum wage, it’s viable.  If a job pays $75,000 a year, look for a layoff.

Maybe I’m too negative because I live in one of the states hardest hit by the real estate fiasco, but I have contacts all over the country and they say it’s almost as bad where they live as well.  Do you think Michigan is booming with GM and Chrysler all but DOA?

I think we’ll see Dow 5500 and an unemployment rate of around 12% published and 19% unpublished by the end of this year.  

I’ll let you in on a little secret … It would be great for us as a company if the economy were to recover because the supplies of both Gold and Silver have become way too tight.  Most precious metals companies have a 3-4 week wait on the delivery of any product, which is very dangerous because of massive price shifts.  We have been lucky in that we have been able to fill all orders in real time, but it would be better for us, if supply was stronger.  So while my words indicate that I wish for things to get worse, in fact, for business, I would love an economic recovery.  I was seeing $15 million of product a year sold when the Dow was near 14,000, so don’t tell me we need a Depression to sell precious metals.

Sadly, we won’t be seeing that recovery in 2009 or 2010.  This has a long way to go before it plays out …  Real Estate is such a mess and is such an important part of our wealth effect, that it’s simply going to take many years to work through the system.  Meanwhile, we keep racking up the national debt.

The other problem is the American people themselves.  I notice an anger, a mistrust that I’ve never seen before.  People look at you 2 to 3 times, trying to figure out what your status is.  It’s kind of creepy.

We had a HUGE bubble … Now we pay the ultimate price … SCARY stuff …

Shock … $12.8 TRILLION spent in last 12 months … (click here)

Look at this chart on West Coast housing prices … (click here) … Even the people that live out here can’t fully understand how much destruction in equity has taken place.  For cash owners like your truly, it really isn’t a problem, but for anyone with a mortgage-major league ouch.

Fed now reporting we won’t have growth until 2010.  Wasn’t the second half of 09′ supposed to be recovery time?  Picture a carrot and a string and the mule keeps moving forward trying to take a big bite … That’s us.  They treat us like children (or mules).  I’ve heard the theory that we can’t be told the truth by the government or we will really freeze up, but … (I think that’s a lot of BS). 

Shills on CNBC back to their typical BS.  They keep bringing on people who site history saying that because X happened in 1989, now the market will do X.  You can’t take past history and use it to draw conclusions as to what happens tomorrow, UNLESS all circumstances are equal which they never are.   Back in 1989 we had a $2 trillion national debt, now we are heading for a $20 trillion debt.  Things are different, so results will be different, but of course CNBC chooses to ignore the obvious.

The worst are Kudlow and Cramer.  Kudlow because he claims everything Obama is doing will fail yet we are heading for a booming recovery in the 2nd half of 2009 (looks like that prediction is already wrong) and Cramer for just being a dick.  I started watching Fox Business Channel, but they really need to get some personalities over there.  Also, since the market has flattened out, CNBC put away the confetti.

All you need to know about stocks is that in 1997 everyone started piling into the market because you could suddenly trade stocks online.  12 years later, we are still at the 1997 levels.  What’s the point to investing if you are going backwards?

Update: I get a lot of email about my commentary on the web.  Most said I am way too negative, but I actually think I’m a bit positive.  I won’t go into details today, but just think where this country was pre-1997 and then post-1997. 

Don’t believe me … Hire some employees who just so happen to have these new smart phones with tiny keypads and watch what happens.  They’ll be typing away all day while you try and figure out ways to get rid of them.  It’s a REAL problem …

They take care of their own … (click here to see “justice”) … if it was you or me, they would throw us in pokey and flush the key down the toilet.

CNBC just announced that they are openly rooting for the end to mark to market accounting.  In other words, they want the banks to be able to value theses worthless homes at any price they want so as to make their balance sheets look clean … amazing … I wish some of these CNBC hosts would come and pay us a visit here in Arizona and I’ll take them on a little tour in the desert to see what these “precious” bank assets really look like.  After I drive them by a few homes with the $9000 front doors ripped off and the rattlesnakes “sleeping” in the entry ways, maybe they would change their minds.

Real Estate was overpriced.  Now it is coming back down to earth.  It still has a long way to fall.  Allowing banks to mark their assets up to the moon, won’t fix a thing.  It’s just fraud … Legalized fraud if they pass laws allowing it …

Larry Kudlow spouting his BS again on CNBC … He says the consumer is ready to snap back and booming recovery is ahead.  If he’s so confident in his points, why did he have to shut my volume down when I confronted him on his WABC radio show last Saturday morning?  These guys must be making some serious money because they’ll do anything to protect their positions.  Dylan Ratigan wouldn’t put up with their horse waste and he was shown the door … (click here)

Don’t believe me? … Take 12 minutes and watch this video from 60 Minutes … (click here)

If you watch CNBC you see a lot of smiling shills telling you everything will be fine.  If you look at the news in print, you get a FAR different impression.  Just the links we published today are enough to make you want to lock the doors and hide behind the sofa for the next 5 years.  Maybe it will be better in 2014.

Barney Frank to set your pay … (click here) … I am 100% in favor of this (regardless of what the talk radio hosts say) … If you take government funds, then the government SHOULD set your pay.  There has to be something in place to make companies want to go it alone instead of coming hat in hand to Washington, DC.

Real Estate still WAY overpriced in Arizona … (click here to see what $1.4 million buys you)

NY Times says banks walking away from foreclosures … (click here)

I can put links up here forever … Let me simplify it for you.  We are going into a Great Depression (our second in less than 80 years).  Life as you knew it, is over.  Even if you are well off, you aren’t safe from the masses.  If you think the “others” are going to let you drive around in a Mercedes while they go hungry, think again.  I’m not rooting for this so Gold can go up a few dollars in price because I liked the 1990’s much more than I like America today.  You could feel the momentum as we headed upwards in the middle to late 90’s.   We have to make do with what is put in front of us which is why I spend 18 hours a day focused on Gold and Silver coins.

Ross Perot was the perfect 3rd party candidate and he got my vote in 1992.  He started the Reform Party.  It was supposed to “reform” the political process.  It ended in 2000-2001 in a blaze of controversy, corruption and hate.  If you think you are going to take Americans and form a pure 3rd party that can take this country back, think again.  It simply won’t work as was illustrated with Perot’s party from 1992-2001.  People are people and when the interact they fight.   We need a master reset and I’m still not sure how we can make that happen, if we can make it happen.

News and Notes …

Things like Twitter will become even more popular as people bored with their lives try and find meaning through text messaging.  I’ll let you in on a secret Twitter fans, no one cares about what time you took your last dump.  You don’t need to publish it on the web.   We have 100 million people in America with the internet.  Do you think any of them care about your play by play, when they are busy publishing their own?  

I’m not into Twitter … Twitter is dumb … Facebook has a purpose even though, I wouldn’t spend 5 minutes on it … I really believe that everyone should have to pay to input information on the web.  That would take the degree of time wasting down 90% on these message boards.   I am convinced that this modern day “everyone is a journalist”  is going to sink this country.  It’s too addictive.  Once you start, you can’t stop.  I had a Treo when they first came out and my wife got really upset when my head was burried in the thing night and day.  It’s a great way to kill time, but the problem is it starts to kill work time as well as play time.  It’s cocaine on a tiny keyboard ….

I was talking to a friend in Ohio last night and he asked me if I was scared (about America’s future).  I sat back and thought for a few seconds and then told him that even though I am VERY scared, I am prepared for what’s coming next … 1-888-950-GOLD

Why can’t GM design a car like this … (click here) … It’s always Honda and Toyota pushing the envelope and GM trying to play catchup with their rattle-traps …

America’s #1 beggar to step down at GM … (click here) … due to sore knees … good riddance loser

Wasn’t the $700-850 billion of TARP supposed to fix everything?  Looks like it’s almost gone and nothing is fixed … (click here) … Shame on everyone (including President Bush) for going along with this nonsense.  The money has ALL been wasted, every penny of it.  We should have let them all fail and set up a government run banks (with the TARP money) until corporate America could get it’s head out of it’s a** and run a quality operation.  Instead we gave them bailouts and all the money vanished … pathetic …

Everyone would be more settled, if we would just admit that we are going into an official Great Depression in 2010.  Something that aside from printed paper dollars, would/will make 1933 look like a vacation on a tropical island.  In Arizona the median home price in 2008 was $210,000 … In 2009 it’s $120,000.  That’s a 43% drop in less than a year.  Can we say the obvious and move on?  Maybe we could rebuild if we would just admit that the leadership in this country should never have been hired or voted in.  We need term limits in corporate American and in Congress.  Thank God Rick Wagoner has just voted in his own term limits.  I wish we could come up with a way to confiscate every dollar of back pay he took from GM.  He had it in his power in 1998 to push an electric car and instead he went for the biggest SUV’s you could fit on a highway.  He destroyed GM … He’s the guilty party …

Glenn Beck lives here … Let him build a 30 foot fence for all I care  … (click here)

Mike Huckabee talking “revolution” on his Fox TV show (sunday 3-29-09) … I don’t know if I am “for” a revolution or against one, but the only way we will cleanup this mess for good is with a master reset.  I don’t know how that’s going to happen or if it’s going to happen, but that’s what needs to happen.  It could be done with a 3rd political party and the voting booth, but you need the charismatic leader like a Ross Perot to pull it off.  Someone who enjoys making enemies (I could volunteer for that part).

I spoke with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow on his WABC Saturday morning radio show … Not even going to bother to upload it, because the moment I said he acts like a shill for the Dow, he hit the mute botton and wouldn’t let me say another word.  Just like his buddy James Cramer, he’s a real coward when faced with reality.  I don’t like either one of them.  Kudlow is becoming famous for saying everything President Obama is doing is wrong, but we will still experience a blazing recovery ?!?!?!

Listening to Bill Cunningham on close to 500 AM stations Sunday night and every other caller is talking about a revolution.  This is getting out of control.  I’ve been alive for 47 years and have never seen anything even close to this.  It’s amazing … If it’s this bad now, wait until we officially go into Depression in 2010 with the USA ready to default on the debt because people can’t afford to mail in tax money anymore.  I would say the odds of an un-official Depression are 100% … the chances of a declared official Depression are 90% … the chance of the USA  defaulting on the debt 80% … and the chances of a voilent revolution are at 60% (not that I am in favor of it, because if it starts, it will turn America into Hiati-the violence won’t end for 25 years) … this is out of control … who would have thought this was possible?

2010 isn’t shaping up as a year of recovery.  2010 is shaping up as a year of survival.  Physical and emotional survival, as in will you make it through the year.  When I was a kid, my Dad would always tell me that the day of destiny for America was coming, but honestly, I never really believed him.  The internet stock bubble, the real estate bubble, the credit bubble and all of the fraud that created these bubbles have made his prediction inevitable.  It’s hard to believe we are living through this.  30 or 40 years from now you will be telling your grandkids about this time in history.

For those asking, National Gold Liquidators is still part of the Scottsdale Gold and Silver Exchange family of companies, but we are pulling the “brand” back a bit because of the popularity in melting down Gold watches and jewlery.  For the record, we are not like Cash4Gold.  We don’t melt Gold …  We don’t even know how the process works.  We’ve gotten thousands of calls from desperate Americans wanting to sell their treasures, but we can’t help you.  So to end any confusion (and to hopefully end the phone calls), we pulled the “Liquidators” name plate from the site … National Gold Liquidators was originally used as a channel to sell rare numismatics at tremendously discounted prices and it was a fantastic success, but times they are a changing.  We will continue our history of great pricing, but not under the Liquidators banner (at least for the time being).

I want to thank Cliff and company for all the hard work on the site.  They are just about finished and things will be staying stable for the rest of 2009.  With the new design we wanted to make it as “minimal” as possible with most of the “look” being focused on the content itself.  We will work very hard to add audio, video and blog updates at a much faster rate for the rest of the year.  Thanks to Team Cliff, we have the tools, now we need to take advantage of them.  We are always looking for part time writers for War Room, so if you are interested, drop us an email.

Dow and Nasdaq are on a real bull run.  The problem is you had to buy at the bottom to take advantage of it.   Everything is still broken.  Data from the field is as bad as ever.  People are hurting and homes are not selling unless they are at giveaway pricing.  I wish the economy could get better because it would help our inventory levels.  We have a shortage of precious metals product and a boost in stocks and real estate would help us.  So for those of you who think I “root” for bad news so we can sell more product, we actually sell everything we can get our hands on.  Our biggest problem is that we sell it for too little.  Every single coin we sold in 2006, 2007, 2008 and now 2009 is worth more than the day it left our offices.  I guess our customers are happy … we should have just held on to ALL inventory … 1-888-950-GOLD

Web team doing major surgery on our site today … Look for our “new look” later today … We’ve got the best guys in the industry keeping us ahead of the competition.

Stock market up about 100 points today.  We are being lulled back to sleep …. I think we are setting up for a huge single day drop.  If you think back over the past 9 months, we haven’t had a 1929 or 1988 single day event yet, but it’s coming … 900-1200 points in a single day with America in a total panic and Tim Geithner gone.  Stay tuned …

I’ve been talking with some of my local contacts and they are telling me that things are getting worse, not better.  Look, if we had a true recovery underway based on small business charging up the economy, I would admit that I might have been too pessimistic, but instead, small business is on it’s a**.  Obama is planning on spending more printed money in 4 years than all 43 previous presidents combined.  Some say the printed money is charging the economy, but how do those dollars end up in the pockets of people?  With a tax cut, you get more of what you make.  With government bailouts, all the funny money ends up in the pockets of the super rich. 

I don’t trust ANY of this … Dow 5500 … 13 weeks …

Craig’s List … good place for perverts … (click here) … The internet has done so much damage to this country.  Yes, there are some good sites (like this one), but most of the web is a sh** hole of time wasting, trouble making garbage.  It is so sad to see this country being taken down by something so great.   I do believe that we would be much better off today if the web had never been created (every time I say this the emails come pouring in).  The bad, outweighs the good by a margin of 200-1.

Want more proof?  Hire a web designer … you’ll go through 50 to find one gem.  The team we have in place now is the best, but we had to deal with some amazing laziness to finally find the great company we use now.

Cox cable here in Scottsdale just took on Fox Business Network and I am enjoying the professionalism they bring to finance.  This is going to be my new home channel during the day.

On market down days (especially the bid drops), I’ll still watch CNBC, just to see the market cheerleaders cry … Rah-Rah-Shish-Coomba (or something like that)

Think about it, 11 years of CNBC cheerleading and stocks are lower than they were in 1998.  All those smiles, all those high fives, all the confetti and you would have been better off stuffing your money in the mattress (a lot better off).

A friend of mine came over for dinner last night and he’s trying to sell one of his homes in Scottsdale and no one has called since he listed it.  I told him he needs to get in touch with 2009 and realize that people don’t trust property anymore.  When it was going up, everyone wanted to buy because they thought it would go higher.  Now no one wants to buy because they figure it will go lower.  The later theory is correct …

The Geithner plan to fix this is such garbage.  When you have so many properties that are going into default, any plan isn’t going to be good enough.  It’s like trying to load the entire years produce of Florida Oranges into the back of a single pickup truck.

Update: If you don’t have Fox Business Channel, you have to call your cable company and demand it.  We just got it here in Scottsdale and I am here to report that it is totally superior to the Bullsh** on CNBC.  The hosts on CNBC swing with the wind smiling when the market is up and crying when it goes down.  Not very professional when people’s retirement is on the line.  Over the past two weeks, I really found myself hating those CNBC manipulative shills.  Thank God for Roger Ailes.

Oddball Barney Frank will tell you that they are using the private sector to buy these homes, but the fact is, the moment the new investors lose one dime, the government will back up the losses (it’s the backbone of the plan).  Meanwhile, you and I can’t “participate” in the plan.  Hank Paulson can buy in, but we can only buy the end result, the trashed homes themselves.  It will be nothing but losses because real estate has to go down in price to become affordable.  The billionaire investors will pocket the gains because the government will be shoveling them money when the homes go down in price yet again.

The math doesn’t work.  Real Estate needs to drop another 50% and the job market needs to stabilize for the balance to have a chance of working.  That would be fine, but it will also put 60% of America underwater in their home equity.

It’s a problem with NO solution … So by definition any plan is a POS.  My plan would be a POS.  Your plan would be a POS.  The Geithner plan is POS.  Even a Ron Paul plan would be a POS.  Put us back on the Gold standard and the yellow metal would sell for $150,000 an ounce.  That would be great for our inventory, but horrible for future sales.  Imagine every coin selling for $155,000 …

This is why you NEVER create a housing bubble …

I hope people like Bernie Madoff rot in hell for what they have done.   You can’t have capitalism without trust and Madoff has destroyed trust.   We will all pay for what this animal did.

Paul Krugman, a long time Lib, ripped the Geithner plans today, saying he is taking trillions out of one pocket and putting it in another.  Every bit of this is destined for failure.   If they keep giving us these “solutions” we could be looking at Dow 3500.

If you have a home that sold for $300,000 and is now on the books for $100,000, but it has been destroyed by the ex-owners (cement in pipes, studs cut, front door ripped out etc …), the true value of the home could be as low as $20,000.  The politicians are acting as if these homes are in some kind of air tight chamber.  I can tell you first hand living in a hotbed of foreclosures that MOST of these homes have SEVERE damage.  Time will only make the damage worse.  These homes are worth far less than the “bargain basement” price currently on the books.  In short, they are garbage.

The best thing you could do (in one way) is sell the homes at any price now (liquidate), but the government is scared because the created comps would destroy the values of the paying neighbors next door.  It’s a problem without a solution and that’s why the one bubble you NEVER create is a housing bubble.  It simply effects too many people.  

God help us for what is coming next … Massive numbers of foreclosures pounding the markets into oblivion.  I think you will see foreclosure liquidation in early 2010 and that will mean homes in Arizona that once were listed for $2.5 million, will finally find a buyer at $500,000 … An 80% total drop in price … just what cash homeowners like yours truly want to see. the price of our homes brought down, because a bunch of pigs thought they were going to get rich with the Carlton Sheets real estate plan.

It’s all tied to stocks and real estate.  The more you’ve lost, the more pissed off you are.  Some people handle the losses better than others, but overall, we are an ANGRY country.  The part I don’t understand is that we saw tech stocks crash in 2000-2001, so where is the surprise in them doing it to us again?  Doesn’t anyone remember?   JDSU went from $250 a share to $2 a share in 2001 … Cisco went from $90 a share to $10 a share in 2001 … This was ALL done before, just on a bit smaller scale.

Now they are trying to juice it all up with the government printed money, but people are game to this now.  They can throw all the confetti they want on CNBC, but most people have lost their $$$ and aren’t going to hop back in. 

I don’t know where this all ends … Try having friends … Everyone is suspect of everyone.  The new bankrupt America won’t be a fun place to live.  Have a friend, lose a friend … Get hired, get fired … welcome to a life of revolving doors, dead ends and ill will.  I wish it could be different, but this is how it is in all socialist countries.  You can’t make it with hard work (you get penalized for success), so instead you try and do it with contacts and behind the scenes manipulation.  People become backstabbers …

Note:  The reason banks won’t lend is because they are smart.  They know that real estate has a long way to fall and that the current good loans will become tomorrows bad loans.  They know real estate has a long way to fall, because they have the foreclosure lists.  They know how many bad properties are going to be hitting the market … it’s going to be a flood that Noah couldn’t handle.

Personal Opinion:  I was talking to an old friend the other day and I said … ‘I wish it was the old days and you could get rich on tech stocks, but it isn’t.  You have to go with what works now or get burried’.  Some think I am negative, but I am only reporting what is put on my plate.  If I could wish it back to the 1990’s I would, but this is not ABC’s Lost and I can’t work my way through time.

What I can tell you is that in 2008 36% of the U.S. budget went to pay the interest on the debt.  4 years from now, after Obama has fully instituted socialism, we’ll have a 20 trillion dollar debt and 80% of the annual budget will go to pay interest on that debt.

Since we never have enough money coming in to fully pay for the budget (we run annual deficits), that means that ALL the tax dollars sent in will only be funding interest payments.  In short, America will be running it’s own sub-prime, interest only funding program.

Still think we are going to have a booming recovery?

Reason: Timothy Geithner … The market and America want him gone … They are going to pull this stock market down until he resigns.  It’s coming … I’m not saying we will hit 5500 dead on, but I believe we will find ourselves in the 5500-6000 range and Geithner will be fired out of sheer panic.  There has to be a fall guy for this AIG fiasco.  Bush and Paulson started bailout mania, but they are now forgotten so America wants an in-office person to blame.   His looks don’t help him either.  He’s got those oversized bunny rabbit ears and he looks too young and when he talks, he is void of charisma.  In fairness, no one could figure this mess out.  He’s got an impossible job, but he’s just not liked and the only way to make him go away is for the market to crash, which it will.  A stock could pay a 60% dividend and I wouldn’t own it right now.

Dow 5500-6000 within the next 13 weeks (probably on the earlier end).  Crash the market and Geithner goes home … then another bear market rally … and then GD2 becomes “Hellride 2010″.

Another TRILLION dollar plan that has ZERO chance of working … (click here)

Republicans right for first time in 9 years … Predict Doomsday … (click here)

Amazing fresh article about Arizona real estate being down up to 80% … (click here)

Noooo, we’re not in a depression … It’s only a slight correction (ya right) … (click here)

Twitter worse than HIV … Now Doctors doing twitter during surgery … (click here) … Twitter in limited doses might be fine, but the problem with any type of text communication is that it is addictive.  You can’t stop doing it … Let’s face it, life can be boring and the web and sites like twitter spice things up a bit.  Once you start, you can’t stop …. Sad that technology itself is taking us down.

Huge inventory of homes ready to hit the market … Soon you’ll be able to buy a 6000 square foot home for $350,000 … (click here) … The lucky ones will be the kids out of school making $100,000 plus who have pristine credit (DC) … They are going to make out like bandits buying beautiful homes for 20 cents on the dollar.  We are NOT near the bottom yet … More price destruction to come.

NY Times … Fire all AIG employees … Bunch of lazy bastards don’t even do anything at work.  Surf the web, throw spit balls, take 90 minutes lunches and leave early …  (click here) … I pray my son can do something honorable like quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs and not have to go into corporate America (if there even is a corporate America in 20 years) and deal with the slime.

Foreclosure at 83 years of age … (click here)

Luxury boats repo in Florida  … (click here)

Foreclosures everywhere in Arizona … (click here)

As Gerald Celente says, you can’t use a printing press to create prosperity.  All these Washington, DC plans, will just assure us of a full Depression.  Before I was 75% certain we would go into 1933 mode and now I am at 95%.   As I’ve said earlier, I think technically we are already there, BUT we will only count it official when the government admits to two consecutive quarters with 10% or greater decrease in GDP.Â

Thanks to all the new War Room readers … Our traffic this month is on pace to double our most active month on record.  Thanks to all for the support … Version 9.0 of our site arrives in 10 days.

The web team was out at the office today and as we were going over the next phase of changes for the site. CNBC flashed the  story on the 90% sur-tax on AIG bonuses and the room let out in a huge cheer.  Nobody thinks these guys deserve to be paid a penny.  They should be fired and forced to find real work.  America is sick and tired of Wall Street and the rotten people that work there.

Chance of depression increasing, not decreasing … We are taking the dollars out of the good peoples hands and giving them to the bad people in the form of loser bailouts … (click here)

Doctor DOOM Marc Faber predicts TOTAL collapse in second half of 2009 … (click here for video)

I thought everything was fixed … (click here) … We are going into the greatest depression this planet has ever seen … people won’t work, banks won’t lend, confidence is shot to hell, the only thing holding it together is a bunch of wealthy newspeople spreading the word on TV that everything is suddenly fixed.  It’s freaking madness … Are we 5 year olds?  They talk to us like you would children.  Are we supposed to kiss their a** after taking our stock market down 60%  now that they gave us back 5% of it?

Thank you for the 5% return on our 75% loss … Thank you … I don’t know if I’ll ever be able stomach buying another stock.  Just out of principle alone …

And FU James Cramer … I can’t even sit through 5 minutes of your program anymore … I had to turn on CNN today and try and grin and bare that torture because my CNBC boycott is in effect …  I’d really like to hook up with you someday and we could see just how well I’m able to hold my temper at age 47.  I know I wouldn’t be able to control my mouth.   Bear Stearns a screaming buy at $69 a share?!?!?!  What a POS of you are to hurt people who work so hard all day to make what money they can.  You should be bedmates with Madoff.  You could bring that dopey teddy bear you have on Mad Money and all snuggle up together.

Nothing like fresh fish … catch, fry, eat and take a nap … (click here) …

The rattlesnakes are coming out in Arizona … The rattlers sleep from Nov-early March, but they are all up and roaming now … I’ve seen 3-4 good sized ones already this year.  You have to be nuts to live here.  8 months out of the year you have to have your eyes pasted on the concrete ahead of you in fear of stepping on a Big Momma.  I’ve come close to getting bitten 2-3 times over the past 8 years.  One time I was looking at an open house and as I walked out the door to head back to the car, my foot almost made contact with a nice 4 footer.  Ouch …  Nothing like the feeling of snake venom running through your body … Again-Ouch …

I have to admit that I like the idea of congress passing a quick law that taxes those AIG bonuses at 90%.  I know the hypocrisy is dripping like hot fudge sauce on vanilla ice cream, but I like the idea of slamming the lazy with as much pain as we can.  Once this is done, let’s go after all the other companies and their bailout bonuses as well.  AIG is just the tip of the iceberg as the entire bailout nation is coated in bonus money and fraud.

More as the day goes on …

My personal belief is that while the government says we are down 6%, we have actually lost between 30-40% of wealth and activity.  I also believe that housing is still way too high compared with salaries … We have to let this all shake out, but I believe there will be at least one more giant drop in the market before we start to see true reality.  It’s anyone’s guess if we can recover from there.  Japan is still 90% down from their 1990 highs … I think some still believe, we hit bottom and then we rocket back up to Dow 15,000.  Maybe if this was a video game it could all work that way, but we are dealing with complexities that no one understands (yet).

It does irk me how a few good days/weeks in the market makes everyone back off their end of world predictions.  There are 365 days in the year and about 280 trading days in a year.   It took us 10 long years to get in this mess, it’s not going to be resolved in a few weeks just because the government has printed up all this money.  Notice that Gold and Silver are still strong even with this new found economic miracle.  The vomit factor is a ten.

GM wants a FLAT $4 a gallon gas price so they can peddle their $50,000 Chevy Volt? … (click here) … A fair price for gas would be $1.75 a gallon … A hybrid will get you a 40% increase in mileage.  $4 a gallon gas is a net loser for consumers along with the fact that you would have to buy a brand new VERY expensive hybrid or electric car.  George Bush and Dick Cheney are looking better by the second …

NAVL (shipping company) was just here to pick up a massive shipment (non-Gold, you don’t ship precious metals with NAVL) … They told me they are down 40% in total business and the guys have had their hours cut in half.  One of the drivers who is an old friend of mine, told me that he can’t pay his mortgage and is just staying at his home until things shake out.

On CNN they are saying AIG employees who took the bonuses fear for their lives from angry citizens.  Serves them right for stealing our tax payer money.  I’m not big into violence, but at some point, it’s the only thing these pigs are going to understand.  I have zero sympathy for any corporate worker that takes tax payer bailout money and uses it to pad their pocket.  (I can’t say in print what I really want to say-use your imagination).

At one point in time we were taking in over $175,000 a month in these checks.  That’s when the “games began”.  Even though we were producing according to our agreements, the checks started to greatly shrink without proper explanation. 

It finally ended up in court, both sides spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, we were proven right and they finally paid us a fraction of what we were owed.  The whole experience turned me against corporate America because I got to see how they operate up close while I was paying my “wonderful crack” attornies $30,000 per month for the ride.

Bottom line … If AIG didn’t want to pay those bonuses, they could have simply not paid the bonuses, just like was done to us.  I think the company we were dealing with enjoyed cheating us.  It was like a challenge to see how much they could make vanish. Even though we finally got paid for some of it, subtracting out the lawyers and the undiscoved missing money makes the experience one that sticks with me in a very negative way to this day.  Your word means nothing in corporate America.  It’s just a bunch of lazy people who have a talent for white collar crime.

My conclusion: AIG didn’t have to pay out one dollar of bonus money.  When I hear them say they had to pay it out for legal and ethical reasons, I want to gag.   They paid the money only because it went to themselves.

Note: Remember, the bailout should never have been approved in the first place.  I remember when John McCain came on the Presidential debate and said that “of course he supports the bailouts”.  Now Washington, DC acts like innocent virgins from a small town in 1954.  Pure and innocent …  This was ALL predicted in War Room.

Ask yourself this … will you cut back your total spending by at least 10% during the next few years?  If the answer is yes, then we have a depression.  If you are going to spend just as you did before, then we don’t.

If the REAL figures were known, we are probably down 30-40% overall … that equals depression … Will it be a 1930’s black and white style depression?  That remains to be seen … right now it is all being propped up with a banking system filled with printed cash. 

Do you notice how these “experts” all go with the wind?  One minute they call for depression, the next minute they say we are saved (after the market goes up a few points).  They are the same people who didn’t see any of this coming 2 years ago, but now we think they are going to gain some form of clarity.  At the end of the day housing prices have to be tied to salaries and most companies pay slave wages.  How are you going to recover with that?  The balance is still all wrong.

This AIG bonus thing is a huge story.  I wrote about it in one of the earlier blogs.  I had a very simple 5 point plan  …. 1) No bailout money for AIG 2) Fire all employees 3) Send management to jail 4) Set up a government fund to cover the losses 5) Send all ex-employees who aren’t sent to prison to 57Gold.com, so that we can hire them and then I can fire them the minute they get on the I-Phones and start diddling away with their bullsh** text messages.

Wait until the market starts on the next leg down … I am going on record as saying we have not seen the bottom … This is a fools rally … I predicted this rally 10 days ago right here on War Room, but what I predicted is not what they are making it out to be on CNBC.  I didn’t say we were going to go right back up to Dow 14,700 again.   It’s like being thirsty in the desert, finding a small cup of water and the next thing you know James Cramer is screaming that we found Niagra Falls while he’s pulling the Bozo the Clown hair out of his head.

Booooo-Yahhhhhh … We hit a gusher … jackass … (why is he still on CNBC after the Stewart humiliation?)

Las Vegas real estate still way too high … (click here) … $849,000 is a lot of money to earn and then payback.  I’ve been in homes like these and most of them need about $150,000 to be made really nice inside.  Then you have the issue of the backyard that’s only 1/4 of an acre.  Usually the neighbors are looking right down on top of your pool area … it’s just not that nice a place to live for all of that money.  If the home was selling for $250,000, then you might say it’s a bargain.

We still have a LONG way to fall before all this pricing makes any kind of sense.

Losers wishing for an end to the Bear Market … (click here) … Bill Fleckenstein is a source you can trust because he’s predicted ALL of this … Great minds like Gerald Celente, Jim Rogers and Bill had this all figured out 10 years ago and have called it moment by moment … Or you could listen to James Cramer and take whatever you have and end up with nothing.

GM to liquidate? … They had so many opportunities to build good quality cars … I know their current model lineup looks great, but I remember 10 years ago thinking their cars were looking better as well … There is always something missing.  A used GM car after 24 months always looks like it’s about 5 years old.  The materials inside the car quickly get a funny look to them.  Maybe they just use cheaper stuff …

My prediction is that Ford will survive and the rest will go.  Since the early 1990’s, Ford has tried to put that extra bit of quality in their vehicles.  They aren’t Toyota, but they aren’t Chrysler either.

Update: Harry Reid whips up a rare winner … (click here) … Have to give them credit for this …

I had experiences with the corporate types in the 1990’s with some of our other businesses and vowed never to work hand in hand with them again.  They are a blight on this country.  They have no work ethic and spend their days goofing off and coming up with ways to screw you.  When it comes to stealing money, their minds can be very inventive.  In my dealings with them, they would continually surprise me with the originality of their “crimes”.  They never called them “crimes”, they called them innocent mistakes … sad … now it’s all coming home to roost as trust in America is gone.

In 2001 I worked hand in hand with a former Nortel high executive.  We were working on a joint venture and all I can say is this guy was a total POS.  Every time I layed eyes on him and listened to his bullsh**, I just wanted to kick his a**.  Back then I had more control than I do now.  I was more at peace … I don’t think our relationship would end well today.  These days I’m probably better off locked inside our offices.  The guys telling me to just keep blogging and watching over general operations and leave the meeting new people to them.

Just because you go to some fancy college and strap yourself into a monkey suit, doesn’t mean you have any brains in your head.  Granted, they don’t have to work hard like we do for their money, but at some point in 2009 when the system goes into total collapse, all eyes will be on them, not us.  Something tells me that they aren’t very good at defending themselves, not that any level of fighting ability would save them from the “angry mob”.

They just had a guy on CNBC saying that the Dow hit a low at the “demonic number of 6666″.  That was his entire case.  He didn’t talk earnings, he didn’t talk confidence, he didn’t talk jobs, he just said that he has a feeling that 6666 was the bottom because that number is in the bible.  The guy looks like someone I wouldn’t want near my son.   Stupid bastard …

It’s hell time again … Not sure if it will be Monday or Tuesday or later, but the grim reaper is here.  You can’t build an economy on printed money.  If you could, why didn’t we just print it years ago, pass it out and declare everyone in the country a millionaire and shut the game down … (click here)

Time is slipping for preparation … This is no longer a joke.  We have been sold out by intelligent fools like James Cramer who think that it is ok for us to pay for his adventure (taking a brilliant phase from Jon Stewart).  James Cramer has a black-heart.  Don’t let the “fun and games” of his TV show fool you.  He would sell your soul if he could capture a dollar.  His soul was parted out years ago.  Roger Ailes of Fox News hired him around 2001 after CNBC originally tired of his actions.  Ailes quickly booted Cramer out the door after he witnessed his foul actions on Fox News.  Cramer had a sweetheart deal with Clear Channel radio and the same thing happened.  Big Media wants to make money, but Cramer pushes that desire to the extreme.  When they finally realize that he’s more interested in his big money, than their big money, it’s time for the freak to be kicked out the door.  CNBC simply has no shame … not yet at least … the day will soon come when the slime is tossed.  For all of you wondering why someone supposedly so wealthy would even bother with a show like that (it’s a ton of work), he does it for free publicity for TheStreet.com in which he is the major shareholder.  Publicity that is priceless …  Take him off CNBC and visits to his site would drop off the edge of a cliff … He needs CNBC … He also needs to be off of CNBC.  I’m making my call tomorrow to the executives … hope you make yours.

More later today … Something big is about to happen … Fools rally last week … GD2 continues on schedule …   Bernanke made me want to vomit on 60 minutes last night … This is the best we have? … The Federal Reserve should be abolished tomorrow and Bernanke should be working one of the infrastructure jobs the President supposedly set up … Picture him in a hard hat  …  Dow 5500 … Gerald Celente to be proven correct … War Room about to go hard core as the edge of the cliff draws near.

I’ve spoken with some of these people over the years and have found that they are in actuality the uneducated ones.  They are the ones that purchased General Electric at $60 a share early in the decade and now find it worth less than $10 a share.  They are the ones that lost 60% in their investment portfolio listening to the sound economic advice of CNBC and company.  They are the ones who laugh when James Cramer yells out Boo-Yaa after serving up yet another stock market loser (Bear Stearns $69 to $2) … (click here) … Quick opinion: Cramer is a POS.

As I always tell future customers, I have no idea where the price of Gold is going to be 3 years from now.  On one hand I’d like to see Gold rise to $2000 an ounce because it will make us and our customers all rich.  On the other hand, I don’t want to see $2000 an ounce Gold because it will mean this country has become something of a Zimbabwe.

What I do know is that Gold sold for $250 an ounce in 2001.  Today it sells for close to $1000 an ounce.  As I mentioned earlier, GE sold for close to $60 per share 10 years ago and now you can pick those shares up for $10 or less each.

You tell me who’s the smart one … I think there is a tinge of jealousy from those who “don’t get Gold”.

Twitter is for losers … (click here) … I know you can’t legislate against it, but some of this typing technology is really screwing up America.  You’ve got 35 years old guys who have never even been out with a young lady, because they can only communicate through TEXT.  What is this world coming to?   We have banned all cell phone usage during the day here at NGL.  I no longer own a cell phone.  I just think that at some point we have to draw the line and move away from some of this “crutch” technology.

James Cramer humiliated … (click here)  … The story is that he is a very wealthy man, but he sure seems like a horses ass sometimes.  If he really is worth $80 million, why doesn’t he go off to some island and vanish because he’s pissed off one too many people with his rotten stock picks.  If you watch this video you will see that something is seriously off with JC.  I’ve been watching him since 1997 and I can say for certain that you will lose every time following his “go with the wind” advice.  His act is old and it stinks …

Dow 5500 … It’s strange because I predicted this rally within 1 day, but the way it is being handled as a way to whore up $$$ into stocks really turns my stomach.  Lot of days left in 2009 … Wait until the “Black Fall of 2009″ begins October 1st, 2009.  I believe Gerald’s prediction of the “Collapse of 09″ will end up being on the light side-Trillions more to be lost this year.  You can’t build an economy on printed money.  If you could, then why not print up $1,000,000 for every family in America and declare the recession/depression over forever?

GM says they don’t need March bailout money.  Something stinks here, because they are not selling any quantity of cars.  I have a few friends at one of the local GM dealers and they say they are barely getting by or not getting by.  Weekly paychecks of $200-300.  We live in a ONCE very wealthy area (Scottsdale, Arizona), so if they are down that much, you can imagine what sales are like in sleepy communities.  I just feel the winds of manipulation, looking to suck after tax dollars from the public into the Dow and Nasdaq.  Hey, we’re healthy, now you can buy our stock cheap and fund our new found growth.  Scam …

Quick comment … Can’t wait for August and NFL pre-season … We really don’t use the theatre here at the house unless it’s the 23 weeks of NFL football.  I wish a competitor would launch a Spring League ala the USFL of the mid-1980’s.  I  always believed that the USFL should have worked and could work again.  Oh well …

Bob and company went to Vegas for the weekend.  They will bring back a report of how foot traffic was in Vegas.  I would love to go with Sandra and JP, but she’s in hairdressing school and we wouldn’t be able to leave until Saturday morning and we’d have to rush back Sunday afternoon.  It’s a 5 hour car ride, so you really need a 2 night stay.  I love the food in Vegas … everything is just so fresh … would be interested to see the “emptiness” of 2009 up close.

What I didn’t anticipate, is that CNBC would take this opportunity to bring on every hedge fund operator they could find and declare to future customers that everything is fixed. You are now free to start investing your after tax dollars in equities once again.   Even the Bears brought on as a TV courtesy, seemed de-clawed.

The market swings up and down.  You will never make money short term trading, so the only hope you have as an investor is to pick a medium to long term trend.   While the “hopeful” will tell you that the market is going to go up, the reality is that with 600,000 people losing their jobs monthly, the trend continues to be down.

Today my working friend from Mexico came to the house to pick up some trash we had left over from a project.  He told me he is working for banks “repairing” foreclosed homes.  He said that 50-60% of the homes he works on have been deliberately damaged by the former owners.  He said the damage ranges from quick cement in the pipes, to feces painted on the walls, to studs cut in key areas of the structure.  The banks are only asking him to repair visible cosmetics, so those studs that were cut won’t get replaced, they will be get a quick treatment of stucco plus some paint. These homes are worth far less than even the corrected pricing would indicate.

If a home is on a banks books for $100,000 and CNBC wants to remove mark to market which would allow the banks to value the home for $300,000 and those homes are damaged, what kind of visibility is that to an investor?   You and I can’t take our GOLD portfolios and say that the precious metal should be selling for $3000 an ounce and claim that as our net worth, but banks want that privilege when it comes to their botched real estate holdings.

Dow 5500 awaits …

The Wall St. love fest yesterday was disgusting.  Larry Kudlow broke down in tears of joy during his prime time CNBC program as Doug Kass declared we had finally hit the bottom. Kudlow is the worst “bull-shill” on CNBC.  He’s always trying to find “hope” even if it means tossing out what’s staring him right in the face.  This is going to get much worse, because much of America is now allergic to work.  They want to spend night and day tapping out text messages on  I-Phones and to do that you need total concentration.  Work be damned …

The economic policy out of Washington is horrible.  Wasn’t Obama supposed to “change the world”.  Now he signs a budget with over 9,000 earmarks that comes in way over budget.  Frankly I could care less about earmarks with all of the other money we are wasting, but the President has shown that this is business as usual only 10 times worse.  The country is drowning in debt.

Goodbye to a healthy Las Vegas.  It was nice while it lasted for 57 years … (click here)

Flip this house, F this country … (click here)

Do you really believe people will pay their credit card bills? … (click here)

Is he really to be taken seriously as our President? …  (click here) …  he gave us his word that there would be no more earmarks in legislation only a few weeks ago.  Now 9000 of them?  Again, I think earmarks are the least of our problem, but they send the wrong message and show our President won’t keep his word.

America is tapped out.  We gave people unlimited credit and they exceeded it times ten.  Now it’s payback time and suddenly everyone and their brother is unemployed, so we ask the government to pay the bills and hope no one notices.

If printing money was an easy answer, why didn’t we do it years ago?   Opps … we did and look what happened.  Gold up 500% since 2001 and General Electric down 500% since 2001.  Yet, I notice that if Gold has one down day, CNBC treats it as if it has never supplied one day of positive returns.  On one hand the fix is in (CNBC) and on the other hand (our economy), the game is over … 1-888-950-GOLD

Up 1000 points … everyone celebrates … and then whoosh … reality hits and we finally hit the target of Dow 5500 and then lower.  Why?  Because the powers that be have destroyed this country with corruption, debt and horrible economic policy.

When Gerald Celente calls it the collapse of 2009, he’s not kidding … If 2009 were to end today, maybe he would be proven slightly off (many would argue we’ve already collapsed), but the truth is we still have 9 months to go … 9 LONG months of consumers with zippers on their wallets and mortgage statements tossed in the circular file without being opened.  This is going to get ugly and a full collapse is the end result … Tricking people with a phoney rally is only going to make them more angry when we finally hit bottom. 

CNBC an embarrassment today … You would think Americans had never lost 55-60% of their nest eggs with the non stop celebration.  How about some old fashioned hard core reporting?  Roger Mudd never cracked a smile in 30 years of network news coverage.  Oh, for the good old days before the creation of the home equity loan.

CNBC now saying we might make a profit from our investment in Citigroup.  The stock is up from 99 cents to $1.38 and according to the shills, we are going to make a killing from our handout.  Didn’t we buy into Citi when it was around $7 per share?   We will lose every single penny “invested” and much more in free money yet to come.

Notice CNBC investigative report David Faber never enters into these “mirage” celebrations.  He knows darn well what is going because he’s on the streets talking with the people who did the dirty deals.  You’ll never see him popping the cork.

Kudos to Ben Bernanke for coming out against the removal of mark to market accounting.  Putting a fake value on worthless assets will just create another bubble.  An accounting bubble …  I had respect for Steve Forbes until he came out for this fake accounting trick.  If a house is worth $99,000, it is worth $99,000, not some fantasy future figure made up by some corporate accountant.

Using Forbes insane logic, I could say that I had a personal net worth of $140 million because I have an old pair of “classic” shoes that I think will someday bring $135 million in the collectors market.  I know they are only worth 50 cents now, but I’m sure they will appreciate over time when people realize how rare and valuable they are … sad …

Red Hot Real Estate market per Michael Vick … (click here) … Maybe you could use this as a reason to get rid of mark to market accounting and just value the home at $25 million.  Nice looking house.  You have to figure that in another bubble market someone would come along and pay the price.  While your at it, value it at $11 trillion and use it to pay off the national debt … at least Bernanke has the brains to say no to this accounting scam.

Uptick rule coming back … it means that you can only short a stock (bet that it will go down) after the stock takes a tick up … the idea is to give bulls at an edge over bears … Meanwhile only 2% of stocks are even shorted at all … Most sales are because people hate the stock …  It’s gimmicks … If a company is strong, the stock will go up no matter what.  If a company is soaked in debt with horrible management wasting money at every turn, the stock will go lower, uptick rule or not.  All of these “huge announcements” will only get you stuck in a sucker’s rally. 

More as the day develops … 1-888-950-GOLD

He might not be so far off … (click here) … In 1933 we didn’t have TV … If civil unrest had broken out in one part of the country, the rest wouldn’t have seen it.  Today all it will take is one “host city” and the copy cats will fly coast to coast because it will be all over the TV and Web.  It’s simply a question of how much pain can America take before she snaps.  It could be 12 months or less.

Talk Radio War last night with myself battling Bill Cunningham …  (click here) … Over 500 AM stations … I listen to Bill every Sunday night … One of my favorites … Next up: Rush Limbaugh

I expect to see a short term rise in the stock market this week.  I can’t believe that Obama and company can just keep driving it into the ground.  We are coming apart at the seems and it is too negative to think we will have another week with the Dow dropping 400-700 points … I just don’t see that as being possible, but again, who knows.  We’ll be telling stories about these times to our Grandkids 40 years from now.

Dow 4000 is coming … (click here) … but first, the DOW will go higher … head fake up and then once again continue the downward path … When Bill Griffith on CNBC is talking Dow 3000, you know we are oversold (at least for the minute) … I met Bill a few years ago in Las Vegas at New York-New York … good guy.

Boston Globe Newspaper going bye-bye … (click here) … People can get all of their news on the web … the problem is, advertising on the web isn’t worth a damn.  Trust me, very few people click on banner ads.  We’ve spent a small bundle on them and they are one of the worst ways to get the word out.  So how would a paper like the Globe, going strictly online, bring in enough cash through those ads to keep going?  That’s why the future of these papers is bleak at best and hopeless at worst (my bet is the later).

Warren Buffet = Dinosaur (make that a very rich dinosaur) … When he talks, it goes in one ear and out the other … His principles were fine in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, but this is a different ball game of debt and laziness that he just doesn’t seem to understand.  People don’t want to work.  That’s why Obama is so popular.  The promise of something for nothing.  The promise of being able to survive without work and spending days on Twitter.  I think there are millions of people who would be happy to just barely get by on government handouts as long as they had their I-phones and could text message all day long … pathetic …

Latest Bill Fleckenstein update … (click here) … amazing as always … this is the guy to listen to … I used to laugh at him because he was so negative, but he turned out to be so right … He’s earned my respect.

Cell phone is another devil of modern technology … (click here) … I bought every new cell phone technology I could get my hands on up until about 18 months ago.  At that point I decided enough of the madness and discontinued my cell service.  Haven’t had a cell phone since.  My wife has a Net 10 plan which costs about 10 cents a minute (for emergency).  A lot of people think I’m crazy, but I don’t miss that cell phone one single bit.  I hated it … You drive in the car, it rings and it’s almost always some sort of problem.   Now when I drive I can focus on the road and listen to something good on the radio.  My wife is in hairdressing school and says the other girls are texting messages on their phones right during class and even when they are doing techniques such as coloring hair.   I really believe between the cell phone voice and cell phone web, we have cut productivity in this country by 45% or more.  I don’t blame the people, I blame the addictive technology.

You buy GE for $3 a share … it bounces around $3 for 10 years, while the value of that $3 drops by 2/3rds due to the Fed printing dollars.  Over 10 years you lose 66% of your workable money with the stock standing still.  Seems impossible, but this is exactly what happened in Japan.

What isn’t said on CNBC, is that on every level of business, people are scared of transactions.  I send you my money, how do I know for sure I will get my product?  With major companies like GE heading toward alleged insolvency, who can you trust?  At NGL we are a credit free company.  We’ve been doing this for many years.  We work hard.  We don’t have a corporate jet. We are here 7 days a week so customers can always speak with someone … but even with all that in place, new customers are still nervous.   It’s sick what’s been done by the Wall Street crowd.  We are destined for a depression on this alone, not to mention everything else that has gone wrong.

The game is over … prepare to pick up what pieces are left … 1-888-950-GOLD

One of the first things I would do if I was running the country is shut down all of these message boards, twitters, chat sessions … take it all down … at least during the day.  Tell people to go out and work and get off the internet trying to make friends.  If you can’t find a job, then grab a garbage bag and go to the side of the highway and start picking up the trash.  Get a broom and sweep the streets.  Do it for nothing and with a smile on your face in the name of making the country a better place to live.

Twitter?  My God … is this what we’ve come to?  I can’t believe I voted for him.  Between this, the bailouts, reading off the teleprompters you have to wonder who had less brains … Bush, McCain or what we’ve got now … This survival of this country is in jeopardy.

Dow 4000 is not impossible … I called 5500, but that looks like I was WAY TOO optimistic at the time.  Very poor predicting skills from yours truly.  I was looking at the world with rose colored glasses when I said Dow 5500 would be the bottom.   I might never purchase another stock again.  Our only active stock fund is the one we have for my 3 year olds college fund and it is down almost 80% … pathetic …

All these bailouts shows that we have become a country of debt.  Now that the people have defaulted, the businesses have defaulted, the government is loading the entire enchilada up on it’s back in a last act of survival before it defaults as well.

I still trace the end of the good times to the internet boom in 1997.  People started to study things online and then invested in stocks and hunted for real estate and chatted with 12 year olds masquerading as super models, and very little real production got done in the country.  Work went out and pecking at a keyboard came in.  When I was a kid, only women knew how to type.  Guys wouldn’t touch a keyboard (typewriter).  I learned to type on an old fashioned typewriter and had this “gift” where I could pound out over 100 words a minute and people used to take that as a signal that I was a little “weird” if you get my drift.

It tells you something when business models like My Space, Twitter and Facebook are the hottest things in the country.  When I was young, if I wanted a hot girl, I had to actually meet with her face to face.  Sure it was hard to do, but that’s what it took.  There was none of this chatting.   From what I see today, there were a lot more “lucky guys” when I was young, then there are now.   Seems like we have an overload of frustrated young men because you can’t get women all that motivated by pecking away at a keyboard.  I don’t blame the guys and I don’t blame the gals, I blame the technology of the web which is more addictive than crack cocaine and about as productive.

Where’s Playa Grande when I need her most? … (click here) … DC and I need to get out there and play some golf.  Bet I can still kick his a**.

Citadel owns WABC radio in New York (amongst other AM giants) … (click here to see destruction) … another company ruined by horrible mismanagement and endless debt … We’ve done business with these people and can tell you that everything that has happened to them, is sadly deserved …  (the rest of the story)

Roubini fears L shaped depression … straight down and then the flat line of death … (click here)

Quick history lesson:  We were in a depression after 911.  People forget, but for about 9 months the economy fell off the end of the earth as people stopped spending out of fear that the USA would become involved in some type of terroristic war.  Do you remember the daily CNN reports about anthrax powder being mailed to people in power?  To get us out of this mess, Alan Greenspan and company started to dramatically lower interest rates and encourage mass lending … The rest is history …

When people talk about things getting back to normal, they shouldn’t think about the last 5 years.  Those were pure home equity bubble years and they will NEVER take place again.  That stuff is over just like the JDSU selling for $250 per share during the tech stock bubble is over …  (click here) …

My hunch is that we are about to experience the World Depression.  Calling it GD2 will no longer suffice as the pains of the 1930’s were isolated for the most part to America.  Because the world is so connected today, this thing is going worldwide and the pain will be unprecedented.

Of course, Obama could get us out of this tomorrow with a master reset including the erasure of the national debt and moving production back to the USA.  You want to buy an LCD TV?  Fine, you’ll buy one built by a fellow American.  I’m not a fan of American made Tv’s (my last Zenith died after 9 months of use), but we have to suck it up and learn how to work again, otherwise we won’t have any money in our pockets (aside from the pittance the government sends us) to funnel back into the economy.

The problem is jobs.  The only way to return those jobs is to build things.  You can’t just have a bunch of people working at the window of Wendy’s serving up double cheeseburgers and expect you are going to have anything more than a living Hell.

World Depression 1 … Stunning article … Las Vegas has 58% of homes with negative equity … (click here)

Wynn Las Vegas … Beautiful, but empty … (click here)

Nothing uglier than a half completed project on the Las Vegas strip … (click here)

From $270 billion market cap to $5 billion market cap … Nice job Citigroup … (click here)

We are going into a World Depression, accept it, or pay the ultimate price … Your stocks will be worthless, money in the bank will not be insured, 90% of American will have bad credit …  Having good credit won’t mean anything, because the banks will figure you will be the next to default … and so on …  1-888-950-GOLD

We are heading into a Depression that will make 1933 seem like a time of growth in comparison.  I don’t want this to happen, but when the powers that be run the country on printed money and debt, eventually the game ends badly.  You can double talk all you want, saying that the market always comes back, but we are losing something that we’ve always had before, some level of TRUST.

10% of people in California are jobless … (click here) … These jobless numbers don’t take everyone into account … Many believe you can add 4-9% to these numbers to get the true count on people under 65 that don’t wake up every morning and go to work.

Foreclosure is nothing more than rotting hunks of wood connected with nails … (click here)

New York Times: The bailouts will never end … (click here)

Think real estate is cheap?  $700,000 for this? … (click here) … We have another 45-70% to drop nationwide.  You have to look at a home, look at the available jobs and then take paper and pencil and make the numbers work so you can still afford things like food and gas.  Everything is still way out of wack when you realize our job market is garbage.  We sent most of the good jobs overseas.  We kept the service jobs, but now there’s no one to serve.

MGM/Mirage to default? … Las Vegas has come back from slumps before, but nothing like this … (click here) … They built these incredible hotels and now it’s Chapter 7 time …  The situation in Vegas is “dire” and getting worse by the day.  I love the Strip, but they ruined it with high prices and too much congestion.  I paid the price by not enjoying my Vegas trips (2001-2008) as much as I did in the past (1986-2001).  Now they will pay the price as hotel after hotel heads into default.  It’s going to be ugly … Nothing worse than a $3 billion hotel rotting in the desert sun … (click here)

The ONLY way to fix Vegas is to make it a big time bargain again.  When I used to go in the early 1990’s you could get a beautiful dinner for 2 for $19 … that same meal today would run you $90.  The buffets went through the roof in pricing as well.  My Dad and I used to go to the Luxor and get a great lunch buffet for $5 each.  That will run you $19 each today.  It’s all WAY overpriced and people won’t pay it anymore because their home equity credit line is tapped out … (click here)

I really expect to see Vegas as a ghost town here within the next 24 months.  You can gamble locally, so why do all that traveling to walk into a casino void of people?  It’s kind of fun walking around an empty casino for a day or two, but after that, it’s just plain depressing.  Vegas is finished …

Update: Traffic to the site is way up … all the new features we have added are really making a difference as people spend more and more time looking at all we have to offer …  thanks to all for the support …

Doctor Doom underestimated how things bad would really get … (click here) … The guy who really called this thing correctly was yours truly when I said Dow 5500 back last summer.  You can’t believe the flack I got for making that prediction.  Heavy stuff from people saying that I had gone way too negative …

Auto Sales for February just released and course, much worse than expected … (click here) … Who in the heck is going to walk into a car dealership and take the chance of having their credit score run?   My credit is perfect (thank God), but I still don’t have any desire to go by a new car.  I could afford one, but it just seems like the wrong thing to do when the world is crashing down around us.  For security sake, we’ll be left with one US automaker and they’ll be propped up by the government.  Zombie car industry …

Sometimes I think it would be easier if much of what I predicted hadn’t come true so quickly.  If we were still at Dow 10,000 I could write about how Obama printing so much paper money will eventually plow us down in the 5,000’s.  It would make for a lot of cutting edge posts.

Everything happened so “easily” that I don’t even have to “fight back” with the blog.  I believe we are in danger of going below 5,000 as well, but I don’t like to write about it because once that happens, everything that you ever thought couldn’t happen in America, will begin to happen.  Total and absolute chaos because financial futures will be destroyed with no hope of return.  When people have no hope, they lose it and the results will be devastating.  You’ll go to turn on your cable TV and half the channels will be gone.  You will go to your favorite market and the doors will be locked.  The banks will be closed down with dumpy little signs taped in the front door telling you what to do next.   Let’s hope it doesn’t happen, even though at this point I give it a 50-50 chance of becoming real.

When the Dow hits 5000, many might think that’s the time to get in, but how much damage will be done with that trip to Hell?   Since Americans have zero skill trading stocks, how will they invest?  You buy in at 5000, it jumps back up to 6000 and an entire nation hits the SELL button sending the Dow plummeting back to 4000.  This isn’t investing, it’s financial wrist slicing with a dull razor blade.

I’ve been listening to Rush Limbaugh a lot lately and enjoyed his speech on Saturday night at CPAC, but I’m just not sure capitalism would get us out of this.  Do you really think that if we just sat back and did nothing, that this catastrophe could heal itself?  Not that I like the socialistic alternative, but it’s possible that this was allowed to get so far out of control, that only a master reset can bring us back.

You cannot count on FDIC insurance.  The U.S. government can print paper dollars if banks start falling faster and faster, but there will be nothing behind that money.  As a result, someone who is living on a fixed income of $50,000 a year, might find that money lasting for 45 days worth of expenses.

Goodbye GE … We all know where this stock is heading … penny land … (click here) … If you wonder why General Electric is faultering, it is because of GE Capital.  Almost half a trillion dollars in loans that are in the process of going bad.

My James Cramer watch list … I don’t own any of these … These are stocks that he “pumped” … (click here) … I wonder how much viewer money has been lost by following his BUY, BUY, BUY Bullsh**.

2010 Toyota Prius … How come GM can’t build cars like this? … beautiful technology … (click here)

Renters in better financial shape than homeowners … (click here) … it’s almost embarrassing to tell someone you own a home these days, because they figure you must be upside down.  If you take the time to tell them you own your house cash, they think you are bragging (probably right) and then they hate you even more (probably justified).  Then they wonder why I spend my days locked in the office.

Land now worthless in Las Vegas … (click here) … I had a piece of land here in Scottsdale (under an acre) that I sold for almost $1,000,000 25 months ago.  I knew things had peaked and were starting to move downward, so I let it go (my wife pushed for the sale).  I wonder what it’s worth now-if it has value at all.

There’s a home nearby that was on a $600,000 piece of land, the builder spent an additional $1.3 million on construction, but since he couldn’t finish and the market has crashed the whole package just sold for … (click here to see a giveaway) … $80,000 could finish the house and then you would have something at the peak that would have sold in the $2,000,000 range.  Of course the peak is something that will never be seen in our lifetimes again.

If you think the FDIC will protect your money in the bank … (READ THIS-Prepare for a shock) … I was listening to Bob Brinker today and he said that the difference between 1933 and today is the FDIC insurance.  Maybe he should check out that article and see just how far that “rock solid” insurance will get us.  We could have a $20 Trillion debt here within 3 years if this plays out the way I think it will.

Will China stop buying our debt?  You tell me … (click here) … We should already be considered a failure in that we need China to buy one dollar of our debt.  It’s all so sad …

I keep hearing now is the time to buy Real Estate … All I can say is Bullsh** … If you put down a 20% deposit and prices drop by another 20-40%, take one guess what happens to your equity … (click here)

Total Failure at AIG … Everything they “insured” has failed.  It shows the weakness of any form of insurance in that if too many entities make claims, the insurance company can’t make good.  The whole house of cards is collapsing right before our eyes.  The Dow could hit 4500 and it would still be 2500 points too high … (click here)

More Bill Fleckenstein brilliance … (click here)

Jim Rogers Video talking about Civil Unrest in the USA … (click here) … People will not sit in their homes without electricity and food and sing songs of hope.  America is a spoiled nation that will put up with hunger for about 2 hours, before taking to the streets.  Once these Americans go to the streets they won’t be happy until they come back to their homes with hands filled with “treasure”.

How can we expect people to head back to the stores and start buying again when their sources for cash have dried up?  It’s like trying to start a water park for kids in the middle of the desert.  It’s a great idea because of the heat, but where’s the water coming from?

The people that really drive me nuts are the ones (Mitt Romney for example) who say that everything Obama is doing is wrong, yet we will recover here shortly in spite of his policies.  Get with the program Mitt, if Obama and his socialism really is that bad then we are screwed … When I was living back east I followed Mitt’s run against Ted Kennedy in the mid 1990’s and in truth, he is a closet liberal.  If you are a Republican, that’s not the guy you want leading you to the promised land.

Mike Huckabee … that’s the ticket … I don’t understand why the party doesn’t get behind him instead of someone like Bobby Jindal who looks like a strong gust of wind would knock him right over.

HIV blood via the US postal system? … you can’t be serious … (click here)

Maybe I’ll cut back my work week … (click here)

Time magazine: Housing is still TOO high … (click here)

I thought the government wasn’t going to nationalize the banks … Now they have total control of Citi … CNBC was telling viewers that Citi was a screaming buy at $6 per share … If you bought in at that point you would only be down 75% … $100,000 turned into $25,000 in 3 months … And then people wonder why so many of you buy Gold and Silver coins … (click here)

NY Times say all signs point to a bigger downturn … (click here)

NY Times talks about how local real estate crashing faster than anyone could imagine … (click here)

Real Estate still WAY overpriced … (click here)

Welcome to Arizona … Where the kids learn to do back-flips in the dryer  … (click here)

Arizona real estate in the dumper … Obama $75 billion plan will do NOTHING … (click here)

Around 14 years ago, I really started to make big money.  Not “home equity” style money, but real big money.  Let me tell you, it effects the way you think.  Where as up until that point I never had a problem putting in an 18 hour day, suddenly working more than a few hours a day became a chore.  Heck, I was wealthy and the last thing I needed to do was work day and night.

I finally got my work ethic back, but it took many years and this economic crisis to kick me into high gear.  I’ve almost become a Paul Revere type, screaming that the Red Coats (the end of capitalism) are/is coming.  It’s not something you can do part time.  My wife is bummed out that I’m doing 6 day weeks/18 hours a day, but it is what it is.

The bottom line is that finally having money can make anyone get lazy, including yours truly.  The difference is that I earned my money and much of America just fell into their wealth courtesy of a mirage real estate bubble.  Anyway you slice it, it comes out wrong.  Now we have a country that hates work because they got spoiled.  Sales of get rich quick schemes on late night TV infomercials will probably soar.

Home sweet home … Prison is the new Bahamas … (click here)

People who do the best under new plan took out liar loans … (click here)

Arizona, the toilet bowl of real estate … (click here) … We had people move here from all over the country trying to escape their screwed up lives.   The losers of America, looking for a new start coming to the hot desert.  They used illegal aliens to build their homes and then bitched and moaned that those aliens should be sent home because they were taking their jobs.  If you hire one of these Arizonians, watch out, because if you don’t have every security measure possible in place, half the office will go out the door with them.  Sandra is in hair dressing school and today she went to the fridge to enjoy lunch.  She found her soda can with a knife induced stab wound, dripping the soft drink on top of her lunch.  I could tell you more, but will just say that we’ve created our own private paradise (home and office life) here in Scottsdale and whatever happens to non-customers outside our walls-frankly, we don’t care.

Bobby Jindal put the world to sleep tonight trying to follow Obama.  The President has a huge advantage in that huge hall with the House and Senate hanging on his every word. Then they switch to Jindal in an empty room and it’s snooze time.  I’m certain Jindal was bad, because John McCain (the worst Republican of all-time) gave him a big thumbs up for the performance.

I am sick of the Republicans talking about smaller government and then doing the exact opposite the moment they get elected.   Where’s Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee when we need them most?  Huckabee is the one Republican who could have beaten Obama and the Republican party treats him like the crazy uncle locked up in the attic.

By the way, CNN did a nice job covering the “event”.  I thought President Obama gave a great speech, but if you add up the cost of what he said, it would bankrupt the USA 5 times over.

General Electric to go bankrupt? … (click here) … It would seem to be impossible, but ….

Real Estate still way too high … $1.3 million and it overlooks a swamp … Until you get the pricing tied to what people are making at their lousy jobs, you will never have a real estate bottom … (click here)

If you put a bottom in real estate that is too high, it makes the cost of day to day living too high.  If you let real estate fall to it’s natural level (very low pricing), 75% of the country will be upside down in their mortgage.  Those 2 sentences explain why there is NO solution to this problem.  You can launch all the government programs you want, but with both results, you end up as losers.   Of all the economic bubbles you can create, the one to stay away from is one based on real estate, because it effects everyone. 9 years ago, only 20% of the country was into tech stocks, so the damage was contained when they dropped like rocks off the side of a building.  This time it’s much worse because virtually everyone owned some form of real estate.

Last week we were told DC wouldn’t nationalize the banks … Guess they changed their minds over the weekend … (click here)

Lessons from Japan circa 1990 … We’ll never spend the same way again … (click here)

When I hear people say it is a good thing that we will now stop spending and start saving, I just shake my head.  Our economy is built on spending like drunken sailors.  We can turn that off, but when we do, think about the effect it will have on our “service economy” jobs.   Being a saver is great in a booming  economy, but when things are going downhill, you need people spending to keep the jobs.

Fresh Bill Fleckenstein brilliance … (click here) … Back in 1999 when I was making out very well with my tech stock portfolio, CNBC would have on their occasional bear.  Bill Fleckenstein was one of those bears and would come on tv to “bring people down to earth”.  At the time I thought he was some kind of a crackpot, who just didn’t want the rest of us to have our fun.  Was I ever wrong … He was the only one who saw the future coming so clearly.

Stunning statement from George Soros … (click here)

No matter what we do, we are screwed.  You do nothing and the country goes into a depression.  You do all these bailouts and the country is still going to go into a depression.  At the end of the day, the only question is how much debt the USA will walk away from.   The country has been living on credit cards and home equity loans for years, the job market is horrible, people don’t want to work and now the payback bill is due.  It’s going to be a bloodbath for the ages.  Your biggest worry will be walking out to the mailbox, because your life is going to be on the line once these people start looking for food.

The stock market is a travesty.  I really have to question anyone who has let things drop this far without selling.  I know it was tough at Dow 10,000 to take the lumps, but there is nothing holding up stocks aside from what’s left of the BS pile.  90% of these companies are worthless if you subtract out their TRUE debts.  A company like Home Depot owns 1,818 huge stores, has huge inventory costs and customers who have no intention of doing anymore work on their homes.  Sure they could make a bunch of money when the real estate market was booming, but now it’s time for the bread lines.

My only advice is self preservation.  Don’t spend, cut debt and buy as much hard asset material as you can handle.  It’s also very important that we all move in the direction of more honesty, and not follow the Maddof and Stanford examples of no honesty.  The biggest problem in the USA besides what’s listed above, is the lack of trust.  People don’t trust each other anymore and that makes doing deals and working together very difficult.

Gerald Celente will be on Glenn Beck (Fox) tomorrow at 5 pm eastern and rumor has it he is going to announce that not only are we already in depression, but that a revolution is imminent.   The fear is quickly moving beyond losing money and into an area of worrying about ones safety.   According to Celente, the lid is going off this thing and we just need to stay balanced and centered and have faith in our God … wow …

881 auto dealers closed last year.  Over 1500 additional will be gone in 2009 … (click here)

The USA has been overdue for this tough medicine … 1-888-950-GOLD

I’ve also noticed that drivers are much more hostile.  I was driving back from AJ’s (they cook a family dinner for you at night-my son loves the sea food) and cars were following each other bumper to bumper within feet.  I know some of you are quick drivers, but you should leave more than 24 inches between yourself and the car in front of you.  I’ve never seen such a bunch of nasty people hogging the roads.  It almost seemed like they wanted to get in accidents, maybe for the insurance coverage or maybe to just go to a “better place”. 

I’ve said it before, Americans will not suffer through tough times like they did in the 1930’s … Glenn Beck has said it best … Depression followed by Revolution.  These people will not sit at home and suffer.  Sheer madness coming to our streets in 2010.

My, my, my … how times have changed … USA Socialism 2009

Talbott brilliance … This is exactly (give or take) how this will play out … (click here)

Bravo Chris Dodd … Dodd slips a last second amendment into the Porkulus mess that limits exec salaries to $300,000 … and it has less limitations than the previous $500,000 Obama proposal … SMASH any CEO or executive who begs on hands and knee for government money … I am 100% for this … I don’t care what Rush says.  If you beg for money, you work for free … I’m not a Dodd fan, but this was a good move.

No more foreclosures … if the banks don’t threaten you with foreclosure, why should you bother making house payments?  We are FREELOADER nation … Don’t work get benefits … Work like a dog and get screwed …  (click here)

Stock market rallied on this news … wait until you see what is coming next … Dow 4500 … We are creating an America where you would have to be crazy to work … Insane to keep a high credit score …  Being a good payer disqualifies you from all of these goodies like free mortgage payments.

How can I be poor? … free food … free mortgages … free homes … (click here)

I didn’t go to any Ivy league college, but I have eyes and ears and can put two and two together.  When you have illegal aliens getting loans for 15-20 “investment properties”, you have to figure that something has to give.  On one hand everyone “hates” illegals and on the other hand, American corporations are using them to finance their Ponzi scheme. The question isn’t how I saw it coming, the question is why didn’t everyone see this coming ….

The final reality will be that Bernie Madoff was doing what they were all doing … selling air … that’s why he has that big smile on his face every time he visits the courtroom … No one will remember him once the entire market does a “Madoff” … Bernie who?

The hot job in Boston is part time bartender.  Collect cash tips working 4 nights a week and apply for unemployment under the new Obama “stimulus” plan.  Make out like a bandit while the country sinks like the Titanic.

1,000 Banks could go bye-bye …  (click here)

Someday I am going to detail what we went through (3 years) to fully develop this site (web sites are always a work in progress) … It’s an amazing story … It has illustrated to this writer that many in this country do NOT want to work … That’s why there is no way out of this … Unless the government can mail people enough money so they can sit home and watch TV, the economy is destined to fail.  I think some of this hatred of work, comes from the nasty attitude of many in the workplace.    If you go to work and people are happy, then it can be a fun place to be.  If you go to work and everyone is nasty, who would want to be there?

The first thing we need is to get some humanity back in America.  We need to get off the cell phones and start trying to get along face to face.  A text message isn’t a replacement for human contact either.  Every time I send someone an email, I have to be careful not to give them the impression I am mad with them.  People have resorted to putting dopey smiley faces at the end of their emails to show they are not mad at the recipient.  Way too much technology in 2009 and the result is a country where everyone is mad at each other.

Some readers think I am too negative about fellow Americans (I get emails every day), but take this test.  Get a flat tire on a highway here in Arizona and signal for help.  All you will see is a sea of middle fingers and looks of disgust as people speed by you.  You’ll feel lucky if you don’t get run off the road.

I miss the days of just walking on the beach and checking email once a day …  As much as I enjoy the Gold and Silver markets, the magic of internet stocks tripling in a single day is something that I really miss.  The problem is that it can never happen again, so we have to make due with what is presented to us. A little secret in the Gold and Silver markets is that most of us would prefer to own stocks (it’s all electronic), but we simply don’t have faith in it anymore.  What’s the point of buying Sirius satellite radio at $15 a share and it ends up at 4 cents a share while Howard Stern still gets his $500 million?  Stock are a loser because a bunch of pigs hijacked the companies and now most are heading for zero. In fact, if the government hadn’t intervened, virtually every publically traded company would be at zero today (more on this later).

People admitting their homes are on the way to being worthless … (click here)

Mayor of Key West faces foreclosure … (click here)

Sirius Satellite Radio skyrockets 60% today … (click here) … your 6 cents share is now worth 9 cents … thanks for protecting our investment guys …

Nevada KING of foreclosures … (click here) … What’s amazing is that Nevada once had one of the hottest job markets in the country.  You could move to Nevada and get yourself a nice paying job with good benefits.  Now if a single good job opens up, 5,000 people show up to fill it.

It really didn’t matter if Bill Clinton did 1,000 women while he was in the White House, the problem was that the Republicans pursued him and that he escaped with double talk.  In the past when Presidents had taken advantage of their position with “alternate women”, everyone kept it hush hush, figuring that when it was their turn to cheat on their wife, they would be given the same free pass.  At the time, the Republicans were so frustrated that they couldn’t pin the Whitewater “scandal” on Clinton, that they decided to forego the “free pass” policy for infidelity and nail him for that instead.

The Republicans had the goods on Clinton (the Lewinsky dress) and they put the pedal to the metal, eventually impeaching him in the House of Representatives.  This wouldn’t have been so bad, except two side features came into play.  For one, Democrats began to really hate Republicans because they had broken the long standing rule to keep cheating on spouses silent.  Second, Bill Clinton brought “weasel words”, long used by American attorneys, into play as a national sport.

When Clinton was asked by reporters if he had an affair with Lewinsky, he gave twisted answers saying things like it depended what your definition of is … is.  American’s saw this and started to learn from the master (Clinton) that you could get out of anything if you could jump through enough verbal hoops.

At the same time the internet bubble was taking form.  While the web had actually been invented in the early 1970’s it hadn’t become popular until 1994 when Netscape created the first web browser.  As American’s discovered the web, their stock growth took off like a rocket.  As things developed stocks like LCOS (Lycos-a search engine) would climb from $45 to $150 within a 24 hour period of time.  The era of fast money was born and American’s loved it.

Bill Clinton avoided removal from office with a quick victory in a Senate trial and the internet bubble eventually popped, but America would never be the same.  Ever since people have been looking to get out of jams with weasel words and make that quick buck with the next economic bubble.

There was another result from the internet bubble as well.  People became addicted to the web.  So addicted that cell phones would be created that carried the entire web and made it portable.  Suddenly you could surf the net and chat 24-7.   Our work ethic would never be the same.  Work was out and chatting about nothing was in.

The housing bubble was simply a desperate sequel to the internet bubble.  America lost a lot of money when the earlier bubble had popped and needed something to put fast money in their pockets.  The government needed another bubble so that tax revenues would increase.  Deep down, Americans had lost their will to work and government lost their will to limit spending.

Too bad the real estate bubble popped as well …

While America has their collective heads crammed into their I-phones trying to chit chat with 13 year olds masquerading as their future spouse, Rome is burning.  Looks like it hasn’t rained in a while … Going to be a hot fire … 1-888-950-GOLD

“The Greatest Depression in the history of mankind” … Gerald Celente

We’ve made “work” a dirty word … Obama gave a town hall meeting today and one guy stood up and said he wanted his $1100 a month unemployment benefit upgraded to $3000.  He also wanted the money wired directly into his account so he wouldn’t have to travel to the bank to cash the check.  Obama said he would see what he could do.  Unreal …

You can’t fix this … We loaned up the country to the gills and taking more loans will just make things worse … I never thought I would see this day, but here it is.   I’m listening to Rush and he thinks the economic climate is not that bad, but he’s wrong.  There is too much debt and people will not work. 

We’ve gone through 7 different web design teams and while some did a decent job, it isn’t until we hired Cliff and company that things really got moving.  6 teams strike out … 1 team a winner … but it took 24 months to finally get things into the right hands. 

The point … MOST won’t work because they would rather surf the web on their I-phones.

That’s how GOLD works … 1-888-950-GOLD

Dow 5500 is coming … There is no plan to fix any of this … Any time the market ticks up, it is nothing more than an opportunity to SELL … Scary stuff … a problem with no solution … 1-888-950-GOLD

Las Vegas homes soon to be totally worthless … (click here)

Living HELL in Florida … (click here)

The Housing Ponzi Scheme makes Madoff look like an amateur … (click here)

Our new PHOTO gallery courtesy of Cliff … test mode only …  (click here)

We are going into the 2nd Great Depression.  It will be impossible to get out this without a new economic system.  We will have to rework capitalism to it’s very core and become savers verses spenders.  The pain will be beyond anything you could ever imagine.  The reason: Everything we have done up until now has been based on people spending money courtesy of massive personal debt.   For us to become savers, the amount of disposable income/debt that we spend has to drop by about 70%.  Just think of the effect this will have on American business.

Homes that sold for $1,000,000 and now sell for $500,000, will soon be selling for $200,000 and even at that price there will be NO takers.

Everything you have learned over the past 20 years will become meaningless.  It will be all about survival and the ability to feed yourself day by day.  It is this writers opinion that the only people who will escape with little harm are those who have diversified with hard assets.

At some point we are going to be forced to go back to a Gold standard.  It is the only way to put discipline back into our currency.  Otherwise Liberals can come into power and print more paper money than President Bush ever dreamed possible.  A weak currency equals a weak country.  Garbage currency equals Iceland.

That’s why I believe every American should own at least some Gold … huge potential gains should a Gold standard ever return to our shores.

I can’t believe the lack of debate over this catastrophic $900 billion “stimulus” bill.  You would think we would learn after being openly conned with bailout #1 last summer.  I was in War Room screaming that bailout #1 was BAD business.  We all know what followed with $18 billion in bonuses and continued destruction of Dow and Nasdaq.   Now they report we overpaid for assets by $78 billion and there is a lot more waste and corruption hidden from sight.  (Didn’t James Cramer say we would make money off TARP #1?)

When I graduated from college in 1988, within two years I had a half million dollar house paid for cash.  Within 4 years I had my second vacation home paid for cash.  I had plenty of money stashed away and it would only rise in the years to come courtesy of a stock market that was at that time functional.  For a college graduate in 2009, it doesn’t seem so bright.  Not to be negative, but being a government auditor for bailout plans, doesn’t seem to have a lucrative future.

All I see is debt in 2009 and beyond.   Things didn’t work this way in the late 1980’s.  I remember being nervous as to how I was going to pay off $10,000 in college loans.  Today a $10,000 debt load is considered nothing, even though 32% of American’s don’t even work.  I was watching the late Morton Downey Jr. on his short lived TV show in 1989 and I remember him bitching and moaning about the national debt.  He thought we should just wash our hands of it.  At that time the national debt was around $2 trillion, which is only twice the cost of the Obama “stimulus” plan.

The plan should be designed so the government “helps” people spend money.  Buy a car, get an instant government rebate ($15,000) … buy a house, get an instant government rebate ($50,000) … if you want the legislation to stimulate, then it has to encourage spending to get the economy moving.  The way Obama plan is set up 33% is state bailout money, 33% is liberal pet projects and 33% is stuff like laying sod in front of some government building that will provide short term employment for illegal aliens.

enough rant … there will be hell to pay when this latest bailout makes things worse … As apethetic as American’s have become, watch what happens when the credit lines finally go dry.  People are still able to tap into credit cards to make things move, albeit slowly. 

Just watch and see … lock your doors … Guns, Ammo and Gold … 1-888-950-GOLD

If it’s free money, why not print up $1,000,000 for every family in America … I’ll take a free million while they’ve decided to just throw our future away … I can figure out what to do with my little cut.

93% pork ???  … (click here)

If you want to piss away $1 Trillion, why not offer a $15,000 rebate for every new American car sold and $50,000 for every home sold … First come, first served … TWO rebate coupons per FAMILY (one each) … When the Trillion is gone, it’s gone … That would get housing and autos moving fast … People would rush out and start spending …

My plan would sell 10,000,000 homes and 30,000,000 cars … Everyone would be getting back into housing and auto sales would become a hot career … It would lift the rest of the economy just as it did before.  Now granted, once the rebates ran out, we MIGHT resume problems, but at least the $1 Trillion wouldn’t be thrown away on things that have NO chance of working.

Shame on them for shoving this horrid bill down our throats … 1-888-950-GOLD

Can’t wait to take over the NY market … (click here)

All bailout plans will be poorly designed and fail … 24 months from now they will look at laugh at all of these plans while the people doing the laughing hunt for food in a Wendy’s dumpster.

It’s only this bad because there was no regulation.  Don’t regulate and people will do devilish things.  This time they played trick or treat on the entire US economy and sent it up in flames.

Play with fire, get burned … 1-888-950-GOLD

All the “brain power” in DC and they are helpless to do anything but make things worse with their BS bailout plans.  The Obama bailout is so misguided it makes you question his qualifications to hold the office.

We didn’t have jobs in 2003 …  We have far less jobs today … The madness took place because of credit markets (not because of job markets).  Now the credit markets are shot to hell.  There is no fix … This is going to get as dark as you could imagine.  There might not be food for many.  People might go to the streets.  You need to be in a position where you can protect yourself.

All banks will be nationalized.  Companies like GE are going bye-bye.  There will be no US Auto makers.  Paper dollars in banks will mean nothing.  FDIC insurance will be considered a joke.  American’s will not sit back and allow this to happen.  They will go to the streets and you will think twice before opening your front door to go out and get the mail (if there is mail delivery).

Can’t happen in the USA?  Abuse your body with drugs and die.  Abuse your economy with credit and die.

The worst part is that in the 1930’s people were tough.  They could make it through virtually anything.  If you’ve ever seen the movie Saving Private Ryan, you know that it’s true.  Aside from our current day volunteer army, we are soft.  We won’t handle this well at all. 

Time is ticking and there are no silver linings … 1-888-950-GOLD

Bill Fleckenstein brilliance …  (click here)

I did not expect this to turn so dark this early in 2009.  I pictured a few “mirage months” where it seemed like things were getting better, before a huge drop during the summer.  We have simply used up our credit markets and it’s like flying a jumbo jet on fumes.

CNBC hauling the hucksters on the air today saying we are inline for a major stock market rally.  Most of them run hedge funds, so they need to suck in your cash to get their cut.  Stocks rally when earnings rally and you can’t get a rally with 600,000 jobs going bye-bye every month.

They keep saying things will improve in late 2009.  How is that possible?  We are certain to lose 600,000 jobs or more as far as the eye can see.  Who’s going to be left to buy stuff to make a recovery possible?  It took Japan 20 years to recover and they never recovered (their stock market is still down 90% from their 1990 highs).  What makes us different?  Our hard working countrymen?

GE CEO’s sees possible GD  …  (click here)

The problem is the bailout can’t work, yet it “has to” work … (click here)

This is how it should have been done.  Let the banks ALL go bust and then take the “bailout funds” and start a fresh nationalized bank … (click here)  The world would be a better place with Citigroup RIP …

Gold ready to blast off as world falls a part … (click here)

Want a job? … (click here)

We are going to keep losing 600,000 jobs per month until the government comes clean.  We abused capitalism and now it is going to abuse us.  What’s amazing me is that while I was laughed at last summer for predicting GD2, now everyone and their brother is saying that it is likely.  All these recovery bulls either came around to my way of thinking or maybe they weren’t that patient.  It doesn’t matter as job losses are swamping us and now wallets are bare.

Compare the worst Toyota to the best Chevy and then tell me where the brain power is …

If Japan couldn’t pull out with BS bailout plans and shady accounting, we won’t either … If you do the math, it’s a better deal to collect unemployment than for many to work … People don’t like to work.  They don’t like to deal with others. They don’t want to take orders.  They like to stay home and watch TV.  That’s why Oprah and strange Uncle Phil are so popular.   Uncle Phil acts sympathetic to his guests on TV and then the minute he goes to commercial break, kicks them off the set because they are beyond help (he’s my kind of guy).  American’s don’t have the work ethic to pull out of this or anything else.  Unless they invent a “lazy pill”, we are screwed.

It’s time to prepare for your future because Washington, DC is clueless  …  I know some of you don’t understand Gold and Silver, but the fact is they have kicked the a** of virtually any other form of investment since 2001 … Hell ride ahead for stocks and real estate … 1-888-950-GOLD

Remember when they said we would make money on the original TARP bailout … (click here)

If these continued bailout packages fail over time, there will be nothing left for DC to do.  It reminds me of the movie Deep Impact where after repeated efforts to destroy a meteor with nuclear weapons, Morgan Freeman, playing the role of the President, has a national address admitting that it will destroy much of the earth.   A stunning moment in an otherwise average movie.

I see the potential of President Obama or Vice President Biden delivering a similar message only in regards to the economy.   You keep shedding 600,000 jobs per month and eventually we are going to run out of consumers.  Run out of consumers and everything shuts down.  It seems impossible that it can happen in the United States, but horrendous financial oversight has brought us to this day.

For the record: I believe these bailouts will fail … they might buy us some time and slow job loss down to 450,000 per month, but basically you are trying to fix a consumer debt bubble by creating a government stimulus bubble.  It’s like trying to fix a flat tire with bubble gum.

Most of the money from the stimulus is going straight to the states so they can pay their bills.   Barack is correct in saying that if the bill doesn’t pass it will be a catastrophe.

States can’t borrow money the way the U.S. government can.  When the checkbook is bare, there is nothing left and payments can’t go out.  Retirees won’t get their checks etc …

There really is no stimulus to speak of in the bill aside from state survival.  That’s why the focus has been taken off the original talk of infrastructure.   What has been predicted to happen around 2017 (country going broke) has been pushed up in time. 

The ultimate answer to all of this is a GRAND re-set.  Pay the national debt off with printed paper money and then shift to a new currency.  Cancel all debt and rebuild from scratch.  We could be as little as 36 months away from a solution like this.  People won’t suffer for 10 or 15 years like they did in the 1930’s while things grind to a hault.

One of the few things that will withstand the transition is Gold and Silver.  Why?  … because in the most extreme scenarios (new currency) those dollars would be backed with Gold … 1-888-950-GOLD

Great Obama move today limiting executive compensation to $500,000 for any company requiring government funds.  Really good message being sent with this … 5 stars … (I will give Obama full credit when it is deserved as it is in this case)

Next he should limit executive compensation for any publically traded company to $2 million.  Going public is a bit like tarp in that you are using American’s funds to finance your company.  While it isn’t a forced situation ala TARP where everyone has to kick debt in, you are still using American’s $$$ to run your company.

Private companies should have unlimited pay for their CEO’s … They should also be taxed at a flat 15% as a reward for creating a smooth running operation providing services for America.

I really think the ultimate goal of any company should be to go it alone.  If public companies weren’t making money off investors, they wouldn’t want them.  They are using you to pad their pockets with cash.   They tell you they are going to give you 10% returns, and for a while maybe that works out, but in the long run you end up with feathers.  They take your dollars, piss them away and then go to the government with hat in hand while they watch their stock price go to ZERO.

Update: There are many exceptions to this $500,000 limit  … Very discouraging update … Companies that have already recieved TARP money are excluded … Their CEO’s can make as much as they wish … sad

What’s stunning is that with even more job losses coming, it looks as if virtually every home in Vegas will be underwater by the end of 2009.  Then when you consider that Vegas has a GREAT job market with all of the casinos and related businesses, it really makes you wonder where this is heading.

In Nevada while 61% of the homes are underwater (owe more than house is worth), only 6% are actually in foreclosure.   Are we really to believe that something magical will happen with the “missing” 55% and they won’t end up as defaults as well?   A flood of foreclosures are ahead …  

Compare 1999 in the midst of the tech stock boom, to 2009 in the midst of this sh** hole of debt and you really shake your head wondering what exactly happened … I’m a believer that this started with the crash of tech stocks in 2000-2001.  I remember going to my eye doctor (a wise older man) and he told me that he had lost a fortune on internet stocks.  The mortgage bubble that started in 2003 was simply a tool used to repair the earlier destruction from tech stocks and 911.

The problem with all of these bubbles (we are entering a stimulus bubble) is that they can only last for a few years.  Once the well runs dry, reality sets in and each phase gets worse and worse.   The aftermath of the mortgage bubble is clearly worse than the aftermath of the tech stock bubble.  I see nothing but darkness at the end of this government stimulus bubble.

Many have asked me why American’s are attracted to these bubbles.  American’s want to get rich so they won’t have to deal with each other in a working environment.  Money is power and the more of it you have the less you are forced to interact.  While I said earlier that I thought this all began with the tech stock bubble, the root of that bubble was American anger.  In the 1990’s our country turned hostile and ever since people have been looking for that easy dollar so they could stay home and hide.

Like my Dad says, if you’ve lost your job and had your house foreclosed on, you are already experiencing a depression.  Every month 500,000 more people lose their jobs and about 300,000 lose their homes, so we are working are way into a picture that looks very much like 1933.

We’ve already had the stock market crash 50% or more … It’s never going to comeback for most

Don’t rule out impeachment (if this liberal orgy continues) …

At some point they will try and introduce an Obama “fresh start”, but it’s possible that aside from reading speeches off a teleprompter, he is void of talent.  It’s this writers opinion, that if you have never run a small business, you have NO business trying to run the country.  Running one gives you an opportunity to feel the reality of trying to make something of yourself in America.  Look for an Obama approval rating of 23% by this summer along with a Dow Jones around 5500-6000.

Country is in major trouble … Does anyone have solutions?

On one hand I totally agree Daschle should be out (even though he will make more money by not getting this post)

Notice the anger and hatred of the people … American’s ready to go to the streets … Can you feel the utter frustration?  At some point it will be taken past the keyboard.

In 2009 there are over 300 million people in USA and we are on a pace to sell 8.7 million total cars

In 1982 the country was in the toilet post-Jimmy Carter … Where does that leave us today?  (click here)

I have long predicted that as this crisis deepens, American’s won’t pull together, but instead will come a part.  I expect the crime rate to jump dramatically, with many afraid to leave their homes after dark.  I expect people to become more lazy at work, almost daring their companies to shut down.  It reminds me of a modern day death wish, where people want to bring it down.

Our advice is to prepare … 1-888-950-GOLD

The auto sales reports are coming out for January and sales are way below the already low expectations.  Nobody is buying cars … I bought 15 cars between 1991 and 2006 (basically one car per year).  I bought them for “vanity” reasons, not because cars only last one year.  I can keep our current “fleet” of cars running for 7-10 years.    I’m going to try something new and run our family autos into the ground … (click here)

This country is in the toilet.  Work ethic is gone, the politicians don’t bother paying income taxes, the banking system is broke, people aren’t nice to each other, anger and hate is everywhere … Where are the bright lights?  Gold and Silver … 1-888-950-GOLD

4,000,000 to 1 (against)

Sometimes I feel like I am living in a madhouse … Do people really believe this stuff? … I think this stimulus bill will be a job killer.  Laying sod in front of some government building is not a career, it is a 4 day gig for an illegal alien.  Not that I have anything against illegal aliens, but what are we doing going in debt so they can pick up a few extra days of work?  It’s just madness …

I think we are 4-6 months away from a general discussion as to wether or not the United States can survive (as we know it).  Already on CNBC, Larry Kudlow has been saying that he believes the stimulus package will swamp the treasury.  His belief is that we simply can’t afford this.  You know what happens when you purchase something that you can’t afford.  It never ends good …

Dow 5500 … Gold $2000 ? … 1-888-950-GOLD … The only bad news for us is that every coin we’ve shipped over the past 3 years is now worth more (to our customers) than the day we sent it out.  If we had only held on to that inventory =)

I hate the stimulus scam … I don’t trust Geithner … Daschle is a soft spoken manipulator … The whole thing is off to a much worse start than the early Clinton years of 1992-1993.

Makes you miss GWB … Too bad the President wasn’t a real hardcore conservative …  He really hurt the Republican party with his wishy-washy conservatism.  The Iraq war was bad news … The $700 billion bailout was a huge mistake.

Dow 5500 … I will keep saying it until it happens … 90 days and counting down … 1-888-950-GOLD

Please vote Daschle down … (click here)

Here in Arizona we are at Ground Zero of the destruction.  People would visit me from back east and marvel at the fact that within 10 minutes of our home there were 13 major grocery stores.  Some chains with more than one of those stores.  They never had any real business and now reality sets in and they are closing fast.

As stores close, they layoff employees and those people have no $$$ in their pockets.  No money in hand, means less commerce which sets off the chain of events we are now experiencing.  It’s scary …

While NGL is a zero debt company, we still don’t like seeing other companies within Arizona (some run by our friends) going under.  One company that I am particulary familiar with had a lot of accounts outstanding from previously good paying customers.  Now those customers have stopped paying and my friends business is no longer viable … everyone is getting layed off … sad …

When will things get better?   My hunch is that 24 months from now, right now will be considered the “good old days”.  That’s how bad I think this can get … the Obama stimulus package is NO help …

We’ll just keep on cooking until I hit 65 and go off to my island retreat in the Dominican Republic.  18 years to go and counting …  A lot of customers to make happy in the meantime.  God Bless the Gold and Silver markets … 1-888-950-GOLD

My hunch is that if enough people take advantage of this offer, Hyundai will be the next auto maker looking for a government bailout 15 months from now ….

We keep hearing that banks won’t lend.  When a bank provides a loan they charge interest.  Since the federal funds overnight rate is zero percent, virtually all interest charged is profit.  If banks felt loans would be re-paid, they would hand the money out because they could start making money again.  Banks have decided that most fresh loans won’t be re-paid, so they turn most of them down.

The very thing that got us in this mess (loose credit), is what they say we need to get us out of this mess.   The USA existed for 250 years with tight credit (and did fine) and 5 years with loose credit (ruined the country) and instead of following the earlier model, we want to go back to what destroyed us.

We need to reset and understand that if you are an illegal alien, you shouldn’t be getting a $300,000 home mortgage with no money down.  We need to accept the fact that someone without a job shouldn’t be able to walk into the Cadillac dealer and walk away with an Escalade.  We need to all agree that to take a loan, you should have to provide the latest copy of your tax return and have a decent credit history.  We can do it the other way and just give people free money, but we won’t have a country left.

We’ve become lazy expecting to walk into banks and have them hand us money with no credit check and “invented” annual incomes.  When I used to go for a mortgage (even with high annual incomes and perfect credit) they would make me sweat.  Why should it be different now?  Because people have proven they deserve a streamlined credit process?  Please …

Is $2000 an ounce Gold next?  Very short supply of Precious Metals product … 1-888-950-GOLD …

by the way … I couldn’t stand that halftime show … yuk … (click here)  … When the ref came out and threw the flag, ouch … Don’t tell me I don’t know music … I’ve never understood the appeal of that guy and after watching him in action, I still don’t get it … It’s called trying too hard with music that wants me to take an extended trip to the fridge.

These CEO’s are smart.  They know their firms are at the end of the line and they want to steal every last penny they can.  They don’t care if it was profit money or tax payer gifted money, they just want $$$

$650 million to buy people digital converter boxes

$200 million to improve Volcano monitors (???)

$600 million to watch climate warming (it’s cold even in Arizona this year)

$400 million for FREE condoms

$500 million for laying sod in front of government buildings

$8 billion to modernize government buildings (so the Dems can work in style)

All it will do is create some short term gigs … not jobs, not careers, and no hope … illegals will end up doing most of the work as they have that short term mentality.

End times … If you think this is going to do good, you need help … 1-888-950-GOLD

Porkulus is the cause … People had high hopes for this package … Now those hopes lay in ruin … You don’t even need to give it a chance … The package has failed and it isn’t even law yet … Massive layoffs coming soon … A Tidal Wave of unemployment.

Don’t blame this reporter … I was against all of the bailout and stimulus wastes … We could have shut down all U.S. banks and opened up one National Safe Bank with the bailout money.  You would at least have a place to put your savings. 

The truth is that the hard earned money you trusted to your local bank went to finance a home equity loan for someone who wasn’t even in our country legally  … RIP U.S. Banking System … 1-888-950-GOLD

Limbaugh has been sleep walking through his show for 8 years (so boring) … Now he is re-born as the anti-Obama force … Obama has blown every bit of good will he had with this reporter when he unleashed PORKULUS.  All he had to do was give 1/2 the bill to the Libs and let Limbaugh run the other half and we could have had something really good.  Why would Obama be so foolish as to take the credit for the destruction of the United States?  100 years from now when the new USA has been formed, people will look back at this horrific legislation as the final nail in the old USA’s coffin.  Amazing times …

The worst President in American history … and it only took about 12 days … 1-888-950-GOLD

Are you ready?  Have you diversified your portfolio?  Still time … 1-888-950-GOLD

During the Civil War after a huge battle, those who escaped unharmed on the losing side would play dead so that they wouldn’t be shot as the victors cleaned out what was left.  During Porkulus, many who can work, will decide not to work, in order to get that free handout. 

Same concept … play dead and survive $$$ … show life and die …

I honestly thought he was going to try and do a better job than this … This is a terrible performance …

Porkulus = End of USA as we know it …

Every dime will be wasted and the plan will fail … Nothing good will come of Porkulus … 100% total waste

There is nothing stimulative in the bill unless you consider sending money to Mexico good for your wallet

Gold could skyrocket if the paper dollar tanks … 1-888-950-GOLD

Dow 4600 … end times … 1-888-950-GOLD

Their answer to Dow 4600 will be to print paper dollars with no bonds being sold to back it.  Strictly a printing press mentality.  Printers of paper might might be the only fresh jobs created in the country.   What do you think this will do to the value of GOLD? 

Obama is shaping up as the worst President in American history.  If we had the same recall rules as California, he might be less than a year from being removed (ala Grey Davis).  This stimulus plan is a complete disaster.  Everyone I have spoken to (ranging from customers to financial experts) hates every single word in the bill.  Limbaugh hopes it fails and so don’t all of us.  Getting on your knees and hoping a socialist plan saves the USA is about as sad as it gets.  Shame on those who weren’t prepared as they were warned over and over again.

And yes, I hope his plan is a total failure.  If I want to live in Russia, I’ll go move to Russia complete with parka and snow boots.  I don’t need their system brought here so I can try it out.  Their system sucks.

note: leave a small tip …

Save that line of bull for someone else … Every house in the country will drop by at least 60% before this game gets to the 9th inning.  (click here)

Shame on any and all for supporting these bailouts and stimulus plans … Horrible legislation

Unless something dramatic happens, our country could fall … The Dems are going to print paper money as if it were toilet paper to try and make “good things happen”.    It’s like throwing human waste against the wall thinking some of it will stick and using it as a new fangled form of paint. 

I predicted 2009 would be the year from hell … It looks like I missed on that prediction by being too light.  Things are much worse than I could have dreamed.  This Obama stimulus plan will only stimulate us out of capitalism.   My vote for any and all bailouts is NO, NO, NO.

They might not take away your pension, but if the value of the paper dollars drops by 75%, where will your purchasing power come from?  We’ve been getting calls all day from sources asking if Gold could go as high as $4000 an ounce …  Who knows? … It could go even higher … 1-888-950-GOLD

What happens when reality hits and people realize that virtually all credit assets are bad? … The government dumping bad assets through this bad bank will push down the price of the remaining good assets.

The “bad bank” will overload us right into GD2 … that’s what the future holds

Why?  Because government stimulation is a loser.  It’s not capitalism.  It’s a pack of politicians who want to find a way to have even more control over our lives buying into private business with our loaned future dollars.  Go to Motor Vehicle, see the quality of service and then realize that if these same people run a huge percentage of the economy, all will fail.

We needed regulation to keep the banks from taking too much risk.  People took those risks and got burned.  Now they need to pay in the blood of money.  If they don’t pay, they will only try and do it again in a different way.

We consume but we don’t produce.  We financed the good times and now our “credit cards” have gone over their limits.  We took our loaned dollars and bought products that were produced overseas.  It all seemed fun until the bill came due.  When the credit system could no longer bend we hit the end of the road.

1-888-950-GOLD … Hell is here … Prepare …

The problem is the government won’t take his advice which will make the outcome far worse than it needs to be …

This stimulus plan will fail … Complete and total loser … (click here)

Let reason be your guide … 1-888-950-GOLD

Many believe the end result of all this will be a fresh system featuring a currency backed by GOLD

2) Any product sold in the USA must be made in the USA (no more imports)

3) All corporate CEO’s who had a hand in this destruction get life in prison with no chance of early release

5) If you can’t pay your mortgage, pack up because the house is going up for auction

6) Limit credit card debt to $5,000 per family

7) Outlaw home equity loans

part 2 later tonight …

The only company I would be “Long” now is our 1-800 carrier, US Sprint … the phone never stops ringing here … maybe we could have our customers pay to call us … I need a break this weekend … 1-888-950-GOLD

Remember, every time you stock up with more Gold and Silver, you are telling Wall St. to go screw … That and the Federal Reserves endless printing press of paper dollars are the two reasons this industry is booming … Next stop $2000 an ounce? …  Have a great day everyone !!!

Hope you enjoy retirement …

Aside from Chrysler, I have owned many American vehicles … At one point in time a few years back I had 3 Ford Explorers and 2 Ford Expeditions all at the same time (for family members) … I think Ford really has a competitive product to the imports … I’ve owned a Corvette or two and wouldn’t mind getting the wife another one in a few years.  Or maybe she can buy me one ….

What I don’t like is bailouts … Hate them … and I hate the people that ask for them … and I hate CEO’s like Rick Wagner who make $20 million a year asking for free tax payer money … hate it … but that’s just my (and about 200 million other American’s) opinion.

FIAT stands for … Fix It All the Time … You can’t imagine what these things were like when they were sold in the USA years ago …

Price target … $20 per share …

Simple answer: The day they believe that people will repay those loans

Banks aren’t lending because they don’t trust … They are 100% right not to trust … The money wouldn’t be repaid and the banks would need to be bailed out again and again and again … Better for the CEO to steal the bailout money and build yet another mansion here in the USA, than to loan it to an illegal and have it spent in Mexico. With the earlier, at least the money will circulate in this country.

We are screwed … We need a new system … What that is, I don’t know … This is why you never want to have a bubble in something so important as housing … Shame on Allen Greenspan for creating this.

Who ran these banks?  We are past the point where you would be better off with money stuffed into the mattress … These banks took your hard earned deposits and pissed them away on loans to people who had no ability to pay them back … It’s jaw dropping and people should go to prison for this regardless of laws … Just call it treason against the world banking system and lock them up …

It’s destiny is to sell for around 16 cents a share … One more step in that direction today … (click here)

Without government intervention, the entire banking system in the USA is GONE … far worse than GD-1 where some banks were able to survive without help.

Without government intervention, virtually every business in the USA would be gone or close to gone … Think about it …. no banks, no ability to get cash … no trip to McDonalds for the 89 cent burger special.

Anyone who invests in this garbage needs to have their head examined … years and years of gains being wiped out and much more to come …  Dow 5500 not a joke anymore is it?

The big problem with Dow 5500 is that it puts virtually every retirement fund in the country upside down.  How is the government going to bail all of this stuff out … George Soros said it best, “You had your party, now it’s time for the straight jacket”

Gold doing very well today … We could have some VERY wealthy customers if things continue in this direction … Sometimes I think we could make even more money if we just held on to our inventory and shut the phones off for the rest of 2009 … Unreal … 1-888-950-GOLD

Next Prediction: Soon we will see a monthly jobs report with over 1,000,000 out of work for a single month (when that hits, watch out-you can talk all you want about a recovery, but you won’t be recovering from anything if there aren’t any jobs)

2) Dow 5500

3) Dow 5500

that’s all you need to know … confidence in the old system finally shattered … no one willing to invest in equities ever again … and big issues for retirement funds invested heavily in the market (which is almost every single one of them)

I thought the market might go up today in honor of our new President … instead stocks are dropping like rocks … Dow 5500 is coming …

I think Obama will be a major flop as President … Not because he isn’t gifted, but because the mess we are in (not of his making) is more than he or anyone else could handle.  The media is already saying that all he has to do is wave the magic wand and all will be well.   The turncoats will go from loving him, to hating him fast.

My wife and I drove in this neighborhood 2 years ago and the land alone, was $350K … now you get the land and the house … and don’t think that house would be cheap to build … a lot of work there … note: the inside was a botched design … Amazing how the banks gave people $$$ to build who didn’t even know how to put a decent floor plan together.  Typical Arizona style people wanting to get rich in real estate and ending up leaving the state deeper in the weeds.  We had some really lazy people here … They thought taking home equity loans was a new type of employment … unreal …

Would be a nice investment, but … who knows what the future holds … I say real estate goes lower in the next phase … You think it’s a deal … you buy … and then it goes even lower …

Private banks and credit unions that are solvent can remain … Citibank, Bank of America and the rest are gone … 1-888-950-GOLD

I fear for this country … our economic system is crashing … trust is gone … crime is coming … can American’s handle what is coming next?  My guess is no … the clear answer is no … we aren’t used to go without …  scary stuff …

Now the party is over and not to be morbid, but without Steve Jobs Apple is a $50 stock … (click here)

Why? 1) Jobs did the impossible bringing Apple back and he is the genius behind their amazing products … 2) The economy is tanking even faster than this writer predicted and Apple products will soon be gathering dust on the shelf … This is going to be a BLOODBATH … and it will play a role in paving the way for Dow 5500.

2010 … no

2014 … slim possibility

2025 … likely

It takes 20 years to get out of a mess like this … Look at Japan … They have a much better work ethic than MANY people in this country do and yet they have still been battling their economy for 20 years.

BUT … with all of these bailouts, they’ve taken any kind of stock analysis out of the market … It’s just a big guessing game … Who kisses enough a** to get free government money … horrible management of the USA

Here it is … the bailout was the moment … (click here)

They will be doing stories on the bailout for years and years to come … and they’ll all be negative

What they don’t tell you is that American’s are getting more tapped out by the second and that you can have all the thawed credit you want, but if people can’t pay back the loans, what’s the point?   Sure, we might get a little pop here (I actually doubt that), but at the end of the day, whatever happened to working at a job, paying your living expenses, saving a little and then spending what is left-over?  They are making the situation worse by trying to fix things with loans.  Loans used to be used for good, now they are used to create economic bubbles that are leading us into a financial depression from hell.

The only thing real is Hard GOLD … 1-888-950-GOLD

We have been living on borrowed time and money for the past 7 years.  Now the chickens are coming home to roost.  These fools can talk all they want, but they can’t clean up the balance sheet of a guy with a 475 credit score and 2 homes in foreclosure.  How do you recapitalize someone who has everything but a job?

Notice they don’t talk so much about Obama’s original idea of infrastructure … Great way to toss away money … All public works projects end in massive theft and waste with most of the work being done by illegals …

Do you notice they do this thing where they say that in 6-9 months everything will be fine again? … They don’t give a reason for it to get better, only saying that things have always gotten better in the past … One of the first things you learn in the Gold business is the disclaimer … “Past performance is no guarantee of future results” … You say that to people because life is always changing … Different circumstances lead to different results … The NY Giants won the Super Bowl last year, but this year they layed a giant egg in the playoffs … yesterday tells you NOTHING about what will happen tomorrow …  I guess Bernanke and company are too busy sipping tea at their fancy lunches to understand any of this.

I wonder if things would have recovered in 1982 if 60% of American’s had been upside down in their house.

He makes $400,000 a year (reasonable pay for leader of free world)

After he is done with office he gives speeches and his net worth soars to $100 million

Foreign countries give him $497 million to build his “library”

His wife intervenes on the donors behalf with political favors …  (click here)

Note: Whenever you hear that someone is doing “charitable” work in the area of Aids, instantly think money scam … Same with Global Warming … Same with ending hunger … Charitites have been claiming they were going to end world hunger for the past 50 years … all the money ends up in the top guys pockets and the starving people end up eating white mush buzzing with large fly’s …

It’s just the talk of a fool … or maybe a dreaming fool … (click here)

If I do a Madoff and steal $50 billion from hard working American’s through a stock market hedge fund, I would get to stay inside a comfy $7 million apartment in NYC until they figured a way to let me off easy.

What else can you say? … the stock market has been proven to be the biggest ponzi scheme on planet earth and 100 million American’s are counting on it for their retirement … good luck with that …  1-888-950-GOLD

Thank you for the continued support … 1-888-950-GOLD

Many believe the recipe is simple … Let the government print paper dollars … You buy as much Gold and Silver as you can manage (hide inside your house) … Then sit and wait for the inevitable …

Some have said that Gold should be selling for a much as $9500 an ounce … I don’t have a crystal ball, so let reason be your guide.

You wonder why the banks won’t loan anymore … You wouldn’t give someone a loan either if you were certain that they would never pay it back … Capitalism is dead and will soon be burried … Welcome to the USSR … I hate it a much as you do, but it is the cards we have been dealt by the corporate elite.  I look back at the glorious 1990’s and wonder what went wrong in this country.  Sure we are busier than ever at NGL, but do you really think we take pride in seeing friends and (some) family driven into the ground?

Who could have predicted this?  I knew it was going to be bad, but not like this … 2009 is shaping up to be a slow grind spinning us into a living Hell of net worth destruction … sad

On a good note, our Sad Sack Arizona Cardinals have a real shot of winning a Super Bowl … amazing …

They talk about deflation, but at the end of the month when I add up my personal bills, they are as high as ever.  Don’t give me this line of BS that everything is dropping in price.  Gas is cheap, but it should have been cheap all along.  According to 60 Minutes (watched it earlier tonight), we got screwed by a bunch of crooks with $4.00 gas earlier this year.  It was nothing more than a con job by Wall Street … demand for gas was dropping and the price was going higher … There’s more oil in the ground than we’ll ever be able to use … It’s like the global warming scam … People are getting rich off these lies … Al Gore went into the White House as a VP with little $$$ to his name and came out worth hundreds of millions of dollars  … To bad it’s not you and me making out like bandits … We’ll just have to fall back on precious metals and clean up the best we can … 1-888-950-GOLD

I work 7 days a week because I tuly love this industry.  We take pride in making every transaction a special event for our customers and for me it’s a pleasure to work with a company that cares.  I realize some who read War Room find Gold and Silver a bit confusing, but when you consider that every single order we shipped in 2008 resulted in a customer making money on their purchase (based on end of year pricing), that’s powerful stuff.  If for example we sold Plasma TV’s, every 2008 customer would now have a product worth 40% of what they originally paid.  It feels great to have a customer base that loves us for service, but smiles over the long term because of the value of this asset class.

I expect 2009 will break all sales records here at NGL … thanks again everyone … 1-888-950-GOLD

If this home is worth that money, then our home here in Scottsdale is worth $2-3 million (and trust me, it isn’t worth that kind of money) …

Prices have a LONG way to fall and with that more people will go underwater and the death spiral will continue until 60% of American’s owe more than their homes are worth … bad, bad, bad … This is why you NEVER want to have a bubble related to home prices … People take loans against the increase in equity and then when reality hits, ouch.  And this time it’s really bad because the banks opened up the vaults and gave every illegal alien with a fake social security number a 125% home loan on a house worth 25% of the sale price … that means that 80% of the money handed out was just a gift.  Multiply that by 8 million American homes and you have a bankrupt nation.

And Barack Obama has the answers to fix this?  Please …

He’s never run a business … He spent 144 days in the Senate … His plans have ZERO chance of working … I don’t even try and understand what his plan is anymore, but my next door neighbor who runs a very nice gryo shop in Tempe, Arizona is FAR more qualified to come up with answers than Obama is … Not that he would have answers (becuse there are no answers), but at least he’s actually run a small business.

Maybe Obama could turn speech reading off the teleprompter into some type of career selection (he could be lead professor).  I am not anti-Obama (even though I suspect 85% of American’s will turn against him within the next 8 months), I just think that these claims of creating millions of jobs are horse puckey.  The job growth will be going in reverse for years and years to come.  We have a long way to hit my target which is 15-18% unemployment.

Why not just admit that capitalism has been corrupted and some type of new system is needed.  Last year I hinted that GD2 was right around the corner, this year it seems like a certainty.  I would almost feel stupid to soft shoe what the hellish reality really is … very sad … 1-888-950-GOLD

and they’ll be lucky to get that much …

We own our home cash, but I imagine most of our Scottsdale neighbors are under water now … They owe more than their house is worth and it is only going to get worse.  You can’t have an economic recovery when people don’t work at jobs anymore.

Imagine the dopey bank that gave the loan for the $1,650,000 … did the people working there have any brains?  If we are going to pull out of this economic crisis we need quality, well educated American’s that work hard and do the right things … looks like we are little short in that department…

As a closet politician, in years past I always had ideas how DC could make things better (example:flat tax/consumption tax) … This time, I have no idea how to fix things and neither does anyone else including Barack Obama.   The government tossing away our future tax dollars on a liberal spending spree won’t fix anything.  The money will go to contractors who hire illegal aliens to do the road work.  American’s will sit at home waiting for welfare checks.   It’s a giant mess courtesy of people with fancy educations but no brains … we told you 2009 would be hellish and it looks like our prediction wasn’t strong enough … 1-888-950-GOLD

When a system is that corrupt, the little guy doesn’t stand a chance … the game is rigged and the big boys win and you and I will be losers … 1-888-950-GOLD

Barack Obama has 144 days legislative experience … worse, he has never run a business … even wors