Energy, agriculture, gold and silver bullion - protectors from the coming crisis

The Gold Report: Much has happened since our last discussion in September. The election, with the Republicans taking the House and the super majority in the Senate. QE2 (quantitative easing) not only discussed but actually released. The U.S. assisting in the financing in Europe. The benefactors of the 2008 bailout money finally published. And then the hottest topic in Washington for a while, extending the Bush tax credits along with an Obama unemployment tax credit. Have any of these developments changed or firmed your opinion of the U.S. economy or the international monetary crisis?

Porter Stansberry: I'm fascinated by the way the crisis is unfolding. The U.S. government is still willing to add enormous amounts of new debt. And it is willing to underwrite not only quantitative easing in the U.S. but also fund it in Europe as well. These are symptoms of a much bigger ongoing problem-the enormous sovereign debt crisis in the Western democracies.

I think we're going to see a lot more quantitative easing. We're going to have to see a lot more fiscal deficit growth going forward, especially with a union between the Republican House that wants to cut taxes and the Obama administration that wants to extend benefits. "You let us cut taxes and we'll agree to extend benefits." Of course, that's the worst of both worlds in terms of our fiscal position because it will result in vastly bigger spending and less tax revenue. There's no other government that will even attempt adding vast new debts at this stage in the game. Americans still have no idea of the risks our government is taking with our currency. (more)