Technically Precious with Merv, May 7, 2010

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The Ulterior Motive Behind The Greek Bailout

Before we discuss this issue lets focus on some facts. Many individuals claim that Greece has to be bailed out to maintain stability in the financial markets. This is a bogus argument, in the short term it might be true, but in the long term it just delays the day of reckoning and makes the situation infinitely worse. You do not help an alcoholic by chastising him and then allowing him free access to booze; it won't work.

The current debt load is 115% of GDP and by 2011 it will be 150% of GDP. The Greek government has now stated that it will take 2 years more to meet the EU requirements; a great start and a clear sign that they will come begging for more aid down the line. (more)

Feds probing JPMorgan trades in silver pit

Federal agents have launched parallel criminal and civil probes of JPMorgan Chase and its trading activity in the precious metals market, The Post has learned.

The probes are centering on whether or not JPMorgan, a top derivatives holder in precious metals, acted improperly to depress the price of silver, sources said.

The Commodities Futures Trade Commission is looking into civil charges, and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division is handling the criminal probe, according to sources, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.

The probes are far-ranging, with federal officials looking into JPMorgan's precious metals trades on the London Bullion Market Association's (LBMA) exchange, which is a physical delivery market, and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) for future paper derivative trades. (more)

Wealth And Inequality In America: The Rich are getting Richer and the Poor are getting Poorer

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Cliché, sure, but it's also more true than at any time since the Gilded Age.

The poor are getting poorer, wages are falling behind inflation, and social mobility is at an all-time low.

15 more charts here

Gold Is A Good Bet When Sovereign Nations Are Imploding

Get physical gold, real shortages in physical metals affect market activities in strange and interesting ways, pressure on Goldman Sachs in time for the election, hand slaps for the destroyers of economies, paper interests are folly, metals due for a moon shot...

There are only two kinds of gold and silver to own. Physical gold and silver that are located above the ground and that are also in your possession (which can be owned via coins, bullion, jewelry, etc.), and physical gold and silver that is located below the ground (which can be owned through producer shares which represent an ownership interest in the ore containing the raw and unprocessed metals). That is because while owners of bogus paper interests in above-ground gold and silver such as ETF shares, COMEX and LBME contracts, mint certificates and OTC derivative contracts in gold and silver are subject to fraudulent claims of ownership, storage, possession, inventory levels, security issues, insurance issues and metal content, those who take physical possession of their above-ground gold and silver need only worry about security and insurance issues (easily resolved with a private safe/secret hiding place and a call to your insurance carrier) and the metal content of their physical gold and silver, which metal content is really only a concern for the larger bars of gold bullion which recent events reveal might be "tungsten-salted." (more)

Gerald Celente: Crash of 2010 inevitable

Stock Market Collapse - More Goldman Rigging?

Last week, Goldman Sachs was on the congressional hot seat, grilled for fraud in its sale of complicated financial products called "synthetic CDOs." This week the heat was off, as all eyes turned to the attack of the shorts on Greek sovereign debt and the dire threat of a sovereign Greek default. By Thursday, Goldman's fraud had slipped from the headlines and Congress had been cowed into throwing in the towel on its campaign tobreak up the too-big-to-fail banks. On Friday, Goldman was in settlement talks with the SEC.

Goldman and Wall Street reign. Congress appears helpless to discipline the big banks, just as the European Central Bank appears helpless to prevent the collapse of the European Union. . . . Or are they?

Suspicious Market Maneuverings (more)

U.S. Debt Shock May Hit In 2018, Maybe As Soon As 2013: Moody's

Spiraling debt is Uncle Sam's shock collar, and its jolt may await like an invisible pet fence.

"Nobody knows when you bump up against the limit, but you know when it happens it will really hurt," said fiscal watchdog Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The great uncertainty about how much debt is too much has tended to make fiscal discipline seem less urgent, rather than more. There is no obvious threshold beyond which investors will demand higher real yields for holding U.S. debt. Vague warnings from ratings agencies about the loss of America's 'AAA' status haven't added much clarity — until recently. (more)