The Coming Crash: Study shows $1.2 TRILLION gap for public pensions

from Reuters:
The largest 100 public pension funds have around $1.2 trillion of unfunded liabilities, about $300 billion above the nearly $900 billion they reported themselves, according to a new actuarial study to be released on Monday.
The pension systems reported a median funding level of 75.1 percent. The study by the actuarial firm Milliman, which used different ways to value assets and measure liabilities, finds an aggregate level of funding of 67.8 percent.
But Milliman, one of the world largest actuarial firms took a close look at U.S. public pension funding for the first time, and said the multibillion-dollar difference was good news.
Rebecca Sielman, the report’s author, said results should reassure the public that America’s public pensions in general are accurately reporting their funding shortfalls.
Read More @ Reuters.com

$2,300 Gold, Here We Come

Gold is not cheap, compared to the $200-per-ounce range of a decade ago. No argument. However, as our hockey-playing friends like to say, you don’t skate to where the puck was, you skate to where the puck will be.
by Jeff Clark, Casey Research:

While many of us at Casey Research don’t like making price predictions, and certainly ones accompanied by a specific date, it’s hard to ignore the correlation between the US monetary base and the gold price.
That correlation says we’ll see $2,300 gold by January 2014.
There are plenty of long-term charts that show a connection between gold and various other forms of money (and credit). Most show that one outperforms until the other catches up. But let’s zero in on our current circumstances, namely the expansion of the US monetary base since the financial crisis hit in 2008.
Read More @ CaseyResearch.com

CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX)

CONSOL Energy, Inc. produces coal and natural gas for energy and raw material markets. The company is involved in the mining, preparation, and marketing steam coal primarily to electric power generation industry; and metallurgical coal to steel and coke producers. Its coal products comprise thermal, high volatile metallurgical, low volatile metallurgical, and other coal. In addition, the company explores for unconventional gas, including coalbed methane, Marcellus, Utica, Chattanooga, Huron and New Albany shales. The company sells its natural gas principally to gas wholesalers. Further, it provides energy services, such as industrial supply services comprising distribution of mining, drilling, and industrial supplies, as well as integrated supply procurement and management services; terminal services that include storing coal or loading coal directly into vessels from rail cars; river and dock services that transport coal from river loadout facilities through towboats, harbor boats, and barges; and water services that provide water for industrial use.

To review CONSOL's stock, please take a look at the 1-year chart of CNX (CONSOL Energy, Inc.) below with my added notations:




CNX has created one important price level to watch. After trending higher over the last (4) months (navy), the stock has formed a clear resistance at $35 (red), which was also a common support level (green) prior to that. If the stock could break above $35 it would be breaking to an 8-month high. CNX is currently testing that $35 resistance.

How To Play a Comex Default

dollarcollapse.com / by John Rubino
This week’s interview with gold dealer Tom Cloud of National Numismatic Associates comes as precious metals are correcting and rumors are swirling around Comex silver.
Dollar Collapse: Hi Tom. It’s been an interesting couple of days for silver, with a big Comex draw-down being followed by a sizable price drop. If the silver market wasn’t so obviously free and honest, it might be tempting to suspect some kind of manipulation…
Tom Cloud: Late Friday afternoon a big client of JP Morgan requested delivery of 3.6 million ounces, which is 17% of all the registered inventory of silver (assuming it’s all really there). But only 1.6 million ounces were reported moved. A lot of people are asking where the rest of it is. If it wasn’t immediately available and the client allowed JP Morgan to move it in pieces, that’s another sign of very tight supply.
Ordinarily seeing that much silver inventory move would make the price go up, but at the same time they – probably the same people — were buying shorts to drive the market down late in the day when trading was slow.
READ MORE

What To Expect Next With Gold & Silver Under Pressure

from KingWorldNews:

With continued pressure in the gold and silver markets, today Michael Pento writes about what is happening in the gold market, and what to expect going forward. Pento has been incredibly accurate regarding his predictions in these areas. Today Michael Pento writes exclusively for King World News to let readers know what is taking place in this critical market, and how he is positioning his clients. Here is Pento’s piece:
There are two reasons why the price of gold has been under pressure in the last week. One of them is legitimate; while the other is completely without grounds.
Michael Pento continues @ KingWorldNews.com

Jim Rogers: I Want to Invest in Russia, Not in India

James Wesley Rawles: America Will Experience Weimar-Style Hyperinflation – People Have No Idea What COLLAPSE Might Look Like

Author & founder of The SurvivalBlog.com James Wesley Rawles joins us to talk about the financial issues we face, and the inevitable inflation which James says will be “Weimar-style”, which means HYPERINFLATION. Where it gets really scary is that precious few people are prepared and in James own words, “People have no idea what the collapse of Western civilization might look like.”