Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, December 29, 2010,
In :
Gold and Silver
Doug Kass has a Top 15 Surprises for 2011 list that is making it's way around the internet. Among his "surprises" is gold drops by more than $250 in a 4-week period. One of his anecdotal signs that gold is in a bubble, are the ubiquitous We Buy Gold signs he sees near his Florida home. The gold haters write about this all the time. Their argument is the omnipresent We Buy Gold signs are indicative of a top in the gold market, similar to the numerous We Sell Condominiums signs that were s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, December 28, 2010,
In :
Why Am I Not Surprised
"I doubt we will ever know the full story of why the Libyan agent who
helped blow a Pan Am airliner out of the sky in 1988 was freed." Sean Connery, Actor and Scotish Nationalist
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of murdering 270 people by blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Last year Scottish authorities sent Al-Megrahi back to Libya, claiming he was released due to terminal prostate cancer that left him with less than 3 months to live.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, December 27, 2010,
In :
Culture
This is the easiest $100 you'll ever make and you'll feel good about it too! If you're an Arizona taxpayer, you can donate up to $400 ($200 for individuals) to any public school and you can take that donation as a tax credit against your Arizona state taxes. That means you if owe $1,000 in state taxes you can deduct $400 off your tab.
Even better, this donation is a deduction for federal tax purposes. So, if your federal tax rate is 30% you can deduct $120 ($400 X 30%) from your federal tax... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, December 22, 2010,
In :
Gold and Silver
You know the gold market is getting tight, when you read stories like this:
"AngloGold Ashanti and De Beers say their joint
venture’s exploration phase for gold deposits off South Africa’s west
coast has kicked off.
The two companies, which entered
into a joint venture to find and ultimately mine gold under the waters
of the Atlantic a year ago, are now researching whether the project will
be economically viable"
While I wish them luck, I suspect I would have a better ch...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, December 21, 2010,
In :
Culture
This morning Don Imus recounted a hilarious Christmas story. To set the story up, anyone who listens to Imus knows he's a recovering alcoholic and drug addict (cocaine mainly) because he talks about it all the time, despite being sober for about 15 years. Anyhow, two years ago he went to a mall in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife and ten-year old son Wyatt. It was a few days before Christmas and the Mall Santa had about 50 kids lined up.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, December 17, 2010,
In :
Gold and Silver
Silver is my pick for investment of the decade. It's recent price rise has been driven by surging investment demand due to inflation fears, currency debasement and fiscal recklessness. However, there's an entirely different use for silver that you may not be as familiar with: it's industrial applications. While you're probably cognizant of silver's use in photography and tableware, you may be less familiar with it's increasing use in medicine, the military, solar power and water purificat... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Wednesday, December 15, 2010,
In :
Politics
While I was certainly no supporter of candidate Obama in 2008, his election did give me hope that some common-sense changes would be made that would move the country forward. In no particular order, these included:
Ending the senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Restructuring the banking system
Improving the efficiency of the government bureaucracy (i.e. Hurricane Katrina response)
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, December 13, 2010,
In :
Culture
http://www.AlphabetPhotography.com - On Nov.13 2010 unsuspecting shoppers got a big surprise while enjoying their lunch. Over 100 participants in this awesome Christmas Flash Mob
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, December 10, 2010,
In :
Economy
File this one under "Why Am I Not Surprised". The insolvent bank, Allied Irish, has decided to pay $40 million Euro in bonuses because of "contractual entitlements arising from the business's performance in 2008". To recap, Allied Irish Bank made a bunch of bad loans, became insolvent and should have gone bankrupt. Instead, the Irish government decided to bailout Allied Irish Bank by borrowing billions of dollars. To pay for the massive increase in debt, the government reduced state servi... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Thursday, December 9, 2010,
In :
Economy
Ten years ago, the Nigerian Criminal Mastermind (allegedly) Dick Cheney told Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that "Deficits Don't Matter". This piece of economic garbage was used to fiscally justify the cost of everything from the Bush tax cuts to the war in Iraq. Apparently, Cheney believed the United States was immune from the pernicious economic impact caused by reckless spending because Washington controls the US Dollar, the reserve currency of the world. Either that or he was lying, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, December 7, 2010,
In :
Economy
Last month, I wrote about a fledgling European bank revolution led by the now retired Manchester United soccer player Eric Cantona. Today was the day millions of people across Europe were going to head to their banks, withdraw all their money and crash the entire banking system. How did it go? A total failure. Officials report no excessive withdrawal demands in either Europe or France. Even Eric Cantona didn't bother to participate, despite several journalists waiting for him at his loca... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Tuesday, December 7, 2010,
In :
Culture
If you ever go to Commerzbank Headquarters you may want to excuse yourself. As a commenter on Ritholtz.com said: "this is a literal representation of their actions toward us at street level".
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, December 6, 2010,
In :
Gold and Silver
Hats off to all the silver investors out there!! This afternoon silver hit another milestone by going over $30. The last time silver hit $30 it was 1980 and the Hunt brothers were hard at work trying to corner the silver market. Today, the manipulators (JP Morgan) are on the other side of the equation, they're massively short silver. A decent amount of the price increase is because JP Morgan is buying back their COMEX short position, driving up the price. Despite this fantastic run in th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Monday, December 6, 2010,
In :
Gold and Silver
Last week the head of the Shanghai Gold Exchange dropped a bombshell on the gold market. He told a conference that China imported 210 tons of gold through October versus only 45 tons all of last year. If China gold demand stays consistent through the end of the year, they will import 252 tons in 2010, which is a 460% increase versus 2009.
Why the sudden spike in Chinese gold imports? I suspect the most important factors are the surge in Chinese inflation coupled with recently loosed gold ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, December 3, 2010,
In what is possibly Dick Cheney's greatest feat, he has managed to get himself charged with Criminal Conspiracy by the Nigerian authorities. Seriously, is this the Pot calling the Kettle black or what?? I didn't even think it was possible to do business in Nigeria without a little money under the table. In this case, $180 million dollars slid under the table (allegedly). I'm sure it's all just a little misunderstanding.
Posted by Randall A Reinwasser on Friday, December 3, 2010,
In :
Economy
This morning the BLS reported a modest increase in the number of jobs created in November: 39,000. Unfortunately, the "experts" predicted an increase of 160,000, so this was a very disappointing number. It is also frustrating that only 39K jobs were added given that 172K were added in the previous month.
To keep up with population growth, the US needs to add approximately 100K - 125K jobs every month. As such, the 39K jobs added in November fell far short of keeping up with population gr... Continue reading ...
"Many best-selling, scented products contain dangerous chemicals that aren't listed on their
labels".
That's the opinion of researches who studied the chemicals in 25 of the best-selling air fresheners, laundry detergents and cleaning products. The report, published in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review is eye-opening and revealed:
133 different chemicals were found in the tested products and 25% of the chemicals were already classified as toxic by at least one federal law
