As the editor of the Silver Bear Cafe, I spend most of my time researching current events. I explore the markets, the economic war that is being waged on the middle class, precious metals, the Federal Reserve, energy, and how to go about surviving financially. In this weekly column I will attempt to condense the week's events and examine how the news might affect your pocketbook. JSB

Financial Markets

While talking to a friend the other day, the topic finally reached the economy. That is not unusual, given that I was participating in the conversation, and that I am convinced that the economy is in dire straits, and let everyone in earshot know it whenever given the opportunity. I was somewhat taken aback though, when he, quite out of the blue, retorted that, in his opinion, the state of the economy was quite the opposite of my appraisal and was, according his best sources, strong, and getting stronger by the day.

Because I have, over the last twelve years, become increasingly obsessed with economics, central banking, the subjugation of the Constitution, the abject lack of governmental regulation when it comes to big banks and the criminal behavioral issues involved, and, as a result of my six hours of daily research, and the attention I pay to dozens of pundits and commentators who, I am certain, are much smarter than I, I am quite positive that I am right and that he is delusional.

I cannot, however, treat his "alleged" (by me) delusion lightly. The friend I am speaking of is an attorney, and former judge. He is intelligent, well spoken and well educated and maintains a position as an upstanding member of the community. The fact that he has been persuaded, by his news sources and his peers, that everything is good and getting better is, in my humble opinion, a reflection of the travesty of the insidious propaganda that has been directed at us for generations. In the following missive, Mr. Smith provides an eloquent explanation of what has been accomplished via the afore-mentioned misinformation campaign.

From Brandon Smith:

Let's put this in the simplest terms possible: Stimulus is now the lifeblood of our economy. There is nothing else sustaining our nation. Period. Stimulus in the form of bailouts and QE are keeping the stock market and bonds afloat. This means that the continued existence of equities, and the continued existence of healthy treasuries, and thus the foundation of our currency, our general economy, and a functioning (or barely functioning) government, is completely dependent on the Fed continuing to print.

In recent weeks, the Fed hinted at possible intentions reduce or remove stimulus measures, which would effectively shut down the life-support machine and let the patient drown in his own fluids.

Day traders and common investors are not very bright, but they do understand well that no stimulus means no stock market and no bond market. In response, indexes have become erratic, shifting on the slightest rumor that the central bank might continue QE for a little longer. Pathetically, the Dow Jones now rallies upward whenever bad financial news hits the wire, as insane investment groups pour in money in the hopes that dismal economic developments might cause the Fed to extend the bailout bonanza.

In our modern nightmare era of hyper-centralized economy, one word or rumor from Ben Bernanke now determines whether stocks dramatically rise or fall. This is NOT the behavior of a healthy and vibrant fiscal system.

The anatomy of American finance and trade has been horribly mutilated; and clearly, such a monstrous creation cannot last. Stocks are supposed to perform based on the true profitability of individual businesses as well as the political and social health of the overall culture. The wild printing of paper money by private banking magnates is not a catalyst for a successful economy. Whether the Fed actually ends QE is ultimately irrelevant. No fiscal structure can survive when it abandons fundamentals for fantasy. Either QE continues, becoming less and less effective in staving off negative results in equities, inspiring a flight from the dollar leading to a crash, or QE ends, exposing the inevitability of negative results in equities, leading to a crash. If the Fed ends stimulus, the process of collapse will merely take place slightly faster than if stimulus remains.

But every historic economic crisis has a defining moment, a moment in which the tide turned overwhelmingly sour for a majority of the public. The question now becomes what, exactly, will trigger the avalanche?

On the Economic War Front

One of my current rants has become focused on an ever growing destain for the plight of the mindless sheeple. This noteworthy segment of the American middle class has been uncaringly strapped with the lure of government handouts (bread) and the all-pervasive distraction of false flags and reality TV (circuses). They have been rendered defenseless to the merciless fleecing they are undergoing. Consequently, their fleecing spills over on us. We, too, are all being made fleece targets.

A growing state of lawlessness currently exists in the United States. The perps responsible for the condition have, with the criminal abetment of the Federal Reserve, employed ill gotten gains to bribe corrupt law makers, and incite them to rescind dozens of statutes that had been originally enacted to prevent the wholesale theft that is currently rampant as a result of their recension.

William Kurt Black, an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator has written a book, the title of which is, the Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One. Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. Mr. Black now teaches Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Having become intimately familiar with his book and, subsequently, viewed many interviews with the gentleman, on related topics, I was educated to the realization that the criminal banking cartels experienced a paradigm shift. Rather than trying to get away with criminal activity (very risky) it would be so very much easier to bribe law enactors to un-enact certain laws and, therefore, alleviate the risk. They have since had the opportunity to steal from whom-so-ever they chose, with impunity.

It has, over the years, been suggested to most of us that corruption is contagious. It is next to impossible to "un-corrupt" a corrupt individual. Members of congress are fully aware that, by accepting and receiving donations and "under the table" payments, they are complicit in a crime. Once started, it's hard to stop. If their (politicians') livelihoods are dependant on the non-ending flow of federal revenues, and if those revenues are interrupted (read in, an imminent bursting of the treasury bond bubble) I look to them to "reach out" and nationalize our public pensions, and private retirement vehicles. The following report from Graham Mehl might set your pants on fire.

From Graham Mehl:

For the past few months we have been sounding the alarm both separately and collaboratively regarding the impending (although not necessarily imminent) looting of the Western financial system including bank accounts, public pension funds, and likely private retirement accounts to some extent. With regard to the bail-in doctrine now in place in much of the rest of the world, it appears as though Australia is jumping on board as well - as part of the 2013-2014 government budget no less. Details are still sketchy, but we'll analyze what we have so far.

We remain absolutely convinced that a minimum of 95% of the people will do absolutely nothing. Most of them will not become familiar with the term 'bail-in' until it is already too late. We can't do a thing about that. What is most depressing is that of the numerous people we have talked to who actually understand what is going on, the vast majority of them have also done nothing. Now is not the time to have that deer in the headlights, over analysis paralysis mindset.

One by one, the G20 has succumbed to the bail-in resolution mechanism. And it has been a very subtle process. You won't hear about this on any of your favorite 'news' and opinion-shaping programs. The globalist elite are playing chess and the Proletariat are playing checkers. We obviously can't shame anyone into looking out for themselves. We can beg, implore, beseech with hat in hand, but we can't force this on you. You have the right to your ignorance just as we have the right to ours about the things that you might be passionate about. The big difference is this affects everyone. We are no better and no worse than any other pair of analysts who might someday look upon 2013 and comment and critique. Our plea comes from the heart and from a duty to both God in Heaven and our respective nations to spread the truth.

Precious Metals

I am constantly looking around and trying to understand why so few people, that I personally come in contact with, have the slightest inkling as to what is going on and what is about to happen, or what effect it will, most likely, have on them, I end up having to let go with a resigned sigh as I am immersed in a wave of hopeless frustration.

The general population has no knowledge, nor do they want to have any knowledge, of the origin, workings or nature of the Federal Reserve, a basically foreign owned, criminal cartel that, one hundred years ago, bribed corrupt criminal politicians in Washington to grant them the control over the issuance of the national currency.

This cartel has feloniously engineered the ability to create money, backed by nothing, out of thin air. This power, which is enforced at the point of a gun, provides far more control over the citizens of the world than any other.

The people have been dumbed down to the point of no longer caring about the mandates of the U.S. Constitution or how adherence to those mandates might have protected them from the scourge of a long intended currency collapse. They have no understanding about the role of gold and silver in an honest and free market or the protections that gold and silver can provide them. They have no knowledge, what-so-ever, of economics, deficits, the fiscal cliff or what any of that means or how it might affect them in their everyday lives and, more importantly, the lives of their children and grand children. I am reminded repeatedly that "there is nothing I can do to change it, so I will just hear what I want to hear and disregard the rest".

I came to the conclusion, many years ago, that this is an intended social condition. This condition provides that the unknowing will be completely helpless to deal with, not only the effects, but, more importantly, the causes. This helplessness is, understandably, of paramount importance to the perps themselves. If I was asked to name names of members of the conspiracy that has successfully brought us to the brink of global financial meltdown, and limit that list to those who were either members of or insiders of just the last two administrations, the list would be longer than my arm. I am aware of hundreds of criminal banksters and politicians, judges, law enactors, law enforcers, lobbyists, and members of corporate governance that, in a society that respected and employed the rule of law and respected the rights pertaining to private property, would have / should have been prosecuted, imprisoned or hung for their misdeeds. If every public official or public servant, who ever violated their respective oaths of office, died tomorrow, there would be many more parking places. All upside, no downside.

From Jim Willie CB:

Many are the signals of breakdown, in the financial system and the Gold market. The day is near for release of gold from under the thumb of the criminal bankers. They can no longer operate in the shadows, recently in full view. The best information coming to my desk indicates that three major Western banks are under constant threat of failure overnight, every night, forcing extraordinary measures to avoid failure. They are Deutshe Bank in Germany, Barclays in London, and Citibank in New York. Judging from the ongoing defense from prosecution and cooperation (flipped) with Interpol and distraction of resources, the most likely bank to die next is Deutsche Bank. They are caught with accounting fraud and outright financial fraud over collateral shell games, pertaining to USTreasury Bonds, other sovereign bonds in Southern Europe, and OTC derivatives linked to FOREX currency contracts. D-Bank is a dead man walking.

The contagion that will hit is assured, since these three big banks are all interconnected, their positions intertwined, their fates tied like a common millstone around their necks. When they go down, and they will go down hard, the gaggle of Western financial firms (banks, investment banks, hedge funds, exchanges) will sink together into a sea of red ink, toxic swill, and more than a few orange jumpsuits. The legal route might be more likely a vanishing act, as hidden banker prisons have begun to be populated, very quietly, under extreme secrecy. Remember that since the great London gold drain last spring 2012, a new sheriff has been in town and hard at work. And he is taking bankers, mid-level bankers, the ones who know too much information, but who do not have the privileged high rank.

Energy

I was reading today, the opinions of a pundit whose considerations I have great admiration for and usually agree with. Anthony Wile of the Daily Bell suggested, in his current commentary, that Peak Oil is a myth. I find this comment disconcerting, to say the least. If one realizes that there exists, a finite amount of oil in the Earth's crust, and that its continual use will, eventually use it all up, then the concept of "Peak Oil" is irrefutable.

Oil, and natural gas, and coal will, eventually, be exhausted to the point of depletion. The currently popular claims of billions of barrels of reserves available via shale deposits and fracking are, in my opinion, grossly overstated.

The reality is that we are dancing on the edge of disaster and are not blessed with a never ending supply of fossil fuels.. The conveyance, through the media, of this reality is, however, unacceptable to those waging the propaganda campaign. The people must be kept in the dark right up until the last moment, lest they become unruly.

The next major crisis may arrive when, due to a currency collapse, the cost of oil will spike radically and the resulting price increase will leave gasoline and diesel fuels out of the reach of most in the supply chain, and those insignificant things, like groceries, will become unavailable. This supply side breakdown could occur over the period of three days, like say, before the end of next week. Don't even get me started on the looming fresh water crisis.

From Eric Krasnauskas:

Presently Americans wait with bated breath, watching sales numbers and unemployment statistics, grasping for signs that an economic recovery is underway. We search for signals that indicate we're growing, that there will be a job for everyone who wants one, and that the United States will resume the prosperity and standing in the world it once had.

We wait in vain.

The economy isn't coming back. On the contrary, it's a patched-together mess on its way to the crapper. Though the Obama administration might crow about a tepid recovery, even today's insufficient economy is itself a lie, propped up by governments printing money to buy their own bonds and simulate growth.

The Dow ascends to ever more lofty heights, and yet few believe it's tied to improving conditions for regular people. China, the economic engine of the world, is now slowing precipitously, and experiencing serious market declines and confidence problems. Europe is an economic mess, and when the EU eventually implodes (it really is a when and not an if), it will send shocks through the rest of our globalized world.

The Fed

It has become apparent that Bernanke is delusional and clueless. As you read the following missive, take everything Bernanke says, and extract the absolute opposite meaning. The opposite of what he says is what will occur.

I don't think he's lying, I think he's a moron. He has never, to date, done anything that has helped the economy. All he has ever accomplished was to enrich the top 1% elitist banksters. The man represents an institution that is an unconstitutional abomination and a parasitic scourge on America. On his own, he is a a misguided menace. Along with the rest of the central bankers of the world, he provides a death sentence. The Federal Reserve Is the greatest enemy that humanity has ever known.

The fact that Bernanke has gotten by with this lunacy as long as he has is a tribute to the pandemic apathy and the "stupid on purpose" mind-set that has become so prevalent in America.

Oh, and on the same subject, a pop quiz:

How many mindless blacks voted for Obama because he was black?

How many mindless democrats voted for Obama because he was a democrat?

What percentage of the population is represented by those two factions?

With the answers to those three questions, please make a personal assessment of the future of America...

From Michael Snyder:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week that inflation in the United States needs to be higher. Yes, he actually came right out and said that. It almost seems as if Bernanke is trying to purposely hurt the middle class. On Wednesday, Bernanke told the press that "both sides of our mandate are saying we need to be more accommodative". Of course he was referring to the Fed's dual mandate to keep unemployment and inflation low, but Bernanke has a very unique interpretation of that mandate.

According to Bernanke, inflation in the U.S. is now "too low". The official inflation rate is currently sitting at about 1 percent, and Bernanke insists that such a low rate of inflation is not good for the economy. He would prefer that the rate of inflation be up around 2 percent, and he is hoping that more "monetary accommodation" will help push inflation up and the unemployment rate down.

But what Bernanke will never admit is that the official inflation rate is a total sham. The way that inflation is calculated has changed more than 20 times since 1978, and each time it has been changed the goal has been to make it appear to be lower than it actually is.

So how in the world can Bernanke possibly come to the conclusion that inflation is too low? Is he insane?

Financial Survival

I was watching something on the history channel the other night which disclosed a request, by Jimmy Carter, upon his ascendancy to the position of president. directed at the then head of the CIA, George Bush senior. The request related to the viewing of any and all evidence that pertained to the assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert and that of Martin Luther King. He also wanted to see all the files concerning Rosewell, New Mexico and the subsequent development of Area 51. And lastly, he was interested in the "Black Budget" and what role the U.S. Government played in the sale and distribution of narcotics in both Thailand/Cambodia (Air America) and in South Central Los Angeles via Ollie North's Nicaragua. George Bush senior told Jimmy Carter that information of that nature was disseminated on a "need to know" basis and that he (Jimmy Carter) had no need to know.

Some years later when Bill Clinton was elected president he requested essentially, the same information. He too was refused. At the time his comment to his press secretary was that, 'there is, in this country, a shadow government, and I'm not part of it,

At that point I remember thinking, I wouldn't even want Obama to be privy to our national secrets. It sickens me to consider how far we have fallen as a country. The destruction of Christanity is a well documented part of our current administration's agenda.

From Tom Chatham:

As one follows the trail of destruction taking place in the U.S. a clearer picture is beginning to develop. The speculation that the U.S. is slowly being destroyed by internal forces has some merit.

It has been insinuated that the global elite wish to destroy the U.S. and its constitution. They wish to take it below third world status and insure it will never rise again to offer any resistance to their rule. Even with a total takedown of the American system it would be difficult to prevent any serious attempt by the people to rebuild the nation unless something else was put in its place to insure that would not happen. Any type of western government would provide the possibility to move toward the past ideals of America so something else must be used. The destruction of American ideals which are based on Christian beliefs and the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must be eliminated completely with no possibility of reemerging.

The war on Christianity in America has many confused and taken in a different light may make more sense. The slowly changing demographics in the U.S. offer the opportunity to change the type of government and religion practiced openly in this country. As Christianity is being pushed aside the Islamic faith is being given a special protected status to ensure it overwhelms everything else with time. The increasing population of Muslims coming into this country and the rising incidents of Muslims acting in accordance with Sharia Law in direct defiance to U.S. law is but one warning sign that should be heeded.

You must first realize that there are, present in our lives, enemies. You must then know who those enemies are and act accordingly.

Eliminate as much debt as possible, especially “variable rate” debt, such as credit cards and lines of credit. Interest rates will be rising, so the elimination of debt offers a “real return” of escaping rising rates by creditors.

Get some control over some fresh water.

If you are depending on Social Security, stop.

Follow the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well...

Its not what you don't know that will screw you up, it's what you know that is wrong. The spin you hear from the mainstream media is intended to mislead you. Open your eyes and face the future. If you leave your head in the sand and ignore it, you are only leaving your butt exposed for the world to kick. This all may sound like gloom and doom, but when you get a handle on what is going to happen, you will have a future filled with opportunity. Fortune favors the Informed.

More next week...

May the Great Spirit be with you always,

Johnny Silver Bear
Chief cook and bottle washer, The Silver Bear Cafe

Disclaimer

All statements and expressions are the sole opinions of the editor and are subject to change without notice. A profile, description, or other mention of a company in the newsletter is neither an offer nor solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. While we believe all sources of information to be factual and reliable, in no way do we represent or guarantee the accuracy thereof, nor the statements made herein. The staff of Silver Bear Cafe are not registered investment advisors and do not purport to offer personalized investment related advice. The publisher, editor, staff, or anyone associated with, or associated to the Silver Bear Cafe may own securities mentioned in this newsletter and may buy or sell securities without notice.