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

It is, perhaps, such an ingrained aspect of the human psyche, that the desire by some of us, to control others, may never be weaned out. The various "isms" were conceived to provide ideological fodder for this anti-social behavior. Communism, Fascism, Socialism, and Collectivism (just to name a few) have been purveyed as remedies for, and solutions to, the failure of society, from time immemorial, in achieving utopia. These would-be failures have been continuously exploited. Since the first charismatic maniacal opportunist tried to take over a country employing the philosophies one of these "isms", there, soon after, came many others that would, in turn, plan a revolution. The revolution was, always, doubtless concerned with righting the tyrannies and injustices of the current regime.

The great hypocrisy of these exercises has always been evidenced by the refusal by the "leaders" of these revolutions to reside anywhere but in the palaces of those they overthrow. They insisted in occupying the same tyrantical positions as the oppressors that they displaced. The underlying motivation of all of these exercises has been nothing more than wealth and power, no matter what they tell the people. While there have been martyrs, those that would profit have always been the ones left standing.

Historically speaking, religion has provided the emotional motivation necessary to sway the unwashed masses. I often consider the possibility that religion is the most exploited form of crowd control that has ever been. It is, unmistakably, a formidable factor in motivating those involved in soldiering in the Middle East. We, the Sheeple, have come to demonize the entire religion of Islam when we may have, more accurately, demonized the priests and clerics who were responsible for mispurveying the tenets of the Koran, so that they might control and engender, for purposes of their own, great passions in the flock. It is easy to mispurvey (abuse) the meaning of a book to a large group of people that can't read. In fact, for some, who would rule the world, illiteracy might be deemed a convenience (please see the treatment of illiteracy below). Do you see a pattern forming here? Religion has perennially provided the Church with this influence. They have found that; if you can get them to make that initial "leap of faith" most will become putty in your hands.

Equality has provided another of the main the focuses of revolution. George Orwell put it succinctly in his discription of the usual tenets of equality when defining, in his prescient masterpiece Animal Farm, the situation as one where "all are equal, just some are more equal than others". Much like the "left-right paradigm", while striving to become "more equal", we, as a society, have always been suckers when it came to "taking sides".

We now find ourselves, once again being lied to by those that would rule the world. Again the real motives are concerned with wealth and power. We are, again being asked to take sides. Unfortunately, again, it has little or nothing to do with our wealth or power. In fact, our involvement in the Middle East comes at a great cost to We, the Sheeple. The conflict is solely concerned with profits for Energy Corporations and the Military Industrial Complex, both of which bestow our corrupt politicians with far more income than they can possibly expect from us as individual tax payers.

There are those who have been working, tirelessly, to insure that this perverse condition continues, loss of life be damned. They are bad guys and are enemies of freedom. They reside in a culture of greed and corruption. None of them are people that you would willingly allow in your home. Basically, they are vile miscreants and they suck.

In this week's missive from Jim Willie ( a scholar I seem to lean on more and more lately) the foul deeds of perfidy by the minions of the Darkside are, once again, brought into the light of day. Lies, like vampires, abhor the light of day...

From Jim Willie:

Many are the myths held so firm by the public. Many are the lies told so boldly by the leaders. Many are the millstones around the neck of the system that is fast losing its momentum. Many are the frauds committed routinely in full view. The entire US system is unraveling, myths exposed, lies contradicted, while the millstones weigh down the financial and economic system. The absent Gold Standard, the invalidity of money, the insolvency of banks, the toxic nature of sovereign debt, the illegitimate money, the intrusive debilitating central bank franchise system, these are grand millstones around the neck of the Western system. The current monetary policy is killing capital, a fact not observed by 5% of working economists, the harlots working closely to policy making. The nation is hurtling quickly toward systemic failure in every conceivable frame of light. A quick review should be revealing of myths, lies, deceptions, and millstones.

The greatest myth of all is that the USDollar is money. No way, not a shred of truth! The reality is that Gold & Silver are money. The USDollar is declared to be legal tender, when it is actually debt denominated coupons brought down to low parcels for spending purposes. Being debt, the monetary system based upon the USDollar will next deliver powerful blows to the US population. Their savings and investments are based in the USDollar. Therefore the debt writedown will foist a huge wealth writedown upon the hapless masses. Their wealth was never wealth at all. It was more debt markers, gathered in much like Al Capone would hold.

 

On the Economc War Front

As I watch current events unfold on a daily basis, I sometimes don't know whether to laugh or cry. We, as a country, have arrived at at the end of a devolutionary course in our Nation's history, whereby, not only is the bulk of the population clueless as to the seemingly imminent catastrophe, but the bulk of our, so called representatives remain equally unknowing. Everyone has been subject to the same dumbing down agenda, and most have pacifically complied. This is a condition that has been intentionally brought about by heinous criminals posing as goverment officials.

I recently came across some (what I considered) astounding statistics, concerning the state of literacy in the United States. In a study of literacy among 20 'high income' countries, the US ranked 12th. Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults (14%) are now unable to read or write. 45 million more Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level. 44% (almost half) of all American adults do not read a single book in a year. Three out of four people on welfare can't read or write in any language. In California, fully 27% of the population can not read or write English or Spanish. In Los Angles county, the ratio is a staggering 63%.

How did it get this way? Obviously, the numbers in California are skewed because of immigrants. But how did we come to have to put up with (support) so many immigrants? Who wants these immigrants among us? Obviously somebody does, but for what reason? How did the situation come to pass where our children are no longer being provided a basic education in our public schools? For me, these are rhetorical questions as I have been researching this subject for years. Here is an excerpt from one of my rants from October, 2011, that I entitled "Hippies":

Back in 1923, the Carnegie Foundation conducted a contest. The prize was a scholarship to Oxford, in England for a PhD. The Foundation placed advertisements in magazines and on the radio seeking history teachers with Advanced Degrees to compete for the prize. The contest amounted to writing an essay about the current state of America. The judges of the contest declared that twenty young history teachers had won and then swept them off to London. There, they were lined up and each bestowed with PhDs from Oxford as well a Fellowship with the Guggenheim Foundation. They received no further education (just the honorifics) but, instead, were brought back the the USA and became the core of the American Historical Association.

In 1928, the American Historical Association was granted $400,000 by the Carnegie Endowment to write a seven volume study on the direction the nation was to take. The thrust of these books was that "the future of this country belongs to collectivism and humanism." The AHA has since then, determined what history books will be used in all public schools. If your school district receives any Federal funds, then they are mandated, by Congress, to teach history from these revisionist volumes that must be approved by the AHA. The Carnegie Foundation (in collusion with the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation) has been rewriting history for the last eighty-five years. Their goal was to create a passive, dumbed down society that would not oppose their vision for the future. Pretty much everything you think you know is made up.

It's not what you don't know that will screw you up, it's what you are absolutely sure of that is absolutely wrong." - Mark Twain

We have been misled by revisionist crap. Our parents and teachers were misled by revisionist crap. Their parents and teachers were misled by revisionist crap. We have now been collectively dumbed down, on purpose, for over eighty-five years. It's disgustingly apparent to me, that the vast majority of today's kids possess cerebral grey matter that has been intentionally rendered into jello. Why would one assume that they have any sense at all, much less the capacity to provide any control over the future of our Country whatsoever?

In the following contribution from, Ron Ewart, the question is posed; What Happens When the Wise Ones are Gone? This becomes a question of great importance when posed to generations of Americans who are gravely concerned with the future of their children and grandchildren.

From Ron Ewart:

After decades of government handouts and the brainwashing and indoctrination of our children in the public school system, the younger generation does not possess the same point of reference on the principles of liberty as do those of us in our 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. There are only a few tens of thousands who remember the trials of the Great Depression and many of us were young children or infants during the Second World War. Still, the nanny state had not yet intruded into our daily lives, as it has recently.

Every single human being develops beliefs and opinions based on their accumulated experiences and knowledge and other influences from a variety of sources, gleaned over the years of their current lifetime. Sometimes those beliefs and opinions evolve into new beliefs as they accumulate new information. Sometimes they become firm and fixed no matter what new information comes their way

As a general rule, our political beliefs are heavily influenced by what our parents believe and the actions they took or are now taking, in furtherance of those beliefs.

As the population ages and a certain generation begins to die off, the general beliefs and opinions of that generation die off with them and those general beliefs and opinions of that generation are replaced by the emerging generation. That is why President Reagan said: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction."

For those of us in our 60's, 70's and 80's, our point of reference is much more connected to the founding principles of our Republic because we were taught those principles and we believe in them. For the next and future generations the influence of the foundation of liberty is much more obscure, especially since the federal government got in the business of setting the curriculum for the public school system, a curriculum that is directly related to the wish lists of national and international special interest groups. This new curriculum is laced with socialism, collectivism, save-the-planet rabid environmentalism and the one world order. How easy it is to change the belief system in a single generation than by teaching the children of that generation what some group "thinks" they should be taught, to reach a desired outcome and to "shape" the new generation towards those beliefs. Hitler knew this technique well

Precious Metals

In my opinion, the situation that we find ourselves in, economically speaking, is akin to that of a skydiver, who, after having abandoned the comfort and security of "a perfectly good airplane", is having a hard time locating his ripcord. Well, that might not be entirely accurate. I should have said, that after having been pushed out of a perfectly good airplane, he might be having a difficult time locating his ripcord. He may find it. Or, he may not. Either way, he is currently falling, at an ever increasing speed, towards the cold hard ground.

The most popular forum on the Silver Bear Cafe is, and has been, the Precious Metals Forum. It entertains, on a daily basis, more readers than any other of our six forums. Obviously, a large proportion of our readers are interested in the machinations, manipulations, iterations, and conflagrations of the ever vacillating markets in gold and silver, when priced in US Dollars. Many fail to recognize that, basically, the value of gold and silver, when priced in US Dollars is completely dependant on the value of US Dollars. It has nothing to do, what-so-ever, with the value of gold and silver. The value of gold and silver is entirely dependant on the influences of supply and demand, although the prices, in dollars might be entirely dependant on manipulation. Now that I might have you thoroughly confused, please remember, "the sun is not going down, the horizon is moving up"...

We may, metaphorically speaking, find our ripcords, or we may not. I have, however, been accumulating some gold and silver which I portend, will help me locate my "ripcord" when the need arises.

Some insights from Hubert Moolman...

From Hubert Moolman:

The massive debt bubble created by our monetary system is about to burst. The demonetization of gold and silver, has over the years diverted value from these metals, to all paper assets (such as bonds) linked to the debt-based monetary system.

The process of the devaluation of gold and silver, started by the demonetization of gold and silver, is about to reverse at a greater speed than ever before. This is similar to what happened during the late 70s, when the gold and silver price increased significantly. However, what happened in the 70's was just a prelude to this coming rally. The 70's was the end of a cycle, this is likely the end of a major cycle; an end of an era of the debt-based monetary system (dishonest money).

This era of dishonest money, has filled the economic world with many promises that will never be fulfilled. There will be a massive flight out of paper promises, into the ideal safe haven assets that would offer protection. In my opinion, silver will be the leading asset when this flight out of paper promises happens. This fraud started with the demonetization of silver and it will end with silver taking its place as money - the most marketable commodity.

 

Energy

The leaders of the Al Qaeda rebels in Syria are not fighting for freedom, or for religious reasons, or any other reason that could be considered "noble". They are mercenaries in the employ of Saudis and Qataris.

This conflict, akin to every other war that has ever been fought in the history of the earth, is being fought for money. It has been generally acknowledged that the sarin gas was used by the rebel troops, and supplied to them by the Saudi royal family, in order to give Obama some/any excuse to enter the fray.

I suspect that the rebel troops (boots on the ground) have been misled, by their clerics and superiors, in respect to the reasons for the conflict, but so what else is new?

There is no difference between the rebel troops and the troops who oppose them, including those that may be entwined in the conflict under the ruse of Israeli, American, Saudi, Qatari, UN, or NATO concerns, or whoever else dips their toe in the fracas in return for a portion of the spoils.

The war is being fought to determine who gets to deliver energy to Europe, and the stakes are considerable. As usual, the casualties are innocent civilians and hapless soldiers. The only difference between a soldier and a mercenary is that the mercenary generally understand the true nature of the conflict, and is paid better. -

From Eric Peters:

The Dear Leader has Decided to pause – briefly – for a perfunctory congressional approval before triggering what could be TEOTWAWKI – the end of the world as we know it – by lobbing bombs at Syria. Which will likely result in Syria (and perhaps Iran, allied with Syria) lobbing bombs at Israel, the proxy poodle (or is it the reverse?) of the United State ("s" left off in the interests of accuracy). Whereupon the entire region – then the world – may well go up in flames. At least, until it runs out of oil.

Yet, "we" – meaning, they – Dear Leader and his relative handful of minions who control the missiles, the ships and "the troops" – appear determined to pursue this course nonetheless.

Despite the obvious implications – and in spite of the equally obvious horn o' plenty of reasons not to do it. Wait. Check that. There is a reason – several of them, actually. Just not the ones publicly stated. No one but a madman could entertain the idea of deliberately batting at a hornet's nest that one could just as easily walk around.

The Fed

I am constantly reminded of the horrible effects of delusion, a condition that seems to currently permeate our day to day existence. We have luminaries that seem terminally deluded (take Paul Krugman for instance). We have public figures that are deluded, such as 90% of both the House of Representatives and Congress. We have persons in positions of great power and influence affected, such a the terminally deluded Ben Shalom Bernanke. But the most apparent and dangerous case of terminal delusion, is that of our fearless leader (LOL) Barry Soetoro a.k.a. Barack Hussein Obama.

At the risk of repeating myself, I find myself, often, surmising that an individual is more intelligent than he turns out to be. I find myself wondering if my mistaken appraisal of a person's attributes is, perhaps, a result of having been purposely misled by the person in question.

I find nothing wrong, or unusual, with a persons attempt to "put the best face forward". Self aggrandizement is not, necessarily, a devious or fraudulent undertaking. When I find you more intelligent than you are, it is, perhaps, the result of a harmless charade on your part. But, when you find yourself more intelligent than you are, it is a result of delusion, which can be, in many cases, a disastrously fatal flaw.

This flaw has already manifest itself in the machinations of Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve. His quantitative easing programs are simply theft via wealth transfer. He is a criminal and a thief, no matter what he thinks of himself. He needs to be incarcerated.

Our biggest problem now lies in something far more dangerous. It is now manifesting itself, in the even more delusionary machinations of the President of the United States.

We find our current "fearless leader" the most dangerous component of our, extremely tenuous, condition. Most of our most recent administations were guided by acutely delusionary persons. The effects of our current president's delusion, on our collective standards of life, however, stands to become an unmitigated diaster. He is so dangerous and so stupid, that the future of the planet now depends on the deluded rantings of a mad man.

From Asia Confidential:

In my experience, markets don't deal well with several crises emerging at the one time. Give them just QE tapering and they may be able to adapt, but throw Syria and an Asian currency mess into the mix, and it can make for a wild ride. Underlying all of the recent volatility though is the first sign that investors are starting to doubt the omnipresent powers of central bankers. Ben Bernanke says there can be QE tapering without rising interest rates and bond markets revolt against that idea. Similarly, the new Bank of England chief Mark Carney says interest rates will remain low for the next three years and bond yields jump given better economic data and rising inflation.

This is important because the mother of all bubbles in the modern era hasn't been in subprime, bonds or emerging markets. No, the biggest bubble has been in central banking. It's been a bubble based on faith in central bankers to provide cheap money to smooth out business cycles and prevent serious economic downturns. That faith has been unwavering despite the 2008 crisis and the tepid recovery since. Until now.

What does this mean for markets? Recent events may prove a prelude to the ultimate endgame: investors realising that unwinding the extraordinary post-crisis policies will be messy, which gets priced into higher bond yields and exposes the vastly over-indebted developed world and some of the hot money reliant developing countries. I doubt this endgame is imminent though and oversold bond and emerging markets may be due for a bounce. The likes of India and Indonesia will be hoping that time is on their side so they can push through badly needed reforms which will them less exposed to a further crisis down the road.

Financial Survival

The difference between what is being dumped on America's youth today, and the trials and tribulations of the children in William Golding's dystopian novel, Lord of the Flies, is that in the novel, the ending was a happy one.

There are those among us (generally banksters) that would plunder any group, including municipalities, or even sovereign nations, for a profit. These blood suckers do not maintain even the least modicum of decency but rather choose to beset any and all that might provide them some quell to the insatiable lust that they are, seeming, unable to control, in order to amass wealth in any form.

Case in point. The current debacle which is raging with the student loan program. The Obama administration is forecast to turn a record $51 billion profit this year from student loan borrowers, a sum greater than the earnings of the nation's most profitable companies and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets.

The Federal student loan program is "plagued with fraud and abuse at every level," allowing shady trade school operators to prey on the poor and rob taxpayers of billions of dollars, a yearlong Senate investigation concluded today.

This government program has rendered hundreds of thousands of students debt slaves, caught up in a situation that, as a result of the implementation of governmental mandates on employers, left students unable to find any work upon graduation.

This coupled with the greatly diminished value of college degrees as a result of our national dumbing down campaign, which has rendered the average teacher unfit to teach (no teacher left behind) leaves no remedy other than collective default, which, in your editor's opinion, may provide the best option.

From My Budget 360:

While the unemployment rate continues to fall in large part because people are dropping out of the workforce, we reach another record which highlights a difficult economy for young people. A record number of young Americans now live at home. It would be one thing if this was being driven by a desire to stay at home but this is not the case.

Economically younger Americans are simply having a tougher time starting their own households. Combine this with the record amount of student debt largely shouldered by young Americans and it is easy to understand why this trend is occurring.

This living at home trend also helps to explain one of the reasons why homeownership has fallen overall. This is not a positive trend no matter how people try to spin it.

The trend is unmistakable and has not reversed since the recession ended in 2009. Some try to explain that there is a rise in students living in dormitories but this only explains one tiny piece of the puzzle. And the evidence highlights that a large jump has come from boomerang college graduates coming back home after they receive their degree (you can't live in dorms forever).

 

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 think 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.