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

Whatever became of Sin?

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" and when He was done "it was very good." It wasn't much longer and Adam, our late great grandfather, sinned – a prideful rebellion against God – and humanity began its steady spiral downward.

Or not... I, many years ago, became aware of a different take:

In the beginning there was a lot of room, but not much else. And then, right smack dab in the middle of all that, for no apparent reason, and with no apparent explanation, there happened a bang. A big bang. A very big BANG...

Over billions of years, through a process of chaotic happenstance, the nothing, which had now become something, began to breathe. After few more billions of years the breathers became furry, grew arms and legs, had children, named them Dick and Jane and moved to the suburbs.

There were no rules, or laws, or means to measure goodness, or badness, yet the daddy fur ball, with arms and legs, felt like something might be "not-quite-right" with Dick and Jane.

Something seemed to be drawing his kids towards something that he intuitively knew was evil, but what was it? Like Flip Wilson's Geraldine so eloquently put it:

"The devil made me do it".

Yes, the condition in question was sin, and the force that harbored it was the Darkside. It is my understanding that sin isn't an animal instinct, it's a willful choice. It's not a socital flaw, it's a depraved condition. And no amount of time or education is ever going to fix those who choose to give in to the Darkside's temptation, which is sin.

"The very word, 'sin,' which seems to have disappeared, was once a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared – the word, along with the notion. Why? Doesn't anyone sin anymore? Doesn't anyone believe in sin?" - Karl Menninger

Among the few truly valuable tenets of religion, we are provided a somewhat esoteric understanding of good and evil, right and wrong, and the just and correct way to deport ourselves. We have culturally, over millennia, developed a framework of rules and regulations that were intended to guide the deportation of all of us, and, most especially, those members of society who might lose their "moral" compass. Through the clever guise of "Political Correctness" our moral compasses have been confiscated, so that we might be left floundering, unable to recognize the plethora of turpitude being committed by the Godless Zionists that are pulling the strings of the puppets that occupy the Houses of Congress, the Halls of Justice and the racially motivated occupiers of the White House.

In the context of my following attempt to explain and hopefully provide a partial solution for, what I consider, an extremely dangerous devolutionary trend, I will attempt to associate Greed, one of the seven deadly sins, with our current debilitating state of affairs.

Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. Greed has become a pandemic affliction which has stricken, not only members of families that have derived their wealth and power from the institutional wealth that has been gifted to them, but also an extremely large proportion of the nouveau riche, those who have only recently managed to pillage entire nations of the wealth of their citizens through bogus and felonious dealings, as a result of an insatiable quest to depopulate, and then rule, the world.

In the last twelve years (since 911) the politicians and banksters have acted, in concert, to reverse laws that had been designed to restrict and impair their abilities to steal. It turned out to be simple. You have a criminal cartel called the Federal Reserve that invents money out of thin air and provides it to the banksters at no interest. The banksters then, through slime ball lobbyists, bribe corrupt politicians (law enactors) to change the laws and make what had been formally illegal, legal. Now the banksters can act with impunity. Since their only motive is greed, they will steal as much as they can for as long as they can, even if it destroys the economy, and turns the country into a banana republic. What do they care. When you have hundreds of millions of dollars, and gold, and land, and utility companies, and drug distribution rings, along with big pharma and corporate agriculture, you are pretty well set, no matter what happens. When you consider that our "justice system" consists of a group of law enactors (the senators and congressmen) law enforcers (police, both state and federal) various "high courts" to interpret these "laws", and a penal system to dole out punishment. All four interactive groups have succumbed to the siren song of payoffs. Everybody's corrupt and working for the banksters.

At one point in time, in America, the crimes of Greed had been considered sins, and our collectively developed moral fabric provided for a group intolerance of such behavior. The implications of that last sentence have been known and rued by the Darkside since time immemorial. Through the gradual decimation of the Christian Church, and thereby our Christian principles, we have lately been rendered incapable of mustering the cultural indignation that served us so well for so long.

This is not a normal situation, nor is it a healthy one. It is the result of a masterfully executed evil contrivance. I fear that the immediate future (next month, next year) will continue to become increasingly abnormal. It is, in my opinion a race, to the bottom, by all Central Banksters, to see who can print the most "funny money". More quantitative easing (QE4,5,6...) by the Federal Reserve will exponentially accelerate the scourge of inflation. I will not be surprised if we are soon beset with a "national emergency" or "Bankers Holiday" at which point all of your funds will be frozen (save those you maintain in your personal possession).

This week John Aziz provides his take on a tongue and cheek plan to put the world's resources to work. The proposed construction of a "Death Star" was first forwarded via ZeroHedge. Although the consideration provides a humourous look at the misallocation of resources, I believe that our present direction is a result of a clueless body politic and an even more clueless group of "elitist string pullers". These miscreants, the likes of the Rockefellers, the Soroses, the Rothchildes, et al, no longer constitute the"sharpest tools in the shed" and are, frankly, incapable of guiding our society to the stars. They are woefully lacking in any vision at all. They are self absorbed dickheads who cannot see the forest for the trees. And that is the limit of metaphors that I will allow myself to include in any one paragraph.

From John Aziz :

Building a massive space weapon is all very well, but you have to find the materials to build it with. It's easy to say that "sure, the Death Star would be expensive" but is there actually enough iron in the Earth to make the first Death Star? Centives decided to find out.

We began by loo king at how big the Death Star is. The first one is reported to be 140km in diameter and it sure looks like it's made of steel. But how much steel? We decided to model the Death Star as having a similar density in steel as a modern warship. After all, they're both essentially floating weapons platforms so that seems reasonable.

Scaling up to the Death Star, this is about 1.08×1015 tonnes of steel. 1 with fifteen zeros.

Which seems like a colossal mass but we've calculated that from the iron in the earth, you could make just over 2 billion Death Stars. You see the Earth's crust may have a limited amount of iron, but the core is mostly our favourite metal and is both very big and very dense, and it's from here that most of our death-star iron would come.

But, before you go off to start building your apocalyptic weapon, do bear in mind two things. Firstly, the two billion death stars is mostly from the Earth's core which we would all really rather you didn't remove. And secondly, at today's rate of steel production (1.3 billion tonnes annually), it would take 833,315 years to produce enough steel to begin work. So once someone notices what you're up to, you have to fend them off for 800 millennia before you have a chance to fight back. In context, it takes under an hour to get the steel for HMS Illustrious.

Oh, and the cost of the steel alone? At 2012 prices, about $852,000,000,000,000,000. Or roughly 13,000 times the world's GDP.

On the Economic War Front

We are, once again, closing in on Christmas. Although the holiday represents little to no semblance of its former beauty, wonder, and awe, it has morphed into an economic barometer that gauges consumer sentiment from Halloween to the first week in January. During this period, the sales of an increasing number of retailers, are used to gauge their yearly performance. A bad, or even less that expected number can carry with it, very negative implications for the health of, not only the specific company, but the entire economy as well.

Albeit a little abstract for most to consider, the Federal Reserve is, and has been, holding up the entire economy with smoke and mirrors, for some time. As we have, so many times before, for the same reasons, highlighted the workings of the Federal Reserve's Plunge Protection Team, they are still at it and now, they are at it with even more of a vengeance. Claims about the Working Group, which are labeled conspiracy theories by some writers, and conspiracy fact by others (such as yours truly) generally include that it is an orchestrated mechanism that attempts to manipulate U.S. stock markets. This is done in the event of the threat of a market crash, by using government funds to buy stocks, or other instruments such as stock index futures - acts which are forbidden by law. If you don't understand why it is (and should be) against the law, you have some catching up to do.

There is little doubt that the Federal Reserve is criminally intervening in the markets and that the only way you could miss these actions would necessitate keeping your eyes shut real tight. I have been at this so long that the only time I doubt the veracity of a story involving the Federal Reserve is when someone says something nice about it.

Why should this matter to anyone? Why should this matter to liberals, or conservatives, Nazis or communists. Why should it matter to Tea Partiers or Green Revoultion types, or social welfare proponets, or social welfare recipients? Why should it matter to you? It is because your future and the future of your wives and kids, and the futures of all those that fit the above given descriptions, will be absolutely fucked when the viscious reins of the economy are ripped free from the malevolent manipulative machinations of the bozos who have, for so long, pretended to altruisticly guide it, but who have, undeniably, lost control (if they ever had it to begin with). Their cluelessness does not provide for, or lend itself, to the hopes of a positive outcome.

Given the nature of the persistent problems, the ones the Fed's Working Group created for themselves, the solution might be more aptly sought from snake handlers and of those that speak in tongues. I have no reason to believe that the Fed is not already populated by practioners of that nature, or others of a similar ilk. In the following missive, Mr. Kunstler, eloquently provides some clarity along these lines.

From James Howard Kunstler:

Well, at least the poobahs cleared a path to the annual orgy of Christmas, which, along with the S & P 500, have become proxies for the American economy. Lately, the Christmas season starts directly after Halloween, so, the whole fourth quarter of the year becomes a circus of ceremonial distractions. In the background, though, the nation grinds toward anguish, measured in soiled Justin Bieber dolls deposited in the landfills.

Historians who look back on these strange years of suspended consequence will marvel at how this empire of grift kept its wheels turning after its engine died. Being on the downhill slope is often enough to keep anything going. One might think the young people of this land would be seething at the eclipse of their futures, but it seems they have been successfully lobotomized with cell phones - when the endorphin hits lag between text messages, they can watch sitcoms, or porn.

You can be sure there will be a snapback from all this drift and anomie, and when it comes, the snap will be savage. Like the US economy, the Republican Party is dead but hasn't gotten the news. It killed itself just as the Whigs did in the years before the Civil War, by splitting up into factions — one faction of "know-nothings" preoccupied with scape-goats opposed to a faction of sclerotic parasitical fat-cats too timid and greedy to engage in the emergencies of the day.

The Tea Party faction should change its name to the Cracker Party because it represents the interests of white southerners who are too dumb to know what these emergencies amount to. They are really more comfortable with the supernatural, hence their fondness for religions based on snake-handling, visitations of the dead, and motor sports. Personally, I believe they will eventually contrive to form their own break-away Cracker Republic and attempt to re-enact the Civil War. They will fail, and starve, and find themselves back in an even worse long-term depression than Dixieland experienced from 1860 to 1960, in a de-suburbanized wasteland of bare subsistence farming. Their highest art will be soup-making.

The non-Tea Party Republicans will just shrivel and vanish out of sheer irrelevance. This leaves the Democrats to become the focus of intense ire as they attempt to 'splain why the nation's affairs went to shit on their watch. A lot of them will end up being executed and plundered by the new kid on the block, the Savior Party, led by some charismatic character willing to ignore procedural protocols to clear away the debris left by his-or-her predecessors. Alas, the juice will not be there to permit the Savior to really control a territory as large as the continental USA. By juice, I mean money and oil. Thus, the nation enters its new dark age.

Precious Metals

While currently sitting in my office, on a Sunday afternoon in October, I find myself reflecting on my motives for being here, instead of at some sports bar, eating wings and quaffing bears, and watching the Cowboys attempting yet another comeback. I guess I am here, attempting to provide my readers with a counter stance on the main stream media's tripe and drivel. I used to set off on these sessions with stars in my eyes, convinced that my passion would be sufficient to give me the strength and energy to "teach the world to sing". I was soooo wrong.

If you are reading this, affect a contortion and give yourself a pat on the back, from me. You are among the 3% of the population that is even inclined to attempt to understand what's going on. The rest of the sheeple, are, in my humble opinion, accurately labled "worthless eaters". That is a term coined by the World Health Organization, a private corporation and division of the "Darkside", but I must, to an extent, agree. They are not helping us uphold the tenets of our Constitution, nor are they helping to preserve our freedom or our standard of life. In most cases they are not even helping themselves, but rather they continue to dig themselves deeper in debt. If that is truly the case, GOD won't even intervene (HE only helps those that help themselves). However, even if GOD won't help, we must. It is not the sheeple's fault that they have fallen prey to the insidious misinformation campaign that has been intentionally cast upon them, although you have to be both blind and stupid not to see the light of day.

It is our responsibility, (as responsible Jeffersonians) to counter the sheeple's brain dead inaction and fight the good fight for Truth, Justice and the American Way" (something I got from growing up with George Reeves' version of Superman).

As a perk for your selflessness, you are being rewarded today with the benefit of some insightful overviews of the economy. The following missive is a gift from G.E. Christenson and "the Bear" to you. Mr. Christenson waxes philosophically with his vision on the effects of the ravages of inflation and the future of our markets and, as a bonus, instructs you on how to protect yourself.

From GE Christenson:

To paraphrase William Shakespeare, "the debt ceiling drama is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and political fury, signifying nothing." We now have a reprieve for three months – the 11th hour deal, complete with payoffs and the usual corruption, will keep the world safe for more ineptitude, deficit spending, administrative hypocrisy and the guarantee of a sequel. All is well! Celebration! Champagne! Cut to a prime-time commercial promoting big government and Obamacare…

And back in the real world where people work and support their families, life goes on, few noticed the lack of government "services," and in three months we will be blessed with another episode of our "Congressional Reality Show."

Our 435 representatives, 100 senators, and the administration listened to their corporate backers and chose to increase the debt ceiling, continue spending as usual, not "rock the boat," and carry on with the serious business of politics and payoffs for another three months. It is safe to say that, on average, gold and silver will continue rising, along with the national debt, as they all have for the past 42 years. Further, like the national debt, both gold and silver (and probably most consumer prices) will increase substantially from here, until some traumatic "reset" occurs.

What sort of reset ? My guess: Gold and silver prices will rise gradually for a while, and then quite rapidly after one of the "financial icebergs" smashes into our "Titanic" world monetary system. Further, we will have difficulty locating physical gold available for sale after such an event occurs, even at much higher prices. Now would be a good time to purchase physical gold and silver for storage in a secure storage facility. Paper gold will not be safe…

Energy

I am about to launch myself into a mini rant concerning the Second Amendment and those who oppose it. First of all the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. It only has to do with one thing; defence against tyranny and those who would deprive you of your freedoms and liberties. Our defence will require a lot of energy.

When the Second Amendment was written, our Founding Fathers were attempting to insure a level playing field and to provide all citizens with the ability, opportunity and right to arm themselves with guns and munitions that were every much as formidable as those guns and munitions that might be used against them.

If any sane man takes this notion to its logical conclusion, he would agree that the spirit of the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens the right and opportunity to defend themselves with equally formidable weaponry as might be used against them. It is unconstitutional. then, to prohibit the citizenry from possessing military grade arms, including fully automatic weapons, rocket launchers, grenades, mines, drones, anti-aircraft weapons, F-16s, nuclear submarines, hydrogen bombs or any other kind of weapon that some power mad maniac might see fit to use against us. Lincoln would have used all those things against the South had they been available. Although Lincoln was an irrefutable power mad maniac and one of the worst mass murderes in history, our current president has, on many occasions, suggested that he would have done the same thing. Those that would limit or take away our constitutional rights to possess any and all tools needed for redress of tyrannical crimes are understandably concerned for their personal safety. I know it, you know it and they know it.

Persons holding public office that campaign for gun control are criminal predators. Those persons, the likes of Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barrack Obama, Joe Biden and a sickening host of others in American politics, understand the meaning and purpose of the Second Amendment. I admit that there are a whole lot of misguided and ignorant Americans that believe that the Second Amendment has something to do with hunting, But there are also a lot of Americans that believe the Earth is only 4000 years old. You can't fix stupid.

Please examine the following letter written by by members of something called the Disarmament Commission of the United Nations, We, as Americans don't have the market cornered on criminal politicians. They are spreading like the plague, everywhere. Please remember, none of these putzes are on our side. None of them are concerned with the best interests of anyone but themselves. I believe that, if a world wide criminal investigation was launched into the dealings of all these "representatives", and additional investigations were launched into the dealings of their immediate friends and families, we would substantially increase the world's prison population almost overnight. Please take special notice of the date on the following letter. I believe there could be a niche market out there for powder blue helmet targets...

From The United Nations:

The Fed

With the feeling that I have already ranted a treatment of the abomination that is the Federal Reserve sufficiently this week, I will defer to an excerpt from one of my former tirades. I realize that for most of you, this comes as no surprise, but on the outside chance it might wake up just one more patriot, I will post it again:

As "the Bear's" regular readers know by now, the Federal Reserve Act was passed (illegally) right before Christmas (December 23rd, 1913) when most of the Congressmen had left Washington for the holidays, thus requiring fewer bribes for the necessary votes from the remaining few. The Federal Reserve is a consortium of private banks (mostly British and Western European) who, through this act's felonious passage, were unconstitutionally given control over the creation of money in the Unites States.

The U.S. Constitution had mandated this power to the Treasury Department (which at this point in time has, regrettably, devolved into a branch bank of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, having been presided over by banksters (former upper management members of both banks) for the last five administrations.

After the Federal Reserve Act was enacted, the U.S. Government was obliged to borrow, at interest, what ever funds it needed to operate. Without a word of truth to the American people, all our good faith and credit was pledged as the surety for the debt by the same slime ball Congressmen who created the mechanism that allowed it to occur. The IRS was then created as the collection agency or "the muscle" that would insure that the interest on the loans was paid (visualize Vito and Big Louie). Initially, the IRS targeted only large businesses for their pound of flesh but, as one might expect, given that the pork and salaries of the politicians depended on ever larger loans, the congress was more than willing to help enact greater and greater powers and means for the IRS to fleece the taxpayers.

It finally reached a point during FDR's implosive debacle when the IRS quit even asking for permission,but, rather, started writing their own code, at will. In my opinion, if everyone that worked for either the Federal Reserve or the IRS died tomorrow...there would be more parking places, and God knows, we could use the spaces. If enough of them died, we could unpave paradise.

From Wayne N. Krautkramer:

Few perceive the truth about the Federal Reserve. Rare are those who know its origins. It is right in front of us, but our relative ignorance of economics and history is their protection. A quick history lesson is in order.

On October 14, 1066, AD., King William I (the Conqueror) founded the English monarchy. The Corporation was created by William in 1067 AD. to facilitate trade, and assure the continuation of the wealth of the monarchy. The City of London's legal name is The Corporation of the City of London. The City of London has unique political and economic privileges that do not apply to Greater London, or anywhere else in the British realm. The "City" even has its own police force that is sovereign.

The Bank of England was granted a royal charter on July 27, 1694, by William III to regularize the monarchy's finances. This scheme was invented by a Scot promoter named William Paterson. The scheme was to create a bank with a "fund for perpetual interest". Fractional reserve banking was created, along with the radical monetary concept of a "monopoly" bank which would create money for loans that would never be repaid. A perpetual money machine for the monarchy was born. The permanent National Debt was born. The Bank of England would finance the emerging empire from its headquarters in the City of London. Never again would the lack of money, or liquidity, hamper the British empire under normal economic conditions. Conveniently, the monarchy also controls the City of London. This assures that the heart of the economic machine will always be protected.

The British Crown, or the British monarchy is the owner of the Federal Reserve. This is their real secret. The strategy of the Federal Reserve is their other secret. Again, it is right of front of us, but no one sees the obvious. The strategy of the Federal Reserve is to accumulate all the wealth through the very slow, but effective, technique of currency debasement. The monarchs of old used to shave or clip the coins as they passed through their treasuries. Now the process is more sanitary (no more clipping and scraping all those dirty coins). John Maynard Keynes clearly stated that at there is no more effective method of destroying a society than through currency debasement.

Financial Survival

I have been predicting social unrest and even sporadic insurrection in America for several years. It has now arrived on our doorstep. The foretold cutting off of at least a portion of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) on November 1st will surely result in mindless blow back (the worst kind). This will, not only endanger the well being of the "Haves", but will also, as mentioned above, lead to ever more self protecting draconian measures to be imposed by the Darkside through their bridled minions referred to as "Law Enactors and Law Enforcers".

The solution is apparent. We must rid ourselves of those who would be kings. We must seek out leadership that possesses the intellect and vision to take us to the stars. Yes, through the application of bread and circuses, a condition of over population has been created, but, rather than employing a mental midget response like depopulation, we must colonize other planets. We landed people on the moon forty-five years ago with computers 1/100 as powerful as the ones in our smart phones. We are not already there as a result of an inherent genetic deficiency on the part of those who pretend to lead us. We must forever banish those self serving perps and bozos who, while ethically and morally bankrupt on so many levels, have somehow created a class of parasites that will vote for them, in return for a handout. We must then, address the conditions that have brought about the parasitic pandemic.

From Michael Snyder:

47.6 million Americans are about to have their food stamp benefits cut, and most of them have absolutely no idea that it is about to happen. Needless to say, a lot of them are going to be very angry when they discover that they cannot buy as much food for their families anymore. The reason that this is happening is because a temporary boost to food stamp benefits that was put in during the last recession is expiring. But most of the people that are having their benefits cut will not understand this. Most of them will just be very upset that the government is "taking money away" from them.

And considering the "mini-riots" that we witnessed earlier this month when the system that processes food stamp payments went down for a few hours, it is obvious that a lot of food stamp recipients can very easily be pushed over the edge. So what would happen if we have another "debt ceiling crisis" in Washington D.C. early next year and food stamp benefits are temporarily cut off completely?

Wherever "austerity" has been tried in Europe, it has resulted in protests and riots. Could a similar thing happen in this country?

NBC News is reporting that ALL food stamp recipients are going to have their food stamp benefits reduced in November. This is certainly not going to put those living in poverty in a good mood…

 

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 exclusively 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.