Jake

...and a poor record for maritime safety. http://m.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29196687

http://m.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29270518 Manila floods.

"we are going to go quickly from the outhouse to the penthouse" That's all well and good. But we may also be taken to the woodhouse, first.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/commodities/11104055/Super-rich-rush-to-buy-Italian-Job-style-gold-bars.html The number of 12.5kg gold bars being bought by wealthy customers has increased 243pc so far this year, when compared to the same period last year, said Rob Halliday-Stein founder of BullionByPost.

Phillipines is synonymous with disaster zone. I'm hearing great things about Ho Chi Minh city. Thought of there??

One thing we don't really hear anymore is "geopolitical risk". The world is so screwed up in so many places, it's easier to try and forget about the woes of the world, or so it feels.

Perhaps a good time to start averaging in again? Soon, anyway. Or have we just seen another "death cross", ever so slightly.

Ok so let's say we are in for Disclosure. So what? What do aliens want with Earth? Humans? Are they racing down to save us in their 5000 spaceships, ready to exterminate us and gobble us up, impregnate our women and build an egghead empire? Just what is it with disclosure?

Some people swear by religions, too. I have met people who have claimed to have seen the face of Christ or Virgin Mary. Give me the ocular proof, not mere heresay. How do you know, for example, that this is no other than an elaborate CIA phy op to make the gullible believe? As far as I am concerned I haven't seen any aliens, reptililan humanoids or the like and would be extremely surprised if I did. Then I may change my mind. The idea that aliens are talking to the US government or any super power, negotiating stuff, is pure fantasy IMHO. Same as religios believe all their righteous dogma being THE truth and everyone else is going to hell...well need I go on? Fruitcake stuff.

Nice to visit those old pages. re the 20 pound coin. The japanese once issued a 100,000 yen gold coin way back when. And it was a big mistake. The value of gold plummeted to under half that and people started cashing them in at the bank for the face value. Then a load of fakes turned up from the middle east and the banks refused to exchange for cash. I think GBP 20 is not so bad, but if silver were to tumble, it would inspire a lot of fakes. Worth getting a few and forgetting about them. Hopefully they'll rise numismatically. But I would stick to Brits and regular 1oz coins. I enjoyed the aggro in trying to use them at the petrol station. But the general public are generally ignorant. It just shows you how fully incorporated into the fiat hegemony they all are. When, or if, this fiat world implodes, there's going to be people hopping mad as every asset they thought had 'value' turns to dust; stocks, bonds, real estate, cash savings, pensions, yachts, cars and fine wines...blah blah blah. Such events cause revolutions and dictators. For those that think the Japanese will go ape shit in the same way, I think not. They will just shrug their shoulders and say 'shigata ga nai', roll up their sleeves and start again working in groups... (at least I hope so). I hate to think about the UK under similar circumstances. Suffice, it'll be worse than Maslows hierarchy of grief or whatever.

I am finding it difficult to disagree with anything you said there, Zoomraker. However I would like to know the extent of our MP's BTL's.

Zoomraker, that's fine... maybe. But I expect better from our law making right 'honorable' MP's, serving in HMG, the country some of our family members have given their lives for. If your leaders don't lead but are mere parasites and hypocrites, then god help your country. Isn't that the problem we have in so many places? I wonder also if you can extend your philosophy to benefit cheats, living like parasites on the hard work of taxpayers. Surely, one and the same?

Many of those fat fingered MP's were rather embarassed during the 'expenses' scandal a few years ago. I wonder why nobody goes after the property BTL brigade? Housing and the price of which, being so close to the hearts of your average dinner table Brit. I think I know why and it's that near on everyone would lie to have their little property empire, charging the little people rents. It would be seen as 'envy' and an envy that many aspire to...

Why not stop UK BTLers doing the same thing?

And other EWers see gold down to 500, 300 maybe 100!! https://www.neowave.com/audiointerviews/20130801/transcript.pdf © 2013 Glenn Neely, NEoWave, Inc. www.NEoWave.com Page 6 of 15 500 is almost certain. Possibly down into the $300 range is possible. It may be 200, and$100 is the outsidechance. But I think we can easily count on it getting down to$500, no matter what the bigger picture is

This is so wrong it beggars belief! The Tory minister's son with 40 ex-council homes An investigation by the GMB union and the Daily Mirror into council house sell-offs in the flagship Tory borough of Wandsworth, south London, earlier this year found that 6,180 of the 15,874 dwellings sold under right-to-buy legislation are now owned by private landlords who rent them to private tenants. Of the 120 homes in Sherfield Gardens, a council block in Putney, 62 had an owner with a different address – with 35 owned by Charles Gow, while his wife Karin owned a further five, through KCG Property, a lettings and management company. Its website lists maisonettes in the block for rent at £1,556 a month. Flats in the block now sell for about £230,000, suggesting that the Gows' company has assets worth more than £9m in Sherfield Gardens. The GMB also traced other landlords who have bought up right-to-buy properties. Some were owned by farmers in receipt of European farm subsidy payments; others were registered through companies in Guernsey, the British Virgin Islands and Mauritius. Paul Kenny, the union's general secretary, said: "Private businesses are making vast profits from the public purse while the people these homes were built for sit on waiting lists that never move. You could not make it up that the family of one of Mrs Thatcher's aides, who served as housing minister during the high tide of right-to-buy, ends up owning a vast swathe of London's ex-council housing. The 'right to buy' has turned into a rich harvest for greedy farmers and others."

Gold down nicely for Chrimbo. Hohoho!

I see. So basically his fancy computer is about as knowledgeable as anyones, but he sells it/tells it well. 2014 as the optimal target. However, we could see a cycle inversion pushing the sideways to lower trend into its final low in 2015 and then rally as the ECM declines. This will be laid out in the coming report. But it is ALWAYS a question ofTIME and PRICE. Keep in mind that NOTHING trades in a vacuum. This is like a ballet and every step and every dancer has to be in their place to pull off the great performance. As far as the low is concern, the price can be between 1050 and 850. It is more WHEN the price is reached rather than the express actual number. BOTH have to be achieved. If we saw $950 tomorrow, sorry, that would not be the low because the time is not right.

If the 'Japanese way' of surviving, 'thriving' and 'prospering' is what you are after get a safe job with the government/teacher/fireman/policeman etc. If you have capital get small houses for rental income. Expect to see more single parents, singles, smaller abodes, cars. In essence shrink your life. If you are self employed, make sure you have plenty of custom by relocating to a large urban area. Forget retail, if you havent already, ditto restaurants/bars. Only women spend money on homey/lifestyle style cheap goods. I'm not sure how good that strategy is really. Japan, generally, has been winding down slowly/genteely for 20 years.

Warpig, if you take Chris Martensons thesis re oil energy as driver of finance, the oil shale/shale oil/sands/etc...seem to have given a much needed shot in the arm-for a while-to our way of financing the future. Oil Drum packed in. Detlev packed in. Orlov picked in...all around the time of Barisheffs 10k gold book! Puplava changed tunes. Russell too. But anyway I think it's all about having a bit more room to run thanks to a few drops more of oil. Nothing else has changed really. In fact except for QE induced fixes, everything is worse. Except we don't realise it yet. Nice to see you btw!

Interesting thoughts from Van and Roddy. Van says "40 year binge on fiat money" has "another few years". Roddy states that responsibly held fixed mortgages on property lent to government tenants are good investments. "based on the nature if the tenant" and thus their ability to afford the rent. Things look fine for the moment for the UK. I wonder how long that lasts?

House prices in the UK. Thats all there is. No MP will let them fall (so long as they can). It's that important because that's all there is of import to almost everyone. If you are ex pat you can clearly see that whenever you go back. It's an obsession. You can see it clearly in the very language estate agents employ. Often they are not selling a property per se, rather they are selling a locale. A range of coffee shops and boutiques, a catchment area. Location location location. You better believe it. That's all there is. IMHO this is a big mistake, a mirage. You could buy into the dream and the locale fall down the toilet, the coffee shops will disappear as fast as they appeared. The boutiques drown in their rental fees...someday. Collective madness very prescient of a mentality living on the excesses of its bubblicious delerium. For the time being though, on it goes.

A sub prime minister with a sub prime chancellor for a sub prime economy and a sub prime future. UK economy is housing. That's all. Still. A vote winner nevertheless.

78% I surprised myself.