Schiff Roundup

Mr Schiff discusses Friday's worldwide falls in stock values and the Hungary situation. He also Laughs With Mogambo Scorn (LWMS) at all the Wall Street analysts who are still under the mistaken impression that we are in a 'recovery':



He then fills us in on his latest political situation and his petition drive:

Mogambo Roundup

=> Inflation Still a Problem, Despite “Evidence” to the Contrary

Our hero examines how governments are going to deficit-spend themselves into the Giant Black Hole Of Debt (GBHOD)

=> Leading Indicators Indicate a Lagging Economy

The Marvelous Mogambo (TMM) wonders why he doesn't rule over the rest of us mere earthlings as a living god whose every wish is a command

=> Government Desperate. Gold Tax Imminent?

The Mogambo Guru laughs in Rude Mogambo Scorn (RMS) at all those who doubt him

=> Re-Animating a Debt Dog

The Guru genuflects on his Whole Freaking Life (WFL) and find that others are left wanting

"I am going to inflate massively", says Cameron

Well, no, he didn't quite put it like that, but he did put it like this:

=> David Cameron: Economic measures will be 'unavoidably tough'

When he says 'unavoidably tough', what he means is that he may really cut government spending by £6 billion, rather than pretending to do so.

But he's been banging on about how 'painful' this will be for so long, and got people into such a pre-dentist-drill state of alarm, that even the smallest twinge of discomfort is going to set off a hysterical reaction, particularly amongst all the Guardian-reading parasites who infest the UK.

So what's he going to do? The British government collects approximately £500 billion in tax, and spends approximately £700 billion. He might actually cut this to £694 billion. If we're going to be really generous to him, he might cut it by what the Guardian-reading classes will consider the gargantuan amount of £50 billion, taking government spending down to a mere £150 billion over its actual revenue. (Which is like earning £50,000 a year and spending £65,000 a year.)

Also, with the new tax increases which are coming (e.g. capital gains tax), taxation income for the government is going to drop, not go up, and there will continue to be negative economic growth. But we've been having growth, I hear you cry!  There has only been a failed Keynesian quantitative easing stimulus which has fooled people into continuing to invest in broken business models, in a frenetic attempt by Gordon Brown's miserable inept government to get re-elected again.

So, let's be generous to Dave. He won't manage it, but let's assume he gets government spending down to £650 billion  (Miracles may never cease). As the economy keeps slowly going through a road crash slowdown, and as new 'politics of envy' investment taxes from the liberals keep hitting government tax receipts, he could be left with an income of £450 billion, which means he's still £200 billion short.

So for all this 'pain' he's going to introduce (massive 'pain' for the Guardian readers, if he cuts £50 billion) there will be no perceived benefit and the economy will still be slowly spiralling into the ground. Dave's political fortunes will be toast, except perhaps for one road out.  (And can you guess, kids, what that's going to be yet?)

Yes, Mervyn King was right when he said that this really was an election to lose.

So what's the Maturin Towers position on this, I hear you cry?

Well, let me first start off by saying if you wanted to get out of this, then you shouldn't have started from here. Given that Cameron lost the election he SHOULD NOT HAVE got into bed with the socialist liberals. They will stop him from doing what needs to be done. Their instincts are to increase taxes and to keep government spending up.

That is why he made a serious strategic mistake in getting together with them. He is now completely hamstrung.

He should have instituted New Zealand style cuts in government spending and privatised everything that could move, everything that could not move, and everything else that was left (in the style of Norman Tebbit).

If I was prime minister and actually pretended to care about 'democracy', then I would also repudiate the British government's debt and tell everyone who holds gilts that I would be re-structuring this debt and giving them a substantial hair cut.  This would be to punish them for lending to the British government in the first place and to stop them from lending to it again, in the future, allowing these gigantic government spending bubbles to form in the first place.

This repudiation would then force me to only be able to spend what the government takes in, in revenue. The spending party would be over and we would be back to Gladstonian liberalism.

Even from my high and mighty tower of anarchism, I could live with that. It would certainly be a damn sight better than what we're going to get.

Because Cameron will not be able to do any of the above, because he is:

1. A wet mushy liberal in conservative clothing
2. He is in bed with the liberals
3. As a member of the metropolitan elite, he wants nothing more than to get rich and to be loved doing it

So what is he going to do then, O Mighty Sage?

He is going to inflate.  There is no other way out for him, given the kind of man he is, given who his friends are, and given his lack of courage in facing up to the Guardian readers.

Buy physical gold on the dips, and if you can, get this gold out of the country to where it cannot be confiscated by whatever government comes after Dave, when the riots push him out. (Switzerland is probably good.)

You'll be glad you did.

Euro 'will be dead in five years'

Good.

If they want to keep the damn thing, then they should re-invent the euro as the 'Gold Euro'.

1 G€ = 1 gold gramme

Job done.

The Sure Thing

Casey Research (yesterday):

Digging through the entrails of the fundamentals associated with the global economy and markets, it increasingly strikes me that there is really only one investment I’d now consider a “sure thing” – and that is buying gold on dips...

...Of course, the sovereign nations could decide to resolve their massive debt problems through default – and some most certainly will. But at this point, that these nations will reduce their current, let alone future, obligations to manageable levels without crushing their respective economies – never a politically palatable choice – is literally impossible.

Thus, while there will be much grandstanding about making tough choices and hard budget cuts, when push comes to shove, you can bet that the choices made will be those most likely to return the politicos to office, and the cuts nothing more than window dressing, quickly offset by spending increases.

In a world awash in funny money, gold is the only sure thing...

Money supply, the stimulus & where is the inflation?

Really excellent piece by Midwesterner (and Laird) at Samizdata.

Very good indeed.

Peter Schiff: Gold bullion vs. Numismatics — investors want the wood, not the furniture

More from Mr Schiff on how to buy gold:

Peter Schiff: The wrong way to buy gold

The Duke talks about Goldline, a US gold coin seller. He is not impressed by their value for money:



Always check the spot price of gold before you pay for coins. Only deal with reputable dealers, hopefully whom a personal friend has recommended. You should be able to find gold coins for somewhere between 2-4% over the gold spot price, if you are not fussy about numismatic values or getting the 'latest' issues. (Though this must be tempered by the very high volatility in gold prices, at the moment.)

For instance, when buying UK sovereigns, if you want the 'latest' 2010 mintings, you will probably expect to pay more, but if going for something from 1964 or 1973, you should be in the 2-4% over gold spot range. (At least, in less volatile times.)

UK gold coin buyers should buy sovereigns. As these are still 'legal tender', they do not attract capital gains tax. Though do expect the Glorious Coalition to cut this escape route off from the horrors of being forced to use legal tender paper scrip.

Alas, because of this tax status, you will probably have to pay 'over the odds' at the moment, as every Jack Bull in England is buying sovereigns to try to avoid the Glorious Coalition's imminent rack-up in capital gains tax.

I hope all those conservative party voters out there are glad who they voted for.

Bank of England: 'Inflation not the way out of debt'

This reminds me of the Maturin Towers political law statutes:

Maturin Towers, Law of Politics No. 1:

"How can you tell what a politician is thinking? Simply reverse the meaning of everything he says."

Charles Bean is the deputy governor of the Bank of England, which means he must be a consummate politician. Therefore, using the law above, this is what he really said:

Charles Bean raised the spectre of hyperinflation, saying it is "severely misguided" to hope that a rise in prices would help Britain out of its current predicament.

"We instituted quantitative easing last year to try to raise asset prices, to help get Britain out of its current predicament. We will ramp this up again, as necessary."

His comments come amid growing suspicion that politicians around the world may eventually resort to inflation as a means of reducing what they owe in capital markets, and follow the Swedish Riksbank's decision to change its inflation target.

"We all met in Berne recently, at the BIS, and decided we would all inflate together. Doing this in synchronisation hides the worst aspects of it. The only problem is the gold price. But we have ramped up more sales of gold and are constantly using our influence to peddle the story that gold is in a bubble. We're really worried about the Indian and Chinese central banks. But we have helped them fund their own gold mines so they don't need to make gold purchases on the open market. In the end, the only way out of this will be a single world global currency managed by the IMF. We're working on it."

In an opinion piece for Telegraph.co.uk on Friday, Mr Bean writes: "Some people have suggested that a bit of extra inflation now might actually be a good thing. After all, wouldn't it help to get the economy going by reducing the real value of public and private debt? This is severely misguided.

"Some government ministers and Treasury mandarins are constantly banging on to us about revving up the electronic money printing machines. We have to be a bit more cunning about it though, to stop it being obvious."

"Aside from the dubious morality of redistributing wealth from savers to borrowers, we have seen from past experience that a bit of inflation has a nasty habit of turning into a lot of inflation."

"Which is why we're working on further ways of massaging the CPI and RPI figures downwards."

He said the MPC should stick to its 2pc inflation target.

"Which is why the current CPI figure is 3.7% and RPI is at 5.3%. I'm really hoping a deflationary shock in China helps us slip a lot more money pumping in."

Where the Monster Came From

Uncle Murray explores the criminal origins of the Bank of England, an institution designed from the ground up to steal wealth on behalf of the state and to fund its wars.

Soaring inflation delivers an early warning to the new Government

We ain't seen nothing yet, Madsen.

Why Switzerland Has The Lowest Gun Crime Rate In The World

Which country in Europe has the lowest gun crime? (Yes, there's a clue in the title of this piece, but just go with it.)

Which country in Europe has the highest number of guns per capita?

Yep, you guessed it.

It's Switzerland!

As a regular traveller there myself to visit my Swiss relatives, I still flinch a bit when I see groups of men wandering around Zurich Hauptbahnhof railway station carrying machine guns and other automatic weapons, or when some badly-moustached bloke who lives upstairs in the apartment building hops on a tram with rifle (which one always presumes is fully loaded), but you get used to it.

You also get used to feeling TOTALLY SAFE in Switzerland. Yes, the federal government there has tried to ingratiate itself with the EU by allowing in lot of immigrants who the Swiss people would rather had stayed in the old Yugoslavia because of the crime they commit, and I'm sure there's SOME gun crime amongst these badly-integrated immigrants. However, do not let the British press in the next few days bamboozle you with stories of gun-crime USA or gun-crime Britain, to further restrict your rights to bear arms.

Ask yourself, if so many people in Switzerland carry guns (and legally, every Swiss man over a certain age MUST bear arms), and if gun crime in Switzerland is so low, then why must all Englishmen be stripped down to lockless penknives with blades less than an inch long (and they'll probably ban these too, eventually).

Just look at the equation:

HIGH GUN Switzerland = LOW GUN CRIME Country (actually, virtually non-existent gun crime)

LOW GUN England = HIGH GUN CRIME England

Will lowering the amount of legal guns in England even further somehow make this equation magically reverse itself? If there are no legal guns left in the country whatsoever, except those possessed by angels in state uniforms, do you really think all gun crime will disappear?

Yes, Tonto. But only if you read about Fantasy Land in The Guardian.

As Dr Gabb said yesterday, until an Englishman can once again go into a gun store with nothing but cash and no ID, to buy any amount of weaponry and ammunition he likes, as was once his right, then gun crime is going to do nothing but get even worse, especially once the disastrous economic effects of government money printing really start ramming home.

Guns started being really restricted in this country in 1920, when the British government feared a Russian-style revolution. It was NOTHING to do with crime figures. Ever since that time, gun crime has increased in Britain, until we now expect a Hungerford-style massacre every ten years.

The more we control guns, the lower this ten-year figure will shrink, until it just becomes an annual or semi-annual 'going postal' event. There will be much gnashing and wailing of teeth, and more and more controls, but that won't stop me from being any more right about it, will it?

HT to Mr G

The crime that daren't speak its name? Stealing

David Cameron tosses David Laws overboard for stealing — "Don't get caught, next time!"
Richard Littlejohn gets its, on the David Laws £40,000 rent boy story:

"Meet the new politics, same as the old politics."

Consent of the Governed?

Robert Higgs, one of our greatest living historians, discusses the social contract none of us has ever signed. Here's a quote incorporating that social contract which none of us ever actually get to see or to sign:

I, the party of the first part (“the ruler”), promise:

(1) To stipulate how much of your money you will hand over to me, as well as how, when, and where the transfer will be made. You will have no effective say in the matter, aside from pleading for my mercy, and if you should fail to comply, my agents will punish you with fines, imprisonment, and (in the event of your persistent resistance) death.

(2) To make thousands upon thousands of rules for you to obey without question, again on pain of punishment by my agents. You will have no effective say in determining the content of these rules, which will be so numerous, complex, and in many cases beyond comprehension that no human being could conceivably know about more than a handful of them, much less their specific character, yet if you should fail to comply with any of them, I will feel free to punish you to the extent of a law made my me and my confederates.

(3) To provide for your use, on terms stipulated by me and my agents, so-called public goods and services. Although you may actually place some value on a few of these goods and services, most will have little or no value to you, and some you will find utterly abhorrent, and in no event will you as an individual have any effective say over the goods and services I provide, notwithstanding any economist’s cock-and-bull story to the effect that you “demand” all this stuff and value it at whatever amount of money I choose to expend for its provision.

(4) In the event of a dispute between us, judges beholden to me for their appointment and salaries will decide how to settle the dispute. You can expect to lose in these settlements, if your case is heard at all.

In exchange for the foregoing government “benefits,” you, the party of the second part (“the subject”), promise:

(5) To shut up, make no waves, obey all orders issued by the ruler and his agents, kowtow to them as if they were important, honorable people, and when they say “jump,” ask only “how high?”

Quote of the Day

"To be GOVERNED is to be kept in sight, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right, nor the wisdom, nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction, noted, registered, enrolled, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, squeezed, mystified, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, despised, harassed, tracked, abused, clubbed, disarmed, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and, to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality."

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, trans. John Beverley Robinson. London: Freedom Press, 1923, p. 294

Cumberland Shootings: Libertarian Alliance Statement

Terrible news from the North of England. Twelve shot dead by a lunatic, and twenty five badly injured:



What can you say?

Sean Gabb gives us his libertarian alliance position, which is endorsed by this web site:

"CUMBERLAND SHOOTINGS: GUN BANS MEAN MORE GUN CRIME" SAYS FREE MARKET AND CIVIL LIBERTIES POLICY INSTITUTE

The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties institute, today calls for the relegalisation of civilian gun ownership in the United Kingdom as the only way for ordinary people to protect themselves against gun massacres. [This news release is prompted by the killings of at least five people on the 2nd June 2010 in and around the Cumberland town of Whitehaven.]

Speaking today in London, Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, comments:

"This outrage will certainly bring calls from the police and other victim disarmament advocacy groups for further gun control. However, bearing in mind that civilian ownership of handguns was outlawed in the two Firearms Acts of 1997, we fail to see, unless the murder weapon was a shotgun, what there is left to be outlawed.

"The Libertarian Alliance notes that these shootings would have been extremely difficult in a country where the people were allowed to arm themselves. We understand that the killer, Derrick Bird, was able to drive in perfect safety around Whitehaven, shooting people at random. None of his victims was in any position to return fire. Only when armed police could eventually be brought in did he feel it necessary to run away.

"In the United States, at least one campus shooting was brought to a premature end by armed civilians. The same is true in Israel, where many members of the public go about armed. Only in a country like England, where the people have been systematically disarmed, can a killer go about like a fox among chickens.

"The Libertarian Alliance believes that all the Firearms Acts from 1920 onwards should be repealed. The largely ineffective laws of 1870 and 1902 should also be repealed. It should once again be possible for adults to walk into a gun shop and, without showing any permit or proof of identity, buy as many guns and as much ammunition as they can afford. They should also be able to use lethal force, at home and in public, for the defence of life, liberty and property.

"Only then will ordinary people be safe from evil men like Derrick Bird."

Anarchist Tie

I've gots to get me one of those! :-)

These greed merchants are just the tip of the iceberg

Leo McKinstry delves into the disgusting Guardian Reader world of the public sector trough-emptying elephants.

Frank Shostak — Stop the Money Printing!

Money statistics watchers will be interested in Mr Shostak's latest prognostications:

=> A Visible Fall in US Money M3 Worries Some Analysts

Man of the Day — Hugh Hendry

Newsnight 26th May 2010: Hugh Hendry: "I Would Recommend You Panic"



Look out for Mr Hendry's dissing hand wave towards the tenured Professor Sachs, while the good professor opines on the nature of enlightenment.

Superb.