Asia

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Thirteen years ago my life changed forever.

Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State and the most credible person in George W. Bush’s cabinet, made the case for war in Iraq on February 5, 2003.

As a young military intelligence officer at the time, watching from a makeshift army base in Kuwait not far from the Iraq border.

Back then I was a true believer, trusting that the government was a force for good “making the world safe for democracy. . .”

World War 3 could be on the horizon as the Pentagon announces a quadruple increase in its 2017 budget and turns its back on promises made to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. US-NATO troops are to be positioned close to Russia’s borders. And to maintain U.S. hegemony in where half the world’s population lives, China is put under military and economic pressure by Obama’s strategic pivot to Asia.

Submitted by Shane Obata & Richardson GMP

The Golden Age

Some people say that gold is dead. They point to deflationary pressures and a bear market that started back in September of 2011. The bulls have been wrong for years; however, that may be about to change…

At present, there a multiple reasons to consider gold:

Before this year the lowest level The Baltic Dry Index had reached was 556 in August of 1986 and the highest was in June 2008 at a stunning 11,612. Today saw the freight index hit a new milestone however, crashing through the 300 barrier for the first time ever - at 298, this is almost 50% below the previous record low.

Commodities obviously are saying something very different from "the market"...

• CNN reports the US running out of space to store oil.
• At the same time, OPEC actually ramps up oil production...

 Many "smart guys" allege that the drop in oil is bad for the ecomomy. I call BS. Oil prices are an input costs. Input costs are what strip revenues down to profits and potentially losses. The lower the input cost, the higher profit. What has occured was a decades long credit bubble that fueld a profligate binging on debt.