View from The Ships Crow's Nest >>>>>

Jesse's Café Américain: Volatility Then and Now : "As you may recall, there was a steady ramp higher in stocks at the end of 2009 until about January 19, 2010. There was also a corresponding drop in the VIX volatility index to rather low levels. There was a precipitous sell off in stocks in the latter part of that January as the market corrected from an artificial and highly overbought condition. Beware of artificial complacency for it always masks a fraud...."

How to regain US dominance in Education, innovation and World leadership  by Norton >>>I love this quote from Edward Stiglitz" Stiglitz listed five ingredients to change the comparative advantage that a country has through dynamic economics. It is all about education, openness and innovation, he insisted.... " Openness not globalisation, stresses Noble laureate Joseph Stiglitz in Cairo - Economy - Business - Ahram Online : "Stiglitz listed five ingredients to change the comparative advantage that a country has through dynamic economics. It is all about education, openness and innovation, he insisted....

Gold and Silver ETF Holdings Decline As Precious Metals Continue Sideways Price Action :  January 12, 2011 After major upward price movement during the later half of 2010, both the SLV and GLD continue their sideway price action. As gold and silver prices continue to consolidate, gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Shares Trust (GLD) and silver holdings in the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) both declined..." Despite the lack of correlation between gold prices and gold holdings of the GLD, investing in the GLD has produced approximately similar returns to owning bullion, disregarding transaction costs.  The price gain during 2010 was approximately 28% for both gold bullion and the GLD.   For those who choose to avoid holding the physical metal, the GLD was an excellent substitute choice for gold bullion in 2010.

US Banks Reporting Phantom Income on $1.4 Trillion Delinquent Mortgages - Robert Lenzner - StreetTalk - Forbes : "The giant US banks have been bailed out again from huge potential writeoffs by loosey-goosey accounting accepted by the accounting profession and the regulators. They are allowed to accrue interest on non-performing mortgages ” until the actual foreclosure takes place, which on average takes about 16 months..... This means that Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, among hundreds of other smaller institutions, can report interest due them, but not paid, on an estimated $1.4 trillion of face value mortgages on the 7 million homes that are in the process of being foreclosed. "

S&P, Moody's Warn On U.S. Credit Rating - WSJ.com : "By MARK GONGLOFF, MARK BROWN And NATHALIE BOSCHAT With attention focused on sovereign-debt worries in Europe, two major credit-rating firms reminded investors again that the U.S. has debt problems of its own. Investors bought Treasury debt nonetheless, ignoring the comments, which echoed prior statements by the companies and may still be months or years away from having any practical meaning "The warning on the U.S. rating is well-founded," said Brian Yelvington, chief fixed-income strategist at Knight Capital. "However, it will probably fall on deaf ears until the peripheral Europe story plays out." Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Thursday that the U.S. will need to reverse the expansion of its debt if it hopes to keep its "Aaa" rating.... ." Norton's comment: Are you preparing for this?

How We Know the Crisis Has Arrived by End of America video by Porter Stansberry  For us, the moment arrived five years ago. We noticed the dollar collapsing against both gold and the currencies of our trading partners. We could see the problems on the balance sheets of car makers, investment banks, and Freddie and Fannie. We watched, aware of the risks, when investors bid up real estate prices, oil prices, gold prices... almost anything to get out of the dollar.... We would urge you to share these facts (and our " End of America " video presentation) with anyone you care about. Here are the top seven factors we believe MUST lead to the end of the global U.S. dollar standard – what we call The End of America Seven Ways to Know: 1.The price of gold has gone up for 10 years in a row. 2.Our government's deficits are out of control 3.The government cannot increase tax revenues enough to cover our spending or repay our debts – ever. 4.Special-interest groups – partic...