LOL, here I’ve had the cure for STDs and didn’t even realize it!  Woo hoo!

Putin, “whoever wants to kill the Russian bear WILL fail….”

http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/30-12-2014/129431-usa_russia_central_bank-0/

i’m not sure your formula will work on flu any better than on other diseases.  with that much garlic just before bed, you will be safe from std’s.  nobody will get close enough to you.  it will probably keep you safe from werewolves, too.  🙂

Per Palin, we export inflation import real stuff? China just turns around buys dollars and they think they have them where they want them. They export jobs and import poverty. What happens when China decides to float their currency. Right now they won’t because it’s economically at their advantage.

Crush 1/2 of a large fresh garlic clove and several slices of ginger root in a cup.

Add 1 TBSP of lemon juice and 1 tsp honey.  Pour boiling water into cup and let sit for at least 5 minutes.  Do not boil.

Drink every day about 1 hour before bed.

If already sick, drink 3 times a day.

dunno if he is right but it’s good to see such a celebrity-high profile-manager touting gold

At the same time we have a increasing problem with military type police police brutality violation of rights so forth.

Take a good look at this guy who may be a force behind it and where ever he goes there is trouble and marches in streets by both black and white or say trouble.  Wanna know where militarization climbing from herea one to take a look at.

Bratton worked as a private consultant with Kroll Associates, also known as LAPD’s Independent Monitor,[15] until his appointment by the Mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn as the LAPD’s 54th Chief of Police in October 2002. Bratton was one of three candidates recommended to Hahn by the Los Angeles Police Commission under Commission President Rick J. Caruso.[16] Under Bratton’s tenure, crime within the city dropped for six consecutive years.[17]

On June 19, 2007, the LA Police Commission reappointed Bratton to a second five-year term, the first reappointment of an LAPD chief in almost twenty years.

Bratton has been criticized for his extensive travel; in 2005, he was out of town for a full third of the year on both official and personal business.[18]

In March 2009, Councilman Herb Wesson proposed an amendment[19] to the City Charter, allowing Bratton to serve a third consecutive term as Police Chief.

On September 11, 2009, he was awarded with the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II “in recognition of his work to promote cooperation between US and UK police throughout his distinguished career.”[20] On 12 August 2011, Bratton said he was in talks with the British Government to become an adviser on controlling the violence that had affected London the prior week. He said he received a phone call from U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and that he would continue speaking with British officials to formalize an agreement.[21]Cameron initially wanted to appoint Bratton Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis of London, but was overruled by Home Secretary Theresa May, who insisted that only a British citizen should be able to run the Service.[22][23]

On December 4, 2013 (one day before his return to New York City was announced), Bratton appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight programme to discuss policing, and in particular, the possibility of him one day leading the Metropolitan Police. Asked if he was still interested in the job, Bratton said: “That remains to be seen. I happen to be, I think, a good friend and admirer of your current commissioner (Bernard Hogan-Howe)… And understanding that you have got political issues that are being wrestled with at this time over there… I’ve made it quite well known that at some point in my life that if the position were to open that would be certainly something I would take a look at. The position is not open and is not likely to open for a few years and in the meantime I think you have got somebody in the position there that’s doing a pretty good job.”[24]

Oakland
On December 27, 2012, he was hired as a consultant for the city of Oakland, California.[25] On January 13, 2013, The Oakland City Council approved the hiring of Bratton with a vote of 7-1.[26]

Return to New York City
On December 5, 2013, New York City mayor-elect Bill de Blasio named Bratton as New York City’s new Police Commissioner to replace Raymond Kelly after de Blasio’s swearing-in on January 1, 2014. The New York Timesreported that at Bratton’s swearing in on January 2, 2014, the new Police Commissioner praised his predecessor Raymond Kelly, but also signalled his intention to strike a more conciliatory tone with ordinary[who?] New Yorkers who had become disillusioned with policing in the city: “We will all work hard to identify why is it that so many in this city do not feel good about this department that has done so much to make them safe — what has it been about our activities that have made so many alienated?”.[27]

The Gloves Come Off: Germany Says Grexit “Manageable” As Tsipras Demands Greek Debt Writeoff

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-03/gloves-come-germany-says-grexit-manageable-tsipras-demands-greek-debt-writeoff

I must say, Kass’s predictions sound very plausible. Thanks for the post.

As a result of the influences above, the VIX rises above 30. The price of gold soars to $1,800-to-$2000 and the precious metal is the best-performing asset class for all of 2015.

Strategy: Buy (GLD) and (VIX.X) , Short (SPY) , (QQQ) and German Bunds

My 15 Surprises for 2015

At last, here are my 15 surprises for 2015 (with a strategy that might be employed in order for an investor to profit from the occurrence of these possible improbables).

1. Faith in central bankers is tested (stocks sink and gold soars).

“Investment bubbles and high animal spirits do not materialize out of thin air. They need extremely favorable economic fundamentals together with free and easy, cheap credit and they need it for at least two or three years. Importantly, they also need serial pleasant surprises in such criticial variables as global GNP growth.” — Jeremy Grantham

“The highly abnormal is becoming uncomfortably normal. Central banks and markets have been pushing benchmark sovereign yields to extraordinary lows — unimaginable just a few years back. Three-year government bond yields are well below zero in Germany, around zero in Japan and below 1 per cent in the United States. Moreover, estimates of term premia are pointing south again, with some evolving firmly in negative territory. And as all this is happening, global growth — in inflation-adjusted terms — is close to historical averages. There is something vaguely troubling when the unthinkable becomes routine.” — Claudio Borio

European QE Backfires: The ECB initiates a sovereign QE in January 2015, but it is modest in scale (relative to expectations) as Germany won’t permit a more aggressive strategy. Markets are disappointed with the small size of the ECB’s initiative and European banks choose to hold their bonds instead of selling. ECB balance sheet still can’t get to 3 trillion euros and the euro actually rallies sharply. Bottom line, QE fails to work (economic growth doesn’t accelerate and inflationary expectations don’t lift).

Draghi Is Exposed: Mario Draghi is exposed for what he really is: the big kid of which everyone is scared. For some time, no one wanted to fight him (or fade sovereign debt bonds, which would be contra to his policy). But, after the meek January QE, the response changes. He is now seen as the bully who never throws a punch and who always has gotten his way. But at the time of the January QE a medium-sized kid (and a market participant) teases him and Draghi warns him again to stop it. The kid keeps teasing. Draghi the bully takes a swing, it turns out he can’t fight and the medium-sized kid whips his butt. From then on, the big kid is feared no more. For some time Draghi has said he will do “whatever it takes,” but he never really had to do anything. When he finally gets going and has to act rather than talk, he will expose himself as only a bully and as a weak big kid. Mario Draghi gets fed up with the Germans and returns to Italy (where he was governor of the Bank of Italy between 2006-2011) and becomes the country’s president.

Shinzo Abe and Haruhiko Kuroda Resign: Kuroda, an advocate of looser monetary policy, stays on at the Bank of Japan (for most of the year), but the yen enters freefall to 140 vs. the dollar and wage growth lags badly. Japanese people have had enough and, by year end, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Haruhiko Kuroda are forced to resign.

The Fed Is Trapped: The Federal Reserve surprises the markets and hikes the federal funds rate in April 2015. A modest 25-basis-point rise in rates causes such global market turmoil that it is the only hike made all year. The Federal Reserve is now viewed by market participants as completely trapped, as an ah-ha-moment arrives in which there is limited policy flexibility to cope with a steepening downturn in the business cycle in late 2015/early 2016. Stated simply, the bull market in confidence in the Federal Reserve comes to an abrupt halt.

Malinvestment Becomes the It-Word in 2015: Steeped in denial of past mistakes and bathing in the buoyancy of liquidity and the elevation of stock prices in 2014, market participants come to the realization that the world’s central bankers in general, and the Fed in particular, once again has taken us down an all-too-familiar and dangerous path that previously set the stage for The Great Decession of 2007-09. It becomes clear that the consequences of unprecedented monetary easing and the repression of interest rates has only invited unproductive investment and speculative carry trades. The impact of a lengthy period of depressed interest rates uncork malinvestment that has percolated and detonates among differing asset classes as the year progresses. Already seen in the deterioration and heightened volatility in commodities (the price of crude, copper, etc.), in widening spreads in the energy high yield (with yields up to 10% today, compared with only 5% a few months ago) and with the average yield on the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) up to 7% (from a low of 5% earlier in 2014), the consequences of financial engineering (zero-interest-rate policy and quantitative easing) and lack of attention to burgeoning country debt loads and central bankers’ balance sheets, in addition to inertia on the fiscal front result in rising volatility in the currency markets. Malinvestment in countries like Brazil (where consumer debt has risen by 8x and export accounts have quintupled over the last eight years on the strength of a peaking export boom, in oil and iron ore, so dependent on the China infrastructure story that has now ended) translate into a deepening economic crisis in Latin America and in other emerging markets.

Then, EU sovereign debt yields, suppressed so long by Draghi’s jawboning, begin to rise. Slowly at first and then more rapidly, EU bond prices fall, putting intense pressure on the entire European banking system. (In his greatest score, George Soros makes $2.5 billion shorting German Bunds). The contagion spreads to other region’s financial institutions. Shortly after, social media and high valuation stocks get routed and, ultimately, so does the world’s stock markets.

As a result of the influences above, the VIX rises above 30. The price of gold soars to $1,800-to-$2000 and the precious metal is the best-performing asset class for all of 2015.

Strategy: Buy (GLD) and (VIX.X) , Short (SPY) , (QQQ) and German Bunds

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12996795/2/doug-kass-15-surprises-to-watch-out-for-in-2015–and-what-to-do-about-them.html

I never buy at the bottom and I always sell too soon. -Baron Rothschild

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. -Bertrand Russell

From Pailin’s blog over tub TF Metals Report=

We really are blessed in America. Not just because we have the World’s Reserve Currency. Not just because we have the most powerful (evil?) Central Bank of them all. But because everybody else -in power- goes along with this, and when push comes to shove, we export inflation and import real stuff paid for with fake stuff (handshakes with our fingers crossed). And the more we want, the more we get. Unreal. Feel for your brothers by another currency in this New Year. They don’t even have a choice in this.

EUR (again)

So our friends in the EU…they’re working just as hard today as they did last year and the year before (assuming they were and are employed 🙂 but…they just get paid less in dollars. Something to think about.

EUR is now under 2012 bottom and may be playing with the 2010 bottom of 118.7 soon. Hooboy.

Remember there was a grassroots move afoot (barely, mind you) to be paid in real money, you know…gold and/or silver? It didn’t really go farther than basic barter economy stuff (so off-book black market which can and will get you in trouble with the IRS! Cuz guess what? Swapping rounds for a milking cow, a tractor, or acreage…ain’t “in kind” 🙂 But imagine that movement did gain ground, at least enough that potential employers (and their HR donkeys) didn’t laugh you right back to the unemployment line?

So…like our poor friends in the EU…if you took a new job in late 2010 or early 2011…imagine being the smartest guy in the room and demanding your salary be denominated in ounces. Awesome yeah. Till you paid taxes on those “earnings” the following year. And had to sell some “salary ounces” to buy dollars to pay your taxes (the only way you can do it, buddy 🙂 But even worse…today, if you still had the same job and salary (or thereabouts) without any re-negotiation of terms, you’d still be getting paid in ounces and, aside from recent moves in gasoline prices, be facing record price inflation! Since the goods we regularly buy, the bills we regularly pay, are all denominated in dollars, you’d have to convert something out of every paycheck to make your monthly nut…or be really good at selling the highs and living below your means:) Sucks. Just like our EU, UK, and Russian friends. Something to think about. For sure 🙂

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/forum/pailins-trading-corner/242?page=1981#comment-460118

I sure have my doubts and when he posts a photo with himself next to Lady Thatcher….Well, he really does look like a grease ball. Then again, EEOS swears by him, lol.

$810 to $2,300.  I agree.  I think he nailed it!

Judge Jeanine Slams De Blasio: ‘You’re a Coward With Blood on Your Shoes’

http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/12/22/judge-jeanine-slams-de-blasio-youre-coward-blood-your-shoes

@ Macroman3…Hallelujah, I love that song!!!  I was a dog woman most of my life (preferring Basset hounds) until six pussycats came out of the woods one day, adopted me, and now I’m a cat woman.  Their intelligence is exceptional, especially those with Siamese blood, such as my Mr. Puppy…so named because I had been on my way to Basset Rescue when the kitties showed up and I knew I wouldn’t be getting a doggie.

@ Maya…good to know and a Happy New Year to you, as well as everyone here.

If he really knew anything he’d be wealthy & managing his and/or other peoples money–not selling advice–what is his main “con”??

Very simple-like many others, he represents himself as being the only one with the correct unique insight–his “sleight of hand” for the assembled yokels and gawkers standing around his shell game folding card table, is to contrive “abstruse grand theories” of economics explaining how markets work…yup! It’s as simple as that…just like the Wizard of Oz….

Methinks the AuGirl really did him back to Kansas with his Gold Toto

I can testify that Moggy has been around… other places, by other names… way back.

So where is all that “mighty fine wine”… Jeremiah?

Thank you for the Astro insights, Dear Lady.  You know some of us do appreciate them.  Happy New Year!

Yup, ready for a Truman Matrix alias. Or Ant Farm. That was Orwell’s sequel to Animal Farm.

Kinda funny, I’m a dog man, you a cat lady…

http://youtu.be/as8K3H7Rros

Oh and that Jerimiah, he went by Farmboy at one time

Why would I think your in pain. I guess meaning were all in the same boat you I and everyone else is preaching to the choir. Things going on can cause anger and anger can be a destructive emotion that can cause things to go on with your health. Your usually a calmer articulate poster but last few posts although I agree with a lot of them seem to be say more vocal than norm.