Hydrokinetic Power

Hydrokinetic Power is the Next Wave in Cheap Energy
By Keith Fitz-Gerald, Chief Investment Strategist

In an era of cheap capital, emerging technology companies could provide investors the biggest bang for the buck we've seen in years.

The key is finding a market that already has billions of dollars in pent up demand - like cheap energy.

Of all the cheap alternatives available to us today, I'm most excited by hydrokinetic power systems for the simple reason that the oceans contain enough energy to potentially support more than 50% of US demand alone, according to the US Department of Energy.

In case you are not familiar with the term, hydrokinetic systems produce power from the water's kinetic energy. It's quite literally power from the motion in the ocean.

Critics charge there are limits involved because the technology we need to make, transmit and store wave-based energy is primitive and prohibitively expensive.

And they're right... it is, or at least has been to date.

That's why despite years of effort and billions of dollars in government-sponsored financing, there are a mere 5 megawatts of wave-generated energy being created worldwide.

According to Forbes Magazine, that's only enough to light 4,000 U.S. homes.

Yet studies estimate that two-thirds of the world's economically feasible hydropower has yet to be exploited. Perhaps not surprisingly, much of this untapped energy is concentrated in South America, Asia and Africa.

That's my kind of opportunity - but it will require a sea change in our thinking (pun absolutely intended).

The Rising Tide in Hydrokinetic Power

That's because traditional "alternative" power choices tend to evolve in terms of how applications like solar, hydro, thermal and gas production ties into the grid. As such, they're dependent on environmental variables that come and go.

On the other hand, hydrokinetic systems really are the grid. By placing turbines, bobbers and impellers into large bodies of water, they become part of the very system they're tapping into.

And it's a whopper of a system.
On the other hand, hydrokinetic systems really are the grid. By placing turbines, bobbers and impellers into large bodies of water, they become part of the very system they're tapping into.

And it's a whopper of a system.

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The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the total energy potential for hydrokinetic power may be 100 Gigawatts by 2050 or enough to power 67 million homes while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 80 million metric tons. That's, incidentally, the amount of power produced by 20-30 coal fired power plants. So we're not talking chump change here.

There are many benefits, not the least of which is continuity.

For example, despite the fact that Katrina wiped out an area the size of Great Britain and devastated many of the power plants in the area, the area's rivers kept flowing and the ocean kept producing waves.

In Japan, the situation is much the same. As recently as December 2011 only six of the nation's 54 reactors remained in operation, according to Marketwatch.

This is making fuel costs skyrocket and negatively impacting Japanese profit margins despite all the cash and effort being poured into that nation's recovery.

As an island nation that's heavily dependent on nuclear power with now extremely apparent risks, the potential for harvesting water is significant, considering that the entire nation is a series of islands quite literally surrounded by boundless energy.

Closer to home, we've got the Hudson, the Missouri and the Colorado Rivers to contend with in addition to strong tidal currents and waves along both coasts - all of which could be exploited for power production.

Environmentalists charge that the systems will disrupt natural habitats effectively creating gigantic blenders or cuisinarts that aren't fish friendly, create underwater acoustic pollution or otherwise disrupt maritime habitats.

Not to dismiss any of these concerns, but I think the demands outweigh the bureaucratic red tape in an age where energy demand is rising and rapidly becoming an issue of national security rather than luxury.

Two Hydrokinetic Power Companies to Keep an Eye On

Here are two companies worth watching. One is public and "investable" today. The other is still private but getting ready to commercialize a full-scale version of its core product.

Ocean Power Technologies (Nasdaq: OPTT) - Based in New Jersey, the company is tiny with a market cap of a mere $36.39 million and change. It's running at a loss and according to Yahoofinance.com sports negative earnings of $1.71 per share. That is entirely understandable when you recognize $120 million they've spent developing their proprietary PowerBuoy wave generators.

PowerBuoys look like gigantic thumbtacks comprised of a movable float, a base plate and a long spar that holds everything together. Each one is capable of producing 150 kilowatts using nothing more than the piston like action of waves.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) recently partnered with the company to help with development and logistics. Presumably Lockheed Martin will help with costs as well.

Earnings are scheduled for March 9 and I can hardly wait.

Columbia Power Technologies (still private) - Columbia is based in my backyard in nearby Corvallis, Oregon. Although it's still private, the Company is worth watching because it has already deployed a version of its SeaRay generator in Puget Sound and is set to commercialize its technology within the next two years.

Unlike the PowerBuoys, SeaRay generators look like a big oil barrel with floating wings. Essentially the core barrel, for lack of a better term, is a magnetic coil that produces energy when the wings move up and down on the waves. The intent is to use as few moving parts as possible - in this case two.

The company has partnered with angel investors and received some $8.5 million in grants from both the Department of Energy and U.S. Navy.

This month, they'll be retrieving the SeaRay from the water and beginning work on the full-scale version called a "Manta" with the intent to deploy it in 2013.

There is no word on commercialization yet but with more than 63% of anticipated wave-based energy capacity yet to be developed, there is undoubtedly time.

Not to mention "alternative" alternatives we haven't yet begun to envision but which are undoubtedly being developed in a garage somewhere.

How the "New Cold War" with China Will Change America's Future

How the "New Cold War" with China Will Change America's Future

December 8, 2011

Few things push the frontiers of the future more than an army's desire to defeat its enemies.

Just look at what happened to America after World War II. Our need to counter Soviet power delivered a tidal wave of innovation.

Defense spending led to the Internet, microwave ovens and GPS devices - not to mention millions of jobs from one of the great tech booms in history.

Now comes the "New Cold War" - one that will also prove a boon to a wide range of tech industries.

This time the United States is racing against China.

You see, the Pentagon recently announced plans to check Chinese ambition with a wide range of responses. They fall under a new program called "Air Sea Battle."

It has U.S. President Barack Obama's backing. The president told our Pacific Rim allies the U.S. will provide a safety net in the region. It's a clear signal to the Pentagon to get cracking on key research and development (R&D).

This certainly comes at an awkward time. The U.S. faces a daunting debt crisis. With Washington's failure to reach a budget compromise, big defense cuts loom.

That will hurt in the short run, no doubt. But over the long haul, as it has done several times in post-war history, the Pentagon will find ways to push new technology in an era of tight-money.

Forced to do more with less while challenging the Chinese, the Department of Defense (DoD) will invest in high-value technology.

Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about.

Virtual Battleground

Consider the impact this will have on cybersecurity and warfare. China tries to hack our defense computers and steal our most sensitive secrets almost daily.

Needless to say, we want to put an end to that. But we also want to learn how to shut down China's computer networks so we can defeat them without firing a single shot.

Consider what happened to Iran's nuclear program in late 2010.

Used as a cyber weapon, the Stuxnet virus crippled Iran's computers, putting the country's plan for atomic weapons at least two years behind schedule.

Of course, there's a civilian spinoff, which along with countless other viruses, poses a threat to average Americans, as well as U.S. corporations.

Making networks more secure would help banks, hospitals, and other firms protect sensitive data from hackers. It also will aid the fast-growing world of mobile commerce, which will soon become a major target for crafty cyber thieves.

That's not all.

The Not-So-Friendly Skies

Unmanned aerial vehicles clearly will get a lift from the New Cold War. Already, the U.S. makes great use of drones to fight terrorists.

And training pilots to operate drones remotely just got a big boost. Working at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) lab, a former Navy pilot wrote an iPhone app that allows anyone with a smart phone to learn the basics in a matter of minutes.

But the Navy has a much bigger goal -- to develop jet aircraft that can take off from and land on an aircraft carrier without a pilot.

It's one of the more daring feats in all of aviation.

Commercial flight would clearly benefit from these innovations. It would help the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to figure out how to fit unmanned aircraft into the nation's skies.

I predict they'll start with cargo planes and develop a bulletproof safety record before asking passengers to climb on board.

Communication is Key

The New Cold War also will push advances in how well machines "talk" to each other.

Where Air-Sea Battle is concerned, DoD leaders want stealth aircraft and submarines to work closely together. Inevitably, that will mean equipping both with advanced devices that can talk through deeply encrypted channels.

Of course, better machine communications also could boost the next generation of Internet technology known as the "Semantic Web." Currently, the web doesn't share data in a robust way. Instead, the information remains disconnected as though it were all stacked in lots of silos you can't easily see.

Think of the Semantic Web as a series of bridges linking millions of silos. Machines will develop the ability to understand the "semantics" of human language and give you the exact answer you need.

Of course, all this means artificial intelligence (AI) will get even better. That will have ramifications that impact the economy of the future.

Remember, China provides the U.S. with powerful reasons to push defense technology.

First of all, China's navy has harassed U.S. Navy ships and those of our allies in the South China Sea several times since 2009.

And second, its fast economic growth has fueled a large-scale weapons buildup.

Still, that plays to a major U.S. strength - using advanced technology to make each of our soldiers as lethal as several from an opposing army.

Indeed, if the United States wants to maintain its edge over China, it will have to invest in advanced weaponry. And that will improve America's future technology.

Investement ..may be.. where to go.. ??

We live in unprecedented times…

Despite the global fears of a Greek or Italian default and the subsequent destruction of the European banking system, oil prices are skyrocketing.

Can you believe it?

We’re on the verge of another global recession and oil prices are trading over $100 a barrel! It smells fishy. Could the big Wall Street hedge funds or the giant oil companies play games with oil prices? Of course they could… and it wouldn’t be the first time.

Every time I fill up at the pump, I feel like I’m being mugged.

Instead of getting mad, I’m getting even. I’m going to make money from all this oil nonsense… and you can too.

he key to how much money you have in your bank account in the near future... Sits atop every high-rise building in just about every city in the world. New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Vancouver-- it really doesn't matter... If you're up high enough, what do you see when you look out? You see cars driving to and fro, trains zigzagging across the landscape, planes taking off and landing, steam pouring out of factories, and lights aglow in every house and on every street corner... This scene plays out every day, like clockwork, in hundreds of cities throughout the world. And where most people see nothing but the normal goings-on of humanity, we see something else... "There's a lot of money to be made in the energy markets" - The Wall Street Journal, September 2010 I see MONEY. Money to pay off your mortgage... Money to put your kids and grandchildren through college... Money to buy cars, boats, vacations, and second homes... And money to fund a glorious retirement years earlier than you ever imagined. You see, all that activity going on below requires one thing- ENERGY. Lots and lots of energy. And right now the world's at a point where it's starting to consume more energy than it produces. And as you'll see in a minute, it's only going to get worse. But where most people see a problem, we see an opportunity... An energy boom unlike anything the world has ever seen. Not since the turn of the 20th century (when countless average Americans became millionaires just by catching the trend) has an opportunity this epic presented itself... And that's why I've written this letter. In the pages that follow, you're about to discover the stocks that hold the key to this whole opportunity. Conservative early estimates indicate as much as 9,918% gains for investors who get in right now- before worldwide energy demand really heats up. That's enough to turn every five grand into nearly half a million dollars! And by the time you finish reading this letter, you'll know more than 99% of the investors out there... including why this is virtually guaranteed to happen... when it's all set to begin... and which stocks to buy to get the biggest gains possible... Now let's get right to the details... "Worldwide Demand For Energy Is SOARING... And It's Created An Unprecedented Opportunity" Imagine investing in Microsoft, before the PC revolution... Ford, before the industrial revolution... or Google before the internet revolution... Then multiply that by a factor of 10... that's what could happen because of what's going on with worldwide energy demand right now. And it's not the United States driving it.... It's China, India and other developing countries. Consider this, right now there are about 300 million people living in the US. That's less than 5% of the world's population. Yet, this 5% uses 25% of the world's energy. Now, according to Euromonitor, in the next 10-15 years, China's middle class will be about 700 million people and India's will be 585 million. That means over 1.2 billion people will enter the middle class lifestyle very soon (that's over 4 times the ENTIRE population of the United States!) Guess what happens when people enter the middle class lifestyle? That's right. They buy cars, homes, televisions, computers, and appliances... All of which use enormous amounts of energy. In fact, the Energy Information Administration projects developing countries in Asia (led by China and India) will triple their electricity generation by 2035. And I'm sure you can imagine what all this will do to demand for oil and similar fuels! Look, all this energy must come from SOMEWHERE... And the bottom line is this: These developing nations are going through a once-in-a-lifetime demographic shift that's going to have a profound effect on the world's demand for energy. But that's only half the equation... It's what's happening to the other half that could allow you to make more money than you ever dreamed of... "The World Simply Doesn't Have Enough Energy To Meet All This Demand" The simple fact is, world oil supply seems to have peaked. Now, we're not saying the world is running out of oil. We're simply saying many of the world's larger oil wells can no longer be counted on to increase supply. It's well established that US production peaked in the 1970s and the Middle East appears to be peaking right NOW! There's lots of solid proof of this 'Peak Oil' theory out there (the best being a book called "Twilight In The Desert" by Matt Simmons). But for a real life demonstration of this phenomenon, you don't need to look any further than what happened when oil prices skyrocketed in 2007. Between 2007 and 2008, oil prices surged from about $50 a barrel to nearly $150! The entire energy industry was pumping oil as fast as they could. Wells were being drilled in record time. "Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century, and one thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over." - David J. O'Reilly, Chairman & CEO, Chevron Corporation Saudi Arabia, the king of oil producers, threw open their taps. They were producing at peak capacity of 9.6 million barrels a day… but it wasn’t enough. Saudi Arabia no longer seemed able to increase production. Even with oil going for $147 a barrel! The world simply wasn’t getting enough oil out of existing wells. And it wasn’t just Saudi Arabia… all over the world, oil production was running at full steam… and falling short of demand. According to the Energy Information Administration, 86.3 million barrels of oil were being used per day. However, supply only reached 84.5 million barrels. The world was upside down by 1.8 million barrels… every day! And prices skyrocketed. Now eventually oil prices and demand came back down to earth because of the recession and financial crisis… But the problem was exposed… Whether you subscribe to the 'Peak Oil' theory or not, there's no denying that current energy supply is not keeping up with demand. And the imbalance is only going to get worse when another billion people or two reach the middle class in the next decade or so! But with every crisis comes opportunity. Companies who are able to meet this growing energy demand stand to profit in a BIG WAY… and you can too! Here's what savvy investors can look forward to... "Is 100 Times Your Money Really Possible?" We think it is... here's why. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, energy has created more millionaires than just about any other industry. It's THAT important to our way of life... And because of this, new discoveries of energy, whether oil in the ground or fuel cells for your car, always see enormous profits for the companies involved. So it should come as no surprise that a HUGE percentage of the world's billionaires made their money in energy. And with what's happening on the world stage RIGHT NOW, we could be entering another 'boom' period where savvy investors who stay ahead of the curve make an absolute killing! Just take a look at the kinds of explosive gains this sector has experienced in the last decade or so: Petrol Industries soared 2,565% in just 2 months... Miller Petroleum skyrocketed 20,235% since the end of 2007... Petrobras gained 3,686%... Chesapeake shot up 6,094% in 2003... 1st Calgary Petroleums rocketed 19,165% in 4 1/2 years... Just $2,000 invested in each of these companies would've netted you $1,034,900 -- over 100 times your money! And remember, this doesn't include any compounding or rolling your gains into the next winner. And these 5 aren't even the top performers! Yet these are exactly the types of returns that are possible within this amazing sector. And these all occurred with oil under $150 a barrel... ...can you imagine what will be possible when a dwindling energy supply is met with 'runaway train' demand from developing nations... and oil soars to $175, $250, even $300 a barrel! ... and some tiny, unknown company puts solar panels on every building in the world? ... or when China builds 1,000 new nuclear reactors? ... and someone develops a car that gets 200 miles to the gallon? ... or when automobile engines start running on natural gas? The potential returns in the coming months and years could be absolutely ASTRONOMICAL! And while we'd love to think we're the only ones who see this opportunity, the truth is... "The Smart Money Is Already Starting To Pour In..." That's right. Love 'em or hate 'em, some of the biggest (and smartest) institutions in the world are making gigantic bets on the energy sector RIGHT NOW... Goldman Sachs... Vanguard... Oppenheimer... Blackrock... Wellington... The Big Boys Are Convinced! Goldman Sachs Owns: 1,875,908 shares of Alliant Energy 876,955 shares of Anadarko Petroleum 1,515,503 shares of Brigham Exploration 5,233,734 shares of Forest Oil 1,574,522 shares of TC Pipelines Vanguard Institutional Owns: 36,660,733 shares of Exxon Mobil 8,554,190 shares of Schlumberger 2,418,789 shares of Apache 2,418,789 shares of Nat'l Oilwell Varco 1,373,333 shares of Murphy Oil Oppenheimer Owns: 209,043 shares of Cenovous Energy 253,817 shares of Gulfmark Offshore 1,123,756 shares of Petroquest Energy 269,558 shares of Spectra Energy 100,900 shares of Yingli Green Energy Blackrock Owns: 4,353,730 shares of Advantage Oil & Gas 420,793 shares of Centerpoint Energy 860,159 shares of El Paso 1,366,485 shares of Haliburton 2,103,632 shares of Petrohawk Energy These powerful players now own MILLIONS of shares of energy companies all over the world. That translates into literally BILLIONS of dollars... ... all focused squarely on the energy sector. They've taken big positions in oil drillers, exploration companies, pipelines, natural gas plays, uranium mines, solar stocks, coal transporters, wind farms, oil tankers, power plants... You name just about anything related to energy and they've already staked their claim! And it's not just institutions... Big individual investors and hedge funds are loading the boat as well... Billionaire investors Warren Buffett, T. Boone Pickens, and George Soros have all recently been snapping up shares of energy stocks like there's a fire sale! And legendary investor Carl Icahn just invested an additional ONE BILLION DOLLARS into the sector! Do you think these guys might know something the investment public doesn't? Of course they do... And they stand to make a whole heck of a lot of money as this 'energy revolution' plays out. If history tells us anything, it's these are the guys you should pay attention to. They've made literally billions of dollars for themselves- and their investors- by getting in early and riding the trend for all its worth! "One Trillion Dollars- Up For Grabs!" That’s the estimated opportunity staring companies and investors in the face! It’s just a matter of how that’s going to be divvied up… You see, as worldwide demand begins outstripping supply, you'll see the prices of conventional energy sources skyrocket. Oil, coal, natural gas-- things like that. And when that happens, it'll be a boon for companies dealing in these conventional energy sources... but it'll also open the door for alternatives like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass. "It's now dead obvious the boom is here." - Business Insider It may not make sense to throw up a wind farm when oil's bumping around $60 a barrel. But what happens when that same barrel of oil costs $250? Then wind makes much more economical sense- and the world will flock to it. And I'm not just singling out wind energy; the same can be said for all other sources of energy as well. This thing is going to be so big, it will positively affect virtually ALL forms of energy- including those yet to be discovered or invented! And of course... the 'energy revolution' is going to make investors an absolute fortune. Let me explain... Exxon Mobil is spending billions on oil exploration and production- their "bread and butter". But they're also spending billions buying up energy assets in other areas. Most notably, they just plunked down $41 BILLION to buy XTO Energy- a big domestic player in natural gas. Consol Energy, a major player in coal, just spent $3.5 billion buying electricity generator Dominion. As part of the deal, Consol will also get the rights to 500,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale- a natural gas play. And NRG Energy, a big utility company, recently gained a foothold in the renewable energy business by shelling out $350 million to buy Green Mountain Energy. These are MAJOR players, my friend. And they're not doing all this just for fun. They're doing it because they know there's literally billions of dollars to be made preparing for all the new energy demand that's coming online very soon. But there's a catch for investors like us... The big money's not going to be made on Exxon Mobil, Consol Energy or NRG... Fact is, giant energy companies have been swallowing up tiny firms for years. You see, investing in any of the big players will only net you a fraction of the 'energy revolution' profits you could be making at this very moment. For the monster payouts, you have to go beyond the obvious behemoths, and... "Play The Stocks With The Most To Gain From The 'Energy Revolution'" You don't have to be a genius to realize that Exxon Mobil, Consol, and NRG stand to make billions in profits as the 'energy revolution' unfolds. But the fact is, smaller players will see their stocks shoot up much, much more. Listen: No matter how high the demand for energy goes, and no matter how many billions the big boys rake in- these companies are simply too big for these newfound profits to make an enormous difference in their balance sheets. For proof, how often do you see an established blue-chip company like Exxon Mobil rocket up 2,000% or more? You're right. NEVER! But with small cap stocks, it happens all the time -- especially in the energy sector. Take a look at these recent gems: CGC Veritas- shot up 2,422% Range Resources- roared up 6,687% Smith International skyrocketed 18,304% Devon Energy gained 2,590% EOG Resources up 2,841% Eden Energy exploded 41,150% And these are just a few examples. We could see many, many more of these in the very near future as the energy bull gains steam! Of course, you can still play the bigger names if you want to... that's who all the big media networks and analysts are going to talk about when all this happens. But doing that would be like getting in on the top floor and waiting for them to build more onto the roof! For example, take a look at what Apache's stock did from late 2007 to early 2010... Over that time, it was up 7-8%, not great but neither was the overall market. But take a look at what a smaller, nimbler player did over the same time period... As you can see, Miller Petroleum skyrocketed 21,900%- now that's more like it! That by itself is enough to turn every $5,000 into over a MILLION BUCKS! Look, in my mind there's no point wasting your time with the obvious. We're going for the real money here... There's absolutely no reason why you can't get a piece of the action too! And there's no better place to start than with... "3 Tiny Natural Gas Stocks Set To Skyrocket Thanks To Our Friends In Washington..." There's something big happening in Washington right now... ... and most investors don't have a clue about it. It's a piece of legislation that could have an ENORMOUS impact on the way the transportation industry operates in the United States. And as it stands now, this legislation would be an absolute boon for 3 very small stocks you've probably never heard of... You see, the piece of legislation is called the Natural Gas Act. And what it would do is require all government vehicles to convert from diesel and gasoline to natural gas. That means you'd have thousands of vehicles being retrofitted with engines and equipment that allows them to operate on natural gas. You think there might be an opportunity here? Imagine what this would do to a company that makes natural gas storage tanks for cars and trucks. Or a company drilling for natural gas deposits in the Haynesville Shale deposits. Or a company that specializes in natural gas pipelines. Well you can quit imagining because we've identified 3 tiny companies that do everything I just mentioned.... And the passage of the Natural Gas Act, in whole or even in part, could send their shares through the roof. As leaders in this revolutionary movement, there's no telling how high these stocks can go. Companies who've benefitted from similar situations have seen their stocks rise This is just a samary to look around and help yourself find the right investment

Obama's Housing Plan

Obama's Housing Plan: Subsidizing the Terminally Stupid
By Martin Hutchinson, Global Investing Strategist

President Obama on Oct. 24 announced yet another housing bailout.

This time, borrowers who are underwater by more than 25%, are on time with their payments, and have Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mortgages dating before March 2009 will be allowed to refinance their home mortgages at cheaper rates.

That looks to me like subsidizing the terminally stupid.

Housing loans are non-recourse in most states. So if you're underwater on your home loan by more than 25% and you're paying an above market interest rate of say 6% on your loan, you're paying around 10% of the value of your house to the bank every year (including principal) while being unable to move. Since rental yields are in the 4% to 6% range, you'd be much better off walking away from the house, taking the hit to your credit rating, and renting for a few years.

The problem with all these federal schemes to assist underwater homeowners is that they prevent the market from clearing. That leaves an overhang of properties with owners who either cannot pay the mortgage or have a mortgage hugely larger than the value of their home.

In a free market, a tsunami of foreclosures would have occurred by now, and buyers could be sure that a price bottom had been reached. But in today's market, even though the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index has shown signs of bottoming out, buyers know there is a lot of artificial support being applied and have no assurance that the market won't lurch downwards again after they have bought.

Yet, economically, conditions are right for the housing market to bottom out.

Third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was up at a 2.5% rate, and, more importantly, private sector output rose at a 3% rate. That isn't a raging boom, but it shows that there is no immediate prospect of the economy sliding back into recession.

Interest rates are close to record lows. House prices, having returned on average to about 2002 levels, are now as affordable as they were at the bottom of the last downturn in the early 1990s.

The rental market also is showing considerable signs of strength. Economic recovery and an uncertain housing market are driving people into renting and pushed rents up. That, together with the overhang of pre-foreclosure homes, is now the principal obstacle to further housing recovery.

Of course, in the more economically vibrant areas of the country, such as the Mountain states and Texas, where unemployment is low, both home purchase and buy-to-rent deals are very attractive for those who can obtain mortgage finance.

The Gold Price Conspiracy

The Gold Price Conspiracy Uncle Sam Doesn't Want You to Know About

October 5, 2011

By Peter Krauth, Global Resources Specialist, Money Morning

Is it really so preposterous to believe the United States and Europe would conspire to keep pole position in the global financial system?

I don't think so - and neither does China.

That much was revealed in a diplomatic cable recently uncovered by Wikileaks.

According to the 2009 cable from the U.S. embassy, China believes the United States and Europe have, as a matter of policy, suppressed the price of gold to discourage its use as a reserve currency.

And there's a pretty compelling case to be made for a gold price conspiracy.

The Gold Price Conspiracy

The cable summarized several commentaries in Chinese news media sources on April 28, 2009.

"The U.S. and Europe have always suppressed the rising price of gold," it reads. "They intend to weaken gold's function as an international reserve currency. They don't want to see other countries turning to gold reserves instead of the U.S. dollar or Euro. Therefore, suppressing the price of gold is very beneficial for the U.S. in maintaining the U.S. dollar's role as the international reserve currency."

According to the cable, China believes that by building its gold reserves, it can not only safeguard itself against the declining value of the dollar, but encourage central banks around the world to expand their gold purchases, as well.

"China's increased gold reserves will thus act as a model and lead other countries towards reserving more gold," the cable said. "Large gold reserves are also beneficial in promoting the internationalization of the RMB."

Now, if all we had were the Chinese claiming the U.S. and Europe were suppressing gold prices, it would be easy to disregard as superficial propaganda.

But in fact, there's evidence that supports this claim.

In the decade between 1999 and 2009, central banks - dominated by the West - were net sellers of gold in every single year. And that's despite the fact that gold in that time soared from $250 an ounce to $1,200 per ounce - a nearly 400% gain.

Then there's the infamous "Brown Bottom."

Between 1999 and 2002, Gordon Brown, then U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer (and later Prime Minister), decided to sell nearly half of his nation's gold reserves. At the time, just the advance notice of these substantial sales drove gold's price down from $282.40 an ounce to $252.80.

Those gold sales yielded an average price of $275 an ounce, raising a total of $3.5 billion. Today, those 395 tons of gold would be valued more than $19 billion.

You have to admit, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to sell a solid asset whose price is moving steadily higher each year - especially when the United Kingdom's debt problem then wasn't nearly as bad as it is today.

The answer: Because there's a conspiracy afoot.

Gold Dust on The Fed's Hands

Here's more damning evidence.

A U.S. District Court this year ordered the U.S. Federal Reserve to disclose to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) the minutes of an April 1997 meeting of the G-10 Gold and Foreign Exchange Committee, as compiled by an official Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

And it's a bombshell. The minutes suggest that officials from the G-10 governments and their central banks were, in fact, conspired to synchronize their policies to affect the gold market.

It turns out that U.S. policymakers aren't just worried about preserving the dollar's role as the world's main currency reserve. They're also worried about the effects higher gold prices could have on the nation's debt burden.

The minutes include comments by a U.S. delegate identified only as "Fisher," which is likely Peter. R. Fisher, head of open market operations and foreign exchange trading for the New York Fed.

Fisher, the minutes say, made the case that rising gold prices would increase U.S. debt.

Fisher "explained that U.S. gold belongs to the Treasury. However, the Treasury had issued gold certificates to the Reserve Banks, and so gold also appears on the Federal Reserve balance sheet," the minutes say. "If there were to be a revaluation of gold, the certificates would also be revalued upwards; however [to prevent the Fed's balance sheet from expanding] this would lead to sales of government securities. So the net benefit to Treasury would need to be carefully calculated, since sales of government securities would expand the public portfolio of government securities and hence also expand the Treasury's debt-servicing burden."

Indeed, Fisher's remarks are an open acknowledgement that the United States has an interest in suppressing the price of gold.

So, clearly, there is a growing body of evidence that Western governments, central banks, and even some of the largest investment banks have a vested interest to subdue the price of gold. Furthermore, they've already acted on behalf of that interest.

But now the tide is turning. The dollar and the euro are on the ropes and emerging markets have been steadily increasing their gold purchases.

While authorities in developed countries are making it more difficult for investors to build gold holdings, large China and other developing markets are doing just the opposite. They're actually encouraging their populations to adopt physical gold and gold investments like futures and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

So I think it's high time the average Westerner looked to the East for cues on wealth preservation and their attitude towards gold.

President Obama's Deficit-Reduction Plans

In the last 10 days, U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled three distinct deficit-reduction plans to solve the nation's economic problems.

While all three have their good points, each has its own set of problems, too - including the time-consuming political firestorm we can expect to see as the plans are debated in Congress.

We can make some educated guesses about how this will all play out - and how the final plans will help or hurt the American economy. But the bottom line is that you as an investor can't wait to see how the deficit-reduction saga ends: You need to take action now.

So let's take a look at the proposals, the likely outcomes - and the moves you need to make immediately.

A Trio of Deficit-Reduction Plans

President Obama has unveiled three overhaul plans for the U.S. economy - a "jobs" plan, an "offset" plan and a "deficit-reduction" plan.

Of the three, the "offset plan" that calls for reductions in tax deductions is clearly the best. But there are some good ideas in the other deficit-reduction plans, too - not to mention a couple of real stinkers.

Here's a look at each of the three plans - the good, the bad ... and the downright ugly.

The "Jobs" Plan: President Obama's jobs plan is a mix of spending on infrastructure and providing aid to state and local governments, both of which were tried in 2009 and didn't work.

Government infrastructure spending is appallingly expensive in the United States - in fact, it costs more than twice as much here as anywhere else - because of the additional restrictions on its design and labor usage.

However, the Obama jobs plan also included a 3% reduction in employees' Social Security contributions (expanding and extending the current one-year reduction of 2%). Finally, it included a 3% reduction in employers' Social Security contributions, but only for wage bills up to $5 million.

For me, it's the last provision that made most sense and should be extended. Reducing employers' Social Security contributions by 3% reduces the cost of labor - which should expand the demand for it.

Look at it this way: If the "price elasticity" of labor is 50% (estimates for this piece of economic jargon are all over the place, but 50% is about the midpoint), then a full 3% reduction in labor costs should increase demand for labor by 1.5%, or about 2.2 million jobs.

That would reduce the unemployment rate by about 1.2%, taking it from 9.1% to 7.9%. To me, that's well worth doing.

Naturally, the Social Security trust fund can't afford to do this every year, but it should certainly be done for two years, because employer-hiring decisions take time to implement (and because U.S. unemployment still will be higher than we'd like in 2013).

But that's not all. There should be no "Mickey Mouse" restrictions to $5 million payrolls - it's just as important to encourage hiring at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) or Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) as it is to promote hiring at the local corner store.

The cost of this would be about $300 billion, and would be evenly split between 2012 and 2013.

This alone is such a good idea that you could probably abandon the rest of the so-called "stimulus."

What is Ramadan all about is simple lines

Rammdan the month we need for all the year...

            One month pass, 29day and Muslims were fasting, means not eating or drinking anything from the sun rise to the sun set.

                I did and every Muslim I know did.

     But what is the Real meaning of fasting the whole month.. Is that punshment from GOD to us or teaching us something really good...?

   The Real principle behind Muslim fasting is not only get the feeling of hunger but also get the sense is to real fast spiritually.

  So what is the spiritual fasting to Muslim and what they should get out of it?

  First of all...fasting is really a secret relationship between the person and GOD.

 That means I could say I am fasting and I am not so we learnt how to have faith of GOD and believe that he is there for us, seeing us being with his spirit with us, It is the honesty between ourself inside deep in our sole that God with his spirit, the creator of the whole world is happy with us by obaying him and stop eating and drinking which is may be harmful to the human being if they did for long time (non fasting is permited for certain conditions)

     So is teaching us, Good faith in God, and obidaness to the creator so from there if he teaches us things like how to obay him we should do what he said to us.

    A creator for an any machine put a manual, for example, just to know how to treat the machine...right so...we got our manual from the creator...

   How to treat ourselfs and the others...

One of the most important principals comes with any wholy book... our Qoran, never changed for 1400 years...

   I believe that RAMADAN in its core point teachs us how to treat ourselfs, others and the most from that will lead to obaying GOD.

      If we could garanteed 6-things, Heaven is garanteed, as writen

Keep your eyes of looking out for what is not yours

  Keep your hand away from what is not yours

Keep down there from doing things without marriage

  Keep fair when you buy or sell

Keep your Tung from say things is not true

  Keep your promises when you give it away

Simple and easy...but something needs training your sole  around it, Why because we have another creations around us,live with us,they can see us but we can not, they tell us what to do to make things wrong or againest what God ask us how to treat ourselfs.

So Ramadan is not just to stop eating but is to stop wrong habites, atitudes and traditions.

Specialy for us as minorities living outside the Muslim atmosphires.

There are so many things we could about Ramadan...But I wish all the year is Ramadan so we could be always close to each other and good to GOD.