Charisma and grace seems to be what is keeping Obama alive in the world of economic disaster. Unfortunately, that still seemed to be all he had during his State of the Union speech. In his ideal world, the “rich” should be paying at least 30% out the door when it’s all said and done. There has been a huge uproar about the tax history of Romney which is really frustrating because taxes shouldn’t be something that is imposed on someone to discourage them to create jobs and wealth. All the man is doing is actually TAKING the tax deductions and not complaining about the things that other people are doing. We live in an equal opportunity society minus government socialism. So people are free to do and get all the same deductions as the person next to them as long as they act. President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, proposed a minimum 30% tax on income over $1 million. High earners would lose deductions for mortgage interest, health care, retirement and child care. It’s a total misconception by the way for those who think that the rich have some sort of “safe haven” where just by being rich they don’t pay as high taxes. It’s the opportunities that they take and the measures that they go through to limit their tax liability, which is people who are rich or poor can do. Simple things include starting up small businesses for tax shelters, contributing to retirement (huge deduction for Romney), depreciating your home, and earning money through capital gains investments which are taxed at lower rates. So essentially, for Obama to come out and start picking on people who take advantage of these tax shelters, taxes are going to have to be raised big time for everyone to net at 30%. We’d be curious to see Obama’s tax records and inquire on how aggressive he is when he takes his deductions and write-offs since he seems to be so idealistic. Speaking of which, Obama gave only 1% of his income to charity while Romney gave 15%, how’s that for principles versus actions?! 

The Federal Reserve has performed the task of making up the difference in the economy between actual results and desired. CrushTheStreet.com is predicting more QE regardless of the form or name. The system the way it is just can’t sustain on its own and needs to be acted upon by an outside source to maintain some sort of temporary stability. The problem is, just like this long recession has finally hit the world, so will the continued actions of the government and the Fed.

Aztec Silver 

 

Silver Seek just put out a story that indicated that Karachi Jewelers are selling 600-700 1kg bars of silver each month. Mr. Ilyas, a silver dealer in Dubai, said that he thought the price of silver would be $58-60 by September, a spectacular gain on the price of $32 an ounce. His reasoning is that the shift from paper money to real assets will benefit silver more than gold. It also seems to be a shift in thinking from the rest of the world to the United States, where we still see silver and gold as just a commodity. Silver surged 8% last week and is up nearly 20% so far in 2012 – thereby outperforming the other precious metals and nearly all assets.

Gold is definitely an end game play. As we’ve pointed out in the past, people’s actions and beliefs drive markets more than anything else. The historical uses for gold as money will be the default for what people return to as things continue to unfold and come undone. Paul Brodsky, who co-founded QB Asset Management Company, had this to say about his firm’s strategy and where he sees things headed, “We’ve made our bets and whether the market for gold is $1,500 spot or $2,000 spot or $2,500 spot, it doesn’t matter to us.  We see gold is already extraordinarily undervalued given past inflation.  The price of gold should be over five times than where it is currently trading.  The fact that central planners are going to print more money means it should be even that much higher.” The time is coming for gold to truly reflect its value.

Gold Bars 

 

CrushTheStreet.com saw a story where India actually bought oil from Iran using gold. India certainly has the gold resources to fund the oil, while Iran is under pressure by the West, due to the continuation of its nuclear program. The implication of course is that they are doing this and taking steps to abandon the dollar and other fiat currency exchanges. It will be interesting to see if this plays out as an economic attack from the Arab world to the Western Nations. One thing is for sure, the hint of war to the Fed will surely put the members at our central bank in a good mood. 

Greece’s private creditors pleaded on Tuesday with European officials who rejected their bond swap offer to hammer together a deal before Athens tumbles into a chaotic default. It’s like trying to get a baby to read a book. There will likely be some frustration. A video of this story is posted on CrushTheStreet.com.

Japan is expected to announce first trade deficit in 3 decades. This will be something that they have not reported since 1980. Economists say Japan could have years of trade deficits if its currency remains strong and global demand for its exports continues to fall. Japan is still, after over 20 years, trying to get out of their pit of despair.

Reducing mortgage principal on government-owned mortgages would cost $100 billion for Fannie and Freddie which ultimately trickles down to the taxpayers. There has been some thoughts of doing this and ideas are being bounced around. Questions arose when FHFA analysis showed that Fannie and Freddie, as of June 30th, had nearly 3 million mortgages with outstanding balances estimated to be greater than the value of the home, and that principal forgiveness for all the loans would require funding of almost $100 billion.

CrushTheStreet.com has posted a video on our front page that goes over the current Greek crunch that they are currently dealing with. Will they default or will they borrow, that is the question. Visit CrushTheStreet.com for this video along with other news stories, articles, and live metals pricing.

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