For Your Week-end Reading Pleasure
Here's some short excerpts from several articles that I encourage you to click on and read the full article.

It’s All About Gold Now
In a new book called “Currency Wars,” Wall Street insider Jim Rickards examines how countries try to get out of financial trouble by devaluing their currencies. Rickards says, “Today, as yesterday, countries are attempting to devalue their way out of trouble. Following the strategy of beggar-thy- neighbor, the U.S., Europe, China and Japan all want to weaken their currencies. The flaw in the tactic should be clear. “Not everyone could cheapen at once,” Rickards writes. “The circle still could not be squared.” (Click here to read a book review by Bloomberg.) Rickards predicts the U.S. dollar’s future is not bright, and if there were a “catastrophic collapse of investor confidence,” the dollar’s buying power could suffer suddenly and dramatically in a global sell off.

Gold would be the big beneficiary if the dollar declined, and Rickards’ top price for gold per ounce is–wait for it–$44,552! That price is the absolute highest possibility. Rickards and others predict that in the next few years, America will go back on some sort of gold standard. Meaning, the dollar will be backed by gold, but Rickards has stated on many occasions that there probably will not be a100% gold backed U.S. dollar. Instead, Rickards contends it will be more in the neighborhood of 40%. If that is the case, then gold would be $17,821 per ounce using Rickards numbers. It appears gold prices are going much higher.



US Federal Prosecutions For Financial Fraud In the Obama Administration Fall to 20 Year Lows

The declines in US Federal prosecutions for financial fraud that began under G.W. Bush have followed that down trend that in the first three years of the Obama Administration. That might make more sense if Obama had not been elected as a reform president in response to one of the greatest financial frauds in American history.

In the first three years of the Obama Administration, federal prosecutions have been running at new highs. Over half of the prosecutions involve illegal immigration. Another 17% are drug related.

Illegal immigrants and drug dealers have the reputation for being notoriously cheap in providing campaign contributions.

Prosecutions for financial fraud however have dropped to the lowest levels in over 20 years.


Gold and the Dot-Coms: Comparing the Bubbles
MarketWatch.com
Investor enthusiasm is particularly keen on the yellow metal, around $1,800 an ounce. How does gold's rise compare to the rise of the Nasdaq Composite Index during the 1990s? Mark Hulbert does the charting, and comes away with compelling findings. Laura Mandaro reports.