Pirate Poop #7

Exclusive to STR

One Paycheck from Poverty

The median family has about $3,800 in the bank, does not have a retirement account, has a home worth $160,000 with a mortgage of $95,000. No mutual funds, stocks or bonds populate their investment portfolios. They make (jointly) $43,000 and struggle to pay off their $2,200 in credit card debt. That means 50% of Americans are in worse shape than the above. It is not a pretty picture. ~ John Mauldin

Half of the sheeple don't have much now, but just wait until the recession. They will lose one of their two jobs and then their home, but not right away. That $3,800 in the bank will be worth only $2,660 when the dollar falls 30%, and it will quickly disappear. Many will then max out their credit cards, before giving up and walking away from their debts.

This is the median family, not the overextended types who have been flipping houses the last five years, using them as ATMs to raise their standard of living, all based on debt. When reality finally catches up with local housing markets (and the dollar), the impacts will be staggering and broad, creating great opportunities for Pirates.

Real estate bargains will be abundant for those with ready cash, but where will potential buyers find cash in a recession? Pirates will simply sell some of their gold; its price (in dollars) has doubled since King George II was crowned. Pirates should be positioning themselves now to take advantage of the coming misfortunes of others.

News reports strongly suggest that a recession (or dollar crash) will come sooner than later. The dollar is already being avoided by some nations ( Russia , Venezuela , Syria , UAE, Iran , and probably China ), but so far they are not yet dumping dollars.

Instead, they are slowly, but surely, moving out of dollars and into something else, like euros, yuan, or gold. When the dumping finally starts, it will all be over very quickly.

Silver Should Do Well

Kenneth J. Gerbino writes, 'The supply/demand fundamentals on silver are even more positive than gold. Silver is also the poor mans' gold and there are billions of poor people in India and Asia , many who manage to save. Therefore, silver should have very strong demand going forward.

'With a new ETF in silver most likely coming to market, many market players have bought in anticipation of this event and this might be somewhat anticlimactic. But, if the gold ETFs have bought $6 billion of inventory in less than a year, then the approximate 250 million ounces of silver inventory in various warehouses may not be enough to handle the demand.'

Several new silver vehicles recently appeared, with more on the way. This is unusual for an industrial metal in a relatively small market, indicating that global interest is rising.

When the dollar crashes, I expect the current silver inventory to essentially disappear overnight. There will be plenty of willing buyers, but little supply. The price will zoom up and then plateau, waiting for someone to start selling.

Eventually, a major player will start selling, but instead of the price falling, I suspect it will then do just the opposite. Why? Because by then some sheeple will have finally seen the light and those with cash could drive the price up to $20 by the end of the year.

The major players (and early minor players) would then make out, selling at high prices as the late sheeple rush to get in on the action at the top.

As always, your mileage may vary; do your own homework.

Baby Boomers or Bums?

For all of the rhetoric about how much wealth the boomers possess, this article suggests a much more realistic version of what boomers can expect as they approach retirement.

Excessive spending, no savings, rising health care costs, several expensive divorces, disappearing pensions, and spoiled live-in adult children will all present serious retirement obstacles, with some boomers also raising grandchildren in their golden years, while their own children waste their lives on drugs, in prison, or absorbing IEDs.

Some overextended boomers are living far beyond their means and expecting the deflating housing bubble to still float their very expensive boats. They will soon find themselves high and dry, wondering what happened. Home prices always go up, right? History knows better; so do Pirates.

Overextended boomers will not be sailing off into the sunset of retirement; they will instead be walking the plank, after a flogging by the cat-o'-nine-tails of life: stupidity.

Navy Exchanges Fire With Suspected Pirates

Yet another real-world example of why you should be a modern Pirate, instead of a privateer or classic pirate of yesteryear.

Quote for the Week

For government, the federal budget is essentially a credit card with no spending limit, billed to somebody else. ~ Dr. Ron Paul

JCN: Beware the Man (or Woman) in the Gray Flannel Suit

Slave traders are alive and well, but they should never be confused with honorable Pirates. A slave trader makes the mafia look like Roy Rogers. You may ask, 'What does a slave trader do and how do you recognize one?'

Modern slave traders convince people (and nations) to take on debt until they become just like the serfs of the Middle Ages. They do this by convincing individuals (one at a time or a state at the same time) to borrow money that they don't have to buy things that they cannot afford and don't need anyway.

They also do this by involving the taxpayers of nations in wars and huge economic or social improvement projects. They ensure that those who get big contracts are their friends and benefactors. All of these things take money and the slave trader knows how to get it: just have central banks print it or simply steal it from taxpayers.

How does one recognize a slave trader? He (or she) will be well educated and always well dressed and chances are that they will work for one of the world's largest multi-national companies or financial institutions; they may even be running for public office.

The one thing they all have in common is that they will claim to be working to make the world better. Beware of the world improvers, especially if they intend to do it with OPM.

The questions you should always ask are: 'Better for whom? Is it really better? Better than what?' The slave trader is never the person who will have to pay the bill, or who will have their way of life gutted, or who will see their environment trashed. Slave traders have been busy throughout the ages and in every Empire.

Since WW I, when the last host nation ( Britain ) started its decline, they have been busy enslaving the Third World in a mountain of debt and turmoil. Now it is time to start finishing off the hometown USA team, before moving on to the next host nation that they have been preparing: China .

Before you buy that new McMansion, or take out a home equity loan, or support the next foreign adventure or public works project, or demand a new government benefit that the man in the nice suit offers you (or for that matter, use your credit card to buy the latest whatever), remember that you may be on your way to becoming the next victim of a modern slave trader.