Servias Ministries Blog

The German High Court paved the way for more quantitative easing in Europe.  Essentially, the European Central Bank can now start up the printing press.  The southern Eurozone countries are addicted to debt much like drug addiction.  European Leaders think they can wean the patient off of their lifestyle.  Think again.

Weaning people away from their lifestyle can only be done by a change in the heart.  Forced lifestyle changes will cause an adversarial relationship with the populous and will ultimately result in something akin to the Arab Spring.  The powerful are only in power while the citizens can be manipulated into thinking that all is well.  It is better never to give away an expectation of lifestyle than to set an expectation then remove it.  Nobody wants to give up something they are accustomed to.

The U.S. is in a similar situation but actually worse.  Lenders promoted instant gratification by mortgaging future cash flow.  In my earlier years, we were encouraged to buy the largest possible house we could afford.  The house would appreciate in value and we were almost certain to make a boatload of money.  This plan assumed that we would not lose our job and miss our mortgage payments.  Instead, my family decided to only buy what we truly could afford and saved the excess cash for the future.  Our plan worked and I slept better.

Extreme leverage will force someone to endure pain- either the borrower, the lender, or both.  On a macro scale I believe the answer will be both.  The fiat currency experiment of the last several decades will prove to conclude like those of history.  We are no smarter than our ancestors.  We only used a lot more technology to achieve the same result.  Technology does not improve wisdom and understanding, it only speeds up the judgment from poor decision-making.

Until an addict has a heart change, it matters not what you do to try to solve the problem.  The addict will move toward desperation in his attempts to satisfy his craving.  That is when it could get ugly.

The U.S. ended the war in Iraq.  However, there is another war raging and I’m not talking about Afghanistan.  The war I’m talking about is the global currency war.  The U.S. needs a weak currency to stimulate exports and if the U.S. Dollar get devalued, other currencies must get stronger.  It is a self-contained system that seeks an equilibrium of sorts.  In the global basket of currencies that allow trade among nations, they all have exchange rates that float on a daily basis.  Since there is currently no gold standard, the central banks will use the printing press to move their currency up or down.  If the U.S. wants a stronger currency, they slow down the printing presses and provide less dollars to the system.  Both the U.S. and China want cheaper currencies.  On the other hand, Europe needs its currency to rise because it is getting too cheap.  The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has reduced the demand for Euros as the big money has moved to the U.S. Dollar.  In the electronic age, money moves in microseconds, no ships needed.

The challenge of keeping currencies in balance is huge.  Central banks must do a balancing act with domestic employment and inflation on either side.  Without the gold stabilizer factor, this becomes a highly complex affair.  When one country begins to suffer high unemployment, the money printing presses start up.  Actually, the printing presses have been replaced with the stroke of a computer key.  That is the only simple aspect of this system.

Since 25% of the world’s GDP is the U.S., Bernanke wields the biggest stick.  The global commercial money is the U.S. Dollar thus the Federal Reserve Bank can fine tune the global payment system to the benefit of the U.S.  Each and every time another nation attempts to circumvent the current system, they tend to come up against insurmountable issues such as war, a military coup, UN sanctions, sudden death by lead poisoning (bullets), etc.

The strongest and most advanced military in the world polices the compliance requirement of the current system.  It is like I always say about those in control: if they have a gun, badge, and a prison, they make the rules.  Theory is does not matter when they show up at your door.

Nobody wants a strong currency when their economy is not growing and that is the case in most every country around the world.  A currency war creates a downward spiral in value of all the currencies around the world.  The currencies decreasing in value  relative to what?  Commodities.  Real assets.  If the downward spiral occurs to quickly, it is called hyperinflation.  If at the same time the currency devaluation has no effect on employment, the result is higher prices and higher unemployment.  If companies are paying higher prices for goods and services, they will cut staff and further exacerbate the problem.  The final outcome is a hyperinflationary depression.  If this occurs, the strongest country will confiscate hard assets in an attempt to stabilize the system.  Gold will be the target just as it was in the 1930’s.   This is why I prefer silver as part of my insurance policy.  Even then I have no guarantee that they won’t touch it or severely tax it as well.

Since much of the official gold of many countries is physically located in New York City, confiscation for stabilization purposes will be easy.  This concentration of reserves would allow the President of the United States to exercise his power for the “greater good” and move the reserves to a secure location away from NYC.  If that were to happen, you can be assured that the current financial system is in the final hour of its existence.

While the two political parties are slugging it out for the White House, the National Debt continues to climb.  Over the course of the last 6 years I have shared the economic realities facing America as well as the globe.  Peak Oil is still here though horizontal drilling has taken the focus away from the big issue of oil reserves.  Sure, you can extract more oil and gas faster but that doesn’t change the amount in the ground.

The economy is still not growing.  Every dollar of additional debt is only yielding about 4 cents of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).  What a poor investment!  No private company would ever consider that investment.  Inflation is busy robbing the savers of the hard-earned wealth.  It won’t be long before they say “Remember when hamburgers were only five dollars?”.

The barometer of value is gold.  It’s not that gold is increasing in value, the currencies are decreasing in value relative to gold.  Gold cannot be manipulated over the long haul although central bankers would love to be able to do that very thing.  Those of us who bough quality gold and silver stocks this summer are now being rewarded for our patience and courage to not sell when we saw our purchases dip lower.

There is much rhetoric among both candidates about reducing the debt, that is the “official” debt.  I am more concerned about the unofficial debt that is conveniently missing from the $16 Trillion number.  As reported recently, the overall unfunded liability of the U.S. is calculated at $222 Trillion.  Watch out below!

I have no particular love affair with gold or silver.  However Our Heavenly Father established the two metals’ value in Scripture.  If it is good enough for HIM, it is good enough for me as well.  Each generation of economic thinkers suggest an alternative to the gold standard.  Each and every time in the past when the gold standard was removed, the same thing resulted- failure of fiat currencies.  Why do we think this time will be any different?

As I can afford it, I continue to buy hard asset stocks and/or metal.  I must keep enough cash on hand to handle expenses and unexpected events.  At some point gold and silver will go parabolic in price.  At that time it may be wise to convert to other assets.  Until then, I will hold my positions and accumulate on price dips.

See: http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-2500-gold-six-months-2012-9#ixzz25jNMcMyf

Bill Gross of PIMCO likes the gold investment as well.  See:  http://bloom.bg/OPEmbE

What happens after six months?  One technical analyst see gold at roughly $32,000 by 2016.  If hyperinflation occurs, the relative value of the U.S. Dollar could produce the exponential graph shown in this link.  See: http://www.sharelynx.com/chartstemp/GoldeWave.php

How much discipline does the populace have?  The current generation is not known for its unyielding tenacity in the face of adverse circumstances, that was the previous generation who went through the Great Depression.  This generation is known for its entitled view of life.  Our parents wanted more for us as children.  The goal of most parents was to send the children to college to insure the Great American Dream of a good job with higher pay.  Instead college students are now being exploited by the higher education system.  Regents think nothing of saddling students with skyrocketing student loans.  Students think nothing of borrowing money for their college education that could easily pay for a starter house.  Many will leave college to flip burgers at the local McDonalds and will pay for student loans for a degree that has no labor market value at this time.  The student loan bubble looms.  Both the higher education and financial industries are guilty of creating a bubble and promoting the illusion that a college degree guarantees success.

People vote their pocketbooks not their principles.  Who can guarantee them transfer payments such as food stamps and housing assistance?  Lyndon Johnson created a welfare state that continues to this day.  Instead of eliminating poverty, he perpetuated the problem.  Churches failed to take care of the poor but instead built mega-churches to fulfill the pastor’s ego of his own little kingdom.  Nobody questions the underutilization of the church facilities.  What a waste!  Government took up the slack since churches failed to respond to the needs of the community.

Ben Bernanke will choose the path of least resistance.  Unlike Paul Volcker, Ben will print more money and perpetuate the wasteful problem of financial fraud and bank insolvency masked by Ponzi accounting principles.  How could we let this happen?  The populace is a reflection of the church and the church has failed to live by the principles set forth in Scripture.  The lawlessness found in the pews has been a template for the overall lawlessness in the land.  Our Heavenly Father will not allow this to prevail much longer.  The Fiery Law will consume the dross that has infiltrated the current system.  The fleshly man will be dealt with and the Spirit man will ascend with the principles founded on Love and lawfulness.  Of course Our Heavenly Father has been preparing HIS overcomers in their own higher education and training.  It has been painful at times and certainly is not known to be the path of least resistance.  Strength comes by resistance and I expect the overcomers to be strong when their hour arrives.

I believe that coordinated central bank actions in the USA, EU, Japan and China may occur soon. The global economic problems are severe and are now linked on an international, global basis.  This coordinated global action will attempt to kick this can down the road one more time.  China’s European exports are down 25% and other countries such as the U.S. are down as well.  The excess of the 90’s has filled up the houses of baby boomers with trinkets and big boy toys.  Baby boomers are starting to focus on retaining value for their retirement now.  Hoarding will replace the spending of the last twenty years.  Abortion has reduced the next generation by over 25 million so their is a void on consumers to take up the slack.  Japan has been in a two decade funk.

Tangent Capital Senior Managing Director Jim Rickards discusses the S&P 500 priced in ounces of gold.  I believe this graph provides a more realistic view of what is happening to value for the average citizen.  Gold continues to be the canary in the coal mine and central bankers have spent a lot of resource attempting to manipulate the price of gold downward, never upward.  Why?  True money reveals the fallacy of the current prevailing economic thought.

Watch: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/this-is-your-s-p-500-on-inflation-Y8IWXJ4jQmS~XNcbrSVshw.html

Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University in a recent speech calculated that the total debt (including unfunded liabilities) of the U.S. is currently at $222 Trillion.  Politicians are well aware of “off balance sheet” liabilities that have been hidden from the public.  If would be like omitting your home mortgage off of your balance sheet so that you appear to have more wealth and less cash requirements.  This is a very dangerous scenario to the American people as well as the rest of the world.  The last six decades of an off-balance-sheet, unsustainable financing scheme have left the U.S. insolvent.

One of the toughest realities to deal with is financing leverage.  When an individual buys a new car on a 72 month loan but wears the car out before the 72 months are up he is now paying for something of little or no value.  When you owe more than the current value of the asset, it gets ugly.  When a country has leveraged its future based on false assumptions, it will also get ugly.

It really got started with the baby boomer generation.  When the boomers entered the workforce social security was created to fund the elderly and to be paid for by the young boomers.  What those in power did not count on was the increased life span of the elderly and the reduction in births after the boomers.  Talk about a perfect storm, legalized abortion removed population from the future workforce and pharmaceuticals helped doctors increase the lifespan of the elderly even though healthcare costs based on symptom treatment would skyrocket.

Do you think I want to give up my Social Security checks after being forced to contribute for the past 45 years?  No way!  Do you think I should pay for the guilty who knew this day of reckoning was on the horizon?  Absolutely not!  As a small businessman, I actually paid twice as much as the average worker since my little company had to match the employee contribution to Social Security and Medicare.  The large population of baby boomers all feel the same way.

Is there a solution?  The only solution of the current economic system is to print money and use inflation to pay off the debt with dollars worth much less than today’s value.  In fact, that has been happening for some time now.  Remember when a Coke was nickel?  Now you pay twenty times the amount for the same product.

The issue revolves around value.  Hard assets have true, tangible value.  Paper assets have relative value.  When the day of reckoning arrives, paper assets will be devalued to extreme levels.  An economic collapse could cause paper assets to become worthless.  Tangible assets would take a hit as well since the demand for those assets would be dramatically affected.  However once the smoke cleared the tangible assets would migrate to their intrinsic value.  I believe the gold/silver ratio would return back to 16 ounces of silver equal 1 ounce of gold.

The backers of the U.S. Dollar as the global reserve currency are quickly approaching a storm of epic proportion.  The only question is what day will the “Black Swan” arrive.  Before arrival of that day, I believe that Our Heavenly Father will have a network in place to fill the vacuum.  The ongoing moral decline of the global system can only be replaced with a righteous alternative.  Mothers will be crying in their pillows at night asking “How did this happen?”.  Men’s hearts will fail once they have realized their blindness in the financial decisions and direction they took.  In desperation men will repent and look for answers.  Our Heavenly Father will respond as a Father who loves His children but will evoke a lesson to insure they learn from the lawless acts before restoration can be completed.

China is now looking at a $1.250 Trillion stimulus package for it provinces.  Why?  The West is not buying what it used to.  Once you create growth by money printing, you are locked in unless you can get the global population to increase its consumption.  With the aging population in the West looking toward retirement and reduced spending the West does not have the consumption levels it did when baby boomers had to have every toy imaginable.

Will the banking greed in Europe get funded on September 12th when the German Court decides if Germans can fund quantitative easing?  Iceland took the other path, threw out the bankers, and survived.  Would Europe dare to do the same thing?  I doubt it.  All of this bodes well for gold and silver.  The following interview provides a respected technician’s view of gold’s future:

Those in power have been managing retreat against the price of gold and silver.  The following chart provides some perspective:

The macroeconomic environment supports further gold price increases.  China is buying gold, Russia is buying gold, as well as others.  Yet in the U.S. the average investor does not own gold or gold shares.  What would happen is American investors suddenly understood the macro picture?

Our Heavenly Father is of course sovereign over all the earth.  Historically the ratio of gold to silver has been 16 to 1.  It is a Love ratio.  Gold (Divine Nature) and silver (redemption) has a transition ratio of Love (16).  Has the key to the transition from redemption to Divine Nature (glorification) been broadcasted in the economic markets?  I think so.

The current gold/silver ratio is 53/1.  If gold remained at its current level and silver returned to the Love ratio then the price of silver would hit $104.  The current ratio would suggest manipulation by men.  Can men manipulate the long-term plan of Our Heavenly Father?  It looks like economic judgment is coming against the lawless ones.

I am fascinated by the political battle for the presidency this year.  The polarizing quotient seems greater than the past.  This week the Republican Party has announced that it is considering a gold standard.  Have they been reading my blog over the last five years?  Romney says that Bernanke must go.  Will Bernanke ramp up quantitative easing even more in order to keep the incumbent in office?  This election is focused on the economy… finally.  Servias Ministries has no political interest in the outcome of the election for we believe that Our Heavenly Father will enact HIS Plan either way.  The lawless attitude of the population has slowly manifested itself to full maturity.  Fraud is now a badge of honor on Wall Street.  The love of money (greed) has reached a zenith among the hearts of the populace.  The current system will not be allowed to sustain itself much longer.  How much longer?  Only Our Heavenly Father knows that detail.  We have been warned countless times over the years.  This has enabled those who have heeded the call to prepare themselves for this eventuality.

John Williams of Shadowstats.com in his latest update wrote:

“The long-term fiscal solvency issues of the United States—where GAAP-based accounting shows annual deficits running in the $5 trillion range—are not being addressed, and the politicians currently running the government lack the political will to address those issues.  That circumstance initially suggested a hyperinflation crisis by the end of this decade, but federal government and Federal Reserve actions—in response to the systemic-solvency crisis of 2008—accelerated the process, indicating a hyperinflation problem by no later than the end of 2014.  The continuing economic downturn is intensifying the fiscal- and systemic-solvency problems, and public awareness of this should grow rapidly in the months ahead.”

The issue is blindness among the people.  And who is it that initiates blindness?  Our Heavenly Father!  When we habitually sin, there are repercussions.  We lose sight of righteousness and slowly begin to think we are doing what is right in our own eyes.  Until we have a corrective interview by Our Heavenly Father, we will proceed down the path of destruction.  I know I have been a recipient of one of those corrective interviews in the past.

Creating money out of thin air is lawless.  It depreciates the existing store of value and thus robs the holders of existing money of value they earned.  We are warned in Scripture about using unequal weights and measures.  Social Security check increases are based on the change to Consumer Price Index (CPI). It has been tinkered with by statisticians to underreport increases.  The net effect is that seniors have less purchasing power to survive on.  This lawless mentality goes against everything Love stands for.  It exploits the weak and lines the pockets of the rich and powerful.  Widows suffer and are forced to sit on the couch all day trying to minimize expenses.  This system is so broken that the only solution would be to wipe the slate clean.

We are heading off the fiscal cliff.  However we must trust that Our Heavenly Father has allowed this to happen and has HIS Plan in place to restore righteousness to the earth.  Our hope and expectation is that a group of Overcomers has been prepared for such a time as this.  I believe unity153.net is integral to the plan.  It may simply be a bridge until all those who are called have received glorified bodies and no longer need a “network” in place.  I only know and do what Our Heavenly Father says to do.  Many are called but few are chosen.  Hearing and responding moves you to the “chosen” group.

If you own securities in a brokerage account and want to eliminate the “middleman” between you and your ownership, you can directly register your stock.  For instance,  let’s say you have a Scottrade account and you own 100 shares of Goldcorp.  You can ask Scottrade to directly register your shares with the stock transfer agent.  This takes your stock out of Scottrade’s “street name” and places the stock directly in your name with the stock transfer agent.  Your broker then has no ability to collateralize your stock for any investments it might make itself.  Recent court decisions have put client assets at risk.  If you have notable value in your stock account and plan to hold the stock for the longer term, DRS may be a solution.

See:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/10/us-sentinel-appeals-decision-idUSBRE87900T20120810

PS:  I have not moved my self-directed retirement accounts.  I believe that the courts would not currently stoop to allow these accounts to be at risk as well.  Who knows?