Daily Digest 4/3 - The $15T Party, Silver Manipulation Acknowledged, Japan's 1,000-Year-Old Warning

• Cashless: The Coming War on Tax-Evasion and Decentralized Money
• It's As If Central Banks Can Do No Wrong
• The 15 Trillion Dollar Party
• Silver Manipulation Acknowledged - Christian Garcia 
• Investors Are Looking to Buy Homes by the Thousands
• How To Beat High Gas Prices At The Pump
• Iran, Oil Prices And Gambling With The World Economy
• Japan's 1,000-Year-Old Warning

Our 'What Should I Do?' guide has steps to cook, see & stay warm in times of power outage

Economy

Cashless: The Coming War on Tax-Evasion and Decentralized Money (adam)

In an interview with Jim Puplava titled “Never Underestimate the Desperation of a Broke(n) Government”, world renowned economist, Martin Armstrong, cites numerous examples of how the U.S. is following a well set historical pattern where, inevitably, the “government is going to be much more aggressive to tax people, chase them down, and put them in prison.”

It's As If Central Banks Can Do No Wrong (David B.)

To the extent that this reversal has been completed, further significant improvements in the unemployment rate will likely require a more-rapid expansion of production and demand from consumers and businesses … a process that can be supported by continued accommodative policies.

The 15 Trillion Dollar Party (June C.)

If the U.S. government tried to go to a balanced budget now, our standard of living would crash and there would be riots in the streets. The American people have been enjoying false prosperity for so long that they have lost any notion of what "normal" actually is.

Think of it this way. If your family makes $40,000 this year and you spend an extra $20,000 on your credit cards, your family would be enjoying a false sense of prosperity.

Silver Manipulation Acknowledged - Christian Garcia (adam)

Silver price manipulation and gold manipulation has been alleged through out this bull market. This premise has been one of many reasons why gold and silver advocates have urged the public to accumulate precious metals.

Investors Are Looking to Buy Homes by the Thousands (jdargis)

With home prices down more than a third from their peak and the market swamped with foreclosures, large investors are salivating at the opportunity to buy perhaps thousands of homes at deep discounts and fill them with tenants. Nobody has ever tried this on such a large scale, and critics worry these new investors could face big challenges managing large portfolios of dispersed rental houses. Typically, landlords tend to be individuals or small firms that own just a handful of homes.

Energy

How To Beat High Gas Prices At The Pump (David B.)

A new study by the U.S. Treasury Department finds that traffic congestion wastes 1.9 billion gallons of gas per year – roughly 5% of the total we use. At current prices, that’s more than $7 billion being flushed down the drain by American motorists nationwide.

The government study – which supports a White House proposal to upgrade the nation’s transportation infrastructure – determined the average American wastes more than 30 hours annually sitting in traffic.

Iran, Oil Prices And Gambling With The World Economy (James S.)

This is a presidential year in the United States, which means most claims made by U.S. political leaders should be weighed in that context. Obama is likely to ride on victories like Osama bin Laden's assassination last year but will face challenges given the state of the economy. The White House, in its assessment, recognized that there were shortages in the global oil market because of tensions in Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria, among others. The president hasn't formally committed to releasing strategic petroleum reserves, however.

Environment

Japan's 1,000-Year-Old Warning (jdargis)

This story might not have captured my attention if it hadn't been for a fortuitous coincidence. The day before, an engineering colleague, Eiichi Taniguchi, had told me that researchers at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, had found sediments indicating that a huge tsunami had hit Miyatojima about 1,000 years ago. Intrigued by the possibility of a connection between oral history and geological evidence, I asked the community leader if "a thousand years ago" was a figure of speech or an estimate of time.

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