Kerry Lutz's--Financial Survival Network (general)

David Morgan was with us today discussing the latest Silver Summit in his home town of Spokane Washington. Things were decidedly more upbeat this year. Most participants are starting to believe that after the recent triple bottom, that silver has probably seen its lows. We'll know more soon. 

Pam Oakes was back talking about the best 3-5 year old used car you can buy. Surprisingly it's not the Toyota Camry. Also, we discussed those extended warranties. There's a lot of ins and out and loopholes. You've got to educate yourself about them and learn when and where to buy them. And how often do you really need to change your oil. The answer will surprise you. 

John Rubino is amazed how easy it has become for the Fed to have it's way with the markets. They just have to lift their pinky and the markets respond in spades. How did it get this way and how long will it stay? Once upon a time the markets' primary purpose was price discovery and allocation of capital. No more, now they're more a billboard for the government to manage expectations and to demonstrate to the sheeple that all is well, but is it? 

Manipulation Mondays with Andrew Hoffman:

FOMC meeting Wednesday, "end of QE" expected.

                - today, supposedly last POMO operation - following 933 in the past eight years, at the 10:00 am EST "key atack time"

                - maniacal PPT ops the past two weeks, to "stabilize" markets ahead of this meeting, including six Fed governors hinting at or calling for QE extension after last Wednesday's liquidity vaccuum

                - Fed will still be as dovish as imaginable, but won't have to delay ending overt QE so long as markets don't crash               

                                -ARTICLE" - "manipulation, jawboning, and prayer"

Of course, OTHER markets are crashing worldwide, particularly in Europe

                -last week's PIIGS bond crash has somewhat stabilized, but European stocks - big markets like Germany included - have decoupled with the U.S. PPT efforts, continuing to plunge despite QE commencement

                -most yields, Treasuries included, continue to crash

                                -Fed desperately attempting to prevent bond yields crashing, especially ahead of FOMC meeting

                                -ARTICLE - "the most damning proof yet of QE failure"

                                -ARTICLE - "2.2% is the new 2.6%" - spinoff of earlier article, "2.6% - Nuff' Said"

                -dollar/euro has stabilized, but rest of the world's currencies crashing

                                -rupiah, real, yen, ruble, etc.

                                -ARTICLE - "the single most precious Metal bullish factor imaginable"

                -oil collapsing, under $80 this morning - and this, after Saudi's pathetic 300,000 bbl/d oil cut announcement Thursday

                                -ARTICLE - "collapsing oil prices portend unspeakable horrors"

Plunging U.S. economic activity

                -even rigged PMI indices falling

                -retail demand collapse - WMT, NFLX, EBAY, and disasters like Sears

                -death of American icons, due to collapsing demand, surging dollar, and competition - WMT, IBM, MCD, KO

                                -ARTICLE - "changing of the guard"

Surging physical demand worldwide

                -incredible Chinese gold demand numbers in recent weeks, well above global mining supply

                -surging Indian gold demand, silver imports on pace to match last year's record level

                -both U.S. Mint and Royal Canadian Mint on pace to match and/or exceed last year's record Silver Eagle sales

                -GOFO rates in backwardation

                -massive gold withdrawals from COMEX, GLD

                -per "Miles Franklin Silver All-Star Panel Webinar," production on verge of all out collapse           

                                -and just wait until year-end reserve revisions, if silver near $17/oz

Early polls show the "yesses" in the lead for 11/30  Swiss gold referendum

Val Sotir is founder and CEO of one of the country's largest buyer and seller of distressed mortgage notes. He explains what it takes to be a successful investor in these notes. It's not rocket surgery, you just need a basic understanding of real estate transactions and finance, along with the ability to get your due diligence done. Then you'll be off to the races earning potentially high returns, like Val's been doing for years. There's certainly no shortage of product and you just need to stay away from certain states and you'll do just fine. 

Don Mazzella noted author, publisher and small business expert tells how the Americans with Disabilities Act has become nothing more than a feeding frenzy for rapacious trial lawyers. They prey upon small businesses who haven't fully complied with the minutiae of the complicated statute. Now H&R Block has settled a case where they've agreed to make their ecommerce website handicap accessible. This may potentially open up whole new vistas for parasitic lawyers looking for ever greener pastures. There's hundreds of millions of websites that are not compliant that could be open to litigation. While the original statute was well intentioned, it is often said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And on that road there will be a toll plaza manned by democrats!"

John Sullivan directed America: Imagine the World Without Her and 2016: Obama's America. He's a bit of a rarity, a conservative living and working in Hollywood. He's also considers himself more of a libertarian than a conservative. He directed these films out of concern for the direction the country is headed in. As John said, the US is in decline and no one seems determined to do anything about it. Is it too late? 

James Hirsen is as disgusted as we are. Hollywood is never one to let a commercial opportunity go to waste. The potential Ebola pandemic has yet to be contained and Hollywood is already talking about Ebola the TV series. They're always about setting new lows in taste and class. And they never disappoint. We also talked a little bit about Piers Morgan and his failure to take responsibility for his CNN show's failure. But liberals never do take responsibility for anything, do they?

Joe Messina of theRealSide.com joined us today. He can't get over New York City's Welfare Homeless Storage crisis. $15 million per year blown on the storing the homeless population's stuff. And the way the Ebola crisis is being handled, simply defies credulity. And an amazing thing happened in New York, no we're not talking about a tree growing in Brooklyn, we're talking about a teacher being fired in Manhattan. Oh the humanity!

Woody O'Brien, gentlemen farmer out of West Virginia stopped by today. He had the extreme misfortune to visit our nation's crime capitol recently. Not surprisingly, the economy is booming and home prices are through the roof. It's easy when you produce nothing and steal the production of the rest of the country. Woody is concerned about the long term prospects for food production. The world's farmers are dying off and the young people don't seem interested. Resources are not being invested to insure the food will be there for the future extra billions of the world's inhabitants. 

New York City politicians are upset over the nearly $15 million spent yearly on storing the homeless's possessions in storage warehouses around the City. It's an outrage that's been going on for too long. But when you're living in a socialist utopia such things are to be expected, right? 

Camden New Jersey is doing much better since it fired its police force and the county started a new force from scratch. Murders are way down and response times have been cut from 60 minutes to 4.4 minutes. It's just proof that public unions can cost lives. The new force has 60 percent more officers, more technology and civilian staff for the same price tag. It's been unionized as well, but starting from a much lower base. Perhaps the governor needs to the same thing in Newark, Patterson, Passaic and other failing unsafe cities around the state. Maybe he could do it with the schools as well. Abolish city schools and start county schools. I think Christie is definitely on to something. 

Ben Brunson was CEO of a clinical testing facility for over a decade. Therefore, he's very familiar with the issues involved in disease transmission and in the steps required to prevent it. It's quite clear that the government is playing politics in not suspending flights to and from the countries where the Ebola outbreak is most serious. This is standard operating procedure and is one of the most effective measures that can be taken to stop the spread of the disease. In addition, the Army should set up a containment centers outside the country for screening those who might be infected. Securing the borders wouldn't be a bad idea either. Assuming that the disease doesn't seriously mutate, following these steps could keep the disease manageable. The biggest problem confronting the West is personal mobility/travel and the effect it has upon speading the disease around the world. 

Barry Stuppler has been in the precious metals business for over 50 years! When he talks about cycles, you know that he's lived them. Barry thinks that gold is getting ready for the next advance. And he's excited because spreads have narrowed on some French numistmatic coins to not much above that of regular bullion coins. Can you believe that the Silver to Gold ratio is 71.20 to 1? It hasn't been that high since 2009. Could it be a sign that Silver is going to make its long awaited move? Time to buy or wait and see? 

What a difference two weeks makes. When Danielle Park and I last spoke, Wall Street was partying like it was 1999. Now things are not so good. A 9 percent correction and you can feel the panic start to set in. Will it continue or is this just a normal correction? The problem is that nothing about this market is normal and there hasn't been a normal correction since the crash. Volatility is up and so is fear. Is this the start of a secular bear or is there still time for more fun and games? We'll know the answer soon. 

David Gurwitz has been with Charles Nenner Research for over a decade. During that time he's never given up his taste in music or his passion for basketball, which is a good thing because trading calls upon all these skills and more. Right now, Nenner's cycle based system has been flashing a buy signal in gold. Silver hasn't hit it yet, but a close above $17.50 should do the trick. Oil flashed a sell signal a while ago and the results have been self-evident, with $80 oil for all to see. But it will come back at some point, watch for a close above $85 and you'll know. To find out forecasts for bonds and the world's stock markets listen on.

Jeff Bell is a Republican Insider who's been around a long time. A speech writer, strategist, consultant, author and candidate, he's seen it all. Now he's challenging New Jersey's Corey Booker for United States Senate. His main issue is adopting the Gold Standard to prevent further debasement of the Dollar and society; what a novel concept. He has our vote, although we stopped voting long ago. Listening to Jeff, you'd think he was a Libertarian, although he claims not to be. He's for small government and ending deficit spending and out of control government. We don't care what he calls himself, heck he could call himself a Democrat or a Communist, it really doesn't matter; his policies are what count and he's coming up aces with us. 

Would you believe that New York City is paying over $14 million per year to store the property of the homeless. It's paid over $200,000 since 2006 to store the items of Andrea Logan, a suspected hoarder. She's got 11 units that run the City $3500 per month in fees. The average homeless person costs the City nearly $1500 per month in storage costs. The world has truly gone nuts.

If you want to have a good laugh, take a look at the reviews of Andrew Cuomo's latest book, All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life.

They're quite hysterical and are quaranteed to lift your spirits. Over 500 one start reviews will keep you in stitches and even the 5 star reviews are not exactly enamored with Cuomo's writing skills. The reviews are so bad they're actually starting to make news. 

Also gold has hit Charles Nenner's buy signal and silver is almost there. Take it for what it's worth. 

John Rubino stopped by for our Monday discussion. IBM's disappointing earnings point to trouble on Wall Street. Perhaps it's time to buy back a few hundred million more shares. There's always a solutions for poor fundamentals, they've been doing it for years. Eventually the piper is going to have to be paid and it's not going to be a pretty site when the check comes due. 

Has "it" begun?

Signs everywhere…

 -third Chinese "backdoor QE" announcement in two months Friday

 -heightened chatter of increased BOJ stock purchases

 -European stocks plunging despite QE having started.  Major Western sovereigns (even France, which had its outlook downgraded to negative by S&P last week) plunging to all-time lows…but PIIGS stocks and bonds collapsing, led by Greece (Athens stock index down 30% since April, and Greek 10-year yields up 200 bps last week)

 -EU manufacturing, industrial production, sentiment plummeting, led by Germany - clearly in continent-wide recession, and falling quickly

 -U.S. retail sales, industrial production plummeting.  NFLX, WMT major earnings announcments last week, and IBM earnings catastrophe today

 -Aritcle - "need or want, demand is dying"

Last week's market carnage, PPT not withstanding, was horrific

                -vast majority of stocks in bear markets

                -volatility surged, at times overwhelming "manipulation organizations" like the PPT, Fed, and ESF

                -dollar index not "strong" last week b/c down vs. Euro, but continued to wreak havoc by surging against peripheral currencies

 -Article - "the single most bullish PM factor imaginable"

-biggest one-day percentage drop in Treasury history Wednesday morning, when 10-year plunged from 2.2% to 1.9% in an hour (en route to Japanese and German levels sub 1%, before hyperinflation inevitably destroys them)

 -Article - "most damning proof yet of QE failure"

 -commodities continue to crash, as well as all indicators of global trade

 -Articles - "Commodity Crash! (but don't worry, gold and silver are not commodities), "Crashing Oil prices portend unspeakable horrors"

Fed desperate to maintain calm

-Six Fed governors hinted at "QE and/or ZIRP to Infinity" last week, including Vice Chairman S. Fischer

-"coincidentally," five are on the 2015 FOMC voting committee, while the two biggest "hawks" (Plosser and R. Fisher) will be departing

- crucial FOMC meeting 10/29, when QE supposedly ends, just six days before critical mid-term elections (with both Presidential and Congressional approval ratings at all-time lows)

                                - Article - "Manipulation, Jawboning, and Prayer"

                                - of course, this is all that matters

PM fundamentals never stronger, with record physical demand for both metals

 -for silver specifically, best risk/reward in history

 -demand in India, the U.S., and Canada on pace to match 2014's record levels

Dan Freed of theStreet.com discusses how the big banks earn their profits. There's a number of areas besides bounced check fees and nickeling and diming you wherever they can. Business loans, M&A activity, stock buy loans, etc. Mortgage demand is down right now, but Uncle Sam is taking steps to remedy that situation now. But the big banks are always on the look out for new and creative ways to increase their bottom lines, and increase the potential for catastrophic losses. 

Craig Lack wrote the book on how to survive and thrive under Obamacare. As we get closer to the election, for now small business has been spared the full effects of the law. The net result will be paying more for less coverage. This means that it is up to every individual to take responsibility for their own health. That means making diet and lifestyle changes to minimize the chances of illness. If everyone in the country made these changes, there would be no health care crisis. Medical costs would drop by 80 percent! 

John Manfreda stopped by today for a discussion about precious metals and oil. He believes, as many do, that oil prices are deliberately being manipulated downward to injure Russia, Iran and Venezuela. For now, it appears to be working, but it's hurting the American Energy Sector too. How much longer can it go on for? Precious metals may have put in a bottom, we'll know shortly. Probably a good buying opportunity. 

Jake Shannon is a high-functioning polymath with successes across a broad domain of endeavors. He is currently a highly sought after comedy hypnotist, performing for corporate and private events. He is also interim Chief Financial Officer for Gatemaster Systems, a software company based in the Bay Area. 

A veteran entrepreneur with experience in start-up and early stage venture formation, he has founded a number of businesses in domains including web publishing, media production and rights management ventures, and coaching. He hosted The Jake Shannon Radio Show on Utah's AM630 K-Talk before walking away to focus on writing and performing. He is the author of seven books and frequently appears on both radio and television. 

You'll enjoy his approach to getting ahead in life and finding your purpose and achieving it. Comments are always welcomed at khl@kerrylutz.com.

Aaron Clarey a/k/a Captain Capitalism just returned from his first trip to Europe. He was not overly impressed, for a number of reasons. He was happy to be back in the once free US of A. He's currently writing a book on ending black poverty in America. Interestingly, the fastest growing demographic to his podcast and blog is Hispanic and African-American. They understand that the welfare state promises nothing but a permanent state of dependency and failed dreams. Aaron on the other hand, helps people breakout of dependency and realize their dreams. Expect the book to be controversial and fun, typical hallmarks of his books.