A nasty week in most of the world’s stock markets as the current downtrend extended. The SPX/DOW lost 3.9%, the biggest weekly drop since November, and the NDX/NAZ lost 5.3%. Asian markets were -4.0%, European markets were -5.0%, and the DJ World index lost 5.4%. Economic reports for the week were mixed with negatives edging out positives 7 to 6. On the uptick: the NY FED, the NAHB, housing starts, industrial production, capacity utilization, and the WLEI. On the downtick: retail sales, the CPI, business inventories, building permits, the Philly FED, leading indicators, and jobless claims rose. Next week we will get a look at more housing data, durable goods orders and consumer sentiment. Best to your week!

A nasty week in most of the world’s stock markets as the current downtrend extended. The SPX/DOW lost 3.9%, the biggest weekly drop since November, and the NDX/NAZ lost 5.3%. Asian markets were -4.0%, European markets were -5.0%, and the DJ World index lost 5.4%. Economic reports for the week were mixed with negatives edging out positives 7 to 6. On the uptick: the NY FED, the NAHB, housing starts, industrial production, capacity utilization, and the WLEI. On the downtick: retail sales, the CPI, business inventories, building permits, the Philly FED, leading indicators, and jobless claims rose. Next week we will get a look at more housing data, durable goods orders and consumer sentiment. Best to your week!

"Centralization induces apoplexy at the center and anemia at the extremities." ~ Lamenais The present political system is clearly insane. It suffers from schizophrenia. Around the world, almost no one trusts the politicians, yet almost everyone votes for incumbent politicians who promise to reform the government.

"Centralization induces apoplexy at the center and anemia at the extremities." ~ Lamenais The present political system is clearly insane. It suffers from schizophrenia. Around the world, almost no one trusts the politicians, yet almost everyone votes for incumbent politicians who promise to reform the government.

Global warming lives on in the minds, or at least the somber pronouncements of leading politicians, corporate chiefs and some opinion manipulators, but is now essentially dead. To quickly reach the status of a Great Cause it was necessary to decorate the "theory" of global warming with scientific credentials, and above all make it idiot-friendly. At its most basic, global warming theory (called "anthropogenic global warming" theory or AGWT) is as idiot-friendly as the official story of what happened on September 11, 2001 in the USA. We are told that five airplanes were hijacked by dangerous Islamic fundamentalists by order of Afghanistan's Taliban or only with their friendly help. They flew around for rather a long time but America was so terrified no fighter planes were sent to bring down the hijacked planes. Two of the planes disappeared, but three were crashed into carefully chosen targets, not including nuclear power plants, oil refineries, pesticide factories, the White House or suchlike. Three immense tower blocks in New York then collapsed, one of them without being hit by an airplane at all, and the Pentagon was slightly damaged, probably not by an airplane. Afghanistan was then invaded in a colonial war rampage, by the USA and some other countries described as "democratic".

Global warming lives on in the minds, or at least the somber pronouncements of leading politicians, corporate chiefs and some opinion manipulators, but is now essentially dead. To quickly reach the status of a Great Cause it was necessary to decorate the "theory" of global warming with scientific credentials, and above all make it idiot-friendly. At its most basic, global warming theory (called "anthropogenic global warming" theory or AGWT) is as idiot-friendly as the official story of what happened on September 11, 2001 in the USA. We are told that five airplanes were hijacked by dangerous Islamic fundamentalists by order of Afghanistan's Taliban or only with their friendly help. They flew around for rather a long time but America was so terrified no fighter planes were sent to bring down the hijacked planes. Two of the planes disappeared, but three were crashed into carefully chosen targets, not including nuclear power plants, oil refineries, pesticide factories, the White House or suchlike. Three immense tower blocks in New York then collapsed, one of them without being hit by an airplane at all, and the Pentagon was slightly damaged, probably not by an airplane. Afghanistan was then invaded in a colonial war rampage, by the USA and some other countries described as "democratic".

Aaron Kennon, co-founder and CEO of Clear Harbor Asset Management, shares some of his company's trade secrets in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. Educating yourself is critical before investing, and Kennon suggests questions to ask, what specialized knowledge your adviser should know and why small-cap and junior resource equities are offering surprisingly thrilling returns. The Gold Report: Clear Harbor Asset Management actively invests in resource equities, and it's doing so during one of the most bearish periods ever for resource equities, particularly for small-cap resource equities. Some institutions are leaving the space altogether while others are reducing their exposure. What are your plans?

Aaron Kennon, co-founder and CEO of Clear Harbor Asset Management, shares some of his company's trade secrets in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. Educating yourself is critical before investing, and Kennon suggests questions to ask, what specialized knowledge your adviser should know and why small-cap and junior resource equities are offering surprisingly thrilling returns. The Gold Report: Clear Harbor Asset Management actively invests in resource equities, and it's doing so during one of the most bearish periods ever for resource equities, particularly for small-cap resource equities. Some institutions are leaving the space altogether while others are reducing their exposure. What are your plans?

John Williams, author of the ShadowStats.com newsletter, shines light on his interpretations of the GDP, CPI, unemployment and other government statistics in this exclusive Gold Report interview from the recent Recovery Reality Check conference. Highlights include what the money supply measures tell him and why QE3 will be a hard sell. The Gold Report: John, at the recent Casey Research Recovery Reality Check conference you described the economic recovery heralded by the Obama administration as an illusion based largely on skewed inflation data. Can you walk us through why, based on your calculations, a recovery is impossible?