Chris Martenson Blogs

Our Slow-Motion Crisis

cmartenson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:29:17 +0000

Becca and I just went through the process of buying the house that we have been renting for the past few years. The experience has given me another distasteful brush with state laws and regulations. Over the years, new laws have only been added, never subtracted, making this house purchase entirely different from the one I conducted only ten years ago.

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Daily Digest - November 21

DailyDigest — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:54:00 +0000

Gross isn’t buying corporates, high yield or equities even with zero rates
Fraud Nation
Everyone Now Qualifying For FHA Loans?
College Students Hit By High Interest Loans
Giant Loophole In Derivatives Regulation Undermines Reform
Colorado To Review Taxpayer-Paid Lobbyists
Is The US Postal Service Doomed?
Goldman Sachs' Thanksgiving Day: Garbage Duty
Tent City Founders Seeking Help For Homeless Before Winter
What Can Really Happen When A CEO Cuts His Salary?
Understanding The Heartbeat Of The Economy
The US-China "Electric Vehicles Initiative"
A Clever New Way To Measure Soil Moisture May Help Farmers

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Daily Digest - November 20

DailyDigest — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:49:18 +0000

Country At A Crossroads
Inflation, High Taxation or Default
Gun sales shoot up amid America’s fear of rising crime and terrorism
Rep. DeFazio: Fire 'Timmy' Geithner
Gold's 'Money' Value is $4,000 to $11,000: Market Strategist
Biden On The Bailout: Socialism For The Rich, Capitalism For The Poor
Student Fee Hike Fuels Mass Protest At UCLA
Housing Crisis Hits A Whole New Level
Breaking Down Fannie Mae's Deed For Lease Program
Judge Rules Gov't May Be Liable For Billions In Katrina Claims
Food Banks Struggle Amid Record Demands
Maine's New Wind Plant Goes Online
Houston Launches Program For Electric Car-Charging Stations
Clean Green Texas
New Twist In Vertical Gardening: 'Edible Walls'

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Daily Digest - November 19

DailyDigest — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:43:49 +0000

Geithner in the doghouse over AIG debacle
Democrats want homeowners and workers to get money from TARP
What They Really Believe
Société Générale tells clients how to prepare for 'global collapse'
The Gold Trifecta?
The Coming Nuclear Crisis
John Paulson Making Huge New Bet On Gold
Wells Fargo To Buy Back $1.4 Billion In Securities To Settle Fraud Lawsuit
Philadelphia Gives Homeowners A Way To Stay Put
Memo To Buffett: Put Down The Pom-Poms And Tell The Truth About The Economy
5 Million 'Pink Slips' Sent To Congress
Wall Street's Ego Bubble
Should Goldman Sachs Be Forgiven?
Consumers Losing Millions In Scams On Well Known E-Commerce Sites
We Have Not Escaped Prospect Of Global Economic Collapse
Stickups And Burglaries On The Rise - At The Office
More Holiday Shoppers To Use Cash Only - No Credit Cards
The One Thing Depleting Faster Than Oil Is The Credibility Of Those Measuring It
California Sets Energy-Efficient Rules For TVs
A Scramble To Prepare For Electric Car Charging Stations
Small Farmers And Community Gardening
Floods And Droughts: How Climate Change Is Impacting Africa

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Daily Digest - November 18

saxplayer00o1 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:47:11 +0000

New York Personal Income Tax Collections Fell 21% Last Year
Global junk bond default rate rises in October - S&P
Life Insurers May Lose $22.6 Billion on Commercial Real Estate
S&P cuts ratings on $17 bln worth of U.S. CLOs
Silverdome sale price disappoints
Pickens Predicts $100 crude in 2010, $300 by 2020
Michael Panzner: Commercial Real Estate Is A "Tsunami Unfolding"
Ski Homes Feel the Real Estate Chill
China, U.S. eye pact to help troubled banks: sources
IC and reserve currency An issue to moot
National Debt Now Tops $12 Trillion (CBS News)
California faces a projected deficit of $21 billion
Utah's fictitious '4th Congressional District' gets $1.2 million in stimulus funding (ABC News)
VA might have to cut $2.9 billion more by '12
Senator: VT will face $88 million budget deficit
Charleston Seeks Help With Pensions
We Don’t Have Confidence in the U.S. Dollar Now
San Francisco heads into $53 million deficit (Video)
State college pre-paid tuition program deep in debt (South Carolina)

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Daily Digest - November 17

DailyDigest — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:50:06 +0000

Stephen King: Gold prices are a dead giveaway
Million Hit By 'Plague Worse Than Swine Flu'
Gold At $5000 An Ounce?
China Slams Fed's Low Interest Rates
Amendment To Relax Banks' Accounting Standards
France Urges Inquiry Into Financial Sector Competition Abuse
America's Newest Land Baron- The FDIC
The New Flipping: Short Sales
How Government Created Today's Commercial Real Estate Catastrophe
Hunger In America At 14 Year High
Investors Strategize For Fed's Exit From MBS Market
$10 Billion Evaporates
Could Pop-Culture Mood Mirror Stock Market Swings?
Stimulus Jobs "Created" In Congressional Districts That Don't Exist
UK Minister Warns Bankers About New Rules On Bonuses
French Bankers Say "Au Revoir" To Guaranteed Bonuses Effective Immediately
New Swiss Bonus Rules Target Insurers And Big Banks
UK Pension Fund Deficits Underestimated By £268 billion
The Year America Didn't Sleep
The Great Wallop: An End To Chimerica
China Solar Company Opens First US Manufacturing Plant
Turning The Wind Power Market On It's Axis
Hope Floats On Eco-Celebrity's Recycled Plastic Boat

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Daily Digest - November 16

DailyDigest — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:59:07 +0000

China has now become the biggest risk to the world economy
How Does Your State Compare to California?
Protesters Plan Huge Anti-Goldman Rally In Washington, DC
Mauldin: If This Is Recovery...
Greenspan Buying Gold Bars
Gold Hits Record High Monday, Asian Shares Rise
Rising Clout Gives China New Muscle At G2 Talks With US
Economists See FED Raising Interest Rates Sept 2010
Market Volatility Expected To Continue
Wall Street: All Eyes On The Consumer
Healthcare Debate Lawmakers' Statements Written By Biotech Company
More US Job Hunters Looking For Work In Other Nations
Protecting Grandpa From Investing Peril
To The Bankers: Answer This Question
Amid Public Uproar CALPERS To Weigh Tougher Disclosure Rules
Will China's Consumers Save The World Economy?
More Class Action Lawsuits Against Wall Street Firms
Drug Makers Rush To Increase Prices Before Health Care Overhaul
Japan Extra Stimulus Likely
As Dollar Tumbles, America Is Up For Grabs
Five Things The US Can Learn From China
The Economic Cost Of Ugly Useless Christmas Gifts
Financial Sense NewsHour
Environmental Economics: How Much Is A Tree Worth?
Expanding Islands Of Trash Afloat In The Ocean
Black Carbon: An Overlooked Climate Factor

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Daily Digest - November 15

DailyDigest — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:06:17 +0000

Home Builders Get A Gift
Bob Janjuah: the Great Bear of Scotland
Trading Places With The Dollar
Bubble Fears Surface At APEC Gathering
Chicago Fed's Evans: Accomodative Policy Likely Beyond 2010
FED May Cause Next Crisis, Hong Kong’s Tsang Suggests
Japan Faces Fear Of New Downturn
China Quashes Talk Of Letting Yuan Strengthen
Add 3 Million Jobs A Year Starting Now
The Prospect Of Pay Cuts As The New Normal
Changes In Mortgage Lending Coming In 2010
Commercial Real Estate Woes Are Deepening
Food Fight
What Saved Bear Stearns' Managers From Jail?
Who Will Hold Goldman Accountable?
French Bank Robber Becomes National Antihero
China: A Superpower Stirs
Japan Eyes Solar Station In Space As New Energy Source
Can Alternative Energy Save The Economy And The Environment?
“Smart Appliances” On Their Way To American Households
Wireless Protocols Vie For Smart Grid
An Eco-Friendly Exit
Tuna In Peril As Catches Reach Triple The Limit

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Daily Digest - November 14

DailyDigest — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:00:22 +0000

Who might run industrial policy
Job Losses Mount, Enduring And Deep
Budget Gaps Batter States As Revenues Plummet
Home Purchase Loan Applications At Lowest Level Since 2000
Ohio, NJ Pension Funds Win $400 Million Class Action Against Wall St Broker
Derivatives Reform Bill Written By Someone 'Inside The Banks'
Millions Of Dollars Raised By Police Property Seizures
A Federal "Water Tax" For Florida?
Worried About Losing Tax Revenue, Congress To Examine Airline Fees
Rural US Towns Struggle As Employers Shut Down
22% Florida Mortgages Delinquent Or In Foreclosure
Rich Buying Again While Middle Class Still Scrimping
In Recession An Old West Crime Makes Big Comeback
I Got Suckered By Cash For Clunkers
Frugal Forever
Trade Deficit Widens By Most In 10 Years
Leaps Of Faith Holding Up The Stock Market
China's End Run Around The US
Roads Paved With Recycled Plastic

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Daily Digest - November 13

DailyDigest — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:32:09 +0000

Gold Finger - A New Take On Operation Grand Slam With A Tungsten Twist
The American Economy in One Chart
Online bank gets unfair advantage
White House Aims To Cut Deficit With TARP Cash
A Look At TARP One Year Later
Monetizing The Housing Debt
Fannie, Freddie Warn Of More Losses
FHA Reserves May Go "Below Zero And Stay There"
FDIC Orders Banks To Prepay $45 Billion
October Deficit: $176 Billion, Monthly Interest: $22.8 Billion
When Banks Use Capital Made Of Sand
The Great Shrinking American Dollar
How Private Equity Will Cause Credit Crisis II
Nuclear Scars: A Sea Of Tainted Water Beneath Nevada Desert
The Movie Chevron Doesn't Want You To See

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The Implications and Fallout of the IEA "Leaks"

cmartenson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:45:00 +0000

I had a number of requests to make this particular Insider post (for enrolled members) from Wednesday public.

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There was a huge amount of press and follow-up to the Guardian article of the leaks. This theme is important enough to continue exploring. Anybody who has seen the Crash Course does not need any more information about Peak Oil itself.

Instead, I am most fixated on when a tipping point in global awareness about Peak Oil might occur. That's why this revelation and all the press it has been getting has been extremely interesting to me.

The first article helps to provide some more context and backing for the 'leaks,' which turn out not to have been very original leaks, since others were told this same information as early as 2007. read more »

Daily Digest - November 12

DailyDigest — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:51:23 +0000

Governments Blowing a New Bubble?
Ultimate Conditions For Recovery
Peak Gold Could Be A Lot Of Hype, But Who Wants To Take That Chance?
The Parable Of The Stone And The Balloon: What Happens When The Tether Breaks
10 States Face Looming Budget Disasters
FED Faces Biggest Blow To Authority
SEC Starting To Target High-Frequency Trading
Senators Propose Bill To Apply Gambling Laws To Derivatives
US May Wind Up In A 'Lost Decade' Like Japan
Dollar's Trouble, Oil's Bubble
Stimulus Job Boost "Wildly Exaggerated"
Recession Sparks Global Shoplifting Spree
Record Number Of Pets Being Abandoned
The Greatest Trade Ever
US Pressures IEA to Underplay Proximity of Peak Oil Shortages
Two Beers With Steve Podcast - Peak Oil
Oil! - Discussion with Peter Maass and Ed Burtynsky
The future of oil
Who Needs The Grid?
Setting Sail Into Space-Propelled By Sunshine
The Fight Over The Future Of Food
Saving Seafood From Extinction

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Please Join Us At Rowe

cmartenson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:33:31 +0000

Before the holiday festivities begin and you reunite with your families, Becca and I invite all of you to spend some time with our family. We are getting close to our once-a-year seminar in Rowe, MA.

Tucked away in a picturesque mountain setting, the Rowe seminar combines an atmosphere of retreat with a social environment and educational tools to promote action, conversation, and solutions.

This year’s seminar incorporates a number of improvements and new sections, as we increasingly focus on the practical, emotional and community components that help us prepare and envision the change we wish to see.

One of the unique elements of the Rowe experience is the diverse but aligned community it attracts. Becca and I are still in touch with many of the impassioned and articulate individuals who have comprised previous groups from Rowe. As the premier seminar in our home region of Western Massachusetts, we feel a special connection to Rowe, and find it an incredibly valuable resource for regrouping and reawakening to what is possible within a motivated local community.

Time is running out to register, so we hope you will consider joining us for this special, end-of-fall event.

Click here to register to be a part of this one-of-a-kind event, which kicks off Friday, November 20th.

Click here to learn more

To read unsolicited testimonials from participants at a recent seminar offered in Lowesville VA, click here.

We'd love to see you there.

Chris & Becca Martenson

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Daily Digest - November 11

saxplayer00o1 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:45:58 +0000

Energy agency warns of falling investment
S&P Cut Ratings on Record 26,387 Home Loan Bonds Last Quarter
Senator: 131,000 homeless vets a 'disgrace'
Homelessness Soars In Milwaukee Area--Area Shelters Full
Fitch Says U.K. Rating Most at Risk Among Top-Rated...(then warns about U.S. AAA Rating)
Bill Gross on CNBC...China and Japan lose 13% on U.S. Treasuries (at 4:30 on Video)
Banks face increase in funding costs
Fed: GMAC to receive more bailout money
Harvard Profs: This Crisis Is Not Over
Crisis mode declared on deficit (New York)
Schwarzenegger: This year's budget gap may hit $7 billion
Ambac Financial points to possible chapter 11
Aging boomers strain pension funds (Florida)
Growth in Iowa's unfunded pension liabilities
World Bank: yuan to become alternative reserve currency

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Daily Digest - November 10

DailyDigest — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:45:12 +0000

Life without Prichard pension: Couple's savings could be gone by Christmas
Unemployment Rate in U.S. May Reach 13 Percent, Rosenberg Says
Bankruptcy filing is a blow to small business
The new faces of day labor (Las Vegas)
Unemployment Trust Fund Insolvent?
Tidal Wave Of New Defaults Arrives
Retro Appraisals Raises Doubts about Lenders' Past Valuations as Foreclosure Defense
Obama Pledges To Tackle Beijing On Yuan
Tougher Standards On Fund Fees May Be Near
Watchdog: Treasury And FED Failed In AIG Oversight
Tax Refunds, Relief For Home Builders
Foreclosures Account For 20% Home Sales
Why Some Countries Are Stopping Their Stimulus
Exit Strategies: The IMF Recipe
China Woos Africa
Endless Summers
Utility Company Turns Restaurant Food Scraps Into Green Energy
Conference Spotlights Firms' Eco-Friendly Concepts

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"It's Really Bad" - Oil Supplies Intentionally Overstated

cmartenson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:39:22 +0000

The Guardian published an explosive article today. If true, it means that governments have been intentionally overstating the amount of oil that we have and could pump out of the ground. The implications are enormous.

This confirms the evidence that I saw at ASPO that had been painstakingly developed by independent researchers. So we might want to incorporate this news into our personal and financial frameworks.

First, a snippet: read more »

Daily Digest - November 9

DailyDigest — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:45:49 +0000

Windfall Seen As Bank Bonuses Are Paid In Stock
New Bill Would Keep Public In Dark About Threats To Financial System
$300,000 Of Gold In The Palm Of My Hand
Slouching Toward Sanity
Zimbabwe's Economy Coming Back From The Dead
We Rescued The Top, Left The Bottom To Fend For Itself
Fresh Dollar Weakness
Large Corporations Sitting On Piles Of Cash
Franchises In A Tough Spot
Britain And US Clash At G-20
Spain reaches new wind record: 45.1% of Spain’s total electricity demand
Tea Farmers struggle for survival in fields of gold
Chickens Come Home To Roost In Backyards In America

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Daily Digest - November 8

DailyDigest — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:05:52 +0000

Public Pensions Face Ugly Choices...Bankruptcy, taxpayer bailouts appear inevitable
RBI may’ve sold US T-bills to buy gold
Gold is over $1000 an ounce; now what?
All About Mises From The Wall Street Journal
Inside The Global Gold Frenzy
Deep Trouble: How This Real Estate Bust Is Different
The Coming Bloodbath In Commercial Real Estate
The FED And Fannie Mae: Throwing Money Down A Black Hole
Help Not Wanted
The Ugliest Unemployment Charts Yet
US Debt Default: The Unthinkable Becomes Thinkable
Buffett's Burlington Buy Is Really A Bet On China
The Berkeley Solar Map
Cutting-Edge Green Homes Of The Future

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Daily Digest - November 7

DailyDigest — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:41:36 +0000

Metals And Currencies: A Long-Term Dynamic Strategically Used To Preserve Wealth
Mauldin: The Glide Path Option
Dollar Will be "Utterly Destroyed": Strategist (Video)
Fannie Mae...up to $200 billion needed
The Commercial Loan Nightmare Facing U.S. Banks
Moody’s: Pension Strains Put Pressure on Ratings
(D.C.) Metro to appeal arbitrators' pay decision
Auditor: Lorain will have trouble meeting December payroll

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Market Recap - Ridiculous Productivity

cmartenson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:12:48 +0000

Practically every day I post my observations about what is happening in the markets and larger world for enrolled members in the "Martenson Insider" area and then we discuss it.

Here is yesterday's post (11/5/09).

I'd be delighted if you would consider joining.

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After digging around and sifting through the things both said and not said, I have come to the conclusion that what we are seeing are the likely effects of a rescue operation.

By this I mean a large injection of stabilizing cash to one or more parties, possibly related to the recent large bankruptcies. Two of my friends, who have been actively trading for more than 20 years between them, threw in the towel this week, as their patterns and methods are no longer working.

Their conclusion is the same as mine; this market is not trading like it used to. It is trading chaotically, counterintuitively, and as if there's some sort of distorting influence involved.

First, we might just wonder if this isn't the impact of a rogue firm with entirely too much power moving the market for its own benefit. read more »