news.goldseek.com >> 22 May 2017

The Nuclear Option
By: Captain Hook
As explained by Paul Craig Roberts, and unbeknownst to most, prior to the French election, and before Trump fired Comey, US neoconsevatives (neocons) in Washington threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Russia – and apparently they are serious. Serious – no way right? They can’t be that crazy. Apparently such an assumption would be wrong – because they are – where they believe they can go overseas – nuke Russia (North Korea -- anybody?) – and nothing will happen to them coddled comfortably in North America.

news.goldseek.com >> 15 May 2017

Let Them Eat Cake
By: Captain Hook
All the signs of peak bubble conditions are back – levels comparable to 1929, 2000, and the 2008 financial crisis. Artificially low interest rates coupled with quantitative easing (QE) has brought back the same dynamics that caused previous bubbles to pop as a result of unsustainable extremes, with runaway debt levels up and down the line at center. Yes, the cake eaters have been running rampant since 2008, however even with low interest rates sponsoring the largest debt bubble in history, this madness can’t continue indefinitely. The debt bubble(s) will be popped at some point (soon?).

news.goldseek.com >> 1 May 2017

Lawless
By: Captain Hook
It’s frustrating to think there’s nothing you can do about it, because it’s all around you and pervasive in our society today. It’s born in human greed and the desire for power, which are the base modus operandi behind all its manifestations, from America’s new found extremes in neo-fascism, to the (Western) police state, to Empire. From the lowest clerk to ‘the powers that be’, all are equally guilty in allowing its spread in tacitly complicit bureaucracy.

news.goldseek.com >> 24 April 2017

Irrational Exuberance
By: Captain Hook
Remember the time you might have first heard the term ‘irrational exuberance’? I will never forget it. It was in December of 1996. Alan Greenspan tried to warn people the stock market was getting ‘carried away’ at the time, which is rich considering the bubbles he was responsible for afterwards. Fast forward to today, and we have the same situation essentially, given the larger degree credit cycle is much closer to an end than a beginning, if not done.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 April 2017

A Permanently High Plateau
By: Captain Hook
Margin debt hits fresh new highs, but according to status quo puppets, nothing to worry about because its different this time. (i.e. just like 1929 – in the words of Irving Fisher, “a permanently high plateau” [of prosperity].) And in a sense such talk is correct, because the markets have never been more rigged, however even with this, the bureaucracy’s price managers will fail at some point (stocks usually peak a few months after a margin debt peak), as all faulty and unfair systems self-destruct from within eventually.

news.goldseek.com >> 10 April 2017

Ratios at Work
By: Captain Hook
So while profound change may be afoot in broad market measures, there’s still a ways to go before we can talk about a noticeable sentiment change in precious metals. That said, the groundwork is being laid for such a change, from a sector-wide bullish posture to bearish in proper fashion given precious metals should decline in the initial stages of a ‘deflation scare’ anyway, which is the set-up right now. Once this occurs, and the fools that play the derivatives start betting bearish / hedging (like they do in broad market measures now), the next leg of the precious metals bull market can commence, as prices begin to climb a ‘wall of worry’.

news.goldseek.com >> 3 April 2017

Playing Chicken with a MACK Truck
By: Captain Hook
When you are playing chicken with an 18-wheeler – like a MACK Truck – you better be driving something much bigger (a gold mining truck) – or you could be hurt badly. This is the analogy I chose to make the point that the Fed’s current tightening bias will eventually work and slow down not just real economy, but the all important (to the Fed and rest of the paper game fraudsters) financialized economy as well, which may not be so easy to resurrect this time around. Because in spite of the Fed’s bullshit story, the aggregate economy is quite weak, masked by rising prices (which is just fine if you are an asset rich oligarch) – better known as stagflation.

news.goldseek.com >> 28 March 2017

Sell the Rumor and Buy the Fact
By: Captain Hook
That’s what’s going on in the equity complex right now in relation to traders getting out of the way of what is now 100% consensus the Fed will be raising administered rates this Wednesday. This selling has hit everything from stocks, to crude, to precious metals, where it’s been particularly bad in the commodities naturally. Why naturally? Answer: Because the bureaucrats and bankers want it that way, and they control the paper markets, toppling over idiot speculators on a regular basis in these markets with news / propaganda and algo driven exchanges predisposed to supporting stocks / bonds and selling commodities / precious metals.

news.goldseek.com >> 13 March 2017

Of Useful Idiots and COMEX Silver Speculators
By: Captain Hook
Incredibly, open interest (OI) on COMEX silver continues to skyrocket, now only a few thousand contracts from all time highs. Why is this happening? Answer: Hedge fund buying with other people’s money. What’s more, the options are largely viewed as sacrifice trades (hedges), seen as lost money before the trade is put on, because if they don’t pay off this means the rest of their gambling probably will.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 March 2017

The Gong Show
By: Captain Hook
As Dr. Steve Pieczenik (former CIA) explains in this brilliant clip, the larger US bureaucracy, deep state, and shadow government, the centralized ‘super-state’ that conquered the not just America, but the world, are essentially dying. The consequences of all the corruption, fraud, and excesses are coming home to roost, where significant change is coming Trump or no Trump, as will become evident as the global decentralization process accelerates in years to come.

news.goldseek.com >> 27 February 2017

Is It All About The Donald?
By: Captain Hook
While everybody’s attention is glued to The Donald on this side of the pond (for all the wrong reasons?), big things, national election things, are happening in Europe this year, starting next month. First we have the Dutch General Election on March 15, which could start the ball rolling towards a breakup of the Europe Union (EU) this year, and not a word from the mainstream media (MSM) in America, only a month away now.

news.goldseek.com >> 20 February 2017

Cost Push Inflation
By: Captain Hook
The reason we are looking at this today is because of how the Trump Bump is causing input prices to jump higher already, evidenced in the most recent (December) US ISM numbers, showing the biggest jump since 2011. And this trend will most likely continue with the excitement Trump has created with ‘making America great again’, where even foreign governments are joining the party, which will continue to strengthen employment conditions (already apparent), raising the specter of rapidly rising cost-push inflation. So its understandable precious metals are stirring again, where it appears like inflation, pressure is building for increasing prices.

news.goldseek.com >> 13 February 2017

Trump Comes Out Swinging
By: Captain Hook
No ‘rope-a-dope’ for Donald Trump. He’s come out of the corner swinging. So far he has signed six controversial bills in only the first few days, and you can be sure more are to come. The only problem with fighters like this is they burn out fast however, where all too often they effectively punch themselves out in the early going. In this regard, it could be argued that’s what happened to him with his Atlantic City Casinos. One casino wasn’t enough for The Donald. Then they all got in trouble because of his huge ego – and needed a bailout.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 February 2017

Nothing to Lose – Mr. Trump
By: Captain Hook
Where are the regulators Mr. Trump? Are you really ‘in charge’? If you are truly concerned with making America great again, you will need to do something about this situation. America’s got to take the hit before it’s possible to be great again – you need honest markets Mr. Trump – you can take that to the bank. If you don’t bring proper price discovery back to the markets, all your efforts will be for naught, because as you know, there’s no free lunch.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 February 2017

US Index Open Interest Put / Call Ratio Analysis
By: Captain Hook
Not long now. Not long to month end. Not long until we see what the (fake?) January Barometer signal tells us to expect this year. There’s only one problem – this signal has been rendered redundant by speculator betting practices and the machines. Case in point – last year. Last year stocks were hammered in January. But how did stocks end the year? Answer: Higher – much higher. They were higher not because of ‘fundamentals’.

news.goldseek.com >> 30 January 2017

Year of the Rooster
By: Captain Hook
Donald Trump is now the new President of the United States of America (USA), such as it is, where libertarians and conservatives should be rejoicing – right? Well, maybe if he’s able to repeal Rule 41 and is able to right off a lot of debt without imploding the financial system (not possible) – yes – one must agree. However this is all speculation at this point – as is all the optimism associated with Trump, where like Reaganomics, Trumponomics, is expected to ‘reignite’ the US economy after 30-years of an aggressive hollowing out.

news.goldseek.com >> 23 January 2017

It’s All About COMEX
By: Captain Hook
Why do gold and silver prices top overnight and come into New York cash market down significantly off the highs almost every day? Answer: The futures market that trades 24-hours a day, populated by the big gamblers and hedge funds that have the most profound effect in driving prices of all factors. These people place their bets and takes their chances and all physical market investors are taken along for the ride – good or bad.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 January 2017

The Almighty Dollar – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
Donald Trump is elected President of the United States of America last year on a populist platform and the dollar($) takes off like it’s nobody’s business on the sales pitch America is back in business with a true business man at the helm. Right-wingers would point out Trump’s failures throughout the years in an effort to dispel this belief, however in fact his track record is impressive, with only four bankruptcies out of some 400 incorporations.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 January 2017

The Bitcoin Craze
By: Captain Hook
Why is Bitcoin going through the roof? Some would have you believe it’s solely because of Yuan depreciation risk, with most of the buying coming out of China. This is certainly a factor, and likely chief trigger of the present melt-up, however this is not the entire reason. Others would be quick to add it’s the scarcity factor (only 21 million units in circulation) and the ‘check’ blockchain technology provides.

news.goldseek.com >> 2 January 2017

Starving the Beast -- Revisited
By: Captain Hook
The globalists want to install Chinese style communism in America, and all around the world, as they are convinced authoritarian control of the proletariat will sustain ‘the party’ – the status quo. At least they want to believe that, because conveniently such a manifestation might maintain their ‘materialistic world’ slightly longer, which is of course why this movement has the support of the statist (global) corporate estate.

news.goldseek.com >> 27 December 2016

Hamburger Hill
By: Captain Hook
So bottom line, because of this paper market ‘clusterf*ck’ that controls precious metal prices, what will happen in the end is many producers will go bust as commodity prices are kept at or below cost set against debt induced bankruptcies, which is of course the big reason gold (and silver) producers keep putting out ore under such adverse conditions – because they must pay the bankers. As this process works through however, what will happen is increasingly supply will become tighter, especially for silver, which is not hoarded like gold. This is important to realize as very little silver production is actually turned into bullion savings, maybe 15%.

news.goldseek.com >> 19 December 2016

Copycat Economics
By: Captain Hook
As forecast, the stock market remained buoyant right into month-end, and then preceded to roll over once the month / (fiscal) year-end window dressing dried up. You must realize, that hedge funds make the world go round with respect to the stock market, and this is proof of this fact. And you can expect the same outcome going into year-end for the same reason. Yes, the Fed and it’s masters (commercial banks) run the biggest prop desks, and are very important in the equation, however they cannot maintain the illusion on their own. They need the funds not only for support, but to exploit.

news.goldseek.com >> 12 December 2016

Promises to Keep
By: Captain Hook
Donald Trump did it. He is the newly elected President of the United States of America – the USA. The USA – that place of apple pie and opportunity – the land of the free and brave – embodied in Donald Trump and his success. Since its inception, America has been the place where your dreams can come true, fomenting a melting pot of hungry opportunists looking to exploit both new frontiers, and the wealth this would bring.

news.goldseek.com >> 5 December 2016

Margin Debt to Become Issue
By: Captain Hook
For stocks, we saw something remarkable last week, a strong close into options expiry in spite of non-supportive open interest put / call ratios across the key measures we follow, with the exceptions of IYT, NDX, and MNX. And if you look at the sectors, it was in fact the transports and tech that lead the markets last week. Tech was oversold due to the reaction post election, so this was not surprising, and almost seemed contrived; but I would not want to be accused of being a conspiracy theorist. Too late – right?

news.goldseek.com >> 29 November 2016

Let The Good Times Roll
By: Captain Hook
Trump has won the election. For this we should be truly grateful, because the alternative was pure evil and could have ended us all. And you can see the relief in people aware of this possibility everywhere, with true-hearts the happiest they have been in years. What’s more, this euphoria is being carried over to the financial markets in a big way as well, with 1000 swings higher in the Dow as billionaires pile back into stocks, economy sensitive commodities soaring, and cost of money breakouts above decade long trend-lines hitting the tape.

news.goldseek.com >> 21 November 2016

Viva La Revolution
By: Captain Hook
Now, The Donald has the gargantuan job of attempting to undo decades of damage self-serving oligarchs and bureaucrats have imposed on America, and the world. The thing to understand about what this means for the political economy of the world, is globalism, is about to get the kick in the head it deserves, and the decentralization process is about to kick into high gear. As you may know, I have seen this coming for some time – and now here we are.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 November 2016

Braveheart
By: Captain Hook
So its no coincidence gold has been stopped by the Commercials at $1300 again, which as pointed out previously, is key resistance. Once gold makes it over $1300 on a lasting basis, which would be signaled with two consecutive closes over $1380, it would likely run back up to $2000 very quickly, and beyond. The monthly plot from the Chart Room pictured above looks much more constructive than the weekly silver chart, so let’s hope gold doesn’t close back below the ‘swing line’ (21-month EMA) anytime soon, which would turn the energy flow back down.

news.goldseek.com >> 7 November 2016

Plausibility
By: Captain Hook
Thing is, this time around, stocks will be pressured lower due to rising inflations expectations and stagflation concerns, much like what happened in the 1970’s once the US (and world) went off the gold standard completely. (i.e. the ball got rolling in this regard with FDR in 1933.) And this will be a constant problem for them on an ongoing basis, likely leaving the broads range bound for an extended time best-case scenario. This is not necessarily true of commodity stocks of course, especially precious metals as they trade as currencies as well.

news.goldseek.com >> 31 October 2016

High Altitude Ballooning Experiment
By: Captain Hook
It’s a record; the global debt colossus is now in excess of $152 trillion. And derivatives monster – you better be sitting down for this one – because it’s grown to in excess of a staggering $2 quadrillion. There’s no putting this into perspective anymore other than characterizing the situation as a high altitude ballooning experiment that has spiraled out of control – dangerously out of control. Don’t try and tell this to the globalists of the world however; they want to borrow more in perpetuity (see example here), and they hope you are sufficiently distracted not to notice (see example here).

news.goldseek.com >> 24 October 2016

The Dirty 30’s Are Back
By: Captain Hook
It’s just like the ‘Dirty 30’s’. People are broke and credit is about to dry up. So precious metal shares can only rally (so far) in ‘fits and starts’ as various polices are attempted. Again, the next monetarist salvo should be QE for the stock market (Fed monitizing stocks), and then helicopter money; and, if Trump gets in, his proposed tax cuts would figure into the equation as well. First we need the excuse for all this however, which won’t happen until after the election, when interest rates spike higher and equity bubbles burst.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 October 2016

Tyranny On The Rise
By: Captain Hook
Adolf would be proud. The Boys (and girls) From Brazil (been on this page for some time now) are hard at work these days bringing their idea of a perfect global corporate state to the world, with the latest volley being Obama transferring control of the internet over to an agency run by the United Nations (UN), giving countries like China and Iran command of censorship in the future. If this is allowed to occur, gradually, the face of the internet will change in coming years to reflect the corporatist elites and authoritarian governments that dominate the world, crushing the last bastion of declining free speech remaining – America.

news.goldseek.com >> 10 October 2016

The Party’s Over
By: Captain Hook
The party’s over for the neo-liberal deep state, more commonly referred to as the ‘status quo’, and we will all pay a heavy price in the aftermath. Because all the money printing in the world will no longer work. Sure, the printing presses will continue to spit out ever-increasing fiat currency digits in order to maintain the illusion for as long as they can, however as with all deceptions, the truth will be known in good time, and this time might come a lot sooner than just about anybody thinks.

news.goldseek.com >> 3 October 2016

The Charts Don’t Lie
By: Captain Hook
No matter who is in the White House next year, if some form of income doesn’t arrive for the growing multitudes of downtrodden Americans (jobs, helicopter money, etc), it won’t take long to see the result – namely a crashing dollar($) that takes the bond market with it, and then stocks in the aftermath. As pointed out in earlier commentaries, we are seeing this already, where market rates are rising with Trumps improving prospects for getting into the White House.

news.goldseek.com >> 26 September 2016

Pushing On A String
By: Captain Hook
Interest rates are zero (ZIRP) now, at least for some people – right? If you are rich and don’t need money, they are zero. And if you have money in the bank they are also zero, and will likely be negative (NIRP) if trends in Europe are any indication, as central authorities continue attempting to force money into the markets / economy. With these policies, you would think the economy would be doing better, as who in their right mind would pay to keep money on deposit with risky banks, at least if one understand that’s what you are doing.

news.goldseek.com >> 20 September 2016

A Cake-Eaters Paradise
By: Captain Hook
The thing a good Keynesian will never tell you is once unfretted money printing starts you can never have enough because of what it does to the human condition – it turns people into the pathetic and materialistic sellouts you see everywhere today – what some ‘old-thinker Italian people’ like to call ‘mangia-cake’ – or cake eaters. Others in our society more commonly refer to such people as ‘good time Charlie’s’, people who prefer the ‘lighter side of life’, often with little regard for the cost.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 September 2016

Trading Notes
By: Captain Hook
So it appears my concerns about the larger equity complex here in the Fall may be unfounded – no matter rapidly deteriorating fundamentals, technicals, or political backdrop. Yup – apparently Hillary could drop dead tomorrow and it wouldn’t amount to a ‘hill of beans’; the European Union fail; the euro disintegrate. Why? Answer: SDR’s.

news.goldseek.com >> 12 September 2016

A Day Of Reckoning
By: Captain Hook
A day of reckoning approaches – even the oligarchs know this – and it’s coming closer faster every day. No, I’m not playing with words here, or your sensibilities. However, because our situation has been in hyper-bloat for so long now, essentially measured by stock market lows in 2009, this statement is simple fact. A day of reckoning approaches – and it’s coming closer faster every day. It’s that simple, whether you want to face up to this inevitability or not. And it will arrive for all the reasons we discuss on these pages every week, some of which, the important ones, we will discuss here again today.

news.goldseek.com >> 5 September 2016

Scary Stuff
By: Captain Hook
The stock market was basically flat last week, which is understandable given present circumstances. The status quo is doing their damdest to keep it elevated going into the election, and everybody else knows this and is allowing them to continue slowly inflating the bubbles. And again, as pointed out some time ago, this can continue right up until election time given the right circumstances – to a point the longs feel comfortable the status quo will be maintained.

news.goldseek.com >> 29 August 2016

Do or Die
By: Captain Hook
The laws of the jungle are becoming important again as the life cycle of humanity continues to turn. Increasingly, it’s survival of the fittest for both the have-nots and haves alike, whether they choose to realize this or not. In the jungle, it’s ‘do or die’ – the laws of natural selection. The weak and less endowed must stay ahead of the strong or be eaten – and they know it. For some time now however, increasing numbers of human beings have become desensitized to rules of Mother Nature due to technological innovation that has made life ‘easy’ for the masses like never before. And we are still in this false bubble, however the predators continue take prey.

news.goldseek.com >> 22 August 2016

Important Charts
By: Captain Hook
That said, and because of the next chart, while inflation sensitive issues could fall faster than the broad measures of stocks in the next correction, which could be any day now depending on Trump’s presidential prospects, if the Dow / XAU (Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index) Ratio is to bounce soon, putting a tail wind at the back of stocks – you shouldn’t short them – especially with the status quo boys (bureaucrats, oligarchs, media, and fedsters) all working to get Hillary elected.

news.goldseek.com >> 15 August 2016

Welcome to The Banana Republic of America
By: Captain Hook
You may not know this, or simply prefer to ignore the reality, but America, as you know, is changing rapidly – morphing into a ‘banana republic’ before your very eyes. No? Well let’s take a look at the definition of the term and see if it applies. According to Wikipedia, a banana republic “ typically has stratified social classes, including a large, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy of business, political, and military elites. [1]”

news.goldseek.com >> 8 August 2016

It’s All About Interest Rates
By: Captain Hook
As far as the markets are concerned, it all depends on interest rates. Because disenfranchised millennials don’t give a fig about how high they go (because they are poor), but asset / debt heavy baby boomers sure do. So watch interest rates, especially 10-year US Treasuries (TNX). Higher rates will empower the millennials / disenfranchised, and lower rates means the status quo is maintaining – for now. (i.e. because it’s coming no matter what.) In this regard, as you may know, we are watching the Gold / USB (30-Year US Treasuries) Ratio for the signal inflation is accelerating higher, which is in fact the case already, but the trend has not shifted into a ‘manic move’ just yet.

news.goldseek.com >> 1 August 2016

Easy Money
By: Captain Hook
Any Rodney Dangerfield fans in the crowd? Certainly couldn’t blame you, as he was hilarious. He was king of the one-liners, with the “I don’t get no respect” routines perhaps his best-known repartee. But his genius didn’t end there. For our purposes today, I would like to borrow another of his famous catch phrases from the movie Easy Money, that being “it’s not easy bein me”. In this case however, the punch line is not so funny – not funny at all. Because it’s becoming increasingly difficult just to survive in this crazy world today with all the psychopaths running around attempting to exploit anything and everything that moves, where all to often these are the people ‘in charge’.

news.goldseek.com >> 25 July 2016

The Truman Show
By: Captain Hook
Bubbles are bursting everywhere for the Truman’s of this world today, previously coddled in whatever version of reality TV they resided – waking up to the scary truth we are trapped in a forgotten episode of the Twilight Zone (but never forgotten by Orwell) – the one where psychopath fascists take control of the world and kill us all. That’s what happens when you’re a naïve idiot like Truman, getting all your information from a bankrupt society attempting to preserve itself through lies, script, and authority.

news.goldseek.com >> 18 July 2016

It’s War
By: Captain Hook
Looks like we may get that two-day close in gold over $1325 today. And if silver can close over $20, well, the monthly chart will turn bullish not only because of what is discussed above, but also you will remember from here (see Figure 3), that RSI will break back into the growth channel. It’s not only done this but also tested the breakout and is now powering higher. So if both gold and silver can hang onto gains this week – this would be very bullish even if the next is not so good going into ETF options expiry. Word is it’s the European banks and Chinese buying causing the surge in the metals, especially in the absence of US traders here on July 4th, however in the end it will ultimately be a crashing $ and loss of empire, and the various wars required to get there – no?

news.goldseek.com >> 11 July 2016

The Taming of the Shrew
By: Captain Hook
Shakespeare was a romantic at heart. Thing is, he wasn’t just another lost hedonist submerged in self-seeking enrichment, but a romantic with a conscious and a friend of the average man never the less. You can of course see this in his writing, where the most common theme running through his work is ruthless ambition (and cruelty) leads to its own destruction, because this tendency is man’s downfall – and should be recognized, corrected, and avoided if possible.

news.goldseek.com >> 27 June 2016

Unstoppable
By: Captain Hook
She’s unstoppable that Hillary Clinton – and the American people are going to get what they deserve in allowing ‘pure evil’ to inhabit the White House – yet again. Because there are other things that are unstoppable as well, like the trend towards accelerating decentralization in the world that unelected central planners (think ECB) and their corporate masters (think Western multinationals) will not be able to thwart forever.

news.goldseek.com >> 20 June 2016

A Tale of Two Cities – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
We are revisiting a piece penned back in December of 2014 in an effort to draw useful comparisons pertinent at the time to current conditions in the markets we follow today – along with a new and important technical condition in the precious metals market right now exhibiting conflicting messages – ‘a tale of two cities’ if you will. The primary message behind the piece entitled A tail of Two Cities in 2014 was to draw attention to the growing income and wealth gaps between the top 1% and the rest of us, the same inequality that brought on the French Revolution, which continues to widen by the way, because of implications pertaining to the future.

news.goldseek.com >> 13 June 2016

Fundamentals Will Matter One Day
By: Captain Hook
A subscriber asks, “When will the top in stocks be?” My answer is of course ‘I don’t know’. Barrons answer is not yet, which should worry people as you will see below. In terms of making a case for this, my best guess based on things that matter is when speculators have had enough of shorting the market, which is in fact not yet. As mentioned last week in our sentiment study, open interest put / call ratios are still high on too may ETF’s in order to expect significant downside.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 June 2016

Priced Out of Existence
By: Captain Hook
The human race is approaching 7.5 billion people as the decade pushes on, with most struggling for survival, increasingly priced out of existence. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s what’s happening. That’s why the cost of living keeps rising despite all the deflationary pressures out there – it’s the survival of the fittest at work – which today means those embedded in positions of power of corrupt societies taxing the stupid, weak, and weary.

news.goldseek.com >> 31 May 2016

The Nature of the Beast
By: Captain Hook
Wouldn’t it be nice if precious metals go sideways and consolidate this month – giving us our positive Fibonacci monthly count set-up. That wasn’t a question – it was a statement. Such an outcome is looking increasingly possible (but not probable) as the dollar($) corrects higher, keeping the shorts in precious metals placated. Because if we don’t get this, which, as you will see below is likely based on several important technical signals, the metals might need to go to sleep for several months, and the correction will be more severe. Because that’s what happens post record-breaking moves – it’s the nature of the beast.

news.goldseek.com >> 23 May 2016

Greed and the Bible
By: Captain Hook
That’s the way it is in the economy today – the bipolar mindset of people today has managed the situation into a corner – it’s all or nothing – it’s greed. It’s the status quo or collapse and reset – with no in between. You are either in the top 1% and exploiting the masses in crony capitalism castles– or you are nowhere – going backwards in living standards, income, mental heath – you name it. It’s the laws of the jungle come home to mankind.

news.goldseek.com >> 16 May 2016

No Rest For the Wicked
By: Captain Hook
The problem is, if you’re a wicked money printing central bank, busy debasing our entire society, you can’t stop the music because everybody would lose purpose quickly – with all falling down – like Humpty Dumpty. Nope – there’s no rest for the wicked – our wicked central planners – because you can’t taper a Ponzi scheme. This self-evident truth was confirmed this past week when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) disappointed stimulus junkies and didn’t ease, sending the Nikkei down 600 points in just a few minutes.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 May 2016

No Free Lunch Redux
By: Captain Hook
This is not the first time this subject matter has crossed these page, and I can assure you, it won’t be the last. The forces behind the colloquialism ‘no free lunch’ is a primary tenant in nature, and for this reason a correspondingly central tenant of ‘sound economics’ and the Austrian School. This ideal caught my attention like no other studying economics way back when because it was the only sign on my favorite professors door besides his name. That’s how I grew to appreciate its importance – through this brilliant imagery.

news.goldseek.com >> 26 April 2016

I’m Afraid of Americans
By: Captain Hook
But perhaps the biggest reason you should be afraid of Americans is because the crazies in Washington who are used to getting their way won’t like it one bit once it becomes visible they are losing the economic (cold) war. (i.e. against China, Russia, and themselves.) You will know there’s big trouble in The Banana Republic of America when the $ starts falling off a cliff, heading towards the c-wave target (30ish) denoted in Figure 1. This is when all the derivatives will implode, and society will regress back out of the Twilight Zone – a place better known as reality.

news.goldseek.com >> 18 April 2016

Why Precious Metal Rally On Track
By: Captain Hook
Just to be clear then, what we got in the first quarter was a buy signal in gold, the shares, and key ratios; highly suggestive the bull market is back on. All we need is for silver to join the party in this regard, and we are off to the races. Further to this, and unfortunately for everybody, it appears this buy signal is not a result of political instability, or the threat of war, or any other result of the general state of debasement the ‘powers that be’ subject us to, but the result of anticipated currency debasement, the old standard. That’s the only conclusion one can to given the pictures (charts) below. That’s what we are going to do this week – go through these six charts because they confirm this thinking. The delayed positive reaction in the equity complex to Yellen’s comments Tuesday was the tell, boosted by the insanity over at the ECB as well.

news.goldseek.com >> 11 April 2016

Silver No Fly Zone
By: Captain Hook
Silver is the most managed commodity on the planet because its relationship to gold – because if its held down this will help control the price of gold. The status quo needs to have the multitudes remain complacent and distracted from their nefarious ways, because they are debasing everything, not the least of which is the currency. So a ‘no fly zone’ has been declared on silver because of its importance in maintaining the status quo’s illusion – the balloons, bubbles, and other inflated deception. Because of this, silver has become the most important market in the financial universe, where all other markets effectively hinge on it like never before, which is a fundamental reality status quo price managers will regret in coming years.

news.goldseek.com >> 28 March 2016

Viva La Revolution – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
Looks like The Donald’s balloon is gaining escape velocity, where a win in Florida this week would pretty much cement the deal (his candidacy). The surprise last week was Bernie Sanders in Michigan however, which is not good news for status quo plunderers et al. Because according to him – he’s going after these people if he’s elected. That’s how he’s going to pay for all the free stuff he plans to give away – the education, health care, and free balloons.

news.goldseek.com >> 21 March 2016

The Last Laugh
By: Captain Hook
There’s an old saying – he who laughs last – laughs loudest and longest. Applied to the financial markets, and more specifically those markets that represent man’s innovation (stocks) set against those grounded in more earthly concerns (commodities), in looking at the situation right now, it appears we are at point of ‘peak optimism’. Those in a position to truly benefit from the trend of innovation capitalization are laughing right now, with the oligarchs (tech savvy rentiers, wealthy speculators, etc.) and top-level bureaucrats cashing in ‘big time’.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 March 2016

It’s All About DUST
By: Captain Hook
This one-way and short-term stretched rally in precious metals is all about DUST. (See here) It’s all about the insane behavior of hedgers and speculators watching what is a very overbought condition in the sector, and buying DUST to capitalize on the inevitable and pending correction that never comes. (i.e. because they continue to increase the open interest in DUST while driving the put / call ratio down, which is bullish because this is an inverse fund.)

news.goldseek.com >> 7 March 2016

Stock Market Another Tax
By: Captain Hook
Make no mistake about it; at this point the stock market is just another tax on the little people, where insiders and oligarchs run wild over them. Unless you are a high frequency trader, unicorn, or billionaire activists you don’t have a chance at winning against the forces at work here, making participation for most high-risk stupidity. Even the mighty quants and billionaire activists are starting to feel the pain now however, which can’t be good for the average Joe.

news.goldseek.com >> 1 March 2016

The Liquidity Trap
By: Captain Hook
Have you noticed? Stocks don’t go up anymore unless they announce a multi-billion dollar buyback program, and then the gains don’t last. What’s worse, it should be realized by investors that these buybacks will need to increasingly curtailed as stocks fall with the financialized economy so dependent on asset prices now. So while the high flyers like Amazon are still able to tap the credit markets to continue the Ponzi, as the rot of the collapsing colossus (better know as the economy) continues to spread, these types will be forced to cease this insanity as well, and then we see the true meaning of the term ‘liquidity trap’ applied to the stock market.

news.goldseek.com >> 22 February 2016

Welcome My Son – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
Here we are back on the Pink Floyd standard, a song about the corruption of the ‘old boys club’ in the music industry of the 70’s. Fast-forward to today, and we have the same situation on steroids gripping everything from business to government, which is nothing new. To think different would be naïve. The thing about it however, is it’s pervasive extent these days, where even mid-level bureaucrats need to be lumped in with the real crazies at the top because of the degrees of complicity they are willing to participate in – bringing us to the fascist states they enjoy today.

news.goldseek.com >> 15 February 2016

Out of Touch
By: Captain Hook
The Fed appears to be increasingly delusional. It appears they are lost in their own bullshit story. The net result of this confusion, which is seated in their desire to ‘normalize rates’ before they have to respond to the next financial / market(s) collapse, is they have essentially abandoned the stock market. Thing is though, the speculators (public) don’t understand this, which puts the stock markets in a precarious position.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 February 2016

Last Man Standing
By: Captain Hook
In the end, and without a doubt, precious metals will be last man standing in terms of ultimate currency and means of saving. This understanding becomes self-evident upon the individual performing a comprehensive study of history, politics, and economics, amongst other things, not the least of which being free thinking sources of the above. This is of course why you are here, because we are all of those things.

news.goldseek.com >> 1 February 2016

It’s a Matter of Trust
By: Captain Hook
It’s a new year, and people in Europe are trying to get over the 2015 hangover – literally. From the Charlie Hebdo incident at the beginning of the year in France, which was tragedy sparked by the locals poking fun at the wrong brand of extremists apparently, to the not so funny New Years celebration in Germany, and everything in between (Paris Massacre, etc.), clearly racial tensions are on the rise.

news.goldseek.com >> 25 January 2016

Hope Springs Eternal
By: Captain Hook
So it looks like troubles in China (Yuan devaluation) are going to cause larger short-term corrections in existing intermediate (now long) term trends, however with the number of confident idiots still populating the precious metals space (it’s become a speculative orgy = space), even if the broads have topped, at some point (after the spec gold COT shorts are burned off), they should still come crashing back down.

news.goldseek.com >> 18 January 2016

Welcome to the Jungle
By: Captain Hook
We humans come from the jungle, and to the jungle we will return. In fact, the way some people act today, one could conclude we never left. Because people are increasingly acting like animals these days, bringing back the need to think in terms of ‘survival of the fittest’, as modern societies disintegrate. Evidence of this trend is everywhere. You’ve got a global corporatist / statist state (neo-fascist) over-riding all sovereign interests raping (financially, liberties, etc.)

news.goldseek.com >> 11 January 2016

The Counterintuitive Markets
By: Captain Hook
It’s getting harder and harder for people to rationalize why our ‘modern markets’ act the way they do these days because they appear ‘counterintuitive’ to the naked eye. They go up when they should go down and visa versa. The precious metals markets are undoubtedly the best example of this present overriding condition in that evidence of financial instability and sovereign currency management (debasement) continues to accelerate with no impact on prices. It’s like nothing is wrong.

news.goldseek.com >> 4 January 2016

Peak Complexity and Impending Reversion to the Mean
By: Captain Hook
If you were to ask everyday people out there today if life was getting too complicated for them, it’s my belief they would come back with a resounding consensus of ‘yes’. And it’s not hard to see why. In the first place the nanny state has put critical thinking by most people to sleep, where unfortunately far too many literally don’t know their collective ‘ass from their elbows’ anymore.

news.goldseek.com >> 21 December 2015

Déjà Vu
By: Captain Hook
So it looks like administered interest rates in the States are going higher – hell or high water. That’s the conclusion ‘informed commentators’ have come to, and they are probably right, but not for the reasons most site. Mainstream media would have you believe it’s the strong economy, but we all know that’s baloney. Others would have you believe it’s the Fed attempting to bring normalcy back into the market, along with attempting to restore credibility. But that’s not it either, because the Fed is scared stiff of pricking its precious bubbles. No, assuming the stock market hangs in until next week, if the Fed tightens it won’t be because it wants to, it will be because it has to.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 December 2015

Staying Ahead of the Curve – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
That’s what it’s all about for technocrats – staying ahead of the curve. It’s about managing you and your environment in every respect, from what you think to how you act – and they are winning. Wall Street, Washington, the media, and surveillance state – it’s all about getting your information and using against you in exploitive tactics designed to bolster and enrich the status quo – and to hell with everybody else. The public is viewed as a never-ending resource to be exploited, and the objective for the psychopaths is to remain ahead of everybody else in the larger exploitation game.

news.goldseek.com >> 30 November 2015

High Anxiety
By: Captain Hook
They call it ‘behavioral finance’. It’s the study and application of how psychology affects decision-making in financial markets. This field is widely studied now in both academia and the business world alike, with many works such as this, and is a primary reason (the other being greed) the application of algorithms in computerized trading (news dissemination, etc.) has taken over the trade on modern day stock exchanges.

news.goldseek.com >> 16 November 2015

It’s a Matter of Solvency
By: Captain Hook
When it comes to enduring enterprise and buoyant economies, in the end, future fortunes depend on solvency. This brings us to the problem with enterprise in our debt saturated western economies, because the pillars are largely insolvent, meaning corporations, and governments will never repay the debt they owe because its too much. Greece has been the visible exemplar of the larger problem in western media because authorities were able to impose increasingly draconian terms of repayment on a weak and weary periphery state, kicking the insolvency can down the road once again.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 November 2015

Boom Boom Boom
By: Captain Hook
Anybody who did not heed our warning last week that stocks could rip higher into November is hurting big time if short. It was the combination of promised QE by the ECB, a rate cut in China, and better than expected earnings by key bubble stocks in the US – boom boom boom (not the John Lee Hooker variety) – Bob's your uncle – that did the job. Now, what we have is a technical picture that suggests new highs in the US broads are not just possible, but quite likely, given there’s no way record short positions have covered all their positions in such a short period of time.

news.goldseek.com >> 3 November 2015

Sirens
By: Captain Hook
In Greek mythology, sirens were dangerous yet beautiful creatures that lured passing sailors with enchanting music and voices, who ended up shipwrecked on the rocky coast of their island. Fast forward to today, and this same imagery can be used to warn people about the perils of ‘modern day finance’, where the dangerous yet beautiful creatures that inhabit the parasite classes continue to lure all strata of ‘wannabees’ as close to their shores as possible, only to end up on the rocks once they have been used up.

news.goldseek.com >> 26 October 2015

It Just Doesn’t Matter
By: Captain Hook
So you think the economy is going into recession, or is already there. For growing numbers this is true if you are not part of the subsidized and / or financialized economies. Certainly the useless parasites on the Beltway are not feeling it. But the hard working and honest people in the real economy are getting decimated by these assholes – not that it matters – or at least it hasn’t mattered to the stock market up to this point.

news.goldseek.com >> 19 October 2015

No Plan B
By: Captain Hook
It can happen in the blink of an eye. You can wake up one morning, and everything is different. Everything you thought was right is wrong. Complacency is replaced by genuine fear, not just a neurotic phobic malaise gripping your conscious state. This is when it happens. If you still consider yourself in the Western ‘middle class’, this is when you will see a mass awakening and acceptance your world is changing too – that this is not just happening to some unfortunates in the far off periphery.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 October 2015

A Check in Every Mailbox – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
Just when you think you know something, you revisit another chart(s), which is always a good idea if you are a good (thorough) technician. That’s what happened to me this passed week. You will remember we said last Monday we thought that stocks would rally off the Fed meeting because that’s what they are all about – creating tension to force stupid shorts to cover – to be followed by another plunge, possibly leading to something very nasty as we work into October.

news.goldseek.com >> 29 September 2015

All The Marbles
By: Captain Hook
As time passes, and although difficult to discern for those caught in the whirlwind, increasing numbers are starting to ask the right questions about our worsening economies – why and who is doing this to us? And as the economy continues to worsen and disenfranchise increasing numbers from the ‘middle class’, this trend should become stronger, finally arriving at a point of revolution. The rentier and political classes, which are the ‘who’, know this, and are attempting to take steps to preserve the neo-feudal status quo, which is the ‘why’.

news.goldseek.com >> 21 September 2015

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait
By: Captain Hook
Have you ever heard the saying – good things come to those who wait? What this obviously means is good things happen to the patient. Within my own life experience I have found this to be true. Patience is more often than not a virtue, especially when it comes to the speculation game. And while it’s true these past few years have not been kind to such thinkers – that’s the point – meaning the future looks bright for those who exercised patience and good judgment in attempting to game a bottom in precious metals.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 September 2015

Six Degrees of Separation
By: Captain Hook
According to Wikipedia, Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare. Taking it a step further, the theory can be extrapolated to superficially explain what appears to be a ‘shrinking world’ that is really due to technology, but what’s the fun in talking about reality right?

news.goldseek.com >> 31 August 2015

The Commoditization of Everything
By: Captain Hook
Central planning is the culprit. It transplants concepts such as for ‘the good of the people’, and ‘good of the state’, from those associated with a republic based on political freedom and liberty. Commonly referred to as ‘socialism’, throughout history centrally planned regimes have been born out of democracies as lifecycle changes take hold, and touted as progress by those in charge of, and benefiting from, the planning. Humans, being what they are, which is easily corruptible, quickly turn such circumstances for their own benefit at the public’s expense, who don’t mind because they are bribed with handouts as well.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 August 2015

Suspended Animation
By: Captain Hook
Do you have an uneasy feeling regarding the future? Are you feeling uncertain about your future financial prospects? Do you seek out meaningless distraction at every opportunity like some debased hedonist perpetually seeking to escape reality? Do you view government as benevolent and serving your best interests? Do you depend on government and serve the beast?

news.goldseek.com >> 3 August 2015

Animal Farm
By: Captain Hook
We have arrived. The global statist nightmare is here. Orwell must be rolling over in his grave. Process associated with decentralization away from the West, and America, along with all corrupt and collusive centralized political bodies around the world, continues to accelerate, as increasing numbers become disenfranchised and frustrated with vulgarities associated with bureaucracy in general.

news.goldseek.com >> 20 July 2015

Starve the Beast
By: Captain Hook
It must appear sweet to be an American through the eyes of the third world – all that wealth and not an ounce of common sense – outside looking in. That’s why they want in. That’s why the West has immigration problems from the Mexican border to the Mediterranean – because the poor are becoming increasingly desperate. And you can’t blame them, knowing what awaits them if they can make the hurdle – heaven is free money.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 July 2015

Who’s Kidding Whom?
By: Captain Hook
If using bad language, it would be ‘who’s kidding who’ – right – something one would say to someone who is lying to you. Most of the time, this saying is used within the context of a lie that’s not an affront, something less serious and not considered personal (something that will affect you directly) by most people. By no coincidence, much of the economic data published from official sources these days falls into this category, with employment data coming out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) perhaps the most profound perpetrator in terms of believability. Because I mean ‘who’s kidding who’ sirs (and madams), there ain’t no way the unemployment rate is really going down.

news.goldseek.com >> 22 June 2015

Nature is Supreme
By: Captain Hook
We are all in the flow of it – both physically and psychologically – where it should be understood – bottom line human behavior is a function of Mother Nature – believe it or not. We know this to be true because our behavior can be measured mathematically if one knows what to look for, implying while every aspect and outcome may not be quantifiable, amazingly, mass flows can. Known to most as mass (or crowd) psychology, humans have endeavored to measure this phenomenon within formal constructs that both recognize and dismiss this understanding, but in the end it’s the numbers that prove theory, as will be demonstrated on these pages today.

news.goldseek.com >> 8 June 2015

The Rich Man’s Panic
By: Captain Hook
Market historians may remember the stock market mania of the early 1900’s referred to by some as ‘the rich man’s rally’, because like today, it was the top 1% of the 1% that really made out. In folklore it was the Gatsby’s, and in reality the Rockefellers. And today, it’s Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, all of whom who have one thing in common – maximization in the exploitation of credit and crony capitalism. In hindsight we can now see for John Rockefeller and his ilk it was just the beginning in this regard, as the Fed and larger US credit cycle were just getting rolling, born of volatility at the turn of the century in the rich man panics of 1903 and 1907 that brought The Creature From Jeckyll Island into existence.

news.goldseek.com >> 27 May 2015

Zombie Nation
By: Captain Hook
Has America turned into a mindless mob incapable of thought independent of the status quo – a zombie nation as it were? In watching how the masses still embrace corporate and political sycophants aimed squarely at exploiting the them, continuing to embrace mindless consumption and never ending false promises, the answer to this question undoubtedly remains in the affirmative, given things are changing as the disenfranchisement process picks up speed.

news.goldseek.com >> 11 May 2015

Life in the Fast Lane
By: Captain Hook
Who could forget these poignant lyrics penned and performed by the eagles all those years ago – never more germane concerning the human experience than today. Of course back in the 70’s, the eagles were talking about those who chose this path from a personal perspective, taking drugs and burning out, not in terms of what’s happening now. What do I mean?

news.goldseek.com >> 4 May 2015

While Nero Fiddles
By: Captain Hook
Did Nero really fiddle carelessly while Rome burned, as some would suggest? Perhaps surprisingly to most, the answer to this question is no, as violins did not even exit at the time. But it was easy for his enemies to make such an aspersion due to his otherwise decadent and unpopular demeanor, so he was painted with this brush in some mainstream history books, which has been used widely as colloquialism to disparage those who show such behavior.

news.goldseek.com >> 20 April 2015

Decentralization Process Accelerates
By: Captain Hook
This is a topic we have made a focus over the past five-years (see here) because of growing importance in explaining change in our ever more complicated world moving forward – in terms of how we get along with each other in the world – our morphing political economy. The big picture is human frailty is being exposed now that we have reached impassable physical and technological hurdles that will limit our proliferation and integration with each other, forcing a reversal of the seemingly uni-polar world – the American Empire – that has forcefully dominated our activities since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fact of the matter is humanity has reached its worldly limits and must now attempt to find means to survive reasserting primitive laws of survival that modern man has attempted to eradicate.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 April 2015

Never Play Another Man’s Game
By: Captain Hook
If asked about ‘the rules’ of investing, Wall Street will offer endless variations, but never reveal the big one. Because to do this would point out to the legions hapless rubes (average investors) invested in the securities markets these days, that although stocks and bonds have done fabulously over the past six-years coming out of the 2008 financial crisis, still, for those who actually participated this must be looked at as good fortune more than anything else, especially considering you are ‘playing another man’s game’.

news.goldseek.com >> 30 March 2015

Neurotics and the Art of a Short Squeeze
By: Captain Hook
This week we have a two-day Fed meeting, where they hope their irrational bullsh*t story will scare the neurotics into buying puts and shorting again, so these idiots can be squeezed out going into options expiry. In this regard, its no mistake this Fed meeting is in an options expiry week (or at month’s end), not that they couldn’t accomplish the same thing with other jawboning type theatre.

news.goldseek.com >> 23 March 2015

Noise to Signal Repartee
By: Captain Hook
Have you had enough of the constant bombardment of noise coming out of the media these days – who could have imagined the stupidity just a few years back. Of course we should have known the last time NASDAQ hit 5,000 this was inevitable, with continued mania in all things technology apparently necessary for an otherwise impotent Empire – drowning in debt with increasing diminishing returns across the gambit.

news.goldseek.com >> 16 March 2015

Mission Accomplished
By: Captain Hook
The process of our sovietized democracy devolution continues to accelerate with the bureaucratization of the Internet in the US, which will have more profound effects on the population than most realize. (i.e. think ‘thought police’.) Make no mistake, this is a power grab by the bureaucrats to regulate and tax the net, further enhancing their ability to control all important aspects of your life, liberty, and freedom – and nobody is doing anything about it.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 March 2015

Casino Royale
By: Captain Hook
Here’s a new term for you to associate all the paper gold created out of thin air around the world every day, putting things in proper perspective – ‘fiat gold’ – gold buy declaration (fiat) – where the banks and financial establishment are able to sell as much fraudulent and unbacked representations of the physical commodity as they please. In case you are not clued in to why they do this – it’s control – maintaining confidence in and control over the Anglo-Western financial system, also known as the status quo – by keeping prices lower.

news.goldseek.com >> 23 February 2015

Extend and Pretend
By: Captain Hook
To say we live in a bipolar world these days, a world characterized by white or black parallels up and down the spectrum of life, should be obvious to all by now as the extremes continue to become increasingly profound. And this should be no surprise to anybody with a full 70% of American’s on mind-altering drugs – stoned, distracted and delusional – allowing the populace to continue accepting an increasingly perverse ‘new normal’ – the dope makes extend and pretend possible with an increasingly placated population.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 February 2015

Is Another Banker Bust Coming?
By: Captain Hook
So we got a sell signal on the January Barometer this year yet again, with stocks being down on the month; however, as speculated previously, it may not be a contrary indicator this time around. As you may know, the stock market was down Friday because of a hawkish statement out of a chief Fed mouthpiece, James Bullard. The question then arises, why did he do this if he knew stocks would not like what they heard?

news.goldseek.com >> 9 February 2015

Abandon Ship – Its Every Man for Himself
By: Captain Hook
Who could forget those piercing words shouted out from the Titanic’s Captain Smith as he gave the command “abandon ship – its every man for himself”, as it became obvious all was lost. To just about everybody’s amazement, the unsinkable Titanic was going under, and there was nothing the crew or engineers could do about it. Fast forward to today, and this makes for some powerful imagery when put against our supposedly unsinkable modern day fiat currency economies – bubble economies that only those as delusional as those thinking the Titanic could not sink would dare to characterize as stable – steady as she goes.

news.goldseek.com >> 2 February 2015

Vibrations
By: Captain Hook
Within the physical world, vibrations are generally not a good thing, often warning of an impending event, with earthquakes perhaps the best comparative example for our purposes. With earthquakes, before the big one arrives, most often they are preceded by many smaller vibrations, many of which are in fact undetectable to those experiencing them. Of course with earthquakes, as with other such phenomena, smaller vibrations can occur without a larger event being triggered as well, or at least it may seem that way because said larger event may not arrive for some time.

news.goldseek.com >> 19 January 2015

Ship Of Fools
By: Captain Hook
Apparently Americans are feeling optimistic about 2015, at least according to a bought and paid for mainstream stream media. And why not, as on the surface things look great – right? Unemployment is low if you don’t include participation rates; the economy is strong if you believe government bureaucrats and Wall Street liars; and, nowhere else is this sentiment be better expressed than in the stock market, which pushes ever higher to new lofty levels seemingly every day.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 January 2015

A Tail Of Two Cities
By: Captain Hook
It’s true. The Fed’s been talking about raising interest rates since 2010 but never does. Why? Because they can’t, which makes their entire act nothing more than bad kabuki theatre while they fallaciously continue to debase ‘core economy interests’ (think stocks, bonds, currency, etc.) at an increasing rate. An increasing rate? No, that can’t be true or gold would be doing much better. Really, it’s true – they just hide it better and obfuscate the situation by never talking about it correctly.

news.goldseek.com >> 29 December 2014

Banking On Insanity
By: Captain Hook
This piece could have been entitled ‘betting on insanity’ as easily as ‘banking’, because the theme centers on how gambling is not just distraction for the idiots anymore, it has gone systemic in our society today. However, considering who is primarily responsible for this mess, it seems appropriate. Because if there’s any one group that should be blamed for what is about to happen to the world, the wholesale financial collapse that is on our doorstep, it’s the bankers – those creatures from Jekyll Island.

news.goldseek.com >> 22 December 2014

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
For Whom The Bell Tolls is of course one of Hemingway’s greatest works, something everybody should read in attempting to develop a discerning mind, filled with gripping themes and colorful imagery, sending powerful messages and lessons to readers that remain germane to this day. In this regard, and imagery that appeared not just in For Whom the Bell Tolls, but also in A Farewell to Arms, was the use of ‘automatic machines’ (machine guns) by the fascists, and how ‘fascist planes’ were especially dreaded because of their ‘killing power’.

news.goldseek.com >> 16 December 2014

Avoid The Pain
By: Captain Hook
It’s a basic human instinct – attempting to avoid pain. And it’s the reason we are in so much trouble now, because when it comes to managing economies, the longer you put off necessary pain, the worse the result in the end. This is the primary distinction defining the difference between Keynesian and Austrian economics.

news.goldseek.com >> 8 December 2014

The Currency War Accelerates
By: Captain Hook
As suggested in last week, one should expect sovereign currency wars to do nothing but accelerate moving forward as more and more countries slip into recession, with China’s surprise rate cut on Friday the next domino to fall. And again, this trend should do nothing but accelerate as crack up boom process unfolds, which will continue until something like political revolution that destabilizes the establishment pops the bubbles.

news.goldseek.com >> 1 December 2014

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
By: Captain Hook
Follow the yellow brick road; follow the yellow brick road; follow follow follow follow the yellow brick road to your dreams (riches and wealth) has always been man’s obsession, a sentiment beautifully captured all those year ago in Baum’s classic, The Wizard of Oz. Back then, the merits of following a Gold Standard were better understood, well seated within the movie’s imagery, not just ‘the yellow brick road’, but the silver slippers as well, both sending the message that by following the natural path, the path laid out by God (nature), one can have dreams come true.

news.goldseek.com >> 24 November 2014

The Twilight Zone – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
It’s only been a year and a half since we first penned our article entitled The Twilight Zone, but it seems like much longer because of how much further we have fallen into the financial black hole being imposed on us dubbed the ‘new normal’, the financial repression central planners purport is necessary if we are ever to dig ourselves out this void. Of course if you understand these things, and that the status quo fix for our worsening embroil is completely rooted in Keynesian economics, one would know why this is occurring, encapsulated in the understanding of diminishing returns – the dilution (currency debasement), corruption (crony capitalism), and changing macro-conditions (demographics and population saturation).

news.goldseek.com >> 17 November 2014

Staying Ahead Of The Curve
By: Captain Hook
This article could have simply been called ‘Staying Alive’, because it’s about central bank(s) desire to stay alive. But in order to do this, they must stay ahead of the curve now with the bubbles poised to pop, blowing them ever larger, or die. Square headed observers may retort such a sentiment with the Fed traditionally backward looking – reactionary – in setting policy, but this is not your father’s Fed my son.

news.goldseek.com >> 10 November 2014

Hell or High Water
By: Captain Hook
The Ebola thingy has now hit New York because authorities think it’s still ‘containable’ and ‘safe’ to import. Unlike the import of inert manufactured objects from China however, this constantly changing and dangerous contagion is not welcome because despite the confidence of authorities, eventually its impact will be felt in the economy once its realized it will just keep mutating and spreading until it’s too late.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 October 2014

West World
By: Captain Hook
With the G20 Summit just passed and calls for Russia to participate in November, within the panorama of topics we could cover here today, it seems fitting to delving into the changing geopolitical landscape in the world today again as ‘survival issues’ continue to accelerate, making for the perception of ‘strange bedfellows’ if you are a delusional and desperate American elitist. Big picture thinkers are well aware ‘profound changes’ and new alliances are currently being cemented that will materially alter the balance of power in the world as the years progress, with the rise of the BRIC’s and Eurasian trading blocs at center, not to mention cessation movements in Europe and States themselves.

news.goldseek.com >> 29 September 2014

Into The Fray
By: Captain Hook
Into the fray – a term with several meanings that helps define the juncture humanity finds itself pressing up against at the moment, poised to descend into a new and darker world the haves are not prepared to contemplate at the moment. Scuffles, a brawl, a heated dispute, to alarm (due to intensifying official fraud and the ruthless subjugation via increasingly punitive and arcane laws), to frighten, to drive away – such is the agitated state and circumstances behind why many in Scotland desire secession.

news.goldseek.com >> 15 September 2014

Elysium
By: Captain Hook
It’s no secret the rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer. Accounts of this worsening condition are stroon across mainstream media and alternative news sources alike, albeit with somewhat different storylines. Although increasingly recognizing the importance of this issue, mainstreamers, who both cater to and are controlled by the status quo, portray the condition as a result of race and education differences (which is true), and that these shortfalls should be addressed via public policy (which is not true). And by doing so, they avoid discussing the more profound problem, and the real culprits in this regard, for whom they (think they) are obliged for a living.

news.goldseek.com >> 8 September 2014

Videodrome
By: Captain Hook
Looked at in the appropriate light, the world has embraced the essence of the movie Videodrome in many respects since its release in 1983, with a hollowing out of our morality (corresponding to the economy), Orwellian mind control, and living televisions perhaps the most salient parallels. Well, at least it seems like the televisions are alive – and they certainly control how most people think these days.

news.goldseek.com >> 2 September 2014

The Fox is in Charge of the Hen House
By: Captain Hook
A subscriber asked yesterday about the anticipated low we envision, with the possibility of one more washout before the secular bull market resumes. My answer was with the open interest put / call ratio on SLV falling (big) to .31 (a new low) as of Monday’s trade, post the August expiry, chances have of a significant decline have increased considerably, with a vexing of long-term support at approximately $17 quite possible now, if not probable in a liquidity event.

news.goldseek.com >> 18 August 2014

Good Vibrations
By: Captain Hook
Who could forget the feel good tones first piped out by the Beach Boys some 50 years ago now – good good good – good vibrations. Just thinking about this tune is enough to get one off their feet and grooving. That’s the feel good part of this piece today, as it all goes down hill from here because we are about to discuss salient features of our present day economy. Back in the 60’s we still had the ‘great inflation’ and the ‘good vibrations’ this created in the economy ahead with the US (Nixon) going off the Gold Standard.

news.goldseek.com >> 11 August 2014

The Ratchet Effect
By: Captain Hook
Aggressive financial repression is the cornerstone of subversive market manipulation being imposed on the macro by the ‘powers that be’ (think oligarchs, fascists, and bureaucrats) at present, which is affecting not only prices, but also investor attitudes. At the core, this practice is very unhealthy, because not only has it created the most profound example of wide-ranging mal-investment in the history of mankind, but more, it has also engendered dangerous embedded misunderstandings and a sense of complacency associated with real world constraints and conditions that have material affect on life.

news.goldseek.com >> 4 August 2014

The Salami Approach
By: Captain Hook
One by one, the salami slices are falling. That’s what the Salami Approach is all about – the meticulous carving off of one slice after another – until it’s all gone. In this case, what we are talking about is the economy – the increasingly destabilized and decentralizing economy courtesy of a bankrupt society. But this has all happened before you should know, so it’s nothing new save the scale. Because it’s the entire globe this time around – meaning while humanity has been in similar states previously, on this basis it’s ‘all new’ in terns of outcomes.

news.goldseek.com >> 28 July 2014

The Quickening
By: Captain Hook
While you have never likely dreamed the classic cult flick Highlander would ever be used to make social comment of this nature, still, here we are today. It’s appropriate in my view because the unraveling of the West, Globalization, and America specifically is accelerating now – the economy, the markets, and the money. Along the way the US had its sword out beheading both friend and foe to gain more power and wealth, but now the brazen greed of American power Barrons has been exposed for all to see, again, causing a quickening of decentralization from untrustworthy influence. America has been exposed for not being the trustworthy policeman and economic savior of the world it was sold as, now viewed more as an opportunistic bully and juggernaut.

news.goldseek.com >> 21 July 2014

A Fool and his Money
By: Captain Hook
Do you remember the indelible words ‘a fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place’? Do you know where this famous quote comes from? The answer is the movie Wall Street – wisdom offered to Bud Fox by Gordon Gekko – an Oscar winning performance for Michael Douglas. And there could be no truer words for many in the stock market today, benefactors of the great reflation (monetization) quantitative easing (QE) has provided since the panic lows in 2009. Unfortunately however, most people have not benefited from this reflation. For the most part, it’s been a ‘rich man’s rally’.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 July 2014

Perfect Information
By: Captain Hook
To say we live in information age today is an understatement. Previously, technology gains were more profound and slower moving, providing innovation that had material impacts on economic growth and productivity. A hundred years ago it was innovation and mobilization in energy and the automobile that enabled hydrocarbon man to flourish, taking the human population to in excess of 7 billion people today. But this cycle has run its course, with hydrocarbon supplies in an accelerating decline, which posses increasing challenges for further profound technological innovation moving forward – because fracking won’t do it.

news.goldseek.com >> 7 July 2014

Unstoppable
By: Captain Hook
As usual, Danzel Washington (and Tony Scott) did a great job on the movie Unstoppable, an action-thriller that depicts just how fast things can get out of control when big and powerful things gain momentum. In this case we are talking about a train, however the same dynamic of course applies to the entirety of the physical world – including those created by the human experience. Extreme mass is difficult to stop in any dimension governed by the laws of physics (especially gravity), including the financial markets believe it or not. The stock market, debt markets, commodities, etc. – they have all grown into large masses because of all the money printing and monetization – and the momentum in this regard appears unstoppable.

news.goldseek.com >> 30 June 2014

Where's the Wall of Worry?
By: Captain Hook
Here we are with yet another options expiry approaching this Friday and sentiment wise, nothing has changed for years. As far as speculators / hedgers are concerned, stocks are toppy, and precious metals are going to the moon – sort of. That is to say, according to the most recent readings of key US index open interest put / call ratios and short interest, with updated charts here and here respectively, with some minor exceptions, not much has changed in this regard, where market participants are still generally bearish on US stocks, and bullish on precious metals, which is why prices travel in the opposite directions of these sentiments.

news.goldseek.com >> 23 June 2014

Waterloo
By: Captain Hook
It’s a funny thing, and something nobody else has noticed yet, but one does need wonder whether the US (West) has just repeated the fatal mistake made by both Napoleon and Hitler in strategically attacking Russia in an attempt to expand the empire, which in both previous instances marked the turning point in this regard. Up to this point the larger war has been economic (cold war like), with the US continually attempting to expand the reach of its hegemony (like Napoleon and Hitler), but one also need wonder if this will accelerate one day given the ferocity of fighting in the Ukraine going on at present.

news.goldseek.com >> 16 June 2014

That Magic Number
By: Captain Hook
Well, we’re there – we touched that magic number – 107 – last week. In reading my last post on this subject you would know that 107 is very important Fibonacci resonance based resistance on the S&P 500 (SPX) / iShares Silver Trust (SLV) Ratio, where a two-day close above 107 would signal a move to somewhere between 115 and 145, and a de facto crash in silver. And you know what, although I thought this was unlikely last time this prospect was examined, I must confess, now a breach of this resistance appears possible. Read on to find out why.

news.goldseek.com >> 9 June 2014

Radio Waves
By: Captain Hook
As called for on these pages two weeks ago, the risk adjusted S&P 500 (SPX) is now vexing sinusoidal resistance at 1900 plus, with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) now plumbing decade long lows. Again, the primary reasons we saw this occurring was due to the sudden increases in short interest in both the DIA (Dow ETF) and QQQ (Nasdaq 100 Index) to two-year highs, updated here every two weeks, and official financial repression, which in this case means VIX price management (suppression), enabled by the present mania in perceived risk management.

news.goldseek.com >> 2 June 2014

Stupid Is As Stupid Does
By: Captain Hook
What does the truism ‘stupid is as stupid does’ mean? It means an intelligent person who does stupid things is still stupid. This saying comes from the movie Forest Gump, used as a metaphor to show that despite his lack of intellectual prowess, Forest did smart things, and prospered in life. Fast forward to today, and we have another instance this saying fits well in describing North American precious metals investors, few and far between as they are, which adds further layers of irony onto the situation.

news.goldseek.com >> 19 May 2014

The Most Important Number in the World
By: Captain Hook
Tuned in aficionados of such mental exercises would chime in with the Golden Ratio being the most important number in the world when it comes to explaining movements in financial markets, and they would be correct. Fibonacci based retracements and resonance / ratio based projections have a tendency to mark turning points of varying degrees more often than not, extending into Elliott Wave Theory, W.D. Gann’s work, etc. And as you know, our own work is based in this approach a well in recognizing this tendency.

news.goldseek.com >> 5 May 2014

Atlas Shrugged
By: Captain Hook
It’s getting increasingly difficult to survive out there these days for everybody except the top .01% and few of their buddies, which is not what Ayn Rand had in mind when writing on the benefits and attributes of individualism, to both the individual, and society as a whole. Of course Ayn was no stranger to the vulgarities associated with cronyism and oligarchs with her Russian origins, however she would likely be dismayed at what has happened to America today, a place she loved for what it stood for, not what it has become.

news.goldseek.com >> 28 April 2014

The Tortoise and the Hare
By: Captain Hook
Just about everybody knows the story of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ from their childhood, perhaps the most well known of Aesop's Fables and the wise lessons that lay inside. Yet today, in our instant gratification engrained ‘me society’, where social media addictions and selfies flourish as attention deficit distraction, it appears these pearls of wisdom have been lost on most, at least this is how it appears. Because when one looks around, it’s not difficult to spot increasing numbers of morally challenged fast movers who think they are getting ahead, especially in financial circles, often unjustifiably so and at the expense of others.

news.goldseek.com >> 14 April 2014

A Check In Every Mailbox – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
With further liberalization associated with everything from the earned income tax credit to tax-payer funded sex change operations for prison inmates, no matter how ridiculous, in one way or another the checks just keep coming, ‘a check in every mailbox’ if you will. Of course if you plan to run an increasingly socialistic and intrusive political system, masking the neo-fascism envisioned by the powers-that-be, then you need ever-increasing giveaways to keep the mob happy and distracted, because in the end even the most ruthless oligarchs will find a grizzly end once the party stops.

news.goldseek.com >> 1 April 2014

Take That Ivan
By: Captain Hook
Marc Faber had it right when he pointed out last week that Putin, Vlad, was just protecting Russian interests by moving into Crimea, and that he was right to do so. But as you may remember from our discussion on the topic a few weeks back, it's more than that. You see both Vlad and Ivan (the Russian people) realize the West, and more specifically Anglo - American elites and their bankers are screwing them out of a fair price for their wears (think oil and gas, which is already happening, not to mention gold and silver); and, have decided to do something about it.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 March 2014

Monkey You
By: Captain Hook
What if I were to tell you not owning gold or silver makes you a monkey – a silly monkey to global elitists and their ilk. Would you believe me? Would you be mad at me? I hope so, as this is exactly what I intended. Because you should be mad, not at me for attempting to awaken you to the need for owning gold and silver; but at the so called ‘powers-that-be’, the plutocrats, bankers, bureaucrats, and politicians (the establishment), the ones that do everything in their power to dissuade you from owning precious metals.

news.goldseek.com >> 5 March 2014

One Trick Phony
By: Captain Hook
We’ve all heard the term ‘one trick pony’, which was spun into a classic pop (and movie) hit for Paul Simon back in 1980. Quite a catchy tune for sure. But for our purposes, which is to take a satirical look at the Fed (yes my life insurance is all paid up), we are interested in its classic meaning, that being “someone or something that is skilled in only one area”; or, “someone or something that has success in one area”.

news.goldseek.com >> 24 February 2014

Silver Linings Playbook
By: Captain Hook
The premise behind the movie (and book) Silver Linings Playbook is certainly a noble one, but not as profound as that of silver itself, which will have quite a playbook of its own in the not too distant future. In the story, the heroes, Pat and Tiffany, overcome adversity by maintaining a positive attitude in attempting to see a ‘silver lining’ in their uncertain circumstances, ironically, much like silver investors today. And in the end the two lovers find themselves in a ‘happy ending’, which in the full measure of time, will undoubtedly be the fate for silver (and gold) bulls as well.

news.goldseek.com >> 17 February 2014

Journey To Babel – Revisited
By: Captain Hook
This is the third time since 2011 this topic has made these pages, the reason being it’s a very important understanding for everyone to absorb, and it needs to be repeated to help counter the continuous misinformation and distraction in mainstream media. Based on little reported, but important signs (growing numbers at levels that could actually affect fundamental organizational / political change), it’s becoming increasingly apparent the message is getting through, because people know when they are getting screwed. And this is especially true when the ‘screwees’ figure out the ‘screwers’ are going to kill them in the process.

news.goldseek.com >> 10 February 2014

Signal Failure
By: Captain Hook
My own personal circumstances aside, it appears we are also entering a trying time for stock market bulls, precious metals bears, and the powers that be, this being signaled in the apparent fifth-wave failure of the Dow / Gold Ratio (DGR) last week. The failure occurred on Thursday with a five-wave sequence tracing out to the downside, which was both confirmed and extended sufficiently on Friday to remove any doubt as to the move’s impulsive nature.

news.goldseek.com >> 3 February 2014

Mr. Blue Sky
By: Captain Hook
For gold investors, the sentiments expressed in Jeff Lynn’s immortal song Mr. Blue Sky (lyrics above) seem all to appropriate right now considering the slamming you have taken over the past two-years – where did we go wrong – where did we go wrong indeed? Because it seems like an eternity since precious metals investors have seen even the dreariest shades of blue in the sky. Gold was down 28-percent last year, with silver worse at 30-percent. But the real pain was felt in the stocks, with the GDX down more than 50-percent, and juniors down some 90-percent in many cases. 2013 was a bloodbath for precious metals investors, never mind just a rainy day.

news.goldseek.com >> 27 January 2014

A Shot Across The Bow
By: Captain Hook
Just a few quick words this week. I am in the middle of a larger theme piece that you will have to enjoy next Tuesday. Much is happening this week, from options expiry, to earnings (they are falling generally) to building divergences of important indicators against stocks, to pattern convergence / divergence, where yesterday’s weakness is a shot across the bow a truncation of both count and pattern may be upon us. Obviously we won’t know until afterwards, but this is possible, however unlikely.

news.goldseek.com >> 21 January 2014

Parapeto
By: Captain Hook
For those familiar with Greek Tragedy, which is not difficult today if one just looks around, the concept of ‘parapeto’ should be well understood, as it’s central to plot. Parapeto, or peripeteia in English, happens to be the moment the hero realizes everything he knows, or has known, and for this reason would take such knowledge as ‘common sense’, is wrong. Generally we get to see this when the hero is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances, often through no fault of their own.

news.goldseek.com >> 13 January 2014

Gravity
By: Captain Hook
Have you seen the movie Gravity yet? If not do so because it’s great – especially because of what it can teach you about the weightlessness of space. It can teach you about the false sense of security (euphoria) weightlessness can give one, and that making bad decisions in this state can have startling and undesirable ramifications. What’s more, if there is one lesson stock market investors should keep in mind from what can be learned in Gravity, it’s events can spin out of control without gravity very quickly, events that have lasting consequences.

news.goldseek.com >> 6 January 2014

Bonfire Of The Vanities
By: Captain Hook
We must burn our false gods. We must incinerate materialism. We must set ablaze our evil and vane ways. And we must stop being so foolish because it’s serious this time. As a race, human beings have come a long way, of this little doubt exists. This sentiment does not necessarily imply where we have come from, and where we are going is ‘good’, because it’s not. This is because as a race we collectively squander increasingly essential elements that support our existence, along with corrupting social interplay in a complex game of ‘survival of the fittest’.