Adrian Douglas Speaks About Silver

`Adrian Douglas was born in 1957 in England. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1980 in Natural Sciences. He worked for 20 years in the Oil & Gas Industry with Schlumberger where he reached senior management positions in Marketing and Sales. Adrian established a highly successful consultancy business specializing in pricing and marketing called InnovoMark - Innovative Marketing - www.innovomark.com. He developed unique methodologies related to pricing and marketing which have been incorporated into proprietary training programs.

The study of commercial enterprise pricing led to a deep interest into the market pricing mechanisms of financial assets. As a result Adrian developed a unique algorithm and methodology for analyzing financial futures markets, and in particular identifying appropriate entry and exit points. The technique has been named "Market Force AnalysisTM" (MFATM) and a patent is pending. Adrian has been interviewed for various internet radio stations and for TV as well as making presentations at investment conferences.

Adrian is also a Director of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA); a non-profit organization that is an advocate for a freely traded gold market.

American Silver Eagle

 The American Silver Eagle is the official silver bullion coin of the United States. It was first released by the United States Mint on November 24, 1986 and is struck only in the one troy ounce size.
 The Bullion American Silver Eagle sales program ultimately came about because the US government wanted, during the 1970s and early 1980s, to sell off what it considered excess silver from the Defense National Stockpile.

"Several administrations had sought unsuccessfully to sell silver from the stockpile, arguing that domestic production of silver far exceeds strategic needs. But mining-state interests had opposed any sale, as had pro-military legislators who wanted assurances that the proceeds would be used to buy materials more urgently needed for the stockpile rather than merely to reduce the federal deficit." Wall Street Journal

More American States Now Seeking Silver And Gold Currencies

Concerns that the Federal Reserve System and the United States dollar could collapse at any moment, legislators across at least 13 states have begun to seek out alternative currencies.

Representatives in states including Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee and South Carolina have begun their quest to gain approval from their state government to issue their own alternative currency or even just explore it as a possible option.

“In the event of hyperinflation, depression, or other economic calamity related to the breakdown of the Federal Reserve System … the State’s governmental finances and private economy will be thrown into chaos,” A Republican Rep said.

 Under the United States Constitution, states are not allowed to print their own paper money or issue their own currency, however it does allow states to make “gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts,” which means that states are able to create a competing, alternative currency market based on precious metals instead of the fiat currency we call the dollar.

BLUE GOLD

The global water crisis and the commodification of the world's water supply

A Finite Resource

It is commonly assumed that the worlds water supply is huge and infinite. This assumption is false. In fact, of all the water on Earth, only 2.5 percent is freshwater, and available freshwater represents less than half of 1 percent of the world's total water stock. The rest is seawater, or inaccessible in ice caps, ground water and soil. This supply is finite.

As Allerd Stikker of the Amsterdam-based Ecological Management Foundation explains "The issue today, put simply, is that while the only renewable source of freshwater is continental rainfall (which generates a more or less constant global supply of 40,000 to 50,000 cubic km per year), the world population keeps increasing by roughly 85 million per year. Therefore the availability of freshwater per head is decreasing rapidly."

Most disturbingly, we are diverting, polluting and depleting that finite source of freshwater at an astonishing rate. Today, says the United Nations, 31 countries are facing water stress and scarcity and over one billion people lack adequate access to clean drinking water. By the year 2025, as much as two-thirds of the world's population-predicted to have expanded by an additional 2.6 billion people-will be living in conditions of serious water shortage and one-third will be living in conditions of absolute water scarcity.

World Resources, a publication of the United Nations Environment Program, the World Bank and the World Resources Institute, has a dire warning "The world's thirst for water is likely to become one of the most pressing resource issues of the 21st century...ln some cases, water withdrawals are so high, relative to supply, that surface water supplies are literally shrinking and groundwater reserves are being depleted faster than they can be replenished by precipitation."

Groundwater over-pumping and aquifer depletion are now serious problems in the world's most intensive agricultural areas. In the U.S., the High Plains Ogallala aquifer, stretching some 800 miles (1,300 km) from the Texas panhandle to South Dakota, is being depleted eight times faster than nature can replenish it. The water table under California's San Joaquin Valley has dropped nearly ten meters in some spots within the last 50 years. Twenty-one percent of irrigation in the U.S. is achieved by pumping ground water at rates that exceed the water's ability to recharge (and most water used for irrigation cannot be recycled).

 

Continue reading:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Water/Crisis_BG.html 

Athens In Flames

Feb 13, 2012

Over the weekend, more than 45 buildings across Athens were set ablaze by violent protesters. The fires began as the Greek Parliament passed a strict package of austerity measures, in an effort to meet demands by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The measures, which were prerequisites for a $170 billion bailout, included steep public-sector job cuts and a 20 percent reduction in the minimum wage. More than 80,000 Greeks reportedly demonstrated in the streets of Athens -- among them, a small, violent group that hurled firebombs at riot police and set dozens of fires. More than 120 police and protesters were injured. The next step for the new austerity measures is implementation, and that may face strong opposition as well. Collected here are scenes from a weekend of unrest in Athens

Greek Cabinet Approves Bailout Bill

Mr. Papademos, the sole technocrat in a coalition of feuding politicians, tried to assert his authority after six cabinet members resigned over European Union and International Monetary Fund demands for yet more pay, pension and job cuts in return for the financial rescue.
“It goes without saying that whoever disagrees and does not vote for the new program cannot remain in the government,” he said in televised remarks.
Greece faces bankruptcy unless it gets the funds from the IMF and EU by March 20 when it has to repay €14.5-billion in maturing bonds.
A former central banker, Mr. Papademos tried to raise Greeks’ spirits as the nation enters its fifth year of recession, saying economic growth would return in 2013 despite accusations that the austerity is merely driving Greece into a downward spiral.
Any alternative to the rescue would be much worse, he said in opening remarks using the word “catastrophe” four times.

However the biggest police trade union said it would issue arrest warrants for Greece’s international lenders for subverting democracy, and refused to “fight against our brothers.” A daily newspaper depicted German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform with a swastika armband.

Greece Set To Agree On Next Bailout As Germany Demands Action

"It would create conditions of uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion," Papademos said.
"The country would be drawn into a vortex of recession, instability, unemployment and protracted misery and this would sooner or later lead the country out of the euro," he said.
The EU and IMF say they have had enough of broken promises and that the funds will be released only with the clear commitment of Greek political leaders that they will implement the reforms whoever wins an election potentially in April.
"The promises from Greece aren't enough for us any more," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview published on Sunday in Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
German opinion polls show a majority of Germans are willing to help, Schaeuble said, "but it's important to say that it cannot be a bottomless pit.
"That's why the Greeks have to finally close that pit. And then we can put something in there. At least people are now starting to realize it won't work with a bottomless pit."
"Greece needs to do its own homework to become competitive - whether that happens in conjunction with a new rescue program or by another route that we actually don't want to take..."
When asked if that other "route" meant Greece would have to leave the euro zone, Schaeuble said: "That is all in the hands of the Greeks themselves. But even in the event (Greece leaves the euro zone), which almost no one assumes will happen, they will still remain part of Europe."

The Montreal Gazette - ATHENS, Feb 10 (Reuters)

Greece's largest police union has threatened to issue arrest warrants for officials from the country's European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders for demanding deeply unpopular austerity measures.

In a letter obtained by Reuters on Friday, the Federation of Greek Police accused the officials of "...blackmail, covertly abolishing or eroding democracy and national sovereignty" and said one target of its warrants would be the IMF's top official for Greece, Poul Thomsen.

The threat is largely symbolic since legal experts say a judge must first authorize such warrants, but it shows the depth of anger against foreign lenders who have demanded drastic wage and pension cuts in exchange for funds to keep Greece afloat.

"Since you are continuing this destructive policy, we warn you that you cannot make us fight against our brothers. We refuse to stand against our parents, our brothers, our children or any citizen who protests and demands a change of policy," said the union, which represents more than two-thirds of Greek policemen.

"We warn you that as legal representatives of Greek policemen, we will issue arrest warrants for a series of legal violations ... such as blackmail, covertly abolishing or eroding democracy and national sovereignty."

The letter was also addressed to the European Central Bank's mission chief in Greece, Klaus Masuch, and the former European Commission chief inspector for Greece, Servaas Deroose.

Policemen have borne the brunt of the anger of massed protesters who frequently march to parliament and clash with police in riot gear. Chants of "Cops, pigs, murderers!" are regularly hurled at policemen or scribbled on walls.

Thousands turned out on Friday for the latest protest in Athens, this time against new austerity measures that include a 22 percent cut in the minimum wage.

A police union official said the threat to 'refuse to stand against' fellow Greeks was a symbolic expression of solidarity and did not mean police would halt their efforts to stop protests getting out of hand.

(Reporting by Lila Chotzoglou, Writing by Deepa Babington, editing by Tim Pearce)

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Greek+police+union+wants+arrest+officials/6132553/story.html#ixzz1m5xW5KV3

FIREMEN UPSET IN BRUSSELS

Celente - Gold, Silver, War, Systemic Collapse & Social Unrest

Fears about the stability of the financial system, a looming war and a stampede of wealthy investors into hard assets, today King World News interviewed Gerald Celente, Founder of Trends Research and the man many consider to be the top trends forecaster in the world.  Celente had this to say about an increased number of investors that have been crowding into gold and other hard assets:  “The smart people are (buying gold) and more and more people are waking up to it.  So the people that are going to survive and thrive are going to be the ones that are prepared, the ones that are going to see history before it happens and get ready for it and there are very few.”

Greek prime minister warns of 'uncontrolled chaos' if country defaults

Lucas Papademos, prime minister, struggled to maintain order in parliament ahead of Sunday's crucial vote on the budget plans which he needs to win to secure Greece's €130bn (£109bn) bail-out.

Five ministers resigned in protest over the budget plans, which include tough spending and pension cuts, that were approved on Thursday by political leaders.

Late on Friday night, the remaining memebers of the cabinet approved the draft bill of austerity measures which the country's parliament will vote on on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, George Karatzaferis, leader of Greek far right in coalition, walked out of the national unity government saying he would refuse to vote on Sunday. Although his party cannot block the vote, his stance rattled European markets.

"Humiliation was imposed on us. I will not tolerate this... no matter how hungry I might be," he said. "Greece must not and cannot be outside the EU. But it can do without the German boot."

NEW MARGINS TAKE EFFECT MONDAY

The CME Group, which operates the Comex and the Nymex, said late Thursday it will reduce margins for gold, silver and platinum futures, effective Monday. (See related story)
Gero said normally the reduction in margin would have helped lift prices, but given the change of heart by the eurozone officials, the supportive news regarding margins was diminished.
Gero said the reduction in margin means the exchange feels the volatility that prompted the previous rise in margins has eased somewhat. “Margins have to do with volatility. It’s insurance for the buyer and the seller,” he said.