Zazi Breathes Life into War on Terror
Americans owe a debt of thanks to Najibullah Zazi, since he has made it far more difficult for Islamic terrorists operating in the U.S. to buy the supplies they would need to make conventional bombs. Acquiring nail-polish remover and hydrogen peroxide in industrial quantities at a suburban Colorado beauty supply store, Zazi told the check-out clerk that he had many girlfriends. His thick, black beard alone should have been enough to arouse suspicions. “Oh, that? I am playing the role of Mr. Abraham Lincoln on the stage of your…
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Credit Card Noose Tightens in Deflation
When B of A spokesman Lawrence DiRita turned up on the evening news not long ago to assure listeners that his employer was willing to work on a case-by-case basis with troubled customers, we decided to call his bluff. Would DiRita, formerly a high-ranking official in the Defense Department, go to bat for the borrower whose “teaser” loan from the bank was about to shoot up overnight from 0% to 12.24%? Everyone with a credit card has been offered such a loan at one time or another, and it was once possible to initiate one at rates varying from 0% to 4%, with no additional fee for the balance transfer. Not any longer, though. Anyone unfortunate enough to have gotten caught with a large balance when the…
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22 Things to Look for When Gold Is Topping
(Gold lurched back into bullish gear yesterday, lifting the spirits of those who may have read too much into last week’s apparently gratutious decline. Before lapsing into despair whenever gold corrrects, as it is bound to do from time to time, we should consider the big picture and ask, Is this the way a top would look? Here are some of the signs we might expect to accompany a real top in bullion, courtesy of our friend Chuck Cohen. )
No sane gold bug, if there really is one, would dare to pinpoint an ultimate top both in distance and price in gold, but I believe that when it approaches, there will be definite signs to the discerning and pure of heart. The following are some of the signposts I envision as we…
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Mood Shift, Not News, Caused Stocks to Fall
Clueless commentators attributed yesterday’s stock-market selloff to weak manufacturing data and supposed fears over job numbers due out Friday. What poppycock! The pundits would have gotten closer to the truth if they had cited sunspots or unusual seismic activity at Yellowstone. Shares plummeted for the simple reason that they were ready to plummet. Think back to March, when this bear rally began. Since then, when have traders evinced…