Dreams of Greenspan

Don't ask us why the Maestro showed up in our dream. He just did. So we took the opportunity to ask him a few questions. We've reconstructed the conversation as best we can.

"Maestro...you hardly look yourself. It looks like twenty years have dropped from your face. It must be liberating not to have to worry about inflation anymore."

"What's inflation?"

"Ah yes. About that. Why haven't we seen it yet? You've seen massive fiscal stimulus plans the world over, a huge increase in the monetary base, and lower interest rates. But no inflation. Bond traders don't seem especially worried either. They are not demanding higher interest rates because they fear future inflation. And gold? Well, it's plodding along. But shouldn't it be going much higher as the supply of fiat money explodes?"

"You're thinking is so old fashioned. It's true. Or at least it used to be true. In the days when we had a gold standard, it was a great defense against government monetary fraud (that's what I used to call inflation, before I became a central banker)."

"Oh. What do you mean?"

"If each unit of paper currency in your hand is redeemable for gold, then each holder of paper units has the power to hold the government accountable for its fiscal and monetary policy. If the government prints too much money to pay for its spending programs, unit holders can redeem their paper for gold. This draws down the governments stores of real gold, forcing it to either reduce the supply of paper money, or lose all its gold."

"Why would it worry about that if it could just print more paper?"

"Because paper is not money. And your trading partners will not accept your paper if it is not backed by either real money or the ability to collect taxes from your people."

"I'm not sure I follow. Back up a bit for me."

"Okay. Back when everyone was on a gold standard, before the Great Depression, international accounts were settled in gold. It wasn't just citizens who could demand gold for their units. Nation states could do it to. Governments who ran up fiscal imbalances would see international holders of their currency redeem those paper units for real gold. This encouraged a kind of competition among nation states, or at least a kind of accountability. If you ran up deficits and borrowed a lot of money, gold flowed out to pay your creditors and to pay for your exports. Your inflationary monetary policy cost you your national inventory of gold and silver."

"So what happened?"

"My you ask a lot of questions."

"Hurry up. I think I have to wake up soon."

"Well, under a gold standard, governments are forced to manage their monetary system for the benefit of their people. You get a stable price level because the value of the money is not fluctuating constantly with changes in the money supply. Governments want to avoid causing a run on their gold supply that would result from fiscal and monetary mismanagement."

"Why did the world go off the gold standard if it was so good? What changed?"

"Lots of things. For example, with a gold standard, governments and people must live within their means. This is deeply unpopular with politicians, who must bribe populations with bright new shiny things to get elected. Gold makes it harder to bribe your people and win an election."

"Okay. What else?"

"For whatever reason, perhaps because it is in their nature, governments like to take their people to war. It keeps them distracted from other problems, usually caused by the government. But war is expensive. To pay for a war you must increase taxes or borrow money. If you increase taxes (directly or indirectly) you risk alienating your population and causing a tax revolt (and sending a lot of economic activity underground, out of the view of the tax collectors). So you have to borrow. It's the only way to greatly expand spending without raising taxes to punitive or socially disruptive levels."

"Ah. I see. Under a gold standard, you couldn't borrow excessively without causing a run on your nation's gold. So...a gold standard was a natural constraint on a nation's ability to make war."

"Yes. That doesn't mean nations didn't go to war before there was a gold standard. It just means that if you had to pay for your war with real money, it made it an expensive proposition. And if it undermined the value of the currency your citizens held, they were unlikely to support you. In a monarchy or dictatorship, that doesn't matter so much. But in a democracy, it matters a lot."

"If what you're saying is correct, Maestro, then there'd be a clear connection between the creation of fiat money which is not backed by gold at all, and war between nation states."

"There might be. But you're still thinking too small."

"What do you mean?"

"It's true that most nations suspended the gold standard upon entering World War I. This allowed them to run up ruinous debts to private bankers. They tried reinstating it, but then the Great Depression hit. And more than ever, governments needed the ability to print money to pay for domestic 'wars' on poverty and unemployment."

"Right. And then World War Two-which was partly a consequence of the ruinous debt and reparations Germany could not repay-came along and you saw a huge explosion in government debt, this time mostly through bonds."

"That's right. Which brings us back to inflation today. When the government finances exploding debts through the issuance of new bonds, investors typically demand higher interest rates to compensate for the inflation that results from the increase in the money supply. But today, in a kind of conundrum, bond investors are not demanding higher interest rates."

"Why not?"

"Who knows? For one, they don't see inflation. They see falling prices that come with a collapse in global demand. But it could be that they fear the worldwide recession more than they fear inflation. The contraction in global trade and national GDPs has investors fleeing for the safety of bonds. This allows governments to print money and expand the monetary base with apparent impunity."

"Apparent?"

"Yes. Why, there in Australia where you're sleeping, the government is going to announce a budget in May which may include a $50 billion deficit. This is a country that had a surplus just a short time before."

"That's not as bad as my home country. In the U.S., the government is going to run a trillion dollar deficit this year. And it's told everyone that number will double. But it doesn't seem to have dented demand for U.S. bonds yet."

"No, it hasn't. And that's because without a gold standard, governments don't have to compete for capital as fiercely as they used to. They can all sell bonds to investors to finance deficits, provided the deficits aren't too jaw-dropping and provided they can continue to collect taxes to pay interest on the debt. Plus, they're colluding with one another to eliminate tax competition among countries, which gives them an even stronger grip on your wealth."

"I'm with you Maestro. But I don't see where this is going."

"Let me show you. Governments can only raise direct taxes (income taxes) so much before it negatively affects the economy (and social cohesion), which in turns lead to falling tax revenues as real economic activity slows. So a sure sign of governments that are getting desperate for revenue is an increase in indirect taxes."

"You mean like the alcopops tax here in Australia?"

"I've never heard of that. But if it's a tax that the supplier of a good or service passes on to the consumer then yes, that's exactly what I mean. It's an efficient way for the government to raise revenue without looking like it's being grubby, desperate, or just plain greedy. It can also claim the taxes are being raised to discourage socially undesirable behavior, but this is generally just a lie to disguise the need to raise revenues."

"Ah. I see. You know the alcopops tax is illegal anyway, by the way. The government collected revenue on a tax using a law that hadn't been properly been passed by the Parliament. How is that possible? What about the Rule of Law?"

"What about it?"

"Never mind. You need to finish your lecture before I wake up. When will inflation result from the large increase in the monetary base?"

"I have no idea, my boy. You see at its core, fiat money greatly accelerates the rate at which scarce resources are depleted. Land, labour, capital, and raw commodities are allocated based on a demand that isn't sustainable. If you do that long enough-let's say for the last seventy years or so-you get an entire global economy (and population) that exists because of the increase in credit. That's the world we live in. And it's all falling apart with the credit depression you've been writing about."

"Wait a second Maestro. Are you saying that the scope and scale of this economic contraction is a lot greater than anyone expects because the fiat money system itself is failing?"

"You said it. Not me. But it does make sense to say that the last twenty years or so of building national economies around the growth of residential real estate and the finance sector has greatly hastened us to a day of reckoning, as your friend Bill Bonner might say. We will find out if all that investment made by banks is merely 'temporarily impaired,' or if it represents an enormous misallocation of our collective resources and has made us poorer for years to come."

"So what should we do?"

"This is your dream. You decide."

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 I'd get aggressive about this if I were you, Shooters. Take a step toward securing your retirement income in an inflationary environment. Please do not wait till rampant inflation is all over the news. And speaking of aggressive action, a Shooter sends in this piece of advice:

Gary,
Here's an idea for you. Instead of just complaining about the expanding dole, why don't we refuse to accept the benefits? Most of us scream (sometimes pretty loud) about Uncle Sam sticking his hand into our pocket for others, but how many of us refuse to accept the loot he snatched out of someone else's? Who refuses Social Security payments or Medicaid once they're eligible? All of a sudden, "I've been taxed," turns into, "I paid into it!" Bah! A Ponzi is only a Ponzi, and what was paid in is gone ― there's no claim that justifies keeping it running 'til some younger victim gets left with the bag.
 
And that principle is true of most government largesse. When we're like a litter of puppies down there with our eyes closed pushing each other away from a teat, nothing's going to change. We need to open our eyes, go through the dog door, and go feed ourselves in the streets. Remember the days when it was an embarrassment to be on the dole, and act like we remember. It really should be an embarrassment!
 
Maybe then when we scream it will sound like outrage, instead of like we didn't like the division of spoils.

I like it! I get pretty damned sick of people accusing me of using the stuff paid for by the taxes I hate. So I try to avoid using them. I don't even use streets and highways! I instead lurk in alleys and live just a few feet from the Whiskey Bar. If you tuned in yesterday, you already know how I feel about accepting counting on the government for retirement money.

(I suggest you guarantee your retirement income yourself instead of blindly trusting social security and government rackets.)

A Shooter sends a plausible vision of the future:

Could not help commenting on Mr. Kunstler's predictions for the demise of suburbia the flight of its inhabitants to small city centers/towns or rural areas.  As we speak, the inhabitants don't realize what is coming. If they were to be airlifted to the outskirts of Peshawar or Ulan Bator or Caracas they would truly see their future. The suburbs won't be deserted and the majority of inhabitants won't flee. No, they'll stay put and transition to a rather austere and very different existence. Houses with their suburban "yards" will convert to walled mini-compounds with gardens and some sort of livestock, just as in suburban third world locales. As municipal or county agencies gradually curtail or withdraw services, neighborhood based councils will gin up voluntary services to replace them. Hey, it's not all that bad! E verybody gets together on occasion and has a few home brews and breaks bread. You get to know your fellow citizens and you all will pitch in to survive, just like they do in other countries. Cheap, unregulated bus/van/jitney service will spring up, just like rural Jamaica, Brazil etc. You won't be needing that car much; maybe you'll even share a car on your block. You'll come to find out that home raised eggs and chicken and rabbit and fresh vegetables with lots of garlic and onions really is better than expensive, highly processed supermarket "food," not to mention the pleasures of home produced beer, wine and spirits. Did I forget the smell of home-baked bread wafting over the walls in the morning? You'll convert that 2-car garage to living quarters for the family members that just can't make it on their own. "Third world" living standards are coming to a suburb near you!
 
Thanks so much for having Mr. Kunstler on your site!

You're certainly welcome! But not everyone agrees…

Gary,

James Howard Kunstler needs to lay off the NASCAR-loving, tattooed country folks in IOUSA. We are the backbone of this place. We didn't get caught up in the housing bubble, or stock bubble, or anything else. It is JHK and his left wing buddies who are the problem. I love W&G and would never stop my FREE subscription. However, if JHK keeps insulting me, I will just delete it when I see his name. I don't care how good of a writer he is or how accurate he is, the backhanded insults aren't worth it.

Sorry you feel insulted, Shooter, and thanks for speaking up. Actually, we in the Whiskey Room care very much about how good a writer Jim is as well as his impressive grasp on the confluence of debt, energy scarcity and impending collapse…but I take your point.

Say! You could tell us what you really think about James Howard Kunstler and the Whiskey bartenders to our faces.

We're planning to have our own little Tea Party in Vancouver again this year…and this one is really special. It's the Tenth Anniversary of Agora Financial's flagship newsletter, la belle The Daily Reckoning. An entire Decade of Reckoning, Shooters! There will be a slew of Agora Financial editors and special guests…and, of course, your mainstay Whiskey editors.

How a Penny Stock Could Solve the Water Crisis

The scarcest resource on the planet is something you use every single day. I'm writing, of course, about water.

Fresh water is a valuable asset. How valuable? Well, no one's really sure. That's because experts don't know how much of the fresh water supply humans can use before they begin to throw a wrench in the environment's gears… 

How many rivers can we run dry? How many wells can we drill before we destroy entire ecosystems? These questions will need to be answered in order to fully understand the scope of the global water crisis.

Despite these unanswered questions, one fact is certain: If we continue to deplete freshwater supplies, other resources will suffer as well. Of course, as the global population continues its ascent, the situation becomes more dire…

"Freshwater fish populations are in precipitous decline. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, fish stocks in lakes and rivers have fallen roughly 30% since 1970. This is a bigger population fall than that suffered by animals in jungles, temperate forests, savannahs and any other large ecosystem," The Economist notes.

Water makes up over 70% of the Earth's surface…but less than 0.014% of this water is accessible drinking water. And this water supply is not growing. In fact, with the past 100 years of global population growth, we're depleting this limited reserve at a record pace.

Stateside, residents and experts in Las Vegas and Southern California are starting to worry about their respective drinking water situations. A recent Bloomberg article points out that Vegas' water source, Lake Mead, is approaching dangerously low levels, which could suddenly turn off at least 40% of the city's water.

However, the water situation in Vegas pales in comparison with the Middle East. With oil prices on the rise over the past few years, countries like the United Arab Emirates saw population explosions. In these desert nations, water shortages routinely make headlines.

Instead of planning for future shortages, the majority of the world turned a blind eye. Now we face a near-catastrophic situation. But not all hope is lost…

In recent years, we've heard plenty about water conservation and advanced water-filtration technologies.

But no topic has been as prevalent as desalination...

Desalination is the process of removing salt from salt water. And it's the single best way to ensure a positive outcome when it comes to the global water crisis.

Historically, the main problem with desalination efforts has been energy costs. We already have the technology to turn salt water into drinkable water. But we haven't been able to accomplish the feat cost-effectively…

There are a few different ways to remove salt from ocean water, but the most prevalent is thermal desalination, or multistage flash distillation. The way these systems work is through rapidly exposing salt water to high temperatures, which causes a portion of this water to "flash" steam, which is captured as salt-free water.

Unfortunately, it's expensive to provide the energy needed to run this type of process. Currently, it's the most widely used form of desalination. Around 85% of all desalinized water comes from these types of plants.

But another technique is rapidly gaining attention. It's called reverse osmosis ― a desalination process in which salt water is pumped through a membrane, or filter. Until recent technological breakthroughs, the membranes and pumps were both too expensive to operate economically.

The Coming Siege of Austerity

It's a curious symptom of the consensus trance zombifying the American public and its auditors in the media that something like a "recovery" is now deemed to be underway. And, as events compel me to repeat in this space, it begs the question: recovery to what? To Wall Street booking stupendous profits by laundering "risk" out of bad loans with new issues of tranche-o-matic securitized paper? This I doubt, since there isn't a pension fund left from San Jose to Bratislava that would touch this stuff with a stick, even if it could be turned out in collector's editions of boxed sets.

Does it mean that American "consumers" (so-called) are awaited momentarily in the flat-screen TV sales parlors with their credit cards fanned-out like poker hands, ready for "action?" Not too likely with massive non-performance out in cardholder-land, and half the nation's electronics inventory wending its way onto Craig's List. Are we expecting more asteroid belts of new suburbs carved in the loamy outlands of Dallas and Minneapolis, complete with new highway strips of Big Box shopping and Chuck E. Cheeses? Go to banking's intensive care unit and inquire (if you can) among the flat-lining production home- builders and the real estate investment trusts on life support when they expect to rev up the heavy equipment.

The idea that we're about to resume the insane behavior that induced the current epochal malaise of economy is so absurd it will only be heard in the faculty dining halls of the Ivy League. And if America is not picking up where it left off eighteen months ago - the orgy of spending future claims on wealth unlikely to accrue - then what is our destiny? Based on what's out there in the organs of public thinking, it seems that we don't want to think about it.

So many forces are arrayed against a return to the previous "normal" that we will be lucky, in another eighteen months, to still find ourselves speaking English and celebrating Christmas. What's "out there" is a panorama of mutually reinforcing critical problems pertaining to how we live on this continent. Like the obesity, heart disease, and diabetes that plague the public, these problems are disorders of lifestyle habits and the only possible "cure" is a comprehensive revision of lifestyle. With the onset of spring weather and the cheez doodles and monster truck rallies and NASCAR tailgate barbeques and the drive-in beer emporiums all beckoning, can the public shift its attention from these infantile preoccupations to saving its own ass?

So far, the most striking piece of the economic fiasco is the absence of any galvanizing spirit among the millions getting crushed in the tragic unwind of our relations with money. It will be interesting to see, for instance, if there is any uproar over the evolving story of Goldman Sachs' latest raid on the U.S. Treasury, after booking billions in taxpayer-funded payouts funneled through AIG, based on double-hedged credit default swaps. Such magic tricks are understandably hard to follow, but a dozen-or-so federal attorneys with a middling background in differential calculus might suss out the trail that leads from Ben Bernanke's work station to Lloyd Blankfein's cappuccino machine.

Something similar may be said in regard to revelations last week of White House economic advisor Larry Summers' connection with a number of hedge funds shoveling millions into his deep pockets for showing up once a week to cheerlead their "innovations" - not to mention his shadowy visits to the Goldman Sachs gravy train even after he signed onto the Obama campaign. As long as the stock markets seem to rally - no matter what else is really going on in America - nobody will pay much attention to these disgusting irregularities.

Since it is that time of year, and I am haunting the gardening shop, one can't fail to notice the many styles of pitchforks for sale. My guess is that the current mood of public paralysis will dissolve in a blur of blood and spittle sometime between Memorial Day and July Fourth, even with NASCAR in full swing, and the mushrooming ranks of the unemployed lost in raptures of engine noise and fried cornmeal. It doesn't take too many determined, pissed-off people to create a lot of mischief in a complex society.

On the agenda in the second quarter of '09 are ominous rumblings in the oil and food sectors. Half a year of cratered oil prices have decimated the oil industry and we're driving at 100-miles-an-hour straight off a cliff into a new kind of supply crisis - even if industrial production and global exports remain moribund. So many drilling rigs are being decommissioned that the oil industry itself looks like it's preparing for its own death, investment in exploration and discovery has withered with the credit markets, and the world may never recover from the year long hiccup in oil industry activity - translation: peak oil is biting back now with a vengeance. Its peakness will look peakier and the yawning arc of depletion beyond will look steeper and pose a threat to every globalized and continental-scale enterprise in the known world.

So many dire elements are ranging around our food production system (i.e. farming), from widespread drought and water table depletion to "input" shortages (especially fertilizers) to sickness in credit availability, that we're all one bad harvest away from something that will make Pieter Bruegel-the-elder's "Triumph of Death" look like Vanity Fair's annual Oscar Party in comparison.

Barack Obama, charming as he is, had better drop his pretensions about kick-starting the old consumer economy, fire the Wall Street clowns and parasites who are running that futile exercise, and start preparing a US Lifeboat Economy aimed at reducing the scale and scope of our outlays so we can survive the coming siege of austerity. Meanwhile, I'm glad that he finally got a dog for the White House, because the President knows full well where to turn in Washington if you want some genuine love and affection.

Fire Up the Chainsaws

With the Dow now pushing nose-bleed heights at the 8000 level, the markets have suddenly gone from worries about the next Great Depression to talk of "green shoots" and "glimmers of hope."

And in an uptrend that has seemed to defy gravity every step of the way, fear has given way to greed, causing one bad tape after another for the bears.

In fact, two weeks after I wrote about these mysterious "green shoots" myself, the markets have jumped even higher, led by the financials.  One by one now, the banks have gone on to beat expectations, giving the bulls the upper hand.

But despite these balance sheet miracles the banks have pulled off lately―thanks largely to TARP money―it is safe to say the banks aren't exactly out of the woods yet.

And by extension, neither are we.

That's because even if the banks have temporarily put their troubles behind them, the next shoe is now lining up to drop. 

I'm talking, of course, about a deteriorating commercial real estate outlook, where all signs now are pointing to a much steeper decline.

In fact, just this morning the industry was hit with a virtual bombshell, as time finally ran out on General Growth Properties Inc. (GGP), the second largest mall owner in the country with more than 200 properties. Before the bell, they filed the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history after amassing $27 billion in debt during the run up.

The Beginning of the End in Commercial Real Estate

That makes GGP the equivalent of a dead canary in a coal mine, as this cycle of distress will undoubtedly take others down with it. General Growth Properties will certainly not suffer alone.

"This is kind of the beginning of the end," Dan Fasulo of Real Capital Analytics said. "This bankruptcy will drive down the values of mall assets in the United States. It's going to put, I believe, more supply on the market than can be absorbed by investors."

Of course, this is something we have been warning our readers about for some time now.

In fact, our own Ian Cooper has been playing the downside in commercial real estate for months now, warning his Options Trading Pit readers:

"The meltdown at some of the biggest commercial REITs will be another blow to a financial system teetering on the brink of disaster. And nothing may be able to stop the slide. . . One reason for concern is that the CMBS market (commercial mortgage backed securities) has just about dried up. And if buildings can't be refinanced, we could see further distress, driving real estate values even lower."

That was two months ago. Since then it has only gotten worse, which Mr. Greenshoots himself, Ben Bernanke, admitted yesterday with the release of the Fed Beige Book.

In an otherwise "less awful" report, the Fed was considerably less rosy on commercial real estate noting:

"Nonresidential real estate conditions continued to deteriorate over the past six weeks. Demand for office, industrial and retail space continued to fall, and there were reports of increases in sublease space. Rental concessions were rising. Property values moved lower as reality 'set in.' Construction activity continues to slow, and several Districts noted increased postponement of both private and public projects. Nonresidential construction is expected to decline through year-end, although there were some hopeful reports that the stimulus package may lead to some improvement.

"Commercial real estate investment activity weakened further. Contacts said a decline in credit availability and markdowns on commercial property were keeping buyers and sellers on the sidelines." (Emphasis mine)

Commercial Real Estate Outlook

Translated, that means "look out below," an opinion shared by David Henry, president of U.S.-based Kimco Realty Corp.

Henry told the CIBC real estate conference this week, "We have a massive wave of debt maturities coming, at least in the U.S. . . and there will be a massive amount of workouts, there will be some extensions, but there will also be some very high-profile bankruptcies, and very high-profile forced sales."

In short, it's the vicious cycle all over again. And as in residential properties, the troubles in commercial real estate revolve around loans gone bad and falling property values―off by as much as 50% from the peak.  

In fact, some analysts now estimate defaults on commercial loans could go as high as 6% by 2010. Sound familiar?

One way to play this inevitable trend lower is to short sell hotel REITS, since they are doubly vulnerable these days. For them, it's not just CMBS worries but a big drop in room revenues as consumers retrench.

So, how bad has it gotten for hotels these days?  Well, here's the quote of the day for you by DRBS.

The bond rating agency recently said, "News coming out of the hotel market is, quite simply, not good. Well, bad actually. No, make that terrifying. Predicting hotel performance over the next 12 to 18 months is like juggling chainsaws while riding a unicycle."

That makes Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) and Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) good candidates to move further to the down side.

So, enjoy those green shoots for as long as they last. The brewing troubles in commercial real estate have really just begun.

Signs of the Recessionary Times From Stocks Market

Earlier this week, Bernanke asserted that the U.S. economy's decline was slowing. Yesterday, the Fed released the results of its Beige Book, which (surprise, surprise) backed Big Ben's assessment.

The business survey showed that the contraction is slowing or showing signs of stabilization across many regions, including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Kansas City and Dallas.

In addition, the Beige Book said that while "housing markets remain depressed overall...there were some signs that conditions may be stabilizing," including an increase in "potential buyers."

Well, these 'potential buyers' will certainly have a lot to choose from. RealtyTrac reported today that total foreclosure filings - which include default papers, auction sale notices and repossessions - reached 803,489 in the first quarter, up 24% from the same time in 2008. Of these filings, they continue, 341,180 happened in March - a 17% increase from February and a 46% jump from March 2008.

"In the month of March we saw a record level of foreclosure activity - the number of households that received a foreclosure filing was more than 12% higher than the next highest month on record," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in a statement.

In other housing news, the Commerce Department reported today that building permits fell to a record-low level and construction on new homes dropped sharply last month, after a big gain in February. On top of that comes news that housing starts fell 10.8% in March - the second lowest rate since the 1940s.

Wowee...the good news just keeps on coming. It's amazing to think back to the housing heyday...when people thought home prices would just keep going up and interest rates would never rise.

But now, the home ATM has run dry...and the aftershocks of the 'pop heard round the world' are still being felt.

As you know, dear reader, the economic meltdown we face today was sparked by the first wave of subprime mortgage defaults. Homeowners that were in over their head with mortgages they couldn't afford in the first place began to default on their loans in droves last year.

Rob Parenteau, who has recently taken the helm of the reincarnation of The Richebächer Letter, warns that we are in for the second wave of these toxic mortgages ahead. The first time subprime mortgages reset at a higher rate was in 2008 and the subsequent flurry of defaults sent banks into a tailspin.

Well, get ready, warns Rob. We still have "Option ARM" and "Alt-A" loan resets to look forward to...and those resets will peak in 2011.

"Just like subprime," explains Rob, "these loan contracts also carry a 'reset' risk in the fine print, when already high monthly mortgage payments could as much as double - right at the height of the second biggest market meltdown since the Great Depression."

Just as his predecessor, Dr. Kurt Richebächer did, Rob is giving his readers ample time to prepare for these events - and make sure their wealth doesn't get wiped away.

Be sure to check out his new special report with details on how to shield yourself from an even bigger market downturn. Read it here:

Seven Super Hedges Against the Coming Market Catastrophes of 2009-2010

Now, we turn to Addison with more news on the Fed's Beige Book:

The mob on Wall Street is taking the bait," reports Addison in today's 5 Min. Forecast. "The Beige Book release yesterday helped push the Dow and S&P 500 up over 1.3% yesterday, their fourth rally in the last five days.

"Bad news from Intel and UBS was overshadowed by nice earnings from CSX, a dividend boost by Proctor & Gamble and this news from American Express: Growth in souring credit card loans slowed in March. It's still growing, of course, but focus on the 'slower' part... and buy!

"Even the decrepit IPO market showed a sign of vitality yesterday, too. Rosetta Stone, the folks who promise to teach you French or Swahili with software, went public yesterday at a price above its expected range. That hasn't happened in 11 months. Underwriters had set a range of $15-17 a share, but bidding ended up starting at $18 a pop.

"This morning, the stock opened at $25. Formidable!


"That's the third successful IPO in April. Not bad, considering there have only been two others since August of last year."

Addison brings readers The 5 Min Forecast, an executive series e-letter that provides a quick and dirty analysis of daily economic and financial developments - in five minutes or less.

One way you can be sure you never miss an issue of The 5 is to have them sent directly to your inbox - like subscribers to Agora Financial's paid publications do. One such publication, Capital & Crisis, will ensure that you not only get your serving of The 5 every day, but will also let you know how to earn extra paychecks...without taking on an extra job. See how here.

Now back to Kate in Charm City:

The signs of the economic downturn, whether you want to call it a 'recession' or a 'depression', are all around us.

Take, for example, 11 Times Square. This 40-story tower in Midtown Manhattan has everything going for it, reports the NYT.

"Floor-to-ceiling windows, still relatively rare for an office building; six terraces; a thick concrete core that reduces the need for view-obstructing columns; and many of the latest in energy-efficient technology."

There is only one thing this building lacks: tenants.

With sky-high rents, the possibility of this kind of space flourishing is dwindling...and it's not just this one building. The NYT cites two planned redevelopment projects in Lower Manhattan and SoHo that have been postponed indefinitely due to no construction financing - and no tenants.

Belt-tightening is happening everywhere...even in the city that was one of the leaders in the housing frenzy of yesteryear. Vacancies are climbing and rents are on the decline.

As Addison pointed out last week, "Preliminary first quarter data show a 60% annual crash in Manhattan co-ops and condos."

Recessionary signs are spilling over to New York City restaurants as well. Reports come in that once bustling restaurants are sitting nearly empty and that 'dining incentives' such as 'BYOB Night' are popping up more frequently.

How to Protect Your Family from the Greatest Economic Disaster

It's going to be a real disaster...

The current administration's economic strategy will create an unmitigated disaster - not only our country's worst financial calamity, but the greatest economic disaster in recorded history.

I first warned my readers about what was happening last December, in a letter titled The End of America:

"The coming great inflation will destroy America's economic leadership. It will lead - eventually - to the return of settling international obligations in gold instead of paper dollars. And this will happen much faster than anyone expects.

"By the time Obama leaves office, you will not be able to exchange dollars for any sound currency in the world without permission from the U.S. government. The price of gold will be well over $2,500 per ounce. Most importantly, commodities will no longer be priced in dollars either, but instead in the currencies of the leading producer. Americans haven't experienced anything like this since the Great Depression."

Since I wrote that first warning, I have become much more concerned and much more afraid. What the president has done is actually worse - much worse - than even the dire scenario I had envisioned. Not only is the administration planning on enormous deficit spending this year, but the current plan calls for increasing deficit spending for the next decade - spending that will more than double our entire national debt during his presidency.

The Congressional Budget Office produced the following graphic, which compares the deficits of the 1980s and 1990s to the current and future budgets. Assuming Obama remains in power over the next eight years and assuming these deficits aren't actually much larger (which almost always happens), the Congressional Budget office estimates the president's budget will add more than $10 trillion to the total federal debt by 2019 - approximately as much total debt as was outstanding at the beginning of 2007.


Obama plans to borrow more money over the next eight years than all of the other presidents - combined.

It's very hard to put this in perspective. The numbers have become so large they're almost meaningless. "Twenty trillion" has 13 zeros: $20,000,000,000,000. Nobody can think about a number that large. But consider this... In 1980, the entire federal debt totaled $930 million. Assuming we're paying 5% on our debt in 2019, we will spend more money on interest than our entire national debt of 1980.

This level of debt is going to be a huge problem because no one will want to pay the money back - ever. And it can't be financed forever. The poor will blame the rich. The rich will leave and take their wealth offshore. And absolute chaos will follow. The dollar will be completely destroyed.

Now... I know... you're thinking, "I've heard all of this before. But the end of the world somehow doesn't happen. We find a way out."

Not this time. In fact, when I wrote last year that the dollar would cease to be the world's reserve currency much faster than anyone expects, I'm sure no one took me seriously. But since then, we've heard two of the world's leading powers - China and Russia - both openly suggesting a new world reserve currency must be created. Putin is even talking about using gold to settle international trade. It will happen because no one will want to be a creditor to the United States.

As more and more people try to get out of the dollar, the government will be forced to forbid the free exchange of dollars into other currencies - and perhaps even to forbid the purchase of gold bullion. This will happen. I guarantee it. And it will happen during the Obama administration.

That's why it's critical for you to take precautions now, while you still can.

The first thing you should do, if you haven't yet, is buy gold bullion. It's easy: You just call a few coin dealers, find out who offers the lowest premium on bullion, and wire them the money. Once you have the coins, they're easy to hide, easy to store, and easy to transport. There's no law (yet) saying you can't take bullion out of the country. If things start moving that way, you should have enough time to get the bullion out before the law passes. If not... well... you can clip your coins easily and use the gold to pay for whatever you might need.

I also believe you should immediately buy gold stocks. In fact, I'm convinced you'll never have a chance to buy gold stocks this cheaply again... Gold stocks have never been cheaper compared to the price of gold itself. This is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I truly hope you'll capitalize on it.

The second thing you should do is move as large a percentage of your financial assets as possible out of the country. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about this yet to offer any good advice. I'm working on it.

And the third thing you ought to do is to build a stimulus package for yourself. I realize it's paradoxical. But the coming crisis will make lots of people rich. It's not hard to generate a paper fortune in a huge inflation. All you have to do is own the most important economic assets: energy, communication, and transportation. Thing to do right now is buy the assets you know the government has to have for the economy to function. These assets will remain in private hands, and their values will increase the most.

I can tell you what happens to countries that go bankrupt. I've been to Argentina. I'm familiar with the history of Mexico and Great Britain. We'll see the same things here, shortly: inflation, huge tax increases, capital flight and, eventually, capital controls.

It will probably take decades for Americans to realize socialism doesn't work. But that clarity might not happen during my lifetime. And I don't want my assets to be stuck inside a banana republic in the midst of a huge socialist experiment. I'm graveyard serious: If you do not take precautions and prepare yourself and your family for the inevitable collapse of our currency, you will suffer incredibly over the next decade.

Tax Day Tea Parties For Stocks Market

In case you managed to forget, today is Tax Day. And according to the Wall Street Journal, "Tax Day Becomes Protest Day."

There will be rallies or "tea parties" taking place all over the United States today, to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending.

DR contributor, Gerald Celente, who is director of The Trends Research Institute, calls these tea parties and tax protests "harbingers of revolution."

So who are these 'revolutionaries' that are organizing these events? Turns out, not a political party or a union...just ordinary people harnessing the power of the Information Superhighway. The WSJ reports:

"The protests began with bloggers in Seattle, Wash., who organized a demonstration on Feb. 16. As word of this spread, rallies in Denver and Mesa, Ariz., were quickly organized for the next day. Then came CNBC talker Rick Santelli's Feb. 19 'rant heard round the world' in which he called for a 'Chicago tea party' on July Fourth. The tea-party moniker stuck, but angry taxpayers weren't willing to wait until July. Soon, tea-party protests were appearing in one city after another, drawing at first hundreds, and then thousands, to marches in cities from Orlando to Kansas City to Cincinnati."

As the idea gained popularity, people wanted to synchronize these events on a certain day...and Tax Day became the obvious choice. Although these protests are focused on what may be seen as typical GOP issues, they are not a Republican effort, but a popular effort. People far and wide are coming out to show that they are fed up with incessant government spending and exorbitant bailouts.

And as it turns out, the bailout money is running low. There's "only" $135 billion left at the Treasury Department for bailouts. To see which banks need the most money, the Obama administration has been doing a "stress test" of the country's 19 largest banks to see who needs the moola the most.

The administration plans to disclose the conditions of these banks, hoping to restore confidence without unnerving investors...which will no doubt end up being a tight rope act. Even by admitting that some of the banks still aren't stabilized, the government runs the risk of causing investors to panic - which is exactly what they are trying to avoid.

In his speech to the nation yesterday, President Obama covered these plans...and defended his administration's decision to prop up the failing banks:

"Of course, there are some who argue that the government should stand back and simply let these banks fail - especially since in many cases it was their bad decisions that helped create the crisis in the first place," he said. "The truth is that a dollar of capital in a bank can actually result in eight or ten dollars of loans to families and businesses, a multiplier effect that can ultimately lead to a faster pace of economic growth."

But judging from these tea parties and tax protests, the American people remain unconvinced. Though there is no one organization putting on these rallies, those attending are unified on what they are up in arms about. Reports the Heritage Foundation:

"What does unite the protesting taxpayers is the unprecedented expansion of federal government power and spending that has taken place over the last 14 months. Starting with President Bush's $168 billion economic stimulus, through the 2008 housing bailout, TARP I, TARP II, President Obama's trillion-dollar stimulus, the auto bailout, etc. Americans have grown more and more wary of the ever expanding size and scope of the federal government."

Gerald Celente sees these protests as a step in the right direction, but "Nothing short of total repudiation of our entrenched systems can rescue America," he says. "We are under the control of a two-headed, one party political system. Wall Street controls our financial lives; the media manipulates our minds. These systems cannot be changed from within. There is no alternative. Without a revolution, these institutions will bankrupt the country, keep fighting failed wars, start new ones, and hold us in perpetual intellectual subjugation."

Viva la revolución!

Now, we turn to Addison for more on everyone's favorite day of the year:

"As could be expected - and just when Uncle Sam and his friends need it the most - total tax revenue among American states will be down this year by the largest percentage since the Great Depression," writes Addison in today's issue of The 5 Min. Forecast.

"State tax revenue fell 4% in the last quarter of 2008, the first decline in six years and the largest decline in over 50. Preliminary numbers suggest the first quarter of 2009 will be even worse...by a multiple of three. Average state tax collections in January and February were down 12.8% compared to the same time in 2008.


"Personal and corporate income are in the crapper. Property taxes are too. Taxes on investment profits? Heh, right. And with all the economic strife over the past year, we can only begin to imagine what tax evasion strategies, subversive returns and delayed filings must be sticking in the IRS' craw on this fine day."

Addison brings readers The 5 Min Forecast, an executive series e-letter that provides a quick and dirty analysis of daily economic and financial developments - in five minutes or less.

The 5 Min. Forecast is free to subscribers of Agora Financial's paid publications...such as the reincarnation of The Richebächer Letter. Check out The Richebächer Letter and learn not only how to protect yourself from the continuing global financial meltdown...but the best way to profit in this market climate - even when a recovery is nowhere is sight. Click here for the full report.

Now, back to Kate in Baltimore...where it is STILL raining:

Stocks fluctuated in midday trading. The Dow rose 0.3% to 7,941.29, while the broader stock indicators fell.

Looks like investors have a bad taste in their mouth following more downer data that points to signs that the economy is still in peril. The AP reports that "The Federal Reserve said production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities fell 1.5 percent in March, the fifth straight month of decline and worse than the 1 percent dip analysts expected."

On the other hand, you have the Consumer Price Index data, released today by the Labor Department. This key measure of inflation shows that consumer prices declined 0.1% in March. The index has decreased 0.4% over the last year, the first 12-month decline since August of 1955.

A lower CPI isn't great news for our favorite yellow metal, which investors flock to when inflationary fears are running high. Gold for June delivery fell $1.40 to $890.60 an ounce today.

"The lower CPI print is certainly not friendly to gold," said Brian Kelly, chief executive officer of Kanundrum Research, a commodities and macroeconomic research firm. "Couple that with a stronger dollar and we have significant headwind for the yellow metal."

But, you can take the CPI number with a grain of salt...that's what our friend Chuck Butler does. Writing in today's issue of The Daily Pfennig he says, "The government accountants want us to believe that inflation is only running at 1.7% annualized...which is hogwash!"

Whether or not a government masseuse has handled the inflation number, we don't expect the price of gold to stay this low for very long. Take advantage of the dip in the price and get some to pad your portfolio with by clicking here.

And lastly, our friends in the Far East keep popping up in the news lately...suggesting the creation of a new reserve currency...warning about U.S. Treasuries... They certainly seem a little skittish about the state of the U.S. economy in general.

But really - can you blame them? The Chinese are the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities...totaling $744.2 billion. No wonder they want to protect their investments.

Yesterday, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher hoped to ease fears that China would do anything to harm U.S. interests, such as dropping Treasuries. He denied that China would decouple economically from the United States, saying the relationship between China and the U.S. is 'symbiotic.'

"China cannot succeed if the U.S. does not succeed," Fisher said.

The Chinese do need Americans to keep up their appetite for geegaws and gadgets...but as we pointed out yesterday, the U.S. isn't buying much of anything - and the Chinese economy is noticing.

"Recently, China injected close to $600 billion in a stimulus in their own economy," writes colleague Bill Jenkins. "There is some evidence that it may be helping. It has also been reported that they hold close to $2 trillion U.S. dollars in their investment portfolio, and it has grown 16% over last year, a whole $7.7 billion. If the value of their U.S. holdings should fall 30%, it would roughly equal the size of its recent stimulus.

"If the whole thing went belly up, it would still only equal one- seventh of the whole U.S. GDP - and China would still be solvent. The striking facts about China relative to the United States are these: China has four times the people, but only a quarter of the GDP. If their holdings were to get washed away in a tidal wave of inflation, it would be like worrying about a roof leak while a whole tsunami is bearing down on their house. At that point stability is not likely on either side of the globe."

The “All-Natural” Way to Play Penny Pharma

The Food and Drug Administration is not looking out for your best interests. In fact, some see the FDA as a group of swindlers, thieves, and propagandists.

No one feels this way more than nutritional supplement companies. And rightly so…

Until a 1996 piece of legislation, the FDA ruled the supplement industry with an iron fist. If a pharmaceutical company developed a drug that performed the same remedy or other function as a supplement or vitamin, the FDA would approve the drug and ban the supplement nine out of 10 times.

The bill took some of the FDA's power away, but that didn't stop the agency from banning certain substances. As one industry insider notes, "With the FDA's help, drug companies take traditional herbs, extract their main actives and turn it into drugs."

[Note: By "main actives" she was referring to the chemical or compound that offers health benefits, which is found naturally in the plant.]

The drug company usually does this through synthetically manufacturing the chemical or compound to form a drug. The FDA will ban the source (the plant) and approve the drug.

As Mike Adams of Natural News notes, "It would be like Big Pharma patenting vitamin C, then the FDA claiming that all oranges and lemons were adulterated with drugs because they naturally contain their own vitamin C."

As ridiculous as this method is, it's been the agency's weapon of choice, especially when dealing with herbal and traditional supplement companies.

As recently as February of this year, the FDA banned vitamin B6, or pyridoxamine, by "declaring it to be a drug." Meaning this naturally-occurring vitamin, which is found in fish and chicken, is illegal unless a (presumably major) drug company develops it. Pyridoxamine, as a supplement, was used to prevent the progression of kidney disease.

This is nothing new; the FDA has been playing this game for years. But as the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's why a new breed of potential drugs is shaping up…

Many supplement companies are commencing clinical trials on their formulas. This recent outburst of new players probably won't fragment the pharmaceutical industry, but it does give penny stock investors a few more opportunities.

Previously, the only major catalysts for supplement companies were commercialization of its products and earnings reports. Now, they can use the FDA as a benefit instead of a burden. We already know what an FDA approval can do for a company...

The Fastest-Growing Niche Segment in the Supplement Industry

One tiny, but fast-growing, segment of this niche industry is traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). In the western world, the number of countries recognizing TCM as legitimate is increasing. According to People Daily, a China-based newspaper, more than 120 countries have set up TCM institutions or clinics. Just in the U.S. there are 53 schools of TCM.

More specifically, Chinese herbal medicine use is growing at an astronomical rate. Some estimate this growth at 20% in the western world. In the U.S., California is leading the way, with the majority of herbal clinics and practitioners of TCM. Many U.S. health insurers are now recognizing and including TCM into their coverage.

With the fast growth of herbal medicines and the recent moves by the herbal supplement industry, we see large upside for a select few companies… The next big gains from this niche field will no-doubt be a penny stock. We'll keep you updated…

Stocks Market Report: Nose Above Water

During this recession, the spike in U.S. wholesale inventory/sales (I/S) ratios has proven to be the largest since the 1981-2 recession. Despite just-in-time inventory systems, the demand shock this time around was simply too sharp and swift for firms to adjust orders and production quickly enough.

Wholesale I/S ratios tend to peak during recessions, with the bulk of the drawdown accomplished in the early recovery phase of the business cycle, when wholesale shipment growth revives. The inventory adjustment does not need to be complete to end a recession - the I/S ratio merely needs to peak, which appears under way.

Consumer credit growth remains moribund. Ratcheting up of minimum payments and interest rates is reducing the willingness and ability of households to substitute these sources of credit for housing-related credit. Bucking the trend is nonrevolving credit growth provided by saving institutions, although this has proven a very volatile source of funding for households. We do not see the private deleveraging theme ending anytime soon, as discussed in prior monthly letters. Policy to force banks to escalate lending in the face of the new frugality evident among U.S. consumers is likely to be thwarted, just as it was in the early 1930s.

 

Weekly chain store sales have clawed their way back to flat and slightly positive territory over the past month. As with the wholesale results reported above, this is consistent with a less severe phase of the recession after the Q4 2008 freefall. Tax refunds, mortgage refinancing and price discounting may be helping those households still employed in stabilizing their spending before the fiscal package hits.

The past four weeks have shown some stabilization in initial unemployment claims, right around the same spikes of the 1982 recession. Initial claims tend to peak as a recession is closing out. While employment is generally a lagging indicator, initial unemployment claims have more of a coincident or slightly leading indicator tendency at cycle turning points. Since the maximum growth shock appears to be loaded into Q4 2008, it would make sense that the layoff response would peak one quarter later. A peak in the pace of layoffs is not to be confused with a peak in the unemployment rate, which we do not anticipate until Q2 2010 at the earliest. Still, if the high for the recession is developing in initial unemployment claims, and active fiscal stimulus is about to hit, this combination should help equity investors regain their nerve.

Refi applications continue to climb to their prior highs despite a slight rise in mortgage rates. While bank acceptance of mortgage refinancing applications remains restricted, this is an important channel for households to reduce their expenses and rebuild their savings. It also adds to fee income at banks. Purchase applications remain subdued, although they have picked up a bit in recent weeks.

The monthly U.S. trade deficit is shrinking at a dramatic pace as imports implode faster than exports. Falling oil prices are part of the import reduction, but with consumption cratering, imports are off nearly 30% versus a year ago. The turn in trade is clearly more than just price effects. In fact, U.S. export price deflation is running close to a 7% year-over-year pace as producers struggle with a collapse in global trade.

From a financial balance point of view, the more dramatic the turn in the U.S. trade balance, the easier it will be for the U.S. private sector to return to a net saving position. However, that poses serious challenges to production in the export-dependent economies abroad, and we continue to see harsh production cuts coming out of Asia. We would much rather see the U.S. trade balance turning with export growth remaining robust - instead, we have global trade collapsing because so many countries geared their growth strategies to an ever-indebted Western consumer. While many institutional equity investors have piled back into emerging equity markets over the past month because they are perceived to be the highest beta play, we remain concerned that excess capacity will prove to be a serious challenge for these nations as the globalized economy adjusts to a less-leveraged Western consumer.


All in all, the message continues to be one of a still sharp recession in the United States, with mounting evidence that the most violent portion of the downdraft is behind us. Evidence of a peak in I/S ratios, a peak in initial unemployment claims, improved refi activity and a dramatic reversal in the U.S. trade balance are all consistent with a recession that is still challenging, but not as overwhelming as the free-fall state that gripped the United States in Q4 2008. This is a better setup for the fiscal package to get some traction, although we continue to believe the earliest we might expect a positive U.S. real GDP result is in Q4 2009.

Technical measures of U.S. equity indexes continue to flag an extremely overbought condition. Given the run-up in the face of "less bad is good" news, we suspect equity investors have gotten ahead of themselves as they discard disaster scenarios. As mentioned last week, weak Q1 earnings results should be a catalyst for a pullback, although we are not convinced the prior lows will be violated, as too many institutional investors want to get onboard the rally train. We also are becoming increasingly concerned about the Fed's gambit with regard to Treasury yields. Once again, 10-year U.S. Treasuries approached 3% last week, which we would suggest is the informal yield ceiling the Fed is likely to impose.

The catch, as we see it, is as follows: If the Fed is forced to accelerate its Treasury purchases to keep yields from climbing above 3%, bond investors will tend to view the subsequent expansion of the Fed's balance sheet as "monetizing" the fiscal deficit. Foreign investors are likely to be especially wary of this, and the weakness in the currencies of nations with central banks pursuing quantitative easing has been conspicuous in the past few weeks.

In addition, to the extent the Fed is suppressing interest rates, and that successfully pushes investors into riskier asset classes like equities in order to earn adequate returns, Treasury bonds become a less attractive investment. Either way, the success of the Fed in these operations strikes us as making it harder for the Treasury to sell new bond issuance to private investors. The Fed could be unwittingly setting itself up to become the largest buyer of Treasuries, which we believe would aggravate the monetizing fears mentioned above. The movement in platinum, palladium and copper of late suggests monetization fears are present even in the face of outright deflation appearing in a number of final product price measures in many countries.

This Industry Is Next...

Financial crisis? Recession? Depression fears? Fuggetaboutit.

The market just finished its best month in recent history, a surprise for even the most optimistic. And sure, a lot of buyers are beginning to step in, as expectations for earnings season are set so low, it'll be hard to disappoint.

But be cautious.

An end to our current bear market is as premature as Jim Cramer calling an end to the depression fears. Unemployment will continue to climb. Consumer spending will suffer. And housing is only expected to worsen, as more resets rear their ugly heads.

Just ask Meredith Whitney. . .

Whitney just reiterated her bearish position on the financial sector and the overall economy. And while some are forecasting recovery in 2009 or 2010, she (and we) believe that banks have still not "properly reserved against greater than expected losses in home prices."

Still, if the "geniuses" of Wall Street want to draw this "end of crisis" conclusion from Wells Fargo's preliminary numbers, that's just great. We can then stop the bailouts, stop flooding the market with cheap money, and leave banks to live or die. Sounds great to me.

And if you believe the worst is over, that's fine. But we were the same people that successfully called for the downside in:

• Subprime and housing,

• Financials with FAS and XLF puts and calls,

• U.S. Treasuries,

• Commercial and residential real estate,

• And the Casino industry to name a few.

And these days, not only are we calling for a resumption of sell-offs in the bear market, we're also calling for quick and sudden drops within the education sector.

Here's why.

The Next Scorched Sector: Student Loans

The crisis that nailed the above sectors has its sights set on student loan stocks, too. As you may be aware, the government could revamp the guaranteed student loan program that would cut out private lenders and bring all federally backed lending to the U.S. Department of Education.

And as President Obama urges an end to government subsidies for student loan providers, a number of stocks are just beginning to swan dive into falling knife patterns.

Putting an end to these subsidies could save the U.S. billions every year. And the only roadblock is congressional approval. . . but this one looks imminent.

Here's an excerpt from a recent New York Times editorial...

"The [new administration's] budget rightly calls for phasing out the wasteful and all-too-corruptible portion of the student program that relies on private lenders. And it calls for expanding the less-expensive and more-efficient program that allows students to borrow directly from the federal government. That means doing away with the Federal Family Education Loan Program, under which private lenders receive unnecessary subsidies to make risk-free student loans that are guaranteed by taxpayers."

A number of stocks are going to get battered by this. Right now, the Obama proposal would require college students to borrow directly from the federal government by July 2010.

But nothing's set in stone just yet. . . Prepare for quite a fight over this one.

Worse, just as delinquencies crushed other financials, it could crush student lenders, too. Default rates for those who recently left school rose to about 7% from 5.2% a year earlier, as the deteriorating economy weighs on borrowers.

That rate, according to Bloomberg, is based on borrowers who "were to begin making repayments between October 2006 and October 2007, and who fell at least nine months behind by late September 2008."

Of those, about 232,000 entered default, a 13% increase from the previous year and a 43% increase from two years ago. And because of these higher defaults, lenders will have no choice but to tighten belts, toughen up borrowing standards, and increase interest rates – moves that could screw borrowers, too.

But don't think for a second that this is all "bad news" for investors. If you know how to play your cards right, cashing in on failing companies - for several hundred percent gains - can be as easy as taking candy from a baby.

Truth is, members of Options Trading Pit have been doing just that since this financial collapse started. In fact, earlier today, they cashed in on another massive 338% gain - from a single play, within six trading days!

If you'd like more information on how to join this exclusive group and why we'll give you $1,000 if we don't show you at least 49 more double-digit winners by April 15, 2010. . .

Are These The Wind Energy Stocks To Own?

The American Wind Energy Association released its annual industry report yesterday.

According to the report, in 2008, the U.S. surpassed Germany as the country with the largest amount of installed wind power capacity. This, after more than 8,500 megawatts of new wind power increased the nation's cumulative total to more than 25,300 MW - representing a growth of about 50 percent.

Based on this growth rate, and assuming long-term policy support, this puts the U.S. on a trajectory to generate 20 percent of our electricity from wind energy by 2030. This is a massive jump, based on the 1.25 percent that was generated by installed wind projects at the end of 2008 - and a massive opportunity for investors.

This latest report shows GE continuing to run the turbine show, boasting 43 percent of newly installed capacity in 2008. Vestas (CO:VWS) came in second, Siemens (NYSE:SI) in third, and Suzlon (NSE:SUZLON) and Gamesa (MCE:GAM) rounding out fourth and fifth.

As far as developers are concerned, NextEra Energy (which used to be FPL Energy) owns the most wind energy assets, boasting a total of 6,290 MW - or about 25 percent of all installed capacity.

Growing In The Wind

Wind energy growth has also accelerated job creation in manufacturing across many parts of the country. Over the past two years, wind turbine and turbine component manufactures added or expanded to over 70 facilities - with 55 in 2008 alone. And once fully online, these new manufacturing facilities will represent a total of 13,000 new direct jobs and almost $2 billion in investment.

Now it should be noted that the recent economic downturn has forced some of these manufacturers to announce some layoffs recently. But as the market rebounds, especially with so much government support expected to flow into the sector later in the year - many of these workers will be rehired.

In total, the wind industry added 35,000 jobs in 2008, bringing us up to about 85,000 people employed in the wind industry. In 2007, that number was around 50,000. These include everything from manufacturing, construction, maintenance, legal, marketing and project development.

Incidentally, the wind energy industry in the U.S. offers so much potential at this point, that five foreign manufacturers - Vestas, Gamesa, Suzlon, Siemens, and Acciona - all have U.S. manufacturing presence now. And Nordex will soon become number six.

Now the truth is, the wind power industry does owe much of its growth to a new, and encouraging renewable energy policy here in the U.S. Let's recap...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes a 3-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC), as well as a new program that allows wind developers the option of bypassing the PTC, and securing a Treasury Department grant in the amount of a 30 percent investment tax credit (ITC)

The recovery bill also eliminated the $4,000 cap on the small wind ITC, so that now investors can claim a full 30 percent on small wind development.

An additional $1.6 billion of new renewable energy bonds will also be distributed to tribal governments, public power providers, and electric cooperatives in an effort to help finance new renewable energy projects - including wind.

$3.25 billion has also been set aside for additional borrowing authority for the Bonneville Power Administration and the Western Area Power Administration. This is for transmission lines constructed after February 17, 2009 that will move renewable power.

The next order of business will be the new national renewable electricity standard, as well as legislation that will support the construction of what has been called the Green Power Superhighways - which is basically transmission that will be used to enable continued renewable energy development.

All the pieces of the renewable energy puzzle are coming together. Between new energy policies that strongly favor the full scale development of renewable energy to the basic fundamentals of supply and demand - we truly are witnessing the dawn of what will soon prove to be one of the greatest investment opportunities of the 21st century.

To a new way of life, and a new generation of wealth...

30-Day Retirement Plan

If you chose to retire just 30 days from right now, how much money would you need?

$5 million? 

$15 million?

Or maybe just $1 million?

Whatever your answer is, I'll show you how you could get there.

Imagine reaching your retirement money goal in as little as one month. Starting with just $500.

That's right. I'll show you below how in only 30 days ― you could have retired rich by any measure you can imagine.

Heck, you could have even started with $250, instead of $500.

It might have just meant you ended up with $4 million, instead of $8 million. Or $6.5 million, instead of $13 million.

It doesn't matter how much money you need to retire. You can get there in less time than you ever imagined with "Flash Action" market moves.

And it's very easy to pull off.

Unbelievable wealth could be yours with a simple, yet unknown investment strategy that's not much different than buying common, big-name stocks.

I'll explain exactly how it works in a few moments. For now, I assure you this:

What I'm about to show you is 100% legal. It's safe. It's cheap.

And it's easy.

You need only three small things to get started.

Three Simple Steps to a "30-Day Retirement"

First, you need a tiny amount of cash

Second, you need a bit of knowledge ― which is what I will share with you today

Third, you need excellent timing ― and a fair amount of luck.

First, I should warn you that what I'm about to show you is not for everyone. No one can predict the future, and every string of success ends with a loser. So there is significant risk involved, but the potential for profits is limitless. And I would never recommend rolling all money invested from one play to another ― as you'll see in just a moment.

The best thing is to take out part of your winnings as you go and continue with only some of the profits. That way, you keep most of your gains safe and play with the rest.

To show you how this could be possible, here's a recent example of how $500 could have turned into millions in under one month...

How 3 Simple "Flash Action" Moves Could Have Funded the "30-Day Retirement Plan"

When the markets opened Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, just $500 would've bought you 2,500 shares of Paradigm.

At the open, Paradigm traded at 20 cents per share.

By 11:22 a.m. that morning, Paradigm traded at 70 cents per share.

Had you sold at 70 cents ― you would've been sitting on a 250% gain before lunchtime.

That 250% turned your $500 into $1,750...that's $875 per hour!

Not a bad two hours, right?

You make one easy move in the morning, and then sell before lunch and grab $1,750 in profits!

It's the first "flash action" step to turning $500 into millions.

Yes, this is real ― and in just two more stock moves, I'll show you how you could've turned $500 into millions with the "30-Day Retirement Plan"!

"30-Day Retirement Plan" Step 2

On Thursday morning, Sept. 11, 2008, let's say you put your $1,750 in gains from Friday back into the market.

Concord Ventures had such a great morning that it could've turned your $1,750 into $175,000. All by 12:27 p.m.

That's a gain of 9,900%!

Just like with Paradigm, the move with Concord Ventures started first thing in the morning and ended by lunchtime.

And in just two simple market moves, $500 could've turned into $175,000 ― in less than a week.

Now, I know what you're thinking ― $175,000 is great, but it's not millions.

But just wait until you see what happens in step three of this amazing "flash action" path to easy riches!

Success! Here's How $500 Explodes Into MILLIONS for the "30-Day Retirement Plan". . .

On Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, shares of Abviva rose an astounding 7,900%.

If you got in and out at the right time, the $175,000 from your earlier "30-Day Retirement" play could've exploded into $14,000,000.

Here's how this recent "30-Day Retirement Plan" worked...

PDGO on Friday, Sept. 5

CCVR on Thursday, the 11th

And ABVV on Friday, the 12th.

Yes, with timing and the right moves, it is possible to turn just $500 into millions.

In this example, all the action took place in one week with three simple "flash action" moves.

A week could change your life forever.

What Would You Do With $14 Million?

Maybe you'd quit your job and retire right away.

Or maybe you'd keep working.

You could do whatever you wanted.

Buy a house. Or pay off your current home.

Buy a fancy car. Or three. Or seven.

Travel the world. Dine in all the best restaurants.

After you were done with all that, you could even give money to family members in need ― or to your favorite charities.

Sock away a ton of money for retirement or unforeseen future medical expenses.

It would be completely up to you. Because with a huge influx of cash would come something even more valuable.

Freedom.

Freedom from worry about what might happen tomorrow or next year. Freedom from ever running out of money. Freedom from whatever shackled you to a lifestyle you might not like.

Freedom to do exactly what you want, whenever you wanted to.

Now imagine the chance to start putting all your grandest plans, all your biggest dreams, into motion beginning with as little as just $500.

Moves like these can happen. They have happened.

They'll happen again. The question is ― will this happen to you?

I've already shown how just three of what I call "flash action" market moves could change your life.

But I'm just getting started! Here are some more examples... 

You really don't even need $500 to become rich with these amazing little stocks.

Heck, you could start with just $250 if you wanted to.

The key is you have to look in the right place.

Now, the gains I'm showing you don't come from the NYSE or the Nasdaq.

But that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the profit potential of these "flash action" gainers!

In about five minutes, you could get started working toward your own version of the "30-Day Retirement"!

Yep, just $250 could start you on the path to retirement riches. Simply, legally and very, very quickly.

Here's what I mean.

Your Investment of $250 Plus One Move = The "30-Day Retirement Plan" Pays You $21,871 in Just 4 Hours

On Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, Genesis Pharma went from 24 cents per share all the way up to $21 by 1:24 p.m.

Had you grabbed shares at the open, just $500 would've bought 2,083 shares of GNPH.

At $21 per share on Thursday afternoon ― you would've been sitting on $43,243 in total profits.

This is less than 24 hours ― heck, it's less than half a work day, and over $21,600 in easy possible "flash action" profits with just $250 to start!

Gains like this one happen every single day. But you have to look in the right place.

As I mentioned earlier, you'll never find these gains on the big exchanges.

The reason gains like GNPH go missed day after day might make you scratch your head.

See, most stock watchers would rather put money in blue chip stocks and hope for small gains year over year that barely beat inflation.

These people are working on a 50-year retirement plan.

Good for them. History has shown it works.

But those people are losing out big-time!

Because they're missing all the best gains ― quick, aggressive gains that are right under their nose every single trading day.

And once you start grabbing these hidden gains, you could be well on your way to "30-Day Retirement."

Which would you choose? In as little as 30 days, "flash action" stocks like the ones I'm showing you could put you on easy street for the rest of your life.

You can forget waiting. Hoping. Trying to beat inflation.

Because the smallest, most hidden stocks out there can also be the most lucrative.

Here's why...

"Flash Action" Stocks = "30-Day Retirement" Stocks

All the amazing "flash action" gains you've seen so far come from Bulletin Board stocks.

They're the smallest of the small.

They're even smaller than your normal penny stock.

That's TINY.

But some of the companies trading on the Bulletin Board listing services are the Microsofts, IBMs, Intels and Amgens of tomorrow.

Bulletin Board stocks are the household-name stocks of the next decade.

These are the kinds of stocks that could fund an entire retirement in just 30 days. Stocks that can make an incredible $10,000 or more per hour.

And you can begin chasing your own "30-Day Retirement" with these tiny stocks today.

To get you started, I want you to accept an exclusive "flash action" trading alert I'm set to send right to you.

Inside, I'll tell you the name of my latest "30-Day Retirement Plan" target.

You need this alert so you can start on the road to "flash action" profits as soon as the markets open tomorrow.

I'll tell you all about this e-mail alert in just a minute.

But before I jump into how I hunt for huge gains from these small stocks, there are a few things I need to point out.

Bulletin Board stocks sometimes trade only a few thousand shares per day.

Big companies like Microsoft, for example, trade around 84 million shares per day.

And Intel usually trades around 70 million shares per day.

All that trading and all those available shares mean share prices really don't move very much in a given day.

But a ton of activity in a tiny stock can sometimes send the share price jumping all over the place ― up and down. That's why...

I will teach you exactly how to safely build and monitor positions in "flash action" stocks.

You also need to sort out which companies are real and which ones are lame and empty.

You need to dig around. Find out all there is to know. Get the inside scoop on profit margins, costs and growth.

This is exactly what I do. I scour the Bulletin Boards for potential "flash action" companies ― the strong, solid, growing companies. I'll even give you all my information on some of the best Bulletin Board stocks today

I'll tell you exactly what potential "flash action" shares I think you should buy, when and for how much. And when the time comes, I'll tell you exactly when to sell...

Using my recommendations, you could profit from "flash action" moves

Simply agree to receive my next alert and you'll be ready to hit the ground running the next morning when the markets open!

I break these potential "flash action" stocks down to their atoms, show you how they work and how you could potentially make them pay for your own "30-Day Retirement."

Along the way, you could make huge amounts of easy money, sometimes overnight.

You've probably already figured it out ― but that's why I call these amazing little stocks "flash action" movers.

Before you know it, just a tiny bit of cash could jump up to hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars!

Sometimes, huge "flash action" gains pile up in the markets one day to the next!

For example, here's an even FASTER "flash action" bonanza that occurred in the markets recently...

Turn $500 Into $336,500 in 2 Days ― Faster "Flash Action" Gains!

On the morning of Sept. 15, 2008, shares of China Biopharma rose an astounding 9,900% ― in just three hours!

That's enough to turn $500 into $50,000!

Then ― the next day ― First Quantum Ventures shot up 573%.

That's enough to have turned $50,000 into $336,500!

Imagine that... Starting with just $500 one morning and sitting on up to $336,500 the next afternoon!

That's FAST "flash action" market moves at work.

See how easy it could be to fund your entire retirement off just 30 days of playing the right "flash action" market moves at the right time?

These moves happen all the time. Every day!

So are you ready to start grabbing your share of these incredible gains?

It's so cheap to get started, as I've shown, that it's a shame everyone who ever bought a share of stock isn't grabbing these impressive "flash action" movers!

That begs the question...so why isn't everyone doing this?

It all boils down to Home runs versus strikeouts.

Here's what I mean...

"Flash Action" Home Runs Are So Massive, They Easily Make up for the Strikeouts

Famous baseball star Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs during his illustrious 23-year career.

But do you know how many times he struck out? 1,383 times.

That's almost two strikeouts for every single home run.

For every major success, he averaged two failures.

And that's pretty much how the stocks I'm writing about to you today work too.

You should expect some strikeouts. The best investors expect them.

This means you should never put money down on these impressive little stocks that you need to pay the mortgage or keep the lights on.

I'm not trying to steal my own thunder here ― I'm simply talking reality.

But when just $500 could start you on the path to incredible wealth, the risk is limited.

And the home runs could more than make up for the strikeouts. Many, many times over.

Yes, it's true that you need precisely targeted moves to take advantage of the right three "flash action" moves to make millions.

And it's also true that amazing timing is a factor too.

It's my job to alert you to the best "flash action" opportunities ― exactly the ones that could put you on your way to your own "30-Day Retirement."

See, even with all the caveats about "flash action" stocks taken into account, I cannot ignore the fact that there's money out there ― money literally floating around the markets each day ― that with the right information and a little determination you could grab and use to fund your dreams ― maybe even use to fund a $10,000 per hour 30-Day Retirement!

Simply agree to receive my next alert, and you could start making some serious gains...FAST!

How much you could make is really up to you.

Because "30-Day Retirement" money is there for the taking!

You just have to know how to grab it!

Here's another example of the kind of money I'm talking about ― and this one's the fastest gain yet!

So far, I've shown you how a savvy investor could have made $14,000,000 in a week. Then I showed how an investor could have made $336,500 in two days!

If you thought those gains were great ― this one will knock you out! It's just another example of HUGE cash that can be made from hidden, "flash action" moves in the market.

1,400% Gain in 30 Minutes ― Lightning Quick "Flash Action" Profit

By 10:00 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 ― shares of USR Technology Inc. had risen 1,400% since the 9:30 open.

1,400% in half an hour ― easy as pie.

That's $500 into $7,500 all before mid-morning coffee time.

It's safe. It's easy. It's cheap.

All you need is the right stocks at the right time.

And I'll tell you how to start today.

But before I tell you how to get my next alert and start your own "flash action" gains, I should introduce myself.

54,900 Members Read My Profit Alerts ― But Here's Why They Can't Act On What I'm Offering Today

My name is Greg Guenthner.

I began my career years ago as a government reporter.

After years of traveling the east coast of the U.S. and spending time in dozens of newsrooms, I started to read the investment classics.

I quickly learned that I had a real knack for picking winning stock ideas.

It wasn't long before I ended up working for a respected financial publishing firm in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.

Today, I lead the revolutionary small stocks newsletter, Penny Stock Fortunes.

With over 54,900 monthly readers, I've pointed the way to gains like 45% in just one day and 100% in just a few months so far in 2008.

Now I don't mean to brag, I'm just telling you so you know I know what I'm doing.

I also know you're probably a market-watcher who demands gains even bigger than the comparatively small profits possible with penny stocks ― even though they can sometimes rise 250% or more in days.

I know there are people out there who want to swing for the fences.

I know you exist. I know what you want.

And for too long, because I have so many readers, I had to let the "flash action" stock ideas that cross my desk slip away.

Like I mentioned before, these tiny "flash action" stocks sometimes trade very few shares per day.

If I released a "flash action" stock ticker to my 54,900 readers ― the stock could go nuts. All heck could break loose. The price might even go up artificially.

And that's no good. Still, I couldn't possibly let lucrative "30-Day Retirement Plan" ideas get away.

So I recently started an elite, for-serious-readers-only letter called Bulletin Board Elite.

So far in 2008, Bulletin Board Elite Has Returned Gains of...

100% in just four months

And 45% in just ONE DAY

And as of Dec. 10, Open Positions Include...

243% gains on an alternative energy company in a little over three months

Now, those gains aren't bad. I'm proud of them ― especially in our current market environment.

But these in-the-books gains pale in comparison to the "30-Day Retirement" opportunities I'm ready to release to you.

I want you to receive my latest alert.

In fact, you simply MUST HAVE IT to start building your own "flash action" wealth.

I'll even show you an example of how my alerts work...so you can charge right into your own "flash action" plays with all the ammunition you need.

The Countdown to My Next Flash Action Alert ― Your First Step in the "30-Day Retirement Plan"

As soon as you sign up for Bulletin Board Elite you'll receive an urgent "flash action" trading alert straight from my desk.

It'll look very similar to this ― a recent alert ― which out of fairness to current subscribers, I have cut down to not reveal the name of the recommended company.

It's that simple. I send you the e-mail and lay out my case. You use the information I send you to decide whether to get in on the play ― and possibly begin your own version of the "30-Day Retirement Plan."

Starting first thing tomorrow, you could have the power at your fingertips to begin your own "flash action" chain of staggering gains.

Remember, this is exactly the system of research and analysis that's so far this year led to 45% gains in one day and 100% gains in only a few months.

And what I'm offering you today could blow the doors off anything I've released so far this year...

Remember too: I tell you what the best current play is, and why, in every alert.

I keep you up to date. If a recommendation changes, I tell you.

If it's time to sell and cash out gains, I tell you.

Bulletin Board Elite is like a friendly guide to your own "30-Day Retirement Plan."

I show you the way to gains. Simply. Honestly. So you can make your own decision and get involved however is best for you and your situation.

In just days, you could even be racking up "30-Day Retirement" work-free "hourly wages" like...

And you never know... my next alert, the one I want you to have today, might even point the way to an enormous gain like...

"Flash Action" Hall of Fame:  $4,760 Turned Into $639,500. . . Then $1.52 MILLION

Hansen Natural's a giant in fruit and energy drinks.

4,000 shares of HANS on Aug. 18, 1995 meant a total outlay of $4,760.

By July 2005, HANS traded at $92.40 a share.

Had you sold at $92.40, your $4,760 would've been worth $369,600! That's good for a gain of 7,650%!

Then, by June 2006, HANS traded at $190.37 a share after a 2-for-1 split.

8,000 shares were now worth $1,522,010.

That's more than $1.5 million from $4,760, or a lifetime gain of an absolutely staggering 31,875%.

You've now seen "flash action" moves at work. You've seen how just a few hundred dollars to start could turn into incredible sums.

I've shown you how to make $14 million in a week, $336,500 in two days, even 1,400% gains in 30 minutes!

And now you've seen how a "buy and hold" play like HANS could make you a millionaire too! The opportunities here are overwhelming!

So you know the stocks I target. You know the blueprint for gains.

Now it's time for you to cash in on these little "30-Day Retirement" gems for yourself...starting with my next elite, members-only alert.

Don't Miss This Rare Chance to Join The Ranks of Bulletin Board Elite

I admit up front, I simply cannot offer Bulletin Board Elite to a wide audience.

The opportunities I uncover are just too sensitive for more than a handful of people to know about. But, as you've seen, they can be incredibly lucrative.

Membership is first come, first served. So you must hurry to join at the limited-time price I'll reveal in just a minute.

But first I need to issue my warning, one more time...

Tiny "flash action" securities can be extremely volatile. Some of these stocks trade for just pocket change, and too many buyers can send the price up triple digits.

Now, to show you gains the right way, I must go wherever the stock-stories lead me, day or night, to uncover only those plays that stand to make you the biggest (and safest) "flash action" profits.

So, to be your "inside man", dedicated to digging up the "flash action" moves that safely and properly make you rich, I need to know you're committed to starting your own path to profits.

And to get you started as soon as you receive my latest alert, I'm prepared to throw in SEVEN other gifts.

Your Gifts Just For Trying The "30-Day Retirement Plan"

My Latest Flash Action Alert I've told you all about ― complete with the name and ticker symbol of my latest "flash action" recommendation. Respond to this note today, and you'll get it ― guaranteed. Your shot at a 30-Day Retirement starts the moment it hits your inbox! You might even make a mint in just the first week!

You'll also immediately receive my "flash action" stock report 3 Hidden Alt-Energy Plays for a Decade of Growth. Packed with "flash action" picks in battery technology, uranium exploration, and geothermal power, this report features my best analysis to date. 3 Hidden Alt-Energy Plays for a Decade of Growth is valued at $995.

You'll also immediately get 3 Diverse Stocks, One Goal: 10-fold Gains or More. One company specializes in unique beverages ― and is growing a legion of fans ― just like Hansen Natural did! This report's another $995 in stand-alone "flash action" value.

The hot-off-the-presses Stock Profits That JUMP: Scoring Big off the Bulletin Boards. I teach you how to buy "flash action" plays, how to SAFELY build positions, and how to set strict limits on risked trading capital. I also show you how to find a low-cost broker who offers exactly the service you need.

Now, I suspect you're an advanced market watcher. If you weren't, you probably wouldn't still be reading my letter.

But I urge you not to dismiss this report when you receive FREE access to it.

It's filled with "30-Day Retirement Plan" tips and tricks you can use to play "flash action" movers even better, so you could see repeatable "30-Day Retirement" style profits!

Alone, I could sell Stock Profits That JUMP: Scoring Big off the Bulletin Boards for $395 and make a nice living. But you get it FREE, just for starting your own path to riches with "flash action" movers!

It comes to $2,385 in reports. But I'm not even asking for my break-even price.

And I still haven't even told you everything else you get!

Total Protection with Flash-Action Email Alerts: You get time-sensitive e-mail alerts to keep you on top of what my latest research and analysis show. I tell you what to sell, and what "flash action" positions you should increase. Basically, if you need to know something FAST...these alerts will keep you in-the-know. A $495 value.

Monthly Bulletin Board Elite Issues: Guaranteed to contain at least one new "flash action" pick, each month you'll get an email issue directly from me, giving you the scoop on my latest "30-Day Retirement Plan" pick, updating you on existing picks, and analyzing the trends impacting our portfolio. $795.

Full Bulletin Board Elite Website Access 24/7: You can follow the model portfolio, read through the flash alerts and issues archive, read and print your special reports. $495.

As soon as you sign up, you're given a unique membership ID and Password. Use it to scour the Bulletin Board Elite website and take advantage of all the for-your-eyes-only info it has to offer.

Also, as a paid member of Bulletin Board Elite you'll receive a FREE subscription to the Agora Financial Executive Series...two daily e-letters that will give you a rare insider's view of our editorial room.

You'll receive the groundbreaking Rude Awakening, which uncovers the latest big-picture trends in politics and in the markets, as well as the 5 Min. Forecast ― a daily snapshot of what our revolutionary editors are saying right now.

You'll also receive a FREE subscription to the Penny Sleuth daily e-letter. This insightful small-cap letter is brought to you each weekday from some of the best small-cap minds in the country.

To ask $2,000 for all this information, access, and profit potential is a steal. After all, with "30-Day Retirement Plan" potential like you saw from Paradigm, Concord Ventures, Abviva and Genesis Pharma ― which could have made savvy investors as much as $875, $57,750, $43,240, EVEN $2,126,023 PER HOUR!

Now, I've seen services like Bulletin Board Elite sell for $10,000 or more. There are "analysts" on Wall Street who pay thousands for these limited-audience alerts.

Some of these analysts work in hidden niches of the market, making millions per year to research tiny stocks. To them, services like mine are a leg up on the competition.

$2,000 is a fraction of the cost some "professionals" pay for potential like this.

You're Minutes Away From The Chance At Huge "30-Day Retirement" Gains!

You simply cannot afford to not join my "flash action" stock research service. Sign up to receive my latest alert and you could be on your way to starting your own "30-Day Retirement Plan"!

You won't sleep at night if you let this opportunity slip away now!

You're so close to starting your own "30-Day Retirement"!

Better yet, you can try the "30 Day Retirement Plan" at no risk! You have my personal guarantee...

Try Bulletin Board Elite for 60 days. If at any time during that first 60 days you're unsatisfied with the service, just cancel it. We'll refund 100% of your subscription cost.

No questions asked. No hassles. It's that simple. You can even keep your free gifts.

Even if after that first 60 days you decide you want to cancel, I'll refund to you the balance of the cost for all undelivered issues.

But I don't think you'll be canceling.

Once you get my latest, profitable alert, the rest of the year might be nothing but "flash action" profits gravy!

How's that sound? You have two months to decide if Bulletin Board Elite is for you. So go ahead and start your own path to "flash action" wealth.

You assume absolutely NO RISK in these 60 days. You're fully protected.

Remember, just $500 to start could have had you sitting on a HUGE "30-Day Retirement" of $14 million or more!

Simply reply right now to be placed on the list to receive my groundbreaking "flash action" trading recommendations!