Global Wealth Distribution 2013

Credit Suisse have just released their latest Global Wealth Databook 2013

The most interesting point is this diagram representing Global Wealth distribution:

distribution of wealth around the world for 2013

Global Wealth Pyramid 2013

If you have a net worth of over 1m USD then congratulations – you have done extremely well. You are in the top 0.7% of the Worlds Population. You lucky, lucky, lucky …. Staggering. Conversely almost 70% of the world have less than 10k USD wealth.

Here’s an interesting quote from the report:

Apart from the rich lists, which cover a relatively small number of named individuals, there is a  scarcity of information on wealth holdings above USD 1 million. Survey details are patchy at best, and official statistics based on tax returns are often inadequate given the complexity of  wealth ownership arrangements.

Download a copy of the PDF report here – its interesting reading. And while you are there grab a copy of the Global Wealth Report 2013 – it’s worth a skim too.

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com

Video – “Stop Thief!” – I am Being Robbed Blind!

Just made a Screencast of yesterdays Post called “Stop Thief! I’m being Robbed Blind!” – check-it out here:

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Enjoy! As usual let’s us know what you think and give us your feedback.

P.S.
This video is also posted on http://www.youtube.com/RagingGoldenBull

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com

“Stop Thief!” – I am Being Robbed Blind!

We are surrounded by the Thievery Coporation - arm yourself with knowledge, a plan and take action now!

The Master Thief – But just who is it?

Most of humankind are being fleeced everyday and for the most part they are not even aware of it. Let me elaborate if I may. In fact this has gone on for so long (longer than anyone alive can remember), and so consistently that people now think that this is normal. However, I am here to tell you – this is anything but.

Question: What was the price of an ounce of Gold in USD on May 1st 1933?

Answer: 20.67 USD/Ounce

Ok, so another question – just to make the point.

Question: What was the price of an ounce of Gold in USD on May 1st 2013?

Answer: 1,400 USD/Ounce (approx.)

So what’s the deal here?

The point is easier to understand if we invert the numbers and take the reciprocal (i.e.divide 1/[gold-price]). Refer to the following table:

Gold Price-Change Overview (1933 – 2013)

Gold Price-Change Overview (1933 – 2013)

Now it’s a bit clearer to see what is going on. In 1933 one US Dollar would buy you 1/20th on an ounce of pure gold.

But if you try that today, you are only going to get 1/1400 on ounce of Gold.

Struth, I have been robbed! And you have been unless you took the time to buy a little Gold and/or Silver.

Back in 1933 the US Dollar was really pretty valuable (compared to today at least!).

So just how do you think this grand theft took place? Have a ponder and I will cover more next time. Till then, “Keep Stackin’ ” …

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com

Interesting Times …

The Chinese have an ancient curse which states:

“May You Live in Interesting Times”

Well guess what? That’s exactly what you are doing right now, but maybe
you just haven’t noticed it. Or maybe you just accept it now as normal.

Let me explain. We are living in the most unusual (read interesting) set
of financial circumstances that this world have ever seen.

Maybe you have been so exposed to it and so familiar with it that you now
accept it as normal. We no longer have a sound financial system. It has
been replaced with the biggest Ponzi Scheme of all time. What is
considered normal or acceptable has shifted, slowly but surely with the
passage of time.

Central Bankers are to be blamed for all of these woes (ok TBTF banks
too). But continually manipulating the supply of money in their respective
systems, they have diluted all our precious money. so much so, that we are
nearing the point of collapse, where it is just not credible anymore.

Take some precautions and make sure that you have at least 5 percent of
your net worth in some form of material asset: Gold, Silver, farmland,
land, or something. Of all Gold is probably the easiest to handle. That’s
why we recommend gold. It’s REAL MONEY!

So to recap. Don’t loose the faith and keep stackin’ …

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com

No Way Out for the Federal Reserve

No Way out for the Federal Reserve

No Way out for the Federal Reserve

There is no way-out of here for the Federal Reserve now.

After so much talk of taper (“Taper-Talk”) the Fed finally didn’t follow-through. Why not? Because they cannot. That should be clear to anyone. There is not surprise here.

This is just talk. Schmoozing…Jive-talk…Rhetoric..Lies?

This is the clearest sign yet that Bernanke’s policies have failed. The rollback decision. He knows what’s coming and does not want to be around when it hits – and thus he is resigning (read – “get the hell out of Dodge!”) at end of year.

It is very, very, very simple to understand:

  • Interest rates MUST stay low
  • If not the amount of boring of US Government will bankrupt USA (it is already technically bankrupt)
  • So print money, buy bonds, keep rates low

There is a HUGE problem with this approach – They will either want to stop or be made to stop sometime:

  • They will be made to stop by other countries abandoning “incredible” US dollar (quite simply no longer sound money)
  • They will want to stop to try to restore credibility to the USD currency (not possible when printing 85 Billion USD per month – 1 Trillion USD per year)

When they stop (or the printing press is taken off them) the interest rates will rise.

The house of cards will fall.

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com

IMF “to admit mistakes” in handling Greek debt crisis and bailout – My response…

Here is a short piece that I felt I had to interject at The Guardian (UK)

RagingGoldenBul unleashes on The Guardian (UK) about the IMF (International Mafia Federation)

RagingGoldenBul unleashes on The Guardian (UK) about the IMF (International Mafia Federation)

😉

RagingGoldenBul – 05 June 2013 6:54pm

Recommend: 77

Let us not ponce about the proverbial bush here my brethren:

The IMF (short for: International Mafia Federation) is nothing more than another phony instrument created by the US government, for the US government, along with World Bank at that infamous Bretton Woods (1944) meeting where they strong armed the rest of the world over 21 long, grueling, and I would put it to you arduous days (blood must have been pouring from the poor delegates ears after day 12) while the world was still at WAR. Picture it.

Oh how they seized their chance, dragged in John Maynard Keynes (UK in collusion – special relationship you know), and invented a crock, because no one had any choice. No Choice.

It is well known that M. Lagarde (after they ditched DSK) let the cat out of the “bail-in” bag way too early for the FedReserve, and the ECB, and thus both the Bernanke and the Draghi are now sour-pusses. After those trillions of USDs that helicopter Ben printed-up, M. Lagarde blew it in one momentary lapse of reason. Now Ben will bail-out himself of the picture at end of the current term as Governor of the Fed.

Everyone knows that “Bail-ins” are coming now to a Bank near you real soon….Are you ready for that?

Why does anyone listen to a word these guys (International Mafia Federation) say anymore? Why do they point to them as if they are credible?

It all leads back to one thing – US Dollar hegemony, and anything to keep that puppy alive – alas brethren, the end is nigh.

Please excuse my rather fruity and colorful language (sausage I hate US English 😉 )…

Original Article:

The International Monetary Fund is to admit that it has made serious mistakes in the handling of the sovereign debt crisis in Greece, according to internal reports due to be published later on Wednesday.

Documents presented to the Fund’s board last Friday will reveal that the Washington-based organisation underestimated the damage austerity would cause to the eurozone country, which has required two bailouts in the past three years.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the papers would say that financial support from the Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission had bought time for Greece but had only been made possible because the IMF had bent its own rules to make the country’s debt look more sustainable than it was. According to the WSJ report, Greece failed to meet three of the Fund’s four tests to qualify for help.

A Fund spokeswoman said: “We will be publishing a number of papers on Greece later today. The board met last Friday to discuss several documents on Greece including the review of its programme and its annual economic assessment.”

Greece became the first eurozone nation to require a bailout by the international community in 2010, but needed a second round of financial assistance in early 2012 when a deep recession and high interest payments threatened to send its debts spiralling out of control.

The so-called troika of the IMF, ECB and EC forced private sector bondholders to write down the value of their Greek bonds in an attempt to bring the country’s debts down to sustainable levels of 120% of national income by 2020.

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the Fund, has said many times over the past year that Greece should now be in a position to pay off its debts, but the WSJ reports that IMF staff believe this cannot be said with any certainty.

In Athens, officials reacted with barely disguised glee to the news.

The report confirms what Greek officials have long said: that the first bailout of uncompromising budget cuts and tax increases, the price of 110 bn euro in emergency funds in May 2010, was the wrong prescription for a country not only batting a monumental debt load but rampant tax evasion and a flourishing black economy.

Under the weight of such measures – applied across the board and hitting the poorest hardest – the economy, they said, was always bound to dive into an economic death spiral. “For too long they [troika officials] refused to accept that the programme was simply off-target by hiding behind our failure to implement structural reforms,” said one insider. “Now that reforms are being applied they’ve had to accept the bitter truth.”

The Greek media recently quoted IMF managing director Christine Lagarde describing 2011 as a “lost year” partly because of miscalculations by the EU and IMF. The authoritative Kathimerini newspaper said the report identified a number of “mistakes” including the failure of creditors to agree to a restructuring of Greece’s debt burden earlier – a failure that had had a disastrous effect on its macro-economic assumptions.

“From what we understand the IMF singles out the EU for criticism in its handling of the problem more than anything else,” said one well-placed official at the Greek finance ministry. “But acknowledgement of these mistakes will help us. It has already helped cut some slack and it will help us get what we really need which is a haircut on our debt next year.

See the full story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/05/imf-admit-mistakes-greek-crisis-austerity#comment-24097893

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com

Howard Marks – Investing in Uncertain Times

Howard Marks (no, not the Ganga smuggler) of Oaktree Capital has written some interesting (and hauntingly familiar) thoughts about investing in uncertain times. The note are from the university of oxford private equity institute private equity forum 2013 on March 5.

There are some interesting ideas here about the macro setting of your strategy moving forward from here. I think it would prove a useful exercise to review the points and check your own personal answers. For example – Setting your strategy:

Do you expect prosperity?

  • Yes -> leverage, equities, growth
  • No -> debt, value, less leverage

Which are you more concerned about losing?

  • Capital
  • Opportunities

About you and your strategy:

  • Aggressive and risk bearing?
  • Caution, conservative, risk control

See the full presentation here (PDF format): Howard Marks – Investing in Uncertain Times

© Copyright MMXIII RagingGoldenBull.com