Friday, May 15, 2009

The Greatest Swindle Ever Sold

Since the Madoff scandal broke last year, the press has been filled with names and pictures of his victims. The front page of The San Diego Union Tribune on March 13 showed a large photo of a woman joyfully cheering. The caption read: "Miriam Siegman of New York, who said she lost her retirement money with Bernard Madoff, celebrated yesterday upon leaving a Manhattan courthouse, where Madoff was ordered jailed."

We celebrate with the victims when a swindler like Madoff is brought to justice. Yet there is a vastly larger fraud being perpetrated on all Americans, and it's unlikely that any of the perpetrators will ever be jailed for their crime.

Bernard Madoff defrauded a few hundred clients of some $65 billion. Yet his scam pales next to the swindle being perpetrated at this moment on hundreds of millions of Americans who have been told they have accumulated more than $40 trillion in future retirement benefits.
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This scam is the Social Security system.

Those who conceived the Social Security swindle promised that it would end the plight of the aged and disabled by guaranteeing them "security" - a steady income in disability and old age. It was promoted as a life raft that would carry everyone safely through to the end of his or her days.

Today, 74 years later, Americans continue to be told that regardless of what happens to the economy, the government will never renege on this promise. As the population has aged, Social Security beneficiaries have become the biggest political lobby in America. To get elected, any political candidate must participate in the swindle. Both as a candidate and now as President, Barack Obama has consistently maintained that the Social Security program's financing is basically sound, and can be assured far into the future. He's lying.

I became aware of the technique of the fraud in 1975 when Arthur Andersen & Company published a lengthy report titled "Sound Financial Reporting in the Public Sector." It disclosed both the magnitude of the crime, and the simple accounting subterfuge used to disguise the fraud.

The report pointed out that the government keeps its books using the "cash basis" method of accounting rather than the "accrual basis." The cash basis is what you use to balance your checkbook. If you deposit $50,000 in your account for the year and write $49,000 in checks to cover your expenses, your checkbook will show a $1,000 surplus for the year.

However, this does not tell the true story. If you took a vacation in December and ran up $5,000 on your credit card, but the payment didn't come due until the following year, your true expenses for the year were $55,000. You actually ran a $4,000 deficit which didn't show up in your checkbook. Every rational business owner knows that to track the true condition of the business he must add in the cost of purchases he made but must pay for in future years. Sound businesses always use the accrual method of accounting.

In its 1975 report, Arthur Andersen reviewed the U.S. federal budgets for fiscal years ending 1973 and 1974, and came up with shocking figures. Using the cash basis of accounting, the government had reported federal deficits of $14.3 billion for 1973 and $3.5 billion for 1974.

Recalculated according to the accrual method and including future Social Security payments and government pensions, the true 1973 deficit jumped from $14.3 billion to a staggering $86.6 billion. The 1974 budget was even worse, jumping from $3.5 billion to just over $95 billion. The government underreported its deficits by more than $160 billion in a two-year period.
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Peter G. Petersen, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, began sounding the alarm on this looming financial catastrophe more than a decade ago. In his 1996 book, Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America and the World, he pointed out that if federal law required Congress to fund Social Security the way private pensions must be funded, the annual federal deficit in 1996 would have instantly risen by some $675 billion. Add in lavish and unfunded federal-employee pensions and the deficit would have risen by $800 billion. Add in Medicare and it would have risen by more than $1 trillion.

The cash and accrual deficits that Arthur Anderson discussed in his 1975 report seem trivial compared to last year's federal deficit of $454 billion, and especially compared to this year's projected deficit of $1.8 trillion. Decade after decade the total of the swindle has been inexorably rising, until today the estimated shortfall owed Americans is an incredible $40 trillion. Nor has it stopped. The total continues to rise at a rate of $2 to $3 trillion per year.

Bernie Madoff was able to get away with his fraud by using the same technique as Charles Ponzi did in the 1920s. He sold fictitious securities, promised a high return, and paid off old investors out of monies taken in from new investors. It collapsed when new victims could no longer be found to support withdrawals from old victims.

The Social Security swindle has worked exactly the same way. It receives "contributions" in the form of FICA taxes, pretends to place those funds in trust, and pays benefits to current retirees out of taxes collected from current workers. Just as in the case of Madoff, there is no trust, there is no income to the non-existent trust, and the payments are simply made from current collections. Madoff's scheme lasted 20 years before collapsing. The Social Security swindle is now in its 74th year...the end is near.

It's clear that Social Security cannot fulfill its promises to future retirees, but the casualties will not be limited to those victims, like Miriam Siegman, who find there is no life raft to carry them safely through retirement. In order to continue the fraud, politicians have no alternative except to issue more promises. Retirement checks will come, but they will be financed by more federal borrowing. Cash basis deficits will rise. Treasury IOUs will be converted by the Federal Reserve into dollars. As the monetary inflation morphs into price inflation, the victim list will swell to include everyone who doesn't see it coming.

Last year, former Comptroller of the Currency, David Walker, teamed up with Addison Wiggin of Agora Financial to produce an eye-opening movie, I.O.U.S.A., which documented the stunning financial swindle being perpetrated on the nation. This compelling addition to Petersen's disclosure of the government's financial fraud is being widely shown, and has just become available on DVD.

Unfortunately, we will never enjoy the sight of the politicians responsible for the Social Security swindle being sent to jail, but we can protect ourselves from their fraud.

It's time to don your lifejacket.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cashed Out 150% Gains Form Gold Stocks…

Over the next two years, you'll witness the greatest surge in gold prices in market history - at least 100% above where gold sits today, as I write this.

I'm so convinced, I'll even make you a guarantee.

More on that guarantee in just a second.

But even better, I've just discovered a way for you to sneak into the soaring gold market for next to nothing, with what I call "penny-per-ounce" gold.

That is, doing this is a "backdoor" way to own as much of a position in gold as you like... for the equivalent of paying a single cent per ounce.

There's no alchemy involved. And no trick.

It's just a gold market "loophole" most investors know nothing about.

I'll show you here in this letter how it works.

It's no skin off my nose if you opt not to do this. I'd just hate to see you miss out. And even if you decide it's not for you, you'll still want to know about the astounding silver stock I'll name for you.

You can it pick up right now for a 40% discount to what it should be worth on Wall Street... plus, in this same letter, I'll show you the best way to play gold using the powerful new efficiency of gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs)... not to mention, the single best gold stock to own right now and possibly for the next several years, if you choose to own only one.

Here's the clincher...

I'm going to give you all four of these recommendations... and all the information you need to act on them... FREE.

The symbols, the buy and sell targets, and specific step-by-step instructions on what to do. No charge.

Why would I do that? You'll see.

But first, let's dig in and get started...

Epic Boom Opportunity #1: HOW TO SNAP UP RAW GOLD... AT JUST ONE PENNY PER OUNCE!

What if, just before the biggest gold price surge in recent history, you could get your hands on a large stash of the yellow metal... for less than one penny per ounce?

There's no alchemy involved. No secret technology. And no smoke and mirrors. But a small, upstart new mining company is doing exactly that.

Its technique is simple.

But it's just about the only company across the entire mining industry that's able to do this, right now.

In 2005, it mined about 100,000 ounces this way. For 2006, it quadrupled that haul, using this same technique. Now it's on track to be a million-ounce producer... with at least 12 million ounces of gold still in the ground.

The math is simple...

Four Times Your Money Even if Gold Prices Don't Budge Another Inch

Think about it.

Anybody who can get gold out of the ground for a penny...

And sell it for even $500 per ounce or $400 per ounce, stands to make a handsome return. And so do their shareholders.

What I'll show you here is gold hitting as high as $700... a $1000... or even $2,000 per ounce... over the next 12—24 months.

Owning shares of this company could mean at least a 400% gain in that time period, even if only half of what we're calling for comes through.

So here's how this works.

For most miners, getting gold out of the ground is done pretty much the same, across the industry. But not for this wily little company I've been telling you about.

What it's done is invent a way to mine the gold — and rich veins of raw copper — at the same time.

The copper mining is so lucrative, the profits more than cover the cost of pulling the gold out of the same hole. And that means close to 100% upside potential on the gold, no matter what the current spot price on the market.

Any way you slice it, they're booking massive profit.

At Least 2 Years of Locked-in Value, No Matter How High Gold Actually Soars

Right now, this "little" undiscovered new mining company already has five mines up and running. Plus one more under construction. And three more projects after that heading into development.

It also has enormous land holdings with lots of undisclosed mineral potential. Plus, it just swallowed whole another holding with as much as 2 million more ounces of gold in the ground.

Add that to measured and recorded reserves of 12 million ounces... plus another 14 million ounces that are either "inferred" or "proven and probable."

Sound rich?

Don't forget, I haven't even said anything yet about the nearly 2 billion pounds of copper tucked under this company's territory. And copper is the key to this whole secret.

Because it's the steady flow of cash from the copper — remember, this company has innovated a way to get both the copper and gold out of the ground at the same time — that's making the gold production, in relative terms, possible for less than one penny per ounce.

Here's the best part...

This little company's savvy management had the foresight to hedge the entire copper reserve, by making deals that locked in its copper sales at record levels for essentially the next two years.

So even if the global economy keels over and copper prices in general fall, this company will keep on raking it in on their copper discoveries... which means it keeps on getting the gold out of the ground for next-to-nothing at the same time.

Did I mention?

This company has no debt. It's also sitting on a massive pile of cash. And that pile just keeps getting bigger. This is partly why the stock not only has huge upward potential, but it also pays a dividend.

This is a powder keg waiting to pop. With gold prices creeping higher... and then accelerating... this isn't going to stay off mainstream radars for long. You'll need to make a move on this soon.

I want you to have everything you need to make the call, as educated about the pros and cons of this as possible.

So I've commissioned the best experts on my team of analysts to write it up, in a FREE special report I want to send you. It's called Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead!

I'd like to get this into your hands as soon as possible. At no charge. Inside, you'll find out everything you'd want to know about "penny-per-ounce gold." You'll also discover even more brilliant and innovative new ways to get in on the sudden new surge in the yellow metal, inside this same free report.

But maybe, you're already asking yourself...

Why Gold and Why Now?

Before I rush you that FREE report, let me ask you this...

Do you remember the last time gold sold for over $2,000 an ounce?

Of course you do. Maybe you didn't think of that way. But actually, gold has already sold for more than $2000 per ounce. Let me show you.

First, you have to think for a moment like it's 1971. Gold is selling for $35. This is the year Nixon breaks it from ties to the dollar. Gold prices start climbing. By 1975, it's hit $196. And by 1980, we're talking $850. Sure, you say, that I remember.

But maybe you also remember, back then you could also make $27,700 a year and it was a pretty decent living. About as good as making $100,000 per year today.

You could also buy a house for $50,000 then and, just on an inflation basis, it would be worth $250,000 today. (In real estate terms, it might sell now for $500,000 or more). And back then, you could retire on $270,000 in savings... and it would be as good, today, as being a millionaire.

So you can see, trying to compare yesterday's gold price to today's — on an even basis — is like trying to compare apples and armadillos!

In today's dollars, 1975 gold at $196 is more like $750 in the current market. And 1980 gold, the peak year at the historical price of $850, would now clock in closer to $2,176. And remember, this is only what you get using the most conservative market calculation of gold's worth. There are other, even more telling ways to value gold.

Try this on for size...

$38,349 per Ounce!

Remember, for a good part of America's history, every dollar in your pocket was a dollar backed by gold. So it's not so crazy to ask yourself... if America has 8,180 tons - or nearly 261.7 million ounces - of gold in reserve... how many dollars does that buy?

The answer will shock you.

When dollars became unhinged from gold, the printing presses at the Fed cranked up. By 1980, for every ounce of gold in America, the financial system carried $6,966 in cash. That's $1.8 trillion total. But get this, by the end of 2005, the total real money supply shot to over $10 trillion.

That's $38,349 in circulation for every ounce of gold in reserve!

Of course, it's even higher now. The printing presses are still cranking, well into 2008. Only now, it's much harder for you to know how fat the actual money supply has gotten. See, by March 23, 2006... the number had gotten so embarrassing... the Fed actually "retired" a number called "M3," which was the most broad-reaching measure of how much cash floats around in the system.

Yep. Instead of fixing the problem, the politicians just stopped talking about it. Is that any surprise? Fortunately, you don't need Washington's help to get the real picture of what's happening today in the economy... or to find out what's next for the price of gold.

Because you can just read on and see for yourself...

Precious Metals Megatrend: 3 Charts and the Truth

I'm about to show you three charts.

Take a look at these first two side by side...


A hundred different snapshots could show you the mess we're in. Soaring personal and government debt. A plunging savings rate. Record-high mortgages as a percentage of GDP. Plunging yields on 10-year Treasuries. Soaring but "hidden" unfunded government liabilities, to the tune of $53 trillion...

But none show it better — and more plainly — than these two I'm showing you right here, above. The first is our skyrocketing money supply. The second is our plummeting purchasing power. That's about as plain as you need to get.

How so?

Because this is the starkest vision you'll ever get of the absolute carnage that's piling up in a "secret war" Washington's fighting right now... and has fought, unsuccessfully, for the last 20 plus years. No, not the war in Iraq. Or Afghanistan. Or even some possible future conflict with Iran.

This is another kind of war... right here at home.

The enemy is the dark nemesis of a dead and stagnant economy. And the Fed secretly fights to hold it off desperately every single day. This is a worse enemy than recession. It's the enemy called deflation, an economy where nothing moves and nobody buys a thing.

The weapon of choice in this ongoing secret war is to flood the market with cash and easy credit. Because regular cash and credit injections make everyone feel rich. The theory goes, when you've got cash and low-priced credit, companies borrow and expand. Consumers borrow and spend. Families borrow and buy homes.

Which is why, since 1950, the total amount of money in circulation has soared well over 3,000%! And it's all good... or seems good... until it goes all wrong.

See, the trouble is even money can't escape the natural law of supply and demand. When there's too much of it floating around, each dollar is worth that much less relative to the whole. Suddenly, you've got price inflation.

Suddenly, every dollar you have in the bank is worth less.

Hemingway called it the "first panacea of a mismanaged nation."

And in our case, it's helped plummet the purchasing power of our dollars by a mind-blowing 96%. The dollar's worth today is just pennies compared with what it bought a century ago. In fact, its worth is just a fraction now — as we just demonstrated — compared to the last time gold prices boomed, in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Only now, unlike then, the "wiggle room" we have left now between us and a complete dollar implosion is so thin it's practically transparent. Could total implosion actually happen? Absolutely.

Take what relatively new Fed Chairman professor Ben Bernanke famously said in a speech at the National Economists Club in Washington, in November 2002...

Like gold, U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent) that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost... We conclude that under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.

In other words, if you want to juice an economy... turn on the printing presses and make it as easy as all get-out to borrow money at a low, low rate of interest. Bernake and others in the Fed think that's no problem. They think they can handle it, just so long as short-term interest rates don't go to zero.

But a brilliant and famous colleague of mine — someone I'll introduce you to in just a second — completely disagrees. Flooding the market with easy money, he recently told me in private, is more like burning your furniture to keep warm. It cannot last as a stopgap measure. It's courting disaster.

He and I both like to think an even smarter economist, Ludwig von Mises, got it right instead, when he said...

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of the voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.

See, thanks to all that Fed-driven loose credit, consumer debt has soared. It's never been higher. In 1987, when Alan Greenspan first took his job in Washington, consumers where in the hole by about $10 trillion. Where are they now? An unbelievable $37.3 trillion in the red - or nearly 350% of GDP!

Think about that.

As a whole, Americans owe 3½ times more than the entire U.S. economy — the largest in history — produces in a year. If you or I owed that much on a personal level, we'd be suicidal.

Meanwhile, the government doesn't seem to worry. It spends money even faster. It borrows even deeper. Even this administration now, with full knowledge of the implications of a credit disaster, has already borrowed more money since 2000 than every White House since the time of Washington!

By 2017 - says the Heritage Foundation - our federal deficits should be soaring by at least $1 trillion per year. After that, it will jump to $2 trillion. That's not how much we'll owe. It's how much we'll add to what we owe... every 12 months, for as far as the eye can see.

Doesn't that sound, to you, like we're at a turning point?

If There's a Crossroad on The Way to Catastrophe...This Is It!

Here's the third chart I promised you.

And though you might not know it at first glance, this one is a doozy...


This is what's called a "yield-curve inversion."

The recent one you're looking at above first happened on Dec. 28, 2005... and it has remained inverted... on this last occasion, it's basically been upside-down for the last few months. This is bad. How bad?

Think dynamite and a tripwire.

See, normally a yield-curve inversion should be an extremely rare event. Until very recently, it's only happened six times since 1970. And guess what... five out of those six times, a major recession followed within the year.

This is so precise an indicator of recession, in fact, that it has only been wrong once in the past 40 years. One study published by the New York Federal Reserve pegged it as a better measure of what will happen to the U.S. economy than the U.S. stock market or any other general index of other leading indicators.

Translation: When the curve flips, we'd better listen.

On the day of this inversion above - practically at the moment the lines crossed - the Dow plunged 105 points. What happens the next time, when the curve inverts not just for an afternoon, but for a week or more? Or months at a time?

This is like holding back a flood with a cork. The longer the yield curve is out of balance, the bigger the disaster that follows. And there's only one way to stop a yield-curve inversion from happening.

The Fed has to slash short-term rates. Will they?

Bernanke would love to. In fact, he's done some cutting already.

But he's trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Slashing the rates means an even bigger dollar collapse. And even higher credit debt, at a time when few Americans can afford it. It would also mean less overseas confidence in the U.S. economy. And that alone could spark a whole new wave of disaster.

See, when all those overseas bondholders out there see the United States disintegrating its economic base, that's all she wrote! They'll start dumping the dollar and our debt investments with abandon. I'm sure you're smart enough to see where this is headed...

That kind of unraveling is the perfect recipe for $2,000 gold. Which is why I want to make sure you're in a good strong position before this next radical power move in gold unfolds...

Epic Boom Opportunity #2: "MORE GOLD THAN FORT KNOX..." AND THE WORLD'S EASIEST 94% GAIN

This next move is easily one of the best ways anybody can double their money in 2008. You rarely see something this close to a pure play.

At the center is a town so tiny, it may as well be the end of the world. And what, just seven years ago, used to be one of the tiniest junior mining companies in the industry.

Today, both are suddenly sitting on what could be $27 billion worth of unprocessed gold — "that's like finding more gold than the government stores in Fort Knox, all in one location" says one of my smartest investment research colleagues.

Nobody imagined it was down there.

At best, they all thought, they've got just 7 million ounces.

Not only were they wrong, but suddenly this junior miner doesn't look so "junior" any more. Because it now owns one of the largest single gold deposits in the world, with as much as 33 million ounces underground.

Thanks to a partnership with one of the world's largest senior mining companies, this once-undiscovered firm can get that gold out of the ground for about $233 per ounce.

At today's gold prices, that's pure profit of as much as $700 or more.

Here's what's truly incredible...

The $40 Billion Treasure Wall Street Forgot

This same firm has another 13 billion pounds of copper tucked underground, just south of the border of the Yukon, deep in the north of British Columbia.

Up until recently, it cost too much in water and electricity to get that copper out of the ground. And that knocked the wind out of this firm's share price when investors figured costs would spiral out of control.

I don't know if you've paid attention, but copper demand — and prices — have exploded in recent months. That's completely changed the equation.

One of the massive gold miners — I can't say which one or it would give away too much — offered $16 per share just to buy this company and their options on these two mineral-rich properties outright.

If they just made that offer again, without any other changes in the company's outlook, you're talking an instant 94% gain in the shares just since the start of this year.

That alone is enough to nearly double every dollar invested.

Before the end of 2008.

But feel free to expect a much bigger move this year, especially as those 33 million ounces of gold and 13 billion pounds of copper come online.

While you can't wait too long on this second move, you can still read the full story for yourself before you decide. It's all in the FREE copy of Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead! that I want to send.

All I need is your permission to put it in the mail... or you can download it yourself, five minutes from now, from a link I'll give you at the end of this letter.

But before I show you how...

Allow Me to Come Clean: Why I'm in Love...With Gold

My name is Addison Wiggin.

I'm sure you've guessed, gold is more than a "fad" investing idea for me.

I've followed these market forces behind the yellow metal for years. I've even written about it, in a New York Times best seller that maybe you've read, called Financial Reckoning Day.

I wrote about these forces again in a second New York Times best-seller, Empire of Debt. And again in a quick little book, also a best-seller, called The Demise of the Dollar.

This is not, in short, new territory for me.

I've hit the radio circuit to talk about this too, appearing on over 350 local and national interview shows. Maybe you've also seen me talking it up on television, from ABC News and Forbes on Fox to Bloomberg Television.

I've even just put the wraps on a new feature-length documentary called I.O.U.S.A. — with a team from Hollywood — to get this message out to the public. It debuted at Sundance just recently. And should be in theaters very soon.

And at least part of that documentary should give viewers all the reasons I'm giving you here, about why a major move into gold will be essential for growing and safeguarding your wealth over the years ahead.

I don't say this to brag. I just want you to be clear, this isn't coming from out of the blue. In fact, I also head a multi-million dollar international research organization that's very much focused right now on exactly the same opportunities we've just talked about.

And really, that's why I'm writing to you today.

See, finding and assembling the world's best experts in this field is what I do. It's my life calling. I've been at this for the last 15 years. And in that time, nothing makes me more proud than what we've managed to do with one of those ventures, a powerful, major force in the resource advisory industry called Outstanding Investments.

Maybe you've heard of it...

Like I said, I couldn't be more proud...

Mark Hulbert, the no-nonsense industry watchdog, recently ranked Outstanding Investments as the No.1 performing investment advisory letter over a five-year period in 2005. In 2006, he put us among his top-ranked performers yet again.

And it's no wonder. Especially with the winners you could have found in the Outstanding Investments over these last several years...

Like the 332% we logged on Glamis/Francisco Gold... 668% gains on Metallica Resources... 249% gains on Coeur d'Alene Mines... 83% gains on Placer Dome... 156% already on Newmont... and 540% gains already on American Century Global Gold...

Plus plenty of non-gold gains, too.

Like 137% on KeyWest Energy... 174% on PetroChina... 270% gains on the July 2005 silver call options... 160% gains on Western Oil Sands... and 179% gains on Talisman Energy...

One of the biggest reasons for our success is the string of brilliant analysts we've been able to entice on board to lead Outstanding Investments readers to that top-performance position.

Maybe you've already heard of our current top analyst, Byron King.

When it comes to gold and other metals, oil, gas, energy — even the politics and trends that move resource markets — there's a good chance nobody is as qualified as Byron.

See, unlike most market analysts, Byron actually has in-the-field experience.

He's even what you might call a "rock-hound."

Byron's a geologist with a degree from Harvard.

After graduating with honors in the 1970s, he broke into the oil industry. Byron worked as a geologist in the exploration and production division of a major oil company — one of the Fortune Top 20.

When he got tired of that, he did what no other analyst would do — and joined the U.S. Navy, logging over 1,000 hours flying navy bombers as a tailhook aviator... including more than 127 death-defying carrier landings.

(Ask your broker if he has that on his resume!)

Not one to sit still, after leaving the Navy, Byron worked as a practicing attorney in Pennsylvania for 17 years, during which time he became one of the most sought-after resource experts in the country.

He's been invited to give speeches across the U.S. and Canada, he's written countless articles for major publications, and he's been interviewed by even more, from small town journals to national newspapers like The Globe & Mail and the Los Angeles Times.

Byron once even met with M. King Hubbert himself, the genius who discovered the "Peak Oil" crisis that would plague world petroleum... 20 years before it actually happened. Again, that's not a claim your average energy market analyst can make.

You couldn't ask for a better pedigree.

What's Byron saying right now?

Byron and I are both pretty excited about the future of most commodities. But we're very excited, right now, by the future of gold.

In your FREE copy of Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead, you can see what Byron and his Outstanding Investments team are recommending right now to readers.

Just give me permission to send you a copy.

And then, I'll ask you to do something for me. With your permission, I'll ask you to let me also start sending you — at no risk to you — up to a full year of FREE issues of Outstanding Investments too.

Inside those issues, you'll read about all kinds of ways to make money — not just on gold, but surging new alternative energy investments, oil and gas, corn, sugar, and soybeans, and the China-driven resource boom... plus plenty more.

All FREE for up to a full year. You can find all the details at the end of this letter. The thing is, however, Byron and his readers are already moving on these opportunities I'm telling you about. So time is of the essence.

Let me at least rush you a FREE copy of this groundbreaking report, Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead!... so you can look over these simple recommendations and see for yourself.

All five picks are geared for 2008 and beyond. And you'll find all the information you need on each of them packed into the report. Which is, as I've said, yours free just as soon as you tell me you're ready. Just follow the steps at the end of this letter.

But don't wait too long.

If only because the pressure behind gold prices just keeps increasing by the hour. For instance, take a look at this...

Precious Metals Megatrend: China's Secret Endgame

Fan Gang, director of China's National Economic Research Institute, stood in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In tortured English, he said...

The U.S. dollar is no longer, in our opinion, is no longer a stable currency. It is devaluating all the time, and that's [making] troubles all the time. So the real issue is how to change the regime from a U.S. dollar pegging to a more manageable reference, say, euros, yen... those kinds of more diversified systems...

And it's not just China. Malaysia is also shifting from the dollar. So is Indonesia. And Thailand. And possibly Japan. But who could blame them?

China and Japan alone own about $906 billion of the $1.1 trillion of U.S. Treasuries held overseas.

But a weak dollar is a wasting asset. To the Chinese, it's starting to look like a giant pile of liabilities. Yu Yongding, who sits on the Chinese central bank monetary policy committee, told the China Securities Journal he was worried America would drop interest rates in 2006, putting pressure on the dollar and the yuan.

"More seriously," he said, "China's economy would take a big hit if the U.S. dollar weakened sharply due to such factors as a bursting of the U.S. property bubble. The loss for China's foreign exchange reserves would be extremely serious."

They won't hang on for long.

Publicly, the talk is of China moving more of its currency reserves away from the dollar and to the euro. And that might happen. But the euro is only paper too, backed by its own debt problems at home.

The real story is China quietly converting those dollars into... you guessed it... GOLD.

China just recently cashed in about 2.4% of its dollar reserves to buy gold. It has a better track record than the dollar. In fact, gold has a better track record - historically - than any paper currency.

On Dec. 28, 2005 - the same day as the first in a series of recent U.S. yield-curve inversions that we just talked about, an economist at China's biggest brokerage firm, China Galaxy Securities, quietly hinted China's central bank should quadruple its gold reserves in the very near future.

Japan's central bank has also talked about cranking up its gold reserves. So have the central banks of South Africa, Argentina and Russia. In November 2005, Russia said it would hike up its gold reserves from 5% of total financial reserves to 10%.

That's double what it's already holding now.

To get it, Russia would have to absorb its own entire gold output for the next three years. That's a long time for the rest of the world to go without Russian gold production.

Any more whispers on the news about this or the China gold reserve hike could send gold prices skyrocketing overnight. You'll want to be ready to profit on this surge as soon as you can.

Here's another way most other investors will miss...

Epic Boom Opportunity #3: The "Blue Chip" Gold Mining Share Nobody's Talking About

When gold takes off, major "blue chip" gold producers like Newmont, Barrick, and AngloGold grab lots of headlines. But there's another of the top 10 producers that's not getting nearly as much attention — yet.

Now is your chance to grab it before soaring gold prices push it higher.

This company owns one of the five largest inventories of gold deposits. Plus it owns nine operating mines in five different countries, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Chile, and even Russia.

But here's where it has its biggest "undiscovered" edge.

This major miner has three very promising projects in development that could easily up its output to levels 60% above where they are right now. That's a lot of new gold. And coming on line over the next two years.

What's more, this company does it all with an extremely tight rein on costs, with profit margins running an impressive 18%.

And by the way, this company is also one of a few beneficiaries of a 131-year old federal law that literally gives it the U.S. land it mines and all the deposits underneath for only $10 per acre.

That's given this company more mineral-rich land holdings than 99.5% of their competitors. At the same time, this company trades for $174 of market capitalization per ounce of gold reserves, which is one of the lowest premiums among major mining companies.

Call it "cheap gold."

Especially considering what you would have to pay for those other major gold stocks I mentioned.

It's no wonder this one company recently attracted some of the top talent from every corner of the industry. It's also no wonder that more than 57% of this company's shares are in the clutches of institutional investors.

And that trend is only going to speed up, given the top-quality deals and acquisitions this company has already cooked up, which should send its total gold production soaring even faster over the next three years.

You can read all about this "undiscovered" mining major, along with all the other opportunities we've already talked about, in your free copy of Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead!

Here's something else you'll find inside...

Epic Boom Opportunity #4: THE SAFEST WAY TO OWN GOLD

What's the safest way to own gold today?

It has to be the new gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

These did not exist two decades ago, the first time legal gold investing in the United States set the markets on fire. And now they've completely revolutionized the market for gold, in more ways than one.

The way they work, you buy shares. Just like you would in a mutual fund. Each share is as good as holding a title to real gold. When you put money in, the gold ETF buys physical metal and stores it, to back your shares.

As if you had the gold itself in your own safety deposit box. Only the ETF saves you the trouble of ever storing, transporting or insuring the metal.

I recommended my Outstanding Investments readers get in the more liquid of the two main gold ETFs on the market. And I've got some recommendations to share with you on how to get started on this yourself, in your FREE copy of Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead!

But here's something you might not know about ETFs.

By cracking open the gold market to more marginal metal investors, all the fundamentals of gold investing have changed forever.

Suddenly, pension funds, young investors and retirees who want to dabble in metals can do so. More easily than they ever could before. But all these millions of dollars in new electronic gold transactions have to be backed — by law — with real gold.

So the success of the gold ETF is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The more investors it attracts, the more gold it buys. That cranks up pressure on the rest of the gold market. And gold prices tick higher, making the ETF look even more attractive all over again.

Take the ETF we have in our Outstanding Investments portfolio.

It first came out in October 2004, with a float of about $200 million worth of gold holdings in its portfolio. In the first year, the total float ballooned to $1 billion worth of bullion.

Now it's over $9.94 billion!

That's $9.94 billion worth of physical gold that has to come off the market, just to back the fund's investors. The bigger that fund gets, the higher the gold price rises. And around we go.

If you don't own a chunk of this ETF, now would be a good time to get in.

Meanwhile, we're tracking another gold fund right now — not an ETF — that you should also own. Since it was first added to our Outstanding Investments portfolio, it's already up 509%. But you can still get in now and watch it go still higher. This select fund has averaged 77% gains over the last seven years. In one recent year, it soared 81.2% in less than 12 months.

Buying it now may be the simplest and safest way for you to take up positions in all the biggest gold shares — like Newmont, Barrick and Placer Dome — without paying commissions on all those separate trades.

Plus, this particular fund also takes a stake in physical gold. So this is a way for you to safely take a position in bullion too.

Read all about it in upcoming issues of Outstanding Investments. But be sure first to send for your FREE copy of the report, Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead!

I can drop this report into the mail for you immediately. Or you can download it for yourself right now, just by following the steps at the end of this letter. No charge.

But first, here's something else most investors don't know about...

Precious Metals Megatrend: The Hidden Cost of Terror

The Milken Institute did a study that estimated the short- and long-term costs of Sept. 11.

Outside of the loss of human life, the immediate hit was about $53 billion. In the weeks that followed, another $47 billion disappeared thanks to lost economic output in the U.S. economy. Plus another $1.7 trillion that disappeared from the U.S. stock market.

Then the costs REALLY started to add up...

Airlines and aerospace, tourism and travel, hotels and motels, restaurants, the Postal Service and the insurance industry all suffered. Just in the first month, at least 125,000 people lost their jobs. Another 1.6 million jobs evaporated over the next year. And businesses retooling for the new "terror economy" had to spend an extra $151 billion.

This is where what's called the cost of distortion comes into play - the ripple effect from a shock event like this can cause people to behave in strange ways for a long time to come.

Think about it.

Governments wasting billions they otherwise couldn't have, because every new security bill gets passed. Nations fighting battles they otherwise wouldn't have, because every conflict suddenly looks connected to the war on terror. Individuals and businesses not spending money in ways they otherwise would have, because they're afraid to take the risk.

Air travel falls. Tourism falls. Trade suffers and foreign investment dries up. In 2002, 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast shut down for two weeks. Two hundred ships, carrying over 300,000 shipment containers, just sat in the water.

Waiting.

Railcars and warehouses all over the country waited too. Along with freezers and grain elevators and companies who had to shut down their production lines. More jobs disappeared. And the added insurance costs against security shutdowns tacked on another $30 billion to the cost of doing business in America.

You might remember pundits having plenty to say about how we recovered so quickly from the attacks. Yet new estimates put the uncovered costs, so far... at close to $2 trillion!

And remember, this is only one event we're talking about.

You and your family pay roughly $450 extra every year in taxes to cover the cost of a bloated Homeland Security agency. The same agency, by the way, whose air marshals have been caught sleeping on planes... and who hold up flights with huge security lines... and whose airport inspectors still let weapons and even dummy explosives slip through security.

You can never know how much a "war on terror" will cost.

Because fighting terrorism is like fighting a hurricane. You can see it forming on the radar screen. You know when it's headed your way. But you don't know what to expect when it lands. Or how much it will cost you over time.

Every enhanced cockpit door on a plane costs $30,000 to 50,000. Screening every bag carried by airline passengers will cost taxpayers an extra $4.7 billion just for this year.

Ten million dollars to teach bus drivers how to deal with terrorist passengers. Twenty-two million dollars to teach terrorism safety techniques to truck drivers...

Two and a half billion dollars for highway security. Seventy million dollars for a student Homeland Security fellowship program. Twenty million dollars to renovate Homeland Security headquarters.

As I said, it all starts to add up. Along with the undetermined future costs of Iraq... Afghanistan... and now maybe Iran... over the next decade, could set us back as much as $5.7 trillion!

Nobody knows for sure.

But the true hidden cost is the risk premium this creates for the foreign investors who lend us money for all this extra spending. This is how instability destroys faith in the dollar.

It's also why, in unstable times, the value of hard assets like gold, oil, and other real resources are even more likely to take off. Here's one more way for you to get rich on that reality...

Epic Boom Opportunity #5: THE SINGLE BEST GOLD STOCK TO OWN IF YOU'RE ONLY BUYING ONE

Which gold stock would you buy if you only wanted to own one? Well, so far our Outstanding Investments readers have already seen 163% gains on Newmont Mining so far.

They've seen another 249% gain on Coeur d'Alene Mines... 332% gains on Glamis Gold... and 668% gains on Metallica Resources. Just to name a few. But these opportunities have already sailed by.

Your best bet is the gold company I'll tell you about right now. It's not small. In fact, it's one of the mega-producers I'm sure you already know by name.

What you might not know is this one gold producer will land leagues beyond competitors for 2008 and beyond...

Turn Every $1000 Into $30,000

See, just a couple years ago, this company was on its back. Mines were dying. Gold production had collapsed.

Then this company did something.

With just a little under $600,000 invested in a whole new wave of gold exploration technology... they took the entire mining industry into the innovation age.

Applying new discoveries in applied math, advanced physics, and computer graphics... to the age old business of digging holes in the earth and calling them mines... it got its payoff.

Within months, this company discovered 110 new pockets of undiscovered gold on property their own geologists has once given up for dead.

A shocking 80% of those new deposits turned out to be jammed with gold. Enough to crank out over $3 billion in new discoveries over the years that followed.

Once again, you can do the math. Any way you slice it, turning a half-million dollars in R&D costs into over $3 billion is stunning. But that wasn't all of it.

The shares in the company also took off.

Every $1,000 invested in this company's stock soared, over that same period, to a stunning $30,000. That's impressive. But here's why this one innovative little mining company is just beginning to hit its stride...

Ten Steps Ahead of Every Other Gold Producer

There's already the usual stuff going for this company that you'd imagine for any world class mining share. For instance, it has no company debt. Zilch. It also has $300 million in cash sitting in its bank accounts.

But it's this company's surprising move to "new tech" mining innovation that's really given it the edge. And, quietly, put it ahead of just about all of its mining competitors.

Take what it costs this company to get the gold out of the ground ­ just half what major mining companies like Newmont, Anglogold, Barrick, and Harmony pay for the same product.

Meanwhile, this company is also producing gold faster than its competitors too. More than 10 times faster than Newmont... triple the production rate of Newcrest... and better than five times the rate of Anglogold or Gold Fields.

In short, this one company crushes the nearest competitor.

Which makes it a perfect share for you to own as gold soars over the 12—24 months ahead. Political risk for this company is minimal. And all their gold is what you call "unhedged" — which basically means they'll start reaping even greater rewards as gold values go up.

And did I mention? This stock also pays a dividend.

Annually, 18 cents per share. And the company promises to hike up that rate even higher as the gold price goes up. It's like getting paid to own one of the best and safest gold stocks for 2010 in the entire industry.

Just send for your FREE copy of Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead! to find out more.

So now let's get to brass tacks...

Here's How to Get a FREE Copy of This Report

Inside the FREE copy of Bullion and Beyond: Five Stunning Ways to Get Richer on the Epic Metals Boom Ahead! you'll get...

A nearly undiscovered and unique way to snap up a position in gold for less than a single penny per ounce. And this advantage is pretty much locked in for the next two years, no matter how high gold prices fly

An early chance to lock in 94% or better on the junior miner that just found 33 million ounces of gold — catapulting it to become one of the most important gold finds in history

The easiest money-doubling gain you'll make on the world's "other" precious metal... using a stock you can quietly pick up right now for nearly half what it's actually worth

An easy way to buy a stake in virtually all of the most stable and well-known gold companies... with a savvy move that's already given my readers hefty gains of 509%

The one best gold stock to buy right now and for the long term if you're set on only buying a single gold share. It'll churn out more gold at a lower cost, faster, than just about any producer in the world — plus this one stock pays a handsome dividend.

Getting a copy of this FREE report sent to you is easy.

I can rush it to you in the mail. You can even download it right now. For either option, just click on the special order button below.

But there's still more...

Every week, I'd also like to send you a FREE personal commodities investment update, straight to your e-mail account. You'll read about the top stocks for 2010 in Byron's Outstanding Investments portfolio. Plus other hot opportunities I have percolating on the stove. No charge whatsoever

I also want to give you FREE access to our 24-hour Outstanding Investments Web site. This site is strictly "member's only" and password protected. I'm inviting you to use it whenever you'd like to look up Byron's newest picks, latest news or more. Also yours at no charge

If you're not a subscriber already, I'll give you a FREE subscription to the highly praised and widely read Agora Financial Executive Series, which includes two profit-laden e-mails, the Rude Awakening and the 5 Min. Forecast and another FREE subscription to the shocking twice-weekly e-letter Whiskey & Gunpowder - one of the most colorful, controversial and insightful sources on economics, politics and resource investing out there.

Why just give all this away?

Because, naturally, there's something I want you to do for me in return...

I Also Want You to Try Byron's Best Picks FREE For Up To a Full Year

I believe you are like me.

I believe you know, as I do, that while $1 million worth of dot-com stock certificates isn't worth much more than kindling these days...

Raw real resources like copper... cotton... platinum... silver... natural gas... steel... oil... coal... and especially gold hold real and tangible value for civilization.

And that's what Outstanding Investments is all about.

While some stock investments can crash and fall to zero... we cannot exist or do business more than a few weeks, a few days or even in some cases a few hours... without the commodities that matter...

Oil to burn... land to stand on... copper pipes and wires in our walls... circuitry in our computers... electricity to power our lights, our appliances, the Internet... lumber, steel and grain... and precious metals like gold and silver to help us protect our wealth.

We've always stood for making a fortune in rich resource plays, even when it wasn't popular. But over time, the strategy has consistently paid off...

With a 151% gain on Wheaton River Minerals... 162% gains on Intrepid Minerals... a solid 332% gain on Glamis/Francisco Gold... and 668% gains on Metallica Resources, all in 2002...

Plus another plus 105% gain on Gentry Resources... 151% gains on Tocqueville Gold... 235% gains on Niko Resources... and 249% gains on Coeur d'Alene Mines, all in 2003...

116% gains on Cameco... 174% gains on PetroChina... and 270% gains on the July silver calls, all in 2004...

In 2005, 107% gains on Norsk Hydro... 108% gains on Anglo American PLC... 160% gains on Western Oil Sands.... and an impressive 179% gain on Talisman Energy...

And in 2006 and 2007, we locked in 83% on Placer Dome... 147% gains on BG Group PLC... 78% gains on OMM... 87% returns on Walter Industries... and a solid 177% on Coeur d'Alene Mines...in fact, in 2007 alone, we averaged 79% gains across the board and scored a cumulative gain of 317%.

And so far in 2008, we're already up 255% on Foundation Coal Holdings... 165% on Goldcorp... 164% on Newmont Mining... 369% on EnCana Corp... 358% on Valero... 509% on American Century Global Gold... 1,011% on Suncor Energy... just to name a few.

What I'd like to ask you to do — in return for giving you all five FREE picks in the Outstanding Investments "Bullion and Beyond" Library... plus all the other gifts we've talked about... is simply agree to give the award-winning Outstanding Investments monthly advisory letter itself a try.

Like I said, right now you can have this trial subscription FREE for up to a full year. FREE. I'll show you month to month what Byron's watching, what he's recommending and what to do next with the holdings we'll track in each issue in our highly ranked, resource-focused Outstanding Investments portfolio.

FREE, you'll find out how to shore up your wealth safely with bullion investments. And FREE, Byron will also walk you through even better and easier ways to get in on the same mega-trends.

You'll get to keep all this at no charge. Along with everything else I'll send. No questions asked. But in order to make this possible, there's only one small thing more I'll need you to do for me.

(Yes, there's a catch. But it's one I'm confident you'll like very much.)

See, it's not free — on my end — to send out these newsletters. Or to put together, print, and mail out the library of five special investing picks I'll be giving you at no cost to you.

So, just to be sure you're as committed to these ideas as I am... here's what we're going to do. I'm making this possible by simply slashing the subscription rate I'll offer you by half.

So, let's say you sign on for a year's worth of Outstanding Investments. It's like getting six full months of issues, FREE. Gratis.

What you pay to sign on need only cover the second half — by which time, you'll have had six FREE issues, all the FREE picks, and the rest of my gifts to you, to make money and to decide if this is for you.

Doesn't that sound fair?

And then, if you decide right away to sign on for two full years of issues, the same kind of deal applies — you get the whole first half of your subscription, or 12 full issues, FREE. You're getting a two-year membership, but at only the one year price.

What's that price?

Normally, others would pay $99 to get 12 months of issues. You'll pay only $49 — half price — which means you're getting six of your 12 issues absolutely FREE.

To get 24 months of issues — two years of Outstanding Investments — others would normally pay $198. You'll pay only $89 — actually LESS than half price — which means you'll get 12 of your 24 issues absolutely FREE.

I can't think of a better deal. Or a better way for you to get plugged in fast to all the opportunities both Byron and I see playing out over the coming year and well into 2009.

But there's still more...

My Revolutionary "'Double-the-Value' Guarantee"

At the very start of this letter, I told you I would make you a guarantee that gold would soar at least 100% above today's price levels, or you pay nothing. Let me be more precise.

Gold prices, obviously, change every day.

When I first made Outstanding Investments' "gold at $2000" prediction public, it would have had to soar 257% to hit that mark.

Now that margin is narrowing.

As of this writing, it's now only a 100% move. That would mean double the value of an ounce of gold today. And that, you might say, is still a big jump. But I'm so sure the Outstanding Investments call is right on the money, I'm willing to back it myself, with my own reputation on the line.

That is, if gold doesn't close that 100% gap by the time your Outstanding Investments subscription — both the trial and paid parts — is finished, then I'll eat my words. Your entire sign up costs are on me. I'll refund every penny, if you feel that's what's due.

All I ask is you read the issues... study the picks... visit the website and dig into the archives and extra materials... and then decide for yourself what Outstanding Investments can do.

In fact, if you decide to cancel for any reason, even up to the very last day of your very last issue... you just let me know and I'll still give you a full refund. Even if gold has crossed the milestone mark Byron and I say it will.

Why?

Because I know already it's no accident Outstanding Investments wins awards. And it's no accident Hulbert ranked it the No. 1 performing advisory letter of the last five years in 2005 and again in 2006, either. We're onto something. And I'm confident, after you give Outstanding Investments an honest try, you'll think so too.

You won't want to cancel, at the end of the subscription period. In fact, I'm confident you'll beg to renew. Because you'll have the chance to make too much money on these opportunities not to.

Sign up, read and profit, share what you find with your family.

Then wait. Watch the gold cycle. Watch the other rich resource opportunities we'll talk about in upcoming issues. And then you decide what you'd like to do.

You risk nothing by giving this a try. Your only risk is sitting on the sidelines. Even if you don't decide to stay on, everything we send is yours to keep. This is entirely up to you.

I hope that sounds fair.

More importantly, I hope this sounds like something you're ready to do. Byron's other readers are already locking into these soaring trends for the long term. I hope you'll decide to act on them sooner rather than later, too.

Bulletin Board Elite: 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 top 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" best 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 top stocks for 2010 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 best stocks for 2010 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 top stocks of 2010 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 best stocks to buy 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 top stocks of 2010 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!

 

GM and US Stocks Both Skid Off Course

As GM goes...so goes America...

Uh oh...

Stocks market rose yesterday; the Dow went up 50 points. The bear market rally is still on. Oil touched the $60 mark...a sure sign, say analysts, that the global economy is picking up. And the dollar fell further...to $1.36 per euro. Gold held steady, at $912 an ounce.

While most top stocks for 2010 advanced yesterday, General Motors backed up.

The experts say the company is going broke. "Chapter 11 looms," says a Bloomberg report. Investors sold the stock down to $1.15 - a price GM hasn't seen in more than 70 years. At that price you can buy the whole company for $700 million. Peanuts. Some fund managers earn that much in a single year.

Meanwhile, the USA follows the same downward slide as GM. Both are dogged by high debts, high costs and low management. The Financial Times reports:

"America's Triple A rating at risk."

Moody's has issued a warning. Either the US cleans up its ledgers or it will be downgraded like a bad company. The US was first awarded a Triple-A credit rating in 1917. Not even a century later, it looks like it will lose it.

David Walker, star of Addison's movie - I.O.U.S.A. - writes in the Financial Times that the US is headed for bankruptcy just like GM. It owes $11 trillion officially, with another $45 trillion in "off balance sheet" obligations. And, as we reported yesterday, this year it will lose another $1.8 trillion. That's according to the Obama administration's official count. Our own guess is that the loss will come to $2 trillion or more...and that trillion dollar losses will continue for years in to the future.

You can read his full transcript in the companion book to the award- winning documentary film. Learn how to get the I.O.U.S.A. DVD, companion book - and your own personal bailout strategy.

Even by the official estimates, the US government is spending $2 for every dollar it brings in. Even GM doesn't operate that recklessly. GM loses money on every car it makes...but the loss is nowhere near 50% of sales.

What's going on? How come the world's biggest, most successful company...and its biggest, most successful country...are both skidding out of control?

The casual reader will be quick with an answer. They "made mistakes," he will say. He will point to GM and say: "They should have come out with something like the Prius or Honda's new Insight...which is already setting sales records in Japan. They're just producing the wrong cars...and, oh yes, they pay their employees too much."

As to the US, he will have roughly the same insight:

"They made a number of mistakes. They never should have kept interest rates so low for so long. And they should never have allowed the bankers to run wild the way they did. Now, the banking system is broke...and the government thought it was forced to step in with trillions of dollars. Of course, it made a mistake in how it supported the banks. It shouldn't have given the bankers so much money so those b**tards could pay themselves such bonuses."

But here at The Daily Reckoning, we notice that mistakes always seem to come along when you need them.

Take California, for example. Governor Schwarzenegger says its deficit may rise to $21 billion. Analysts say the state will run out of money by July. Maybe it and GM will go broke together.

What mistake did California make? It increased expenses - counting on Bubble Epoque growth rates to continue. But instead of continuing to rise, property prices - which held the bubble aloft - collapsed.

Now comes word that housing prices are still going down. In fact, they went down faster than ever during the first quarter of this year - 14% year on year.

The biggest drops were not in California...but in Cape Coral/Ft. Myers, Florida, and Saginaw, Michigan. The Cape Coral area saw a staggering 59% collapse in house prices. Saginaw was not far behind; there, house prices fell 54%.

But wait, there's good news too. Each month the losses diminished. Though prices are still going down, it appears that they are going down less fast each month.

David Rosenberg...chief economist at Merrill Lynch...is leaving the firm, and here are his parting words:

"Just as the clock is winding down on my tenure at Merrill Lynch, the equity market is winding up with an impressive near-40% rally in just nine weeks...

"The nine-week S&P 500 surge from 666 at the March lows to 920 as of yesterday has all but retraced the prior nine-week decline from the 2009 peak of 945 on January 6 to the lows on March 9. We believe it is appropriate to put the last nine weeks in the perspective of the previous nine weeks. To the casual observer, it really looks like nothing at all has happened this year, with the market relatively unchanged. But something very big has happened because the risk in the market, in our view, is much higher than it was the last time we were close to current market prices back in early January, for the simple reason that we believe professional investors have covered their shorts, lifted their hedges and lowered their cash positions in favor of being long the market.

"While it may be the case that the pace of economic decline is no longer as negative as it was at the peak of the post-Lehman credit contraction, the reality is that employment, output, organic personal income and retail sales are still in a fundamental downtrend.

"This is a bear market rally that may have run its course...

"So yes, there may well be some improvement in the GDP data, but it is based largely on transitory factors. We strongly believe it is premature to totally rule out the end of the vicious cycle of real estate deflation - residential and now commercial - that we have been experiencing since 2007. Balance sheet compression in the household sector will continue to pressure the personal savings rate higher at the expense of discretionary consumer spending. This is a secular development, meaning that we expect it will last several more years."

Now over to Ian in Charm City, for a look at the news...

"American home prices just suffered their worst quarter in recorded history," writes Ian Mathias in today's issue of The 5 Min. Forecast.

"That's the word from the National Association of Realtors today...the median home price fell 14% from the first quarter of 2008 to the first three months of 2009, to just $169,000. Of the 152 metropolitan areas surveyed by the NAR, just 18 registered annual price gains. Nearly half of all sales during the first quarter were foreclosed properties or short sales. A whopping 3.7 million previously owned homes are still on the market.

"Is this rock bottom for U.S. housing? Ehh...probably not.

"After staying flat for most of the '90s, the Case/Shiller home price index more than tripled during a 10-year boom. If this 'credit crisis' is what people say it is - a generational calamity, Bill Bonner's 'Depression with a capital "D"' - then a mere 26% retrenchment from the peak seems kind of...lame. Even the Dow managed a bigger fall than that.

"If you're a real estate opportunist (or just looking for a damn cheap house), you might want to check out Saginaw, Mich. The median existing home price there during the first quarter was a stunning $30,300, the lowest in the U.S. We won't pretend to know what's going on over there, but geez...they're practically giving 'em away.

"And if you're also a newshound, like us, Saginaw might bring back the memory of this little love shack:

"Back in October 2008, a Chicago woman famously bought this Saginaw home on eBay for $1.75. Ouch."

Notably $1.75 is about all you need to consider purchasing shares of the numerous companies carefully tracked by Agora Financial's Penny Stock Fortunes. And, when you sign up for the publication you'll automatically receive a free subscription to The 5 Min Forecast, which will be sent to your inbox every Monday through Friday.

Now back to Bill in London with more thoughts...

When a company goes broke, analysts always say: 'it made mistakes.' But people always make mistakes. One invests too little. Another invests too much. One innovates too little. One innovates too much. Over time, all companies go broke.

Countries make mistakes too. Reliably. One empire declines so another can rise. In modern history, one western country has replaced another, as the world's dominant power, about every century. Spain until the Armada sank, France until the battle of Waterloo, England until 1914, and then America until...?

The mistakes made by America are the same mistakes that empires always make. "Imperial overstretch," it is called. Spain reached for England...and drowned in the North Sea. France stretched to Moscow...and froze in the snow. England's elastic stretched all over the world - to colonial outposts in Singapore, Australia, and Rhodesia. But by the time she was challenged by the Huns in WWI, her economy had already been surpassed not only by Germany but by America too.

Now, it is the US that wears the purple. It has its fingers in every pie, its ships in every port, and its red ink running over everywhere. Even at the very peak of its authority - in the '90s - it was already relying on the savings of poor people in Asia in order to continue its big spending ways. And now, confronted with the challenge of a worldwide financial meltdown...the obvious consequence of too much spending and too much borrowing for too many years...what does it do? Does it cut back? Does it bring the troops home and the deficit down?

NO! It spends and borrows even more!

In other words, it makes a grand, fatal mistake. Now, an amount equal to its total receipts must be borrowed just to keep the federal government going. Even taking 100% of domestic savings only brings in less than half of the amount needed to finance its deficit. So, the rest - an amount equivalent to the entire US military budget - must be borrowed from kind strangers, business competitors and potential rivals for power.

Sooner or later, the foreigners will not be so easy with their money. Instead of buying US Treasury debt, they will sell it. Instead of supporting America's imperial ambitious, they will undermine them.