Russia's Central Bank Purchases 300,000 Ounces of Gold in November

I'm going to start today's stories off with a couple of graphs as well. The first is one of the Baltic Shipping Rates... and is, once again, courtesy of Nick Laird. This is a pretty gruesome looking chart... and if I had to bet a dollar, I know how I'd bet it.

The second graph is the Gold Stocks vs. the NYSE for 2010. This is another chart where words aren't necessary. I thank Washington state reader S.A. for sharing it with us.

My first story today is courtesy of reader U.D... and it's from yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal. It's a piece written by Manuel Hinds. Mr. Hinds is the former finance minister of El Salvador and the co-author of Money, Markets and Sovereignty, which won the Manhattan Institute's 2010 Hayek Prize. This op-ed piece is adapted from Mr. Hinds' remarks upon receiving it. The headline from this rather short piece reads "The Case Against Floating Currencies". It's certainly worth your time... and the link is here.

The next story is courtesy of reader R. Bentley and is from yesterday's edition of The Guardian in London. The headline reads "$2 Trillion debt crisis threatens to bring down 100 US cities"... Overdrawn American cities could face financial collapse in 2011, defaulting on hundreds of billions of dollars of borrowings and derailing the US economic recovery. Nor are European cities safe – Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Venice: all are in trouble. The link is here.

Along with one of the above graphs, Washington state reader S.A. has provided this story from the Friday edition of Barron's. The author, Randall Forsyth, writes that "The demand for dollars from the rest of the world has been of inestimable benefit to the U.S. economy." It has allowed it to live beyond its means for decades... and as the dollar continues to decline... "America will have to start picking up the tab for what had been a free lunch." The headline reads "The Beginning of the End of Dollar Hegemony"... and the link is here.

Here's reader U.D.'s second offering of this column. It's a Matt Taibbi piece from Rolling Stone magazine datelined yesterday. The headline reads "Crisis Dominoes Start Falling With Lehman Auditor". It appears that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is about to file civil fraud charges against Ernst and Young for the work it did helping Lehman cook its books during 2007 and 2008. Matt also links a zerohedge.com piece [also posted yesterday] that goes much further than this short piece. The story contains Matt's usual 'pithy prose' at times... and not only is it worth the read... but the background story linked at zerohedge.com to which Taibbi refers... is also worth your time. The link to 'all of the above' is here.

My first international story today is courtesy of 'Charleston Voice'... and is an article out of the Friday edition of The New York Times. As you aware, the real estate situation is not only horrid in the U.S.A... but in Spain as well. Most of you have seen the photos of the ghost towns in China... well, they have them in Spain, too. The headline reads "Newly Built Ghost Towns Haunt Banks in Spain". Here is one of the many reasons why Spain will be the next of the PIIGS nations to fail. The link is here.

Zimbabwe hasn't had a national currency for a couple of years... getting by on a whatever foreign currency they can get their hands on... after they hyper-inflated their own fiat currency into the ground. Here's a piece that was sent to me by Casey Research's own John Grandits. It's from the Saturday edition of The New York Times... and bears the headline "Zimbabwe Health Care, Paid With Peanuts". A lot of rural [and probably urban] business is still being done on the barter system. The link to the story is here.

Both Russia and China are saying that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is "extremely precarious, highly complicated and sensitive."... and crisis talks were held at the U.N. on Saturday. The story I have on this is courtesy of yesterday's King Report... and is posted over at the bbc.co.uk website. The headline reads "Korea crisis: Yeonpyeong war games increase tension"... and the link is here. I wonder if someone is deliberately attempting to provoke a war? It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

Reader Roy Stephens provides a story on the current European crisis that falls into the highly recommended reading category, even though it's a bit on the long side. It's a posting over at the German website spiegel.de... and the headline reads "Berlin's Lack of Vision: Europe Turns against Germany". Germany's controversial approach to fighting the euro crisis has split the European Union. Some countries are complaining about Berlin's rigid course, while others accuse Chancellor Merkel of betraying the European project. The only thing they can agree on is that the EU needs Germany as a motor if it is to survive. The link to the story is here.

I've got three precious metals-related stories for you today... and the first one is this 'news report' from the Perth Mint last Friday. The headline reads "Temporary Suspension of 2011 10-oz and 5-oz Silver Bullion Coins". Sales and Marketing Director Ron Currie said the supply of metal was not an issue. “Before anyone suggests we’re running out of metal – simply not true. It’s manufacturing capacity that is the issue here,” he wrote. I thank Australian reader Wesley Legrand for the story... and the link is here.

In new commentary for Investor's Digest of Canada, Sprott Asset Management Chief Investment Strategist John Embry talks back to U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Warren Buffett's business partner, Charles Munger, and predicts that precious metals will surge shortly. Embry's commentary is headlined "Gold, Silver Could Go Ballistic By Year-End" and you can find it posted over at sprott.com. I stole this preamble from Chris Powell's GATA release... and I thank Florida reader Donna Badach for being the first one through the door with the story... and the link to this must read commentary, is here.

Lastly today is an Interview With Jim Rickards of Omnis, Inc. It's sort of year-end wrap to the year that is about to end. As you know, I'm a huge fan of anything Rickards has to say... and the contents of this King World News interview is no exception... and the link to this must listen interview is here.