Silver is Approaching Stage Two of its Bull Market

I have so many stories in my in-box I just don't know what to do with them all. Just running through the headlines over the last three days, I can tell that the world is going to hell from one end to the other. It's wall-to-wall bad news. The situation is so fluid...and so dynamic...it's almost impossible to post a story that captures what's happening, as the situations are changing so rapidly.

I must admit that it will be up to you to do the final edit once again.

The first group of stories is from the United States...and leading the pack is this item from reader 'David in California'. It's a story posted in yesterday's edition of the businessinsider.com...and the startling headline reads "Wisconsin National Guard Prepares For Worker Unrest After Governor Unveils Emergency Budget". Expect to see much more of this in the U.S. as the year wears on...and the link is here.

The next story is from reader Scott Pluschau...and is posted over at the ktvu.com website...and is filed from San Jose, California. The headline reads "Latest Salaries for SJ City Employees Posted Online". They are something to see! Why should any public employee get paid that kind of money? It's definitely worth a look...and the link is here. Click on the video to bring it up to full-screen size.

Here's another story from Scott. This one was posted over at The Washington Times yesterday...and the headline reads "Federal deficit on track for a record this fiscal year: Government debt to exceed U.S. economy". Mr. Obama's budget projects that 2011 will see the biggest one-year debt jump in history, or nearly $2 trillion, to reach $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30th, the end of the fiscal year. That would be 102.6 percent of GDP - the first time since World War II that dubious figure has been reached. The link is here.

Roy Stephens provides a story from The Telegraph on the same issue...as Ambrose Evans-Pritchard teed this one up last night with the headline "Obama tests bond markets with mega-deficits". US President Barack Obama faces a stiff battle with Republican foes in Congress after unveiling plans for $7.2 trillion (£4.5 trillion) of deficit spending over the next decade, and making little attempt to control the spiralling costs of social security and medical entitlements. It's not a big read...and the link is here.

While we're on the subject of the bond market. Here's another chart that Nick Laird dropped in my in-box late last night. It's titled "US Bond Yields"...and the chart needs no further embellishment from me.

Reader Phil Barlett sent me this next piece out of yesterday's edition of The New York Times. The headline there reads "Companies Raise Prices as Commodity Costs Jump". A package of Oscar Mayer cold cuts. A pair of Nine West boots. A Whirlpool washing machine. By the fall, people will most likely be paying more for each of them, as rising prices hit most consumer goods, say retailers, food companies and manufacturers of consumer products. No surprises in this story...and the link is here.

Here's an item out of the Saturday edition of The Independent in the U.K. It's an AP story that bears the headline "Morales flees food price protests". Bolivian president Evo Morales has abruptly left the southern highlands city of Oruro after protesters angered by rising prices booed him and set off dynamite. Once a hugely popular figure, Mr. Morales' ratings have plummeted since he tried to lift subsidies on petrol, flour and sugar in December. This story...courtesy of reader 'David in California'...is only three very short paragraphs...and the link is here.

Today's next reading material comes from this story posted over at The Telegraph yesterday...and is courtesy of reader Roy Stephens. The headline reads "China is the world's second largest economy". China has become the world's second largest economy, with Japan surrendering its 42-year-old ranking after its economy shrank in the final months of 2010. This should be no surprise to anyone, either...and the link is here.

The next two stories are also courtesy of Roy Stephens...and both are posted over at the German website spiegel.de. If I had to pick two must read international stories out of this column, these two would be it. The first is headlined "The Chancellor's Lead Balloon: Europe Revolts Against Merkel's Euro-Zone Plan". The so-called "Pact for Competitiveness" proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to further integrate the European Union on economic issues has not been well received. Biting criticism has come from across the European Union. The link to the story is here.

The second must read piece from this website is headlined 'Enormous Damage' - Weber's Exit Highlights Merkel's Euro Problem. Bundesbank head Axel Weber's resignation has made one thing clear: The debate about the future of the euro has become intense -- and bitter. Indeed, Chancellor Angela Merkel's efforts at mandating strict monetary discipline for the euro zone may ultimately fail. And German euro skeptics may be gaining ground. This is a longish read, but it's worth it, because it's history in the making...and the link is here.

As if Pakistan's government doesn't have enough problems these days. Here's another. It's a posting out of Saturday's edition of The Huffington Post...and is courtesy of reader 'David in California'. The longish headline reads "Musharraf Arrest Warrant Issued: Former Pakistan President Sought In Connection With Benazir Bhutto Assassination". A Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant for ousted military leader Pervez Musharraf on Saturday over allegations he played a role in the 2007 assassination of an ex-prime minister and rival. The story is filed from Islamabad...and the link is here.

Roy Stephens has our next story today. It's filed over at the france24.com website...and is headlined "Defying a ban, protesters demonstrate in heavily policed Algiers". Braving a massive police presence, thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of the Algerian capital of Algiers Saturday, defying an official ban on demonstrations and briefly forcing through a police cordon in the centre of the city. There were also massive demonstrations in Yemen as well. The link to the story is here.

Now there are demonstrations in Bahrain of all places. Unrest is spreading like wildfire in the Middle East. This story was sent to me by reader 'David in California'...and is headlined "Bahrain Now Bracing For Its Own Day Of Rage After Giving Every Family $2,660 Fails". Bahrain is expecting its own "day of rage" tomorrow as protesters hit the streets to challenge the pace of political reform in the country, according to the FT. The story was posted on Sunday over at the businessinsider.com website...and the link is here.

Washington state reader S.A. has our next story...and this one is out of Egypt...and is a posting over at The Huffington Post. The headline reads "How The Mubarak Family Made Its Billions". The story defines corruption. In 2005, the most senior official to defect in decades fled to Switzerland and began a campaign to have Mubarak put on trial at Belgium's International Court of Justice for corruption and human rights abuses. "The Mubarak era will be known in the history of Egypt as the era of thieves," said Mohammad Ghanam, former chairman of the legal research unit in the Egyptian Interior Ministry. The link is here.

Here's another story from Washington state reader S.A. that's directly linked to his previous offering. This is a posting over at slate.com...and the headline reads "Sitting on His Assets: How Switzerland was able to freeze Mubarak's Swiss bank accounts" Due to a recent change in Swiss law, however, if Mubarak has secreted illicit money away in a Swiss bank account, Egyptians just might get some of it back. "I can confirm that Switzerland has frozen possible assets of the former Egyptian president with immediate effect," a foreign ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Friday. The link is here.

Roy Stephens has another essay that's posted over at spiegel.com. This one's from yesterday...and is headlined The World From Berlin: 'The Revolution Isn't Over, It's Only Just Beginning'. With Hosni Mubarak out of power and the generals temporarily at the helm, Egypt appears to be on a path to democracy. The military has suspended the contested constitution and pledged free elections. German commentators have doubts about the army's commitment to true change -- but say the people have shown they won't stop fighting for freedom. It's not overly long...and well worth your time. The link is here.

Reader U.D. provides the last story on what's going on in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East...but this one has an American twist to it. The story posted over at zerohedge.com is headlined "Does America Need an Egyptian-Style Non-Violent Revolution?". If you are citizen of the United States...this is a must read...and the link is here.

I also have a whole pile of precious metal-related stories as well...and I hope you can wade through them, too. The first is a GATA release that Chris Powell has headlined "James Turk: Watch the gold/silver ratio". The title is self-explanatory...and Powell's short preamble is a must read as well. The link is here.

The next story is a GATA release as well. The headline reads "Alasdair Macleod discusses gold and silver with James Turk". I mentioned Alasdair's name earlier in this column...and have posted many of his essays in the past. This is your first opportunity to see what this guy looks like. The video interview is great...and well worth your time. The link is here.

Here's a Reuters story that ended up as a GATA release...and I'm just going to give you the headline...and the link..."US silver term structure inverts as supply tightens". Despite what the story says, we are not in backwardation in the near months...and that's what really counts. But we are close. The link is here.

The next offering I have for you today is courtesy of Australian reader Wesley Legrand. It's a posting over at mineweb.com that's headlined "Silver to reach $50 by 2011, and gold at $8,000 by 2015 conservative - Turk". It's a short read...and the link is here.

Here's a different kind of gold story for you, which is certainly worth your time. It's a story from the Sunday edition of The Independent in the U.K. The headline reads "Johannesburg at risk from acid lakes". Mines dug more than a century ago stretching about 25 miles along one of the world's largest gold deposits have reached their water-storage limit and will start leaking a toxic cocktail of chemicals in the coming months, independent experts and government officials have said. If you take the time to read this story, you'll find out that it's about to become a serious problem. The link to the story is here.

Well, here's another state of the Union that wants its own precious metal-backed currency. This time it's South Carolina. A South Carolina state politician wants the state to develop its own gold and silver-based currency in case the Federal Reserve collapses and hyper-inflation ensues. This piece is posted over at news.yahoo.com...and is courtesy of reader U.D. The headline reads "South Carolina lawmaker wants separate currency for state". It's worth your while...and the link is here.

Here's a gold and silver commentary in the main-stream press that's written by someone who actually knows what they're talking about. After reading it, it's obvious to me that the writer has been following the work of GATA and silver analyst Ted Butler for quite some time...and I could hardly have written it better myself. It's a story that was posted yesterday over at the businessinsider.com website...and the headline reads "Physical Demand For Gold And Silver Continues To Confound Bubble Believers". The story is courtesy of reader Bill Moomau...and it's certainly worth the time, if you have any left after getting this far. The link is here.

Lastly, and I'm just as happy as you are that this point has finally arrived, is this offering from GoldMoney founder and GATA consultant, James Turk that arrived in my in-box late last night. This one's headlined "Silver is Approaching Stage Two of its Bull Market". It's definitely worth the read...the chart is terrific...and the link is here.