US DOLLAR - Any Threat Will Be Crushed!

GOLD SINKS TO NEW LOW: $1,322 04-15-13 BI

Bitcoin Is Going The Way Of Gold — Falls Below $70 04-15-13 BI

GOLD - 7 Sigma Moves Are Truly Rare

Presenting Gold's 7-Sigma Move 04-16-13 Zero Hedge

While yesterday's cliff-dive in gold was impressive by any standards, the escalating drop over the past 5 days has been just as dramatic. Based on 20 years of rolling 5-day moves, the ~15% plunge is equivalent to around 7 standard deviations (in context Yao Ming is a mere 6 standard deviations taller than the average human making gold's move the equivalent of meeting a man taller than 7'7")

GOLD CRASH - Who and Why Does Someone Sell 400 Tons in 2 Hours?

Gold Crush Started With 400 Ton Friday Forced Sale On COMEX 04-15-13 Ross Norman of Sharps Pixley via Zero Hedge

On The Forced Sale...

Via Ross Norman of Sharps Pixley,

The gold futures markets opened in New York on Friday 12th April to a monumental 3.4 million ounces (100 tonnes) of gold selling of the June futures contract in what proved to be only an opening shot. The selling took gold to the technically very important level of $1540 which was not only the low of 2012, it was also seen by many as the level which confirmed the ongoing bull run which dates back to 2000. In many traders minds it stood as a formidable support level... the line in the sand.

Two hours later the initial selling, rumoured to have been routed through Merrill Lynch's floor team, by a rather more significant blast when the floor was hit by a further 10 million ounces of selling (300 tonnes) over the following 30 minutes of trading. This was clearly not a case of disappointed longs leaving the market - it had the hallmarks of a concerted 'short sale', which by driving prices sharply lower in a display of 'shock & awe' - would seek to gain further momentum by prompting others to also sell as their positions as they hit their maximum acceptable losses or so-called 'stopped-out' in market parlance - probably hidden the unimpeachable (?) $1540 level.

The selling was timed for optimal impact with New York at its most liquid, while key overseas gold markets including London were open and able feel the impact. The estimated 400 tonne of gold futures selling in total equates to 15% of annual gold mine production - too much for the market to readily absorb, especially with sentiment weak following gold's non performance in the wake of Japanese QE, a nuclear threat from North Korea and weakening US economic data. The assault to the short side was essentially saying "you are long... and wrong".

Futures trading is performed on a margined basis - that is to say you have to stump up about 5% of the actual cost of the gold itself making futures trades a highly geared 'opportunity' of about 20:1 - easy profit and also loss ! Futures trading is not a product for widows and orphans. The CME's 10% reduction in the required gold margins in November 2012 from $9133/contract to just $7425/contract made the market more accessible to those wishing both to go long or as it transpired, to go short. Soon after we saw the first serious assault to the downside in Dec 2012, followed by further bouts in January 2013 - modest in size compared to the recent shorting but effective - it laid the ground for what was to follow. One fund in particular, based in Stamford Connecticut, was identified as the previous shorter of gold and has a history of being caught on the wrong side of the law on a few occasions. As baddies go - they fit the bill nicely.

The value of the 400 tonnes of gold sold is approximately $20 billion but because it is margined, this short bet would require them to stump up just $1b. The rationale for the trade was clear - excessively bullish forecasts by many banks in Q4 seemed unsupported by follow through buying. The modest short selling in Jan 2013 had prompted little response from the longs - raising questions about their real commitment. By forcing the market lower the Fund sought to prompt a cascade or avalanche of additional selling, proving the lie ; predictably some newswires were premature in announcing the death of the gold bull run doing, in effect, the dirty work of the shorters in driving the market lower still.

This now leaves the gold market in an interesting conundrum - the shorter is now nursing a large gold position and, like the longs also exposed - that is to say the market is polarised between longs and shorts and they cannot both be right. Either the gold bulls - like in a game of tug-of-war - pull back and prompt the shorters to panic and buy back - or they do nothing, in which case the endless stories about the "end of gold" will see a steady further erosion in prices. At the end of the day it is a question of who has got the biggest guns - the shorts have made their play - let's see if there is any response from the longs to defend their position. 

On Inventories...

Via Mark O'Byrne of Goldcore,

Gold futures with a value of over 400 tonnes were sold in hours and this is equal to 15% of annual gold mine production. The scale of the selling was massive and again underlines how one or two large banks or hedge funds can completely distort the market by aggressive, concentrated leveraged short positions. 

It may again be the case that bullion banks with large concentrated short positions are manipulating the price lower as has long been alleged by the Gold Anti Trust Action Committee (GATA). The motive would be both to profit and also to allow them to close out their significant short positions at more advantageous prices and possibly even go long in anticipation of higher prices in the coming weeks.

Those with concentrated short positions may also have been concerned about the significant decline in COMEX gold inventories.

The plunge in New York Comex’s gold inventories since February is a reflection of increased demand for the physical metal and concerns about counter party risk with some hedge funds and institutions choosing to own gold in less risky allocated accounts.

Comex gold bullion inventories have slumped 17% already in 2013, falling to just 286.6 metric tons of actual metal on April 11, the lowest since September 2009. 

This means that futures speculators on Friday sold a significant amount of more paper gold, in an hour or two, then the entire COMEX physical gold bullion inventories.

Interestingly, the drop in Comex inventories would be the biggest for a whole year since 2001, when bullion began its secular bull market.

Absolutely nothing has changed regarding the fundamentals of the gold market and bullion owners are advised to again focus on the long term and the vital diversification benefits of owning gold over the long term.

Although some Federal Reserve policy makers said that they probably will end their $85 billion monthly U.S. bond purchases sometime in 2013. The key word is ‘probably’ and it remains unlikely that the Federal Reserve will stop their debt monetisation programmes any time in 2013 or even in 2014.

Even if the Fed did end them, ultra loose monetary policies and negative real interest rates are set to continue as are competitive currency devaluations and currency wars - two other fundamental pillars supporting the precious metal markets.

Buyers are now presented with another very attractive buying opportunity. We always caution against trying to “catch a falling knife” and buyers should hold off until we get a few days of higher closes or a weekly higher close. Alternatively, they should consider dollar, pound or euro cost averaging into a position at these levels.

Sellers should consider holding off as if contemplating selling they may have missed their opportunity and if they have to sell they may be best placed holding off until prices bounce or recover. Sellers are now disadvantaged both in terms of price but also in terms of premiums that have spread on some physical bars such as one kilo bars.

In the course of gold’s bull market, vicious sell offs like this have often presaged material weakness in stock markets and this may occur again. 

Gold’s ‘plunge’ is now headline news which is bullish from a contrarian perspective. Less informed money is again selling gold or proclaiming the end of gold’s bull market. 

The smart money such as certain hedge fund managers, high net worth individuals, pension funds, family offices, institutions and creditor nation central banks and will see this vicious sell off as an absolute gift and will accumulate again on this dip.

A long term allocation to physical gold bullion to hedge systemic and monetary risk remains vital.

GOLD CRASH - About Preserving Negative US Real Rates and US$

SOCGEN TECHNICAL ANALYST: Gold Is Going To Crash To $1265 In The Next 3 Months 04-15-13 BI

Société Générale analyst Stephanie Aymes says next stop is $1265, and we should expect it in 1-3 months.

GOLD IN JPY - Something Broke When Japan Went Full Retard

All Abe-Inspired "Gold-In-JPY" Buyers Now Underwater 04-15-13 Zero Hedge

Japan is opening ugly - the commodity rout continues with rubber, gold ($1325), and copper all down hard and stocks also being hit as liquidations continue. JGBs are modestly bid 1-2bps (though fading). JPY's bounce off the after-hours spike is fading...

JPY was its strongest at the start of October - and then the new Abenomics plan began. Very quickly the "long of gold in JPY terms" trade became extremely popular. After an impressive 16.4% rise into mid-February, gold-in-JPY corrected modestly; but the BoJ-inspired action smashed gold-in-JPY back up to its recent highs (helped by the seeming capitulation is JPY longs on the bigger-than-expected QQE). This appears to be the last straw on this trade. With JPY shorts so extremely positioned, the small rally on Thursday/Friday in JPY sent many scrambling to cover and, along with the need to unwind any and every asset to cover cash needs for JGB volatility, the avalanche began in gold-in-JPY. In 2 days, the entire Abe-inspired 'rally' in gold-in-JPY has been undone and all post-Abe buyers are now underwater. Whether this marks a short-term capitulation of these positions is unclear but CTFC CoT this week will be intriguing - and further JGB vol will not help. The rally in JPY of the last two days is the largest in 35 months - so someone clearly broke something...

Gold in JPY has retraced all its post-Abe gains...

It would appear that it is no longer moving from the lower left to the upper right...

and JPY is rallying faster than it has in 35 months...

and Gold is plunging on the Japanese open (as margin calls flush a few more out)...

Japanese interest rate volatility is surging higher and gold is being sold to match it still (as we discussed here)..

Something broke when the BoJ went full retard...

Charts: Bloomberg

WHISTLEBLOWER MACQUIRE - About LBMA Default

Maguire - LBMA Default Triggered Gold & Silver Takedown 04-15-13 King World

With massive selling once again in the gold and silver markets, today whistleblower Andrew Maguire told King World News the reason for the recent takedown in gold and silver was because of an imminent LBMA default.

Maguire: “Gold and silver only have this type of selling when there are extreme shortages of the physical metal. I am totally aware that before this takedown occurred there was an imminent LBMA default. We had already seen COMEX inventories plunging. In 90 days COMEX inventories saw an incredible decline. So immediately available physical gold was disappearing. People around the world don’t understand what has been happening since Cyprus.

“Entities went to the LBMA and said, ‘We don’t trust anybody anymore. We want our physical metal.’ They were told they would be cash settled instead by a bullion bank. The Western governments have been trying to plug holes, and the reason for it has to do with the default that was taking place at the LBMA.

This is why this smash has been orchestrated because of the run that has been taking place on physical metal. So Western governments had to do this because of an imminent run on the unallocated LBMA system. The LBMA bullion banks had become so mismatched at one point on their trading positions vs real world demand that they had to orchestrate this smash.

This orchestrated smash in gold and silver was nothing short of a bailout for the bullion banks. So there is a run on physical gold that is taking place and the Ponzi scheme the West is running is being threatened because of it.”

Maguire also added: “We are nearing the end of this decline. Physical demand is already beginning to catch up with leveraged paper. If gold were to trade into the low $1,300s it would be unsustainable for very long.”

GLOBAL RISK - Situational Analysis

The Complete Chartpack Of The Top Global Themes For The Next Five Years 04-12-13 Jawad Miam, TGSF Advisors

The investment environment is changing at a rate that's representative of global economic imbalances, fund flows, and geopolitical risks. We believe this decade will continue to witness greatly increased volatility and instability in the economies of the world and the global financial system. Very few past models are still valid (and most have been proved 'empirically' in real-time to be entirely fallacious). Such a situation has contributed to the extreme uncertainty that currently prevails. Our guiding principle is to help investors understand and navigate through all the complexities of an unstable, inflation-prone world. The following ten themes will be key drivers of financial market performance over the next 1 to 5 years.

• Theme 1 WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT - The Long-Wave decline
• Theme 2 BUBBLE IN SAFETY - The US bond market top
• Theme 3 LORDS OF FINANCE - The coming loss of central bank indpendence
• Theme 4 SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY - Europe (Break-up)
• Theme 5 MRS. WATANABE - Japan
• Theme 6 RICHISTAN - The rise of the Asian consumer
• Theme 7 DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST - Currency games
• Theme 8 SUPERMONEY - Precious metals
• Theme 9 THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON - Iraq
• Theme 10 WHEN MONEY DIES - The great social disorder

World at a glance

In the investment world, anyone who foresees and understands the trends, who is openminded, and who keeps emotions at bay,

The structural backdrop for a global macro strategy

• Developed economy governments are insolvent
• The process of deleveraging and global rebalancing is underway
• Outsized dislocations from “non-economic” policy actions
• The loss of central bank independence with likely unintended consequences
• Ongoing battle between deflation and reflationary forces
• Shorter and more volatile economic cycles that are globally synchronized
• Drop of confidence in policymakers, institutions and the “system” at large
• Increased risk of geopolitical tensions and social conflict
• Market prices only reflect fair value by accident and in passing

"The social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelope our future." - Lord Keynes

Full presentation below:

Major Themes - TGSF Advisors

GOLD - The Attack of the Fiat Currrency Cartel

First Bitcoin, Now Gold: All Alternative Currencies Must Be Crushed 04-12-13 Zero Hedge

Gold prices just entered a bear market. Down 21% from their mid-2011 highs. Today's drop is the largest since 2/29/12 - LTRO2 and takes the price of the barbarous relic back to July 2011 lows. Silver is also seeing its biggest down-day since LTRO2 as it tests 2012 lows. Must. Destroy. All alternative currencies.

A bad day for commodities...

GOLD - Japanese Interest Rate Volatility Correlation

Japanese Bonds vs Gold: Is This Why Commodities Are Selling Off? 04-12-13 Zero Hedge

Japanese bond volatility appears to have crossed the Rubicon. As we noted here, the Japanese Ministry of Finance warned that a rise in JGB volatility could cause a significant sell-off in JGBs (since banks will be hampered by their VaR models-driven risk limits, which have literally gone off the charts in recent days, and be forced to reduce holdings to meet those risk limits). It seems however, that since the BoJ is set to buy more JGBs than will be issued in the next several years as noted yesterday, that financial institutions are chosing to live with the record vol noted previously, opting to raise cash buffers and liquidity reserves instead of selling bonds in order to meet surging margin demands on their JGB holdings. The synchronicity between the price of gold (and other commodities) and the volatility of Japanese bonds makes this risk-driven perspective very clear. This leaves the question, what happens when the Japanese (or in fact global - since front-running the BoJ has been a big winner until a week ago) banks run out of 'other' assets to sell and their VaR models continue to demand more capital in reserve?

Since QE2, gold (and other commodities) have moved in inverted-lockstep with Japanese interest rate implied (and realized) volatility as the JGB margin demands oscillate.

Charts: Bloomberg

GOLD - 2 Year Consolidation Pattern Ending

Gold's Bull Market is Not Over 04-14-13 Robert McHugh

Gold is Headed Much Higher. This is Why.

Gold's Bull market from 1999 is not over, and a huge rally leg remains in its future. That future is not far off. This article presents why the market is telling us Gold could reach 3,000 before the Bull Market ends.

Above we show the big picture for Gold. Gold bottomed July 20th, 1999, wave II's bottom. Since then, wave III up has been one of the all-time greatest Bull Markets in Gold. The question this weekend is, is Gold's big Bull market from the July 20th, 1999 low of 252.80 over? Our Elliott Wave analysis shown above says no, the Bull Market rally in Gold is not over. Wave III so far has taken Gold up 1,670 points to the September 6th, 2011 all-time high of 1,923, which was a 761 percent gain in 12 years.

There are many reasons we do not believe Gold has topped, and believe that Gold has much higher to go. Wave threes that are not part of a triangle pattern (sometimes they can be) are impulsive, meaning they move the price vertically. These impulsive wave threes (in this case wave III) are made up of five subwaves. Above we can clearly see that wave III so far has only produced four subwaves. This means there has to be a fifth wave coming, a rally leg. In stocks, typically wave threes are the most dramatic. In precious metals, typically, wave fives are the most dramatic. Above we see that wave 4 is mature, and wave 5 up is next. We believe the consolidation over the past two years has been a wave 4 pattern, which includes a descending triangle pattern. It has been forming for 19 months. Wave 2 shown above was a zigzag decline. The principle of alternation suggests that the patterns for corrective waves 2 and 4 should form different patterns. Clearly that has occurred, which legitimizes the above count, and supports the need for a coming wave 5 within wave III.

If the coming wave 5 is to be the most dramatic move, then it will have to take Gold higher by more than the 750 points that wave 1 produced, and likely more than the 1,200 points wave 3 up produced. It suggests Gold should head for a price target of 2,700 to 3,000 when the coming wave 5 up finishes.

Above we get a closer look of corrective waves 2 and 4. They should be proportional in either time or price regression, or both, for this mapping to be correct. Wave 2 down took about 7 months and saw Gold fall a bit over 300 points. So far, wave 4 down has taken 19 months and taken 450 points off Gold. In terms of time, since this is a 14 year Bull market from 1999, those two waves pass the proportionality test, lending validity to the wave count. In terms of price decline, 300 points and 450 points are close relative to the 1600 points Gold rallied from 1999 to 2011. In percentage terms, wave 2 took Gold down 30 percent, and so far wave 4 has taken Gold down about 24 percent. Again, close. So we conclude that all waves from 1999 to 2013 are proportional as labeled, which supports the scenario that the decline from September 2011 is a wave 4 corrective decline inside a mega-rally bull market, that by definition of an impulsive wave's required subwaves, will be followed by a huge wave 5 up rally.

Next, we want to study the pattern from 2011, labeled wave 4. We want to understand it, label it accurately, and project when it will end, and at what price it will end. Initially it looked as if wave 4 down was simply forming a five wave descending bullish triangle. However, Friday, April 12ths' nearly 100 point plunge broke decisively below the support shelf for such a triangle pattern, meaning something else is going on. There are a ton of overlapping waves in this pattern from September 2011, so we know it is corrective, and not the start of an impulsive Bear market in Gold. Gold has not topped, and is not in a Bear market. Let me be clear about that. What is happening is wave 4 decided to become more complex. Wave fours and wave b's are notorious for acting unpredictably, having a mind of their own, and metamorphosing from one pattern to another.

However, by breaking the bottom boundary of the descending bullish triangle, a horizontal shelf that has served to stop declines several times over the past 19 months, clarity has arrived. Wave 4 has formed an a-down, b-up, c-down move, with a-down a smaller version of the descending bullish triangle, wave b-up rallied out of the triangle upon its conclusion in a three-wave {a}-up, {b}-down, {c}-up simple flat, followed by an impulsive wave c-down move which will bring about the conclusion of wave 4.

Where and when will wave c-down of 4 bottom? One possibility is the intersection of the declining trend-channel for wave c-down we show in the second chart with the bottom boundary of the rising trend-channel from 1999 to 2013. That projects a bottom for Gold around 1,375ish to 1,400ish, around June, 2013, possibly sooner. The above labeling suggests wave {iii} down is underway, and waves {iv} up and {v} down are needed before Gold's wave 4 bottoms.

While this is disappointing for Gold bugs, the good news is that once wave 4 completes, going long Gold should produce excellent returns.

There is another reason we believe Gold is bottoming, and that is the position of the Weekly Full Stochastics, shown on the next page. The current levels are supportive for a bottom in Gold soon, and the start of a powerful rally.

According to the above chart, Gold is about to start a strong rally. Since 2007, every time Gold's weekly Full Stochastic fell to the 20ish level, and the Fast crossed above the Slow, Gold began a rally that lasted at least two months, some times lasting longer, and rallied at least 150 points, at least 10 percent. Gold could rise 250 points during this next rally, the first leg of a five wave rally for wave 5-up.

Gold is a safe haven during times of crisis. Political, military, financial, disease, or natural disaster events serve to boost Gold's value. The perception that these threats are likely serves to create demand for Gold. Fiat currency hyper-creation from central banks, as we see going on now, serves to boost the value of Gold. Economic crises that jeopardize the value of currencies serve to boost the value and demand for Gold. Should one nation decide to move its currency to a Gold standard, demand for Gold could exceed ready supply quickly. The world is a dangerous place, and Fiat monetization of sovereign debt borders on the irresponsible. These fundamental issues bode well for Gold's long-term value.

WAR - In the Cards for 2014?

Top Economic Advisers Forecast War and Unrest 04-10-13 Washingtonsblog

Kyle Bass, Martin Armstrong, Larry Edelson, Charles Nenner, James Dines, Nouriel Roubini, Jim Rogers, Marc Faber and Jim Rickards Warn of War

We’re already at war in numerous countries all over the world.

But top economic advisers warn that economic factors could lead to a new world war.

Kyle Bass writes:

Trillions of dollars of debts will be restructured and millions of financially prudent savers will lose large percentages of their real purchasing power at exactly the wrong time in their lives. Again, the world will not end, but the social fabric of the profligate nations will be stretched and in some cases torn. Sadly, looking back through economic history, all too often war is the manifestation of simple economic entropy played to its logical conclusion. We believe that war is an inevitable consequence of the current global economic situation.

Martin Armstrong writes this week:

We will be updating the Cycle of War. Obviously, it is time once again. Especially since that model also hit to the day 3 times in a row.

Similarly, Larry Edelson wrote an email to subscribers entitled “What the “Cycles of War” are saying for 2013″, which states:

Since the 1980s, I’ve been studying the so-called “cycles of war” — the natural rhythms that predispose societies to descend into chaos, into hatred, into civil and even international war.

I’m certainly not the first person to examine these very distinctive patterns in history. There have been many before me, notably, Raymond Wheeler, who published the most authoritative chronicle of war ever, covering a period of 2,600 years of data.

However, there are very few people who are willing to even discuss the issue right now. And based on what I’m seeing, the implications could be absolutely huge in 2013.

Former Goldman Sachs technical analyst Charles Nenner – who has made some big accurate calls, and counts major hedge funds, banks, brokerage houses, and high net worth individuals as clients – says there will be “a major war starting at the end of 2012 to 2013”, which will drive the Dow to 5,000.

Veteran investor adviser James Dines forecast a war is epochal as World Wars I and II, starting in the Middle East.

Nouriel Roubini has warned of war with Iran. And when Roubini was asked:

Where does this all lead us? The risk in your view is of another Great Depression. But even respectable European politicians are talking not just an economic depression but possibly even worse consequences over the next decade or so. Bearing European history in mind, where does this take us?

He responded:

In the 1930s, because we made a major policy mistake, we went through financial instability, defaults, currency devaluations, printing money, capital controls, trade wars, populism, a bunch of radical, populist, aggressive regimes coming to power from Germany to Italy to Spain to Japan, and then we ended up with World War II.

Now I’m not predicting World War III but seriously, if there was a global financial crisis after the first one, then we go into depression: the political and social instability in Europe and other advanced economies is going to become extremely severe. And that’s something we have to worry about.

Billionaire investor Jim Rogers notes:

A continuation of bailouts in Europe could ultimately spark another world war, says international investor Jim Rogers.

***

“Add debt, the situation gets worse, and eventually it just collapses. Then everybody is looking for scapegoats. Politicians blame foreigners, and we’re in World War II or World War whatever.”

Marc Faber says that the American government will start new wars in response to the economic crisis:

• “The next thing the government will do to distract the attention of the people on bad economic conditions is they’ll start a war somewhere.”

• “If the global economy doesn’t recover, usually people go to war.”

We’re in the middle of a global currency war – i.e. a situation where nations all compete to devalue their currencies the most in order to boost exports. And Brazilian president-elect Rousseff said in 2010:

The last time there was a series of competitive devaluations … it ended in world war two.

Jim Rickards agrees:

Currency wars lead to trade wars, which often lead to hot wars. In 2009, Rickards participated in the Pentagon’s first-ever “financial” war games. While expressing confidence in America’s ability to defeat any other nation-state in battle, Rickards says the U.S. could get dragged into “asymmetric warfare,” if currency wars lead to rising inflation and global economic uncertainty.

As does Jim Rogers:

Trade wars always lead to wars.

And given that many influential economists wrongly believe that war is good for the economy … many are overtly or quietly pushing for war.

Moreover, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said that the Iraq war was really about oil , and former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill says that Bush planned the Iraq war before 9/11. And see this and this. If that war was for petroleum, other oil-rich countries might be invaded as well.

And the American policy of using the military to contain China’s growing economic influence – and of considering economic rivalry to be a basis for war – are creating a tinderbox.

Finally, multi-billionaire investor Hugo Salinas Price says:

What happened to [Libya's] Mr. Gaddafi, many speculate the real reason he was ousted was that he was planning an all-African currency for conducting trade. The same thing happened to him that happened to Saddam because the US doesn’t want any solid competing currency out there vs the dollar. You know Gaddafi was talking about a gold dinar.

Indeed, senior CNBC editor John Carney noted:

Is this the first time a revolutionary group has created a central bank while it is still in the midst of fighting the entrenched political power? It certainly seems to indicate how extraordinarily powerful central bankers have become in our era.

Robert Wenzel of Economic Policy Journal thinks the central banking initiative reveals that foreign powers may have a strong influence over the rebels.

This suggests we have a bit more than a ragtag bunch of rebels running around and that there are some pretty sophisticated influences. “I have never before heard of a central bank being created in just a matter of weeks out of a popular uprising,” Wenzel writes.

Indeed, some say that recent wars have really been about bringing all countries into the fold of Western central banking.

Many Warn of Unrest

Numerous economic organizations and economists also warn of crash-induced unrest, including:

• The head of the World Trade Organization

• The head of the International Monetary Fund

• The head of the World Bank

• Leading economic historian Niall Ferguson

• Leading economist John Williams