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The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash. The bleak warning of social and financial meltdown, delivered today in Tokyo at a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign wealth fund managers. Dr Faber, who advised his audience to pull out of American stocks one week before the 1987 crash and was among a handful who predicted the more recent financial crisis,...

The image of banks locking their doors to keep customers from making withdrawals during a bank run is what immediately came to mind when we heard that Citigroup was telling customers it has the right to prevent any withdrawals from checking accounts for seven days."Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise...

Today is the day to tell your wife that you love her.Today is the day to call your mother and chat with her for an hour.Today is the day to send your dad a note.Today is the day to get in touch with that friend you haven’t talked to in a while.Today is the day to call up a special person and set up a date.Today is the day to stop by your grandmother’s house with a sack full of groceries and make dinner for her.Today is the day to visit that old family friend who helped you so much when you were younger. Not Valentine’s Day....

The Daily Crux: Chris, in March of last year, you told your readers to load up on positions in stocks, precious metals, and cash. Those who did caught almost all of 2009's incredible rally, and ended up having an unbelievable year. Now we've heard you've become more cautious. Can you update us on your thoughts on the markets?Chris Weber: Well, we did do several things right last year. As you mentioned, we had our positions one-third each in stocks, metals, and cash.Of the 22 investments we held for most or all of last year,...

Should You Speculate in Stocks?Perhaps the number one precaution to take at the start of a deflationary crash is to make sure that your investment capital is not invested “long” in stocks, stock mutual funds, stock index futures, stock options or any other equity-based investment or speculation. That advice alone should be worth the time you spent to read this book….Short Selling Stocks and Trading in Futures and OptionsShort selling is a great idea at the onset of a deflationary depression, at least from a timing standpoint....

In a rare interview, one of the Street’s most influential strategists sounded the alarm about the next leg down.And the trouble will likely start overseas, that’s according to Marc Faber, author of the “The Gloom Boom & Doom Report"You may know Dr Faber by his moniker of "Dr. Doom", and when this man talks, markets listen. He correctly identified the tech bubble, and now he's setting his sights on China.Specifically, Dr. Faber is concerned...

LONDON (Commodity Online): Global investing guru and publisher of the famous Gloom, Boom and Doom report Marc Faber says gold price may continue to drop as low as $950 to $1,050 an ounce, but that is not any reason to sell gold. “The dip in gold price is a correction and this should be taken as a great buying opportunity,” Faber said.As gold price has surged to touch historic highs in the last few months, Faber, a gold bug, has been telling investing public that the yellow metal is cheap at $1,100 per ounce and it will be prudent...

Many countries have started to see a rebound from last year's economic recession. But will it last? Economists at the World Economic Forum in Davos warn that paying down massive public debt will be "very, very painful." Deep spending cuts and significant tax hikes may be unavoidable. For those now in their 30s, Kenneth Rogoff has bad news. "It will be terrible for you," the Harvard University economics professor told a young German at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "Germany's debt is exploding, the population is aging,"...

The fiscal crisis in Greece is fascinating political theater, in part because the Balkan nation is a leading indicator for what will probably happen in many other countries. The most puzzling feature of the crisis is the assumption in other European capitals, discussed in the BBC article below, that a Greek default is the worst possible result. It certainly would not be good news, especially for investors who thought it was safe to lend money to the government, but there are several reasons why the long-term pain resulting from...

LONDON (Commodity Online): In the last few months, we have been reading predictions and forecasts from bullion analysts who insisted and argued that gold price is booming to touch $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 per ounce in the coming years.These forecasts have caught people’s attention who have been pouring money into gold and other precious metals all these months. But after the big surge of gold price to $1,227 per ounce some two months back, the yellow metal has been climbing down the ladder of speculation.Despite speculators...

Here, in a chart, is why Britain can’t afford to be complacent about the plight of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. UK banks are exposed to these countries to the tune of 16 per cent of gross domestic product, according to this chart from Stephen Jen of BlueGold Capital Management (the figures themselves are Bank for International Settlement numbers).By my reckoning that’s just under £250bn of exposure, so if these economies...

NEW YORK (AP): The stock market managed to steady itself after hearing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's plans to dismantle the central bank's supports for the U.S. economy.The Dow Jones industrial average closed with a loss of 20 points after falling nearly 100 in early trading. Treasury prices fell as demand for safe havens eased.Bernanke revealed the Fed's thinking on how to wean the market from massive emergency supports put in place to keep the economy afloat. He said the Fed will likely start tightening credit by...

1. VenezuelaCPD: 56.26%S&P Credit Ratings:Foreign Long Term: BB-Foreign Short Term: BCredit Watch/Outlook: Negative 2. UkraineCPD: 52.91%S&P Credit Ratings:Foreign Long Term: CCC+Foreign Short Term: CCredit Watch/Outlook: Stable3. ArgentinaCPD: 46.06%S&P Credit Ratings:Foreign Long Term: B-Foreign Short Term: CCredit Watch/Outlook: Stable4. PakistanCPD: 38.11%S&P Credit Ratings:Foreign Long Term: B-Foreign Short Term: CCredit Watch/Outlook: Stable 5. Republic of LatviaCPD: 30.47%S&P Credit Ratings:Foreign...

The governments of every developed economy will eventually default on their sovereign debts, including the US, the UK and Western Europe, Marc Faber, editor of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, told CNBC."In the developed world we have huge debt to GDP, in terms of government debt to GDP and unfunded liabilities that will come due," Faber said in a live interview via telephone. "These unfunded liabilities are so huge that eventually these governments will all have to print money before they default."Faber said that emerging...

1. Ireland - 1,267%External debt (as % of GDP): 1,267%External debt per capita: $567,805Gross external debt: $2.386 trillion (2009 Q2)2008 GDP (est): $188.4 billion2. Switzerland - 422.7%External debt (as % of GDP): 422.7%External debt per capita: $176,045Gross external debt: $1.338 trillion (2009 Q2)2008 GDP (est): $316.7 billion3. United Kingdom - 408.3%External debt (as % of GDP): 408.3%External debt per capita: $148,702Gross external debt: $9.087 trillion (2009 Q2)2008 GDP (est): $2.226 trillion4. Netherlands - 365%External...

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said he can’t call for outside aid as his government struggles to cut the European Union’s largest budget deficit.“The worst possible signal which we could send out is one calling for outside help,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens yesterday. “We will tackle the deficit,” he said, adding that tax revenues in January exceeded forecasts “by some percentage points.”Papaconstantinou has so far failed to convince investors that Greece...

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), an independent body undertaking research on economic issues, expects Malaysia's budget deficit to shrink to 5.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year.Its executive director Zakariah Abdul Rashid told reporters after the MIER National Economic Outlook Conference here on Tuesday that the reduction was made through the cut in the country 's expenditure.Zakariah said that the cut in expenditure was expected to be much larger than...

Malaysia's 2010 budget deficit will be lower than this year as the government will cut its operating expenditure by 15 percent, Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said on Tuesday.Malaysia is readying its 2010 budget after a year in which the government projects the economy will shrink by 5 percent, its first big recession since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The budget deficit is expected to balloon to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product this year.The International Monetary Fund last week urged the government...

Written by Lara Crigger February 05, 2010 9:42 AM ESTIt's a hard time to be a gold bug. At $1,049/oz, the yellow metal is currently trading way off its lofty highs of December 2009. And it could have even further to fall, says Brian Nick.Nick is an investment strategist with Barclays Wealth, a leading global wealth management firm with more than $220 billion in assets under management worldwide. In its latest investment call, the firm took a decidedly bearish view on gold, advising investors to short the metal, which had...