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Thursday, November 4, 2010

Gerald Celente: In 1933 Americans Turned in Their Gold – Today, History May Repeat Itself

Gerald Celente on KSFO 560 Radio:

Back in 1933 when Roosevelt became President, they passed the  National Emergency Banking Act. What they did was they called the bank holiday. They couldn’t get the money out of the bank. When they finally got the money out of the bank, it was worth less than what it was before. When the government talks about having a “hearing” about gold valuation, this is what actually happened back then:

By law, they forced the American people to turn in their gold and they had to sell it back to the government because in those days the US dollar was pegged to gold. The price to sell it back to the government was then $26.22 an ounce. If they did not turn in their gold, they had to go to jail. Once they had all the gold back from the Americans, they changed the price of gold and re-pegged it to $35 an ounce. This caused everything to become 70 percent more expensive than what it used to cost before they devalued the dollar.

According to Gerald Celente, this is what they are going to do again. One day, they will once again call the bank holiday!

Watch his complete forecast:

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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Government Approves College Loans for Parents Who Can’t Afford Them

The U.S. Department of Education may be approving federal parent loans for parents of college students even if the parents can’t afford them, according to several college financial aid officers who spoke with U.S. News & World Report.

Federal parent loans — known as PLUS loans — are credit-based, government-issued education loans available to parents of undergraduates that can be used to cover up to 100 percent of a student’s cost of attendance.

The financial aid officers expressed concern that “unsophisticated parents may be taking PLUS loans to help their children out now, not realizing how much trouble awaits them if they start missing payments” (“Government OKs College Loans to Struggling Parents,” U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 27, 2010).

Parents who miss enough payments to default on a PLUS loan are subject to having their wages garnished by the government. And the debt of a PLUS loan won’t be easy to shake, even for families facing financial hardship. PLUS loans, like other federally issued college loans, aren’t easily dischargeable in bankruptcy and are only forgiven in extreme cases, such as death, permanent disability, or permanent financial collapse.

Even in cases where parents clearly can’t repay the loans because of unemployment or underemployment due to disability, the Education Department is approving PLUS loans because Congress “provides no authority for the Department to deny an applicant a PLUS loan based on their perceived ability to repay the loan,” a department spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the Education Department can only deny parent loans in cases where parents have “adverse credit,” which means serious credit problems such as bankruptcy, a recent lien or foreclosure, or bills that are currently delinquent by more than 90 days.

Struggling Families Apply for Parent Loans as a Way to Boost Student Loan Awards

Many cash-strapped parents apply for PLUS loans not with any intention of receiving the parent loan but as a means of helping their child receive more financial aid in the form of federal student loans.

Dependent students whose parents are denied a PLUS loan are eligible for up to an additional $5,000 in federal Stafford student loans. These supplementary Stafford loans carry a lower interest rate than PLUS loans — 6.8 percent compared to 7.9 percent.

But financially strained parents are being met with the unpleasant surprise of being approved for a college loan they can’t afford to repay.

One parent telephoned Melet Leafgreen, assistant director of loan programs for Texas Christian University, to tell her that he’d been approved for a PLUS loan even though he’s in a wheelchair and might never work again. “This is crazy,” he told Leafgreen.

Another parent, Tammy Turner of Ruskin, Fla., said that she was “dumbfounded” when the Department of Education approved her application for a PLUS loan this fall. Both she and her husband can only work part-time. Her husband is disabled, and they both tend to a son who has a number of medical problems.

Despite having a poor credit history and no extra income to cover more than their current monthly expenses, the Turners were still approved for a PLUS loan for their daughter to attend college. And unless the school decides to override the Education Department’s decision and reject the Turners’ parent loan, the Turners’ daughter won’t be eligible for any additional federal student loan aid.

“We can’t afford to pay it back,” Turner said. “It’s kind of ridiculous. They are setting families up for hardship.”

Although college financial aid offices are able to override PLUS loan approvals from the Education Department so that a student can qualify for additional student loan money, financial aid officials worry that parents may not know to contact the school to explain their financial situation and may just end up taking a parent loan they don’t have the resources to repay.

“They are giving loans to people who have no business getting federally funded loans,” Leafgreen said.

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US Battle Against Payday Loans


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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

How to Consolidate Payday Loans and Get Out of Debt

(DebtConsolidationCare.com) Debt consolidation is applicable mostly to internet payday loans. Here’s a step-by-step approach on how to consolidate payday loans held by your creditors.

1. Calculate debt amount: Find out the outstanding balance on your payday loans and other unsecured debts (if any) using the Unsecured Loan Calculator.

2. Contact consolidation company: Approach a debt consolidation company which can help you consolidate payday loans. The company will offer you a free debt counseling session where you can talk to a debt counselor about your financial problems.

The debt counselor will analyze your current financial situation and suggest whether you should go for debt consolidation program or debt settlement.

3. Negotiate to reduce rates: The debt consolidation company will negotiate with your creditors in order to obtain lower interest rates on your payday loans. This is to make sure that you can pay off the principal loan along with reduced interest costs. Moreover, there are chances that your late payment fees can be cut down or eliminated.

4. New payment plan: The debt consolidation company will negotiate an alternative repayment plan with your payday lenders. Prior to negotiating on your behalf, the company will help you determine the maximum monthly payment you can afford on your payday loans. The purpose is to work out a suitable plan so that you can continue making payments and get out of debt in a short time.

Should you consolidate payday loans sent to collections?

If your internet payday loans are sent for collections and the collection agency (CA) calls you for repayment, here’s what you should do:

1. Verify the SOL: Check out the Statute of Limitations on the debt.

2. Request for debt validation: If the SOL hasn’t expired, chances are that the CA may win a judgment against you and garnish your wages. So, ask the collection agency to validate your debt. Send them a debt validation letter.

3. Consolidate and pay off debt: Once the debt is validated, try to consolidate the payday loans in order to get out of debt faster. Repeat steps 1 to 4 as given above. Here the negotiation should be done with the collection agency and not the original creditor as because he doesn’t hold the debt any longer.

Once the SOL expires, the collection agency cannot win a judgment against you even if you do not pay off the outstanding debt. But this doesn’t mean you don’t owe the debt. The collection agency may try out means to collect it from you. You may send them a cease and desist letter asking them to stop any communication with you. Or else, you may pay off (consolidate payday loans or settle the debt) the unpaid debt and release your obligation. However, the SOL is restarted once you start making payments.

How do you benefit if you consolidate payday loans?

When you consolidate payday loans, you get benefits as in a debt consolidation program. Lower interest payments, reduced late fees and fewer payments instead of multiple bills are some of the advantages. For more details, check out the 8 benefits of debt consolidation.

Are loans available for consolidation?

There are lenders who offer debt consolidation loan to help you consolidate payday loans. But whether or not you can use it depends upon the payday loan balance you owe. Say if your debt amount is around $2500, you won’t get a consolidation loan. Such loans are applicable to higher amount of outstanding debt.

When should you go for Extended Payment Plan?

If you’ve been dealing with storefront payday loans, there’s the option to get an installment repayment plan or Extended Payment Plan (EPP) from the lender as per payday loan laws.

However, the repayment plan applies only to 8 states such as Alaska, Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Oklahoma and Washington. The plan is offered by lenders when an account reaches the maximum number of rollovers allowed by the law and the debtor declares that he’s unable to continue with the payments.

In states, where the EPP does not apply to storefront payday advances, you can either consolidate payday loans or follow the steps to do it yourself debt management depending upon which is easier for you.

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‘Debt-Free U’ Offers Degree in Saving on College Costs

By Kerry Hannon Special for USA TODAY

Imagine you’re a 21-year-old college senior with no student loans, a stock portfolio — and a job. Meet Zac Bissonnette, author of Debt-Free U: How I Paid For an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching Off My Parents.

There aren’t a lot of students like him out there. After graduation, today’s college students owe, on average, more than $23,000.

There also aren’t many parents who haven’t signed up for a load of debt at the risk of draining their retirement savings and depleting home-equity accounts to make sure their kids get a college education.

His parents didn’t even try. They weren’t in a financial position to consider taking out loans for their son’s education.

Bissonnette, a personal finance writer and editor with AOL Money & Finance, has money smarts. That allowed him to have enough money saved to pay his own freight, but his aim here is to show others how they can do it, too.

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Jim Rogers: QA at Misis Institute Supporters Summit – Should We Move to Singapore?

Jim Rogers on a QA session with Lew Rockwell and the audience. Jim Rogers actually sees that there is a possibility of another war coming. According to historians, whenever you have had a shortage of raw materials in the world, it is led to war. The same will happen in today’s world, where shortages of raw materials or commodities are becoming more and more acute unfortunately it will be a beginning of another war.

Rogers urges Americans to learn to put their money into real assets as he believes that the American government will not do anything else to save the economy except for printing more and more money. Although Rogers believes that the US dollar is not going to go down dramatically everyday or every year as there will be great rallies on the dollar but it is important to learn how to protect yourself by investing in real assets or other currencies. In the next 10-15 years any raw material will be doing much better than any assets on paper. Farmland is one of the best investments a person can make.

Answering Lew Rockwell’s question whether to move to Singapore, Rogers said:

Paige and I did this because we have these two little girls. We want them to be well-educated. As many of you know, American education is not terribly good these days. Singapore kids come always on top in most international testing. In fact there was an article in front of New York Times the day we got here a week or so ago, talking about how many American schools are starting to teach Singaporean math. And I would tell you, my little girl is in the first grade, and I help her with her Math, and I’m already having trouble. God knows what’s going to happen when she’s in the fourth or fifth grade. I have to call some of you up and say what do we do here? This is serious stuff.

Rogers regarding moving to Singapore, Rogers says that this is a personal decision to make. He is not suggesting that anybody should leave but if Americans are looking for a different life, there are fabulous opportunities in Asia these days. As I said, Asia is where the assets are. Throughout history, you have never heard people say, “Look at all the debtors over there.” Why are we immigrating where all the debtors are? Throughout history people have said, “Look at all the money! Look at all the assets!”

Listen to the whole interview here.

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Jim Rogers: They’re Not Very Smart People, That’s Why They are in Washington

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Private Student Loans: Is the Next Wave of Financial Meltdown Here?

Earlier this year I wrote a blog post, predicting what the next wave of financial meltdown would be. The housing crisis was the reason for the recession we are in today but the next one will be the private student loans industry. Very similar to the mortgage industry during the housing boom, student loans have been easily available and eagerly taken out by borrowers. In the blog post, I wrote:

And just like mortgage borrowers are now facing foreclosure, students face loan burdens so heavily that default is just inevitable. Students and mortgage borrowers just have too much in common. Both are usually poorly educated regarding financial matters, especially when it comes to making decisions on borrowing. And both can eventually harm the economy severely if a large number of them defaults on their loans. Just like the mortgage defaults gave a devastating impact to the economy, so will the student loans defaults.

Has the next wave of financial meltdown, caused by the student loan industry, come? If you have paid attention to recent news regarding student loans you will see that things are not looking too good.

Student loan has gone out of control. This year, the average amount of loan that students graduate with has risen to $24,000. This is up by 6% from 2008. What makes it even worse is that young professionals are now finding it more and more difficult to consolidate their loans due to certain changes in the student loan industry. Many of those private student loan lenders are now announcing on their websites that they are currently not accepting loan consolidation. This is due to a change in federal law. Because private student loan lenders are now forced out of the consolidation business, students can only consolidate federal student loans for better interest.

As if this is not bad enough, a report recently released by the Project on Student Debt showed that “unemployment rates for college graduates ages 20–24 spiked from 5.8 percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009?. This marks the highest annual graduate unemployment rate on record and creating more challenges for graduates looking to pay back increasing amounts of private student loans. Download the whole report here.

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Friday, October 29, 2010

The World After the Great War: Why Gold Price will Drop Like a Rock

A few days ago, I wrote about Jim Roger’s forecast that gold price will continue rising to $2,000 an ounce. An interesting conversation started out because of this between a friend of mine and me. After having read the article, he gave me an interesting explanation of why gold price will eventually drop like a rock. What started out as a casual comment, turned into a lesson for myself. I have always believed that the only way for gold price to go is up. I knew that what goes up eventually must come down, but it was still not clear to me what the reason could be for this to happen. This friend of mine who happens to be a Jewish banker from a line of the few elites, shared with me a little bit of what he knows (and allowed to talk about).

The following comment was made in regards of my article about Jim Roger’s forecast of gold price.

Friend: Elisheva, believe me if it did, it’s all connected to a set of volatile complimentary reactions, as is with sugar and coffee or tea, and the price for alcohol beverages and prostitutes.

Elisheva: Interesting how you even put “prostitutes” in the list of commodities. I wouldn’t have a clue regarding the volatility of that market! (LOL)

Friend: You should know that consumable alcoholic beverages have a clear complimentary relationship to prostitution as most visitors of such places are consumers of such beverages. So when the price of alcoholic beverages goes up, it is expected that that the price for services rendered by prostitutes will also increase. Its like the equilibrium of both bad habits and need for the other one to compensate. Enjoy the market volatility, and remember what goes up must come down.

Elisheva: Prophecies in 1973 said that gold will become a safe haven for investors as paper money can no longer be trusted. This is already happening. It also says those who put their life and future in the hands of gold will suffer great losses.

Economic forecasts of today say that gold is going to continue rising at least until $3,000 and then sharply fall like a rock. How much it will fall, I haven’t heard but enough to hurt a lot of people.

So far I still don’t understand why it would go down. Paper money will only be worth the paper it is written on. With more quantitative easing, paper money will be more in supply than gold. How would it be possible for gold price to go down? Except if somebody extremely powerful intervenes.

Paper money is almost like a scam. It always has been anyways but people are too dumb to understand the value of REAL money,which is precious metal and even commodities. Consequently, the few wealthy people are the ones holding the gold and others, while the rest are given the paper.

My question is with paper money losing value and gold potentially going down eventually and commodity dependent on volatile complimentary reations, what are the few ultra-wealthy ones using as currency then? Nothing seems to be “safe haven”.

Friend: Regardless if it is gold, or coffee or any other metal they are still a commodity. When the demand for hard currency is needed of when one needs to bolster the need for fast track recovery or new infrastructure (start-up), gold is a perfect reason to invest at the current prevailing rate.When one is insecure whether it goes up or down it is perhaps better to invest in gold, especially if the Medium (the operating currency you are holding) is not performing as was predicted.

But to everything there is a limit, there is a beginning and there is an end. It all has to do with the supply and demand curve. From where you stand and how you are looking at this, it is like a two dimensional graph. But in reality it is even more than 3 or 4 dimensional perspective view. Try to see the world like a small ocean of water, when you look from above (one dimension) you see there are waves. Most of the time you can not even see how deep the highest wave is. It will be different if you look at it from a two-dimensional position.

Just imagine how busy your watchfull eye will be when this occurs in a ray of chaotic motions. One moment it is there and two seconds later no more. It even gets more exciting when two or more factors are influencing this motion, such as “the change of temperature and change of season”. So is it with gold as well. It will never last.

When an economy plunges into the deep end and hunger appears, war is the next thing to happen. Wealth will escape from hard cash to precious metal, but evidently precious metal like gold must return to normal as commodity is not expressed in a single market product (such as gold demand). There, the price of staple food may exceed the price of gold and then the negative equilibrium may cause a positive turn in the market. Often you see gold automatically going back down to hard currency again, because the payment is by means of a MEDIUM (i.e. paper money) that will become the lead currency, like the USD.

Is this lead currency going to change one day to Euro? I doubt it because there is already too much speculated into gold originated by USD, so why all this worry of paper money would never stand up?

Basically what I am trying to say is, don not get lured by the expression that gold can bring salvation (or safe haven), that is why I am saying, “What goes up must come down”. That shall always be the case. Just imagine by the time the great war is over, many peple will have been killed. There will be lesser demands for certain commodity depending what age catagory has been exterminated in the great war. But according to their need, the first commodity other than gold will rise. To start the exchange process, the prevailing currency will be the one operating. This was so with the US dollar after World War II.

What we need is another world war, where two third of the people will be destroyed. This will bring us back to the class of Agricultural Revolution, which then leads to Industrial Revolution and than to the freedom of act (Democracy).

After the next great war, gold will be released little by little and the economy will start thriving with an amazing urge of backing up the currency. If the offer and the release of gold into the economy is bigger than the demand of gold, the price of gold will fall. Other commodities will hold better than gold such as Bonds and even Rain Forest Plantation.

As emerging markets are up-coming out of the ground like tomorrow would never come (see China), it is predictable that a country like China will start producing their own inhouse gold without reporting how much their stock is. This alone will give a false picture like we have had from before, when looking into a sea of ocean and its waves. And when their Foreign Currency Deposits or Savings is amost larger than their domestic currency, it will certainly unleash their gold to stregthening their domestic currency, which will cause the need for their foreign currency to become less important (but that is also a false picture).

Therefore their compatibility becomes increasingly very competitive, as they buy foreign goods paid with foreign currency and export their domestic goods paid with their domestic currency. If the scale is out of balance than gold will step in. This does the trick to strengthening their domestic currency thus they can start printing more.

Elisheva: I understood about the coming famine, hunger, another great war as a result of this economic crisis. But I could not connect them with the plunge of gold price eventually. So after the great war, gold will drop like a rock, other commodities will rise according to the needs of the remaining people living on earth. And interestingly enough, even Rain Forest Plantation will be better than gold, and I believe you are referring to the future carbon credit market.

My question would be, how long do you predict until the end of the great war?

Friend: Gold is a commodity and so is Capital Market Security Papers, gold can also be expressed in gold certificates, these all are temporarily investment objectives to possibly avoid depreciation of the Nominal Value, if one has the correct info where to move from time to place it certainly would work out.

I remember I invested in Forest Investment Notes and in less than 20 years my portfolio in comparison to any other traded securities worldwide increased every year with almost 50%.

In 1999 I invested a small amount of money (while the market Economic Recession and monetary crisis in Asia was at its highest point) of Rp.5 billion in a stock portfolio, and within 4 years later I sold it with 30 times the value. In 2009 I learned that the same portfolio became worth only 2 times the amount I had invested in. I felt sorry for the remaining holder of this portfolio in that year.

Apparently so were the many banks in Europe, even those in Iceland, that became bankrupt. At that moment gold went hay-wire to unpredicted heights. The same people even held a portflio of gold but it did not change their belly-up position into healthy economics. On the contrary they had to let go much of their gold to start-up a new economy.

Since the prolonged economic crisis in the USA did not change, this gold is increasing but it does not change the parameters. More and more people are getting desperate and their investment. Anything other than gold becomes useless at this moment.

But one way or the other if you hold gold, the price of gold is equal to the price of the necassary commodities. What I mean is that basically if 1 kg of gold would buy 1 kg of rice, even if the price of gold increases, the price of rice will also increase.

As for the Great War you were asking me I am affraid that is a long shot into the future and I am not a soothsayer. Neither can I predict but only observe and quickly react if the resources of information are as what my eyes can see like the Sea of an Ocean of water.

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