The Goldwatcher

Opinions and advice:

I would like to remind readers, particluarly those who have not yet read The Goldwatcher,  this blog is not an advisory service. Opinions expressed are not intended as investment advice and should not be treated or used as investment advice.

President Obama’s multi $1,000,000,000,000 debt horizons:

Just seeing the array of noughts in a trillion dollar sum should be enough for most of us to recognise we haven’t the training to relate to such a gigantic number.

But, to accomodate borrowing requirement to the end of 2010,  President Obama’s administration  sought permission  from Congress last month to raise the U.S. national debt ceiling by about $1,800,000,000,000. 

To prevent the United States  from defaulting on committments Congress agreed an urgent interim  increase  of $290 billion and thereby raised the debt ceiling to about $12,400,000,000,000. This will only cover borrowing requirements to the the end of February  Further debate will follow in Congress this month along with debate on funding requirements for  extended troop committments in  Afghanistan. Congress may raise the roof this time round before they raise the ceiling again. 

The Afghanistan debacle:

Afghanistan prospects keep getting worse.  Now,  not only has President Obama made further extensive troop committments to the war but,  following the attempted Christmas day mass murder in the Amsterdam to Detroit flight and associated security myopia,  it’s obvious  the case for fighting terrorists in Afghanistan instead of in the US is unsupportable. The terrorist menace knows no boundaries. Security systems are still flawed.

In a New York Times op-ed jihad.com published ten days before Christmas,  the columnist Thomas Friedman explains the ’Virtual Afghanistan’ threat. ‘Let’s not fool ourselves,’ he writes ‘Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat. The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims to engage in jihad against America and the West. Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge — by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders — against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan.’ Keep in mind also the economic jihad  - ‘topple the economy and you topple the Crusaders.’

Gold, Afghanistan, debts and deficits.

Gold prospects will be reviewed in the light of events as they unfold. In previous postings I have commented that, in my opinion,  prices in the range $1000 to $1100 make sense.  Am still reading and reviewing commentary from sources referenced in The  Goldwatcher and other credible commentators on recent developments. When I have worked  my way through the material,  will file a posting updating analysis and previous comments. 

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