GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: Should we be afraid?

We’ve received a number of emails asking what we think about the current U. S. government shutdown. Could this be the beginning of the loss of the bond market? That’s the question. If our lender nations were no longer willing to lend to us (buy our bonds) and the bond market were to collapse, that would signal the beginning of an acute crisis.

Of course we don’t claim to know, but we thought from the start that this is a fake shutdown intended to force Congress into submission. As we understand it, Congress is willing to pass the budget but they balked when it came to including Obamacare. We are at the point where even the body least known for their economic prowess–Congress–can see that they can’t go on spending like they are when they are operating on borrowed money. So we don’t think this is a crisis that is likely to affect us in any big way. We think it is theater, designed for effect, and that we still have time to continue putting our preparations in place.

Jim Rogers of Investment Biker fame, left the U.S., along with his family, several years ago and now lives in Singapore. Here is what we received in our morning news, and we quote:

Legendary investor, Jim Rogers, explains that politicians are merely threatening a government shut-down and pretending a budget cut when, in fact, it is just a charade to impress the naive public. [He says the government will not shut down and the debt will continue to increase. There will be no default anytime soon, because the government (with the help of the Federal Reserve) can print all the money it needs, which passes the cost on to citizens in the form of a hidden tax called inflation.] From RT 2013 Oct 1

Having said all that, as you know we are in Argentina. One of our subscribers is here applying for residency/citizenship. We received this message from him yesterday: You will feel his frustration, as do we. He wrote:

“I had an appointment at the Social Security office in the U.S. embassy this morning. I had to wait several weeks for the appointment. I had to get up and leave my home with no coffee in order to get through the Friday morning traffic. All this was simply to pick up a form.

“I took a taxi there, went to the window, answered what seemed to be 100 questions, put all my stuff in the basket for the x-ray, walked back a half block, showed my passport the required 200 times (so it seemed), entered another building, was directed to a waiting area, sat down and waited until I was called 15 minutes after my scheduled appointment, went in to a little alcove, sat down and the man told me that they could not give me the form because all non-essential government services had been cancelled because of the shut down. Turning on the printer was a non-essential service.

I believe that currently the most nonessential government services are the President, Vice-president and Congress.”

We do think that U. S. citizens in America are facing a serious crisis at some time in the future. But in the case of this issue of the current government shutdown, we think that there is no reason to fear. “This too shall pass.”

Every now and then someone is able to bring humor into current crises. Although we certainly do not take part in the Republican vs. Democrat charade, we think this candidate, an M.D.,  has put the current bill into perspective and did it in a way that we can laugh. See what you think. And feel free to comment. The comments work now, as we reported previously.

http://youtu.be/vdnY8r7_fLw

PANAMA BANK SUSPENSION OF SERVICES

We have guarded good news. Last week we reported that a bank in Panama declared a bank  holiday, supposedly to update their technology. In light of all the issues about banks these days, there was some concern in the news that the bank might be in trouble. Another subscriber, seeing the stories, checked with one of his sources, a former banker that he felt was in a position to know what was the real story. Here is what his banker contact told him: “Panama does not have a central bank and is therefore more developed than the rest of the western world. BNP is the biggest bank of  Panama and is owned by Panama itself. The computer system was always somehow outdated, The bank holidays are to enable better e-banking and, better control of ATM machines.”

We do have subscribers in Panama who, in fact, saw the story in the first place and sent it to us so we are sure we will hear if there is more to it. We appreciate all of our subscribers in different parts of the world who send us stories and information–and even articles about their area at times. The man who checked with his banking contact and sent us this information is currently working–in Africa. We are so privileged.

Thank you so much to all of you. Until next week . . .

Arlean