from FinancialSurvivalNet
We met up with Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and present Libertarian candidate for President. Gary was a former governor of New Mexico. During his two terms in office, of an overwhelmingly Democrat state, he vetoed 750 bills and exercised thousands of line item vetos. He was so effective that his opposition referred to him as Governor Veto. He ran for the Republican nomination this year, but he was kept out of the early debates by CNN and CNBC rules, which were created to keep out minor candidates. As a result, he never attained the status of serious candidate as far as the Main Stream Media was concerned. While his odds of winning the nomination are virtually non-existent, his message is compelling, and he has provided a road map for other fiscally sane candidates to shake things up.
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Wayne Allyn Root, former Libertarian VP candidate, renowned Las Vegas odds maker, successful businessman, SOB (son of a butcher), and fellow Westchesterite and I met up in person Freedom Fest in Las Vegas. While he’s not head-over-heals in love with Romney (who is?), he still believes that the choice is between business and anti-business, and that’s why he’s favoring Romney. Business without risk, is like religion without Hell. If the government removes all possible risks from your life, will you be a better person or a lazier one? Wayne believes that risk taking is in the American DNA, and it’s a prime reason for our country’s success. This is why Wayne never misses a Freedom Fest.
“Ranting” Andy Hoffman arrived back from Freedom Fest in Las Vegas ready for “bear.” There’s a new phenomena sweeping the globe, negative interest rates. Hard to believe, but that’s where some bankrupt, “Too Big To Fail Bank” actually charges you for the honor of storing your money and betting it on derivatives (or some other highly creative way they’ve devised to lose your money and get bailed out yet again.) It’s obvious there’s no end to the financial sector insanity that’s been taking place around the globe. Where it will end is anyone’s guess. But nothing makes sense anymore and that’s exactly the way the Elite financial rulers like it.
I interviewed Jeff Berwick and Gary Gibson at Freedom Fest, separately, although you’d think they were together. We spent a lot of time together, and there was no shortage of topics and alternative financial luminaries present at the conference. Peter Schiff, Doug Casey, Steve Forbes, Gary Johnson, Judge Andrew Napolitano and so many more. But Gary and Jeff are all about practical advice about protecting your wealth and keeping it out of the hands of the government. Jeff’s a big proponent of second passports, and Gary’s been travelling around the world looking for safe harbor. Either way, they both agree the US Government’s appetite for your wealth is going to increase greatly, as the depression deepens. So better to be prepared than to continue about your daily affairs, blind to the probabilities ahead.
Fellow podcaster, Turd Ferguson of 
At Freedom Fest 2012 we bumped into Andy Schectman, a show sponsor and President of Miles Franklin. He’s been selling shiny metals since 1990, and he’s extremely knowledgeable about the precious metals markets. Andy explained there’s virtually no gold coming into the secondary market. People who own gold and silver are not selling even when prices dip. This is a relatively new development which shows that while the price may fluctuate , the actual participants ignore the news and continue to accumulate. The mints don’t have enormous supplies available for purchase; they can hardly keep up with demand. That’s why putting off the purchase of metals could have you entering the market at the worst possible moment. Contact Miles Franklin, they’ve also got great overseas storage programs available.
We literally bumped into Trace Mayer of www.HowToVanish.com and www.RunToGold.com. He made it to Vegas for Freedom Fest. We discussed a very interesting new phenomena that may possibly become the new gold standard of currencies, BitCoin. This is an open source currency that is extremely flexible, resistant to inflation and completely anonymous. It is a store of wealth and a medium of exchange and its popularity appears to be rapidly increasing. We had heard of it before, but dismissed it as a noble effort to help people escape the tyranny of central banks. But it has continued on and increased in value from 5 cents per BitCoin to $7.70 in just a few short years. And its acceptance appears to be increasing as well. It’s spreading worldwide, with more and more merchants accepting it as payment, at a variety of locations. We’re going to investigate the BitCoin phenomena further and report back.
We caught up with our old friend Peter Schiff at Freedom Fest. While he was on a panel, security was sicked on Doug Casey for smoking a cigar (Cubano of course) while participating on stage. Freedom took a major hit when Doug was forced to extinguish his rich stogie. But as Doug said, he was on someone else’s property, so he had to comply with the management’s wishes. I want to know who the Buzzkill was that turned him in. 
John Schmidt has been shooting pool since he turned 18. He won the US Pool Open in 2006. He’s known as Mr. 400, having sunk 400 balls in a row, without a miss. He believes in learning from the masters and he carries that attitude through when it comes to investing and preserving his wealth in precious metals. Initially, his fellow competitors scoffed at the notion of a fiat currency collapse. But as the world gets closer and closer to this cataclysmic event, more of his colleagues have accepted his wisdom. John’s got a great story and a winning attitude.
We caught up with Sprott’s Rick Rule in Las Vegas at Freedom Fest 2012. He’s not the least bit concerned about the precious metals price gyrations, and he’s actively buying metals for his personal portfolio. He believes that Contrarian investors eventually score the largest gains but that it takes guts and a lot of perseverance. Joe “Two-Pack” better have both or he should buy another can of beer and hit the road. Rick’s got one of the best jobs around; he’s doing what he loves and as a result has never worked a day in his life. Just don’t ask him about tech investing, he’s sticking to what he knows best.
Ranting Andy Hoffman and I caught up with each other at Freedom Fest 2012 in Las Vegas. Besides life imitating reality TV, the fraud and the refusal to see what’s really going on in the world, Andy was helping to educate a financial planner from North Carolina on the ills of the fiat money system and how the world each day gets closer to the precipice. And yes, Mrs. Hoffman still watches House Hunters and loves every minute. Perhaps that’s the key, we all know its fake, but it’s fun so why not?
If it’s one thing we like on FSN, its consistency and Nick Santiago, of 
Danielle Park joined us today for the Park Perspective. The tales of corruption and exploitation in the financial sector keep getting worse and worse. From fixing the LIBOR interest rates to laundering money for drug cartels, is there anything the financial sector won’t do to make a buck? But Danielle believes that there’s an end coming to the bailouts, and it will be soon. The immorality of the system and it’s destructive influences are becoming plain to everyone’s sight. The question is, how will change come from outside the system, to rebuild it and make it honest and beneficial to society? Perhaps, events will soon unfold that make it impossible for the financial system to continue its business as usual ways, and it will become a matter of reform or die. 
I was interviewed recently by Teresa Kuhn of 
Professor Nick Economides touched base with the Financial Survival Network today from Athens, Greece. Forgive the sound quality, the economy isn’t the Greek’s only problem. Prof. Economides foresaw the Euro’s problems many years ago, before most others. So while, we may not agree that growth is the cureall for the world’s collapsing economic system, it is important that we to listen to the informed few who knew saw what was coming, before all the “Johnny Come Lately’s.” However, there is a growing chorus people around the world, who believe that the debt is just to large to be managed and the underlying problem must be addressed. 
Ty Andros joined us for another weekly wrap after a brief summer hiatus. Liborgate is the word on everyone’s lips these days. Seems the governments and central banks have been rigging the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) market for years. Over $700 trillion in loans, securities, and derivatives get priced according to this key rate. Why it’s coming out now is anyone’s guess, but it seems to this untrained observer as if there’s alot more coming down the pike that’s even worse. Not to mention the fact that Spain’s banks haven’t really been bailed out, despite the headlines to the contrary.
June was a volatile month. Everything was getting killed until the 29th, when boom, gold, silver, etc., all came roaring back to life. Mickey and I believe that the summer will provide much of the same in most markets, with little actually getting accomplished in the real world. People are far too busy planning vacations. going to the beach and just generally chilling out, to be fixated upon the value of the dollar, the price of gold or natural gas. Of course, the summer is always a great time to be a market manipulator, what with generally low volume and thinly traded markets. One of the biggest surprises in June was natural gas which traded up to $2.76. T. Boone Pickens, a very savvy investor and “Oil man”, is predicting $115 oil and $3.75 natural gas by the end of 2012. At this point in the evolution or devolution of Western Civilization, nothing would surprise us.
Elijah Johnson, the 16-year-old seemingly smarter than the Bernank, joins us again today, Monday, July 2, 2012. Elijah has now interviewed quite a few noteworthy people, and what he’s learned is that the global economic crisis is inevitable. Elijah has become financially aware and acknowledges the Federal Reserve as a banking cartel. The U.S. is over 16 trillion and counting in debt, and there’s really no way to pay it down. According to Elijah, and I must agree, we are left with two options: print more money or default on the debt. Either way, we are currently in a losing battle. Printing more money to pay off our debt will cause the dollar to crash and defaulting will send the U.S. credit rating down the drain. Precious metals are the least risky assets that will protect you from the impending doom.
Mark Skousen, founder of Freedom Fest and editor of Forecasts and Strategies talked about Obamacare’s ratification by the Supreme Court and what it means for all of us. As he quoted, “Everything is now either mandated or prohibited.” Where does that leave the individual? We need to look at the issues of liberty and engage in a genuine civilized debate. Demonization, trading of insults, and failing to properly analyze and discuss issues is leading to an ignorant and uncivil society. There’s no requirement that you love your adversaries, but there is a need for mutual respect, which has been completely lacking from Western democracies for decades. 
John Manfreda believes that oil prices are headed higher, especially when the next round of money printing begins in earnest. John recently authored a report that explores the trends and future prices in depth. He’s unconcerned about US and European demand, as he believes the developing world has more than picked up the slack and will continue to do so. Oil seems to have fallen into an interim sweet spot of $75-85. Each time the price has gone above that $85, it’s been beaten back, and it hasn’t gone below $75 for long periods of time. One thing is certain, the world will need ever increasing amounts of oil, and while we may not suffer shortages due to so-called peak oil, the costs of extraction will increase over time.
Yaron Brook came on today to discuss the ramifications of the upholding of Obamacare. The decision, while in and of itself a shocker, shows us that we now live under a government that knows no limits. If they want to mandate broccoli consumption, the Congress is free to do so. What other dastardly mandates will arise from this Obamanation? This is yet just another part of the systematic assault on personal liberty and freedom. The very idea of forcing people to engage in market place activities against their own will would have made the Founders fly into an uncontrolled rage. There are certain benefits to the ruling, which we will explore in future reports. The decision may potentially act as a check on the Commerce Clause. Remember that the Chief Judge gets to choose who writes a decision, when he’s in the majority. As such, Roberts took the initiative and the message to the Tea Party and other Freedom Lovers.
Fr. Robert A. Sirico has written a book, 
Danielle Park of