Interesting Energy Stories in the News Jan 18

UAE vows to offer Korea crude oil first in crises: officials
Petronas and Shell sign oil recovery deal
UAE's Adnoc, CNPC to cooperate on oil projects
Norway awards 60 new oil production licenses
New study to probe corrosiveness of Canada oil
Canadian Natural Gas Tumbles Mild U.S. Weather, Ample Supplies
Iran boosts gas exports by 10.5 percent
UPDATE: Gazprom Reduces Gas Prices To Some European Customers
China 2011 Coal Imports Rise 11%, China Coal Transport Says
Euro Coal-S.Africa prices rise $3/T
Japan to allow reactors to operate up to 60 years
Vietnam joins world in peaceful use of nuclear power
Germany's nuclear exit to cost 1.7 trillion euros: Siemens
UAE to set up clean energy project in Afghanistan
Solar Stocks Climb on 'Hope' for German Demand, Consolidation
Gulf Gasoline Weakens as Colonial Allocates Pipeline Shipments

Interesting Headlines in the News Jan 17

Drop in Public Workers Digs a Deeper Jobs Hole
Fraud And Folly:

Huge Financial Bombs Just Got Dropped All Over Europe
Market Resiliency Shines Through French Rating Cut
Oil Prices Below $99 On New Europe Debt Concerns
Apple Mini-Stores Coming to Target
In Praise of Homeschools
Gas prices may get close to $5 in some spots
States look to hike tax on millionaires
New Fracking Technology

Possible Implications of the Iranian Oil Embargo
Apple Could Create Its Own TV Reality
U.S. Warns Israel on Strike
Obama Thumbs Nose at Founders With One-man Rule
If You Are A Blue Collar Worker In America

GOP lawmaker warns Iran must be stopped,

Controversial online piracy bill

US and Iran inch closer to military conflict
Iran War is Only Matter of Time
Peter Schiff: U.S. is In Worse Shape Than Europe
Could Iran Close the Strait?
Airlines seek first fare hike of 2012
Details of new Apple iPad 3 revealed
Europe's $39 Trillion Pension Risk Grows as Economy Falters
Cartier Turns to Discreet Watches

Greek Debt Swap Faces 'Critical' Phase

Gold and silver to regain shine in 2012
People don't buy gold to make money;

Why silver has hit rock bottom
Air Force Invades the Rocky Mountains
America’s Last Chance
It's Official:

Fed Plays PR Games
The Dollar Centric Derivatives Complex:

Federal Government Jobs Disappearing at a Rapid Pace
Syria: beyond the wall of fear,

Gold and energy bull charges on
IMF: European outlook grim; high global risks
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ILLEGAL "RECESS" APPOINTMENTS
How to Create a Depression
Clearing houses: the next casualty of the crisis?
Saudi Arabia doubts Iran oil blockade claim
U.S. Troops Quietly Surge into Middle East
Greece sends officials to US as default fears grow
Eurozone's 'big bazooka' bail-out fund

Oil prices rise on Iran's threats to cut off Strait of Hormuz
Why it’s China’s turn to worry about manufacturing
Veterans’ new battle front: Job market
Group says Keystone pipeline benefits are embellished
Israelis increase trust in Obama
L.L. Bean marks century of selling begun with boot
Economic Collapse -- Why It Won't Be Stopped
How Safe Are Central Banks?

Interesting Energy Stories in the News Jan 17

U.S. Presses South Korea to Reduce Oil Imports from Iran
Nigeria: Explosion Rocks Chevron's Oil Rig in Bayelsa
Sinopec, Aramco to Build Oil Refinery in Saudi Arabia
Sudan's conflict lowers oil production
West Africa Oil-Cargo Demand Gains on Hormuz Threat, Arctic Says
Electricity Declines 50% in U.S. as Shale Brings Natural Gas Glut: Energy
UPDATE 1-Anadarko reports another gas strike offshore Mozambique
Indiana Coal Mine to become largest in Eastern US
Indian government drafts guidelines for timely development of coal blocks
South African Coal Export Prices Decline Most in Four Weeks
Niger to pursue nuclear plans despite Fukushima: president
New analysis shows solar PV is competitive in the Middle East
China, Japan take the lead in wind power development – Russia lags far behind
UPDATE 1-SunEdison: to build Japan solar plants at cost of $4.6 bln
Valero Energy to invest in cellulosic ethanol plant in US

Interesting Headlines in the News Jan 16

Reading between the lines:

Has Capitalism Failed Us?
Money Printing: The Ugly Truth Behind the "Good News"
Wrong-Way Friedman
Scrubbed MF Global Filing Resurfaces at the SEC,

U.S., Israel postpone military exercise amid tension with Iran
Troubled RI city in receivership loses democracy
Housing and Oil: Dark Inventory Rules
Evans Says Jobless Rate May Rise as Progress 'Transitory'
Fed’s Lacker Says

Nine Euro Nations’ Ratings Cut, Seven Affirmed
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens

Fed Officials Debate Impact

Merkel Says S&P Downgrades

Treasury Yields Drop

Euro Falls After S&P Strips France of AAA Rating
Gold 2012: Goldman maintains 12-month target of $1,940/oz
Gold: Current bull market

Gold lower ahead of 3-day

Silver: A unique buy signal from the CEF
Silver: If you buy anything in 2012, buy Silver
Six reasons why still to buy gold bullion or gold
City Bankruptcies Will Increase, Dimon Warns
Auction 2012: Top 10 Reasons to Get Money Out
How the Wall Street Journal Misleads About Federal Jobs
What CEOs and Hedge Funds

Dropbox inventor

Attacks on Social Security,

Beware a slow cascade of additional foreclosures in 2012
Obama Pitches One Federal Department for Business
The Year Of The Central Bank
More aggressive Fed could benefit economy: Evans
Fed officials say not time to buy bonds now
NY Fed seeking bidders for mortgage bonds
Euro shaky after mass ratings downgrade, outlook poor
The evolution of American debt
5% of Americans Made Up 50% of U.S. Health Care Spending
Eleven states, D.C. back Obama on health law
Nigerian fuel strike continues, could impact U.S. oil supply
Iran warns Gulf Arabs on oil

Interesting Energy Stories in the News Jan 16

OPEC: worsening euro zone crisis would hit oil demand
Oman Promises More Oil to Korea
UPDATE 1-Norway sees oil output down, gas up
Iraqi Sea Oil Terminal Will Be Ready on Jan. 25, Jaafar Says
Poorest Nations Host Biggest Gas Finds in Sign of Deals: Energy
Iran does not agree to reduce price on gas supplied to Turkey
US coal mining companies stocks drop on pricing worries
Australia to restart Korea coal project evaluation
Saudi Arabia, China sign nuclear cooperation deal
Japan's first reactor stress tests reach key stage
Atlas Maps U.S. Renewable Energy Resources
Swiss-German investors announce $2bn Oman solar project
Nigeria Cuts Gasoline Price Amid National Strike Over Subsidies

What is a bank run, and why you should care

Welcome to another installment of the Be Prepared Channel. Today we are going to talk about something that you will rarely if ever hear spoken of in the main stream media. Honestly even if you did hear anything about it in the media you can bet that what your hearing is going to be trying to calm people down and try to reassure you not to go to the bank. It is for this very reason you should understand how volatile the banks are and why you need to know what a bank run is and how it works.

Banks, the financial system, ponzi scheme?
The financial system in the United States and around the world for that matter are controlled by central banks and large global financial institutions. There is a very long history to how this financial system has developed, but lets just summarize by saying that this system is setup using a method of banking called fractional reserve banking. In a nutshell your bank or financial institution has been allowed by law to lend out huge portions of their reserves(ie your deposits) and only required to keep an extremely small amount of cash on hand. Here is what the Federal Reserve requires the banks to have in reserves:

Reserve Requirements
Liability Type	Requirement
	% of liabilities	Effective date
Net transaction accounts 1
$0 to $11.5 million2	0	12-29-11
More than $11.5 million to $71.0 million3	3	12-29-11
More than $71.0 million	10	12-29-11
Nonpersonal time deposits	0	12-27-90
Eurocurrency liabilities	0	12-27-90

Now you read it right, if your banking at a small institution they are not required to have any reserves set aside, and the top requirement for large institutions is 10% reserve. Now what does this mean to you and me? What it means is that the best case scenario is that your bank might have up to 10% of all the money it has as deposits available for withdrawal. The rest of it is tied up in contracts, loans, and other instruments. We won't get into CDS's, and other crazy risky counter party risk insurance policies or the riskly lending these banks have made or the amount of money they have lost in this installment, but let's just say these banks are in a panic trying to figure out how to cover loses.

Now if you have ever read or recall hearing the stories of the great depression and how gold caused the financial ruin of the country because they couldn't expand money supply you will start to question the story told by the bankers. What caused the financial problems was the fact that the banks loaned money and didn't have, they used risky lending practices and took huge loses, and did not have the reserves to meet the cash demand. The Federal Reserve did not know what debt, loans, and money creation had taken place and did not ensure that the financial system had the liquidity. But instead of owning up that the central banks didn't do their jobs they chose to blame the stock market, and gold as the reason for the panic and depression that hit the country... Fast forward to today and the exact same story is playing out, but don't worry the bankers are already lining up to blame governments, Wall Street, and your dog for the problem since gold is no longer backing the US currency. The fact that their system of reserves and capital requirements are flawed, and their ability to monitor, track, and manage the money supply is severely flawed is at the heart of this massive problem. To add insult to injury hese global financial institutions are so large that they pose a risk to the global economy.

So what does this mean to you?
Your bank does not have the cash on hand to withstand even a moderate number of people coming in and withdrawing funds. In a global economic environment like we have today the entire system globally is extremely fragile and it won't take much in the way of bad news to send people running to the grocery stores, banks, and gas stations. If this does happen we will see runs on the banks... IE people going in to take money out, and the bank will not have the funds. They will lock you out of your account, and may lock you out of the bank as they close the doors until the panic calms down. In previous times when this happened the banks locked you out of your funds for a period of time, and then later only allowed very small withdrawals on a daily or weekly time frame. This situation creates serious problems when you cannot pay your bills, buy food, or cover basic expenses.

Sadly what has happened is the banks now rely on FDIC insurance to cover losses(IE you and I get to eat it when the banks mis-manage their businesses). The situation today is that FDIC is broke and is now getting bailouts from you and I to keep bailing out banks. Many banks are being closed every week as we speak and have been getting gobbled up at an alarming rate since 2008 when this ponzi scheme started to unravel. So you take your own risks by assuming that FDIC will be there to get your funds back. The time it could take to restore your access to your funds could also be questionable if this situation gets really bad.

Here is a video explaining a small snippet on what a bank run is:


What can you do to protect yourself?
In a situation like this where banks don't have money, and can get swamped very fast with requests for money and your access to your account via your debit card, credit card, ATM's will not work as the financial system freezes. Anyone with cash will be KING! We can read stories of what happened in Argentina and other places where this has happened and anyone who had cash on had as the banks were shut down were able to buy food, goods, services while others were left to wait as the black market popped up and people began to barter and trade. So the "smart money" makes sure that we have emergency cash on hand for just this type of emergency along with ample supplies in your larder/pantry/food storage plan to ensure that we have our own needs met, but also items to barter/trade in this type of environment. Each payday stuff a little cash in your cookie jar for that rainy day... cause it is going to be a monsoon!

The moral of the story is that our financial system is in complete disarray. Sadly very few politicians have the guts to require stiff capital reserve requirements for the banking system, or to hold these banks accountable for their actions, or to even let them fail and allow healthy companies to buy up the good assets and make a thriving business from it. So we need to take steps on our own to make sure we have cash available to us for an extended duration bank lockdown, barter/trade supplies, and maybe even diversify with precious metals. But don't keep all your eggs in one bank... I mean basket! LOL Take steps to ensure you have resources available to you in case our financial system is locked down or collapses. You will be doing yourself and your family a great favor. NOTE: That you may not be able to get to safety deposit boxes either, so don't have that is your sole plan in the event banks are locked.

We don't have to be one of the people rioting in the streets for something to eat, a place to stay, or the ability to take care of ourselves. Take the precautions today to learn more about the fractional reserve banking system, and what is wrong with the way it works. You will be glad you took the time to learn and understand how this works and to take the kinds of steps to protect yourself and family.

Take Care,
Longsnowsm

Interesting Headlines in the News Jan 13

U.S. Debt Nears $15.194 Trillion Ceiling
Bain Capital Owns Clear Channel

Fed Officials Signal More Action May Be Needed
Crude Nears $103
Iranian paper calls for retaliation against Israel
Keep Their Feet to the Fire
Defense Spending Is a Shovel-Ready Investment
Dollar Crisis Comingâ€"Just a Matter of Time
Bill Gross Called an 'Oddball,' in Fed Transcript
Jobless Claims in U.S. Rose More Than Forecast
Geithner Gets Japan Backing on Iran After China Snub
MF Has Distributed $3.8B to Date: Trustee
China Gold Hoarding

U.S. Postal Service Sued

Mortgage Refinancing Plan Would Harm Banks: Dick Bove
Gold Is Investors' Favorite Asset in 2012
MF Global May Not Be Able to Pay Clients Back: Trustee
Bulk Foreclosure Sales Could Cause Bigger Bank Write-Downs
Ahead of Crash, Fed Saw Little Threat From Housing
2012 gold panic in China?
China gold buying surge? It must be PBOC
ECB-Gold reserves decline by 2 mn euros in January
Gold-Dollar correlation near zero. Is this unusual?
Gold & silver: Creating the right exit strategy
What the 11 year Gold rally and its corrections teach us
The Most-Often Overlooked Tax Deductions
The 10 States With the Most Trouble Paying Their Bills
Dear U.S.A.: Your Accout Is Overdrawn
El Erian: QE3 Won’t Work, Europe Poses Big Risk to U.S.
Deadly Dow 36,000
& The Secret History Of A 70% Market Loss
Inflation: An Expansion of Counterfeit Credit
Class Action Suit Against MF, JPM and CME
Epic to FTC: Google Search+ is violating users' privacy
US marines accused of war crimes
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

Police to investigate MI6 over rendition and torture of Libyans
Xbox assembly workers in China

$9 Gallon Gasoline Will Crash World Economies if WWIII Starts
U.S. Sends Top Iranian Leader a Warning on Strait Threat
U.S. military moves carriers, denies Iran link
Europe's north is bustling, its south closing down
Iran nuclear sites may be beyond reach of "bunker busters"
Philly Fed revises December factory activity lower
The Financial System is a Farce:
George Mitchell on the Iran Crisis
Food Lion’s owner closing 126 stores, retiring Bloom banner
30-year mortgage rate hits new low of 3.89%
Amid downturn,

Fed’s image tarnished by newly released documents
Military Networks ‘Not Defensible,’

IBM Brains Turn 12 Atoms Into World’s Smallest Storage Bit
1.2 Billion Indians signing life away for biometric ID cards
Obama Sends Request To Congress For $1.2 Trillion Debt Ceiling Increase