Ireland May Have One Month to Stave Off Bailout

From Bloomberg.com:

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan may have just one month to stave off an international bailout.

The extra yield that investors demand to hold Irish 10-year bonds over German bunds surged to a record today as Lenihan tries to put together a 2011 budget by Dec. 7 that convinces investors he can get the country’s finances in order.

“The behavior of international bond markets suggests the government’s various announcements haven’t convinced markets that we are on a credible, stable path,” said Karl Whelan, an economics professor at University College Dublin and a former economist at the Federal Reserve. “The budget is going to be crucial in determining if we can change that attitude.”

The premium on Irish bonds has doubled since August and is now wider than the spread on Greek debt four days before it sought a European Union-led bailout in April. That’s putting pressure on Lenihan to cut the deficit and overcome both an economic slump and the rising cost of bailing out the country’s banks......read on

We Are Entering A Golden Era

By David Levenstein
1 November 2010

Gold prices bounced back firmly on Friday and were close to testing the $1360 an ounce level. Recently, the price of the yellow metal made a new historical level of $1387 an ounce. While the amount is not yet known, it seems certain that the US Federal Reserve will implement its program of further quantitative easing citing high unemployment and low inflation as the cause. In order to prevent any further deterioration in unemployment in the US, the economy needs to have a steady GDP growth of at least 2%. Personally, I doubt that this new round of monetary expansion is going to have any major effect on the high unemployment rate in the US, but I am certain that this action will lead to the further debasement of the world's reserve currency. And, as this happens, we can expect to see further dollar weakness which will certainly be highly supportive for gold.

Gold is an international currency and it is among the most liquid assets in the world. It can be readily bought or sold 24 hours a day in one or more markets around the world. And, the price is very transparent and can be seen anytime no matter where you are.......read on