What Are Sanders and Obama Going To Discuss

Apparently President Obama and Senator Sanders are going to have an 'informal one-on-one meeting with no agenda' and no press today.

This presidential election has really framed up as an attempt at a popular revolt against a Big Money political establishment. And it is fascinating to watch.

Although the mainstream media keeps feigning astonishment, the broader public is clearly seeking two non-establishment candidate who, for better or worse, they think cannot be bought off by Big Money and the revolving door.

This meeting is an informal one with no set agenda.

Perhaps Obama will share the insight he allegedly had early in his Presidency about reformers as recounted by the ex-CIA whistleblower Ray McGovern.

"He’s afraid of what happened to Martin Luther King Jr. And I know from a good friend who was there when it happened, that at a small dinner with progressive supporters – after these progressive supporters were banging on Obama before the election, Why don’t you do the things we thought you stood for? Obama turned sharply and said, “Don’t you remember what happened to Martin Luther King Jr.?” That’s a quote, and that’s a very revealing quote."

Ray McGovern

I am sure Obama was being flip.   They was no need to buy him because he was a well-crafted brand backed by Big Money from the very start.  What he was voicing, if indeed he said this, was the time honored motto of political corruption, to go along to get along.  This was the great lesson to the Democratic party from the Clintons.

I have included a short but interesting video at the very bottom about how things work in Washington these days as recounted by Neil Barofsky to Bill Moyers.

And finally I include a short video describing the state of politics in the US from that wild eyed radical, former President Jimmy Carter.

Bernie Sanders Meets With Obama Today: What They Might Talk About
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
January 27, 2016

Expensive media real estate is reporting that presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, will meet with President Obama in the Oval Office today. Much is being made of the fact that the meeting comes less than a week before the politically important Iowa caucuses and just two days after Politico published an exclusive interview with the President in which he appeared to favor a Clinton presidency. (Memo to the President: this election is about finding an authentic non-establishment candidate, so your opinion as the quintessential establishment figure is not likely to sway folks – at least not in a good way.)

The first thing that came to mind when we heard about the meeting was that one or more kingpins on Wall Street might have asked the President to whisper in Senator Sanders’ ear to stop repeating at every campaign stop that the business model of Wall Street is fraud. Sanders is also regularly stating on the stump that one of his top priorities as President will be to break up those Wall Street banks that would require another taxpayer bailout if they should fail.

Would Wall Street actually be brazen enough to try to censor the message of a sitting U.S. Senator? Back in March of last year, Reuters reported that representatives of Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America “have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including [Elizabeth] Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party’s tone toward Wall Street.” The article noted that withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats was one option that was on the table at the Wall Street banks...

Read the entire story at Wall Street On Parade.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Fed Rate Decision Tomorrow, Registered Gold Plunges

Gold and silver were both in rally mode today, continuing the 'bounce' off the recent bottom and a desire to move higher.

There was intraday commentary in which I suggested that we are seeing a flight to safety, wherein gold bullion tends to lead riskier aspects of the precious metals higher, and moves in conjunction with the dollar pretty much.

I also mentioned the potential 'cup and handle' bottom which I have alluded to previously, and posted a closeup of what the chart formation would look like if it was activated.

You may read that here.

There was a bit of bad news today. According to Koos Jansen, China has stopped publishing the Shanghai Gold Exchange's Withdrawal figures. You may read his recent article on this at his blog site here.

When I was looking up the latest reports on activity in the CME licensed warehouses, I was a little surprise to see that the registered for delivery gold bullion plunged by about 2/3rds. And so I posted an update on it which you may read about here.

As I have said before, this does not imply a default to deliver is imminent, or any of ther other things that some will say it means.  It is likely an indication of physical tightness and gold being held in strong hands not for sale at these prices.

But it also does not mean nothing, as some apologists for the current way of conducting this business would have you think. When something has not happened before, over a period of many years of data, chances are pretty good that something has changed.

As my friend Nick says, 'Let the shorts burn.'

FOMC tomorrow. And as a continuing reminder, these markets have hardly become transparent and efficient, so be ready for anything in the short term.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Rally Mode of the Day - An APPL a Day

US equities were in rally mode today, ahead of the FOMC decision tomorrow and Apple's earnings out tonight.

As you may recall I have suggested that we would see stocks rally off the recent bottom, and then go up and take back a goodly chunk of the recent decline.

And unless something changes, and the Fed's monetary policy *might* qualify if it changes enough, stocks are likely to fail in this rally at some point and go back down to test a new low, or at least retest the prior one.

So let's see what happens while the world waits for AAPL.

Have a pleasant evening.

Gold Registered for Delivery at the CME Warehouses Plunges To a New Low

Over 200,000 ounces of gold bullion were withdrawn from the registered (deliverable) category in the Comex licensed warehouses at the least.

That takes the new total down to a little under 74,000 ounces of actual physical bullion registered for delivery at these prices.  I will check later but I do believe this is a new low for this century.

Since January is pretty much a non-delivery month for an increasingly non-delivering exchange, it may not mean all that much, but it is interesting to watch for all the reasons we have discussed previously.

And it is a fairly recent phenomenon with no other good explanation that those holding their gold at CME licensed warehouse do not with to hold their gold in a deliverable category at these prices.

Or they enjoy doing useless and pointless paperwork, as some would have you believe.

One should keep an open mind about things.  But some reasonably persuasive data to back up the theories from the perennial apologists for the bullion banks would be more persuasive.

When something has not happened before, and other evidence suggests that something has radically changed, I do not think that it is wise to just dismiss it.

This should send the 'potential claims per ounce' back towards those highs from the end of last year.

My own theory as you know is that traders who are holding gold in these warehouses do not wish to take the risk of losing it in a physical short squeeze, or have otherwise encumbered the gold and do not wish to risk a delivery and loss of the physical bullion.

There could be another reason for this.  I have surely not heard anything remotely plausible yet, just the usual tortured rationales from the perennial bullion bank apologists and creatures of a failing bullion hypothecation system.