Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker met in person with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro this week to discuss the proposed ban on proprietary trading named for him, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Volcker, 84, has been a prominent advocate for the ban, which he asserts would curb the kind of risky trading that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

“Proprietary trading of financial instruments -- essentially speculative in nature -- engaged in primarily for the benefit of limited groups of highly paid employees and of stockholders does not justify the taxpayer subsidy implicit in routine access to Federal Reserve credit, deposit insurance or emergency support,” Volcker wrote in a commentary submitted to regulators Feb. 13th.

This Bloomberg story was posted on their website yesterday afternoon...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it along. It's certainly worth the read...and the link is here.

Investors shouldn’t pay “much attention” to what governments are doing, well-known investor Jim Rogers, CEO and Chairman of Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Friday.

“If you listen to governments, then you are not going to make a lot of money. Governments lie, distort and make mistakes,” he said.

Investors should focus on “real assets” like commodities to deal with continuing worries of another downturn, he added.

“My way of playing this is to own real assets like commodities,” he said “You now have the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve printing money. The way to protect yourself at a time like this is to own assets.”

Rogers added that he thinks silver looks more attractive than gold at the moment because of the sustained rise in the gold price.

This story was posted on the cnbc.com website yesterday...and is another contribution from Elliot Simon. The link is here.

But don’t count me bullish. I see no holes in the analysis that this is an ongoing slow train wreck – the unfolding worst-case-scenario. The European financial and economic crisis will not be resolved anytime soon (think post-Bubble Japan). Greece is an unmitigated disaster and, throughout Europe, economic structure now (in a post Credit boom backdrop) matters. I don’t see how such dissimilar economic structures (and social and political systems), say between Italy and Germany, are consistent with a common currency. LTRO only buys time. China is, as well, an accident in the making.

I look at the global backdrop and see all the makings for a major, major market top. It’s just impossible to know how far away – both in time and price – we are from such an outcome. I don’t envisage a new bull market – but instead see the same type of manic marketplace that brought us the 2010 “flash crash” and the 2011 10-day market shellacking.

Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin every Friday is a must read for me...and it should be for you as well. I thank reader U.D. for sending me yesterday's edition that's posted over at the prudentbear.com website...and the link is here.

On December 15, Jon Corzine (D-NJ), former CEO of the suddenly bankrupt commodities and futures brokerage firm MF Global, finished three days of testimony before the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. This followed the December 2nd decision of the House Agriculture Committee to subpoena Corzine after a request for a voluntary appearance went unanswered. Two other congressional committees subpoenaed Corzine in the next several days. To say that it is unusual for Congress to issue a subpoena to a former United States senator (and, in this case, governor) is an understatement. As an Associated Press article noted, "Congressional historians and Capitol Hill insiders can't recall another time when a former member of Congress was summoned by his former peers to testify about a matter under federal investigation."

In fact, the move was so rare that even the New York Times, Washington Post, and Politico—each of which had reported remarkably little on the eighth largest bankruptcy in our nation's history and America's biggest financial failure since Lehman Brothers—had to take notice.

The bankruptcy was caused by Corzine's decision (if I may borrow a phrase from Corzine's good friend, President Barack Obama) to fundamentally transform MF Global from a sizeable but relatively staid commodities brokerage firm into a gambling enterprise. MF, which was spun off from the British firm Man Financial in 2007, not only risked the firm's own money but then used customers' funds to plug the holes when Corzine's massive speculative purchases of European government debt went south. Fundamentally transforming something that was already working pretty well is perhaps not the best strategy for success.

Having read Roger Lowenstein's classic 2001 tome...When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management shortly after it was published, I was already well aware of this creature called Jon Corzine, as Roger did not paint a flattering picture of him, or Goldman Sachs, even back in those days.

This 3-page exposé on Corzine showed up as the feature article in the February edition of The American Spectator...and I thank Washington state reader S.A. for digging up this absolute must read on our behalf. The link is here.

The US government's obliteration of the Bill of Rights via the Patriot Act, the recent defense bill that allows the military to detain citizens indefinitely without trial, the health care law that forces citizens to buy insurance, and the attempted takeover of the Internet through SOPA and PIPA has gotten a lot of attention lately, and in a few rare cases has generated some effective push-back.

But according to an article in this month's Harper's Magazine (Killing the competition: How the new monopolies are destroying open markets, by Barry C. Lynn), US corporations are evolving into forms that are more threatening to their victims than anything emanating from Washington. As the author characterizes it, a new generation of monopolists are imposing their own private governments on their industries -- and not always the industries one would expect. This long, detailed article should be read by anyone with a desire to understand how the US is evolving.

This excellent piece by John Rubino was posted over at the safehaven.com website on Thursday...and is well worth the read. I thank Swiss reader B.G. for bringing it to my attention...and the link is here.

Is Obama a hypocrite or merely insouciant? Or is he an idiot?

According to news reports Obama’s White House meeting on Valentine’s day with China’s Vice President, Xi Jinping, provided an opportunity for Obama to raise “a sensitive human rights issue with the Chinese leader-in-waiting.” The brave and forthright Obama didn’t let etiquette or decorum get in his way. Afterwards, Obama declared that Washington would “continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of realizing the aspirations and rights of all people.”

Think about that for a minute. Washington is now in the second decade of murdering Muslim men, women, and children in six countries. Washington is so concerned with human rights that it drops bombs on schools, hospitals, weddings and funerals, all in order to uphold the human rights of Muslim people. You see, bombing liberates Muslim women from having to wear the burka and from male domination.

One hundred thousand, or one million, dead Iraqis, four million displaced Iraqis, a country with destroyed infrastructure, and entire cities, such as Fallujah, bombed and burnt with white phosphorus into cinders is the proper way to show concern for human rights.

As usual, Paul is right on the money. This piece was posted on the paulcraigroberts.org website on February 15th...and I thank reader 'James R' in Texas for sending it. It's definitely worth the read...and the link is here.

Last Saturday I posted a story out of London's Daily Mail that was written by columnist David Rose. It was headlined "Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again)" - repeats what is becoming a common misconception in the tabloid press: that a drop in solar activity is about to cause a 'mini ice age'.

In the piece, Rose so badly misrepresents the Met Office's work that they have taken the unusual step of responding to it on their blog, describing his article as containing "numerous errors in the reporting of published peer reviewed science undertaken by the Met Office Hadley Centre."

The link to their January 29th rebuttal is posted at their website metofficenews.wordpress.com...and the link is here. It's worth the read...and I thank reader J. Parker in Houston, Texas for bringing this item to my attention.

A new book by an executive at a major German power utility claims we aren't facing a climate catastrophe and rejects current mainstream ideas on global warming. Both climate change skeptics and those who warn of global warming profit from such controversies -- so who should we believe?

Science can be so easy -- at least when it is stripped of its nuances. Fritz Vahrenholt and his colleague, geologist Sebastian Lüning, say the world isn't facing a climate catastrophe. The two are peddling precisely the kind of theory that generates publicity and allows both sides of the debate to profit. But it also leaves people wondering who they should believe.

The authors both work for German electric utility company RWE, where Vahrenholt is an executive. In their book "Die Kalte Sonne" ("The Cold Sun"), they claim that important research about climate change has been kept under wraps and that cries of an impending climate catastrophe are misleading. Their book arrived in book stores in Germany last week, with considerable media attention.

This climate story was posted over at the German website spiegel.de on Thursday...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it along. It's a short read that's worth your while...and the link is here.

After several years of scandal in which the Catholic Church has faced allegations of financial impropriety, pedophile priests and rumours of plots to kill the Pope, the Vatican is now facing a new €600m-a-year tax bill as Rome seeks to head off European Commission censure over controversial property tax breaks enjoyed by the Church.

As the EC heads closer to officially condemning the fiscal perks enjoyed by the Catholic Church and introduced by the Berlusconi administration, Prime Minister Mario Monti has written to the Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, saying that the Vatican will resume property tax, or Ici, payments.

This story was posted over at the independent.co.uk website yesterday...and I thank Australian reader Wesley Legrand for sharing it with us. The link is here.

Congratulations to Iceland.

Fitch has upgraded the country to investment grade BBB – with stable outlook, expecting government debt to peak at 100pc of GDP.

The OECD's latest forecast said growth will be 2.4pc this year, after 2.9pc in 2011.

Unemployment will fall from 7pc last year to 6.1pc this year and then 5.3pc in 2013.

The current account deficit was 11.2pc in 2010. It will shrink to 3.4pc this year, and will be almost disappear next year.

This story appeared in The Telegraph yesterday...and is worth skimming. I thank Roy Stephens for sending it along...and the link is here.

Don Kotschevar teaches high school in the small town of Mullan in north Idaho's remote Silver Valley. He is the assistant principal, basketball coach and shop teacher. Lately, Kotschevar has been questioning his own career path. He watches his students parlay the skills he teaches them in this industrial mechanics class into lucrative mining jobs.

"Some of them, in the first six, eight months, their salaries absolutely crush mine," Kotschevar says. Entry-level mine jobs can pay $50,000 a year. Kotschevar has been thinking he could get a similar offer from local mine bosses.

"You know, I've got nine more years, so I can get my retirement here, and then when I retire I'll probably go to see if they'll hire me. Hopefully I won't be too old," he says. "I've been in teaching — I need to have a retirement plan."

This story was posted on the National Public Radio website yesterday...and is another offering from West Virginia reader Elliot Simon. The link is here.

Gold traders are getting more bullish after billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending.

Twelve of 22 surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to gain next week and five were neutral. Paulson & Co. is already the biggest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange- traded product backed by bullion, with a stake valued at $2.9 billion, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Feb. 14 showed. Investors have 2,389.7 metric tons in ETPs, within 0.2 percent of the record reached in December and more than all but four central banks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

This Bloomberg story from yesterday was sent to me by Washington state reader S.A...and the link is here.

The above Bloomberg story prompted the following outburst over at zerohedge.com yesterday..."We wish we had good news, but we are not going to lie: This is the worst possible news for any gold bull out there." Wesley Legrand sent me that story...and the link is here.

Despite the September 5, 2011 historic-high gold price of $1,895.00 per troy ounce, and despite the multi-decade-high silver price of $48.70 per troy ounce, gold and silver prices have yet to re-hit their 1980 historic levels, adjusted for inflation. The earlier all-time high of $850.00 of January 21, 1980 would be $2,476 per troy ounce, based on January 2012 CPI-U-adjusted dollars, $8,890 per troy ounce based on SGS-Alternate-CPI-adjusted dollars.

In like manner, the all-time high price for silver in January 1980 of $49.45 per troy ounce still has not been hit since 1980, including in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars. Based on January 2012 CPI-U inflation, the 1980 silver price peak would be $144 per troy ounce...and would be $517 per troy ounce in terms of SGS-Alternate-CPI-adjusted dollars.

John knows his stuff...and he's absolutely right about this. Silver is dirt cheap at today's price. This must read blog is posted over at the King World News website...and the link is here.

Worried that the U.S. dollar may not be good as gold, some Colorado lawmakers are pushing a bill to legalize gold and silver coins as usable currency.

"There are lots of concerns about the U.S. monetary system," said the bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Kent Lambert of Colorado Springs. "Individuals and states ought to be increasing their gold reserves. There's no way to maintain the value of anything if countries start a race to the bottom by inflating their currency to get out of debt."

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is among those who believe the nation should return to the gold standard, in which paper currency is guaranteed by precious metal.

"I am not a Ron Paul kind of guy," Lambert said. "But that's something I think is very legitimate that he brought up."

This story was posted in the Daily Herald out of Provo, Utah yesterday...and I thank reader Ken Metcalfe for sending it along. The link is here.

The World Gold Council (WGC) reaffirmed the power of the Love Trade in its 2011 Gold Demand Trends report released this week. Gold demand grew 0.4 percent in 2011 despite a 28 percent year-over-year increase in bullion’s average price.

After flirting with the top spot for some time, China emerged as the world’s largest gold market for jewelry and investment during the fourth quarter of 2011 as demand in India weakened. This is the first time China’s demand outpaced India’s in 11 quarters. However, India did retain the gold demand crown for the entire year, purchasing 933 tons compared to China’s demand of 770 tons.

I always say the trend is your friend, and I believe China’s increasing demand for gold is one trend that is just getting started. Although gold imports from Hong Kong were cut in half in December, HSBC Global Research reports that overall gold imports from Hong Kong were 10 times the historical average from January through November 2011. HSBC expects a continued rise in Chinese incomes will keep demand at a robust pace. The WGC sees domestic demand for gold jewelry and investment driving 20 percent growth in Chinese gold demand during 2012.

This rather long piece [with some excellent charts] was posted by my friend Frank Holmes, CEO and Chief Investment Officer over at U.S. Global Investors. It's worth reading if you have the time...and it's Elliot Simon's final offering in today's column. The link is here.

Fund manager Egon von Greyerz, was interviewed by King World News yesterday...and he expects debt derivatives to start exploding across Europe and the United States soon, and gold to end its consolidation phase and to start moving up again as soon as next week.

Let's hope he's right. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the KWN website...and the link is here.