As many commentators have opined, Canadians should not become smug because Canada has fared relatively well in the Great Recession since 2008. Canada has been as fortunate as it has been wise, above all in having the United States, rather than more historically aggressive countries, as a neighbour; in having the British as the originating force for Canadian institutions and laws; and in being a treasure house of natural resources. It might even, someday, be seen as an advantage to have a viable French contingent of the population. It would require a preternaturally inept people to misplay this geopolitical hand.

It is notorious that most Canadians are to some degree anti-American, though most are also appreciators of America, and this makes the present election in the United States, unfathomably banal though the campaign has been so far, a matter of legitimate comfort to most Canadians. Canada has been to some degree the beneficiary of the self-imposed decline of America these past 15 years. It is a continuing struggle to persuade Canadians that they may safely liberate themselves from the impulse not to aspire to anything more ambitious in the world than to tug at the trouser-leg of the Americans. Canada entrusted its national security entirely to the United States in the 1930s, and through the end of the Cold War, and pulled its weight sometimes, and sometimes not. And the extent of its independence was mainly posturing through the United Nations in the role of peacekeeper.

Conrad Black is impossible to describe. More than twenty years ago I paid $50 to go to a luncheon here in Edmonton where he was the keynote speaker. His presence, when he entered the room, was palpable. The assembled multitude didn't know whether to clap or not...and I don't think they did, as I seem to remember that he walked to the podium in total silence.

But there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they were in the presence of a great mind. And regardless of his public trials and tribulations over the last number of years, he remains mostly unbowed...and his gigantic intellect, along with his almost equally gigantic ego, remain to this day...although his time spent in the clutches of the American legal/prison system have certainly softened him, as have his advancing years on this planet.

This op-ed piece in Saturday's edition of the National Post is to be read slowly, savoured...like one would a $1,000 bottle of wine. I haven't quite made up my mind as to whether or not I would like the guy if I had the opportunity to break bread with him, but I do recognize genius when I see it...and for that reason alone, I respect what he has to say...and so should you. It's an absolute must read, of course...and I thank Roy Stephens for his first offering of the day. The link is here.

One of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner — especially from the elites in every country," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in her speech at the Clinton Global Initiative Monday.

Although Clinton noted that she is "out of politics" domestically, the audience was already chuckling at her clear reference to the debate over tax policy in the presidential contest.

"It is a fact that the elites in every country are making money. There are rich people everywhere, and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries," Clinton said.

What Clinton meant by "contribute to growth" was revealing. She listed contributing to building schools and hospitals rather than domestic business investment, which is the conventional meaning of contributing to growth.

Wow! This woman is totally out of control...and to make matters worse, the word is out that she's probably running for president in 2016. Be very afraid. This CNBC story was picked up the businessinsider.com Internet site yesterday...and is Roy Stephens second offering in a row. The link is here.

Banks have been behind the curve in terms of downsizing, with their employees paying for it now through a rash of furloughs, analyst Meredith Whitney told CNBC.

The industry has seen a recent spate of big layoff announcements, including 16,000 from alone.

Though banks already have jettisoned about half a million workers since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, Whitney said more are to come as the shrinking big institutions struggle to compete.

This short piece was posted on cnbc.com website just minutes after the closing bell in New York yesterday afternoon...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it. The link is here.

After it emerged this month that Goldman Sachs was breaking with 25 years of tradition and no longer extending two-year contracts to college-recruited investment bankers, my mind was immediately transported to the heady summer of 1998.

On the bottom tip of Manhattan, where Goldman’s footprint sprawled across several buildings, I was one of hundreds of newly hired two-year analysts who roamed the concrete canyons with company-issued ThinkPads and insignia satchels. We were the spawn of a booming stock-market and mergers-and-acquisitions scene that stoked Goldman, then Wall Street’s last big partnership, to splurge on undergraduate hires.

Whether you were Merrill, the Morgans, Bear, Lehman or even some Jersey City boiler room, you had to staff up big or miss out on the seemingly endless fees and commissions up for grabs. My senior year of college accordingly saw banks -- big, small and never-before-heard-of -- ply us with sushi, fondue and microbrewery rent-outs.

Dynamic. Culture. Team. Growth. Value. Vision. Down enough shrimp-tempura rolls and you could almost stomach the McKinseyglish.

This very interesting read showed up on the Bloomberg Internet site at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time yesterday afternoon...and I thank Washington state reader S.A. for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.

The Federal Reserve could expand its stimulus package to include assets other than mortgage-backed securities if the U.S. economy fails to respond to its latest effort to jump-start the economy.

“Unlike our past asset-purchase programs, this one doesn’t have a preset expiration date,” said San Francisco Fed President John Williams at a speech at the City Club on Monday. “Instead, it is explicitly linked to what happens with the economy.”

At its monetary-policy meeting on Sept. 13, the U.S. central bank said it would buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities per month as part of a stimulus plan colloquially known as QE3 — for Round 3 of quantitative easing.

“We might even expand our purchases to include other assets,” he said.

One wonders if gold mines might be on the list of "other assets". This marketwatch.com piece was picked up by the finance.yahoo.com Internet site late yesterday afternoon...and I thank reader Scott Pluschau for digging it up on our behalf. The link is here.

The watchdog has called for "exemplary sanctions" and "forceful punishment" of bankers who are caught breaching regulations to make them an example in an industry where investigating malpractice is difficult.

The individuals who set Libor could also come under the regulatory umbrella.

The FSA's proposals come as Martin Wheatley, the chief executive-designate of the Financial Conduct Authority, is expected to propose a fundamental overhaul of the way the inter-bank lending rate is set when his government-commissioned review reports this week.

This story showed up at the telegraph.co.uk Internet site at 9:30 p.m. BST...4:30 p.m. on the U.S. East coast...and is Donald Sinclair's first story in today's column. The link is here.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Volcker said that plans to force banks in the UK to ring-fence their traditional retail arms from "casino" investment divisions would not work in the event of a bail out. Ring, he said, would only work in "fair-weather" conditions but not when banks were under pressure.

"In my experience ring-fencing is not terribly effective," said Mr Volcker. "It only works in fair-weather. But doesn't work in foul weather. They have already run into problems and they are bound to run into more."

The criticism comes less than a month after the publication of Sir John Vickers' banking reform proposals.

The report, which was aimed at shaking up British banking, opted for ring fencing rather than a complete separation of retail banking from riskier investment banking divisions. The cost of ring-fencing is estimated to be between £4bn-£7bn, but many of its critics question whether it can adequately cordon off retail deposits, which are implicitly guaranteed by the Government.

This story was posted on The Telegraph's website late on Sunday evening...and it, too, is courtesy of Roy Stephens. It's also worth reading...and the link is here.

Economists at Morgan Stanley calculated that Britain’s budget deficit could total £126bn, or 7.8pc, of gross domestic product in 2013-14.

That would make Britain’s the highest projected European deficit, with Morgan Stanley predicting that Greece’s would stand at 6.3pc and Spain’s at just under 6pc. The Office for Budget Responsibility currently predicts that Britain’s budget deficit could be £98bn next year, or 5.9pc of GDP.

Morgan Stanley’s forecasts underline the pressure on Chancellor George Osborne efforts to cut the deficit, as official figures last week showed that government borrowing for the first five months of the financial year was running at more than 25pc over target.

This is another story from The Telegraph...this one posted on their website in the early afternoon BST...and I thank Roy Stephens for passing it along. The link is here.

Spanish banks may need a cash injection of more than €100bn (£80bn), the results of an official stress test are expected to show this week, placing more financial pressure on to an already explosive political crisis in Madrid.

A bank-by-bank test of financial stability due on Friday is expected to conclude that Spain's lenders are dangerously over-burdened with toxic debts and need to be recapitalised, restructured or shut down.

The stress test is expected to show a dramatic deterioration since the previous tests were carried out at the beginning of the summer which suggested a €60bn cash injection would be the worst-case scenario.

Nomura Global Economics said in a note: "Our initial reaction to the publication of those estimates has been negative. The announced figures are well below the market expectations, which start at around €100bn, and, in our view, not only fall short of bolstering market confidence but may actually increase the risk of Spain losing market access."

This story is also from The Telegraph. It was posted on their website early on Saturday evening...and I thank Donald Sinclair for sending it. The link is here.

"Do not play with the feelings of the Catalans" is the totally unveiled threat after Catalonia's beggars-can-be-choosers demand for an unconditional bailout fell on deaf ears. The traditionally separatist-minded province has decided, according to ANSAmed, has decided to pull a Greece - and escalate with a move to secession. A resolution, on the right of the Catalan people to cut off ties with the Spanish state, will be voted on Thursday by the regional parliament.

This statement of "the will of Catalan people to vote on the bond with the State of Spain" opens the way for forthcoming elections on November 25 to become a referendum on the sovereignty of Catalonia.

The Spanish military are not taking this lying down with the counter-threat that these 'separatists' and their 'inappropriate and unacceptable' threat to break-up Spain shall be, according to El Economista, charged with high treason.

This story showed up on Zero Hedge yesterday...and I thank reader Bill Busser for sharing it with us. The link is here.

On a recent evening, a hip-looking young woman was sorting through a stack of crates outside a fruit and vegetable store here in the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas as it shut down for the night.

At first glance, she looked as if she might be a store employee. But no. The young woman was looking through the day’s trash for her next meal. Already, she had found a dozen aging potatoes she deemed edible and loaded them onto a luggage cart parked nearby.

“When you don’t have enough money,” she said, declining to give her name, “this is what there is.”

The woman, 33, said that she had once worked at the post office but that her unemployment benefits had run out and she was living now on 400 euros a month, about $520. She was squatting with some friends in a building that still had water and electricity, while collecting “a little of everything” from the garbage after stores closed and the streets were dark and quiet.

I would suggest that this problem is not confined to Spain, dear reader...as 'dumpster diving' has become a way of life for a lot of people in a lot of countries, including Canada. This longish 2-page story showed up in The New York Times yesterday...and I thank Phil Barlett for this contribution to today's column. It's worthy, but depressing reading, if you have the time...and the link is here.

Euro zone states are preparing to allow the bloc's permanent bailout fund to leverage its capital in the same way as its predecessor so it can reach a capacity of more than 2 trillion euros ($2.6 trillion) and rescue big countries if necessary, Der Spiegel said on Sunday.

The weekly news magazine said that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would have two instruments like its predecessor, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), that would only allow public money to be used for particularly risky transactions such as buying Spanish bonds, while private investors would provide the rest.

It had always been expected that the ESM, which is expected to come into force on Oct. 8 with a capacity of 500 billion euros ($649 billion), would have the same leverage ability as the EFSF and euro zone finance ministers reiterated this at their meeting in Cyprus earlier this month.

If the ESM gets approval to use the same leverage techniques as the EFSF, it would have a lending power of around 2 trillion euros without countries having to contribute any more capital to the fund.

Washington state reader S.A. sent me this CNBC story early on Sunday evening...and the link is here.

Germany's finance ministry said on Monday that talk of the euro zone's permanent bailout fund being leveraged to 2 trillion euros via private sector involvement was not realistic, adding that any discussion of precise figures was "purely abstract".

Ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said there were talks going on in Brussels about leveraging the capacity of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in the same way as its predecessor, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).

But, asked about a report in Spiegel magazine that the ESM's capacity could be leveraged to 2 trillion euros, he said this was "illusory".

"It is not feasible to talk about figures at present," he told reporters. "It is purely abstract."

This Reuters story was filed from Berlin very early in the morning Eastern time...and I thank Richard Craggs for sending it along. The link is here.

It may be the darkest hour before the dawn but the economic news from Europe could hardly be more depressing for Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank.

He has thrown $1.3 trillion in credit at Europe's stricken banks, launched an "unlimited" program of buying euro government bonds in secondary markets and now has a $650 billion war chest to bail out the euro weaklings. That is why he has been dubbed Super-Mario.

But Super Mario has been mugged by reality. Spain has just reported that its deficit for the first half of this year is running at an annual rate of 8.56 percent of gross domestic product. The original deficit target for this year was 4.4 percent, then revised to 5 percent, then up again to 5.3 percent and then to 6.3 percent.

This UPI editorial by Martin Walker is definitely worth reading...and it's another story courtesy of Roy Stephens, for which I thank him. The link is here.

Iranian officials say they aren't scared of Israel’s threats of a military assault aimed at their rumored nuclear warhead program, but a senior officer in Iran's Revolutionary Guard says such a strike would warrant retaliation against US bases.

Should Israel make good with its warning of using military force to take down an Iranian nuke procurement plan, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says that the response will be costly for the United States military, even if America does not endorse a unilateral strike on Iran.

Gen. Hajizadeh explains in a statement this week that America’s continuing support of Israel is enough to associate them with any attack waged against Iran, even if the US has officially condemned any plans to put boots in the ground to dismantle the rumored nuclear program.

"For this reason, we will enter a confrontation with both parties and will definitely be at war with American bases should a war break out," Hajizadeh says, according to a post on Iran's state Al-Alam TV.

This story showed up on the Russia Today website very late last night...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it shortly after it was posted. The link is here.

The first blog is with Michael Pento...and it's headlined "We Have Entered a New & More Deadly Phase of This Cycle". Next is Nigel Farage. It's entitled "We are Now Entering the Terrifying End Game". The third blog involves James Turk...and it's headlined "There is a War Going on in the Gold & Silver Markets". The last blog is with Richard Russell. It bears the title "A Crashing Sector, Gold & the Fiscal Cliff". The only audio interview is this one with Ben Davies.

Brace yourself for some painful "agflation". That is the shorthand for agricultural commodity inflation, otherwise known as rising food prices.

They are being driven upwards by the climb in grain and oilseed prices as US crops weather the country's worst drought since 1936, while the farming belts of Russia and South America suffer through similar water shortages.

What we are seeing represents the third major rally in global grain and oilseed prices in just half a decade.

Worse is to come, new research warns. World food prices look set to hit an all-time high in the first quarter of next year – and then keep rising, according to the analysis from Rabobank, a specialist in agricultural commodities.

By June 2013, the basket of food prices tracked by the United Nations could climb 15pc from current levels, according to the bank's analysts.

This item showed up on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late yesterday afternoon BST...and it's Roy Stephens final offering in today's column. It's certainly worth reading...and the link is here.

Federal agents are investigating the peddling of bogus gold bars in Midtown.

The Post has learned as many as 10 fake gold bars -- made up mostly of relatively worthless tungsten -- were sold recently to unsuspecting dealers in Manhattan's Midtown Diamond District.

The price of gold has risen more than 600 percent since January 2000, while the S&P 500 index is down 0.6 percent over the same period.

The 10-ounce gold bars are hugely popular with Main Street investors, and it is not known how many of the fake gold bars were sold to dealers -- or if any fake bars were purchased by the public.

This story was posted on the New York Post's website just before midnight late Sunday evening. I borrowed it from a GATA release yesterday...and the link is here.

With gold-plated tungsten bars making another appearance this week, it's time to call attention again to the safeguards used by the best gold dealers to avoid getting cheated and to avoid cheating their customers.

In March the Perth Mint's Bron Suchecki wrote about these safeguards, particularly ultrasonic testing, in an essay GATA reported about. Suchecki's essay remains posted at the Perth Mint's Internet site.

GoldMoney's standard includes ultrasonic testing, which is described in both text and a video.

This must read GATA release linked here, contains all the information necessary to prevent you from being swindled when it comes to buying precious metal bars of any kind...so get educated!

And, as UBS points out, "With spec positioning now elevated on a relative basis, the reluctance is understandable: gold spec positioning at 28.1 million ounces is at the highest in over a year, and sits at 85% of the all-time high."

So, the question then becomes, is the hoped for correction likely to come or, is it instead going to prove a futile waiting game?

Barclays agrees that gold's price response to further quantitative easing has been to capture the bulk of the gains ahead of the announcement but, adds, "in our view, the investor space lends one of the most positive aspects. Physically backed gold ETPs have gained momentum to set a fresh record high but speculative positioning, which has risen, is not overextended."

Indeed, UBS remarks, "What's been quite evident over the past week is that buyers are very eager to step in on dips such that any move lower has been short-lived. There is a risk that no such better buying opportunity will present itself, as we saw after QE1 when gold simply proceeded to make higher highs and higher lows."

This MineWeb story was posted on their Internet some time on Monday...and I thank Ulrike Marx for sharing it with us. The link is here...and it's well worth the read.

2012, like 2004 and 2008, was ALWAYS going to be a relatively modest year for gold and silver. Modest, that is, within the context of a run rate of a 17% year-on-year increase (compounded) that we have seen for 12 years. Up until "QE Infinity" gold had scored a 4% gain YTD and today it stands at just 9%.

If gold is to maintain its run rate - and why wouldn't it - and if prices were to correlate with the size of the US monetary base, this would suggest that the gold price rally is also only roughly half way there (arguably it would outperform as confidence in the US dollar evaporates). In other words gold has the capacity to rise to between $3,500 and $4,000 - something we have maintained for some time. Furthermore, this level would see the Dow/gold ratio marking a fall to 2.5:1 as we also forecast.

Gold looks rosy and we maintain a bullish outlook - with the best for prices yet to come.

It's not often that I'm able to post a piece by Ross Norman over at Sharp Pixley in London...but this items showed up over at the mineweb.com Internet site yesterday...and it, too, is worth your time, if you have any left at this point. The link is here.

In its editorial yesterday, the New York Sun expresses amazement at the gold-friendly report published this week by Deutsche Bank, one of the world's major banks. As the Sun notes, that report, written by Deustche Bank analysts Daniel Brebner and Xiao Fu, doesn't just recommend gold as a currency and investment, a form of "good money" far superior to the "bad money" issued by governments -- it also muses sympathetically about restoration of a gold standard for money.

The links to the Sun editorial...and the Deutsche Bank gold report...along with Chris Powell's extensive preamble...are embedded in this GATA release linked here. Everything contained therein, is a must read.

Having pretty much given up on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which can't seem to do anything about the concentrated short position in silver maintained by JPMorganChase, silver market analyst Ted Butler discloses that he has appealed to JPMorganChase board members.

He hasn't gotten a reply yet.

Butler's commentary is headlined "Transparency" and it's posted at GoldSeek's companion site, SilverSeek.com. I thank Chris Powell for wordsmithing the paragraph of introduction...and the link to this absolute must read commentary is here.