Dear CIGAs,

Keep focused. Gold’s price is a product of debt levels and debt viability.

Governments stand and fall on the condition of their debt and ability to borrow.

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

More from John Williams’ Shadowstats.com.

- Revised Industrial Production Shows Much Deeper Recession
- February’s Production Level Lowered by 2.6%

"No. 360: Industrial Production Revisions"
Web-page: http://www.shadowstats.com ^[1]

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

No fly zone?

Syria Troops Open Fire On Protesters, Witness Says
By ZEINA KARAM and BASSEM MROUE   03/25/11 11:35 AM

DAMASCUS, Syria — Violence erupted around Syria on Friday as troops opened fire on protesters in several cities and pro- and anti-government crowds clashed on the tense streets of the capital in the most widespread unrest in years, witnesses said.

Soldiers shot at demonstrators in the restive southern city of Daraa after crowds set fire to a bronze statue of the country’s late president, Hafez Assad, a resident told The Associated Press. Heavy gunfire could be heard in the city center and witnesses reported several casualties, the resident said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

An activist told the AP that witnesses had reported one demonstrator shot dead by security forces in the coastal city of Latakia, and another slain in the central city of Homs. He said several people had been hospitalized in Latakia.

In the capital, Damascus, people shouting in support of the Daraa protesters clashed with regime supporters outside the historic Umayyad mosque, hitting each other with leather belts.

The violence erupted after tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets across the country, shouting calls for greater freedoms in support of a more than week-long uprising in Daraa, according to witnesses, activists and footage posted online.

The demonstrations and ensuing crackdown were a major escalation of the showdown between President Bashar Assad’s regime and the crowds in Daraa who – inspired by pro-democracy unrest elsewhere in the Arab world – began protesting conditions in the drought-stricken south last week in demonstrations that have now spread around the country.

More… ^[2]

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

QE to Infinity because there is no other functional alternative. The operative word here is "functional."

Household wealth down 23% in 2 years – Fed
By Charles Riley, staff reporterMarch 24, 2011: 4:04 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The average American family’s household net worth declined 23% between 2007 and 2009, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

A rare survey of U.S. households, first performed in 2007 but repeated in 2009 in order to gauge the effects of the recession, reveals the median net worth of households fell from $125,000 in 2007 to $96,000 in 2009.

Titled "Surveying the Aftermath of the Storm," the report offers a broad look at how the financial crisis impacted individual households.

It is widely known that the 2008 financial crisis resulted in the vaporization of trillions of dollars in household wealth. But Federal Reserve officials said Thursday the new report offers a look at exactly how hard the recession hit families, and how they reacted.

The numbers paint a stark picture.

Families that owned stock saw their portfolios drop by more than a third to $12,000 from $18,500, on average. The value of primary real estate holdings decreased by an average of $18,700.

And families took on more debt, pushing median total debt levels to $75,600 from $70,300. They also made less money. Media household income dropped from to $49,800 from $50,100.Interestingly, families below the median national income in 2007 actually saw their earnings increase by 2009. Meanwhile, families that started above the national average in 2007 saw their incomes decline.

More… ^[3]