All that glitters in a vending machine is gold

And now, literally, thanks to a German entrepreneur who wants to offer goldbugs the convenience of vending machines.

All Thomas Geissler needs to do now is get Ron Paul to be his American spokesman.

Financial woes cause run on gold

U.S. Mint suspends sale of 24K gold coins.

More stagflation news on $1,000 gold and weak spending

More signs the recession is here

consumer retail spending contracted, by six-tenths of a percent, in February. Economists (the dismal pseudo-science?) had been reportedly expecting a 0.2 percent increase:

“This is a downward spiral consistent with a recession,” said Kurt Karl, chief economist at Swiss RE in New York.

Gold – more signs we have real inflation problems

Gold has punctured the psychological $1,000/ounce barrier. And we know what happened when oil busted $100/bbl. It collected its breath, then speculators started bidding it up even higher.

If Big Ben Bernanke (The Worst Fed Head Since Greenspan™) is serious about a 3/4 point Fed rate cut next week, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see oil at $120 if not $125. Ditto for $1,100 gold, maybe even $1,200.

Result? The Dow was cratering in early trading.

Hey, Ron Paul, you don’t need gold

Not when new laser techniques can make aluminum look like gold.