Hello Everyone!

 

IN THIS UPDATE:

 

Financial Alert!!

Announcing the 2009 Pre-order Special

Radio Show for March 21^st: Why and How Astrology Works

What’s Up in the Heavens? Now Available Each Week ONLINE

Astrology’s Economic Forecast for 2008: Now Available!

Teleconference for March Energies: Now Available Online

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FINANCIAL ALERT!

 

I hope you’ve been keeping your eye on the ball. Last Thursday, March 13^th,  Bear Stearns essentially had a “bank run”, with so many customers demanding their cash back and trading partners who stopped trading with them that the Federal Reserve had to bail them out to keep them from failing. Although the Federal Reserve does not normally bail out investment companies, they recognized that if they didn’t, the repercussions would ripple through the banking system. So they arranged to loan Bear Stearns the money through JP Morgan Chase (which is a bank), but the Fed is on the hook for this if it’s not paid back.

 

As if that news wasn’t bad enough, the Wall Street Journal featured a second article on the front page yesterday (Saturday, March 15^th) with the headline, “Debt Reckoning: U.S. Receives a Margin Call”. This article mentions that against a trade-weighted basket of major currencies, the US dollar lost 14.3% in value over the past year. But what’s worse is that it fell 2.1% against the Euro last week. Unless your stocks, bonds, money markets, or savings accounts did a LOT better than 14.3% over the past year and 2% over the PAST WEEK, you’re losing money by having any type of US denominated liquid or semi-liquid asset. In addition, the US dollar hit a 12.5 year low against the Japanese yen, dropping below 100 yen.

 

At the moment I’m writing this, spot gold is at $1025 per ounce and the NYMEX Crude Future price for oil is $111/barrel. Gold has gone up nearly 20% since the beginning of the year. The Dow closed at 11,951 on Friday, which is amazingly good, considering that it lost around 300 points before reclaiming some territory. These are all indications that the dollar is falling rapidly.

 

The gist of the debt reckoning article is that foreigners who have for years kept the US afloat, are now fleeing the US financial markets.  In 2006, foreigners invested a net of $722 billion in US financial products (stocks ,bonds etc). In 2007 they invested a net of $596 billion. But what’s important is that from July through December 2007, when the sub-prime mortgage mess started, foreign net purchases dropped by 65% to $121 billion.

 

On Thursday, S&P Rating Services predicted that large financial institutions still need to write down another $135 billion on top of the $150 billion that’s already been written down. However, this number does not include any hedge fund write downs for derivatives associated with the sub-prime mortgage mess. Those numbers are likely to be in the TRILLIONS. As I mentioned last time, there are more than $516 trillion in derivatives. The entire US economy is only $15 trillion and for that matter, $516 trillion is more than the entire world economy. There were many derivatives associated with sub-prime mortgages and it’s only a matter of time before they fail.

 

Carlyle Capital Corp, partially owned by Carlyle Group, lost 97% of its value last Thursday and closed at 35 cents. This company was primarily associated with mortgages. A week before a vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase warned Carlyle Capital that, short of a massive bailout, lenders would seize assets. This is only the beginning of what we could see happen with other derivatives, many of which are based on the mortgage market.

 

The US Congress and President Bush recently approved a $160 billion stimulus package. Where does this money come from? It gets printed, just like everything else, and that means it’s devaluing your dollars. This means that your IRS rebate is really coming out of your hide, since it’s just devaluing whatever you have in US dollars.

 

In addition to all of that, the Wall Street Journal recently surveyed a lot of economists during March 7-11th. Thirty six of 51 respondents or 70% of them believe the economy is in recession. Folks, don’t worry about a recession. If that’s all this is, we’ll be in great shape! Here’s what Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economist told WSJ about the debt reckoning for the US. He said, “There are a lot of connecting parts and you could pick on any one. It’s the end of the housing bubble, it’s the current account deficit (our trade balance with other countries), it’s the recession, it’s the sub-prime problem. It’s the whole system rebalancing.”

 

That last statement hits the nail on the head. I’ve talked a lot lately about a whole new game beginning on March 7^th and the new game being related to transforming our economy to one that’s sustainable and that heals and nurtures the Earth and ourselves. Here we are in the midst of the first part, and it’s only a week later. Pluto in Capricorn is about transforming our economy to one that’s sustainable. The one we have now is NOT sustainable, as everything is so leveraged that when one thing goes bad, there’s a large ripple effect. Remember this is going to be a lot like a long-term, house remodeling. We’re now at the point where the walls are being torn down, so we can put in new electric wires and plumbing. This part looks really bad, but when it’s all done, it will be a lot better. Please keep this in mind as we go through this process.

 

Could we see bank runs? England has already had one (Northern Rock) and they ended up having to nationalize that bank in order to salvage it. So the answer to that question is YES. In the US, our bank deposits are insured for up to $100, 000 per account. However, the US FDIC does not have enough money to bail out any large banks. These are considered to be “too big to fail” and if any of them fail, they must arrange for another large bank to take it over. But aside from very large banks, the US FDIC would be stretched to pay off deposits for even one, medium-sized bank. So don’t count on the deposit insurance to bail you out quickly. If we had bank runs, it would take a long time to get that insurance money to cover your deposits. Make sure your bank is one of the safer ones. You can find out which banks are safe by going to www.bankrate.com or www.MartinWeiss.com.

 

After everything that’s happened, I may have underestimated when the US dollar will crash. The failure I see astrologically in February 2009 could be the US government failing to pay its bills and possibly defaulting on the Treasury Bonds. At this point, it’s better to expect the dollar could crash earlier than December this year or early next year. It might crash as early as mid-June 2008. There’s an astrological indication that we might see the dollar fail in mid-June, but there’s another powerful one in Feb 2009. This could mean the dollar crashes this year and next year the US government crashes fiscally. If you get yourself out of US dollars now and into gold, or possibly Euros, you’ll be far better off as the year progresses.

 

Stop thinking in terms of what’s a good investment and start thinking in terms of how you can STORE YOUR WEALTH. Gold has been a traditional way to store wealth for centuries, especially as currencies devalue.

 

You can buy gold as part of your IRA or retirement fund by purchasing gold exchange traded funds. The largest of these is from StreetTracks and it trades under the symbol GLD. You essentially buy a slice of a gold bar. You can also purchase gold coins such as gold Eagles, gold Buffaloes, gold Maple Leafs, etc. You can buy them at places like Goldline.com, Kitco.com, and a few dozen other large sources. You can also buy them from your local coin shops.

 

A year from now or by the end of 2009, gold will likely hit $2000 per ounce, so it’s not too late to buy it.  At the rate it’s going, it could easily hit $1200 to $1500 per ounce this year. When you need liquidity, you can sell gold quickly and easily, just like a stock, any Monday - Friday and at coin stores, you can sell it Mon – Sat. Make this a priority. Unless you want to lose another 2% or more this week, it’s time to get your money to safety.

 

Lastly, this situation is a lesson in trusting the Universe and ourselves. If we go into fear and panic, we will only make the situation worse. So investigate your choices and choose your best option while you’re in good, clear-headed energy. No matter what happens, people will continue to trade. We’ll barter if necessary, but we’ll trade. Even in this situation we can continue to attract money to us with the right energy, thoughts and feelings. Plenty of people did this even during the Great Depression. When this is all over, we’ll start creating a sustainable economy together.

 

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ANNOUNCING THE 2009 PRE-ORDER SPECIAL:

FEBRUARY 23^RD – APRIL 28^TH

SAVE UP TO 20%

 

I know! You’ve just barely gotten into 2008 and already I’m offering you the 2009 Pre-Order Special! This is an annual event, which allows us to publish the printed Good Timing Guide and save you money on both the Guide and Newsletters. This is the best special we offer every year. You can save up to 20% on your Guide and Newsletters or even just the Newsletters.

 

What’s the advantage to ordering now, instead of in late April?

1) You don’t have to remember to do it later. You wouldn’t believe how many people tell us every year that they forgot to pre-order their Guide!

2) YOU get your copy sooner! The pre-orders are shipped in the order they are received when we finally get them from the printers in late July or early August. Order now, and get yours first.

 

So order now to get yours sooner and SAVE:

<http://www.polarisbusinessguides.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi#preorder>

 

Just a tip for those of you who really book out in advance. The ONLINE Guide is always available first, and this year it will be available no later than the end of May, and possibly sooner. So we offer the ONLINE Guide in a special combo price with the Newsletters AND we offer a special combo for all three for just $8 more than the printed Guide and Newsletters. If you need your 2009 Guide sooner, this is the way to go.

 

This pre-order special is available to everyone from now through midnight Pacific time on April 28^th, but after that please don’t ask us to make an exception and give you the pre-order price. We want to maintain pricing integrity with all our customers. Thank you for placing your order early and allowing us to continue providing a great product!

<http://www.polarisbusinessguides.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi#preorder>

 

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RADIO SHOW NEXT FRIDAY MARCH 21st

Why and How Astrology Works

10 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern

Haven’t you ever wondered how planets so far away could have any impact at all on our lives, let alone be able to tell us some incredibly accurate things about ourselves, our companies and the times we’re in? Join me for an amazing journey through science, physics and metaphysics for why and how astrology works!

The March 7^th show on A New Game: Seeing the World Through New Eyes is now available online at www.polarisbusinessguides.com/radio.htm. Just scroll down to it and click on the purple buttons to listen. The March 14^th show, The Joy of Living, will be online by mid-week.

Other recent shows that are online include: the Feb 29th show, An Ascension Update; the Feb 22^nd show of Using Astrology to Invest Your Money; the Feb 15^th show of Getting a Better Job With Astrology as well as the Feb 8^th show of Secrets to Relationship Compatibility. Just scroll down the page until you come to those shows.

 

This show is broadcast live in the Seattle area on KKNW, on the dial at 1150 AM. You can also listen via live streaming on the internet FROM ANY LOCATION at http://www.newschannel1150.com/. Just click the LISTEN LIVE button at the top right corner of the home page. Get there early in case you need to download some software.

 

More info at www.polarisbusinessguides.com/radio.htm

 

PAST RADIO SHOWS CAN BE HEARD BY GOING TO:

http://www.polarisbusinessguides.com//radio.htm

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WHAT’S UP IN THE HEAVEN’S FOR EACH WEEK:

Now Posted Online

 

You can now get the info I give out on my radio show each week for the What’s Up in the Heaven’s? segment online.  It will be posted each week on Friday. You can find the link to it on the home page under What’s New? It will also be on the radio page. This week’s is at https://www.polarisbusinessguides.com/whats-up.htm

 

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ASTROLOGY’S ECONOMIC FORECAST FOR 2008

NOW AVAILABLE!

 

Last month I gave a speech to the Women’s Business Exchange in Seattle on Astrology’s Economic Forecast for 2008. For $10 you can hear this speech and get the handout. To learn more, go to https://www.polarisbusinessguides.com/wbe08.htm

 

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TELECONFERENCE FOR MARCH ENERGIES:

AVAILABLE ONLINE

 

The free teleconference on the March energies was held on February 28^th. However, we had problems with the telephone recording again. I recorded it digitally and it’s now online at our site, so you can listen to it for free. You can listen to it at https://www.polarisbusinessguides.com/free_teleconference.htm. Just look for the purple buttons on the left side. They’ll let you listen to it without downloading any software. It’s easy and free.

 

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Many blessings and much joy to all!

Madeline C. Gerwick

Certified Business and Personal Astrologer