VIX - CBOE Volatility Index Sit back, buckle up, and let me take you to a little place I like to call "Suburbistan:" Abandoned buildings, shells of their former selves…elderly with nothing left, crushed by broken promises…a shortage of hospital beds and medical care…family wealth in ruins…lawless "no go" zones where even the cops don't dare to tread… This is not a bombed-out quarter in Baghdad. You won't find it in Kabul. Instead, it's right here in America. That's right… Americans are headed into battle…with each other! Father against son, mother against daughter, old versus young…locked in a material and ideological struggle bad enough to make the 1960s look like a piñata party… This isn't the kind of war in which shots are fired. It's subtler than that. But when it's done, America will still look like a wasteland…as money, wealth, and the American dream virtually vaporize overnight! Literally billions of dollars will disappear from "rich" retirement accounts… Your personal income taxes will absolutely double…and possibly triple… And you can count on getting back less than half what you "earned" from years of contributing to Social Security and Medicare…even if you're already retired! That's not all. Home values will collapse. Wall Street will melt down. Hospitals and fire departments will close. And companies we've grown up trusting will shut their doors forever. Maybe this doesn't sound like the America you know. That's because it isn't…yet. But it will be very soon. And there's nothing anyone can do to stop it… VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: Paul Volcker, the economist who worked miracles in Reagan's early days, says we have "a 75% chance of a major crisis over the next five years…" Steve Roach, the top dog at Morgan Stanley, says he "can't imagine a more unstable disequilibrium." And Marshall Auerback, the best-known fund manager and financial commentator in Britain, says America's impending financial crisis looks "like something you'd expect from a Third World banana republic." What I'm describing to you will not happen overnight. But make no mistake…it WILL happen, it's a crisis bigger than most people think, and nobody will be able to protect you from it, no matter what they've promised. But there is something you can do to protect yourself and your money. It should take you just five minutes. You pick up the phone, you follow my advice, and by the time you hang up…you'll have completely insulated your money against the wealth-burning, gut-churning financial crisis ahead. It's that simple. In fact, when all this is over - even before it's over - I expect you to come out on the other side of this fiscal chaos with at least $3,000 for every $1,000 you invested. The bigger the wipeout, the easier it will be to see gains on this one single recommendation. How so? Let me ask you a question. What's the one thing absolutely set to go up when the U.S. stock market…the economy…real estate…the dollar…and even the U.S. job market all come crashing down? In a word…it's volatility. When markets go haywire, there's a lot of it. And that's the fact that could make a lot of investors very rich. Before we go on, I should explain… VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: I believe what I'm about to describe will be the safest and most predictable way for you to make money during the financial chaos ahead. Why? Because as markets fall apart, the core driving force of this investment is the one thing you can be sure will go up. See, when times are easy, investors love to take risks…big risks. They buy hedge funds. They take zero-money-down mortgages. They borrow big on credit cards. They snap up high-flying stocks. But too many risks at once really start to add up. When something triggers a sell-off, panic rises…so does fear…along with lots of market volatility. What most investors don't know, however, is that you can actually watch volatility take off…you can even measure how far it has "spiked" when times get particularly hairy. It's called VIX - short for Volatility Index. And you'll find it listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Up until now, it's been like a market barometer. The crazier things get, the faster and more profoundly VIX hits new highs. Spikes like the one I'm talking about are supposed to be rare. But just think back to recent history…WorldCom…Global Crossing…Long Term Capital Management…Sept. 11…the Asian currency crisis in 1997…the days after Alan Greenspan uttered "irrational exuberance" on television… These were all surging moments of market volatility. And in each of them, if the opportunity I'm going to tell you about today had been available, investors could have made a fortune. This is where the recent development comes in. I have just found a way for you to directly invest in VIX when it surges. It's just like making money on a surging Dow or S&P or Nasdaq. Only this is money you make when most other investors are losing a fortune. It's something you'll use just as easily as owning a stock. And when VIX spikes in the way I'm convinced it should, you'll not only make an equivalent return on the move…you'll actually see multiplied gains, using the simple technique I'll describe. Here's the thing. Before I can show you how to do this, two other things have to happen. First, I need to make absolutely sure you understand where this volatility will come from. That's what you'll get over the next five minutes… Second, I need to make sure you know when this will happen. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm ready to send you a direct message on the very day you'll need to make this move. I'll tell you when. I'll tell you what to say to your broker. I'll tell you how to take your profits. This is the first time anyone - ever - has been able to offer investors this particular opportunity. It's never been DONE before. But I'm prepared to show you exactly how it works. When we're done, I solidly believe you'll make at least double or triple whatever you invest. And just to make sure you're clear on how this will work, another thing I'll do is have my publisher rush you - right now - a special FREE report I've put together called Guaranteed to Go Up: The One Thing That Soars When Wall Street Comes Crashing Down. This report is yours free, no questions asked. All you need to do is give me your permission to send you a copy. It's that simple. And I'll give you a chance to do that in just a second. There's more, however, that I want you to know… Just so you can get ready for the crisis ahead… VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: My name is Daniel Denning. I'm an American analyst, based out of London. I work closely with an international, multimillion-dollar research firm. For several years, I've also led an investment group called Strategic Alliance. Maybe you've heard of us; maybe you haven't. But we actually have a long history of doing exactly what I'm about to show you today. Simply put, we make it our business to take on the massive, earth-altering trends like the one detailed in this report…and then show investors just like you how to pile up huge profits even while waiting and watching safely from the sidelines. Over the next five minutes, I'll show you how this works. We'll go through each of several extremely lucrative trends, all centered around the new "financial war" taking shape right now in America. You'll see precisely how to protect your wealth and make a lot more money as this situation unravels. And the FREE report I just mentioned, Guaranteed to Go Up: The One Thing That Soars When Wall Street Comes Crashing Down, is just one of the ways I will show you how. But I should tell you right now, there are also five more FREE investing reports I want you to have, each packed with equally powerful opportunities and moneymaking ideas. I call this library of reports my new SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. You'll see why I believe these opportunities will be absolutely essential to you over the turbulent months and years ahead. In the second of the six FREE reports, The Trade of the Decade: Make Nine Times Your Money on the Coming Boomer Bust!, you'll discover another single investment that should soar as much as nine times over as the S&P 500 falls apart. In the same FREE report, you'll also discover how to hedge against a collapse in U.S. government bonds. My Strategic group and I have already applied this technique in the past for small, fast gains of 65%…36%…and 35%. In my third new report, The Ultimate Money Hedge: Your Best Protection Against a Dollar Collapse, I'll show you how to stay ahead even as the U.S. dollar heads for the dustbin. In this FREE report, I'll reveal what I believe will be the safest and most liquid investment of the next 10 years. We already recommended shares of this investment in our Strategic portfolio, but I'm going to urge you to buy more. You can read about it in this FREE report. A fourth FREE report, How to Pile up 500% Gains Using Precision-Guided Investments, will show you how to seize control of huge market trends with another relatively new and nimble investment device, the exchange-traded fund. For instance, how would you like to lock in a slice of future profits from the world's 10 best oil and energy companies …all with just one stock? A lot of analysts have jumped on the ETF bandwagon lately. But I've been introducing subscribers to this precision-guided opportunity for the last three years. And I'm helping them, right now, find investments in this area that are, I believe, as good as getting into Fidelity Magellan and other soaring mutual funds in the early 1980s. Also in your set of FREE SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT reports, you'll find Get Rich With These Old-Economy Survivors and another special report I'll tell you about in just a moment. In these, I'll introduce you to the few key stocks you should own over the years ahead. While many companies will go down in flames - for exactly all the reasons you're about to see - a handful will surge in the times ahead. I'll show you which ones. Including those that will rely very little, if at all, on increasingly strapped U.S. consumers. Again, you can read about all five of these huge new profit trends - plus a lot more - in the six FREE special investing reports you'll get as part of the SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT I want you to have. You'll find more details at the end of this report. But don't race ahead just yet. Because now that you know you'll be taken care of, I need to make certain you're also aware of what you'll need to be protected from. So let's get back to our tour of that future wasteland, the battle zone I call "Suburbistan"… VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: Imagine, it's just a few months after things in America have gone horribly wrong. With any major conflict, the very first signs of trouble are hard to see. But as things unravel, we begin to remember… A security gate slides shut. The mall isn't closing; it's just closed. Permanently. The escalator doesn't hum. In the food court, you'll find no cheese fries, no chicken, no Chinese food. There's only a Motor Vehicle Administration office open, clinging to a corner in this dying Mecca to capitalism. One thing is clear.When consumer spending dries up…when stocks get dumped and factories close…when America makes the coming multibillion-dollar shift… The consequences won't be pretty. Maybe you're wondering what's so different now that we haven't faced before. After all, we survived Sept. 11. We survived the Dot-Com Bomb. We've even rebounded, at least once, from a costly Middle East war. But never has there been more money on the line (as much as $76 trillion!). Never before have I seen so many factors converging…to create the greatest and farthest-reaching financial collapse Americans have ever witnessed…worse than Enron, worse than the S&L banking crisis, worse than Long Term Capital Management, possibly worse than even the forces that caused America's Great Depression, all the way back in 1929! VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: This much you know: In 2008, the leading-edge boomers - born in 1946 - turn 62. That's how old you have to be to start collecting Social Security. This is what we've all been calling the "BOOMER BOMB"…when 77 million ex-hippie, disco-dancing, "Me Decade" Americans start traipsing into retirement…completely unfunded…unaware…and unprepared. What you may NOT know, however, I think you'll find a little more shocking. You see, it doesn't much matter if you're a member of the boomer elite. Because the financial havoc ahead will NOT impact just the baby boomers. That's what Washington and Wall Street haven't mentioned. Imagine how far this could reach. Imagine a fiscal gut punch that… If that sounds extreme, I understand. But I can also tell you the U.S. Treasury itself commissioned a "secret report" that predicted this very outcome. The results were so shocking that the Treasury yanked the report from public view! That's right. They hid it. And fired the people who commissioned it in the first place (including Paul O'Neill, the Treasury secretary). You were never supposed to read this report…let alone hear what it implied. But I'll share its details with you today anyway. It will show you - beyond a shadow of a doubt - what you need to expect and do over the years ahead as… Please understand that these are not alternatives. As Peter Peterson, former White House economic adviser, says, "Absent a colliding comet or an alien invasion, this will surely happen…" There is no way for American investors to avoid this event. They can only choose how to protect themselves from the outcome. That's what I hope you'll let me do for you today. Life in this country will change. Dozens of high-profile companies will fail, unable to carry staggering health care and pension obligations running to the billions of dollars. General Motors and Ford are just the first in a long line to issue similar warnings to the stock market. Stocks, of course, can't survive this. But America will have other problems, too. Soaring tax evasion. An exploding underground economy. A skyrocketing cost of living. And the dollar in a death spiral. The irony is, in the middle of the same rough times, a few investors will discover several ENORMOUS opportunities to get filthy rich. I'm hoping you'll choose to be among them. I can show you how. But first, let me keep showing you the big story behind the story…the real reason things in America are about to change forever. The Wake-Up Call Washington The irony is the dangerous warning signs have been in front of our noses this whole time. Think about it. America's deficit: a mind-blowing $4.3 trillion. The national debt: $7.937 trillion. The dollar is in crisis, down 35% over the last 4 years. Suddenly, we're talking about a rebalancing of the whole world economy! Finally, a courageous few have dragged some of the biggest problems into the light. "You see a government in desperate trouble," says Boston University economics professor Dr. Laurence J. Kotlikoff. "Sky-high taxes, drastically cut retirement and health benefits, slashes in defense, education, and other critical spending…it's also printing money to pay its bills." Cheap oil, stock market wealth, and plunging interest rates helped make the suburbs possible. But those factors are all in full retreat. We're also exporting our jobs and our children's jobs overseas. And we're getting paid, in the jobs that are left, with wages that have stayed flat in real terms for the decade. What happens when real incomes for our children and our middle-class workers are half what they were…but we're stuck trying to sell our suburban homes to them at two and three times the prices the last generation paid to own them the first time around? Combine all this with the greatest demographic shift in recorded history, and you've got a fiscal nightmare. But provided you know how to look at this, you've also got in your lap one of the greatest investment opportunities of all time! The Greatest Trade of the Decade I mentioned my "trade of the decade" idea to you earlier - the one you'll find in your FREE copy of The Trade of the Decade: Make Nine Times Your Money on the Coming Boomer Bust! It can help protect your money…and even let you pile up huge returns of 794% gains or more…as this intergenerational economic implosion takes place. What I want you to know is that I don't take opportunities like this lightly. And I'm not just firing these ideas at you at random, either…the way a broker might. The fact is, for the last year, I've been a busy guy. I took off on my own to tour Asia and America - for several months - searching for the kinds of historical shifts and fundamental events that make for investing opportunities. And I don't mean penny-ante portfolio jumps hither and yon. I mean the kinds of major trends…and major trades …that can change the wealth prospects of investors like us for all time. I've written up a lot of what I've found in my new book, The Bull Hunter. It's just now hitting the shelves. I've also covered just about every major moneymaking trend of the last year in the private advisory letter I write for my Strategic Alliance group. The letter is called Strategic Investment, and it's got one of the longest and most profitable pedigrees in the history of investment research. This is serious, sophisticated stuff. But the more I look at these trends, the more I'm convinced - people are just looking at this whole Social Security and Medicare thing all wrong! I've seen the Democrats and Republicans battling over this on the boob tube. I've read the editorials, and I've seen every stripe of character getting up on a soapbox. Frankly, the fact that it's a financial debacle is painfully obvious. But it's not what's interesting to me. What's interesting is that this same "perfect storm" of intergenerational and financial confrontation…has simply created one of the best and safest investing bets you'll ever have a chance to make. At least over the next decade. Possibly in your entire lifetime. I know that's dramatic. But making bold, dramatic profit moves - in the midst of some of the world's most turbulent markets - is what Strategic Investment has always been about… Now, I'm laying out these new opportunities because I want you to have a chance to get in on this new round of profits before you miss out. Let's start by looking at the numbers… With 77 million babies born between 1946 and 1964, our beloved boomers have long been the pot-bellied pig in the python…the force behind the trends. Sometimes, those trends have made us rich. Other times, they've lured Americans into a trap and forced millions of us to go broke. Right now is one of those latter times. And here's where the trouble starts. Take a look at this chart… It shows that we're living longer. In fact, we already have 10 times more people over age 65 than we did at the start of the last century. And today, the fastest-growing age group in America is the group over age 85! I know that sounds like great news. After all, we're lucky to have so many members of the "Greatest Generation" around. But frankly, on a grand scale, it's a disaster! You see, by mid-century, we'll have an estimated 323% more people over 85 than we have now. And America alone will have 600,000 people living over the age of 100 - 10 times the number of centenarians today. And every extra year of life - especially at that age - will cost a fortune. The longer you live, the more you need a bigger, stronger stock portfolio…better health insurance…and access to a bigger "trust fund" in Washington. Much bigger than the one supposedly waiting for you there already. But given the numbers, that's just not how this will work itself out… And soaring costs for a bigger elderly population are just half the equation. There's another wrinkle - no pun intended - most analysts haven't even talked about yet. VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: What Happened to Birth control. Women in the workforce. Plunging wages and consuming careers. In 1980, 10% of American women ended their childbearing years without giving birth. Today, nearly twice as many - 19% - will never have children. Those that do will have, on average, only two - just under the number you need to keep a population size from shrinking. So by 2030, the number of over-65 Americans doubles. But the number of younger Americans (workers) shrinks. By 2050, the number of elderly will exceed the number of young people for the first time in history. Fifty years ago, the public cost of supporting each retiree was split among 16.5 workers. Now it's split among 3.4. Each member of our shrinking younger generation has to cover a bigger and bigger chunk of the bill…while people like Jane Fonda, Rush Limbaugh, Al Gore, and George Bush sit back and get fat. The demographic time bomb is almost enough all by itself. But then there's an even bigger danger. The Three Crumbling Pillars of Retirement Here's the bigger problem. Most baby boomers are NOT Bill Gates, George Bush, or Steve Jobs. Most baby boomers have middle-class incomes or less. Worse, they're called the "sandwich generation" - squeezed between the cost of sending kids to college and paying for health care for their parents. With little money left over to build a retirement account. And that combined with America's destructive credit culture is a recipe for disaster! See, when the bulk of the 77 million baby boomers starts having financial trouble, it's not just the boomers who suffer…but everyone else who depends on the boomer trends, from investors to homeowners to companies, will also get burned. This future financial trouble for boomers is certain. How so? It's simple. The boomers are on the brink of retirement. But to retire, you need a lot more than just Social Security. In fact, there are three essential keys to any retirement. And in the case of the boomers, all three of these pillars of future financial security are falling apart! Consider: First , you'll need lots of savings. I'll show you, in just a second, how little America's biggest generation has socked away. Do houses count as savings? Possibly…unless you're double-mortgaged to the hilt, as many Americans are! Second, you need a pension or 401(k), running principally on valuable and well-paying stocks or other investments. How many boomers lost their shirts in the dot-com bubble? How many have gotten those losses back? As you'll see, not many. Worse, most boomer households are barely invested at all! And last , most Americans will need Social Security and some kind of Medicare. Possibly even Medicaid. You've heard the rhetoric about how Washington plans to save these programs. In the pages that follow, discover the real story. The total picture is a lot more grim than even the politicians have painted - at a time when as much as 56% of America's older population could not live without full Social Security payments and government medical care! It all adds up to an epic battle for future wealth. And it starts on these three fronts, where the boomers themselves have stretched themselves to the limit…and may have put the rest of the entire American economy in jeopardy! Crumbling Pillar #1: In South Korea, for instance, savings run to 25% of annual income. In Japan, around 12-15%. In Europe, about 10%. In the United States…11.7% in the 1950s…but now, below 1% (excluding pensions)! Stocks and wages don't help, either. Despite small rallies, many boomer portfolios still sting from the near-40% drop in stock values from 2000-2003. Others have sat on flat wages for most of their lives. As much as one-third of boomer households have absolutely NO savings, NO investments, NO pensions, and NO expectations for an inheritance. That adds up to about 25 million U.S. households with average net assets of $1,000 or less. Where's the cash for their future going to come from? In another recent survey, nearly half of all boomers say they'd have a hard time coming up with $3,000 in a couple of days strictly from savings. Already, six out of 10 leading-edge boomers fear they can't meet their expenses. And 62% are almost sure they'll outlive their retirement savings! Meanwhile, the costs of most things have doubled and tripled just in the past two decades. But real wages aren't even close to keeping pace. Since 1959, in inflationary terms, real wages across the board have blipped upward only 1.7%. Since 1975, real wages grew only 1.2%. But that's just the start of their worries… The Savings That Aren't Real estate looks, to some boomers, like a kind of savings. In fact, the housing boom has made a lot of Americans feel very rich. But you can't get the money out of a house to spend on, say, vacations, second homes, or an operation to replace your hip - unless you refinance or sell your home. But now, the fat lady may be singing for the real estate bubble soon, too. Last year, mortgage debt increased by $885 billion. Since 2001, $3 trillion worth of mortgages have been refinanced. The average house price is up 50% in the last five years. But average income has barely budged. In real terms, incomes fell last year - while house prices rose more than 10%. Fewer and fewer average Americans can afford to buy… VIX - CBOE Volatility Index: Here's a glimpse of a frightening phenomenon… Now consider: The average home price in 1946, when the first boomer soiled his first pair of Dr. Denton's pajamas, clocked in around $12,500. By 1964, the year the last boomer took his first crawl, it was $20,500. But today, try to buy the "average house" in a place like…say…Orange County, Calif., and you're looking to plunk down about $660,000. That's double what you'd have paid for the same house five years ago. And that's for the kind of house you might be embarrassed to own. The real stunners don't start until you jump to two and three times those prices. But here's the thing. These soaring house prices aren't a sign of soaring riches, mostly because housing prices like these didn't happen because people's incomes went up. Instead, they're soaring on the back of a boom in high-risk lending, especially interest-only mortgages - a loan in which you pay only the interest, none of the principal. It's like drinking champagne all night and not expecting a headache at dawn. "Three to five years down the road," says William Batz, executive vice president of Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, "when the principal payments kick in…you get a real bang." Interest-only loans barely existed four years ago. Now, they represent nearly half of all new mortgages written over the last year…not just in Orange County or California, but across the United States. Meanwhile, the average household also carries 6.5 credit cards and about $8,000 worth of credit card debt… at 19% interest. When all those carefree borrowers suddenly have to pay the piper - with principal - the impact will be enormous. Either homeowners will default…and house prices will plunge…or, in the most unlikely scenario, wages everywhere will soar to cover the difference. Which do you think it will be? Why You'll Pay (a Lot) More for No savings, no wage hikes, and no clear future for real estate suggests a pretty grim prospect for the "savings" component of boomer retirement. How, for instance, would a cash-strapped boomer come up with money for something really serious, like a surprise medical expense? Private insurance covers less and less. Will America's youngest taxpayers be forced to pay a huge hospital bill for the baby boomers? Absolutely, if we stay on the same track we're on right now. One of the reasons the United States has the most advanced medicine in the world is that we pay for it. Drug companies spend as much as the Pentagon on research. The rest of the medical industry spends even more. MRIs and CAT scans. Biomedicine. Implants. Naturally, older Americans will want the most advanced care. But the more advanced, the more expensive. Taking care of an over-65 patient already costs on average four times more than it does to cover medical benefits for a younger adult. And as much as seven times more than it does to cover health care for a child.As long as it looks like Medicare can pick up the charges, it's easy to go ahead with costly procedures. But the costs for Medicare and Medicaid are growing faster than even Social Security. From 6undefined8 times faster, depending on whose figures you use. That trend will just accelerate as the boomers get older…as ideas of "care" expand…and as people live longer…long enough to double and triple rates for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other long and costly ailments of aging. Health care costs are soaring faster than the cost of just about everything except oil! Meanwhile, parents from the Greatest Generation are moving in with their boomer children. Or are forced to spend their own savings - and their kids' inheritances - on nursing homes. Whatever costs come out of the boomers' pockets they take away from their own retirement savings plan. Or end up cheating the next generation out of money saved for college. Gaps in coverage and health care affordability are wide open and growing wider. And lots of boomers will NOT have savings enough to cover those gaps... Sign up for The Daily Reckoning… In 1996, General Motors spent $3 billion on health care for 1.2 million employees, retirees, and dependents. In 2004, it spent $5.2 billion on employee health care. And for 2005, we're talking about $5.6 billion. Now it's in crisis. It says it can't afford soaring health costs. And pension liabilities are piling up, too. In other words, it's in the same boat as boomers without savings. Feeling strapped, feeling desperate. What happens when the big companies go belly up too? GM might not leave us anytime soon. Neither will Ford or Chrysler, also facing employee health care crises. But big costs and missed earnings are murder on stock prices. And these are exactly the kinds of mammoth corporations represented in pension funds and 401(k) plans across America. What Do You Do When The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) already handles over 3,000 companies that can't cover their total pension bills. Companies like Bethlehem Steel, National Steel, Eastern Airlines, TWA, Polaroid, Singer, Bradlees, Caldors, Grand Union, and more. But here's worse news. The PBGC was created to save failing pension funds. But it's on the brink of failing itself! Even when the PBGC is working, it currently only covers unpaid pensions up to $45,614 per year - hardly a golden retirement. But the PBGC is currently in the red by $23.3 billion. With another $80 billion in private pensions headed toward failure, this is a disaster. Especially since companies that still offer pensions to employees are already underfunded by as much as $350 billion! And worse, among those companies that have switched employees to 401(k) plans, there is no insurance if the plan goes into default. Meanwhile, last year alone, there were 1,269 cases in which companies didn't even deposit their employees' designated payroll deductions into savings accounts! And out of 627,905 401(k) plans in the United States…only 55,195 were even audited for fraud by the U.S. government! But employees of big companies like GM also have another problem… Companies That Can't Produce Take a look at this… With boomers retiring by the millions…and much fewer young people around to take their places…productivity across whole industries will plunge. When productivity plunges, the economy shrinks…wages stay flat…the market suffers…And everybody's stock portfolio bleeds cash. Look, not everyone can get rich investing. It's a simple problem. The boomers have used the stock market as a retirement machine. Cranking money through their 401(k)s, bidding up each other's shares. But now, with the boomers pulling out, who is left holding the bag? To retire with a $100,000-a-year lifestyle, you need at least $1.5 million in savings. Only 50% of all workers between the ages of 25 and 65 have money in any other kind of retirement plan besides Social Security. And half of all householders aged 45-55 - just 10 years away from retirement - have less than $46,000 in total net worth! That includes insurance policies, bank accounts, AND 401(k)s. Millions of American retirees believe Social Security and Medicare will make up the shortfall. Unfortunately, they're dead wrong… Crumbling Pillar #3: Paul O'Neill, when he still had his job as George Bush's Treasury secretary, hired Dr. Jagadeesh Gokhale, senior economic adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and Dr. Kent Smetters, an economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, to do a study. This is the secret report Washington never wanted you to see. O'Neill wanted to know - for the fiscal year 2004 federal budget - how much red ink, to the dollar, the government owed. So Gokhale and Smetters added, interviewed, built new mathematical models. They calculated, checked their figures, and calculated again. By the time it was all over, they found the total present value of the money the government will have to pay the baby boomers - just in Social Security - is an extra $22 trillion in debt. Roll in Medicare and Medicaid. Now we're up to $43 trillion. But still, there's more. Now toss in the new Medicare prescription plan…and we're up to $51 trillion. That's the most conservative estimate. Other estimates put the right number closer to $76 trillion! Imagine taking all the money in your family's accounts…under your mattress and in the kids' piggy bank…plus all the gold and jewelry…all the IRAs and 401(k)s…and all the property owned by anybody in the United States…. It comes to only $42 trillion. Technically, we're all already bankrupt. But it gets worse… Why Your Taxes Will Triple but Maybe you know the phrase "tax freedom" day. That means for three-fifths of the year, anything you earn will go to the IRS. After that, you're free to bank your income. In the scenario above, how long would you work to pay off a $51 trillion charge? Six years straight! What about $76 trillion in debt? How does a thing like that get paid off? The Gokhale-Smetters study found another set of numbers. Let's say you put off dealing with the problem until 2008, the next election year. To stop the trust fund from collapsing into a sinkhole, you would have to - immediately and forever - raise taxes over 74%! Or you could raise payroll taxes. But then you're talking a hike of 103%! No go? Not possible? How about slashing federal purchases? Nope, because now you're talking 115%. Skyrocketing taxes may be the only way. Though there is one other solution. The government could get a big boost by slashing your Social Security and Medicare benefits…by 47%! When the White House got wind of this, it fired Paul O'Neill and yanked the whole study from the report. Search the 3,000-page report yourself. You won't find it there. You won't find a few other things there, either. For instance, the economy is in full "recovery," say the experts. But mortgage foreclosures, personal bankruptcies, and late payments are at record levels. White-collar workers are having a hard time finding new jobs. Blue-collar workers' real earnings per hour have been going down for the last 30 years! Here's another big problem… "When You're in a Hole, Stop Digging!" Back in 1935, you could count on about 45 workers to split the costs for every one retiree. Social Security taxes were a tiny 2% sliver of your paycheck. Just $3,000 was the ceiling. Today, the costs are split among only 3.3 workers. We pay over 12% on the first $90,000 of income. And Washington is seriously talking about raising both numbers. What happened to the excess $1 trillion we've already poured into the fund since the last time they hiked the rates, in 1983? Big government borrowed and spent it, of course. At some point, the burden will fall on so few that the whole scheme will be unsustainable. Already, the Social Security taxes you pay per paycheck are 900% higher than those paid by workers in 1951, even on an inflation-adjusted basis. Take a look at this chart… The future debt owed to retiring boomers blows the old assumptions about how this works completely out of the water. But this fact is exactly what Washington hoped you would never discover… Phantom Money and False Promises Remember the $7 trillion "surplus"? It didn't exist. Yep, it was phantom money. To get that number, you had to pretend inflation didn't exist, governments don't increase spending, and tax income would rise 6% per year, every year, for the next decade. Taxes do go up. But have you ever known a government that doesn't increase spending? Or a decade when inflation wasn't a risk? Not bloody likely. Still, when George Bush took over, instead of pointing out the sleight of hand, he used the idea of the surplus to promise to "pay down debt" and "safeguard" our grandchildren's future. Well, wherever he spent the nonexistent money and however he spent it, our financial future isn't one lick safer. Quite the opposite. Even with the imaginary "surplus" gone and record deficits soaring, Washington is still spending like there's no tomorrow. And if it keeps it up, for millions of Americans, there won't be. Spending on other government programs besides Social Security and Medicare has tripled. And federal spending overall is still growing at TWICE the rate of growth for the U.S. economy. Dick Cheney says deficits don't matter. George Bush calls them "just numbers on paper." It doesn't matter what your politics are. Just try that line on your mortgage company, your bank, or the guys who collect your car payments every month. You'll quickly find out. Even Alan "Irrational Exuberance" Greenspan says: "The federal budget is on an unsustainable path, in which large deficits result in rising interest rates and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years." Translation: As a nation, we're headed for FLAT BUST in a BIG, FAT HURRY. Two Different Ways Here's a much simpler, more sensible way to add things up… One: The bigger federal deficits get, the higher real interest rates will have to soar. Tw The higher interest rates go, the less easy money there is to grow businesses. And three: The less easy money there is to spend, the tougher it gets for companies to impress the stock market. In other words, when there's no money for companies…there's no way to stop the stock market bubble from popping! Here's the kicker: Shrinking companies equal a plunging stock market, which means the entire American economy will have to hit the skids long before the 2008 deadline arrives. Suddenly, the economy is almost certain to shrink! Both parties will tell you the key to escaping the noose when it comes to Social Security, Medicare, and the boomers…is a bright and cheery boom time of economic growth. How can we grow and shrink the economy at the same time? We cannot. And even if we could, the unfunded entitlement problem only gets bigger with a growing economy, not smaller. Because Social Security is also indexed to wages. When wages go up, so do average benefits. You may be thinking: Why not sell all the future debt overseas? That's what we've always done in the past. But not this time. Because the countries that usually snap up our Treasuries - like Japan - have the same ticking demographic time bombs in their own countries, but even worse. And with shorter fuses. This time, we're on our own. If we can't sell our future liability…and if we can't postpone it…and if doubling or tripling payroll taxes to cover it will kill the economy…what can we do? The Only Way to Survive Relying on bureaucrats to "save Social Security" and "save Medicare"…or mutual fund managers to redirect your investments…is just too dangerous. The global forces shaping these events are too large for them to manage. And their incentives to fix the problem just aren't in line with your own needs as a private investor. That leaves you with only one real option…to build your own system of financial security and savvy investing for the rocky times ahead. And that's exactly what I hope you'll let me help you do. One way I want to do this is to immediately send you the six FREE reports in my new SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. Inside, you'll discover… And a good bit more. I also want to invite you to join my alliance of investors so I can immediately start sending you Strategic Investment. Here's a more detailed glimpse of the kinds of huge opportunities I can help you uncover… Suburbistan Super-Survivor #1: Here's the "trade of the decade" I told you about earlier. I call it that because I fully expect you to make, on this ONE move, about nine times your money. It's a simple hedge against a downturn in the S&P 500. The events we've just talked about almost lock up a broad market collapse. We'll be ready with a strategy I've covered before for my Strategic Investment readers. I also reveal it to you in full detail - FREE - in your copy of The Trade of the Decade: Make Nine Times Your Money on the Coming Boomer Bust! Before you even send for the FREE report, let me assure you Strategic Investment consistently delivers many more moneymaking investment insights just like these. With huge gains for subscribers…like 107%, 146%, 250%, 420%, 445%, 586%…the list goes on. But I just want you to see why it's so important to me that you don't miss this chance to add to your wealth. Strategic Investment readers also see some stunningly fast gains… Like 65.08% and 65.38% on Dow DIAMONDS puts…45% on AngloGold…87.6% on Ducommun…34.15% on Templeton Global Income…73.8% on Glamis Gold…113% on euro calls… But I expect even these to pale in comparison to what you'll make in the months ahead, as Strategic Investment guides you through these events. In The Trade of the Decade: How to Make Nine Times Your Money on the Coming Boomer Bust! you'll find something else, too. Because, remember, it's not just stocks headed for a wipeout… Lock in More Than 390% on When Bush held up the IOUs socked away in the Social Security "file cabinet," what he held up were specially issued U.S. Treasuries…the same class of debt instrument we've used to sell hundreds of billions in government debt to the Chinese and Japanese. If Americans don't believe in the value of those Treasuries, how can we expect foreign investors to continue to have faith in them? Obviously, we can't. Foreign buying of those notes will soon come to a crashing halt. Dumping will start. And the only way to slow the foreign selling will be to hike up interest rates. When interest rates go up, already issued bonds - with much lower yields - suddenly look that much less attractive. And the bond market goes up in flames! That's bad news for bondholders. But it's great news for you, if you own the bond market hedge I lay out in your FREE copy of The Trade of the Decade: How to Make Nine Times Your Money on the Coming Boomer Bust! And this is yet another small sample of the kind of gains you can make when you let Strategic Investment help you find new ways to grow and protect your portfolio. Here's what some of my Strategic Investment readers are saying: "Hello, Dan. Thank you for the great advice. I bought my Dow September 90 puts at $1.40 and sold them for $9.60 - a very substantial profit, thanks…" -I. McFarlane That's a 586% return! Here's another one that makes me proud… "Thanks for getting me to check out those December put options…I sold half at $780 each, and I've gotten all my money back and then some…they've been up to almost $1,200, and we still have three months to go!" -J. Ashworth And just one more… "Dan, I ended up making four times my original investment…who's complaining when the profit margin is 300%?" -M. Mansfield I've got piles of letters like these that I'd be happy to show you anytime. But right now, you've got a more pressing decision to make. See, opportunity rarely waits. In this case, the Boomer Bomb is already about to drop. And the financial conflict between generations has already started to get hot. So you're going to need to get ready for both of these opportunities now, while there's still time to prepare. That's why I'd like for you to let me start sending you Strategic Investment as soon as possible. At least let me rush you all six FREE reports in the SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. Here's another opportunity you'll want to get ready for in advance… Suburbistan Super-Survivor #2: Real estate debt outstanding has doubled since 1998, to $2.2 trillion. Home equity loans outstanding have grown even more, from $340 billion to $880 billion. And home equity loans have simply spiraled out of control. Just in the last quarter of last year, they shot up $200 billion - an annual growth rate of 45%. When the financial legs go out from under the boomers, all that house-related borrowing will force a lot of property back onto the bidding block. But this time, it'll happen without any eager buyers out there to sustain inflated housing prices. Generation X just doesn't have the capital. So for the first time in a long time, real estate prices will go down, down, down. You remember the S&L crisis? Banks got squeezed on billions of dollars in bad loans. With those same forces at work, there's an even bigger opportunity now. In fact, one of the most lucrative moneymaking opportunities of this century. And you don't have to sell your house to reap the rewards. I call this powerful housing hedge my No. 1 recommendation. I've already got my Strategic Investment readers piling in for what I expect them to walk away with, very shortly, a solid gain of at least 700% above the entry price. To find out how, let me catch you up on what we've been doing - let me send you, as part of your library of FREE reports, a copy of Five Ways You Can Survive the Greatest Housing Collapse of Your Lifetime. Inside, you'll discover five powerful ways to make a fortune on the housing bust ahead. Millions of boomer homeowners across America are stretched to the limit. As other options for funding retirement DRY UP, selling their homes to extract capital is one of the few options boomers will have. One of the brilliant safe-haven plays you'll find in this report will soak up massive amounts of the first dollars to flee the property market. And remember, Five Ways You Can Survive the Greatest Housing Collapse of Your Lifetime is yours free, along with the other reports in the SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. I'll show you how to send for it in just a second. First, here's just one more taste of the huge gains you could make with my help… Suburbistan Super-Survivor #3: Your pillow came from India, your alarm clock from Hong Kong. Your coffee came from Columbia and your bathrobe from Taiwan. You razor hailed from Mexico and your shirts from Vietnam. Your watch may be from Switzerland, but your tie is pure Milan. Isn't anything made in America anymore? The record-breaking trade deficit - too much cash rushing out of America and too little rushing in - will have a huge impact on your retirement. How so? See, here at home, the Treasury is intentionally destroying the dollar to make America's goods look cheaper. But America has gone from a "manufacturing economy" to a "service economy." Which is just a clever way to say we shipped our factories overseas and just don't have as many goods to sell. Meanwhile, other markets - like those in Asia - seem to do nothing but produce goods. And they're getting less and less dependent on the United States as a buyer to make it work. China, for instance, has more self-sustaining trade with her Asian neighbors. And with Europe and the Middle East. While America's economy is crumbling, some of these overseas markets - and individual sectors - will continue to chug along. You can actually make huge profits of 300%, 500%, or more… A Huge Profit Opportunity Take China.China is not just a massive exporter. It's also one of the world's largest IMPORTERS. Last year, China's imports shot up an incredible 41%. China accounted for 62% of Korea's total surplus in commodity trade. Indeed, China is now Korea's largest trading partner, leaving behind both the United States and Japan… Japan's exports to China shot up 33.2% in 2003, the biggest jump since 1961. Vietnam's exports to China - including crude oil, coffee, seafood, vegetables, footwear, tea, machinery, and rubber - surged 14%. And China invested $5.1 billion in a total of 288 new business ventures inside Vietnam. Malaysia's exports to China are up 30% just over the last three months, thanks to demand for electrical components. Singapore's exports to China have shot up 69% over the past year, mostly because of petrochemical sales. China is now a bigger net importer of Asian goods than even Japan. In fact, it's a bigger importer of Asian goods than even the United States. Some of those goods are raw materials. As the Chinese middle class gets bigger, other imports are finished goods. You can make money just by knowing where and how to find the sellers. It's the good old "pick-and-shovel" theory. Don't buy the unproven fad - buy the proven materials feeding that fad! Here's how… I Urge You to Read You can read all about this in your FREE copy of How to Pile up 500% Gains Using Precision-Guided Investments - yours at no cost whatsoever, as a part of the SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. At the core of this moneymaking technique is a new and exciting investing tool called the ETF. "ETF" stands for "exchange-traded fund." ETFs are like mini-mutual funds. Except because they let you own a much smaller basket of stocks, management fees are usually smaller. Because of the way ETFs are structured, the risk of scandal and management fraud is next to nothing. And yet because they contain several different stocks from any one chosen sector, ETFs let you minimize and spread out investing risk. I've written about these for the last three years in my monthly newsletter. And my readers have already used these to make some very handsome profits. As I said, others have already jumped on the ETF bandwagon. And they've driven up a lot of the prices, beyond good value. But don't be mistaken…you can still make a fortune if you've got a lock on the right underwatched ETF. Do this right, and loading up on the best ETFs now could every well be like socking money away in the best and safest mutual funds at the start of the 1980s! (Imagine getting into Fidelity Magellan way back in 1977, when it soared from a next-to-nothing $20 million fund…to a massive, market-moving, multibillion-dollar behemoth…giving investors 2,700% gains on every dollar invested!) In How to Pile up 500% Gains Using Precision-Guided Investments, you'll discover several very powerful ways to play stock market angles outside the United States… Plus, how to invest in more-established capital markets…and more-established businesses. You'll read about safe ways to own companies that are more transparent, liquid, and well regulated. In other words, you discover how to clear all the hurdles that usually keep investors from venturing outside the United States. How to Pile up 500% Gains Using Precision-Guided Investments shows you which sectors to jump on now and what to leave alone. You'll also find out about country funds that can multiply returns as much as 10 TIMES over. Plus a whole lot more. Again, How to Pile up 500% Gains Using Precision-Guided Investments is yours FREE as soon as you send for the whole SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. That's a lot of good news at once. There's just one small catch. And it's the kind of catch I think you'll like. Because, in addition to the six FREE reports, I'd like to give you access to a few other powerful investing tools - all FREE - as well… Try Strategic Investment I want to send you more. That is, I want you to have the entire six-volume SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT library we've talked about, each filled with investing insights to safeguard you in the months ahead. But I also want to give you a chance to join the thousands of other investors in my private Strategic Alliance. Every month, I want to give you the chance to share in the rich investing ideas and market insights I share with my other alliance members in my Strategic Investment advisory letter. This may be an unprecedented shift in the market we're headed for. But turning massive trends into substantial profits is something we're very good at here at Strategic Investment. We've covered these kinds of huge moneymaking opportunities for the last 20 years. And I'm writing to you today because I think it's high time you joined us in finding these kinds of investment gains too. Will you consider it? I sincerely hope so. Because, see, while other investment journalists or experts toe the line and repeat the same tinny headlines…Strategic Investment has stayed dedicated to exploring completely new, bold ways for a lot of subscribers to get very rich indeed. For instance… I've shown investors how to triple their money on Royal Oak…how to make 445% on Dell Computers…how to tuck away 31.4% gains on the Prudent Global Income Fund…and 113% gains on euro calls… Without reviewing our whole 20-year history of helping investors, I think you already see…there's a lot Strategic Investment can help you do in the months ahead. Especially right now. We're on the brink of a fundamental shift in America. A profound opportunity to make money. If you're willing to share in those opportunities, all you need to do to get started is let me start sending you all the things we've talked about…starting with the six FREE reports in your SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. Then, week after week and month after month, you can keep on piling on gains with the help of regular issues of Strategic Investment. If you agree, here's what to d Just let me know, using the reply card, that you want to give Strategic Investment a try. Here's a rundown of everything… Just in case, every weekday, I'll also start sending you The Daily Reckoning, a stunning market commentary by my colleagues best-selling authors Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin. Each e-mailed issue is packed with insights I personally agree with and know you shouldn't be without. This, too, is yours FREE. You'll try everything I've just told you about for the next 90 days. This is where the free trial offer really kicks into gear. Over those three months, you can decide whether or not everything I've just offered you does what I've told you it will do.If, for any reason whatsoever, you decide it doesn't…then simply cancel. I'll repeat that… IF YOU'RE NOT 100% SATISFIED, THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE TO YOU - EVERYTHING YOU'VE RECEIVED WILL BE YOURS FREE. Even if you DO decide to cancel, you still get to keep all the FREE reports…plus any issues you've received…no questions asked. Take the trial. Try the investments. Make a fortune trading my ideas. And the decision whether to stay on is still entirely up to you. Stay on and continue profiting with us over the months ahead. Or cancel. If you cancel, you get the full refund and keep everything. I hope that sounds fair to you. What's all this really worth? First, let me point out that the total value of everything I've just described to you is about $915. That's not what my publisher charges. I've also seen people pay as much as $3,500, and even $5,000, for investment services and investment advice (just advice) that aren't nearly as thorough or accurate. But that's not the price, either. Instead, the net cost to you for a full two years of monthly Strategic Investment issues and everything else included above is just $89. And if you'd rather go for a single year (12 issues), I'll ask you to pay only $49. And remember… Either way, you still get the full no-risk, money-back, 90-day trial guarantee! You risk nothing. Use the information in the FREE investment reports today. Protect your portfolio immediately…set yourself up for immediate gains…and settle back to enjoy your long-term strategy accordingly. As I said, you pay only $89 for a full TWO YEARS (24 issues) of Strategic Investment…and just $49 for ONE YEAR (12 issues). In these issues, I'll continue covering every opportunity we've talked about today…plus an untold number of new ways for you to make and protect your money in the incredible market gyrations ahead. Either way, you get an excellent deal. I hope you'll decide to give it a try. These are great moneymaking opportunities. I would hate for you to miss them. Sincerely, P.S. Don't forget to let me know where to rush your FREE copy of Guaranteed to Go Up: The One Thing That Soars When Wall Street Comes Crashing Down… Not just because the one new kind of investment described inside gives you a sort of "portfolio insurance" for when markets go haywire…or just because I want you to know how to use this new investment to make as much as triple your money or more… This one investment is entirely new. It's never been available before. It's very important I hear from you soon, so I can send you a message immediately showing you how and when to get in. This is just one of the opportunities you'll get from the six FREE reports in your SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. I'd hate for you to miss out on any of them. So let me hear from you soon! Related Links: CBOE - HomeLists and trades options on equities, indexes, and futures. Contains free options quotes, an extensive education section.
The ticker symbol for the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index, which shows the market's expectation of 30-day volatility. It is constructed using the implied volatilities of a wide range of S&P 500 index options. This volatility is meant to be forward looking and is calculated from both calls and puts. The VIX is a widely used measure of market risk. The index is often referred to as the "investor fear gauge".
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How to use exchange-traded funds to seize control of investing strategies and opportunities that just weren't available to you before How to snatch up the next era's winners in the Far East without investing a dime overseasWhere to find returns of 10 times your money and better - in the one investing sector virtually certain to soar over the years ahead At least five ways to buffer yourself against the coming housing bust. You can make a fortune on this without having to sell your home The ultimate hedge against the plunging purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. The U.S. Treasury is set on destroying our currency. Do this to protect your savings 100% How to get rich with old economy survivors and the few other companies that should survive a Wall Street wipeout of phenomenal proportions.
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for 90 Days…ALSO FREE! First, I'll rush you the six FREE reports in the SUBURBISTAN SURVIVOR'S TOOLKIT. This includes The Trade of the Decade: Make Nine Times Your Money on the Coming Boomer Bust!…Guaranteed to Go Up: The One Thing That Soars When Wall Street Comes Crashing Down…and The Ultimate Money Hedge: Your Best Protection Against a Dollar Collapse…plus Five Ways You Can Survive the Greatest Housing Collapse of Your Lifetime…How to Pile up 500% Gains Using Precision-Guided Investments…and Get Rich With These Old-Economy Survivors Second, you'll get a new issue of my private investing newsletter, Strategic Investment, sent to you promptly every month. You'll find it packed with valuable investment ideas, trends, insights, warnings, breathtaking opportunities, and virtually everything else you'll need to survive, thrive, and continue building your investment fortune in the 21st centuryThen there's more. I'll also send you - via e-mail - my own detailed analysis of what's going on with your investments…your Strategic Investment portfolio…and markets and news around the world. I write this personally, and I'll send it to you every week. This is also yours FREE, just for trying my advisory newsletter You'll ALSO get urgent e-mail profit alerts every time there's an investment opportunity so fast moving that I think you need to know about it. And I'll also use this to steer you away from sudden market dangers you might not be aware of - yours FREE And of course, only subscribers to my advisory letter, Strategic Investment, can get into the private members-only Web site. You'll have that exclusive access if you accept my invitation. It's packed with updates, new investment recommendations, and follow-ups; searchable archives of past issues, guides, advisories, and recommendations; and a lot more. Combined with the e-alerts, this is easily over $500 worth of investment resources. All by itself. However, it's yours FREE when you accept my offer 
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Market Volatility Index Definition InvestorWords - An index designed to track market volatility as an independent entity.
Basic Chart for CBOE VOLATILITY INDEX - Yahoo! Finance… Access the chart for CBOE VOLATILITY INDEX (VIX) in line, bar or candlestick type.
Five Signs Of Financial Reckoning Day - By Dan Denning "…Right now, the financial economy, or 'fictitious economy,' is most likely running out of steam. The stimuli of low interest rates and tax cuts have almost certainly lost their potency, without leading to major…"
Empire of Debt: The Rise Of An Epic Financial Crisis - The team that brought you the international bestseller Financial Reckoning Day-reunite to provide you with the first in-depth look at how the American character has shifted to accommodate its new imperial role; how we have abandoned the private virtues of personal liberty, economic freedom, and fiscal restraint; and how the "guv'mint" has gained control of public life and the economy.
Historical Background: The first Volatility Index, VIX, introduced by the CBOE in 1993, was a weighted measure of the implied volatility of eight S&P 100 at-the-money put and call options. Ten years later, it expanded to use options based on a broader index, the S&P 500, which allows for a more accurate view of investors' expectations on future market volatility. VIX values greater than 30 are generally associated with a large amount of volatility as a result of investor fear or uncertainty, while values below 20 generally correspond to less stressful, even complacent, times in the markets.