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 The S&P 500 and the Dow furthered their record highs with 0.3% gains. With the Dow at 13,907, how many “Dow 14,000” stories do you think we’re going to see in the financial press today?
 For its part, the dollar dropped again. On Friday, the dollar closed on the low end of $1.38 against the euro, to bring its loss to over 1% for the week. The pound is now on track to hit $2.04.
“Both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England have been aggressive on their fight against inflation,” reports EverBank’s Chris Gaffney, “and I don't expect them to ease off anytime soon. This will keep both the euro and pound sterling reaching for new record highs versus the U.S. dollar.”
The dollar also fell against the yen.
 On Friday, the Iranians insisted that Japan pay for all its oil with yen, not dollars. Earlier in the year, Iran’s central bank announced it would be cutting its dollar reserves to less than 20%. Since Japan is on track to spend at least $10 billion on Iranian oil this year alone -- it’s a likely place to start.
Iran is technically a foe of the United States, so its move away from dollar reserves doesn’t wrankle too many feathers in D.C.... yet. If other countries follow suit, like Kuwait did earlier this year, well, then the currency markets would really begin to get interesting.
 The International Energy Agency thinks global demand for oil in 2008 will increase from 80 million barrels per day to 88.2 million. That’s almost 50% more barrels a day than the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s best guess.
If the IEA is right, oil demand will continue to rise at about 2% a year. Supplies will fall at a similar clip. In 2004, the agency reported a 4.1% supply surplus, 1.2% in 2005 and 0.5% in 2006.
 At the same time, OPEC announced a drop in “estimated daily output” last month. It fell nearly 100,000 barrels. Through 2008, refinery problems will continue to exert "further upward pressure, despite the healthy crude market," officials for OPEC stated.
Rising global demand. Dwindling supplies. Languishing output. Hmmmn. What’s that spell? Higher prices.
 In London, Brent crude oil rose 45 cents yesterday, to more than $78 per barrel. This marks the first time crude has hit that price since Aug. 9, 2006.
 Here’s a fun little bit of intrigue. The Russian government recently granted Gazprom -- the world’s No. 1 gas and No. 2 oil supplier -- the right to create its own private army.
“A couple of terrorist acts and an ensuing ecological catastrophe,” said Alexander Gurov, one of the deputies who drafted the law, “would be enough to immediately declare Russia an unreliable partner and supplier of energy resources.”
“He may have a point,” comments our Christopher Hancock. “Russia owns 27% of the world’s natural gas reserves. And those reserves account for 44% of European Union gas imports and about a quarter of Europe’s total gas consumption. Europe already depends on foreign supplies for about half of its energy demand, and that ratio is set to rise to 70% by 2030. We’re in a new era where energy supplies will constantly be challenged. A majority of the world’s energy sources are not secure.”
This decision essentially makes Gazprom its own state. Gazprom currently employs nearly half a million people, has control of most of Russia’s media, owns the third largest bank in Russia and now has the right to arm its own militia -- if only with handguns and shotguns.
[Side note: You may recall a book by James Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg called The Sovereign Individual, in which they posit that the monopoly over violence will be the hallmark of politics in the 21st century. It seems that Vladimir Putin may be a willing and able practitioner of the theory.]
 Miners in South America’s most legendary silver mine are begging the Bolivian government to put them out of work. According to protesting miners, the Cerro Rico mine in Potosi, Bolivia, is on the verge of collapse. Current high silver prices have been driving mining efforts to a frenzy, and many of the 15,000 round-the-clock miners are walking away from the site, saying it could collapse any moment.
The mine has been running since 1545 and supposedly has produced enough metal to build a silver bridge from Bolivia back to Spain. As silver creeps past $13 an ounce and toward the critical $14 zone... government officials are cracking the whip as hard as ever.
If you’re looking a way to play the silver boom, EverBank will be unveiling one of its trademark MarketSafe CDs tomorrow, this one indexed to the silver market. We’ll have more details for you then.
 “The Chinese products that were recently recalled shouldn't be stamped ‘Made in China,’” commented Kevin Kerr in The Daily Reckoning Weekend Edition. “They should be stamped ‘Made in Hell.’”
This is no joke: The list of poisoned consumer goods is lengthy. Medicine contaminated with diethylene glycol (antifreeze) passed off as glycerin. Gluten spiked with melamine that poisoned so many of our dogs and cats. Toxic fish contaminated with banned antibiotics and chemicals. Juice with unsafe color additives, tainted seasoning on snacks. Pork tainted with clenbuterol, a banned feed additive.
“Now comes word from the news services that in one part of China some of the street vendors have been selling some kind of roll not made out of flour or wheat, but of cardboard -- yup, cardboard with a little meat flavor, just like Mom used to make.
“It's like a form of consumer roulette right now. The void between restrictions on U.S. manufacture and Chinese production is cavernous.”
 Rising corn prices are putting the kibosh on the U.N.’s ability to feed poor people in Africa. The U.N.’s World Food Program, which feeds the hungry in mostly sub-Saharan Africa, says 2007 will be the first year in which the program is forced to cut back on the number of mouths it plans to feed. It estimates a 50% increase in food costs over the last five years -- including a 120% increase in corn prices.
 Nearly one-third of America’s roads are in “poor or mediocre” condition. The transportation research group TRIP blames a 40% increase in road traffic from 1990-2005 while road repair and restoration levels stayed mostly the same.
The states with the worst roads? California topped the list. Pennsylvania slipped in close behind. Allen Biehler, Pennsylvania’s secretary of transportation, told CBS last week that he needs another $1.9 billion to repair the state’s decrepit roads this year alone. Asked if he thought it was a crisis, Biehler replied, “We would call it a crisis… that happened many years ago.”
“Ah, crisis. That magic word. That special midwife of opportunity,” writes Chris Mayer in an e-mail to The 5. “I’ve covered the aging water infrastructure of this country and its failing power grid. And I’ve recommended investments that have paid off nicely for my readers. Surely, there are opportunities to invest in America’s massive rebuilding of its roads.”
 “Legal or illegal, immigrants have fueled our economic growth over the past seven years,” wrote a reader in regard to an ongoing immigration debate raging in The 5’s inbox.
“Without immigrants, there would have been a more severe recession in 2001-2002. Without immigrants, there would not have been as large a new housing boom in 2003-2006. Without immigrants, we would have had an anemic recovery in the current economic cycle, and might already have slipped back into recession.
“In the coming years,” the reader continues, “the demographics of this country will age. We need immigrants (who are mostly young) to keep the number of workers paying into Social Security high enough to keep some form of Social Security and Medicare programs solvent.
“The only losers in a wave of youthful immigration are those without ambition who feel they are somehow ‘entitled.’ Our college graduates today will compete for their place in the sun with the hungry, educated horde of Far Eastern college graduates. If they don't catch on and meet this challenge, they will be the first generation of Americans in a long time (if ever) to be less well off than their parents.”
The 5 responds: If you’re going to have a recovery… you first need to have a recession. The U.S. in 2001-2002 barely had either. Giving immigrants, illegal or otherwise, credit for a) a less severe recession b) the housing boom c) a staved-off relapse of economic malaise is… how shall we say this… like putting blinders on a racehorse. What we really experienced was a collapsing stock market, and then the largest expansion of credit in history. Immigration had little, if anything, to do with expansive rate cuts and the ensuing mortgage bubble.
And if you think immigration is going to avert the Social Security/Medicare train wreck headed our way, boy… we don’t know what to tell you, except, take a look at the numbers again: $56 trillion smackers is one heck of a bill for Juan and Julio to cover. The biggest impact immigration has had on the economy is to -- rightfully, we might add –- lower wage rates and help bring Americans in line with the rest of the global economy.
That said, immigration is vital to our economy and to our heritage. Anyone who wants to build a wall south of the border ought to take a look in the history books: Hadrian’s Wall, the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall… they don’t do much, they’re freakin’ expensive... and they become history’s symbols, marking the beginning of the end for political empires.
 Well, the Spanish have done it. They’ve “illegally and forcefully” detained Odyssey Marine’s boat, the Ocean Alert. It’s one of the ships used by Odyssey to haul up its $500 million bounty of gold and silver coins. The ship was “boarded in international waters — under threat of force — and told to head for Algeciras, despite an agreement with Spanish authorities that the vessel would only be searched at sea,” said Odyssey officials on Friday.
We’re following the plight of the coins, because there’s an off chance we can work an exclusive deal and get a share of the coins for you to buy. We thought they might be available sometime in October or November, but as of this weekend, it looks like that booty might be locked up in courts for some time to come… we’ll keep our eye on it, though.
Regards,
Addison Wiggin,
The 5 Min. Forecast
P.S. A new rule passed by the SEC may make it possible for you to squeeze safer profits out of stocks not listed on major exchanges. “For quite some time,” writes Greg Guenthner, “SEC rules have applied to stocks listed on the Nasdaq and the OTC Bulletin Board… but not securities listed on the Pink Sheets.”
“The rule is referred to as Manning. It prohibits a NASD dealer from manipulating the market in his favor by ignoring some orders while filling others. In 10 days, trading on the Pink Sheets will also be held to these same standards… giving investors more of an equal footing in this often difficult market.” The extension of this SEC rule onto the Pink Sheets should open up the market and release a myriad of opportunities for investors in the OTC markets. We’ll keep you updated...
(Gunner’s Bulletin Board Elite launched on Friday. If you’re interested in learning about tiny stocks with amazing index “jumping” potential, you may want to check out this report and subscribe.)
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Recent guerilla attacks in western Mexico have authorities on both sides of the Mexican border scrambling to protect billions worth natural gas pipelines. Companies such as Hershey’s, Honda, and Kellogg’s are losing up to $7 million a day as local rebels bomb energy sites left and right. Meanwhile, several little known organizations are well positioned to profit from a sudden energy grab... or… worse yet, a full blown U.S. / Mexico Border War. 
