Does anybody know anything about this Porter Stansberry guy?

[astonamous]

Source: http://www.stansberryresearch.com/pro/1011PSIEND49/LPSILC40/PR

I reference our success and experience with Wall Street's latest crisis because we believe there is an even bigger crisis lurking – something that will shake the very foundation of America.

And that is why I've spent a significant amount of time and money in the past few months preparing this letter.
In short, I want to talk about a specific event that will take place in America's very near future... which could actually bring our country and our way of life to a grinding halt.
This looming crisis is related to the financial crisis of 2008... but it is infinitely more dangerous, as I'll explain in this letter.

As this problem comes to a head, I expect there to be riots in the streets... arrests on an unprecedented scale... and martial law, enforced by the U.S. military.

Believe me, I don't make this prediction lightly and I have no interest in trying to scare you.

I'm simply following my research to its logical conclusion.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Military wont turn on the people.

And we are already under marshal law, if people in some positions are threatened to keep them silenced, or not allowed to speak openly.

Although it could be economically enforced. If it moved to attempts of military force, that would just make it seen easier.

Including by the 1000s that served in wars they now know are for other reasons, so they wont turn on US citizens as easy as some think.

Hence why 'security firms' are often used, and why there is even a concept of not using troops in ones own country.

But anyways, would there be less then no beer and travel money?

As long as people see what is being done, and enough try to do better in the end it will get better.

[SDuderstadt]

19. "marshal law"

LOLOLOL!

[Warpy]

22. Did he take over after Matt Dillon retired?

[aquart]

2. We have a federal system.

Getting fifty states to agree to arrest their citizens? Good luck with that.

I tend not to listen to people named "Porter." Their traditions are not mine.

[DJ13]

3. He spends too much time trying to impress with his position in life and his sincerity

[MineralMan]

4. No. Do you? Why do you ask?

There are thousands of people making pronouncements out there. You posted this. What do you think of it?

[MineralMan]

6. Here's more on the person you quoted:

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/comp18090.htm

[MineralMan]

7. Here's a resource about the man:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Porter+Stansberry

[MineralMan]

5. Looked him up. He's a market fraud. See below:

" Report Post# 1
One of the blogs on this site (not sure which categaory) posted a URL with an SEC website posting a complaint for fraud filed by the SEC against Porter Stansberry and Agora in 2003. Can anyone tell me the outcome of this litigation? Thank you
StockGumshoe Feb 25th 2008 edited Report Post# 2
The decision was handed down in August last year and Stansberry and his company (then Pirate Capital, now Stansberry & Associates) were ordered to pay "$1.5 million in restitution and civil penalties for disseminating false stock information and defrauding public investors through a financial newsletter," but they maintain their innocence and the case may well be on appeal, I haven't checked.

Agora, which I believe still owns part of S&A (many of these Baltimore publishing companies are interrelated in various ways), was also named in the original suit but was found to not be responsible for the newsletter in question.

Here's the Baltimore Sun article on the decision: http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/08/1-5-million-payback-ordered-in-sec-suit

http://oneguysinvestments.com/gumshoe/comments.php?DiscussionID=865

So much for him. Are we paying attention to crooks, now?

[astonamous]

8. Thanks for the info...

I was sent the link to this so called letter and the more I read, the more skeptical I became. Anytime I read or hear someone say that they don't want to "scare people, BUT the sky is falling" and then follow it with some way to save yourself and it's "all perfectly legal" big red flags go up in my head.

I just wanted to know from folks on DU that delve into the financial stuff more than I do, if this guy was legit or not. It isn't as if I have enough money to worry about any investing, be it US dollars or Euros. I'm lucky to be able to have enough money at the end of the month to afford to buy a few used books or some music.

The graphs didn't help at all...seem very unprofessional for such an important letter.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. When someone promises they can sell you the method to make 600% return on bonds

you know something stinks.

[trof]

9. Check out the Stock Gumshoe

http://stockgumshoe.com/
He gets to the bottom of the email 'teasers' trying to sell you investment newsletters.
He usually has the latest on Stansberry's bogus 'come ons'.

[Cacomyxl]

11. What bothers me most about his pitch...

I just sat through an annoying video by this guy as I was cleaning the kitchen. Why I kept listening is a mystery, I guess it had that quality like Fox News that I know is going to suck in a lot of genuinely concerned but under-educated people in middle America. I realized it was certainly a scam early on, when I realized the whole structure of the webpage was to keep you from examining any of the statements in detail. It was simply text read aloud, with no pause, rewind or scrub bar. The perfect format for targeting people unlikely to read an article on the topic, to make a lot of alarming assertions based on half-truths and to flash up an occasional graph for just long enough to suggest is supports an argument but not long enough to allow careful scrutiny. The gist of it was that America is on the brink of hyper-inflation and subsequent social collapse and that he had the answers and for just $50 he'd send you information that will protect you and your loved ones, and you might just make a financial killing in the process. So I Googled him to see what other people had to say on the topic - which was interesting. The first thing I noticed is that the first couple of pages of result were mostly generated by his organization, rather than impartial sources. There's no Wikipedia article on him, yet he has huge web presence. I started thinking, it takes a concerted effort and some know-how to control your image to that extent on the internet. I have the impression he is a big fish. One detractor (http://www.timothysykes.com/tag/porter-stansberry-scam/ ) is a wall street type, referred to him as a "king-pin" and suggests that he puts out these recommendations that run up an investment that he will profit from. I guess it is referred to as pump-and-dump. Seems to fit with what I saw.

So what bugged me the most was not the fact that even though his video suggested that soon US Dollars will be worth less than the paper they're printed on he was still asking you to send you a payment in that currency. Nor was it the fact that at the beginning of the video he tells you the video is going to tell you exactly how to get through this crisis, and only after you've wasted half an hour of your life he tells you that the answer is to send him money then he'll REALLY tell you how to survive the impending upheaval. It is not even the thought that he is trying to scam me out of my hard-earned money to line his pockets. No what bothers me most is that embedded in his pitch was the statement "this works best the fewer people know about it" which reveals the general attitude implicit in the whole scam: America's monetary system is going to collapse, the rest of the world will go with it, "I know all about it and exactly how it will happen and my solution is to keep it a secret and make money off of the whole s**tstorm." I mean if he really believed half of what he claimed, there won't be any thing left to spend his filthy lucre on. And he is promoting the attitude. "We can't fix what's wrong with the world so let's cut and run."

It is so important that we begin to call these amoral profiteers on their tactics. This kind of thing has a self-fulfilling aspect to it. We've been hurt enough by this kind of greed.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. Lovely analysis. Very cognizant of the game he is trying to run.

and a belated welcome to DU.

:hi:

[3d.design]

23. Why changing numbers

There are some great points made here Cacomyxl.

My biggest question is why the commercials keep changing the website address. I've seen the exact same commercial for endofamerica63.com endofamerica4.com newamerica4.com and on and on and on.

If the site was legit, it wouldn't need the changing digits. There is obviously some shady stuff with the site.

Also, it strikes me as odd that the commercials get so much air time on news networks, including CNN and MSNBC yet there is no mention of this guy in any news coverage. I'm sure that commercial airtime for a prime time CNN or MSNBC slot is EXTREMELY expensive. Not to mention the image management through google...

There is definitely a large bankroll behind these fear mongering commercials.

My biggest question is why is it so hard to find any real info on this topic outside of a somewhat low budget democratic blog. Something doesn't add up and it seems more like corporate or commercial censorship than image management.

[whattheidonot]

12. parts are true.

parts of what this man says are true. The deficit and the dollar are in big trouble. I have read this from reputable economists over and over. . A dollar crisis is looming. There is no demand, and no wage increases. if it will as bad or as soon as this man says that is another thing, but it has to occur, no way around it. Bernake himself said it is going to take 5 years . That was very telling. Five years under their plan. In 2012 they have to go. I do not think it matters which party gets elected as long as the candidate addresses this. All the social issues are not going to matter much with this economy. Social issues usually get more partisan in downturns The only way around it is to elect a new government and even that will have pain for us. When Obama was so quick to accept the Bush tax cuts that was a telling sign. He had thrown in the towel on the economy. The Tea party wants to get rid of government. It is pretty much gone now. Let,s see how they like it.
Arizona is selling off it's government buildings and renting them to themselves. What kind of sense does that make? That is exactly what people with their houses and lots of them got burned.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. I.e., you fell for it

[howaboutme]

16. I agree we're screwed to benefit the Wall St bankers.

Unless we can get our debt levels reversed we will undoubtedly lose world reserve currency status, and then we are going to be in a big pickle without a good way out except for major sacrifices. If we lose reserve status we can't print our way out of a money crisis. We'll be in the same status as the other countries that face super austerity.

This is a result of decades of cutting revenues (taxes) and implementing frivolous foreign policy of fighting stupid wars, often for other nations and special interests, and defending the interests of other nations at our own sacrifice, such as the oil embargo of the 1970s. The latter cost the USA trillions.

The Federal Reserve has rigged the system so that their cronies on Wall Street have benefited.

- First they create a bubble (housing) because of absurdly easy money,
- then they allow bankers such as Goldman to encourage commodity prices to rise (through CTFC exemption) by encouraging speculation,
- that $150 oil pricks the economy and the bubble,
- stocks and asset prices fall,
- public sells on the cheap, retirement money lost
- investment banks get bailed out with taxpayer money and Fed Reserve access,
- investment banks become chartered as commercial banks to get access to the Fed printing presses via discount window,
- investment houses push up stock prices and buy up other distressed assets on the cheap,
- bankers profited with predatory ill gotten gains and now they will profit again but only because of taxpayer help,
- Fed Reserve initiates QE2 to expand their balance sheet and print money to subsidize US Treasuries, keep interest rates low and push stock market. Bankers win again at expense of US Dollar and taxpayers
- dollar weakens, commodity bubble created as food, energy prices rise again
- bubble breaks again???

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bemildred]

15. If he really knew the future, he would not need to solicit your business. nt

[bitskeptic]

18. Looking for a worthwhile subject in a pile of manure

He's definitely a scam artist- The SEC's $1.5 million fine is a testament to that - (and you know how many the SEC misses?? hint - half of Wall Street..) Well they got this guy. He is a fear monger who is out for himself. That being said I am pretty progressive, but when listening to part of this video I found myself wondering if there is a serious question about the effect of U.S. printing money on the worlds economy. I would love to hear what an economist like Jeffrey Sachs would say about this - just to get some expert response to the part I don't quite have a handle on - and when I say expert I mean expert - not some scam driven greed oriented, I am the world type, but someone who has studied economics and has what they call a social conscience...

The way I found out about this is from an email from International Living. Says something about them that they promote this fraud. Stansberry comes out with this video at a time where the world is watching incredible unrest and revolution in the Middle East. Great timing from a con artist point of view. Anyway his conclusions about the coming police state and so forth are scare talk and should be ignored. If there's anything worthwhile to be found in this pile of manure I am happy to discuss it and discard the rest. Firedoglake wrote up a scathing article on the guy.

http://my.firedoglake.com/somethingthedogsaid/2011/02/24/end-of-america-2011-porter-stansberrys-newest-scam/

Would like to see a Wikipedia entry.

Be well and be skeptical of greedy charlatans.

[whattheidonot]

20. right -winger.

Some of what he states is true. Inflation is being hidden. Prices are up and the middle and lower classes are being devoured. The key to reading this guy is that he blames the problem on high corporate tax rates. That gives him away. Prices are going to hit like a freight train,that part is true.

[RetroHousewife]

21. Porter Stansberry

I found this topic via Google and in the interest of getting to the bottom of things, I thought I would add a few details about my own experience concerning Porter Stansberry et al. First, I am not a progressive and while I am still officially a registered democrat, I consider myself Tea Party. I have purchased several of the investment newsletters from Stansberry and Associates, including a wealth alliance which cost $1,500. The other newsletters run anywhere from $100 - thousands for subscriptions, usually on an annual basis.

I found S&A via the End of America video, but I was in general agreement with the basic premise of his message before I listened/watched his video. I subscribed to the newsletters not because I was scared into doing so, but because S&A's view of the world situation more or less is in harmony with my own.

I do not know why S&A continues to format their sales pitch the way they do. It drives me nuts. It is true they are always trying to sell something else, even after you have subscribed to the the first letter. I find their sales pitches tacky and off-putting, and they make me want to scream. However, they seem to be successful or they would probably change them.

In their defense, they are running an investment advisory business and while they do not provide individual portfolio analysis or recommendations, they publish newsletters which include their picks of various investment vehicles covering multiple industries and using several investment strategies. As a business, they do what they do to make money. I do not believe that this in and of itself makes their operation a scam. They provide a service and while they do go to great lengths to try to convince potential customers of the quality of their service, I am hard-pressed to think of another business which does not.

Contrary to most "reputable" investment services, they do not directly benefit from selling you a particular stock or other investment vehicle. The Morgan Stanley, American Express Financial etc. companies earn their money not by providing you information and charging a fee for said information, rather, they charge you a commission and take a percentage of your investment, or in absence of a commission, might sell you something that is very profitable for them, but not necessarily in the investor's best interest. The last time I checked, which I admit was eons ago, they do not disclose what their overall take on such investment vehicles actually is. In short, these types of investment smarties make money whether you do or not.

S&A provides their readers with information and includes a synopsis of their own trading account. In short, you are invited to do what they do, or read the advisory and delete it. While any financial guru with clout has the potential to affect the actual price of the stocks they are recommending, whether they intend to or not, I have not yet seen evidence of S&A trying to do this intentionally (or inadvertently but I am not paying close enough attention to say definitively that this has not occurred.)

The actual quality of their newsletters is far, far better than they make them appear or what I expected based on the cheesy sales pitch. At the end of the day, it is up to me to make money or lose money, and I subscribe because I do not have the time to do in-depth research of my own, and so I pay for a service which specializes in investment research. While it may turn out that I have been fooled, based on what I have read from them thus far, I do not think I have been. I know there is no magic solution to investing, however there is most certainly good and bad advice. In my estimation S&A provides valuable research. Despite the horrendous sales pitch. I hope you find this useful. It is my honest opinion at this juncture. June 25th, 2011.

RH