以下图标来源：美国地震局。Ps. 还是美国佬牛啊。中国地震局估计今天是放假了。

五角星为震源

理论地震范围。（注：四川地形特殊，震源在川西高原，但是四川盆地内部特殊地理形态有减震的作用，受害程度大大减轻）

每天有喝酸奶的习惯，但现在流行的酸奶盒设计，非常容易造成浪费，主流品牌如蒙牛、光明等均是这种设计，如下图所示。用这种盒子，角落里的酸奶很难被吃光。为此，韩国设计师推出的这种改良的设计很好地解决了浪费酸奶的问题。在目前食品价格暴涨的形势下，这样的设计应该受到推崇。

一直大家期盼下调的印花税终于下调了。

一直大家都认为交易成本高，现在交易成本终于“降低”了。

但是事实是，交易费用上升了，你相信吗？

我们算算：

降印花税之前6天A股市场两市平均成交额为970亿；降印花税后两天平均成交额2670亿。

交易费用组成部分包括：印花税+佣金+过户费

为方便计算，我们把佣金和过户费合并计算为1.5‰

下调印花税前：市场总费率为3‰+1.5‰=4.5‰,

• 每天金额为970*4.5‰*2=8.73（亿元）
• 其中国家印花税部分5.82（亿元）
• 券商部分2.91（亿元）

下调印花税后：市场总费率为1‰+1.5‰=2.5‰,

• 每天金额为2670*2.5‰*2=13.35（亿元）
• 其中国家印花税部分5.34（亿元）
• 券商部分8.01（亿元）

下调前后：

• 印花税费率下调幅度67%
• 印花税收入实际金额减少8.2%
• 券商费率没有变
• 券商收入实际金额增加175.2%

所以，印花税下调反应的实际结果就是：

• 交易频率加大
• 国家印花税收入几乎没有下降（降了8.2%）
• 券商收入暴增175%，券商类股票不疯狂上涨才怪
• 市场实际费率增长53%

唉，本来看准了两家券商股已经在我的抄底wish list上（还有一家银行和两家实业公司）。Chris Hummel 他们来的真不是时候，堵着国人三年难遇的抄底良机来Review，去年九月撤出股市，等了大半年却忘记去抄底，真是郁闷。我错失的就是那两个上午而已。不过，这种话说出来也只能自我安慰一下。奥运前的机会里面已经没有我了。奥运之后？···还是算了吧。所以还是这句老话：珍惜拥有的每一天，及时做好该做的事。

Goldmoney.com

I first presented the following chart with its downward pointing arrow in my alert on November 11, 2007, and made the following observation. "When taken together, the eerie calm as the dollar collapses and the arrow in the above chart pointing to the building downside momentum suggest that the dollar is nowhere near its final low."

I drew the downward pointing arrow back then purposefully. All the signs indicated to me that years of dollar mismanagement were finally taking its toll. I concluded that the dollar was heading for a major collapse that would culminate in a currency crisis by this summer, which is the time frame indicated by the arrow.

Anyone who has read these alerts or the book I co-authored with John Rubino knows that I am expecting a total collapse in the dollar. As I have said many times, the dollar is on the road to the fiat currency graveyard. But the question I am always asked is when will it get there? When will it collapse? The answer is in the above chart – this summer.

The dollar of course has been collapsing for years. Inflation has eroded its purchasing power, and inferior assets on bank balance sheets have debased its quality. What's more, rather than being left unfettered as a neutral tool for use in global commerce by one and all – which is the role required of the world's reserve currency – U.S. politicians have turned the dollar into an imperial weapon to extend their influence, further undermining its usefulness as currency. So it is not surprising that the Dollar Index has declined 41% from its peak on July 5, 2001, nor is what is happening now a surprise. Maybe I should say what isn't happening now. The dollar hasn't bounced.

We can see on the above chart the dollar's steep drop from December 20, 2007 to March 17, 2008. Under intense selling pressure, the dollar fell on 40 of these 60 trading days from 77.79 to its record low of 71.46. That 8.1% drop equates to a breathtaking 50% annual rate of decline. After a drop like that, one would expect a bounce in normal circumstances, just like the dollar bounced after the other huge drops that we can see on the chart. But it didn't happen. Why not?

One can only conclude that these are not normal circumstances. In other words, I think we have reached the 'tipping point'.

More people want out of the dollar than those who are willing to hold it. The final collapse of the dollar begins now. It will I expect play out over the next three to six months, culminating in a major dollar crisis.

I have been waiting for two events in particular to signal that the final collapse of the dollar had begun. One was for the Dollar Index to make a new record low by breaking below 78.30, which it did just a few weeks before I drew the arrow in the above chart last November. The other event was for gold to break above $1,000, which I anticipated would happen this year. Gold did briefly break above $1,000 last month before being beaten back down below that much-watched level by the gold cartel. I recommend reading the article in the current issue of Investor's Digest by John Embry of Sprott Asset Management describing this brief encounter with $1,000.

So the gold cartel once again 'circled the wagons', just like it has done for years at other critical price levels. It temporarily put a lid on gold, thereby keeping it from rising in order to blunt gold's signal that severe problems with the dollar are building. This activity by the gold cartel will be a major topic in next week's conference sponsored by the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee. GATA's international press release announcing this important conference can be found at the following link: http://www.gata.org/node/6226. Extensive documentation about government intervention in the gold market is available free on GATA's website.

Regardless of these recent price capping activities by the gold cartel, there is an important message about recent events embedded in the price action of the above chart. Despite all the central bank intervention, despite the repeated declaration of the so-called "strong dollar" policy, despite all the maneuvering by the Federal Reserve to remove inferior assets off over-leveraged bank balance sheets, despite all the tough talk about being vigilant to "fight inflation", the dollar hasn't bounced. None of these things have helped strengthen the dollar's exchange rate to the world's other major currencies. To me that means the front gate of the fiat currency graveyard is wide open, and the grim reaper is waiting for the dollar to enter on the next new low in the Dollar Index. When that happens, it won't take long for gold and silver to climb back above $1,000 and $20 – and this time stay there.