From: Madeline G-B [mgb@astro-cycles.com] Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 3:28 AM Subject: Good Timing Update: Olympics; This Friday and Japan's Gold Rush Hello Everyone! For those of you following the Olympics, I thought you might like to hear about the pairs skating situation from an astrological point of view. Ice skating at the Olympics has had questionable judging practices for years. Four years ago in Japan, the ice dancers had a major issue, but of course nothing was done. It's actually been an issue on and off for most of the Olympics. But now we have the Saturn-Pluto opposition and all of a sudden, this misuse of power comes to light in a much bigger way. Never before has any judge admitted that they were "forced to vote" with a particular block of judges. So oops! The cat is out of the bag now and it will be hard for the International Skating Committee to put it back in. Regardless of what happens during the Olympics, this issue will not be over until May. Don't expect it to get swept under the rugs, (although I'm sure the International Skating Committee will try very hard to do that). The International Olympic Committee is likely to get involved before it's all over. They can't afford any more scandals and making a travesty of the most highly watched winter sport will get their attention. THIS FRIDAY: Just a reminder that this Friday is an excellent day: a GREAT day, with fantastic potential for abundance and prosperity (Venus exalted in Pisces trine Jupiter exalted in Cancer). Even Saturday is wonderful, but I'm sure not as many of you are working that day. I hope you plan to do something great with this date as we don't get too many this good. JAPAN'S GOLD RUSH Have you noticed that Japan is now rushing to buy gold? Their banks are reducing the amount of bank deposits that will be covered by their banking insurance. This is happening soon, at the beginning of April, so now the Japanese are buying large amounts of gold. What does this have to do with you? First of all, Japan is in a heavy downward, deflationary spiral. Everything the government has tried (lowering interest rates to zero, pumping billions of dollars worth into public works, etc.) has accomplished nothing over the past 12 years. This is because Japan largely suffers from too much debt (like the USA) and the debt needs to get written off, and bankruptcies need to occur to clean up the mess. Everyone in Japan is aware that several of the banks there are really insolvent and so with the latest announcement, there is now a rush to take money out of the banks and to put it in gold. Japan is also printing money with crazy speed, devaluing the yen at the same time. They're doing this to try and pay off the huge amount of debt (140% of Japan's Gross Domestic Product), but it can only devalue the yen they already have. Once this continues to its logical conclusion, we will see some Japanese banks collapse, some VERY large banks collapse. We'll probably see some other major Japanese corporations go under as well. And this is going to spead right to the USA. Even Time magazine reports on this in their Feb 18th issue, meaning this story has gone beyond the financial journals and magazines to the mainstream. I've written about the dangers of Japan's situation before and the huge impact it could have on our own stocks and bonds. Japan is one of the largest foreign investors in U.S. stocks and bonds and they may now be forced to sell them. And since the U.S. is also sitting on huge corporate and consumer debt, we're in no position to absorb their losses. If Japan crashes, so will the U.S. Remember, everyone's assets are someone else's liabilities. Whenever a major company crashes, like Enron did, many other companies and individuals are left holding a bag of worthless IOUs. The great danger is a cascading effect that doesn't stop for a long time. Be sure to watch this situation closely, especially as we get closer to early April. With the Saturn -Pluto opposition getting closer then and Mars joining the party at the end of April and early May, we may see this situation heat up big time, so be prepared. In the meantime, if you are thinking about buying gold or gold stocks, you better think quickly! Enjoy Friday's prosperity!

Madeline G-B
Astro Cycles Consulting
206-729-8820
mgb@astro-cycles.com
www.astro-cycles.com