Tuesday, August 23, 2011
FED handed out $1.2 trillion to Wall Street aristocracy
Lately many investors have found refuge in investing in gold. With the decline of the US dollar on a global scale many Americans are speculating where is their money the safest? Should American citizens have confidence in the US stock market? Max Fraad Wolff, economist for the New School, tells us when and in what to invest in.
Gerald Celente: Gold is the wisest asset
Globally there has been economic unrest. Stocks have been on a roller coaster ride for the past few weeks and this leave many wondering where to put their money. We ask Gerald Celente, publisher of The Trends Journal, where his investments are in these uncertain times?
Hugo Chavez wants his gold
Gold has hit new records when it comes to price and the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has decided to cash out. Chavez is asking the US, Britain and Switzerland to give him his $11 billion in gold reserves. What does this mean and why should we care? Adrian Salbuchi, author and researcher, gives us some insight on the decision made by Chavez.
Investors flock to Gold
Will be interesting to see these guys eat their words by the end of year with gold highly likely to be over $2500.
A Nordic Euro?
As Jim Willie predicted several years ago the Euro will devolve into a core Euro of Germany and other responsible Nordic states. The PIIGS will be ejected and revert to their former currencies.
From Bloomberg:
The euro area may need to shrink to survive.
As its sovereign-debt crisis nears a third year and rescue efforts fail to stop the rot in financial markets, economists from Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Mohamed El-Erian to Harvard’s Martin Feldstein say ensuring the euro’s existence may require members to leave the 17-nation currency region.
The result would be what El-Erian, Pimco’s Newport Beach, California-based chief executive officer, calls a “smaller, much better integrated, fiscally strong euro zone.” While leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel consistently rule out that option, El-Erian told “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene on Aug. 17 that they eventually may embrace it over the fiscal union required to maintain the status quo.
“We’ve been warned by European policy makers never to underestimate their commitment to economic and monetary union, but that can also be interpreted as perhaps them, in the end, choosing quality over quantity,” said Stephen Jen, managing partner at SLJ Macro Partners LLP, an investment and advisory firm in London. “Political commitments to resolving the crisis cannot be infinite. We can’t have all the chips on the table.”
That the euro’s membership is even in debate is testament to the failure of its leaders to snuff out a debt turmoil that began in Greece in late 2009 before spreading to Portugal and Ireland. It now threatens Italy and Spain and this month has jolted France....read on
Gold hits and holds over $1900
Gold hit $1900 at today's Sydney market open, and it breifly hit an all time of $1911. So it seems Sydney is currently currently the Gold as well as "Emerald City".
For firearms buffs I thought it only fitting to put up a Gold "1911" pic to celebrate this price moment.
The case for $5000 Gold
Excellent summary of the case for $5,000 gold and higher silver prices by veteran journalist and entrepreneur Peter Cooper, filmed in the Gold Souk in Dubai. Peter's website is ArabianMoney.net
Things That Make You Go Hmmm....
From Zero Hedge:
A few days ago we penned "As Chavez Pulls Venezuela's Gold From JP Morgan, Is The Great Scramble For Physical Starting?" in which, logically, we wondered if the unwind of the great gold cartel, whose purported price manipulation has always resided in the domain of paper, or confidence-based, precious metals, may have started from the most unexpected source: Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez who just announced that he will not only nationalize the country's gold industry but reclaim his physical gold (however much of it may exist) from custodians such as JP Morgan and Bank of Nova Scotia.
The practical implications of this move are substantial- since then gold has seen record high after record high. Whether one attributes these moves to Chavez, or to yet another global "risk-flaring" episode is unclear. Luckily, Grant Williams, author of the always entertaining "Things That Make you Go Hmmmm", provides some very fascinating observations on this very interesting topic...
From the full note (presented below):
To sum up:
- It is common practice for most Central Banks to hold part of their gold reserves overseas in ‘gold trading centres’ (read London and New York)
- One of those Central Banks - that of Venezuela - wants its gold back
- That means that a group of banks (mainly in the UK and the USA) who are supposed to have that gold in their vaults need to GIVE it back...
- ...which in turn could potentially trigger a race to repatriate national gold holdings
- Neither Fort Knox nor the Federal Reserve (the world’s two biggest gold depositories) have been independently audited in recent times
- The status of the gold held in the Bundesbank (home to the world’s third-largest hoard) is somewhat unclear
- The practice of leasing gold by Central Banks has been going on so long that it even predates the time when Alan Greenspan advocated sound money
- The gold ‘physical market’ is approximately 100 times the size of the amount of actual underlying metal by which it is purportedly backed
- The top four bullion banks, or ‘commercials’ on the COMEX continue to run what we shall politely call ‘significant’ short positions (chart above)
In the three trading sessions since Chavez made his announcement on August 17th, gold has added almost $100, coming within a whisker of $1,900 before settling back at another record weekly close.
Market weakness? Maybe. Fear of further problems in Europe? Quite possibly. Continuing disgust with the world’s fiat currencies? Highly likely.
The beginning of a race amongst the world’s Central Banks to grab physical gold? Now THAT would be something to see...
Full note:
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