Weekend Chillout - No Redemption for you!

With the stocking news of PFG Best commodity broker going into bankruptcy and halting redemptions of customer funds it seems we could all need some redemption from these pirates circling the commodities markets.

Old pirates, yes, they rob I....

While we stand aside and look?

Yes, some say it's just a part of it

We've got to fullfil the book

Won't you have to sing

This songs of freedom?

'Cause all I ever had

Redemption songs

All I ever had

Redemption songs

These songs of freedom

Suggested Reading

I sent a client of mine my list of suggested reading and web links, and I thought I would also share it with my blog readers.

Books:

Rich Dad's Advisors : Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver

http://www.booktopia.com.au/rich-dad-s-advisors-guide-to-investing-in-gold-and-silver/prod9780446510998.html

Get the Skinny on Silver (a bit dated but the online download is still worth it)

http://www.silver-investor.com/sionline.html

Red Alert

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Alert-Prosperity-Threatens-American/dp/0446576239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342154703&sr=8-1&keywords=red+alert+leeb

Links:

http://arabianmoney.net/
http://www.silverdoctors.com/
http://maxkeiser.com/
http://silverbearcafe.com/private/home.html
http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Broadcast.html
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials.html
http://www.zerohedge.com/
http://www.silverseek.com/

Forums:

http://forums.silverstackers.com/

A Dream in the Desert - Dubai by night

Thanks to Peter Cooper of ArabianMoney.net for the video link

Keiser Report: Ponzi Overdose

Jul 12, 2012 by RussiaToday

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss the naked crime wave resulting from an overdose of synthetic stimulants like quantitative easing, bailouts and low interest rates. In the second half of the show Max talks to Ian Fraser of IanFraser.org about the Li(e)bor scandal and other banking crime waves emerging from the City of London.

Erste Group Gold Report 2012 – In GOLD we TRUST

Erste Group was founded in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank. Now more than 50,000 employees are serving around 17 million clients in over 3,000 branches in 8 countries. Erste Group is one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Original source

The foundation for new all-time-highs is in place. As far as sentiment is concerned, we definitely see no euphoria with respect to gold. Skepticism, fear, and panic are never the final stop of a bull market. In the short run, seasonality seems to argue in favor of a continued sideways movement, but from August onwards gold should enter its seasonally best phase. USD 2,000 is our next 12M price target. We believe that the parabolic trend phase is still ahead of us, and that our long-term price target of USD 2,300/ounce could be on the conservative side.

Since our first Gold Report we have discussed the gradual remonetisation of gold. Last year, we saw numerous signals indicating the fact that gold was gradually becoming “politically correct” again. Due to its high liquidity and unique characteristics, gold is becoming ever more prominent as collateral. Therefore, we are currently seeing the renaissance of gold in international finance. The foundation for a return to “sound money” has been laid.

Negative interest rates constitute a perfect environment for the gold price. During the 20 years of the gold bear market in the 1980s and 1990s, the average real interest rate level was around +4%. Since 2000, real interest rates have been negative for 51% of the time, which constitutes an optimal environment for gold. The fact that the Federal Reserve will now maintain its zero-interest policy until 2014 should result in prolonged negative real interest rates and thus create a positive foundation for further increases in the gold price.

We believe that financial repression will continue to crop up in many shapes and sizes and gain in importance over the coming years. Although we are currently faced with the highest level of public debt in time of peace, far-reaching consolidation of public budgets does not seem to be up for discussion. According to Austrian economics, every act of consumption has to be preceded by production. There seems to be no painless therapy for these problems. We believe that gold is an effective medicine. 

Download the report here

CFTC calls emergency meeting after PFGBest scandal

By Alexandra Alper and Sarah N. Lynch

Original source

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has called an emergency industry meeting to explore how to better protect customer money, days after the discovery that millions of dollars of customer funds went missing at now-bankrupt futures broker PFGBest.

Scott O'Malia, a commissioner at the U.S. futures regulator, invited the agency's Technology Advisory Committee to meet on July 26 in Washington.

The group, which is made up of futures industry representatives, will discuss ways that banks can provide quick automated verification to customers that their funds are safe, after the discovery earlier this week of a roughly $200 million shortfall in customer funds at Iowa-based PFGBest.

"This fraud and the fraud perpetrated at MF Global that came to light less than year ago both involve the theft of customer funds by intermediaries," O'Malia wrote in an email to committee members on Thursday. "What we need is a technology solution that eliminates the possibility of theft and misappropriation of customer funds."

Peregrine Financial Group, PFGBest's regulated unit, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday in Chicago after regulators accused it of misappropriating customer funds for more than two years.

Read more

Capital Account with Mish

Jul 11, 2012 by CapitalAccount

Minutes from the June FOMC meeting came out today. They revealed that a few Fed policy makers believe the central bank will probably need to take further action. Whether you think the Fed has failed by doing too much or too little, there is plenty of evidence it has succeeded in propping up the stock market. But are there signs even this is coming to an end? And though Fed members may expect moderate growth looking forward, Mike Shedlock, Investment Advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital, explains why he thinks the US is already in a recession.

We're Gonna See the Price of SILVER With a Zero Behind It

Jul 11, 2012 by SGTbull07

A "Carbon Star" found - quick tell Julia!

Quick tell Julia Gillard to tax this Death Star before it explodes and dissipates its poisonous CO2 throughout the Camelopardalis constellation. If this star is not taxed out of existence we run the risk in the future of carbon based life forms evolving in this area. Be warned, some carbon based life forms are particularly nasty, think The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal and you will be close.

U Camelopardalis, or U Cam for short, is a star nearing the end of its life; this image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the bright star surrounded by a tenuous shell of gas. As it begins to run low on fuel, it is becoming unstable. Every few thousand years, it coughs out a nearly spherical shell of gas as a layer of helium around its core begins to fuse. The gas ejected in the star’s latest eruption is clearly visible in this picture as a faint bubble of gas surrounding the star. U Cam is a carbon star — a rare type of star whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen. Because of low surface gravity, as much as half of the total mass of a carbon star may be lost by way of powerful stellar winds. Located in the constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), near the North Celestial Pole, U Cam itself is actually much smaller than it appears in Hubble’s picture — in fact, the star would easily fit within a single pixel at the center of the image.

Gold goes "ting" Cows go "moo"

I had a good laugh at Doug Casey (see below) with his gold and cows as I was discussing similar investment strategies with a close friend several weeks ago. We where thinking if you already have a core holding of precious metal in your SMSF (Aussie equiv. of a US IRA or UK SIPP) what do you invest in next? And one of the things that popped up was rural land and cows. Actually we took the idea as far as finding a suitable place to invest. See it here

Eccleston, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia

From the Washington Post

Original source

Hard assets aim to offset "low yields, choppy markets and a flood of uncertainty from Europe's debt crisis"Surveys of the world's wealthy elite, as well as major media outlets, are increasingly documenting people who exit traditional forms of investments in exchange for tangible assets and collectibles. The Washington Post is the latest to detail this trend, in an article featuring longtime goldenthusiast and contrarian investor Doug Casey of Casey Research:

"Beset by low yields, choppy markets and a flood of uncertainty from Europe's debt crisis, investors are increasingly looking to nontraditional assets to bolster their portfolios. The goal is to detach themselves from the ups and downs of stocks and bonds while building wealth in tangible items they enjoy. Some buy rare books, photos or paintings. Others allocate a portion of their savings to fine wines.Precious metals, in the form of gold coins as well as jewelry, are also popular."

Doug Casey of Casey Research told The Post that he's buying gold and cows.

Casey buys a few one-ounce gold coins each month -- a habit he started years ago and continues today, despite the bull market in gold prices. Since 2006, he has also been investing in cattle ranching in Argentina, where he owns about 150 dairy cows and 2,000 beef cows.

"I wish I could come up with other things," he said, but "I don't know what else you should do right now."

His main worry is the United States' $15.8 trillion national debt, which he says makes gold a sensible investment even at its price of late, about $1,600 an ounce. He worries the debt will spur inflation, which would devalue the dollar, while goldwould retain its value.

"Having 50 percent of investable assets in gold now is completely reasonable," said Casey, who runs his own investment research firm, Casey Research, in Stowe, Vt. "I just buy some every month, and most people don't have anygold coins, so I just suggest that they buy some and start getting into the habit."

Read more