A unique and safe way to buy gold and silver 2013 Passport To Freedom Residency Kit
Buy Gold & Silver With Bitcoins!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Gold World News Flash

Gold World News Flash

Central banks waging war on gold at this hour

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 06:51 PM PDT

[url]http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/[/url] [url]http://www.fortwealth.com/[/url] If it is not obvious by now, it should be -an attempt by the Central Banks of the West to derail the rise in the gold price is currently underway. I mentioned in my midday comments that an effort would take place to prevent gold from moving beyond $1900 in an attempt to paint a double top on the daily price chart and induce a round of technically related selling from speculators on the long side. This effort can clearly be seen in the following ONE MINUTE BAR CHART which reveals an enormous spike of 4,000+ contracts in the middle of the evening during a time period in the gold trading not normally known for this sort of volume. The question must now be raised - if this was a hedge fund blowing out of a long gold position, why wait for such a low liquidity environment in which to execute to trade knowing full well that by so doing, one would be guaranteed the worst possible exit price for the ...


Gold Stimulus

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 06:43 PM PDT

The Gold Speculator


Attention Gold Juniors: Report To LaunchPad

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 05:35 PM PDT

Graceland Update


The Fed's Twisted Plan

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 04:59 PM PDT

The Fed's Twisted Plan

Adapted from Stock World Weekly: Count Down To Zero

While world markets sell off, and President Obama and Congress wrangle over some form of job-creating legislation, the Federal Reserve is busy with its own problems as it attempts to deal with stubbornly high and persistent unemployment. Expectations for additional quantitative easing (QE) are running very high, but there is the possibility that the Fed may undertake a different kind of QE program, designed to provide stimulus without actually putting more money into the system. One widely discussed possibility would be to replay the famous 1961 "Operation Twist" action, where the Fed used open market operations to shorten the maturity of public debt in the open market. (History of Federal Open Market Committee actions) By buying longer-term bonds, the Fed will cause price of those bonds to go up, and this will drive the longer-term yields down.  Selling shorter-term bonds (to fund the purchase of the longer-term bonds) will put pressure on the price of the shorter term bonds, while driving short term yields up. 

According to Bloomberg, "the Fed may decide at its Sept. 20-21 meeting to replace short-term Treasury securities in its $1.65 trillion portfolio with long-term bonds in a bid to lower rates on everything from mortgages to car loans... The Fed's influence on the economy will probably be muted as sagging consumer confidence, depressed home values and 6 million workers unemployed for six months or more weigh on demand." 

Theoretically, driving down longer-term interest rates should help boost the housing market and consumer spending. However, this is another top down approach, and many doubt it would significantly effect the economy. As John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, noted, "The problem is that rates have been low for three years now and that isn't spurring people to buy. Companies won't hire unless demand is there. The Fed can lower the cost of credit, but it can't force companies to create jobs." (Next Stimulus May Do Little to Help Jobless) 

Rob Hosking summarized the situation:

"Dr Bernanke 'has no real policy options left that he did not use already last year and that with hindsight had no discernable economic impact,' Mr Walters [JP Morgan Australia and New Zealand economist] says. The stimulus did have a financial – as opposed to an economic – impact and one of those was to drive up the value of other currencies, the New Zealand dollar being one of them. Instead, there is a growing expectation the Fed will perform an updated version of Operation Twist,  a move first performed in the early 1960s and named after a dance craze of the time.

Under that move, which ran between 1961-65, the Fed bought up long-term US Treasury bonds and sold short term bills, in a bid to flatten the yield curve, and thus help the housing market, but to do so in "sterilised" way that did not expand the money supply.

The move was widely regarded to have failed at the time, although recent academic work suggests it was more effective than was realised. (Financial markets: QE3 or Operation Twist?)

But Operation Twist is not a money printing campaign. Describing details about how Operation Twist will work, Emily Flitter suggests it would take some "fancy footwork" and the New York Fed would probably have to hold two auctions in a single day. The Fed would sell shorter-dated securities in a first auction, and then hold another auction to buy bonds with longer maturities. These auctions would both settle the following day. 

While it would lower rates at the back end of the yield curve, Operation Twist could also nudge front-end rates higher, possibly to the benefit of money market funds scrambling for ultra-safe securities with a yield above zero.

"The way we looked at it, it looks like they could sell something like $265 billion -- everything they hold through June 30, 2013 -- and that could be absorbed with very modest rate movement," said Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co in New York. 

"It might push rates a few basis points higher" in shorter-dated Treasuries, he added.

Goldman's Hatzius said such an operation would ultimately remove so much longer-dated debt from the market, its effect would be almost as big as the Fed's last major easing program. (Market expects Operation Twist in September)

Cullen Roche, at Pragmatic Capitalism, is concerned that more QE, even in the form of a twist, if open-ended, will cause more inflation. He concluded, 

"open ended purchases are dangerous in this environment as it could fuel further surges in commodity prices leading to even higher cost push inflation as we saw during QE2. Misunderstanding leads to disequilibrium leads to increased economic turmoil (sound familiar?).  This does not help the broader economy and in fact only further pressures the private sector.  Pinning long-term rates will "work" in that it will suppress long rates, but I am doubtful that the Fed will do this and I am even more skeptical that it will have a substantive impact on the broader economy.  Instead, my fear is that QE^n of this sort will merely induce further cost push inflation which will actually hurt the broader economy by offsetting any positive impact.  The refinancing effect via lower long-term rates will certainly ease debt burdens on some households, but I am not optimistic that it will offset the potential risk of surging commodity prices (the refinancing effect is very focused while the commodity effect is broad across the entire economic spectrum)." (OPERATION TWIST – QE3 STYLE)

According to Bill Gross and Mohamed A. El-Erian at PIMCO, more stimulus from the Fed might have an adverse effect on the economy by driving up commodity prices.

"The balance between the benefits and cost and risks has changed in an adverse manner," El-Erian said. "At the end of the day we will not be solving anything. We'll just be undermining the economy and a critical institution for the well being for America."

Governments should be focusing on creating growth rather than reducing debt, Gross said. "To do it right now is almost suicidal," he said. (Gross Says Operation Twist Likely From Fed: Tom Keene)

Stock World Weekly editor Ilene asked Lee Adler of the Wall Street Examiner: "What makes "Operation Twist" a QE that will presumably help the economy?"

Lee responded (see also If Fed Twists, It Won't Be Like It Did Last Summer): 

"My understanding of the Twist is that the Fed would sell its shorter term Treasuries back to the Primary Dealers and buy an equal amount of longer term Treasuries from them. I guess the theory is that by pushing longer term rates even lower than they are now, this will magically transform the US economy into a growth dynamo. They apparently haven't noticed that long term rates have been collapsing and that this has been accompanied by a weakening economy. They also haven't noticed that Japan has tried variations of this theme for 15-16 years. Lots of good it did Japan.

"You are correct (in questioning how this will help the economy.) This is in no way a QE if the Fed simply holds its balance sheet flat. It would still be a net negative for the markets without actual SOMA [System Open Market Account] expansion. It's a mean, stupid, and futile gesture (with apologies to Animal House) for an economy locked in a liquidity trap, and it could be a net negative for the banking system if it were successful in reducing long term yields (which I doubt it would be)." (Excerpt from Lee's Wall Street Examiner Professional Edition Treasury update.) 

Whether the Fed begins another round of quantitative easing (QE3) or deploys another form of intervention (such as 'Operation Twist V2.0') the likely reality is that the Fed has no genuinely viable options remaining to help it achieve its dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices, as established by the Federal Reserve Act. Instead, the Fed has been reduced to promoting politically expedient "solutions" in the face of a moribund global economy suffering from persistent and intractable unemployment.

Sign up for a free trial to Stock World Weekly here.

The Fed's Twisted Plan

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 04:59 PM PDT


The Fed's Twisted Plan

Adapted from Stock World Weekly: Count Down To Zero

While world markets sell off, and President Obama and Congress wrangle over some form of job-creating legislation, the Federal Reserve is busy with its own problems as it attempts to deal with stubbornly high and persistent unemployment. Expectations for additional quantitative easing (QE) are running very high, but there is the possibility that the Fed may undertake a different kind of QE program, designed to provide stimulus without actually putting more money into the system. One widely discussed possibility would be to replay the famous 1961 "Operation Twist" action, where the Fed used open market operations to shorten the maturity of public debt in the open market. (History of Federal Open Market Committee actions) By buying longer-term bonds, the Fed will cause price of those bonds to go up, and this will drive the longer-term yields down.  Selling shorter-term bonds (to fund the purchase of the longer-term bonds) will put pressure on the price of the shorter term bonds, while driving short term yields up. 

According to Bloomberg, "the Fed may decide at its Sept. 20-21 meeting to replace short-term Treasury securities in its $1.65 trillion portfolio with long-term bonds in a bid to lower rates on everything from mortgages to car loans... The Fed's influence on the economy will probably be muted as sagging consumer confidence, depressed home values and 6 million workers unemployed for six months or more weigh on demand." 

Theoretically, driving down longer-term interest rates should help boost the housing market and consumer spending. However, this is another top down approach, and many doubt it would significantly effect the economy. As John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, noted, "The problem is that rates have been low for three years now and that isn't spurring people to buy. Companies won't hire unless demand is there. The Fed can lower the cost of credit, but it can't force companies to create jobs." (Next Stimulus May Do Little to Help Jobless) 

Rob Hosking summarized the situation:

"Dr Bernanke 'has no real policy options left that he did not use already last year and that with hindsight had no discernable economic impact,' Mr Walters [JP Morgan Australia and New Zealand economist] says. The stimulus did have a financial – as opposed to an economic – impact and one of those was to drive up the value of other currencies, the New Zealand dollar being one of them. Instead, there is a growing expectation the Fed will perform an updated version of Operation Twist,  a move first performed in the early 1960s and named after a dance craze of the time.

Under that move, which ran between 1961-65, the Fed bought up long-term US Treasury bonds and sold short term bills, in a bid to flatten the yield curve, and thus help the housing market, but to do so in "sterilised" way that did not expand the money supply.

The move was widely regarded to have failed at the time, although recent academic work suggests it was more effective than was realised. (Financial markets: QE3 or Operation Twist?)

But Operation Twist is not a money printing campaign. Describing details about how Operation Twist will work, Emily Flitter suggests it would take some "fancy footwork" and the New York Fed would probably have to hold two auctions in a single day. The Fed would sell shorter-dated securities in a first auction, and then hold another auction to buy bonds with longer maturities. These auctions would both settle the following day. 

While it would lower rates at the back end of the yield curve, Operation Twist could also nudge front-end rates higher, possibly to the benefit of money market funds scrambling for ultra-safe securities with a yield above zero.

"The way we looked at it, it looks like they could sell something like $265 billion -- everything they hold through June 30, 2013 -- and that could be absorbed with very modest rate movement," said Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co in New York. 

"It might push rates a few basis points higher" in shorter-dated Treasuries, he added.

Goldman's Hatzius said such an operation would ultimately remove so much longer-dated debt from the market, its effect would be almost as big as the Fed's last major easing program. (Market expects Operation Twist in September)

Cullen Roche, at Pragmatic Capitalism, is concerned that more QE, even in the form of a twist, if open-ended, will cause more inflation. He concluded, 

"open ended purchases are dangerous in this environment as it could fuel further surges in commodity prices leading to even higher cost push inflation as we saw during QE2. Misunderstanding leads to disequilibrium leads to increased economic turmoil (sound familiar?).  This does not help the broader economy and in fact only further pressures the private sector.  Pinning long-term rates will "work" in that it will suppress long rates, but I am doubtful that the Fed will do this and I am even more skeptical that it will have a substantive impact on the broader economy.  Instead, my fear is that QE^n of this sort will merely induce further cost push inflation which will actually hurt the broader economy by offsetting any positive impact.  The refinancing effect via lower long-term rates will certainly ease debt burdens on some households, but I am not optimistic that it will offset the potential risk of surging commodity prices (the refinancing effect is very focused while the commodity effect is broad across the entire economic spectrum)." (OPERATION TWIST – QE3 STYLE)

According to Bill Gross and Mohamed A. El-Erian at PIMCO, more stimulus from the Fed might have an adverse effect on the economy by driving up commodity prices.

"The balance between the benefits and cost and risks has changed in an adverse manner," El-Erian said. "At the end of the day we will not be solving anything. We'll just be undermining the economy and a critical institution for the well being for America."

Governments should be focusing on creating growth rather than reducing debt, Gross said. "To do it right now is almost suicidal," he said. (Gross Says Operation Twist Likely From Fed: Tom Keene)

Stock World Weekly editor Ilene asked Lee Adler of the Wall Street Examiner: "What makes "Operation Twist" a QE that will presumably help the economy?"

Lee responded (see also If Fed Twists, It Won't Be Like It Did Last Summer): 

"My understanding of the Twist is that the Fed would sell its shorter term Treasuries back to the Primary Dealers and buy an equal amount of longer term Treasuries from them. I guess the theory is that by pushing longer term rates even lower than they are now, this will magically transform the US economy into a growth dynamo. They apparently haven't noticed that long term rates have been collapsing and that this has been accompanied by a weakening economy. They also haven't noticed that Japan has tried variations of this theme for 15-16 years. Lots of good it did Japan.

"You are correct (in questioning how this will help the economy.) This is in no way a QE if the Fed simply holds its balance sheet flat. It would still be a net negative for the markets without actual SOMA [System Open Market Account] expansion. It's a mean, stupid, and futile gesture (with apologies to Animal House) for an economy locked in a liquidity trap, and it could be a net negative for the banking system if it were successful in reducing long term yields (which I doubt it would be)." (Excerpt from Lee's Wall Street Examiner Professional Edition Treasury update.) 

Whether the Fed begins another round of quantitative easing (QE3) or deploys another form of intervention (such as 'Operation Twist V2.0') the likely reality is that the Fed has no genuinely viable options remaining to help it achieve its dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices, as established by the Federal Reserve Act. Instead, the Fed has been reduced to promoting politically expedient "solutions" in the face of a moribund global economy suffering from persistent and intractable unemployment.

Sign up for a free trial to Stock World Weekly here.

Gold Flash

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 04:55 PM PDT

Spot Gold just fell out of bed with a small jolt taking it back to unch from early Friday trading. The move does look eerily similar to last night's 'flash crash' style drop though recovery from the current move is less ebullient.

Chart courtesy of Bloomberg

The main driver of the move seems to be chatter about Japan not following the competitive devaluation path of the SNB anytime soon (in favor of a package of measures related more to monetary policies) though anything goes at this point (and especially interesting given our earlier post regarding the topic).

Was it a European bank selling more gold to fund itself? Hedge fund liquidation? Hillebrand needing some funding?

Silver also went bidless but has recovered most of its drop.

Chart courtesy of Bloomberg

Update: looking around FX, credit, rates, and equity futures - nothing else seems excited by this at all...WTI dropped a few cents but that was it.

Marc Faber - This Will End in Disaster & You Must Own Gold

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 04:25 PM PDT

With gold consolidating recent gains and continued volatility in global equity markets, today King World News interviewed legendary investor Marc Faber, author of the Gloom Boom and Doom Report. When asked about the action in global markets Faber responded, "My view is that we made a top between February of this year and June and that we had a very sharp decline.  Thereafter a rebound on the S&P from around 1,100 to around 1,200 and that we are drifting again lower and that we will break the low that we made in July/August at 1,101 (on the S&P).  So we'll head towards 1,000 I guess."


This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall With Stocks and Oil

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Gold climbed to a new all-time high of $1920.60 in Asia before it fell to $1857.31 at about 4AM EST and then rose back above $1900 in midmorning New York trade, but it then fell to as low as $1863.30 in late morning trade and ended with a loss of 0.19% from Friday's close. Silver rose to $43.24 in Asia before it fell to as low as $41.635 in New York and ended with a loss of 2.84%.


Swiss franc's devaluation, impending disaster make gold look good, Faber says

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 03:41 PM PDT

11:38p ET Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Financial letter writer Marc Faber tonight tells King World News that gold is a good hedge against financial assets and will start to look better still now that the Swiss franc has been pegged to the euro. An excerpt from the interview is headlined "This Will End in Disaster and You Must Own Gold" and you can find it at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/9/7_Mar...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.


ADVERTISEMENT

Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit,
Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property

Company Press Release, October 27, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include:

-- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres.

-- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres.

-- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre.

Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface.

"The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest."

For the company's full press release, please visit:

http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf


Join GATA here:

Toronto Resource Investment Conference
Thursday-Friday, September 15-16, 2011
Sheraton Toronto Centre

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/toronto-resource-investment...

The Silver Summit
Thursday-Friday, October 20-21, 2011
Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48

New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 26-29, 2011
Hilton New Orelans Riverside Hotel

http://www.neworleansconference.com/

Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins:

https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon:

http://www.goldrush21.com/

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16


ADVERTISEMENT

Lewis E. Lehrman on How to Solve the U.S. Debt Problem

Lewis E. Lehrman, chairman of the Lehrman Institute, sponsor of The Gold Standard Now project, advises that to reduce the $1 1/2 trillion U.S. deficit, the Republican Party must initiate an investment program.

Working Americans are not saving, which enables the banks to lead the country into a cycle of debt, leverage, boom, panic, and bust.

Lehrman says: "Eliminating the budget deficit of a trillion and a half dollars cannot be done overnight. The proposal by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan was very dramatic -- one Republican called it radical -- but it was not happily received. The solution, of course, is to design an American program for prosperity, because you can solve these entitlement problems with a growing economy. We need a tremendous program of investment, and investment comes from savings. When you pay savers, middle-income professionals, and working people 0 percent at the bank, you are not going to encourage them to save. Then we are left with a bank cycle of debt, leverage, boom, panic, and bust."

To read more and to sign up for The Gold Standard Now's free, noncommercial, weekly report, "Prosperity through Gold," please visit:

http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/gata

More Beijing embassy cables show China sees gold as central in currency war

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 03:33 PM PDT

From GATA by cpowell on 05:58PM ET Monday, September 5, 2011. Section: Daily Dispatches Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: More news media-monitoring cables from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to the State Department in Washington show that both China's government and the nation's financial press, tightly controlled by the government, consider gold to be [...]


This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Tree-hugging terrorists in the Berkshires!

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 03:33 PM PDT

They're trying to use their own system of money! They're undermining the dollar! Wait until the U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina finds out! (See http://www.gata.org/node/9715.)

* * *

BerkShares Boost the Berkshires in Massachusetts

By Jane O'Brien
British Broadcasting Corp.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14814834

Tucked away in the western corner of Massachusetts, the rolling hills of Berkshire County seem an unlikely front line in the battle against globalisation.

But that was before the financial collapse of 2008, the current European debt crisis, and fears of a double-dip recession in the US.

Now the world is watching how the community of 19,000 people is surviving the global economic turmoil -- by using BerkShares instead of dollars.

"BerkShares are our own personal local currency backed by US dollars," explains Nancy Fitzpatrick, owner of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, one of 400 businesses that accept BerkShares. "It's an affirmation of our local economy and an indication that I support our small local businesses, that my dollars will be spent within Berkshire County."

Three million BerkShares have been issued since the legal currency was launched seven years ago and 130,000 remain in circulation.

... Dispatch continues below ...


ADVERTISEMENT

Prophecy Platinum Drills 49.5 Meters Grading 1.27 g/t PGM+Au at Yukon Wellgreen Project

Company Press Release
August 22, 2011

Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces results from its 2011 drilling program for its first completed hole on the Wellgreen Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada.

Borehole WS11-184 encountered 472.6 meters of mineralization grading 0.43% nickel equivalent from surface to the footwall contact. Within this larger swath of mineralization the hole encountered 49.5 meters of 1.27 grams per ton platinum group metals plus gold, 0.71% nickel, and 0.45% copper (or 1.11% nickel equivalent).

The geology transitioned from blebby disseminated to net-textured to massive sulphide approaching the footwall contact grading 6.3% nickel, 1.7% copper, 2.7 grams per ton platinum, 1.6 grams per ton palladium, 0.17 grams per ton gold, and 3.4 grams per ton silver. The drilling zones and results are tabulated here, with more information:

http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2011_aug22_prophecy_platinum_wellgreen_...


They're worth slightly more than a dollar -- the equivalent of a 5% discount. For example, a $100 dinner at the Red Lion costs $95 if the customer uses BerkShares.

The Red Lion then uses them to pay the area's farmers, who supplied the fresh vegetables. They in turn will come back to the town to spend their BerkShares at local stores.

"The whole idea is not to bring them back to the bank because BerkShares have the most power in circulation. The money never leaves the community and everybody is richer for it," says Stefan Root, owner of Berkshire Bike and Board in Great Barrington.

He believes the currency has the potential to protect communities from fluctuations in the global markets that can affect everything from pensions to the price of produce.

"The idea that we have to belong to a globalised market is proving to be unsustainable. Our global economy is based on growth and if there's no growth the economy collapses. The BerkShares are highlighting that we can survive by producing things locally. How you spend your money and where you spend your money is actually very important."

But he admits committing to BerkShares is tough because so much is sourced overseas, including bicycles he sells which are made in China. "And the Chinese don't accept BerkShares."

It's a problem experienced by other businesses in the Berkshires and demonstrates the practical limits of any local currency.

Joe and Darleen Wilkinson have been running their family excavating business in Sheffield for 40 years. They began accepting BerkShares because they wanted to support their community.

But the large amounts of money associated with their industry meant few customers were willing or able to pay in anything other than dollars.

"Few people will come to us with $10,000 worth of BerkShares in cash," says Mr Wilkinson. "And in some cases, if we're doing something big, they'll have to borrow the money to pay.

"We're limited in how much we would get in BerkShares in our type of business -- no question about it."

Mrs Wilkinson estimates that they've collected no more than $2,500 in BerkShares over the last four years. And recirculating even that amount has proved difficult.

"We buy a lot of materials from out of town and most places don't take them so we don't have the option to spend them on purchases for our next job," she says.

Closing such gaps in the supply chain is the next planned phase in the currency's development.

New businesses aimed at fulfilling a community need will soon be able to apply for loans on condition that 25% of the money is issued in BerkShares.

"Sometimes people run out of things to do with their BerkShares and this would give them the opportunity to reinvest their surplus," says Nick Kacher of the New Economics Institute, which supports BerkShares. "BerkShares are an experiment. The currency was started as a way of figuring out how to use capital as a tool to strengthen communities. "The current version appeals to some people, but not everybody. The novelty is starting to wear off but the loans will make them fresh again."

Based on a model started in the state of Washington, the loans could become available within two years. And there are also plans to decouple Berkshares from their dollar pegging.

That move gained momentum in July when Congress struggled to reach agreement over the best way to reduce the country's enormous budget deficit.

Until a deal was reached, the US faced defaulting on its loans for the first time in history because Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to raise the debt ceiling.

"We had a lot of people asking, if the dollar collapses, will the BerkShare hold its value -- and the answer was no," says Mr Kacher. "BerkShares need to be backed by a local commodity, in our case, food produced in the Berkshire region."

The value of the dollar is determined by national and international markets, which Mr Kacher says don't necessarily reflect what is going on in Berkshire communities.

"But if the currency was backed by a local commodity, such as maple syrup -- so 10 BerkShares would buy a gallon of maple syrup -- then whatever happens to the markets or the value of the dollar, 10 BerkShares would always buy a gallon of maple syrup."

In that scenario the BerkShare would join a floating exchange. If the price of producing a gallon of maple syrup went up, it would cost more dollars to buy, not more BerkShares.

The exchange rate would change, not the value of the commodity.

It's an economic model that has become popular in other parts of the US and in the UK. London has launched the "Brixton Pound" and the "Totnes Pound" can found in Devon.

Most recently a community in Baltimore, Maryland, introduced the Baltimore Bean.

"People look at what's happening at the moment and they see the economy as a vast thing beyond their control. But this is about making capital work for us," says Mr Kacher. "We have these resources within our communities, the issue is how can we strengthen them and use them to make people's lives better?"

But other analysts say the idea will never become part of mainstream economic thought.

"They're a rejection of globalisation and come from a strong sense of community," says Mark Calabria, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. "But I have a hard time seeing them as more than niche. They'll continue to be interesting but they're not a competitor to the dollar."

* * *

Join GATA here:

Toronto Resource Investment Conference
Thursday-Friday, September 15-16, 2011
Sheraton Toronto Centre

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/toronto-resource-investment...

The Silver Summit
Thursday-Friday, October 20-21, 2011
Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48

New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 26-29, 2011
Hilton New Orelans Riverside Hotel

http://www.neworleansconference.com/

Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins:

https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon:

http://www.goldrush21.com/

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16


ADVERTISEMENT

Golden Phoenix to Present at Investment Conference at Waldorf

Company Press Release
Thursday, September 1, 2011

The chief executive officer and the communications director of Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM) will speak at the Rodman & Renshaw Global Investment Conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on Tuesday, September 13.

The CEO, Thomas Klein, and the communications director, Robert Ian, will address the conference from 2:50 to 3:15 p.m. at the hotel. The conference's keynote speakers include former Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Al Gore and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

"At this conference Golden Phoenix will introduce its royalty mining growth strategy to a global investment audience," Klein says. "With rising gold prices, industry consolidation, and central banks becoming net buyers of gold, we believe that the investment demand for emerging and diversified gold producers like Golden Phoenix offers the potential for significant growth."

Golden Phoenix is a U.S. mining company with international exposure to gold, silver, and strategic metals. The company's business model combines project generation and royalty mining that offer the potential for exploration upside with the backing of production and future royalty streams.

For information about the conference, including last-minute room and schedule changes, please visit:

http://www.rodmanandrenshaw.com/conferences?id=164

For the complete press release, please visit:

http://goldenphoenix.us/press-release/golden-phoenix-to-speak-at-rodman-...


You Can’t Buy Groceries with Gold

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Ranting Andy


With Immediate Effect

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 02:52 PM PDT

by Simon Black, Sovereign Man:

Holy Red Screen, Batman! If you haven't seen the news, the Swiss National Bank has just announced that it is putting a ceiling on the franc's appreciation against the euro… effectively abandoning its economic sovereignty and putting its future in the hands of woefully corrupt and incompetent bureaucrats.

On the news, the franc fell off a cliff, dropping almost 10% INSTANTLY. Gold priced in Swiss francs jumped from 1497 to 1620 per troy ounce, all in about 45 seconds.

Precious metals are now all alone as the only forms of sound money that are truly safe havens.

Just 6-weeks ago on July 27th, in a letter entitled "Should I buy gold at its all-time high", I wrote:

Read More @ SovereignMan.com

Ben Davies: Silver Headed to $65 & Gold to Soar

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 02:41 PM PDT

from King World News:

With gold and silver consolidating recent gains, today King World News interviewed Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital, to get his take on where the markets are headed from here. When asked about the price action in gold Davies stated, "Friday we had a superlative response to the payroll numbers and the market was already breaking out prior to that news. The market did what it had to do, which was to facilitate trade to the upside. I just think there is too much pent up demand and shorts were in at the wrong level. I think in September we are going to see the $2,100 level, we've been looking for that slingshot."

Ben Davies continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com

Beggar Thy Golden Neighbor

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 02:38 PM PDT


GoldMoney. The best way to buy gold & silver


Every country wants to devalue their currency. In other words, every government around the world wants to destroy its citizens' savings. This is the madness that passes for PhD level economics. Destroy the value of people's labor to "stimulate" further indebtedness as wages fail to keep up with the cost of living. But how can every country devalue at the same time?

They can't, some say. I say, of course they can. They can all devalue against Gold and have been for a decade now. The so called bastion of stability, the Swiss, a country that got rid of most of their Gold, has now decided to peg to the Euro, cost be damned. This is irresponsibility defined and destroys confidence.

Confidence destroyed constitutes the fundamental underpinning of a strengthening Gold bull market. We have just begun the parabolic phase with the summer blast up to the $1900 USD/oz level. There's no turning back now. The scramble for physical Gold is now going to intensify and the price movements are going to get more intense to the upside. Any government can devalue relative to Gold even if they can't spark lending in the economy. This is a retarded goal, but speculation is all about exploiting the retardedness built into the system by apparatchiks without a clue. An anchorless global fiat system is of course going to explode and be replaced with something more rational, but the transition will create winners and losers.

Those thinking Gold is too expensive are going to be profoundly shocked at what comes next. Roubini. Gartman. Nadler. The pied pipers of the financially damned. We are in a massive deflationary collapse being fought tooth and nail with unfettered money printing. A massive war between inflation and deflation. But I have long stopped trying to pick a winner in this tug-of-war and instead settled upon the obvious beneficiary - Gold.

Financial instability and lack of confidence benefit Gold. Those who say Gold can't be a hedge against both inflation and deflation are completely wrong. This is like saying Democrats and Republicans can't both be for pro-welfare and pro-warfare policies since they are opposing parties. And yet, Obama is a war president and Bush signed into law Medicare Part D. If the inflation or deflation are mild, Gold doesn't do well. But Gold benefits from the monetary extremes that destroy confidence. We are there and things are about to deteriorate further (short term expected bounce in the stock market aside).

I agree this is no 2008, but that is only because the problems are worse and Gold will rise this time during the market collapse, regardless of the movements of the US Dollar Index. I actually remain a US Dollar bull for those interested in playing the paper currency games, but I'll take the "long physical Gold held outside the banking system" trade instead, thank you very much.

Gold is by far the best asset class for the next few years and will remain the premier asset class until the Dow to Gold ratio hits 2, and I am increasingly convinced that we will go below 1 this cycle.



Buy gold online - quickly, safely and at low prices[Most Recent Charts from www.kitco.com]

And Another One Gone…

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 02:30 PM PDT

from WealthCycles:

The Swiss Franc—once considered by many as good as gold—has joined a long list of investments formerly known as "safe havens"—safe no more…

After viewing today's Google Doodle commemorating the 65th anniversary of the late Freddie Mercury's birth, Queen's all-time best-selling single, Another One Bites the Dust, seemed right in tune.

In intraday trading, the Swiss franc had fallen 9.9%—a more than 20 standard deviation move in standard statistical measures; or, in other words, a statistical impossibility. This chart, from Felix Salmon's blog, shows how this move dwarfs even the largest daily changes over the last decade. What market-changing event happened to crush the Swiss Franc?

Read More @ WealthCycles.com

Ben Davies - Silver Headed to $65 & Gold to Soar

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 01:49 PM PDT

I just think there is too much pent up demand. I think in September we are going to see the $2,100 level, we've been looking for that slingshot.


Long as the GOLD PRICE Holds $1840 its Mind is Still Set on Higher Things

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 01:18 PM PDT

Gold Price Close Today : 1869.90
Change : (3.80) or -0.2%

Silver Price Close Today : 41.818
Change : (1.202) or -2.8%

Gold Silver Ratio Today : 44.72
Change : 1.161 or 2.7%

Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.02236
Change : -0.000596 or -2.6%

Platinum Price Close Today : 1854.80
Change : -29.40 or -1.6%

Palladium Price Close Today : 752.20
Change : -26.85 or -3.4%

S&P 500 : 1,165.24
Change : -8.73 or -0.7%

Dow In GOLD$ : $123.15
Change : $ (0.85) or -0.7%

Dow in GOLD oz : 5.957
Change : -0.041 or -0.7%

Dow in SILVER oz : 266.38
Change : 5.10 or 2.0%

Dow Industrial : 11,139.30
Change : -100.96 or -0.9%

US Dollar Index : 75.91
Change : 0.797 or 1.1%

Here is one reason I don't trade currencies: I don't like puking in wastebaskets. No matter how carefully you scope out the market, in the end all currencies are wholly manipulated, and when any government finds its currency with its toe in the wringer, it will throw a "Surprise Party." Surprise parties are often thrown after the close on Fridays, to catch as many incapable to act as possible. And when they throw a surprise party, you might be trapped, and watched your carefully planned trade turn into a massive loss that threatens to take not only all your money but also some of your internal organs.

Witness the Swiss Franc today. Switzerland's economy exports heavily to Europe, but the Swiss Franc has been (until recent years) far better managed than any other currency, so all the Eurolanders fleeing the Euro have been swapping Euros for Swiss Francs, driving the Franc up against the Euro, raising the price of all Swiss exports, and sending Swiss industry into a non-competitive swoon.

Thus the Swiss National Bank announced today that it would henceforth sell as many francs as necessary to keep the franc at 1.20 euros. Swiss franc dropped 7% on that news. That's a puke in the wastebasket fall, which for the owners of futures contracts on Swiss francs would pretty much clean out their bank accounts and theirlife expectations for the next couple of centuries.

Now let us ponder what the Swiss did to the rest of the currencies.

First the Franken-currency, the euro. Been warning y'all to watch those gaps, because they're just like rattlesnakes, they travel in pairs. Friday the euro gapped down below its 50 and 20 day moving averages, traded lower today, then gapped down AGAIN today. Closed at 1.3995, down a gargantuan 1.4% today.

Nor was the sky clear on the other side of the globe. Japanese yen closed down 0.72% at 128.79c/Y100 (Y77.645/$). Now has the look of a rounding top that had done rounded, and needs only a close below 128.73 and the 50 dma (now 127.90) to launch into free-fall.

The US DOLLAR profited largely from the Swiss Franc's demise. Yesterday and Friday the US dollar index had pushed to the top of the narrow short term range (74.75), and today simply exploded to 76, slicing clean through resistance at 75.40 that has imprisoned it since mid July. Dollar has now left far behind its 20 and 50 dmas (74.27 and 74.52) and nearly reached its 200 dma (76.29). I've been warning y'all a dollar rally is coming. Dollar needs only close above that 200dma and then thru the last (July) intraday high at 76.72 to scatter the minions of Dollar-doubt and rally a long while. Dollar index today closed 75.909, up 120 bps from Friday.

STOCKS are now bare tiny points from breaking out downside from their uptrend line established since 8 August. Against the backdrop of trading since July, that promises to unfold as a very strong and painful plunge, with weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Dow hit a low today at 10,932.53, but recovered enough to close at 11,139.30, down only 100.96 points (0.9%). S&P500 lost 8.73 (0.74% to close 1,165.24. Mercy, if any of y'all are standing in the way of this steamroller by virtue of owning stocks, you might ought to sell them.

Stocks must now fall enough to terrorize Ben Bernancubus, which won't be much farther. The Philadelphia bank stock index, BKX, gapped down the last two days and is fixin to make a new low. So is the Dow in Gold Dollars, today closing at G$123.15 (5.957 oz).

Once the Bernancubus gets scared, he'll start pumping out the money till the banks burst.

Stocks -- they are the giant suction hose sucking money out of Main Street and depositing it on Wall Street. Reckon that makes them the suckers and us the suckees, or is that th'other way round?

The US dollar rally did not hurt the GOLD PRICE as badly as one might expect. Overnight in Europe it hit $1,920 and dropped all that gain to close today on Comex at $1,869.90, down $3.80 from Friday's close. Still, that looks like first half of a key reversal, breaking into new high territory then closing lower. Needs a lower close tomorrow to confirm that. Forming a floor and support under gold are the 20 and 50 dmas ($1,811.72 and $1,675.80).

Gold's overnight high sufficed to form a double top with the August high, but time has to make that clear. Stands to reason gold would have to hit that $1,920 ceiling twice to break through, and back off a little on the 2nd try. Long as the GOLD PRICE holds $1840 its mind is still set on higher things.

My suspicious mind, which remembers that the heads of the big central banks or their lackeys all meet once a month at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel for supper, suspects that the Swiss National Bank did nothing before informing the rest of its criminal network of central bankers. Methinks the Bernancubus would welcome such a move, since it might be calculated to wound gold and momentarily (at least) boost the dollar.

Remember, the time horizon of central bankers and Nice Government Men is -- five o'clock. They only have to keep the system from blowing up TODAY. If they reach 5:00 without a blowup, they've succeeded.

Schizophrenic SILVER took a much bigger hit today than gold. The SILVER PRICE yesterday climbed over 4300c, and remember Friday rose 153.8c. High today was 4323c, but when the Swiss wound their watch, bottom dropped out of silver all the way to 4150c. Comex closed near the bottom at 4181.8c, down 120.2c.

That's the first half of a key reversal, but don't open a vein just yet. 20 DMA, first tripwire of a decline, stands at 4086c. 200 dma lies at 3528c. However, the uptrend from the May low remains intact;, whole, and unbroken. Twill stay that way as long as the SILVER PRICE floats above 4000c. Watch tomorrow to see if the SILVER PRICE will post the second half of that key reversal. Watch 4100c as well.

Today's drop scared GOLD and SILVER dealers so much they raced to sell US 90% and the buy side premium dropped to 170c below spot. Never been a better buy.

Also, I have neglected to notice that as SILVER has climbed, US pre-1936 silver dollars have lost their premium, and fallen to about 3% over melt at retail. Rather than buy those rotten, overpriced silver American Eagles, buy US silver dollars. They are sticky to the downside, that is, if the bottom drops out of silver, they tend to stay about the same place, so there's a little less risk buying them. And I'd rather have silver dollars than silver American Eagles any day.

Something happened last week I can't quite make up my mind to tell y'all about yet, but it leaves me thinking that the time may be drawing nigh -- or may have arrived -- when you want to trim down all bank deposits to an absolute minimum and keep unused cash balances in silver or gold. Banking system is UTTERLY corrupt, and will steal from you before you can say, "Deposit slip." For them a "deposit slip" happens when they slip up and let you get your money out of their bank.

Listen: I try hard to look on the sunny side and look for the best outcome, but there just ain't one with banks, any more than there is with fever blisters. It's about time for y'all to take the money and run, before they take it from you.

Our Bodacious Hoedown was an unqualified success on Saturday. We had an old time band and a dance caller named Tee Claw with a magnificent neckbeard, first I've ever seen. Nobody turned up his nose at the food and everybody danced till their feet like to have fallen off. On the grass. Under the stars. Thanks to y'all who honored us with your attendance.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com

© 2011, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate in a bubble, primary trend way down. Whenever I write "Stay out of stocks" readers inevitably ask, "Do you mean precious metals mining stocks, too?" No, I don't.

Be advised and warned: Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

James Turk: Mining stocks on the runway, ready for takeoff

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 01:08 PM PDT

9:05p ET Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver):

GoldMoney founder, Free Gold Money Report editor, and GATA consultant James Turk thinks it's time for gold mining stocks to wake up. In new commentary he writes: "Gold's relative outperformance compared to the XAU Index has reached a level that in the past has marked important turning points. If we take the period in 2008 relating to the collapse of Lehman Brothers as an unusual exception and not likely to be seen again -- or at least not to be seen at the present time -- we can conclude that gold's outperformance has reached an extreme." Turk's commentary is headlined "Mining Stocks on the Runway, Ready for Takeoff" and you can find it at the Free Gold Money Report Internet site here:

http://www.fgmr.com/mining-stocks-on-the-runway-ready-for-take-off.html

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.


ADVERTISEMENT

Lewis E. Lehrman on How to Solve the U.S. Debt Problem

Lewis E. Lehrman, chairman of the Lehrman Institute, sponsor of The Gold Standard Now project, advises that to reduce the $1 1/2 trillion U.S. deficit, the Republican Party must initiate an investment program.

Working Americans are not saving, which enables the banks to lead the country into a cycle of debt, leverage, boom, panic, and bust.

Lehrman says: Eliminating the budget deficit of a trillion and a half dollars cannot be done overnight. The proposal by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan was very dramatic -- one Republican called it radical -- but it was not happily received. The solution, of course, is to design an American program for prosperity, because you can solve these entitlement problems with a growing economy. We need a tremendous program of investment, and investment comes from savings. When you pay savers, middle-income professionals, and working people 0 percent at the bank, you are not going to encourage them to save. Then we are left with a bank cycle of debt, leverage, boom, panic, and bust."

To read more and to sign up for The Gold Standard Now's free, noncommercial, weekly report, "Prosperity through Gold," please visit:

http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/gata


Join GATA here:

Toronto Resource Investment Conference
Thursday-Friday, September 15-16, 2011
Sheraton Toronto Centre

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/toronto-resource-investment...

The Silver Summit
Thursday-Friday, October 20-21, 2011
Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48

New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 26-29, 2011
Hilton New Orelans Riverside Hotel

http://www.neworleansconference.com/

Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins:

https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon:

http://www.goldrush21.com/

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16


ADVERTISEMENT

Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit,
Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property

Company Press Release, October 27, 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include:

-- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres.

-- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres.

-- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre.

Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface.

"The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest."

For the company's full press release, please visit:

http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf

Harvey Organ's: The Daily Gold & Silver Report

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 01:06 PM PDT

Roller coaster ride for silver and gold/Switzerland/Dexia/ Deutsche Bank's Ackerman


Romania wants to double gold reserves, maybe by buying domestic production

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 01:04 PM PDT

Romania Central Bank to Discuss Reserve Structure, Mediafax Says

By Andra Timu
Bloomberg News
Monday, September 5, 2011

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-05/romania-central-bank-to-discuss...

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Romania's central bank will analyze the future structure of the country's international reserves and a possible increase of the gold reserve, Mediafax reported, citing Governor Mugur Isarescu.

The bank's policy board will discuss a proposal made by President Traian Basescu to double the country's gold reserves to almost 200 tons in the following period, after developing the Rosia Montana gold mine, together with Gabriel Resources Ltd. (GBU), Isarescu said in a speech in the southeastern city of Constanta, according to Mediafax.


ADVERTISEMENT

Golden Phoenix to Present at Investment Conference at Waldorf

Company Press Release
Thursday, September 1, 2011

The chief executive officer and the communications director of Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM) will speak at the Rodman & Renshaw Global Investment Conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on Tuesday, September 13.

The CEO, Thomas Klein, and the communications director, Robert Ian, will address the conference from 2:50 to 3:15 p.m. at the hotel. The conference's keynote speakers include former Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Al Gore and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

"At this conference Golden Phoenix will introduce its royalty mining growth strategy to a global investment audience," Klein says. "With rising gold prices, industry consolidation, and central banks becoming net buyers of gold, we believe that the investment demand for emerging and diversified gold producers like Golden Phoenix offers the potential for significant growth."

Golden Phoenix is a U.S. mining company with international exposure to gold, silver, and strategic metals. The company's business model combines project generation and royalty mining that offer the potential for exploration upside with the backing of production and future royalty streams.

For information about the conference, including last-minute room and schedule changes, please visit:

http://www.rodmanandrenshaw.com/conferences?id=164

For the complete press release, please visit:

http://goldenphoenix.us/press-release/golden-phoenix-to-speak-at-rodman-...


Join GATA here:

Toronto Resource Investment Conference
Thursday-Friday, September 15-16, 2011
Sheraton Toronto Centre

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/toronto-resource-investment...

The Silver Summit
Thursday-Friday, October 20-21, 2011
Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Washington

http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48

New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 26-29, 2011
Hilton New Orelans Riverside Hotel

http://www.neworleansconference.com/

Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins:

https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon:

http://www.goldrush21.com/

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16


ADVERTISEMENT

Prophecy Platinum Drills 49.5 Meters Grading 1.27 g/t PGM+Au at Yukon Wellgreen Project

Company Press Release
August 22, 2011

Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces results from its 2011 drilling program for its first completed hole on the Wellgreen Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada.

Borehole WS11-184 encountered 472.6 meters of mineralization grading 0.43% nickel equivalent from surface to the footwall contact. Within this larger swath of mineralization the hole encountered 49.5 meters of 1.27 grams per ton platinum group metals plus gold, 0.71% nickel, and 0.45% copper (or 1.11% nickel equivalent).

The geology transitioned from blebby disseminated to net-textured to massive sulphide approaching the footwall contact grading 6.3% nickel, 1.7% copper, 2.7 grams per ton platinum, 1.6 grams per ton palladium, 0.17 grams per ton gold, and 3.4 grams per ton silver. The drilling zones and results are tabulated here, with more information:

http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2011_aug22_prophecy_platinum_wellgreen_...

Silver: The Perfect Alternative to Gold?

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 12:53 PM PDT

Over this next year, analysts expect gold prices to reach even higher and for silver to continue outperforming gold.


Grandich Client Timmins Gold Featured

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 12:41 PM PDT

The following is automatically syndicated from Grandich's blog. You can view the original post here. Stay up to date on his model portfolio! September 06, 2011 03:53 PM Read [url]http://www.grandich.com/[/url] grandich.com...


Roller Coaster Ride for Silver and Gold / Switzerland / Dexia / Deutsche Bank's Ackerman

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 12:33 PM PDT

by Harvey Organ:

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

I promised you on Saturday, that we would get an extreme volatile day today and the bankers threw everything at the gold/silver comex trying to quell demand. The Swiss tried to stop its currency from being a safe haven by basically pegging it to the Euro. I guess that just leaves gold and silver as the last bastion for safe haven status. The price of gold finished the comex session at $1869.90 down $3.80, even though during the wee hours of the morning it reached its zenith at 1920.00 dollars per oz. The price of silver finished the comex session at $41.80 down $1.22 on the day. Let us head over to the comex and assess the damage.

The total gold comex OI rests tonight at 514,878 for a gain of 11,000 contracts from Friday. Please remember that the OI figures are always one day back so we are actually looking at the closing OI for Friday with Monday's numbers. The banking cartel tried desperately to stop gold from reaching the 1900 dollar plateau. The front options expiry month of September saw its OI rise from 509 to 524 for a gain of 15 contracts. We had 308 deliveries on Friday so we gleaned the following on this data:

Read More @ HarveyOrgan.Blogspot.com

In The News Today

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 12:31 PM PDT

Jim Sinclair's Commentary

The Swiss take action to cap the franc:

1. Helped strengthen the Cando. 2. After a short period it will fail. 3. Safe haven is being offered to all at a discount to all. 4. Markets rule, not central banks, in a Western world monetary meltdown.

 

Jim Sinclair's Commentary

You

Continue reading In The News Today

20 Quotes From European Leaders That Prove That They Know That The Financial System In Europe Is Doomed

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 12:29 PM PDT

from The Economic Collapse Blog:

The financial crisis in Europe has become so severe that it has put the future of the euro, and indeed the future of the EU itself, in doubt. If the financial system in Europe collapses, it is going to plunge the entire globe into chaos. The EU has a larger economy and a larger population than the United States does. The EU also has more Fortune 500 companies that the United States does. If the financial system in Europe breaks down, we are all doomed. An economic collapse in Europe would unleash a financial tsunami that would sweep across the globe. As I wrote about yesterday, the nightmarish sovereign debt crisis in Europe could potentially bring about the end of the euro. The future of the monetary union in Europe is being questioned all over the continent. Without massive bailouts, there are at least 5 or 6 nations in Europe that will likely soon default. The political will for continued bailouts is rapidly failing in northern Europe, so something needs to be done quickly to avert disaster. Unfortunately, as anyone that has ever lived in Europe knows, things tend to move very, very slowly in Europe.

Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com

US Dollar Very Long Term Chart

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 11:02 AM PDT


This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Teetering on the Brink: “Safe Havens” Annihilated

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 10:59 AM PDT

By SGT

Make no mistake about it, the Swis Franc, widely considered to be the "safest" currency on earth, was devalued today. If you had $10 million saved in Swiss Francs yesterday, you would have lost nearly $1 million today. This is not a safe haven, this is not shelter, this in not diversification. This is the "race to the bottom" Jim Sinclair has been warning about.

The move to peg the once 'good as gold' Swiss Franc to the awful Euro, was another shot across the bow of the people around the world who still have their wealth saved in paper currencies and paper assets.

I found this at forex online learning while digging for news about the Swiss Franc devaluation today:

The US Dollar was once backed entirely by gold, thus earning the term "greenback." The Swiss Franc (CHF) was once 40% backed by both gold and silver, but in 2006 the Swiss had to sell its gold and silver reserves to join the IMF. Today, not a single solitary currency on the face of the world is backed even 1% by gold or silver, as all nations have inflated their currencies to unprecedented levels in the past 50 years.

In hindsight, the link created to gold by Bretton Woods may have been best left alone. But in the 1970s, with the United States going through an inflationary cycle, the dollar's connection to gold was eliminated. As such, global currency investors sold off the dollar as it was no longer one of the few currencies backed by gold.

Make special note of the line above: "The Swiss Franc was once 40% backed by both gold and silver, but in 2006 the Swiss had to sell its gold and silver reserves to join the IMF."

Well that pretty much says it all, doesn't it? The IMF, the same Rothschild controlled organization that has enslaved countless nation states with unrepayable debt, also raped the Swiss in 2006 by stripping their precious Franc of its gold and silver backing.

Why would the IMF require the Swiss to sell all of their gold and silver? Answer: So that what happened today, could happen.

As Jim Willie, Jim Sinclair, Peter Schiff, James Turk, Bob Chapman, Harvey Organ, Bill Murphy, Chris Duane, Bix Weir, Steve Quayle, Alex Jones, Webster Tarpley and Lindsey Williams have all warned, we are now in the final stage of a worldwide financial meltdown, the likes of which the Sheeple cannot even begin to imagine. With the Swiss franc now out of the way as viable financial shelter, the collapse will move along in earnest.

We are now teetering on the absolute brink of catastrophe. I hope for the sake of you and your family, you have taken the advice of the aforementioned men, and secured some physical gold and physical silver for your protection and for the protection of those you love. Because at this point, what other choice do you have?

Thank You Swiss National Bank For $2000+ Gold

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 10:57 AM PDT

"Swiss decision to peg the erstwhile safe-haven franc to the euro may finally give gold bugs the chance to see prices hit the once-unimaginable $2,000...


Making Way for the Era of Sovereign Default

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 10:30 AM PDT

American investors returned from their Labor Day holiday to face another laborious trading day on Wall Street. As your California editor pecks away at his keyboard this afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 200 points to within spitting distance of 11,000.

For the first three trading days of September 2011, the Dow has tumbled more than 600 points — or about 5% — the worst three-day start for the month of September in the history of the US stock market. (Thanks to CNBC for this utterly meaningless statistic).

As it happens, the Dow is also down about 5% for the year-to-date, and down about 5% from its record high of October 2007. "Down 5" is not exactly the new "up," but it feels like it. Over in the Old World, the best-performing stock market in the European Union is down 20% for the year. That's the best one.

If you jump outside the euro zone, into the countries that opted not to latch the euro albatross around their necks, you find a couple of star performers like the British and Swiss stock markets — both down only 13% for the year.

The main problem, both here and there, is credit — or rather, credit contraction. Lots and lots of people, along with lots and lots of governments, are facing debts they simply cannot pay. However, instead of allowing the inevitable defaults to occur and to run their course, governments and central banks throughout the Western World are tirelessly cobbling together ad hoc bailouts, guarantees, rescue packages, emergency lending facilities and debt "workout" schemes — all designed to reverse the force of economic gravity.

But overly indebted entities will default, just as inevitably as flying pigs will hit the pavement.

The glide path of Greece's financial condition is obvious. This pig is heading for the pavement, as are all the other PIIGS nations, which is why the European Union is so busy stacking up pillows and mattresses on the ground below.

The EU says its bailouts will enable Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain to enact the "austerity measures" that will restore solvency and keep their governmental finances airborne. Unfortunately, the effort to keep these struggling nations afloat threatens to sink the entire European Union.

Why not let the PIIGS fall to the pavement? Why not let overly indebted entities fail; let capitalism do its dirty work, so that the next generation of capitalists can step in and finance the next generation of successful enterprise.

The longer — and more strenuously — the central banks and governments of the West attempt to forestall inevitable defaults, the longer — and more painfully — the stock and bond markets of the West will abuse investors.

And let the record show that merely asserting a truth does not make it true. Central bankers and politicians can assert as often as they wish they their rescue efforts are effective, but that does not make it true. In fact, increasingly, the folks with capital at risk are "calling B.S." on that assertion.

After more than 18 months of efforts and hundreds of billions of dollars of bailout funds pouring into Athens, Greek finances are still as sick as Dionysus after a long night of drinking. To wit: Greece's borrowing costs hit a new record high today. To borrow money for two years, the Greek government would have to pay a whopping 52.3% per year. The US Treasury, by contrast, pays a minuscule 0.20% on its two-year debt.

You don't have to be a professional investor to see that Greece is in trouble. But apparently, you do have to be a professional politician or central banker to believe that it isn't. And as the dismal performance of the European stock markets testifies, the Greek problem is already a Europe problem. The chart below emphasizes the point.

Price of 5-Year CDS on French Government Debt vs. Average Price of 125 Corporate Borrowers

The squiggles on this chart track the pricing of two different types of credit default swaps (CDS). Don't let your eyes glaze over just yet. This is fascinating stuff. And even if it isn't fascinating, it is instructive. CDS, to refresh, are an insurance policy against default by a specific borrower. Therefore, the greater the perceived risk of default, the higher the price of the insurance, i.e., the CDS.

The blue line on the chart tracks the average price of 5-year CDS on debt issued by 125 different European corporate borrowers. The red line tracks the price of 5-year CDS on debt issued by the French government. During the depths of the credit crisis of 2008-9, the price of CDS on European corporate debt was more than double the price of CDS on French government debt. In other words, investors were much more worried about defaults by European corporations than they were about a default by the French government.

As of this week, however, the price disparity between European corporate CDS and French Government CDS has disappeared completely. In fact, it has inverted. Investors now consider a default by the French government to be more likely than a default by the average European corporation.

This price trend does not suggest that a default by the French government is probable. In fact, such an eventuality seems highly unlikely. But the price trend of French CDS relative to corporate CDS, does suggest that a new phase of the credit crisis is underway.

The Era of the Sovereign Default is underway. Greece will be the first, but it won't be the last.

As this sovereign default cycle unfolds, government bond yields are likely to climb, economic activity is likely to slow and paper currencies are likely to depreciate relative to gold and other hard assets. That's the bad news.

The good news is that post-default nations will emerge leaner and meaner and ready to initiate a new era of economic growth.

That's how the world works…or at least how it should work. It is probably no accident that this year's very, very short list of winning stock markets features countries that suffered a painful sovereign default and/or currency crisis within the last 20 years.

The stock markets of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Iceland, Ghana, and Venezuela are atop the leader board for 2011 with positive performances.

Default is painful, but it is also a necessary component of the economic life-cycle.

Eric Fry
for The Daily Reckoning

Making Way for the Era of Sovereign Default originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides 400,000+ readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. The 5 Best Ways to Invest in Gold was previously featured in the Daily Reckoning.


at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)