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‘China Will Collapse By The End Of 2011’
Too Big To Fail Is Too Big
Armstrong's take on gold confiscation:wise answer......
Gold Buying Increasing in India
It’s About How Many Ounces of Gold You Own
Decline in Commodities Is 'Artificial': Jim Rogers
Jim Rickards - Who Will Bail Out the Fed & How High for Gold?
Cash for Gold in the Eurozone Bailout
“Disastrous” Bond Sale Shakes Confidence in Germany
Investors confused over gold
The owner of 130 of the 150 tonnes of gold bought by central banks in Q3, remains a mystery
Vietnam PM orders central bank to stabilize forex, gold rates
Eurozone Contagion Deepens After Disastrous German Auction; Silver Supply Issues
Silver Supply Issues
The smart way to buy gold
It’s the Debt, Stupid
25 Bitter And Painful Facts
Who Will Bail Out the Fed & How High for Gold?
Eric Sprott Swings For The Silver Fences
Brazil to invest 2.4 bn dollars in gold production
Much more than gold
Al Korelin interviews GATA Chairman Bill Murphy at Silver Summit
The Myths and Reality of Gold Confiscation
Financial Times : Cash for gold in the eurozone bailout
Gold Will Diverge From Stock Market
Sprott Goes For The Silver Fences
Sprott Physical Silver Trust Filing For $1.5 Billion Units
Silver: Investment Demand Is Just Part of the Picture
Keith Neumeyer: The Silver Market Lacks Integrity
Gold & Silver Market Morning, November 23, 2011

‘China Will Collapse By The End Of 2011’

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:41 AM PST

Casey Research Host: Your original estimate for the collapse of China was by 2011… do you think (that was) relatively close?

Gordon Chang: I think it is very close when you see what is going on right now.

-Gordon Chang, Forbes.com

Europe seems to be on everyone's mind the last few months. However, there is an elephant in the room that everyone is ignoring, and it's China.

For a while it seemed everyone was proclaiming that the 21^st century would be "China's Century." Much like the 20^th was "America's Century," and the 19^th was "Britain's Century." Everyone just seems to accept the fact of China's ascendancy.

But is it true?

Gordon Chang, who writes for Forbes.com, thinks otherwise. His prediction is that China will collapse by the end of 2011!

Too Big To Fail Is Too Big

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:40 AM PST

Arguably megolith financial institutions bear much of the blame for the financial crisis of 2008, and it is gargantuan Euro-banks that threaten to take the entire global economy out in the fallout of their impending collapse. Now the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve bank wants to put grossly obese banks on a diet. But do those who enabled the creation of mega-bank monopolies to begin with really have the political will to cut them down to size?

In a speech last week before the Columbia University Politics and Business Club, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said, "[J]ust as health authorities in the United States are waging a campaign against the plague of obesity, banking regulators must do the same with regard to oversized banks that undermine the nation's financial health and are a potential threat to economic stability."

Armstrong's take on gold confiscation:wise answer......

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:32 AM PST

http://www.martinarmstrong.org/files...11-22-2011.pdf

You decide.

Gold Buying Increasing in India

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:12 AM PST

Concerns Over Rupee Grow and Gold Buying Increases in India

by Roman Baudzus, GoldMoney.com:

Gold bars In recent months the Indian rupee has been under strong sales pressure. Last Tuesday it hit a low of 52.4 against the US dollar. Most emerging-market currencies have dropped recently against the greenback, and as pointed out by Nilesh Shah, analyst at Axis Direct, increasing numbers of Indians are looking to hedge against this depreciation by buying gold.

Hitherto, general expectations were that steady growth in emerging economies would be unaffected by imbalances in global trade. But many market participants no longer share this view. According to Shah, the Indian rupee has been under sales pressure for weeks, as investors expect India's economy to slow down in the coming quarters. Observers are also feeling less optimistic about the Chinese economy, which is struggling with serious problems caused by the hair-rising credit growth in recent years. The communist government and the People's Bank of China are trying to cool down the country's economy by increasing interest rates and bank reserve requirements. Though Chinese inflation has significantly receded from its late-summer record high, many investors still fear that China's housing market could collapse – as has happened in many western countries over the last few years. This would have drastic consequences for the development of the global economy and the commodity markets.

¤ Yesterday in Gold and Silver

After a bit of a sell-off in early Far East trading on Tuesday morning, the gold price began to rise shortly after 12 o'clock noon Hong Kong time.

Gold spent most of Tuesday in rally mode, with the odd sell-off interspersed along the way.

Once the price hit the $1,700 mark at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time, the gold price got sold off every time it attempted to break through that price level...and gold closed the electronic trading session in New York at $1,699.40 spot...up $22.10 on the day. Net volume was very decent at 140,000 contracts.

The silver price was more 'volatile' yesterday...but every time that the silver price showed the slightest hint of going vertical [a 'no ask' market], a seller showed up immediately to prevent the price from going ballistic.

Silver hit its high of the day [$33.17 spot] just minutes before the close of Comex trading at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time...and then got sold off a bit.

Silver closed at $32.77 spot...up $1.13 on the day. A very nice gain to be sure, but it would have certainly done better if a willing seller hadn't shown up a couple of times during the trading day...once in London and twice in New York. Volume was a very respectable 34,000 contracts...only slightly lower than Monday's volume.

Here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart on its own...and it's easy to pick out the two times that a seller of last resort had to show up to prevent the silver price from going vertical...as there are no legitimate sellers left in the silver market...at least not at these ridiculously low prices.

Here's the dollar chart and, for the second day running, was not a price factor in the gold or silver markets.

I was underwhelmed at the performance of the gold stocks yesterday...and a lot of day traders were quick to hit the 'sell' button the moment that the gold price peaked a few minutes before 1:30 p.m. The HUI only finished up 1.60%.

Considering that silver was up three percent yesterday, the silver stocks did only marginally better than their golden brethren. Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index was only up 1.64%.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that only 9 gold and 2 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Thursday.

The GLD ETF had a fairly chunky addition yesterday, as authorized participants deposited 194,539 troy ounces of the metal. But over at the SLV ETF, they reported a withdrawal of 972,844 ounces.

The U.S. Mint had a sales report yesterday. They sold another 5,000 ounces of gold eagles...1,500 one-ounce gold buffaloes...and 40,000 silver eagles.

Monday was a huge day over at the Comex-approved depositories. They didn't receive a single ounce of silver, but shipped an eye-watering 2,759,596 troy ounces out the door. Obviously an authorized participant required this silver more desperately somewhere else. Most of it came out of Brinks', Inc...and the link to the CME's report is here. It's worth a look.

Here's an interesting graph that Washington state reader S.A. sent me yesterday. It's Switzerland's monetary base...and the massive intervention to devalue the Swiss franc a while back is the most obvious feature on the chart.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Here's a short comment from Richard Russell that BIG GOLD editor Jeff Clark sent around yesterday. Richard's been in this business for 63 years...the same age as I am...so I have a tendency to listen to what he has to say...

"My advice: We are moving closer and closer to what I call "survival period" -- the period where the magic of compounding turns into what will be the poison of compounding. This isn't a time for timing. This is a time for action. Reduce your exposure to bonds and all items that provide fixed interest rates. Similarly, reduce your exposure to stocks except the gold miners. Look to expand your positions in inflation-protected assets, especially gold."

"Those who are holding stocks in the hopes of the usual rebound are going to be terribly disappointed in the years ahead. This bear market is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen before. In the end my survival vehicle will be gold. I say again, timing is hopeless. Gold will have purchasing power and true wealth as almost everything else is destroyed by this unprecedented bear market. The US Government is now so loaded with ever-growing debt that it has become a mathematical freak. We return to different times, when rising interest rates will eat up the US government. With $55 trillion in assorted debts, the US is in no shape to deal with rising interest rates. We are in a state of reverse compounding, leading to inevitable bankruptcy on a massive scale."

Amen to that!

I have the same number of stories today that I did yesterday...and the final edit is up to you once again.

It's hard to tell [especially during the heavy roll-overs out of the December contract] whether there was a short covering rally in both metals yesterday.

Sprott Asset Management Files $1.5 Billion Short Form Shelf Prospectus for PSLV. Gold in India's coffers makes government richer. Cash for gold in the eurozone bailout.

¤ Critical Reads

Margin Debt Soars By Most Since June 2007 Just In Time For November Market Rout

And so the wave of beta chasers has once again be caught flat footed. Following the 11% jump in the S&P, hedge funds, which are now down 2% YTD and getting killed with redemption requests, it was only natural that in focusing solely on performance and not on fundamentals, that margin debt would increase.

I borrowed this zerohedge.com story from yesterday's King Report...and the link is here.

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Fed Minutes: Bernanke Firmly In Control Of FOMC, QE3 Coming

The FOMC minutes for the two-day November meeting suggest that under current economic circumstances the Federal Reserve will have to engage in a third round of quantitative easing.

Those who favored further monetary stimulus in the last meeting accepted that QE should be unveiled in the context of a "communications initiative," which means making sure that market expectations are aligned with the Fed's.

This story showed up over at the forbes.com website yesterday...and I thank Washington state reader S.A. for bringing it to my attention. The link is here.

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MF Global: Proof that the U.S. government is not able or willing to protect investors

I have traded commodity markets since the late 1970s. I have always been told — and I believed — that my money was safe, held in segregated bank accounts under the jurisdiction and regulatory supervision of an agency of the U.S. government, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

I have been lied to! My money was never safe. Neither was or is yours, if you are a futures trader. No matter what firm you use for futures trading — Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi Group — your money could disappear even though the U.S. government has been charged with keeping it safe.

The saddest part of this story is that the media had not even identified the real story – that investors can be robbed with the U.S. government as the accomplice.

This story was posted over at the peterbrandt.com website yesterday...and I thank reader Norbert Wangnick for sharing this story with us. It's well worth your time...and the link is here.

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Insight: Farm belt rage over MF Global could chill markets

When the CME Group pledged $300 million of its own money to help former MF Global customers get their cash back faster, the exchange was likely thinking of customers like Kansas cattle rancher Tim Rietzke.

Fed up and frustrated with his broker's collapse and what he sees as the CME's slow efforts to help him retrieve $30,000 in stranded capital, Rietzke says his faith in the futures industry has been shaken to its core.

"I would be hedging some feeder cattle right now, but I'm not going to do it. I'm leaving them exposed to the cash market and I don't like that," Rietzke said.

Rietzke may reside far from the trading pit in Chicago, but he and thousands of other ranchers and farmers across the country are at the heart of futures trading.

This is another story that I borrowed from yesterday's King Report. This Reuters piece is from Monday...and is a must read. The link is here.

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MF Global Customers Missing $1.2 Billion Denied Committee

MF Global Inc. brokerage customers, who may be missing more than $1.2 billion from their accounts, won't be allowed to form a committee to represent their interests in bankruptcy, a judge ruled.

Judge Martin Glenn, overseeing a hearing today in Manhattan Bankruptcy court, said he will deny commodity customers' request to form an official committee. He urged the trustee to work closely with commodities customers.

"Nobody in the legislative history of this country thought about a case like this," Lewis Kruger, a lawyer for a group of customers, argued before Glenn today. "This case may determine whether there is a commodities market in the future. I have great concern about what's going to happen in this industry. This is a far-reaching case and it needs to have an imaginative resolution."

This longish story was posted over at Bloomberg late yesterday...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon...and the link is here.

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Congress to Probe 'Every Aspect' of MF Global Failure in December Hearing

Jon S. Corzine, the former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor who ran MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF) until the firm filed bankruptcy last month, has been called to testify at a House hearing on the failure next month.

Corzine, who was chairman and chief executive officer of the New York-based firm, will face questions "on the decisions and events leading to the collapse of MF Global" at a Dec. 15 hearing before the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations panel, according to a statement released today.

This is another late-afternoon story from Bloomberg...and another Elliot Simon offering. The link is here.

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