Gold World News Flash

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• Gold/Silver Ratio Jumps, ECB Points to Deflation Risk…
• Gold-Silver Ratio & its implications
• UBS On "How Bad Might It Get" And Why "Sooner Or Later Intense Instability Will Resume"
• UBS On "How Bad Might It Get" And Why "Sooner Or Later Intense Instability Will Resume"
• Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Slightly Lower
• Have You Heard About The 16 Trillion Dollar Bailout The Federal Reserve Handed To The Too Big To Fail Banks?
• Hustling Ahead of The Coming Financial System Collapse
• World is slave to a few big banks, Paul Brodsky tells King World News
• Gold Price Closed Today at 1,735.30, Down -0.6%
• Soros: World Financial System on Brink of Collapse
• A Hedge Fund Insider Explains Why Retail Investors Should Flee The Stock Market
• Coeur d'Alene would consider Sprott proposal to hold metal as cash
• Chinese Economy Crash, No Free Markets, Gov. Manipulation, Gold & More
• Kerry Lutz Interview with Chris Vermeulen – The Gold and Oil Guy – 12-1-11
• Wall Street Journal: Corzine and his regulators
• DOLLAR COLLAPSE! Can You See It?
• Banking Jargon 101
• Felix Salmon: The 'conspiracy theorists' about 'Government Sachs' were right
• **RED ALERT**: Ann Barnhardt Says “GET THE HELL OUT. GET OUT OF ALL PAPER.”
• Ann Barnhardt: The Entire Futures/Options Market Has Been Destroyed by the MF Global Collapse
• U.S. Says Americans Are MILITARY Targets in the War on Terror … And that the Prez Alone Can Decide Who Is a Target
• The $12 Billion Tax Increase
• Bank of Korea purchases Gold
• Putting a Gleam in Your IRA
• IG Hangover As HY and TSYs Underperform On A Slow Equity Day
• Is Gold Price Parabolic Blow Off Long Due?
• It was three short years ago that the small former British colony of Zimbabwe was spewing forth 100 trillion dollar bills.
• Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - The Pause That Refreshes?
• Anticipating a Correction in the Global Monetary System
• Gold 61.8% Retracement Acting as Resistance

Gold/Silver Ratio Jumps, ECB Points to Deflation Risk… Posted: 01 Dec 2011 06:23 PM PST Bullion Vault

Gold-Silver Ratio & its implications Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:59 PM PST Biwii

UBS On "How Bad Might It Get" And Why "Sooner Or Later Intense Instability Will Resume" Posted: 01 Dec 2011 04:21 PM PST Despite the very short term bounce in markets on yet another soon to be failed experiment in global liquidity pump priming, UBS' Andrew Cates refuses to take his eyes of the ball which is namely preventing a European collapse by explaining precisely what the world would look like if a European collapse were allowed to occur. Which is why to people like Cates this week's indeterminate intervention is the worst thing that could happen as it only provides a few days worth of symptomatic breathing room, even as the underlying causes get worse and worse. So, paradoxically, we have reached a point where the better things get (yesterday we showed just how "better" they get as soon as the market realized that the intervention half life has passed), the more the European banks will push to make things appear and be as bad as possible, as the last thing any bank in Europe can afford now is for the ECB to lose sight of the target which is that it has to print. Which explains today's release of "How bad might it get", posted a day after the Fed's latest bail out: because instead of attempting to beguile the general public into a false sense of complacency, UBS found it key to take the threat warnings to the next level. Which in itself speaks volumes. What also speaks volumes is his conclusion: "Finally it is worth underscoring again that a Euro break-up scenario would generate much more macroeconomic pain for Europe and the world. It is a scenario that cannot be readily modelled. But it is now a tail risk that should be afforded a non-negligible probability. Steps toward fiscal union and a more proactive ECB, after all, will still not address the fundamental imbalances and competitiveness issues that bedevil the Euro zone. Nor will they tackle the inadequacy of structural growth drivers and the deep-seated demographic challenges that the region faces in the period ahead. Monetary initiatives designed to shore up confidence can give politicians more time to enact the necessary policies. But absent those policies and sooner or later intense instability will resume." So what exactly does UBS predict will happen in a scenario where the European contagion finally spills out from the continent and touches on US shores? Here's what: We stressed that the most obvious downside risk to our new forecasts would be a further intensification of the European debt crisis and an even greater degree of regional and global financial instability, alongside perhaps even a break-up of the euro. But what would those risks invoke for the world economy?   There are of course no easy answers to this, partly because there are a number of possible scenarios for the Euro zone in the period ahead, each of which would have different financial market and macroeconomic consequences. At one extreme is the 'break-up' scenario which would have devastating consequences and potentially invoke a 'depression' for the Euro area and perhaps even the world. At the other extreme is a 'muddle through' scenario where policymakers continue to introduce additional measures on a piecemeal basis to contain the situation. In doing so they would keep market risk premiums higher for longer with more negative consequences for global financial stability and the world economy. But, assuming that a meaningful policy response that addresses some of the deep-seated challenges is eventually forthcoming, there need not be a devastating European recession in that scenario.   Our European team's baseline scenario is closer to the latter than the former. The key difference concerns the assumption of more strident steps toward fiscal integration in the region over the coming weeks. That, combined with a greater willingness from the ECB to offer liquidity and monetary accommodation, ought to help fend off financial instability and a more entrenched European – and global – economic downturn.   But what might that latter scenario of 'muddle through with higher risk premiums' formally imply for the world economy relative to our current baseline forecasts? Again there are no easy answers. But to address the question we ran a simulation on the NiESR's (the UK's National Institute of Economic and Social Research) global econometric model. Specifically we assumed that risk premiums in European equity and credit markets climb much further from here, to levels exceeding those seen in the region during the 2008 global financial crisis. Risk premiums on all government bond markets in Europe, including Germany's, are also assumed to rise from here.   Implicit in this scenario is a Europe-wide tightening of credit conditions and a generic across-the board increase in corporate and household borrowing costs. We also set the simulation to "infect" the rest of the world by generating some global financial contagion. The simulation generates an increase in equity and investment risk premiums in other economies proportional to their trade linkages with Europe.   The impact of this on GDP levels is shown in the charts below. In this simulated scenario, Euro area GDP falls by 1.3 percentage points relative to a baseline scenario after one year as domestic demand contracts more severely in response to tightening financial market conditions. In other words instead of a 0.7% contraction in the region's GDP, which is our current forecast for the Euro area next year, we should expect a contraction closer to 2%. Other major economies would be hit as well, although the US is still simulated to escape a formal recessionary phase. Our forecast for US growth would drop to about 1.5% from our baseline forecast of 2%. The impact of the simulation on emerging economies is on the whole less pronounced, partly because the model assumes proactive policy responses but also because the degree of financial contagion is less severe relative to most major economies. Those factors help cushion the blows.   All in all, though, this scenario would bring the world economy much closer to recession. Global growth would be close to just 2% in 2012 under this scenario. Most official bodies (including the IMF) typically regard a global growth rate of less than 2% as being consistent with a recession phase. And here comes UBS, admitting what happened on Wednesday is nothing, and the ECB better print soon or else. Finally it is worth underscoring again that a Euro break-up scenario would generate much more macroeconomic pain for Europe and the world. It is a scenario that cannot be readily modelled. But it is now a tail risk that should be afforded a non-negligible probability. Steps toward fiscal union and a more proactive ECB, after all, will still not address the fundamental imbalances and competitiveness issues that bedevil the Euro zone. Nor will they tackle the inadequacy of structural growth drivers and the deep-seated demographic challenges that the region faces in the period ahead. Monetary initiatives designed to shore up confidence can give politicians more time to enact the necessary policies. But absent those policies and sooner or later intense instability will resume. And the "models"

UBS On "How Bad Might It Get" And Why "Sooner Or Later Intense Instability Will Resume" Posted: 01 Dec 2011 04:21 PM PST Despite the very short term bounce in markets on yet another soon to be failed experiment in global liquidity pump priming, UBS' Andrew Cates refuses to take his eyes of the ball which is namely preventing a European collapse by explaining precisely what the world would look like if a European collapse were allowed to occur. Which is why to people like Cates this week's indeterminate intervention is the worst thing that could happen as it only provides a few days worth of symptomatic breathing room, even as the underlying causes get worse and worse. So, paradoxically, we have reached a point where the better things get (yesterday we showed just how "better" they get as soon as the market realized that the intervention half life has passed), the more the European banks will push to make things appear and be as bad as possible, as the last thing any bank in Europe can afford now is for the ECB to lose sight of the target which is that it has to print. Which explains today's release of "How bad might it get", posted a day after the Fed's latest bail out: because instead of attempting to beguile the general public into a false sense of complacency, UBS found it key to take the threat warnings to the next level. Which in itself speaks volumes. What also speaks volumes is his conclusion: "Finally it is worth underscoring again that a Euro break-up scenario would generate much more macroeconomic pain for Europe and the world. It is a scenario that cannot be readily modelled. But it is now a tail risk that should be afforded a non-negligible probability. Steps toward fiscal union and a more proactive ECB, after all, will still not address the fundamental imbalances and competitiveness issues that bedevil the Euro zone. Nor will they tackle the inadequacy of structural growth drivers and the deep-seated demographic challenges that the region faces in the period ahead. Monetary initiatives designed to shore up confidence can give politicians more time to enact the necessary policies. But absent those policies and sooner or later intense instability will resume." So what exactly does UBS predict will happen in a scenario where the European contagion finally spills out from the continent and touches on US shores? Here's what: We stressed that the most obvious downside risk to our new forecasts would be a further intensification of the European debt crisis and an even greater degree of regional and global financial instability, alongside perhaps even a break-up of the euro. But what would those risks invoke for the world economy?   There are of course no easy answers to this, partly because there are a number of possible scenarios for the Euro zone in the period ahead, each of which would have different financial market and macroeconomic consequences. At one extreme is the 'break-up' scenario which would have devastating consequences and potentially invoke a 'depression' for the Euro area and perhaps even the world. At the other extreme is a 'muddle through' scenario where policymakers continue to introduce additional measures on a piecemeal basis to contain the situation. In doing so they would keep market risk premiums higher for longer with more negative consequences for global financial stability and the world economy. But, assuming that a meaningful policy response that addresses some of the deep-seated challenges is eventually forthcoming, there need not be a devastating European recession in that scenario.   Our European team's baseline scenario is closer to the latter than the former. The key difference concerns the assumption of more strident steps toward fiscal integration in the region over the coming weeks. That, combined with a greater willingness from the ECB to offer liquidity and monetary accommodation, ought to help fend off financial instability and a more entrenched European – and global – economic downturn.   But what might that latter scenario of 'muddle through with higher risk premiums' formally imply for the world economy relative to our current baseline forecasts? Again there are no easy answers. But to address the question we ran a simulation on the NiESR's (the UK's National Institute of Economic and Social Research) global econometric model. Specifically we assumed that risk premiums in European equity and credit markets climb much further from here, to levels exceeding those seen in the region during the 2008 global financial crisis. Risk premiums on all government bond markets in Europe, including Germany's, are also assumed to rise from here.   Implicit in this scenario is a Europe-wide tightening of credit conditions and a generic across-the board increase in corporate and household borrowing costs. We also set the simulation to "infect" the rest of the world by generating some global financial contagion. The simulation generates an increase in equity and investment risk premiums in other economies proportional to their trade linkages with Europe.   The impact of this on GDP levels is shown in the charts below. In this simulated scenario, Euro area GDP falls by 1.3 percentage points relative to a baseline scenario after one year as domestic demand contracts more severely in response to tightening financial market conditions. In other words instead of a 0.7% contraction in the region's GDP, which is our current forecast for the Euro area next year, we should expect a contraction closer to 2%. Other major economies would be hit as well, although the US is still simulated to escape a formal recessionary phase. Our forecast for US growth would drop to about 1.5% from our baseline forecast of 2%. The impact of the simulation on emerging economies is on the whole less pronounced, partly because the model assumes proactive policy responses but also because the degree of financial contagion is less severe relative to most major economies. Those factors help cushion the blows.   All in all, though, this scenario would bring the world economy much closer to recession. Global growth would be close to just 2% in 2012 under this scenario. Most official bodies (including the IMF) typically regard a global growth rate of less than 2% as being consistent with a recession phase. And here comes UBS, admitting what happened on Wednesday is nothing, and the ECB better print soon or else. Finally it is worth underscoring again that a Euro break-up scenario would generate much more macroeconomic pain for Europe and the world. It is a scenario that cannot be readily modelled. But it is now a tail risk that should be afforded a non-negligible probability. Steps toward fiscal union and a more proactive ECB, after all, will still not address the fundamental imbalances and competitiveness issues that bedevil the Euro zone. Nor will they tackle the inadequacy of structural growth drivers and the deep-seated demographic challenges that the region faces in the period ahead. Monetary initiatives designed to shore up confidence can give politicians more time to enact the necessary policies. But absent those policies and sooner or later intense instability will resume. And the "models"

Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Slightly Lower Posted: 01 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST Gold drifted back to $1740.70 by about 4:15AM EST and shot up to $1754.10 in the next hour of trade before it chopped back down to $1733.40 by early afternoon in New York, but it then rallied back higher in late trade and ended with a loss of just 0.18%. Silver fell to $32.465 in Asia before it rose to as high as $33.418 by late morning in New York, but it then fell back off midday and ended with a loss of 0.43%.

Have You Heard About The 16 Trillion Dollar Bailout The Federal Reserve Handed To The Too Big To Fail Banks? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:32 PM PST from The Economic Collapse Blog: What you are about to read should absolutely astound you. During the last financial crisis, the Federal Reserve secretly conducted the biggest bailout in the history of the world, and the Fed fought in court for several years to keep it a secret. Do you remember the TARP bailout? The American people were absolutely outraged that the federal government spent 700 billion dollars bailing out the "too big to fail" banks. Well, that bailout was pocket change compared to what the Federal Reserve did. As you will see documented below, the Federal Reserve actually handed more than 16 trillion dollars in nearly interest-free money to the "too big to fail" banks between 2007 and 2010. So have you heard about this on the nightly news? Probably not. Lately Bloomberg has been reporting on some of this, but even they are not giving people the whole picture. The American people need to be told about this 16 trillion dollar bailout, because it is a perfect example of why the Federal Reserve needs to be shut down. The Federal Reserve has been actively picking "winners" and "losers" in the financial system, and it turns out that the "friends" of the Fed always get bailed out and always end up among the "winners". This is not how a free market system is supposed to work. Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com

Hustling Ahead of The Coming Financial System Collapse Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:30 PM PST from TekoaDaSilva:

World is slave to a few big banks, Paul Brodsky tells King World News Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:54 PM PST 10:52 ET Thursday, December 1, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): Interviewed today by King World News, Paul Brodsky of QB Asset Management says the world financial system has become entirely a matter of maintaining the solvency of a few big international banks, for whom all countries and peoples are slaves. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/12/1_KW... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT The United States Once Again Can Establish a Stable Dollar Worth Its Weight in Gold Lewis E. Lehrman, chairman of the Lehrman Institute, sponsor of The Gold Standard Now project, has released a plan to restore economic growth through a stable dollar. The plan, titled "The True Gold Standard: A Monetary Reform Plan Without Official Reserve Currencies," responds to the recurrent economic crises of the last century and outlines a detailed proposal for America's leadership on "how we get from here to there." That is, how we get from the present unstable paper dollar to a stable dollar as good as gold. James Grant, author and editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, says of the Lehrman plan: "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman the country has finally found him." To learn 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: Vancouver Resource Investment Conference Sunday-Monday, January 22-23, 2012 Vancouver Convention Centre West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/vancouver-resource-investme... California Investment Conference Saturday-Sunday, February 11-12, 2012 Hyatt Grand Champions Resort Indian Wells, California, USA http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/california-investment-confe... Support GATA by purchasing a silver commemorative coin: 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 Be Part of a Chance to Discover Multi-Million-Ounce Gold and Silver Deposits in Canada Northaven Resources Corp. (TSX-V:NTV) is advancing five gold and silver projects in highly prospective and politically stable British Columbia, Canada. Check out the exploration program on our Allco gold/silver project : -- A large (13,000 hectare) property, covering more than 15 square kilometers of a regional mineralized trend just 3km from a recently announced 1.2-million-ounce gold and 15-million-ounce silver deposit. -- The property hosts historic high-grade silver workings and many mineral showings as well as former mines at the property's northern and southern boundaries. -- A deep-penetrating airborne geophysics survey has just been completed on the entire property and neighboring deposits and its results are eagerly awaited. To learn more about the Allco property or Northaven's other gold and silver projects, please visit: http://www.northavenresources.com Or call Northaven CEO Allen Leschert at 604-696-3600.

Gold Price Closed Today at 1,735.30, Down -0.6% Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:51 PM PST Gold Price Close Today : 1,735.30 Change : -10.20 or -0.6% Silver Price Close Today : 32.69 Change : -.04 or -0.1% Platinum Price Close Today : 1,556.20 Change : -3.60 or -0.2% Palladium Price Close Today : 627.65 Change : 17.65 or 2.8% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 53.08 Change : -0.25 or 1.00% Dow Industrial : 12,045.68 Change : 490.05 or 4.1% US Dollar Index : 78.36 Change : -0.62 or -0.8% Franklin Sanders has not published any commentary today, if he publishes commentary later today it will be published here. 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 bubble has burst, primary trend down. WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. 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 short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures. NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps. NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced. NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt. What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands. One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose.

Soros: World Financial System on Brink of Collapse Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:26 PM PST by Brenda Cronin, The Wall Street Journal: The world financial system not only isn't functioning, it's on the brink of collapse, according to investor George Soros. The Hungarian-born philanthropist [Ed. Note: They meant 'psychopath', not 'philanthropist'], who recently spent time in areas where his charities are active, such as Africa, said he sees a growing bifurcation between emerging and developed countries – and he's more confident about prospects for the emerging ones. Despite their assorted problems, including corruption, weak infrastructure and shaky government, developing countries are relatively unscathed by the "deflationary debt trap that the developed world is falling into," Mr. Soros said at a New York gathering to mark the 10th anniversary of the International Senior Lawyers Project, a group that provides pro bono legal services around the world. Mr. Soros was among those honored by ISLP, for his work as founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, which supports democracy and human rights. The current global financial system is in a "self-reinforcing process of disintegration," Mr. Soros warned, and "the consequences could be quite disastrous. You have to do what you can to stop it developing in that direction." While the economic and fiscal woes of the developed world remain critical, Mr. Soros said his recent travels gave him a sense of optimism about Africa and the Arab world. "A lot of positive things are happening," he said. "I see Africa together with the Arab Spring as areas of progress. The Arab Spring was a revolutionary development." However, he noted, Hungary's 1956 revolution changed the political atmosphere but didn't bear fruit until 1989. "You can't expect immediate success but what is happening will have a lasting impact," he said. Click Here for the original source. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/01/soros-world-financial-system-on-brink-of-collapse/?mod=google_news_blog

A Hedge Fund Insider Explains Why Retail Investors Should Flee The Stock Market Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:18 PM PST Regular readers know that ever since 2009, well before the confidence destroying flash crash of May 2010, Zero Hedge had been advocating that regular retail investors shun the equity market in its entirety as it is anything but "fair and efficient" in which frontrunning for a select few is legal, in which insider trading is permitted for politicians and is masked as "expert networks" for others, in which the government itself leaks information to a hand-picked elite of the wealthiest investors, in which investment banks send out their "huddle" top picks to "whale" accounts, in which hedge funds form "clubs" and collude in moving the market in one direction or another, in which millisecond algorithms make instantaneous decisions which regular investors can never hope to beat, in which daily record volatility triggers sell limits virtually assuring daytrading losses, and where the bid/ask spreads for all but the choicest few make the prospect of breaking even, let alone winning, quite daunting. In short: a rigged casino. What is gratifying is to see that this warning is permeating an ever broader cross-section of the retail population with hundreds of billions in equity fund outflows in the past two years. And yet, some pathological gamblers still return day after day, in hope of striking it rich, despite odds which make a slot machine seem like the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In that regard, we are happy to present another perspective: this time from a hedge fund insider who while advocating his support for the OWS movement, explains, in no uncertain terms, and in a somewhat more detailed and lucid fashion, both how and why the market is not only broken, but rigged, and why it is nothing but a wealth extraction mechanism in which the richest slowly but surely steal the money from everyone else who still trades any public stock equity.   From Reddit:  I work in Wall Street and work in hedge fund analysis. I'm the only person in my office who supports OWS This is a self-post, so I'm not trying to karma-whore or anything. I have a message I want to share with anyone who's interested. I'm writing this in hopes that the OWS movement can have a better understanding of the hedge fund industry and the financial markets. With OWS being the zeitgeist of current politics, I think it's important to know how exactly the hedge funds, along with the financial markets are destroying the 99%. Hedge funds. These guys are basically the vehicles of choice for ultra-rich people to get into the financial markets, besides family offices and private wealth managers. What are hedge funds? They are funds that have a 1-5 million deposit minimum, cater to the mega-rich, and can invest in anything without regulatory restrictions, use leverage to pump up their exposure by 15x, and pretty much eat up a vast majority of the industry's profits. These guys invest in EVERYTHING. Instruments you've heard of - stocks, bonds, forwards, futures, currencies, and instruments that you, me, or anyone else have never even heard of, much less know anything about: commodity future swaptions, FRA/OIS swaps, CLOs, exotic future options, p-notes, index/commodity/equity exposures, and a huge array of OTC (over-the-counter) instruments that no regular investor would ever have access to. Why I bring this up: the financial markets are rigged. 99% of the investing public has access to services such as basic brokerages, 401k/IRA's, mutual funds, pension plans, etc. Some of these services, especially pension funds, will invest into hedge funds, who take an additional 2 and 20 (meaning 2% of assets plus 20% of capital gains). What this means is that if you go any of the traditional retail routes, you are utterly screwed facing off against the hedge funds. First, you are paying exorbitant fees. Commissions on every stock trade. Mutual fund managers taking a cut - an annual % cut, as well as a % per profit cut. If these managers (i.e. pension plans) invest in another fund, that fund is also taking another % cut. You're down 2% the minute you invest your money. Next, if you're doing the investing yourself, you're paying ridiculous spreads. The bid/ask spread of a stock will cause you to be down another 2-3% the minute you buy the stock. For example, if you're buying a share of company at $4.25, you can sell back at only $4.15. Furthermore, you have absolutely no chance in terms of access to the best services. Hedge funds have a direct line to investment bank's institutional brokerage teams - these are the guys that spend day and night sucking up to hedge funds, trying to get them the best deals at the cheapest rates. This means that while you're buying stocks and bonds, hedge funds are getting special rights, warrants, sweetheart deals, private placement deals, options, bigger discounts on bonds, and much better bulk commission rates and lower spreads on stocks. If you're paying 4.25$ for a 4.15$ stock, they are paying something like 4.16$. And they are eating alive your profits because when the stock goes up to $4.30, they can activate another warrant to purchase 20m shares at $4.25, diluting the value of your shares. Next, you lack information and exposure. You have no idea what is going on in the market besides what you see on the news - while hedge funds have analysts working around the clock and a bunch of service providers who give minute-by-minute analysis of their portfolio opportunities and weaknesses in all markets with exposures to nearly everything. Meaning, if there is an opportunity in the real estate market (i.e. legislation), it might take you weeks to get in - hedge funds will have gotten in the minute the legislation was passed. Furthermore, when IPOs come out for companies, hedge funds get top billing on the primary market shares - which means investment banks are selling directly to them. Once the secondary market becomes available, hedge funds are up 15-20% on these investments, sometimes within hours. Finally, you have no capital compared to these hedge funds. The people who invest in these hedge funds are not just the 1%, they are the 0.1%. These are the guys with 500million dollar bank accounts and the ability to do whatever the fuck they want. Hedge funds know this, and they invest without having to care about whether their clients can pay the rent or send their kids to college. All of that is irrelevant. Their sole purpose is to earn money, not to mitigate risk. What does this all mean? It means the hedge fund industry is making a gigantic proportion of the profits. The top .1% is earning nearly half of the profits in the industry, through not just hedge funds, but other similar vehicles. The finance industry is a complete scam, designed to funnel money from the 99% investing public into the hands of the top .1%. Sure, some of you will make good money, but stastically, the rest of us will lose, and who is feeding off us? Hedge funds, and the .1%. You have better odds going to a casino and playing slots, the worst-paying game in the house, but still better than the stock market. Also, the government is in bed with the financial industry. Tax loopholes give hedge funds and other top players the ability to write off losses and not pay taxes on gains for years at a time. For income they derive from the hedge fund (profits), they pay only 15%, rather than the 35% income tax charged to most people earning 80k and above. Meanwhile, you have to pay taxes for not just your own income but also capital gains. The worst part by far is that the government "encourages" you to put your money into your 401k through 'tax exemptions', which basically puts your money with the lowest tier of the financial industry - pension funds, retail wealth managers, and retail asset managers. These guys have shit strategies like long-only or domestic equity (which means they only invest in American stocks), and have nowhere near the capability and reach of hedge funds. These guys are even more likely to lose your money than you are, and even worse is they will take a 2.35% cut while doing so. And you get penalized when you try to take your money out early. How f***ed up is that. In other words, if you aren't in the .1%, you have no access to the derivatives markets, you have no access to the special deals that hedge funds and other wealthy investors get, and you have no access to the resources, information, strategic services, tax exemptions, and capital that the top .1% is getting. If you have any questions about what some of the concepts above mean, ask and I will try my best to answer. I'm a first-year analyst on wall street, and based on what I see day in and day out, I support the OWS movement 100%. tl;dr: The finance industry funnels money from the masses to the ultra rich, through vehicles like hedge funds which dominate all of the financial markets. h/t Scott

Coeur d'Alene would consider Sprott proposal to hold metal as cash Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:17 PM PST 10p ET Thursday, December 1, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): Mining Weekly's Matthew Hill reported today that Coeur d'Alene Mines CEO Mitchell Krebs is sympathetic to the call from Sprott Asset Management's Eric Sprott and David Baker (http://www.sprott.com/Docs/MarketsataGlance/2011/MAAG-11-11-Silver-Produ...) to start treating their product as money by holding some of their cash balances in metal: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/coeur-would-mull-holding-silver-over... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Granted Landmark Chandgana Power Plant License Company Press Release Monday, November 21, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Coal Corp. (TSX: PCY)(OTCQX: PRPCF)(Frankfurt: 1P2) announces that its wholly-owned Mongolian subsidiary, East Energy Development LLC, has received the license certificate from the Mongolian Energy Regulatory Authority to construct the 600-megawatt Chandgana power plant. This 600-mw thermal power plant license is the first of its size issued by the Mongolian government. To ensure strict compliance with Mongolian laws and regulations in obtaining this license, Prophecy retained Mongolian and international consultants over the past 18 months and spent much effort on community relations. Coal for the Chandgana mine-mouth power plant will be supplied from Prophecy's Chandgana Tal deposit, for which the company has already obtained a full mining license. Tal contains 141 million tonnes of measured coal and is located just 9 kilometers north of Prophecy's Chandgana Khavtgai project, a deposit with more than 1 billion tonnes of measured and indicated coal. Chandgana is 60 km from Underkhann city (East Energy System) and 150 km from Baganuur city (Central Energy System). Construction of transmission lines linking the two cities through Chandgana is seen as a top priority for a much-improved and more efficient national Mongolian energy system. John Lee, chairman and CEO of Prophecy Coal, says: "Prophecy has distinguished itself as the premier candidate to build the next Mongolian thermal power plant. There is an understanding among all stakeholders that Mongolia, being one of the world's fastest-growing economies, needs additional power. With the International Monetary Fund projecting a deficit for Mongolia of more than 600 mw by 2016, this need has become urgent and can no longer be delayed." For Prophecy Coal's full press release, complete with maps, please visit: http://www.prophecycoal.com/news_2011_nov21_prophecy_granted_landmark_ch... Join GATA here: Vancouver Resource Investment Conference Sunday-Monday, January 22-23, 2012 Vancouver Convention Centre West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/vancouver-resource-investme... California Investment Conference Saturday-Sunday, February 11-12, 2012 Hyatt Grand Champions Resort Indian Wells, California, USA http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/california-investment-confe... 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 Discovers Potential High-Grade Gold Mineralization at Blackdome in British Columbia -- 13.6g over 1.5 Meters From a Company Press Release November 22, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With its latest surface diamond drilling program at its 100-percent-owned, formerly producing Blackdome gold mine in southern British Columbia, Sona Resources Corp. has discovered a potentially high-grade gold-mineralized area, with one hole intersecting 13.6 grams of gold in 1.5 meters of core drilling. "We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says Sona's president and CEO, John P. Thompson. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the company." Sona aims to bring its permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next year and a half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the formerly producing Blackdome mine and the nearby Elizabeth gold deposit property. A positive preliminary economic assessment by Micon International Ltd., based on a gold price of $950 per ounce over eight years, has estimated a cash cost of $208 per tonne milled, or $686 per gold ounce recovered. For the company's complete press release, please visit: http://www.sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR18_2011-opt.pdf

Chinese Economy Crash, No Free Markets, Gov. Manipulation, Gold & More Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:08 PM PST King World News has released the audio of their interview with Dr. Marc Faber: Editor & Publisher of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report. Marc is famous for advising his clients to get out of the stock market one week before the October 1987 crash and other great calls. He has also gained a reputation as a contrarian investor. Marc is often quoted in both national, international media and is a frequent speaker on various TV programs. During the 1970's Faber worked for White Weld & Company Limited in New York City, Zürich, and Hong Kong. He moved to Hong Kong in 1973. He was a managing director at Drexel Burnham Lambert Ltd Hong Kong from the beginning of 1978 until 1990. In 1990, he set up his own business, Marc Faber Limited. Marc was born in Zurich and schooled in Geneva, Switzerland. He studied Economics at the University of Zurich and obtained a Ph.D. in Economics magna cum laude. Marc resides in Thailand and is best known as the author of the Gloom Boom Doom report. You can listen to the interview HERE. (On the left side of the page, half way down, click on the small purple logo that reads, "Listen to MP3 – CLICK HERE")

Kerry Lutz Interview with Chris Vermeulen – The Gold and Oil Guy – 12-1-11 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST from The Financial Survival Network: Chris Vermeulen a/k/a The Gold and Oil guy explains that traders are made not born. Having an iron constitution, the ability to control one's emotions as well sound money management is the key to being a successful trader. So many people attempt to trade the markets without having the right information or a disciplined strategy. Chris has a group of people who follow his methods and have been highly profitable. He describes that aha moment, when a student becomes a trader. It just requires, discipline, patience and position management. Chris sees gold and silver prices on an ever upward trajectory. Central Banks' efforts to paper over the continuing crisis will ultimately fail. He's not a believer that society will devolve into an episode from Mad Max and Beyond Thunder Dome. Rather a new system will ultimately be devised to facilitate world trade and avoid a complete social breakdown. Chris's successful experience makes him someone worth listening to. Always look to those who have succeeded when you're looking for a profitable system to earn profits. Click Here to Listen to the Interview This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Wall Street Journal: Corzine and his regulators Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:56 PM PST Mr. Corzine and His Regulators MF Global and the New Era of Crony Capitalist Regulation From The Wall Street Journal Thursday, December 1, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020371620457701769098842704... More than $1 billion of client money is still missing at failed brokerage MF Global, according to the bankruptcy trustee's latest estimate. At Thursday's hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee, the company's principal regulator will try to explain how his agency failed to provide the most basic protection for financial consumers. Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has a lot of explaining to do. Segregating customer money—protecting client accounts from being raided by an unscrupulous broker—is even more important in the futures industry than it is in other markets. In the world of stocks and bonds regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, it's terrible when client funds go missing, but at least the average investor has a backstop in the Securities Investor Protection Corp., which provides insurance up to $500,000. There is nothing like it in the futures industry, so if they do nothing else CFTC regulators have to make sure that nobody is digging into the customer cookie jar. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Sona Discovers Potential High-Grade Gold Mineralization at Blackdome in British Columbia -- 13.6g over 1.5 Meters From a Company Press Release November 22, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With its latest surface diamond drilling program at its 100-percent-owned, formerly producing Blackdome gold mine in southern British Columbia, Sona Resources Corp. has discovered a potentially high-grade gold-mineralized area, with one hole intersecting 13.6 grams of gold in 1.5 meters of core drilling. "We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says Sona's president and CEO, John P. Thompson. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the company." Sona aims to bring its permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next year and a half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the formerly producing Blackdome mine and the nearby Elizabeth gold deposit property. A positive preliminary economic assessment by Micon International Ltd., based on a gold price of $950 per ounce over eight years, has estimated a cash cost of $208 per tonne milled, or $686 per gold ounce recovered. For the company's complete press release, please visit: http://www.sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR18_2011-opt.pdf It's still not clear in this case whose hands dipped into customer funds or why, but it's hard to imagine a financial firm raising more red flags than MF Global did under former Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine. A former New Jersey senator and governor, he took the top job at MF Global in March of 2010, four months before enactment of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The former Goldman Sachs chief had been out of the Wall Street game for a decade while he pursued his political ambitions, but MF Global shares rallied on the news of his hiring. In a research note, Sandler O'Neill Partners wrote of Mr. Corzine: "We suspect that his contacts in Washington could prove useful as MF Global navigates a shifting regulatory environment." Those "contacts" included Mr. Gensler, a onetime colleague of Mr. Corzine at Goldman. In previous Beltway stints, the duo had helped to write the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law that was also supposed to protect investors. While Mr. Gensler's CFTC was MF Global's primary regulator, the company also wanted to do business with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, run by another Goldman alum, William Dudley. A year before Mr. Corzine's arrival, the New York Fed had considered designating MF Global as one of its prestigious primary dealers, but it decided not to. Did MF Global benefit from Mr. Corzine's contacts? Let's review the record. In May 2010, on his first conference call with analysts, Mr. Corzine made clear he wanted to take big risks. "As he seeks to realign the brokerage, Corzine said MF Global will begin taking principal risk across most of its product lines," reported Dow Jones. In other words, MF would increasingly bet its own capital, instead of simply servicing clients. MF Global created a new proprietary trading desk and hired a onetime employee of George Soros's hedge fund to run it. And Mr. Corzine began making the bets on European sovereign debt that would total $6.3 billion and eventually wreck the business. MF Global's new trading frenzy might have attracted even more attention if Mr. Corzine hadn't hidden his biggest bets. His purchases of European government bonds added up to several times MF Global's entire market cap. But by using a "repo-to-maturity" technique, he was able to consider them "sold" for accounting purposes and therefore they disappeared from MF Global's balance sheet. Except they hadn't really been sold. They were used as collateral to borrow money, and if the value of the bonds declined, MF Global would have to post additional collateral. How much more? Markets eventually decided that it was enough to destroy the company, and MF Global's funding dried up. Keep in mind that both Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley, written by Mr. Gensler and others, were supposed to protect investors from such shoddy disclosure. In any event, even the numbers Mr. Corzine was disclosing were terrible. In November 2010, MF Global announced its sixth loss in its last seven quarters. In February 2011 the company reported more losses. Yet just before the announcement of another bad quarter came news in February 2011 that the New York Fed had changed its mind and bestowed upon MF Global the coveted title of primary dealer. The New York Fed doesn't publicly discuss such decisions, but a source with knowledge of the process says that it sometimes takes several years for a firm to gain acceptance. We hope Congress investigates both the decision and its curious timing. * MF Global customers are still waiting to be made whole, but the larger importance of this story relates to the effectiveness of the Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory model. Americans have been told that, in response to the 2008 financial crisis that regulators failed to predict or prevent, regulators needed to have vast new powers to prevent the next crisis. But in MF Global the regulators failed the law's first serious test. MF Global also shows how this new era of regulatory power puts a premium on political connections. Mr. Corzine was named CEO of the company in part—maybe in substantial part—because he had close ties to regulators and could help MF Global navigate the many new rules. This is the new financial crony capitalism, and it also failed its first test. The mistake is to believe in regulator prescience, as opposed to simpler, straightforward rules on, say, leverage or capital. Mr. Gensler, for his part, has a response to the cronyism charge. Since the firm went bankrupt he has announced that he will recuse himself from issues affecting MF Global. Now? Congressman Randy Neugebauer sent a letter to Mr. Gensler this week, and Wednesday night Senator Richard Shelby contacted the CFTC's inspector general seeking an answer to the question of how and when Mr. Gensler decided that recusal was appropriate. This is another answer Mr. Gensler should bring to today's hearing. * * * Join GATA here: Vancouver Resource Investment Conference Sunday-Monday, January 22-23, 2012 Vancouver Convention Centre West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/vancouver-resource-investme... California Investment Conference Saturday-Sunday, February 11-12, 2012 Hyatt Grand Champions Resort Indian Wells, California, USA http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/california-investment-confe... 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 Granted Landmark Chandgana Power Plant License Company Press Release Monday, November 21, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Coal Corp. (TSX: PCY)(OTCQX: PRPCF)(Frankfurt: 1P2) announces that its wholly-owned Mongolian subsidiary, East Energy Development LLC, has received the license certificate from the Mongolian Energy Regulatory Authority to construct the 600-megawatt Chandgana power plant. This 600-mw thermal power plant license is the first of its size issued by the Mongolian government. To ensure strict compliance with Mongolian laws and regulations in obtaining this license, Prophecy retained Mongolian and international consultants over the past 18 months and spent much effort on community relations. Coal for the Chandgana mine-mouth power plant will be supplied from Prophecy's Chandgana Tal deposit, for which the company has already obtained a full mining license. Tal contains 141 million tonnes of measured coal and is located just 9 kilometers north of Prophecy's Chandgana Khavtgai project, a deposit with more than 1 billion tonnes of measured and indicated coal. Chandgana is 60 km from Underkhann city (East Energy System) and 150 km from Baganuur city (Central Energy System). Construction of transmission lines linking the two cities through Chandgana is seen as a top priority for a much-improved and more efficient national Mongolian energy system. John Lee, chairman and CEO of Prophecy Coal, says: "Prophecy has distinguished itself as the premier candidate to build the next Mongolian thermal power plant. There is an understanding among all stakeholders that Mongolia, being one of the world's fastest-growing economies, needs additional power. With the International Monetary Fund projecting a deficit for Mongolia of more than 600 mw by 2016, this need has become urgent and can no longer be delayed." For Prophecy Coal's full press release, complete with maps, please visit: http://www.prophecycoal.com/news_2011_nov21_prophecy_granted_landmark_ch...

DOLLAR COLLAPSE! Can You See It? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:51 PM PST from Fabian4Liberty: Stocks surge for the biggest single gain since the 2008 crisis, is this a sign that Bernanke has fixed our economy? WIll the FED's latest move be enough to calm the markets? Fabian4Liberty believes that is not the case as you will see in this video where he breaks down the FED's latest move and how the overall stock markets is a rigged game. Thanks for watching and check out Fabian on twitter and facebook!

Banking Jargon 101 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:41 PM PST by Chris Horlacher, MapleLeafMetals.ca: In case you've been living under a rock recently, you would have noticed that another major announcement from the world's monetary authorities was released a couple days ago. Markets everywhere rallied as investors gleefully piled in to just about every asset class around. Stocks went up, bonds went up, commodities went up… everything went up. But how can that be? If there's only so much money to go around then it would logically follow that if one asset class is going up, then somewhere else assets must be falling as the money migrates from one space to another. The only situation when you would see absolutely everything going up in price is when the currency itself is actually going down. What these six central banks announced they were going to do was lower the interest rate on a specific type of transaction that only the monetary and banking elites generally engage in, liquidity swaps. Banking jargon can be a massive headache, especially since the same words take on entirely different meanings depending on the context in which they're being used. This is part of what keeps so many people's eyes averted from the banking system. To understand what is going on, you practically have to learn an entirely new language. Read More @ MapleLeafMetals.ca

Felix Salmon: The 'conspiracy theorists' about 'Government Sachs' were right Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:20 PM PST Hank Paulson's Inside Jobs By Felix Salmon Reuters Thursday, December 1, 2011 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/11/29/hank-paulsons-inside-jo... What on earth did Hank Paulson think his job was in the summer of 2008? As far as most of us were concerned, he was secretary of the U.S. Treasury, answerable to the American people and the president. But at the same time, in secret meetings, Paulson was hanging out with his old Goldman Sachs buddies, giving them invaluable information about what he was thinking in his new job. The first news of this behavior came in October 2009, when Andrew Ross Sorkin revealed that Paulson had met with the entire board of Goldman Sachs in a Moscow hotel suite for an hour at the end of June 2008: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/10/20/the-secret-paulson-gold... He told them his views of the U.S. and global economies, he previewed a market-moving speech he was about to give, and he even talked about the possibility that Lehman Brothers might blow up. Maybe it's not so surprising that Goldman Sachs turned out to be so well-positioned when Lehman did indeed do just that a few months later. Today we learn that the Goldman meeting in Moscow was not some kind of aberration. A few weeks later, on July 28 2008, Paulson met with a who's who of the hedge-fund world in the headquarters of Eton Park Capital Management -- a fund founded by former Goldman superstar Eric Mindich: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-gave-hedge-fu... ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT For Continuous Wealth Creation, the Hera Research Newsletter The life cycles of companies that produce natural resources allow investors to allocate assets among companies at different stages of development and to profit from transitions between stages. Based on natural resource company life cycles, the Hera Research Newsletter maximizes profits through deep, fundamental analysis at each stage of development and by moving gains back to earlier-stage companies in a continuous wealth-creation process. Hera Research covers a pipeline of high-quality natural resource companies at different stages of development. The companies span discovery and production of gold, silver, and platinum group metals, select base metals, oil and gas, green energy, agriculture, rare earth elements, uranium, and more. Discover the unique value of the Hera Research Newsletter by visiting: http://www.heraresearch.com/newsletter.html Or call Ron Hera at 360-339-8541x101. "The secretary, then 62, went on to describe a possible scenario for placing Fannie and Freddie into 'conservatorship' -- a government seizure designed to allow the firms to continue operations despite heavy losses in the mortgage markets. ... "Paulson explained that under this scenario, the common stock of the two government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, would be effectively wiped out. ... "The fund manager who described the meeting left after coffee and called his lawyer. The attorney's quick conclusion: Paulson's talk was material nonpublic information, and his client should immediately stop trading the shares of Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Virginia-based Freddie." When we found out about the Moscow meeting, I asked how on earth Paulson thought such behavior was OK. But now I think he was downright pathological in giving inside information to his old Wall Street buddies. And the crazy thing is that we have no idea how many of these meetings there were, or how long they went on for -- the only way that we ever find out about them is when reporters like Sorkin or Bloomberg's Richard Teitelbaum manage to find a source who was in the meeting and is willing to talk about what happened. Given that it's taken two years since the release of Sorkin's book for the Eton Park meeting to be made public, it's fair to assume that there were other meetings too -- possibly many others. Paulson was giving inside tips to Wall Street in general, and to Goldman types in particular: exactly the kind of behavior that "Government Sachs" conspiracy theorists have been speculating about for years. Turns out they were right. Paulson, says Teitelbaum, "is now a distinguished senior fellow at the University of Chicago, where he's starting the Paulson Institute, a think tank focused on U.S.-Chinese relations." I'd take issue with the "distinguished" bit -- unless it means "distinguished by an astonishing black hole where his ethics ought to be." * * * Join GATA here: Vancouver Resource Investment Conference Sunday-Monday, January 22-23, 2012 Vancouver Convention Centre West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/vancouver-resource-investme... California Investment Conference Saturday-Sunday, February 11-12, 2012 Hyatt Grand Champions Resort Indian Wells, California, USA http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/california-investment-confe... 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 Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire and Reopen Santa Rosa Gold Mine in Panama Company Press Release Monday, September 19, 2011 SPARKS, Nevada -- Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 60 percent interest, with an option to buy an additional 20 percent interest, in the Santa Rosa gold mine in Panama, now owned by Silver Global S.A., a Panamanian corporation. Santa Rosa produced more than 100,000 ounces of gold from 1996 to 1998 before being closed in part to low gold prices, which are now more than five times higher. Golden Phoenix intends to acquire its initial 60 percent interest in Santa Rosa by acquiring 60 percent of the share capital of a recently created company under the name Golden Phoenix Panama S.A., formed to hold and operate the mine. Tom Klein, CEO of Golden Phoenix says: "The agreement establishes a solid framework from which we can advance Mina Santa Rosa to production-ready status." For Golden Phoenix's complete statement, please visit: http://goldenphoenix.us/press-release/golden-phoenix-signs-definitive-ac...

**RED ALERT**: Ann Barnhardt Says “GET THE HELL OUT. GET OUT OF ALL PAPER.” Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:09 PM PST by SGT: I just finished listening to the most gripping, honest and frightening interview that I've heard in years. With credit to James Puplava at FinancialSense.com, I'll share some of it with you here. It was with this shockingly candid letter to her clients and colleagues "The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse" that Ann Barnhardt closed down her commodity brokerage firm Barnhardt Capital Management two weeks ago. Citing what she calls the "unprecedented, unfathomable and completely and totally intolerable actions of the CFTC, SEC and the CME following the MF Global collapse", Barnhardt now lays it all out for those with the ears to hear. If Pastor Lindesy Williams many warnings about the dangers of holding paper assets hasn't done it for you, this will. Barnhardt pulls no punches referring to Jon Corzine as "one of these criminal Oligarchs". In this lucid, articulate and dramatic rant, Ann Barnhardt carefully outlines the now absolutley dire state of affairs in the United States: "You have to understand, people like Jon Corzine, these are evil, evil people. You have to stop thinking that these people are just misguided, or there's some sort of difference of opinion on economic theory. These people are nefariously trying to destroy everything in this country. It's called the Cloward-Piven strategy. Go in and destory and collapse the entire economy, everything. And then re-build a new Marxist Socialist Fascist State out of the burning rubble of this destruction. This is not a function of incompetence. It's a function of malice of forethought and conscientious theft and destruction." At 25 minutes into this exceptional interview, acting as an honorable Watchman at the Tower warning her fellow Americans, Barnhardt warns: "Get the hell out. Get out of all paper… This is going to cascade through everything. It's going to get into the equities, it's going to get into 401K's and IRA's, it's going to get into pension plans. Total systematic collapse. Get out. I don't know how I can be any more plain about this." Listen to this "Interview of The Year" Now @ FinancialSense.com

Ann Barnhardt: The Entire Futures/Options Market Has Been Destroyed by the MF Global Collapse Posted: 01 Dec 2011 12:18 PM PST She's worse than I am at not holding back anything! LINK TO AUDIO Jim is joined by Ann Barnhardt, who recently closed her commodity brokerage firmBarnhardt Capital Management after the MF Global collapse. She believes that her client monies were no longer safe in the futures and options markets, and that the entire system has [...]

U.S. Says Americans Are MILITARY Targets in the War on Terror … And that the Prez Alone Can Decide Who Is a Target Posted: 01 Dec 2011 12:13 PM PST As everyone realizes by now, Congress' push for indefinite detention includes American citizens on American soil. As Huffington post notes: The debate also has left many Americans scratching their heads as to whether Congress is actually attempting to authorize the indefinite detention of Americans by the military without charges. But proponents -- led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- say that is exactly what the war on terror requires. They argued that the bill simply codifies precedents set by the Supreme Court and removes uncertainty, which they said would better protect the country. Here is John McCain justifying sending Americans to Guantanamo: And see this.   (As Emptywheel and Gleen Greenwald note, the White House has believed for many years that it possessed the power to indefinitely detain Americans. See this, this, this and this.) But that's not all. The government can also kill American citizens. For more than a year and a half, the Obama administration has said it could target American citizens for assassination without any trial or due process. But now, as shown by the debates surrounding indefinite detention, the government is saying that America itself is a battlefield. AP notes today: U.S. citizens are legitimate military targets when they take up arms with al-Qaida, top national security lawyers in the Obama administration said Thursday. *** The government lawyers, CIA counsel Stephen Preston and Pentagon counsel Jeh Johnson ... said U.S. citizens do not have immunity when they are at war with the United States. Johnson said only the executive branch, not the courts, is equipped to make military battlefield targeting decisions about who qualifies as an enemy. The courts in habeas cases, such as those involving whether a detainee should be released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, make the determination of who can be considered an enemy combatant. You might assume - in a vacuum - that this might be okay (even though it trashes the Constitution, the separation of military and police actions, and the division between internal and external affairs). But it is dangerous in a climate where you can be labeled as or suspected of being a terrorist simply for questioning war, protesting anything, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold, or stocking up on more than 7 days of food. And see this. And it is problematic in a period in which FBI agents and CIA intelligence officials, constitutional law expert professor Jonathan Turley, Time Magazine, Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post have all said that U.S. government officials "were trying to create an atmosphere of fear in which the American people would give them more power", and even former Secretary of Homeland Security – Tom Ridge – admitst hat he was pressured to raise terror alerts to help Bush win reelection. And it is counter-productive in an age when the government - instead of doing the things which could actually make us safer - are doing things which increase the risk of terrorism. And it is insane in a time of perpetual war. See this, this, this and this. And when the "War on Terror" in the Middle East and North Africa which is being used to justify the attack on Americans was planned long before 9/11. And when Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser told the Senate in 2007 that the war on terror is "a mythical historical narrative". And 9/11 was entirely foreseeable, but wasn't stopped. Indeed, no one in Washington even wants to hear how 9/11 happened, even though that is necessary to stop future terrorist attacks. And the military has bombed a bunch of oil-rich countries when it could have instead taken out Bin Laden years ago. As I noted in March: The government's indefinite detention policy – stripped of it's spin – is literally insane, and based on circular reasoning. Stripped of p.r., this is the actual policy: If you are an enemy combatant or a threat to national security, we will detain you indefinitely until the war is over It is a perpetual war, which will never be over Neither you or your lawyers have a right to see the evidence against you, nor to face your accusers But trust us, we know you are an enemy combatant and a threat to national security We may torture you (and try to cover up the fact that you were tortured), because you are an enemy combatant, and so basic rights of a prisoner guaranteed by the Geneva Convention don't apply to you Since you admitted that you're a bad guy (while trying to tell us whatever you think we want to hear to make the torture stop), it proves that we should hold you in indefinite detention See how that works? And - given that U.S. soldiers admit that if they accidentally kill innocent Iraqis and Afghanis, they then "drop" automatic weapons near their body so they can pretend they were militants - it is unlikely that the government would ever admit that an American citizen it assassinated was an innocent civilian who has nothing at all to do with terrorism.

The $12 Billion Tax Increase Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:20 AM PST December 1, 2011 [LIST] [*]Online sales taxes, almost a reality now... ironically, thanks to the biggest online retailer [*]Lousy jobs number + good manufacturing number = stocks drifting after yesterday’s Fed-induced rush [*]Charting failure: How to profit when the “expert consensus” blows its forecasts again and again [*]Frank Holmes with powerful evidence that high gold prices aren’t dissuading buyers [*]The real story behind the fight over the payroll tax cut... claims of extraterrestrial intervention in the gold market... reader inquiries about “The 5 Minute Income BOOST”... and more! [/LIST] Here comes the biggest thing yet in our ongoing chronicle of “new taxes and weird fees”: It’s looking a lot more likely this morning that you’ll soon have to pay sales tax when you buy something online. And the irony is that the biggest online retailer — someone you’d think would put up fierce res...

Bank of Korea purchases Gold Posted: 01 Dec 2011 10:12 AM PST [url]http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/[/url] [url]http://www.fortwealth.com/[/url] Dow Jones is reporting that the Bank of Korea has announced that it has increased the amount of gold in its reserves for the second time this year. The report states that they purchased 15 tons in several batches last month. The last purchase was back in June for a total of 25 tons. It now has 54.4 tons in reserve. Even with the purchases this year, it still has only 1% of its total foreign exchange reserves in gold. The former amount was a mere 0.7%. We do not know the actual price at which these purchases were made but there is no doubt in my mind that they occured on forays down into the zone near the $1600 level. This level has seen strong buying by assorted Central Banks for some time now and I see nothing that would cause this to change anytime soon. The fact is that many of the banks that have been accumulating gold are doing so to both diversify their reserves and to provide confiden...

Putting a Gleam in Your IRA Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:24 AM PST You likely have seen invitations to open a "Gold IRA" or something with a similar name. Perhaps you should, but before you do, think about why an Individual Retirement Account might or might not be a good place to hold gold. Read More...

IG Hangover As HY and TSYs Underperform On A Slow Equity Day Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:14 AM PST An oddly calm day at the headline equity market level hid some relatively interesting moves under the covers. With ES practically unch from last night's close and this morning's day session open having traded in a narrow range amid 'average' volume, credit markets were more volatile with investment grade credit spreads outperforming and HYG (the high yield ETF) significantly diverging from high yield spreads, which underperformed today. The unusually high IG volatility today suggests hangover short-covering and gamma (option-related) pain remained. Equities remain rich in CONTEXT to global risk assets but both were stable today with modest downward pressure in stocks and upward pressure in risk. Of the main risk drivers, TSYs (dramatic underperformance) and commodities were the more volatile drivers while the relative stability of FX carry helped hold ES flat. Copper ended the day worst as Oil, Silver, and Copper grouped themselves around the modest move in the USD today, with Silver well off overnight highs and Oil well off lunchtime lows (just above $100 at the close). Traders appear to be working through the reality of yesterday's news and market action (especially on credit desks) and are waiting for NFP to re-risk as implied correlation once again suggested equity index protection was modestly bid - even as VIX stabilized from gap-down opens. IG credit outperformed as remnants of short-covering and option-hedging issues hungover it. HYG also outperformed - notably away from HYG. See below for a deeper-dive into the HYG-HY-Index relationships and a discussion of somewhat arcane but relevant details in this market. ES (the S&P 500 e-mini futures contract) stayed relatively rich in the CONTEXT of pre-bailout global risk-assets (see chart below), but held relatively stable in the new regime (calibrated to post bailout micro-structure) which can be seen here as it converged into the close. [note: CONTEXT is an indicator based on a broad basket of global risk assets designed to provide a quick-and-dirty perspective on where equities trade relative to risk appetite in general] FX was relatively flat with AUD underperforming relative to USD and CAD outperforming as most of the other majors were flat on the day. Commodities were probably the most volatile instruments of the day with decent swings in Silver and Oil and Copper disappointing. TSYs were also volatile, saw selling pressure most of the day (repatriation again?) and notable steepening in the whole curve. 2s10s30s rose notably early on but dropped back a little into the close. The cancelled POMO may have upset some today but TSYs were definitely a busier market than most today with 30Y now some 17bps higher in yield on the week.   All-in-all, today was dominated by getting-a-handle-on-exposures in our view but the TSY performance is most notable/worrisome as is the HY-HYG divergence and credit market reactions today with net-buying in corporate bonds - with only the 1-3Y segment seeing net-selling. A few have requested some more color on the verbiage and goings-on in the credit markets - we hope the following helps a little...   HY and IG Credit Market Technicals (Supply/Demand Flow) Thoughts   Since Friday, the HY credit derivative index (HY17) has swung violently from trading at a considerable discount (much wider spread) to its intrinsic value (the value of the index if you created it manually via the underlying 100 (or less) names). The discount reflected a demand for more liquid macro protection (as well as an 'easier' short) - its easier to buy (scramble for) index protection than spend the time to pick and choose each name and hedge/sell. Furthermore, for positioning, its much more liquid than the underlying names and easier to trade in size. [Note - the index and its underlyings, unlike in the case of the S&P 500 index components and SPY for example, are not 'easily' arb'd in real-time and different supply-demand technicals will impact each side (and allow insight into what is going on).]   The point being that the collapse in the skew (the spread between Index and Intrinsic) has been significant and now stands at a premium. The underlying names infer that HY17 (the index) should trade wider than it does for the first time in over a month and starting to get close to levels at which arbitrageurs may find value (and buy it back). We suspect that is what was occurring today as HY dramatically diverged from HYG in the afternoon (and underperformed intrinsics).   HYG (the high yield bond ETF) underperformed broad markets and HY credit today. While there is plenty of chatter about shorts covering and being squeezed out - which makes perfect sense - we note that HYG's short interest has fallen for over a month and it closed last night at a significant premium to NAV (swinging back from a major discount last week).     On the other hand, IG17 (the investment grade credit index) trades at a premium (tight spread) to its fair-value but notably has dropped to its richest to intrinsics in almost two months here - a huge 10bps (on an index that trades around 130bps). This suggests a huge short-covering squeeze yesterday that carried over into today. We would expect index arb traders (who profit from this differential) to swoop in soon at these near-record levels which will pressure the index wider.   A further reason for the relatively large jump and richness in IG is the sell-side has been vociferously pushing traders to buy option overlays. The 'puts' they buy make some sense obviously, but in an environment where markets are gapping wildly, the management of the delta hedge to keep the overlay 'neutral' becomes very painful leading to selling into downturns and buying into upswings exaggerating moves against your position - so called 'Gamma'.   The point here being (of this long-winded hopefully educational diatribe), there are a lot of painful technicals impacting the credit market currently that make comparisons very hard and we worry that this will reduce liquidity and further reduce market efficiency. It was evident today, in our humble opinion, that traders were very much sitting on their hands (or getting flat) in all markets as opposed to chasing new risk positions aggressively. Another unintended consequence of the ongoing intervention is smaller trade size, smaller risk budgets, and reduced liquidity - whether bullish or bearish, this does not help the engine of what is supposed to be a recovery - credit creation.

Is Gold Price Parabolic Blow Off Long Due? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:45 AM PST The last three major bull markets of the Dow have been followed by a bull market in gold. This is no coincidence, since these massive bull markets have been mostly driven by the huge expansion of the money supply. When this expansion of credit is exhausted, the confidence in all things (like stocks) inflated by this expansion of credit fails, causing a massive rush to gold.

It was three short years ago that the small former British colony of Zimbabwe was spewing forth 100 trillion dollar bills. Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:16 AM PST Zimbabwe Bashes US Dollar, Alligns With Yuan

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - The Pause That Refreshes? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:06 AM PST This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Anticipating a Correction in the Global Monetary System Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:02 AM PST Bill Bonner View the original article. December 01, 2011 12:03 PM Whoa! The Dow rose almost 500 points yesterday. Whoopee! Hallelujah! It was like the Second Coming on Wall Street. As if He walked across the East River…and announced it Himself: "The fix is in." But it was not the sacred that spoke yesterday. It was the profane. The world's central banks, to be precise. They got together. More like a meeting of mobsters than a gathering of the gods. They made it clear. You want money? You want cash? You want something you can take to the bank? Well, you've got it! "A move by the world's central banks to lower the cost of borrowing exhilarated investors Wednesday," the Associated Press reports, "sending the Dow Jones industrial average soaring 490 points and easing fears of a global credit crisis similar to the one that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers." It was the Dow's biggest gain since March 2009. Large US banks were among the top performers, jumping as muc...

Gold 61.8% Retracement Acting as Resistance Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:02 AM PST courtesy of DailyFX.com December 01, 2011 09:01 AM 300 Minute Bars Prepared by Jamie Saettele, CMT The 3 wave rally from the September low is viewed as a correction of the decline from the record high and should be completely retraced. Gold briefly traded under channel support and the former 1681 pivot low from late October before rebounding. A look at the long term picture reveals that gold remains above long term trendlines but some of those lines are well below the current level. Even a test of the trendline that has defined price since the summer 2010 lows would result in a test of the mid 1500s (52 week average in the vicinity). A drop similar in amplitude to the one that occurred in September would reach the low 1400s. Latest Video Other TA Articles...

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