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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Gold World News Flash

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Gold World News Flash


America's AAA Rating Could Collapse

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 11:30 PM PDT

America's hold on a AAA rating will collapse next year unless Washington takes measures to rein in the government's debt, Moody's has warned.

by Richard Blackden, The Telegraph:

The credit rating agency delivered a stark warning that it will follow its rival, Standard & Poor's, and strip the US of its top rating unless Republicans and Democrats reach an agreement that has proved beyond them over the last four years.

The ratio of America's debt compared to the size of its economy will balloon to 73pc by the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has forecast. The CBO has warned it could spiral to 90pc by 2022 and higher still after that unless spending is cut and the amount raised in taxes is increased. The ratio averaged about 40pc for most of the period after World War Two.

Many analysts believe that a mix of cuts to mandatory spending programmes, such as Medicare and Medicaid, will be required alongside a jump in tax revenues. However, President Barack Obama's first term has been marked by bitter disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over the issue.

Mr Obama's latest budget offered little in the way of reform of such programmes, while Congressional Republicans ruled out tax increases in their proposal.

Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk


Gold vs Bonds

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 11:11 PM PDT

Survive the Crisis


GUEST POST: I Enlisted in the Army Because of 9/11, Then I Woke Up

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 11:06 PM PDT

[Ed. Note: Our thanks to this SGTreport reader for allowing us to post his 9/11 awakening testimony.]

by Army4Ever,

I enlisted in the Army because of 9/11. Left my cushy job at a fortune 500 law firm to be a green-suiter. I will admit that when I watched the two towers collapse I thought how strange it was that both actually collapsed and in the same manner but I never suspected an inside job. Eleven years ago I didn't know about WTC7. During my first deployment a senior enlisted and I got into a conversation and he brought up the secret government subject and gave me a book. It was Bill Moyer's 'Secret Government – Constitution in Crisis'. He tells me that there is a handful of powerful people that actually run everything. Nothing more was discussed. At the time I was still very naive and uneducated with regards to real US and world history but I took it. It wasn't until April 2011 that I was reading a CNN article about a 9/11 widow that I noticed in the comments someone mentioned Architects & Engineers. The second I found out there was a third building and watched it collapse I knew it had all been a lie.

I went to my family with it. You know, the same ones that have always told you how smart, brave, resourceful blah blah you are. I got the giggle, "you can't be serious" response. It was a year later that my brother came around on his own. The look on his face was pure shock. He started siting all the facts and asking me questions like did I know this and that. Yea! I've been trying to tell you this shit for a year now. My parents still cover their ears and say stuff like "the TV says it's Muslims" and "we need more security to protect us." They just want the comfortable lies.

Almost a year ago our company got a new 1SG (First Sergeant). I didn't know it at the time but he had been in the Pentagon when it happened. He was always real personal with his troops and one day he told me something I will never forget. We got on to the subject of history politics etc and he knew my views. He said, "Staff Sergeant I want to tell you something I haven't talked about in years. I was in the Pentagon when it went down. What you have been told was a lie. There was no airliner. Something hit the building but it wasn't a plane. When I arrived to work that day there was something off. Certain people weren't behaving normally but that stuff gets dismissed around that place. The first explosions were inside the building. That was obvious just from the sound and it reaked of cordite. Then something hit the building but it was different. It made the walls shake and the sound traveled inward. When we made it to that section it looked like an arrow pierced a straight line through. Almost immediately someone started saying a plane hit the building. I thought he was full of shit because we couldn't find a single piece of luggage or body or anything. We were looking around for wounded when we were told to get out of the area because there was risk of collapse. About fifteen minutes later there were more pops and the outer walls collapsed. Later on some civilians came and asked us what happened. I told them what I told you. We were told that we must be mistaken. That's when they started telling us the official version and we needed to stick to that. I said bull shit that's not what happened. We were told to keep our mouths shut or we would have problems. We all knew the truth. There wasn't a soul in that building that doesn't know what really happened."

Pretty much the rest of the conversation was about what should be done and what can we do. It came down to this. Keep informing the public as best we can and prepare for what's next. A fight right now would fail and the media would paint us as government hating PTSD vets. Make no mistake boys and girls. Soldiers are aware and waking up. They have a shit storm brewing.
About five months ago I finally broke down in my commander's office. I started feeling like civilians were giving me dirty looks like somehow they were all awake and blaming me. I couldn't wear the uniform anymore and didn't re-up. They can keep my retirement, not like I was probably going to get it anyway. For anyone that still believes the official narrative you better get real and do it with haste because more evil is on the way. They wouldn't have gone through all this, knowing that people would eventually wake up, if they weren't playing for keeps. America's this soldier is forever on your side.


Financial alert: Germany's Constitutional Court decision either means a rapid Eurozone financial collapse, or inevitable hyperinflation

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 11:00 PM PDT

by Mike Adams, Natural News:

The financial collapse of the Eurozone may be upon us. This Wednesday, September 12, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany must decide whether it is legal for Germany to participate in the financial bailouts of other nations in the Eurozone.

The court has been inundated with tens of thousands of petitions (not just petition signers, but tens of thousands of individual petitions) demanding the court say NO to the bailouts and stop draining Germany's economy to rescue the failed debt spending of other nations.

If Germany votes NO, then Germany stops bailing out Greece, Spain and other nations on the brink of financial disaster. Sometime in the coming days, weeks or, in the best case, a few months, European nations start collapsing, complete with bank holidays, riots in the streets and almost certainly martial law.

Read More @ NaturalNews.com


Financial Crisis & The Bullish Case For Gold

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 10:30 PM PDT

from KingWorldNews:

The Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, believes the ongoing financial crisis remains very bullish for gold. Here is what Russell had to say: "The nation is approaching the 'fiscal cliff.' This is a negative for the market. On January 13, Congress will have to vote on whether to increase the national debt, which is now over $16 trillion and counting. Fiscal cliff and debt ceiling are both momentous decisions for Congress, problems that they'd rather not face.

The stock market also has its problems. Last week the Industrial Average closed above its May 1st peak — the Industrial move was not confirmed by the Transports. This leaves the stock market in limbo, and it leaves investors in a quandary."

Russell continues @ KingWorldNews.com


Big Banks Hide Risk Transforming Collateral for Traders

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 10:00 PM PDT

by The Doc, Silver Doctors:

Regulators require new capital requirements in an effort (far too little, too late) to protect the financial system from derivatives, and the TBTF banksters mark b***s*** to fantasy to meet the new capital requirements by allowing customers to swap junk bonds in return for qualifying collateral such as T-bonds.

Meanwhile, the CME has begun accepting accepting as collateral bonds rated merely 4 levels above junk as acceptable collateral for derivatives.
You just can't make this stuff up!
What do you expect when there hasn't been a single criminal charge filed against a real bankster in 15 years?

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of America Corp. are helping clients find an extra $2.6 trillion to back derivatives trades amid signs that a shortage of quality collateral will erode efforts to safeguard the financial system.

Read More @ Silver Doctors


Canadian Exports Collapse, Expect Plunge in GDP; China Factor; US Recession Factor

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 09:10 PM PDT

All major Canadian exports including energy, autos, agriculture, forest products and machinery-and-equipment collapsed in the latest report. Canadian analysts are shocked by the news. I sure am not. Read More...



Guest Post: De-Industrialisation And Male Jobs

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:47 PM PDT

Submitted by John Aziz of Azizonomics,

A whole lot of pundits are spending column inches trying to explain the cruel reality of the last forty years — stagnant wages for full-time male workers, and falling wages for men as a whole:

And there has been a huge outgrowth of men who aren't in the labour force. In 1954, 96 percent of American men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked. Today, that number is down to 80 percent. That's a humungous decrease.

The question is why.

Mainstream media pundits are suggesting that men are unsuited to the present economic landscape. The suggestion is that men have been bad at adapting to change, and that women have been good at adapting to change:

In The End of Men: And the Rise of Women, Hanna Rosin argues that changes in the world economy have dramatically shifted gender roles. Women have adapted more skillfully to the new socioeconomic landscape by doggedly pursuing self-improvement opportunities, rebranding as the economy requires it, and above all possessing the kind of 21st century work attributes — such as strong communication skills, collaborative leadership and flexibility — that are nudging out the brawny, stuck-in-amber guys. Rock steadiness, long a cherished masculine trait, turns out to be about as useful in our fleet-footed economy as a flint arrowhead. Life favors the adapters, and it turns out they're more likely to be women.

Now two things have very clearly changed for women — access to birth control, and the end of the traditional social compact where women did housework, and men did wage work. In regard to the vast majority of expanding occupations today — teaching, medical services, bureaucracy — women no longer are at a material disadvantage due to their (on average) smaller size and lesser strength.

Overall, this has meant proportionally less jobs for men, and proportionally more for women.

 

But it's not just that women have been advantaged. Men have been deeply disadvantaged. In sectors that due to physical characteristics men have traditionally been dominant in — manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, mining and heavy industry — there has been a vast decline in output-as-a-percentage-of-GDP, whereas in services — a sector in which men have not traditionally dominated — there has been a vast increase.

 

Yet it is not the case that there are less manufacturing jobs globally. As we mostly already know, this is a case of manufacturing and industry being exported overseas, most obviously to China. China manufactures, and America consumes. This is America's trade balance with China:

 

This is reflected in China's sectoral employment balance compared to Western nations, and the world at large:

 

So it's not at all the case that the United States is cutting back on industrial jobs because industry is less in demand. The United States still has plenty of demand for industry. America has cut back on industrial jobs because it has the ability to run huge trade deficits, through the dollar's role as global reserve currency, and shipped its manufacturing industry abroad. Other countries have required dollars for trade purposes, so have been more than happy to sell to the United States, making dollars and debt the United States' greatest exports.

Yet the present paradigm has severely damaged the prospects of young men, for whom a generation ago jobs in industry and manufacturing were once plentiful. Quantitative easing led to a jobs boom — in China, for Chinese industrial workers. That doesn't help the growing chunk of the male population in the United States who have been shut out of the job market by the rise of America's Chinese addiction.

And it seems unlikely that the industrial jobs are coming back any time soon. Although there are reasons why America may soon import less from China — rising energy and transport costs, rising Asian wage costs, and questions of the dollar's sole reserve currency status — there are plenty of places in Latin America with cheap and plentiful labour for America's corporate elite to set up factories. Even the manufacturing jobs that remain in America will be under threat from increased automation and robotics.

This implies that barring a miracle, joblessness and stagnant or falling real wages will continue to be a significant and worsening challenge for young Americans, and particularly men, in the coming years.


Both Italy & Sweden Bow to NWO Plans For a Cashless Society

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:30 PM PDT

by Patrick Henningsen, 21st Century Wire:

Another 9/11, and the elites' dream of a One World Order will move even closer to reality. Enter the cashless society, which is likely to sneak in through the back door of our credit-based culture much faster than people think.

This recent IBM TV spot promotes the use of RFID chips in order to "make checkout lines easier". Watch this latest creation from IBM – hoping to mold the future into a sexy, paranoid, (& hellish) Dystopia.

As Silver Doctors has reported, Italy Plans to Ban Any Cash Transactions Over 50 Euros.

You won't even be able to fill up your car without a credit or debit card in Italy beginning in 2013, as the Italian Council of Ministers has voted to increase the current capital controls banning the use of cash on transactions over €1,000, down to any transaction over €50!

As we stated when Italy first announced capital controls and caps on cash transactions several months ago, expect bans on cash transactions to be coming to a neighborhood near you in the next 2-3 years.

Read More @ 21st Century Wire.com


China And Russia Are Ruthlessly Cutting The Legs Out From Under The U.S. Dollar

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 08:11 PM PDT

from Investment Watch Blog:

The mainstream media in the United States is almost totally ignoring one of the most important trends in global economics. This trend is going to cause the value of the U.S. dollar to fall dramatically and it is going to cause the cost of living in the United States to go way up. Right now, the U.S. dollar is the primary reserve currency of the world. Even though that status has been chipped away at in recent years, U.S. dollars still make up more than 60 percent of all foreign currency reserves in the world. Most international trade (including the buying and selling of oil) is conducted in U.S. dollars, and this gives the United States a tremendous economic advantage. Since so much trade is done in dollars, there is a constant demand for more dollars all over the globe from countries that need them for trading purposes. So the Federal Reserve is able to flood our financial system with dollars without it causing a tremendous amount of inflation because the rest of the world ends up soaking up a lot of those dollars. But now that is changing. China and Russia have been spearheading a movement to shift away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade. At the moment, the shift is happening gradually, but at some point a tipping point will come (for example if Saudi Arabia were to declare that it will no longer take U.S. dollars for oil) and the entire global financial system is going to change. When that tipping point comes the global demand for U.S. dollars is going to absolutely plummet and nightmarish inflation will come to the United States. If such a scenario sounds far out to you, then you have not been paying attention. In fact, China and Russia have been working very hard to move us toward exactly such a scenario.

Read More @ Investmentwatchblog.com


Risks in paper silver & other paper investments

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 07:40 PM PDT

Paper gold and gold passbook scams

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 07:17 PM PDT

9:10p ET Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Gold and silver broker GoldSilver.com tonight publishes a fascinating review of the prospectuses of some Asian banks that offer "paper" gold funds and are pretty candid in acknowledging that investors aren't really buying gold at all. "With paper gold, you don't own gold," GoldSilver.com says. "In most cases you don't even own a promise to receive physical gold."

Indeed, "paper gold" is the mechanism by which central banks long have suppressed the gold price, as "paper gold" allows them to increase the purported gold supply to keep up with the growth in the world money supply without having to go through the trouble of actually mining any metal. Like central bank money, "paper gold" is potentially infinite.

The GoldSilver.com commentary is headlined "Paper Gold and Gold Passbook Scams" and it's posted here:

http://goldsilver.com/article/paper-gold-and-gold-passbook-scams/

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


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Prophecy Platinum Intercepts Best Pt+Pd+Au Grades Yet
at Wellgreen Project in Yukon Territory: 5.36 g/t

Company Press Release
Tuesday, September 11, 2012

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces more results of its 2012 drill program on the company's fully-owned Wellgreen platinum group metals, nickel, and copper project in southwestern Yukon Territory, Canada. Four surface holes and four underground holes all intercepted significant mineralized widths, ranging from 28.5 meters (WS12-201) and up to 459.5 metres (WS12-193). Highlights include WU12-540, which returned 8.9 metres of 5.36 grams per tonne platinum, palladium, and gold; 1.73 percent copper; and 1.01 percent nickel within 304.5 meters of 0.66 g/t platinum-palladium-gold, 0.20 percent copper, and 0.27 percent nickel.

The surface drill program started in June and has completed 16 holes (assays pending for 12 holes) with two rigs now on site. The surface program continues to progress at a steady pace.

Prophecy Chairman John Lee commented: "Wellgreen is a very large nickel, copper, and platinum group metals project with near-surface high-grade zones. High-grade intercepts will be incorporated into resource modeling and mine planning in the pre-feasibility study. We expect further positive drill results from Wellgreen shortly."

Wellgreen features a low 2.59-to-1 strip ratio, is situated at an altitude of 1,300 meters, and is only 15 kilometers from the two-lane paved Alaska Highway. Those factors significantly minimize the project's indirect costs.

For the complete company statement with full tabulation of the drilling results, please visit:

http://prophecyplat.com/news_2012_sep11_prophecy_platinum_drill_results....



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In Response To Japanese "Antagonism" Over Senkaku Islands, China Dispatches Two Patrol Ships

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:38 PM PDT

Yesterday, in a rather paradoxical development, the Japanese Cabinet formally announced that the government will purchase several disputed islands that China also claims — a move that Beijing said would bring "serious consequences." The issue at hand is that China and Taiwan also claim the islands, which are part of what Japan calls the Senkakus and China the Diaoyu group. It is paradoxical because the last thing Japan, and its statutory deflationary and demographic collapse needs right now is to "antagonize" the world's fastest growing economy, and its neighbor to the west with whom it had a rather violent give or take as recently as 1945. Japan spin was naive: Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura repeated that the islands are part of Japan's territory and should not cause any friction with other countries or regions. "We certainly do not wish the issue to affect our diplomatic relations with China and it is important to resolve any misunderstanding or miscommunication." Turns out quite a bit of friction was caused as a result, as well as a substantial amount of misunderstanding and miscommunication. As Globe and Mail reports, "China has dispatched two patrol ships to the East China Sea in a show of naval strength and antagonism toward Japan after Tokyo said it had purchased a group of disputed islands from their private owners. China's aggressive response ratcheted up tensions in a long-standing conflict between the two countries over claims to the territory."

It is now Japan's turn to explain just why China has it all wrong when it says Japan "stole" these islands from China, or else send a few patrol ships of its own, as the most unexpected rivalry suddenly escalates to much needed distraction levels. After all recall that none other than PM Noda promised two days ago to achieve 1% inflation in 1 year. For a country which has been mired in deflation for over 30 years, there may be just one way to achieve this goal, and it may just involve China in one capacity or another.

From G&M:

Japan's central government said it had purchased the islands for 2.05 billion yen ($26-million U.S.) from the Japanese family it recognizes as the owner. The acquisition was intended to calm China's concerns after the nationalist governor of Tokyo had proposed buying the Senkaku Islands and developing them.

 

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, said the purchase "cannot alter the fact the Japanese side stole the islands from China."

 

"If Japan insists on going its own way, it will bear all the serious consequences that follow," the ministry added.

 

Xinhua, China's state-run news agency and mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party, said the dispatching of ships by the China Marine Surveillance Agency was part of a broader plan to safeguard China's sovereignty over the islands.

 

The nationalist fervour whipped up by Xinhua and other state media over the contested territory comes as the Chinese Communist Party is preparing for a once-in a-decade leadership transition in November. The fact that Chinese President Hu Jintao's expected successor, Xi Jinping, has cancelled a series of diplomatic meetings and has not been seen in public for a week, has not been reported in the media in China. Regardless, some have questioned whether the Chinese government is engaging in "wag the dog" tactics and diverting attention from what now seems a wobbly leadership transition.

And since the foreplay between Israel and Iran is now entering its third year and everyone is bored out of their wits waiting for the inevitable strike to occur, perhaps it is only fitting that the next armed conflict will come, literally, out of the far left-field. Next, cue Hillary Clinton claiming that it was Syria's fault all along.

A brief history on the Senkaku conflict:

For those who need a refresh on the various geopolitical tensions in the far east, and relative military strenght, we present it again below.

 

Arms race brewing in Asia

Asian Navies vary broadly in size

China is gaining on US Navy

Americas forward deployed military

areas disputed in China, Japan, and Koreas

China's desruptive South China Sea

Areas disputed in China and India Mainland


Gold Biding Time Before Next Leg Higher

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT

courtesy of DailyFX.com September 11, 2012 03:58 PM Daily Bars Prepared by Jamie Saettele, CMT Gold is nearing the objective defined from its breakout in late August. To review, “The alternate gold count was confirmed today with the trade above 1640.80. Using the triangle measuring technique…objectives for gold are 1703.56 and 1754.26.” The former was reached and exceeded but the latter level is in line with the 1760 area, which served as a pivot in December 2011 and February 2012. Expect a reaction above 1750. LEVELS: 1705 1714 1723 1750 1761 1790...


The Gold Price Rose $3.10 to Close at $1,732.30 Silver Gave Back 6 Cents

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:48 PM PDT

Gold Price Close Today : 1,732.30
Change : 3.10 or 0.18%

Silver Price Close Today : 33.57
Change : -0.06 or -0.19%

Gold Silver Ratio Today : 51.50
Change : 0.19 or 0.37%

From 7 September through 16 September Franklin Sanders will be away for a family vacation and won't publish a daily commentary during that time, but will return on 17 September.

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

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com
1-888-218-9226
10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday

© 2012, 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. No, I don't.


Firm That Brought You Holo-Tupac Dies Less Than A Year After IPOing, Taking Millions In Taxpayer Subsidies With It

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:23 PM PDT

Most people know that during this year's Coachella festival, Tupac made a surprising appearance, if not in the flesh for obvious reasons, then in hologram form. What fewer people know is that the firm that created Holo-Tupac is special effects producer Digital Domain Media, which after years of failed attempts to do so, finally went public in November with Roth Capital as underwriter (there is now an Urban Dictionary definition for 'Rothed') at a price of $8.50 (well below the preliminary range of $10-12/share) and at a time when its burn rate was well above 50% of revenues, and which filed for bankruptcy hours ago. In other words, the company destroyed over $400 million in market cap in under 10 months. What is known by very few is that this is yet another public equity disaster of this administration: as filed in the bankruptcy Affidavit, "the Company has worked closely with State and local government authorities in Florida to execute economic stimulus contracts designed to create jobs and stimulate Florida's economy. As of the Petition Date, the Company had contracted to receive a total of approximately $135 million in such government stimulus financing, including $19.9 million in tax credits. This financing consists of cash grants, land grants, low-interest financing, and tax incentives." In other words, in addition to the government's remarkable track record in the alternative energy field, public equity is now in the digital movie studio subsidization business. End result: bankruptcy, of a publicly funded company, shortly after IPO and sadly the realization that US capital markets are now so broken that the combination of private and public funding can sustain a company for less than one year.

This is the stock chart of DDMG from IPO until today's bitter end (as a bonus we have also shown the chart of FB stock on the right axis):

But that's not the end of it.

Proving that the complete lifecycle of US corporations is now absolutely corrupt, not just the "birthing" segment, but the terminal one as well, is the attempt by private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners to steal the only asset worth any money, in a carbon copy replica of what Barclays did with the Lehman Brother North America brokerage, which it stole for pennies on the dollar in the post bankruptcy scramble to find any buyer. As Reuters reports: "On Tuesday, Digital Domain said it had agreed to sell its production business -- the bulk of the company -- for $15 million to private equity fund Searchlight Capital Partners. A one-day auction is planned on September 21 to solicit competing bids, as required by the bankruptcy code.... Digital Domain said it needed to finalize the sale quickly, through the one-day auction, or Hollywood studios would cancel work from the firm. However, a bankruptcy attorney said a 10-day sale schedule was "incredibly short" and may make it difficult to find bidders as well as leave creditors little time to review the process. "The question here is whether the need for the sale to occur within 10 days is a legal emergency, created for the benefit of the purchaser," said Kenneth Rosen of Lowenstein Sandler."

Needless to say, the only reason for the stalking horse auction scramble is precisely "for the benefit of the purchaser", and is to prevent any other interested parties from performing real due diligence, and uncovering the true value of the "production business" that is being auctioned off: an asset which has had the benefit of tens of millions in taxpayer-funded sunk costs (which among other things built the film's Florida state of the art studio) and which incidentally happens to be the bulk of the company, only stripped of all the liabilities, which comrpised of at least $215 million in debt.

Who is Searchlight:

Searchlight, which manages about $860 million, was founded in 2010 by senior partners from investment management firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Apollo Global Management LLC.

It's senior investment team:

Oliver Haarmann

Partner

 

Prior to co-founding Searchlight, Oliver was a Partner at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.L.P. ("KKR"), based in London. He helped build out KKR's European operations, oversaw the communications and media industry efforts and played a leading role in a number of successful investments. Before joining KKR, Oliver worked for various firms in the investment industry in the US and Europe. Oliver graduated from Brown University with a dual BA degree in History and International Relations, and completed his MBA at the Harvard Business School.

 

Erol E. Uzumeri

Partner

 

Prior to co-founding Searchlight, Erol led the global private equity business of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan ("OTPP"), where he oversaw a large investment portfolio and a team of investment professionals with offices in Toronto, London and New York. Erol oversaw, led or was involved with a number of OTPP's most significant direct investments in North America and Europe and led the establishment of several newly-formed private equity firms. Before joining OTPP, Erol worked at CVC International and Citigroup in London, New York and Toronto. Erol received a BASc in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, an MSc in Finance from London Business School and is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors

 

Eric L. Zinterhofer

Partner

 

Prior to co-founding Searchlight, Eric was co-head of the media and telecommunications investment platform at Apollo Management, L.P. ("Apollo"). He was a leader in Apollo's private equity/distressed debt-for-control effort and was involved in the initial hiring and building of its commodities investing platform. He played a key role at Apollo in initiating/leading investments in a range of cable, satellite, and wireless providers and operators in North America, Europe and India. Before joining Apollo, Eric held positions at Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan. Eric received a dual degree in Honors Economics and European History from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his MBA at Harvard Business School.

In other words, by acquiring the core of the firm in bankruptcy for a measly $15 million, the PE firm will acquire assets worth tens of times that amount (assets listed in the bankruptcy filing were $205 million), but more importantly the implicit benefit of extensive taxpayer funded "improvements" including (from the Affidavit below) not one, not two, but three stimulus packages in the course of 3 years:

Over the past two years, the Company has worked closely with State and local government authorities in Florida to execute economic stimulus contracts designed to create jobs and stimulate Florida's economy. As of the Petition Date, the Company had contracted to receive a total of approximately $135 million in such government stimulus financing, including $19.9 million in tax credits. This financing consists of cash grants, land grants, low-interest financing, and tax incentives. All of these incentives have been structured over a three- to five-year period, with portions of these grants to be funded as the Company meets target thresholds of business initiation, capital expenditures, and/or job creation.

 

The first stimulus package, signed in June 2009, provides for $20 million in cash grants from the State of Florida.

 

The second stimulus package was awarded to the Company by the City of Port St. Lucie, Florida in December 2009 and January 2010, and provides for: (i) an additional $10 million in cash grants; (ii) 15 acres of land appraised at $10.5 million; and (iii) $39.9 million in low-interest building and equipment lease financing. The Company used these incentives to construct its headquarters and state-of-the-art animated features film studio, Tradition Studios, in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

 

The third stimulus package, signed in November 2010 with the City of West Palm Beach, Florida Community Redevelopment Agency (the "Agency"), provides for: (i) grants of $10 million in cash; (ii) title to 2.4 acres of land appraised at $9.8 million; and (iii) $15 million in low-interest construction financing. These grants were designed to incentivize the Company to build DDI's educational campus at a site in the City of West Palm Beach. The cash  grant will be released as DDMG and DDI achieve various benchmarks, including commencement of construction, student enrollment targets, and other business progress targets. The deed on the granted property provides that it reverts to the Agency if certain conditions are not met or if construction of the site is not commenced by December 13, 2012. As of the Petition Date, the foregoing conditions have not been fulfilled, and  construction has not commenced nor has financing for such construction been identified.

All of the money above is now lost, despite hopes by the state it will get its money back:

"If the company is not able to meet its contractual obligations there are clawback provisions for the state to seek its money back," said Stuart Doyle, spokesman for Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership that was involved in negotiating the incentives for Digital Domain but later recommended against providing support to the company.

 

"We're looking at the company saying 'OK you're not going to meet these job requirements so we need to start talking about a repayment plan,'" Doyle said. "We would go aggressively after our investment."

Good luck Mr. Doyle. By the time the 363 Auction is complete, any possibility for recoupment will be long gone, as will be your political career once your electorate realizes how you have burned tens of millions in tax funding in a dead end venture.

We will leave the open question of whether Roth Capital misrepresented the facts of the business in the IPO prospectus to other, more litigiously inclined readers. We are confident that with a bankruptcy 10 months following the IPO this question will get its answer soon.

Our advice to any readers with $15 million burning a hole in their back pocket: forget the lengthy diligence process, and engage in a bidding war with Searchlight on the 21st. Worst case scenario - the salvage value of the assets in a liquidation will be orders of magnitude above the purchase price. How can they not be: after all public capital was "prudently" invested into this venture.

Full affidavit from the bankruptcy docket (case is 12-12568 in Delaware Bankruptcy Court).


Julian DW Phillips–Lifelong Gold Investor-Gold Confiscation Is Inevitable 11.Sept.12

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 04:15 PM PDT

www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com presents

Julian D.W. Phillips has been involved in the financial and precious metals markets his entire career. He's written an article on GoldForecaster.com in which he lays out the case why gold confiscation or exapropriation is inevitable. He believes that the current system will become so debt ridden and dire that a reversion back to gold will become inevitable. When this occurs he thinks that governments will refuse to allow gold to stay in the private hands. This will lead to another ownership prohibition. Government will take that gold and use it to shore up the new monetary system. Julian has got a way around it and we hope it works. Moreover, we hope that the failed confiscation scheme won't be tried again. But as the man once said, "When the legislature is in session, no man's life liberty or property is safe." So secure yours now.

Go to www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com for the latest info on the economy and precious metals markets.


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Monty Pelerin–The Welfare State Has Run Out Of Other People’s Money 11.Sept.12

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 04:14 PM PDT

www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com presents

As we all know, we're in hock for $100 trillion. There's no way to pay it off and way too many people are happy with the welfare state's seemingly inexhaustible supply of goodies. The government's promises exceed the country's total wealth by a large margin. A family of 4 owes $1.5 million in debt, and that's not even counting the state and local debt portion. Expanding the money supply has been the trusty tool of the leadership. But rising prices are inevitable, which is why gold and silver are the ultimate protection against this destructive course of action.

Go to www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com for the latest info on the economy and precious metals markets.


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Tyler Gallagher–It’s A Great Time To Be Selling Gold 10.Sept.12

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 04:10 PM PDT

www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com presents

The precious metals market has been in a funk for the past year. Gold and silver kept going lower, while staying in a narrow trading range. And then all of a sudden, they're going up again and business at bullion dealers such as Regal Assets is booming. And no wonder. QE to Infinity is soon to become the world's monetary policy. And this can only mean that fiat currencies will be losing their value faster than ever making gold and silver the indispensible wealth insurance policy. There is no other way to protect your wealth. Which is why if I were you, I'd be buying it now.

Go to www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com for the latest info on the economy and precious metals markets.


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Praying For An iBubble

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 03:16 PM PDT

September 11, 2012 [LIST] [*]The Apple stimulus? How the new iPhone is supposed to pull America out of its economic funk... and a couple of reasons it won't [*]Three charts that indicate (but do not predict) what the Fed will do on Thursday [*]As ugly as the AIG bailout was, Chris Mayer sees a compelling investment case... [*]"A floating abstraction": Busting a myth about gold and currencies [*]Anonymous (or someone) takes down Agora Financial, if only briefly... What's propped up stocks for 30 years... the hungry AMT prepares to capture more taxpayers in its greedy maw... and more! [/LIST] If the Fed can't save us this week, then it's up to the ghost of Steve Jobs. While the Fed makes its Next Big Announcement on Thursday, tomorrow Apple takes the wraps off the iPhone 5 -- an event that J.P. Morgan Chase's chief U.S. economist estimates could add measurably to GDP. The math is indisputable: Figure 8 million iPhone sales in the fin...


Gold Daily and Silver

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 03:08 PM PDT


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Yamada - Here Are The Key Levels To Watch On Gold & Silver

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 02:32 PM PDT

With gold trading above the $1,700 level and silver around $33, today King World News is pleased to share a piece of legendary technical analyst Louise Yamada's "Technical Perspectives" report. This information is not available to the public and we are grateful to Louise for sharing her incredible work with KWN readers globally.


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Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain With Stocks

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 02:20 PM PDT

Gold climbed $12.23 to $1737.83 by a little after 10AM EST before it drifted back lower into the close, but it still ended with a gain of 0.38%. Silver rose to as high as $33.819 before it also fell back off, but it still ended with a gain of 0.33%.


Richard Russell - Financial Crisis & The Bullish Case For Gold

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 01:35 PM PDT

The Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, believes the ongoing financial crisis remains very bullish for gold. Here is what Russell had to say: "The nation is approaching the 'fiscal cliff.' This is a negative for the market. On January 13, Congress will have to vote on whether to increase the national debt, which is now over $16 trillion and counting. Fiscal cliff and debt ceiling are both momentous decisions for Congress, problems that they'd rather not face."


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Buying Gold When Northern Rock Struck

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 01:01 PM PDT

Happy 5th birthday to the crisis! "I started shouting at the TV," says this BullionVault user...

read more


The Politics of Gold

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:56 PM PDT

As long as humans have had society, politics has played into economic interaction up and down the scale, from how one pays the butcher to international trade. In fact, it would be fair to say that politics plays as important a role ... Read More...



In The News Today

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:51 PM PDT

Dear CIGAs,

The consensus of the market today is that the Fed will introduce QE3, most say unlimited, tomorrow.

Commentators (talking heads) say markets have discounted whatever action takes place.

Let us see how accurate MSM is tomorrow. Not very, I imagine.

 

Jim Sinclair's Commentary

Translated, it says the dollar falls to

Continue reading In The News Today


Why Are The Silver Miners Outperforming?

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:25 PM PDT

We have seen major developments in the silver mining sector (SIL) which shows that the majors are hungry for the juniors.  Coeur D'Alene (CDE) has made some strategic investments in some juniors silver explorers in British Columbia and Mexico, Hecla (HL) made a bid for U.S. Silver and Silver Wheaton (SLW) has signed its first major royalty deal in years.  This signals that the smart money believes we are near a bottom and we may just be at the beginning of a major move in the junior silver miners.  The majors are hungry for new deposits in mining friendly jurisdictions.

Since Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech that sparked a risk on rally by indicating that the next round of QE was imminent, the silver miners (SIL) have outperformed gold (GLD), silver (SLV), copper (JJC), the gold miners (GDX) and the junior miners (GDXJ).


We have become interested in a previous silver producing mine right here in Nevada just about to break into all time highs.  Libery Silver (LBSV) has recently seen a major increase in accumulation and investment interest.  Liberty Silver (LBSV) is permitting and intends to be producing silver at its Trinity Project which was one of the largest silver mines in US history possibly within the next 18-24 months.  Trinity produced five million ounces of silver between 1987 and 1989 before Rio Tinto closed id down when silver prices went below $5.  Now the ballgame has changed as silver may be on its way to test new highs at $50.

The company is now preparing an updated NI 43-101 Resource Estimate and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).  Liberty is beginning permitting as it believes it could move very quickly into restarting production as it already has an existing open pit mine that was once in production.  Now silver is breaking above $30 and could move significantly higher over the near term possibly into new all time highs should QE3 be announced later this month.  The higher prices has brought a lot of investment interest into this project and makes this project a potential cash cow with huge leverage to the price of silver.

Liberty's Trinity Project is located in the same area as Coeur D'alene flagship Rochester silver mine, near Lovelock, Nevada.  The Rochester Silver Mine produced over 125 million ounces of silver and still has about 120 million in reserves.  This is an area of massive silver deposits and Liberty is sitting on a previously producing silver mine with the potential to expand this resource exponentially.  With the addition of the recent Hi Ho Property next door, there could potentially be a large amount of silver on the combined property that is located in a very friendly mining jurisdiction in Pershing County, Nevada.

Order my premium service covering nascent silver stocks by clicking here…

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Disclosure: Long LBSV


Gone Since March… the Gold Bull Market Is Officially Back

Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:18 PM PDT

By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud Tuesday, September 11, 2012 The bull market in gold is 100% back. Wait, how do we know? What does a bull market in gold look like? And even better… how much money can we make? Let me answer those questions for you today… From 2000 to 2011, gold was in an incredible bull market. But after rising for 11 straight years, gold peaked at around $1,800 an ounce in August 2011. It then fell to around $1,600. And for the last 11 months, gold has been downright boring, drifting around $1,600 an ounce. But that has changed… Two weeks ago, the Fed essentially told us that it's willing to print more money when needed. This causes the price of gold to rise… You see, when there are more dollars out there, and the same amount of gold, it takes more dollars to buy an ounce of gold. And gold is finally going up again! It's in an uptrend. The simplest, most common measure analysts use to gauge when an investment is in a new uptrend is the "200-...


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