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Thursday, September 27, 2012

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Why Regulators Should Halt Pristine And Our Thoughts On A Newer Better OTCBB

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:25 AM PDT

ByInfitialis:

Readers of our research should know that we are in the business of exposing alleged fraud or folly. Some of our targets present fantastic short opportunities, while others represent more of an altruistic crusade to eradicate blatant fraud from capital markets, specifically the OTCBB microcap market.

This report will be a mixture of both. The company we will be reporting on, Pristine Solutions (PRTN.OB) is an obvious short, given it now trades at a $220 million dollar valuation even though it has no revenues, no cash and negative shareholder equity. Most importantly the company has $90 million worth of undisclosed, free trading shares parked offshore that are being liquidated onto unsuspecting retail investors.

In addition to highlighting this obvious short opportunity, we will uncover the infrastructure that has allowed the repeat offenders behind PRTN to methodically extract $250 million or more annually from the US retail investor, since at least


Complete Story »

Silver May Prove A Better Bet Than Gold In Q4

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:21 AM PDT

Both gold and silver continued their winning seasonal ways in Q3, with the gold ETF rising 9.4% and the silver ETF increasing by an inspiring 23.3%. Both have handily outpaced the S&P 500 index, which has climbed a very respectable 5.8%.

But, will their winning ways continue in Q4?

Every quarter, the Seasonal Investor considers which baskets and stocks are likely to benefit from head and tailwinds. The following charts show how both the gold and silver ETFs have historically performed in Q4 by month.

This first chart shows GLD's average monthly returns versus the SPY since GLD's inception in 2005.

You can see that GLD typically takes a breather in relative return in the months of October and December. However, November has been a stellar month for market excess.

This next chart shows the average monthly returns for the GLD by month. While it may have a tendency to


Complete Story »

Ford: How The Deal With The Canadian Union Affects Your Investment

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:19 AM PDT

ByMathias Holmstrøm:

As followers of Ford (F) probably are aware of, Ford has been negotiating with the Canadian Auto Workers. The Canadian dollar has increased over the last couple of years against the US dollar, and Canadian wages are higher than in the US. As a result, Ford has tried to reduce the wages they pay to their Canadians workers


Complete Story »

5 Commodity ETFs With Active Options

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:18 AM PDT

By CommodityHQ:

By Stephen D. Simpson

Options are, and please pardon the obvious pun, an invaluable option when it comes to crafting trading and investment strategies. At the simplest level, options offer a relatively simple and straightforward form of leverage for investors who want more to pursue more aggressive strategies. Options can also be very useful in hedging risk, creating income from securities that do not otherwise pay dividends, and executing strategies that exploit mispricings tied to volatility, timing and other factors.

While there are a host of stocks with active (liquid) options contracts, and likewise many liquid index options, that's not always the case with options on ETFs. It's also very important to note that while index options are European-style, ETF options are American-style options. All of that said, here are some of the commodity-related ETFs with the most active options.

  1. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD): It is no surprise that the

Complete Story »

Gold will break previous highs in near term : Brien Lundin

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:13 AM PDT

South Africa Unrest To Impact Bullion Supply And Support Gold

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:50 AM PDT

By Mark O'Byrne:

Today's AM fix was USD 1,755.25, EUR 1,365.32, and GBP 1,084.16 per ounce.
Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,763.75, EUR 1,369.80 and GBP 1,089.07 per ounce.

Silver is trading at $34.10/oz, €26.62/oz and £21.13/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,647.00/oz, palladium at $632.40/oz and rhodium at $1,075/oz.

Gold fell $10.10 or 0.57% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,751.30. Silver hit a low of $33.32, but it recovered and rallied back finishing with a gain of 0.56%.

Gold inched up on Thursday but continued tension over the eurozone debt crisis has bolstered the dollar, weakened oil and is expected to limit bullion's gains.

Protests against government austerity are on the rise in Greece and Spain and have led to violence against police in Athens.

Downward pressure on oil is negative for gold. Higher oil prices, a sign of soaring inflation, sends investors to gold as a hedge to rising costs.


Complete Story »

Gold Stocks or Apple: Which for Your Portfolio?

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:35 AM PDT

In a battle between the largest gold exchange traded fund and the biggest tech stock, which investment would get your vote? Would you choose gold because of the macroeconomic factors supporting the rise of the precious metal?

The Euro, William Jennings Bryan, and Newly Constructive Thoughts on Metals

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:29 AM PDT

A few weeks back, Mario Draghi 'saved' the euro by pushing through a program of unlimited bond buying. Just this sort of extreme measure was required to convince investors the euro is not going away.

We know that Draghi's actions were effective, furthermore, based on not just the sharp drop in Spanish and Italian bond yields, but Germany's horrified reaction.

In order for the euro to truly be out of harm"s way, the confirmation of an aggressive printing press mandate – an emergency debt monetization measure – had to be implied. This is what Draghi achieved, causing Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann to mutter about "the devil's work."

But here's the thing. Draghi and the ECB (European Central Bank) can offer up printing press palliatives, but they cannot save the euro from democracy.

When austerity begets unrest, in other words, there is no central bank action that prevents protesters in gas masks from throwing firebombs at police…

The spirit of where we are now, vis a vis Greece and Spain, was communicated by labor leader Despoina Spanou: "This strike is only the beginning in our fight."

The beginning as in, nowhere close to the end of Europe's troubles…

Even if the ECB credibly communicates its intention to defend the euro at all costs — which it appears to have done — there is still the question of what bitter harvest periphery country austerity shall reap. Half the youth in Spain and Greece have no job and no future. Middle-aged Greeks and Spaniards, once comfortably middle class, are now pondering a rapid descent into poverty.

And all of this is blamed, rightly or wrongly, on harsh austerity policies enforced by 'outsiders', e.g. Brussels and Germany…

The outsider element is a highly combustible component because it feeds so aggressively into feelings of solidarity and nationalist pride. When the people are suffering and in major pain, as Greeks and Spaniards are now, the political response from would-be revolutionaries is made that much more potent via access to "us and them, good and evil" stump speech terms.

We the beleaguered citizenry are good… those who impose such chains are evil, etc…

In fact, as some others have observed, the fiscal chains of the euro are comparable to the chains of the gold standard roughly a century ago, in terms of forced monetary discipline fomenting intense pain and, ultimately, the threat of violent unrest.

To understand this connection, it is worthwhile to revisit the William Jennings Bryan speech of 1896. Consider the context, as provided by historymatters.gmu.edu:

The most famous speech in American political history was delivered by William Jennings Bryan on July 9, 1896, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The issue was whether to endorse the free coinage of silver at a ratio of silver to gold of 16 to 1. (This inflationary measure would have increased the amount of money in circulation and aided cash-poor and debt-burdened farmers.) After speeches on the subject by several U.S. Senators, Bryan rose to speak. The thirty-six-year-old former Congressman from Nebraska aspired to be the Democratic nominee for president, and he had been skillfully, but quietly, building support for himself among the delegates. His dramatic speaking style and rhetoric roused the crowd to a frenzy. The response, wrote one reporter, "came like one great burst of artillery." Men and women screamed and waved their hats and canes. "Some," wrote another reporter, "like demented things, divested themselves of their coats and flung them high in the air." The next day the convention nominated Bryan for President on the fifth ballot.

And here is the climactic takeaway from the speech itself:

You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.

My friends, we shall declare that this nation is able to legislate for its own people on every question without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth, and upon that issue we expect to carry every single state in the Union…

…If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

One can picture a modern-day Grecian or Iberian WJB, thundering to a roaring crowd: "You shall not press down upon the brow of Southern Europe this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of euros!"

Ugly Realizations

The dawning horror for slow-footed investors this week — via amplified chaos in Greece and Spain — is the following chain of realizations:

  • The eurozone crisis was not solved by Draghi's victory over the Bundesbank.
  • Indeed, the can was not even kicked down the road very far.
  • Even if the euro survives, severe recession / depression is in the cards.
  • Brussels and Germany will be blamed as austerity-imposing outsiders.
  • Populist backlash – the democracy threat – could bring severe consequences.

What next for the eurozone, then?

A Greek exit, announced out of nowhere – for that is the only way they could do it, to forestall capital flight – would invite immediate panic and chaos. While Spain is less likely to exit, PM Rajoy has shown a willingness to negotiate with a figurative gunbarrel pressed to his own temple.

A solution to Europe's democracy-fueled austerity problems, then, would likely involve something even bigger than an unlimited bond-buying bazooka… more along the lines of a fiscal intervention suitcase nuke.

And if Germany almost puked at the prospect of printing euros to buy sovereign paper, imagine their reaction to a suggestion of wading hip deep into Greek and Spanish government expenditures… paying out for salaries and welfare programs… blurring the line between fiscal and monetary policy beyond all discernible recognition.

One can picture the vein in Weidmann's forehead exploding.

What's more, there is talk that a Greek exit, aka 'Grexit', would be manageable. But who really knows for sure? There were also confident opinions that a Lehman failure would be manageable, and even desirable as a sign of market discipline. (Oops.)

Not to mention Spain, of course, remains a potentially bigger problem than Greece. Spain is too big for any serious talk of an exit. Besides, German banks have huge risk exposure to Spanish assets, the value of which would plummet on an auto-devaluation euro exit. Via WSJ:

As Europe races to restore confidence in Spain's finances and the euro, Germany has another reason for urgency in resolving the crisis: the health of its own banks.

German lenders have the highest exposure in Europe to Spain, at $139.9 billion, of which $45.9 billion alone is exposure to banks, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

…German banks have largely hedged or disposed of their holdings of Spanish government debt, but they remain heavily invested in Spanish financial institutions, commercial real estate and in other businesses hit by the crisis.

Spanish PM Rajoy knows all this, of course, which is why he is holding out on bailout acceptance as long as possible (as of this writing) in order to better control the terms.

Impact on the euro

How will this all impact the euro? At some point, we believe, conventional wisdom, re, the dollar and the euro, will take a frying pan to the face.

click to enlarge

The basic meme that has kept the euro strong and the dollar weak is hawks vs doves: Whereas Europe's central bankers are hawks, relatively speaking, the Fed holds the dove-of-doves crown and thus the dollar should be shorted.

This viewpoint is rather myopic, however – at least in our humble opinion – in respect to overlooking the fact that Europe is basically screwed whereas America is not. The US certainly has its own serious issues – looming fiscal cliff, persistent unemployment etc – but these pale in comparison to both 1) the dead-of-winter economic climate Europe faces and 2) the dilutive measures that must, MUST be taken vis a vis the euro and fiscal policy, not just monetary policy, if democratic populist backlash is to be kept from tearing the eurozone apart.

This severe craziness explains, in part, why we see a world where the short side is more appealing than the long side in the coming months. Stimulus measures and hail Mary policy actions are subject to the law of diminishing returns. And the true underlying problems plaguing Europe, China and the US are nowhere near solved, even as the big three's respective cans get kicked into a blind alley.

Constructive Thoughts on Metals

In light of the above, let us now take a moment to change our basic stance on the outlook for metals (both precious and base).

Prior to now our general macro stance on metals has been neutral to bearish. The idea that metals would simply hop a ride on the stimulative inflation train seemed too pat… too simplistic… like a piece of cheese left out in a mouse trap.When a trade connection is both highly obvious and highly popular, in other words, experience tells you to question it.

And we still retain a healthy amount of skepticism, as well expressed by this cartoon (hat tip Josh Brown):

To briefly expand on a "what if" metaphor we have used in the past (with inspiration credit to Hugh Hendry):

What if the amount of stimulus is actually far too little to make a dent in the huge deflationary forces engulfing the global economy? 

What if the destruction of trillions of dollars worth of credit, the evaporation of monetary velocity, and the looming dead weight of overcapacity writedowns stands to dwarf whatever piddling efforts the central banks have made (piddling relative to the magnitude of the problem)?

What if, in other words, the Fed's stimulative actions thus far, as a counter to deflationary realities, are the rough equivalent of throwing a mattress into a volcano?

 The "deflation before inflation" meme has always seemed logical to us, especially given the seemingly booby-trapped faith in a one-to-one correlation between money printing and inflation pressure driving metals prices up, even in the absence of wage inflation or general economic pick-up.

So, for the above reason, we have not been on the bullish metals train (precious or otherwise) for a good while. (With that said, we have not lost any money trying to fade metals either. Our positioning has netted out to more or less neutral / flat, with a handful of profitable short forays.)

Now, though, we are growing more constructive on the metals for the following reasons:

  • Price action in various base metals producers is curiously strong.
  • Central banks are showing a tendency to "pre-panic," i.e. skip ahead to emergency measures.
  • The seriousness of the China / Europe storylines points to one basic solution…
  • Print like hell!

To sum up, our distrust of overly simplistic memes — and the tendency of markets to confound popular opinion — has kept us more or less non-bullish on metals for most of 2012.

But now the big drivers are resolving in such a way as to perhaps say: "Yes Virginia, the printing press tidal wave is coming… and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it…"

Our shift in stance is further underscored by the increasing drumbeat for more printing press action, as expressed by respectable sources like Tim Duy, who writes the following in conclusion to his piece "Why I agonize about the zero lower bound:"

Lifting off the zero bound probably requires a high degree of cooperation between the fiscal and monetary authorities that may, gasp, require some outright monetization of government debt.  Such monetization is what Bernanke advocated for Japan, but this advice fell on deaf ears.  Because such cooperation is feared, it is essentially off the table.  For now.  But what I think will be the case is that instead of small amounts of cooperation now, we are setting the stage for large amounts in the future.  Debt reduction via inflation will come; the longer we wait, the more disruptive it will be.

Such thoughtful, careful, technocratic cooperation between monetary and fiscal authorities, however, is no where to be found.  In the US, Europe, and Japan, at best we have is monetary authorities trying to offset real and expected fiscal austerity.  That path, I fear, only leads us deeper into permanent zero bound territory.

Bottom Line:  2015 is too long to wait to emerge from the zero bound.  Policymakers need to make efforts to normalize the economic environment a priority.  That may require a level of fiscal and monetary cooperation that today seems to be unthinkable.  But if gets to the point where central banks are pulled kicking and screaming into such cooperation (the European Central Bank may be the first to explicitly monetize government spending; I suspect it will be the only way to keep Greece in the Euro and live up to Draghi's pledge that the Euro is permanent), then I think we will all wish we had engaged in such cooperation sooner than later.

Hmm. Well okay then. The smart and responsible lever-pullers (smart and responsible in the eyes of society anyway) are slowly coalescing on a Paul Krugman view — that "the big coordinated print" is all we've got left in terms of tools in the toolshed. Time to put away the monetary policy bazookas and bring out the fiscal policy suitcase nukes? Duy and others are increasingly moving the needle to "yes!"

If this is the prevailing view among academic intelligentsia and policy-setters proper, then yes, the "deflation then inflation" paradigm may be invalidated by an urgency-inspired policy end-run straight to the inflationary part… in which case various hard asset producers could once again prove excellent vehicles for medium-term investment and general bullish trades.

In all things, of course, we are nothing if not nimble… and if this general broad-brush thesis is right, we ain' seen nothin' yet in terms of where gold, silver, and potentially other hard assets could go. If the checkered flag is down, let the metals madness begin!

JS (jack@mercenarytrader.com)

p.s. Institutional allocator seeks talented traders and money managers. Potential allocation amount: $2 to $10 million. See if your track record qualifies...

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testing junk silver when buying privately

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:06 AM PDT

i have an opportunity to purchase some junk silver from a private seller. i understand there are various tests (flip test, "ding sound", scales, etc.). would anyone have any recommendations of a newbie could use that would give ae a pretty high chance of accuracy without buying a $1,000 device?

OIL HAS BOTTOMED

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:39 AM PDT

Oil has formed a swing and bounced off the 50% retracement I was looking at as a possible cycle low target. Gold, silver and stocks have clearly received the signal and are ready for the next leg up (which should mean the dollar cycle has topped and is ready for the next leg down).

Stocks may be locked in a runaway move which I discussed in last nights report in the premium newsletter.

 SMT premium newsletter. $10 one week trial.

Silver Turns It Around - Gold Options Expiration - Ted Butler

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Intermarket Explanation for Coming Gold Bubble

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 07:44 AM PDT

For a bull market to become a bubble, it needs to attract excess money flows from other asset classes. In other words, during a bubble, money flows from various asset classes into a single one.

South Africa Unrest To Affect Bullion Supply And Support Gold

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 07:36 AM PDT

gold.ie

San Diego Youth Speak about November 6

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 06:40 AM PDT

These young people from San Diego are not old enough to vote, but we certainly wish they were.  See if you agree. 

 
"Voices Without a Vote" is worthy of sharing widely. 

Nice going, young people of San Diego. 

Source: YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuCaWYvpVZg&feature=player_detailpage

South Africa Unrest to Affect Bullion Supply

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:17 AM PDT

Gold inched up on Thursday but continued tension over the euro-zone debt crisis has bolstered the dollar, weakened oil and is expected to limit bullions gains. Downward pressure on oil is negative for gold.

Two-Week Price Low 'Just What Gold Needed'

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:56 AM PDT

Wholesale-market prices to buy gold eased $5 in London on Thursday after an overnight rally to $1,760 per ounce. US crude oil rallied back above $90 per barrel. Silver prices held in a tight range above$34.00 per ounce.

Golden Cross Signals Gold & Silver Gains

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:18 AM PDT

In technical analysis, a Golden Cross is when a short term moving average crosses over a longer term moving average. Technically speaking, the Golden Cross is probably the most significant buy indicator, signaling analysts to initiate long positions.

Links 9/27/12

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:54 AM PDT

Sorry for the thinness of my own posts. I could give you yet another litany of woes, but I think that has gotten old. So let us leave it at I wish it were otherwise. And there has been a big uptick in reader donations in the last few weeks, and I am also behind on thank-yous, so please be patient!

Nazi-Acquired Buddha Statue Came From Space LiveScience (Lambert)

Scientists: No to Genetically Modified Crops, Yes to Paradigm Shift Common Dreams (Aquifer)

Rent-to-own PCs surreptitiously captured users' most intimate moments ars techica (Carol B)

Valve hardware hacker makes DIY see-through rocket engine ExtremeTech (Carol B)

Download, print, fire: gun rights initiative harnesses 3D technology Guardian (Aquifer). Ooh, literally a killer app.

Mid-plate earthquake a product of tension between India, Australia ars techica (Carol B)

Honey Boo Boo: Dwarf Tossing for the Reality Show Age Helaine Olen, Forbes

Euro Can Bear Fewer Members as Czech Leader Calls Greeks Victims Bloomberg

Spain's crisis flares again as AAA club scuppers bank rescue deal Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph

Remember That Spanish Cop Who Got Dropkicked? This Crystal Clear Video Is Way More Intense Clusterstock

Europe gets that crisis feeling again Financial Times. OK, three weeks ago pretty much everyone was hailing Draghi as having fixed the crisis for good, or at least buying a lot of breathing room, depending on what the commentator's take on the ability of Eurocrats to move towards putting a fiscal union and common bank regulatory apparatus in place. By contrast, we wrote:

So while Draghi may have achieved what many commentators see as a firm defense, what he has constructed is the economic equivalent of a Maginot line. While it could be an effective bulwark against financial market attacks, it remains vulnerable to political and legal outflanking.

Horrifying, Graphic Video of Iranian Leader Savagely Abusing Jews George Washington

Condemning ourselves to the Eureopean doom loop MacroBusiness

South African Platinum Miners Win Pay Raise Real News Network (Aquifer)

Ralph Nader: President Obama's a 'war criminal' Politico (Jim Haywood)

This Presidential Race Should Never Have Been This Close Matt Taibbi

Wall Street Places Its Election Bets Harpers (Lee S)

Paul Ryan vs. The Stench Politico (furzy mouse)

These Folks are Soooo Clever . . . New Economic Perspectives

Fed action triggers fear of new currency wars Financial Times. Ahem, this comes days after what Ambrose Evans Pritchard called Japan's QE8.

Bill would place parks at the whim of pols Philly.com (Lambert). The new enclosure movement.

Labor Income Dropped Off the Cliff Starting in 2000 Dave Dayen, Firedoglake (Carol B)

Deploying Shock Troops Against Blog Posts Barry Ritholtz

Quadrillion Dollar Derivatives Market 20 Times Global GDP Real News Network. The problem with focusing on the notional is the numbers are completely nuts. What is a bigger tell is even the economic exposure #s are so large that (as we've discussed) there is not enough impeccable collateral around for counterparties. And that's been a problem for quite a while. Why the authorities sit on their hands on this is beyond me.

Beyond Wall St., Curbs on High-Speed Trades Proceed New York Times (furzy mouse)

Venture firms see signs of rebirth in life sciences Reuters (Aquifer). The difference between biotech and high tech is how long it takes you to find out you've lost all your money.

Fix a Bond, Build a Bridge, Help Taxpayers and Investors Bloomberg

THE LIE FACTORY New Yorker (Lee S)

* * *

lambert here:

Mission elapsed time: T + 20 and counting*

Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex. — Frank Zappa

AZ. Tucson: "[Progressive Democrats of America] Tucson has sponsored or partnered with others to support public events related to the People's Budget 1,2,3 (as opposed to the military-industrial complex's budget), union busting, single payer healthcare, public banking, open primaries, clean elections and the end of Citizens' United, job creation by promoting local business, the Robin Hood Tax, corporate personhood, the Occupy movement, immigration reform and the end of SB1070, and other Main Street issues." Single payer — instead of the so-called "public option," a roach motel for progressive energy — is always a good litmus test for seriousness.

CA. Municipal bankruptcy: "Atwater's City Council is set to vote Oct. 3 on a fiscal emergency declaration that would permit it to follow other California cities — Stockton, San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes — into bankruptcy court. The median household income in 2010 was $42,226, 19 percent below the national average of $51,914. The median household income in 2010 was $42,226, 19 percent below the national average of $51,914. Unemployment surged to 21 percent." But no bailouts for Atwater!

FL. Voting: "The R Party of FL is dumping [Strategic Allied Consultants of Glen Allen, VA after Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher flagged 106 'questionable' registration applications turned in by the contractor this month. Bucher asked the state attorney's office to review the applications because she said her staff had questions about similar-looking signatures, missing information and wrong addresses on the forms." … Foreclosures: "Florida saw a 26 percent increase in foreclosure filings last month compared with August 2011, as banks now past the robosigning crisis have begun to file early stage foreclosure again." … Voting: "The 73-year-old Caragan, who moved to the United States in 1970 from the Philippines, said when she was living in Norfolk, Va. more than 35 years ago, she renewed her driver's license and registered to vote at the same time, without realizing it was illegal. 'Of course we're going to vote," [her husband] said. 'We both have voter registration cards.'" Tactically, the D apparatchik talking point that there were no documented instances of voter fraud (as opposed to election fraud) was always dumb, because in a country this size there will always be a few examples of literally anything.

GA. Tinpot tyrants: ""I was upset, so, I was like, you know, I told you that it was covered under food stamps, you know, so, there was no need for all of this, you know, and [the Kroger Manager] said, 'Well excuse me that I work for a living and don't rely on food stamps like you,' [Cindy] Nerger said. Nerger spends 12 hours on dialysis every day. She's been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for five years. She's the caregiver for the grandmother who raised her." Rule #1… 

IN. Fracking: "A billion-dollar nitrogen fertilizer facility is proposed for Spencer County. The new ammonia plant for OVR will be the first entirely new facility of its type to be constructed in America by a U.S.-based firm in more than a quarter-century. The project is made economically viable by a recent decrease in natural gas prices due to domestic shale gas development."

IL. Youth: "There are 138,000 fewer people signed up to vote in the 18-to-34-year-old group than [Chicago] ended up with four years ago, election officials said:"

MA. Corruption: "Federal indictments yesterday allege that city police officer P.J. Lopez made arrangements with a tow company to have cars he ticketed towed in exchange for a 'stream of benefits,' including a $4,000 snow plow." Second-world problem…

MI. Missing persons: "Police will be taking soil core samples at a home in Roseville on Friday in search of the remains of missing Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa."

MT. Public goods: "The Missoula City Council has been a testament to ['the Problem of Others'] lately, as they consider ways to address what Councilman Bob Jaffe called the 'hundred-year-old problem' of owners having to pay for sidewalks in front of their properties. Those sidewalks belong to the city, but Missoula law requires owners to pay for their installation and repair."

NY. Ladies of negotiable affection: "Anna Gristina today pleaded guilty to a single count of promoting prostitution in exchange for six months in prison. Prosecutor Linehan told [the Judge] they were unable to find any evidence to substantiate Gristina's claims that she had protection from law enforcement [incroyable!]. Her plea deprives New York of a trial offering a rare glimpse into what the DA's Office described as a multimillion-dollar prostitution ring catering to some of the richest men in the world." And we had such expectations…. 

PA. Fracking: "Analy­sis from a Penn State researcher shows nat­ural gas drilling has gen­er­ated more than $160 mil­lion in roy­al­ties for landown­ers in Brad­ford County alone. Of course, the roy­al­ties slow down when drilling slows down, and Bradford's extrac­tion rate have dipped as nat­ural gas prices have plum­meted. 'As gas prices were head­ing toward a 10-year low in April, Chesa­peake began rein­ter­pret­ing in its favor thou­sands of con­tracts [Bloomberg]'." … Fracking: "Sunoco Inc and private equity firm Carlyle Group LP reached a deal to save and expand [Philadelphia Energy Solutions] the largest U.S. East Coast refinery, capitalizing on the nation's shale boom. Sunoco will retain a minority stake and Carlyle will be in charge of daily operations. Traders for Wall Street titan JPMorgan Chase & Co will handle crude supplies and fuel sales" (PT) Carlyle Group, eh? Too bad that Iraq play didn't work out so well. But now that Jippy Mo is involved, what could go wrong? … Fracking: "Sunoco announced Wednesday that its shuttered Marcus Hook refinery will be reborn as a facility to process Marcellus Shale natural-gas products, fueling new construction and new traffic through the Delaware River port" (PT). (This is a second Philly refinery.) … Fracking: "Range Resources, based in Fort Worth, TX, says in the release Wednesday that it has signed a 15-year agreement with Sunoco Logistics Partners, L.P. to ship propane and ethane to the former Marcus Hook refinery site, starting in late 2014." … Fracking: "A tanker carrying 4,600 gallons of fracking wastewater has spilled its load near a storm drain that empties into Pine Creek, a popular fishing spot in Lycoming County." … Voting: "It's all about the money. Forget the arguments about voter suppression, this is all about forcing D candidates and the D Party to spend money and time on making sure people have ID" [slaps forehead].

TX. Handmaid's Tale: "As a result of the funding cuts, 53 out of 240 clinics that have received public funding to provide family planning have closed, and 38 have reduced service hours, according to the report. In addition, the report states, many clinics are now charging for services that were previously free, raising prices for other services and restricting access to more effective methods of contraception that are more expensive."

VA. Police state: "Delma Towler [(83)] dialed 911 to report a burglary but when police arrived, one officer killed her outside her home in Altavista." This keeps happening: NC 2012-0925; NC 08-18-2012; 

WA. Curation: "Seattle artist Hjylimar Hinn has now made 20 "braille docents" for King Tut. Visitors who don't see can instead run their fingers over the 'maps,' gaining a different sort of understanding."

WI. Mining: "Stephen Donohue, of the Wisconsin Mining Association, said the state doesn't need to relax environmental standards to draw in mining investment However, vague and difficult to interpret regulations need to go including the so-called 'moratorium' on issuing permits for mining sulfide ore bodies and rules on storing waste rock tailings." That moratorium doesn't sound vague to me…

Fracking. NOTE: I've been filing tracking stories under individual states because there seemed to be few truly national stories. Now there are starting to be. … Water: "The industry reports we are working with only tell us what [volume of water] industry says it has used, and that only when they have filed a Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Product Component Information Disclosure. [I]n PA only 54 percent of wells had filed such a disclosure. There is a lack of complete data to work with because some states either do not require disclose, or they have not strictly enforced any such regulations." … Leaser's remorse: "47% of respondents in the 'new shale' states of PA and NY, who have rented out their land, said they wouldn't repeat the experience. Meanwhile, 48 per cent said they would advise family and friends against leasing their land for 'fracking', a process which blasts sand, chemicals and water into shale rocks to release the oil and gasthey contain." Money isn't everything.

Outside baseball. Bill Moyers: Submit questions for Live Chat October 1. … Education: "[In his CBS interview (here) Obama] lauded the idea of merit pay, paying teachers more if the test scores of their students go up (and firing them if they don't). No one has told him that it failed in Nashville in 2010, it failed in New York City in 2010, it failed in Chicago last year. Yet his administration has allocated $1 billion for more merit pay. Why doesn't someone tell him?" If only the Czar knew? … Education: "Someone needs to launch an investigation into what combination of crimes, dares, alcoholic binges and lapses in judgment got Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal into [Won't Back Down,] a set of right-wing anti-union talking points disguised (with very limited success) as a mainstream motion-picture-type product." …. Police state: "Yeah, I wanted to find out how to file a complaint against an officer. I just want to find out how you do it. Do you guys have a form or something that I could take with me" (video). … Fourth Amendment: "My own sense is that, given the Supreme Court's systematic gutting of the Fourth Amendment in recent decades, SCOTUS will probably say [in Missouri v. McNeely that] warrantless blood draws are constitutional." … More guns, please: "The US Constitution guaranteed white men, the only citizens at the time, the right to own guns so they could be drafted into slave patrols and militias to steal land from local natives." Original intent!

Robama vs. Obomney. Rove vs. Carville: "In an hour-long exchange [at the state Chamber of Business and Industry annual dinner] that drifted into both wonky disagreement and unintelligibly Cajun-accented verbal jousting, the top political aide to George W. Bush and Bill Clinton's chief political strategist had the crowd laughing repeatedly." So who was the joke on?

The trail. In the bag: Indicator. (Readers, more like this?) So, don't throw away your vote on a legacy party. Vote for an emergent party for better choices in 2016! … Polls: "Survey after survey of key swing states, including the two crucial contests in OH and FL, continue to show [Obama] pulling slowly but surely ahead of Romney. So much so, that Obama's campaign is apparently urging its staff to avoid overconfidence. 'If we have to issue horse blinders to everyone on our campaign staff, we will,' [the president's campaign press secretary, Jen Psaki] explained. … Swing state Keynesianism: "Putting a finer point on the matter, one longtime Ohio GOP strategist called Obama's advantage on the auto bailout 'a kick in the balls' for the Romney campaign."

Libertarian Party. Gary Johnson: "Jesse Ventura has made a campaign ad for Gary Johnson. Ventura asks viewers to telephone the Commission on Presidential Debates and request more inclusive invitations" (video).

Green Party. Jobs guarantee: "At its peak, the WPA employed over 3 million men and women who would've otherwise been jobless. The idea was that taxpayers should get something out of helping the unemployed. The Green Party's Stein has a similar suggestion, and comments: 'If you don't have work, you'd go to an employment office, not an unemployment office, and you'd get a job, not sit home, depressed, with a check.' (Aquifer). Strange times when Instapundit cites to FDR ("When I hike in the Smokies, it's often on trails that were built by the CCC — and of course [!!] we're still using many of the buildings and bridges that the WPA built. ") and The Greatest Orator Of Our Time can't mention FDR without immediately adding a Reagan-esque qualifier.

The Romney. Message, I care: "Campaigning in OH on Wednesday, Romney told NBC News that he understands Americans' lives and the challenges they face. In citing the MA health care law, he said, 'Don't forget, I got everybody in my state insured.' While Romney has vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare, he has not offered specifics for replacement legislation." First, health insurance isn't health care. Second, only Obama could turn passing RomneyCare into a winner, and only Romney could turn passing ObamaCare into a loser. … Message, I care: "[ROMNEY: I've been across the country. My heart aches for the people I've seen. There are so many people in our country that are hurting right now. I want to help them. I know what it takes to get an economy going again and creating jobs." On the principle of maximum tragedy, suppose that he does care, but doesn't know. Unlike Obama, who does know, and doesn't care. … Message, I care: "[ROMNEY: You can be extraordinarily eloquent and describe all the wonderful things you can do. But when you cut through the words, you can look at the record. And when you can see policies that have not created jobs America needs, then you know it's time to choose a new leader." Well, "then" seems a little iffy. … Point shaving: "[ROMNEY: Frankly at this early stage, polls go up, polls go down." As Goddard points out, the election is 41 days away. If Romney is really this clueless, how many other $250 squillionaires are just like him? Interesting thought. … Parsing: "Presidential elections are decided in the first-person plural and the second person. Anyone operating in the third person is in trouble." Good post. … Losing the political class: "When Roger Simon wrote in Politico Wednesday that Paul Ryan's new nickname for Mitt Romney is 'Stench,' a number of news outlets — from MSNBC to Mediaite — took it seriously." Well, I quoted the Nooners riff without comment. Granted, it's hard to tell what's satire and what's not, any more.

The Obama. OFA: "Anyways, Barry caught me at a particularly sensitive moment. I miss you guys and have him call me if you can…we just need to talk some stuff through. I hope the dinner goes well. Again, I don't think I'll be able to make it. I'm just not feeling ready yet." … Razor thin margin: "But when one of the candidates is Mitt Romney, the race shouldn't be close. You'll hear differently in the coming weeks from the news media, which will spend a lot of time scratching its figurative beard while it argues that a 54-46 split, or however this thing ends up (and they'll call anything above 53% for Obama a rout, I would guess), is evidence that the system is broken. But what we probably should be wondering is why it was ever close at all" (Matt Taibbi).

* Slogan of the day: Carry out The Obama's behests and carry the middle class incrementalist cause through to the end!

NOTE Hat tip for Zappa epigraph to RdG.

* * *

Antidote du jour:


Silver Update Austerity Riots 9.26.12

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:08 AM PDT

brotherjohnf: Silver Update 9/26/12 Austerity Riots
from brotherjohnf:

~TVR

Ron Hera: Gold Should Be Much Higher

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:05 AM PDT

Ron Hera is the founder of the Hera Research Report

(1) He discusses if gold should be much higher due to more money printing.
(2) He states why mining shares are lagging.
(3) Ron believes hyperinflation may occur 2017.

from altinvestorshangout:

~TVR

Gold and Silver Market morning, September 27 2012

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Strikes Halt 39% of South Africa's Gold Production

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:25 AM PDT

¤ Yesterday in Gold and Silver

The gold price, as per usual, didn't do much in either Far East or early London trading on Wednesday.  But shortly after 12 o'clock noon in London, the gold price began to head south...and at 1:00 p.m. BST...8:00 a.m. in New York...it began to take a real header.  There was a bit of piling on at the Comex open twenty minutes later...and gold hit its secondary low of the day about two minutes before 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

After that, gold gained back about ten bucks...and stayed higher until 10:45 a.m. when it got sold off to its absolute low of the day...$1,735.20 spot...in less than five minutes.  After that, it rallied slowly until the 1:30 p.m. Comex close...and then traded sideways into the 5:15 p.m. electronic close.  Gold had an intraday trading range of around thirty bucks.

Gold closed at $1,753.30 spot...down $7.30 from Tuesday's close.  Net volume was an eye-watering 202,000 contracts, give or take a few thousand...and about 25% more volume than Tuesday.  Most of that would have been of the high-frequency trading variety...although there were also lots of roll-overs out of the October delivery month as well.

Silver's price path was very similar to gold's...and shared almost all the same inflection points.  The only difference was that silver's low of the day came about one minute before 8:30 a.m. in New York...and not at 10:45 like gold's low price tick.

After the low was in, silver rallied strongly.  It's high of the day, like gold, came just a few minutes after the close of Comex trading...and it traded sideways from there into the 5:15 p.m. electronic close.

If one can believe the numbers posted over at Kitco, the high tick in silver was $34.17 spot...and the low price tick was $33.24 spot.  It was the second day in a row where silver had an intraday price move of just about a dollar.

Silver closed at $33.99 spot...up two bits on the day.  Net volume was 51,000 contracts, identical to Tuesday's volume.

Here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart on its own, so you can see how 'volatile' silver was on Wednesday.

The dollar index opened at 79.66...and then worked its way higher, with the high tick [79.98] coming at precisely 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.  From there, the index went into a slow decline...and closed the Wednesday session at 79.82...up a whole 16 basis points from Tuesday's close.

The index almost made it to the 80.00 mark...but failed rather impressively.  If there was any co-relation between what the currencies were doing yesterday...and what the precious metal prices were doing, I failed to see it.

Not surprisingly, the gold stocks gapped down at the open, hitting their nadir at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time.  Then, despite the fact that the gold price got smacked at 10:45 a.m...the stock began to rise...and were in positive territory around lunchtime in New York.

They were up over a percent at one point, but faded a bit into the close...and the HUI finished up 0.44%.

Most of the silver stocks finished in the plus column as well...and Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index closed up 0.57%.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 1 gold and 21 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Friday within the Comex-approved depositories...and the link to the Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.  That pretty much completes the deliveries for September, although there might be one or two more contracts in gold left to go.

GLD reported that an authorized participant withdrew a rather chunky 339,297 troy ounces of gold yesterday.  But SLV had 968,754 ounces of silver deposited.

There was no sales report from the U.S. Mint.

The Comex-approved depositories reported receiving 304,422 troy ounces of silver on Tuesday...and shipped out 342,906 ounces of the stuff.  The link to that activity is here.

Here's a paragraph I stole from silver analyst Ted Butler's Saturday commentary to his paying subscribers...

"The most important change is the change to come. I would define that change as the move by the super big investors into silver. When enough new pension and hedge and other institutional funds take the time to learn the actual silver story and invest accordingly, the silver rig jig will be up. Most amazing of all is that this hasn't occurred yet. After all, these mega investors are hungry and on the prowl for sound investment ideas in a world never providing enough new good ideas. Let's face it – these super sharp investors have missed the silver boat to date. It is highly unlikely that they will miss it forever. In my experience, talk precedes action. By that I mean there is usually some time spent studying and learning a new investment idea before strong actual investment occurs. I see the literal explosion of Internet talk of JPMorgan and the silver manipulation over the past year or so as the precursor for substantial silver investment flows. Up until now, it's been mostly talk that has not yet led to big investor silver demand. But it would be a mistake to assume that all the talk won't result in greater awareness of the actual silver story. Perhaps we can't do much to overpower JPMorgan at this point besides make the allegations; but at some point, enough sharp hedge funds will see the great vulnerability that JPMorgan has placed itself in and become excited about taking JPM on. This is particularly true when the hedge funds learn how simple it would be to beat JPM by just buying metal. That's how it works."

I have the usual number of stories for you today...and I hope you can find the time to wade through all of the ones that interest you.

The resolution of JPMorgan's super-concentrated short silver position remains to be seen...whether they ever speak up about it or not.
South Korea boosts gold reserves 30%; Russia, Turkey add holdings. BofA Makes The Case For $3,000 Gold. Eric Sprott on CNBC's Squawk Box. Silver Is Outshining Gold by a 2-to-1 Margin: Tom Lydon

¤ Critical Reads

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A Lost Decade for Savers

The 1990s were a lost decade for Japan. The 2000s delivered a lost decade to U.S. investors. Now, five years into the onset of the financial crisis, with stock and bond markets booming, housing resurgent, and even Detroit redeemed, it's savers who find themselves in a lost decade.

This runs counter to the lessons of the credit bubble. We were urged to spend less, save more, tell fewer lies on our mortgage applications. Problem is, the jumbo monetary response to that era's excesses—0 percent interest rates, followed by trillions in quantitative easing and a vow to keep rates this low until at least 2015—is bent on getting people and companies spending and investing (and out of cash) at pretty much any cost.

With the Fed having done everything in its power (and then some) to jackhammer down the Treasury curve, the average money-market fund yields 0.12 percent, which is bank boilerplate for nothing. A one-year CD offers 0.30 percent, and a 5-year certificate pays 1 percent. Your aforementioned 10 grand—no doubt dearer to you in this era of chronically high unemployment and uncertainty about retirement—huffs and puffs to produce a mere $100 in annual income. Back out taxes and inflation, and you're losing money in a bank account—however FDIC-insured it may be.

This article showed up on the businessweek.com Internet site yesterday...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for our first story of the day.  The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Fed Virtually Funding the Entire US Deficit: Lawrence Lindsey

The latest round of extraordinary Federal Reserve stimulus is risky and leaves little room to maneuver should another crisis hit, economist Lawrence Lindsey told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.

Lindsey said that with the Fed purchasing at least $40 billion a month in mortgage debt through QE3, "they are buying the entire deficit."

"I have no problem doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times," said Lindsey, a former White House economic advisor under former president George W. Bush who now runs his own consulting firm.

The story was posted on the cnbc.com website at lunchtime in New York yesterday...and I thank Washington state reader S.A. for sending it.  The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Argentina's Kirchner hits out at IMF threat

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner hit back at the IMF on Tuesday for warning her country about bad data, saying her nation would not be subjected to threats of any kind.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned Monday that Argentina faces a "red card" if it does not produce acceptable data on growth and inflation by December.

An animated Kirchner, speaking to the UN General Assembly, said: "My country is not a football pitch. It is a sovereign nation which makes sovereign decisions.

"As such it is not going to be submitted to any pressure, and much less to any threat," she said to cheers.

This AFP story was posted on the france24.com Internet site on Tuesday...and it's Roy Stephens first offering of the day.  The link is here.

View full GSD edition

RBS traders boasted of Libor 'cartel'

Senior traders at Royal Bank of Scotland boasted about operating a "cartel" that made "amazing" amounts of money by rigging interest rates, it has been disclosed.

Internal messages revealed in court documents apparently show how traders claimed they could manipulate Libor, which is used to set borrowing costs for millions of businesses, consumers and investors.

The messages, some sent just months before the taxpayer was forced to bail out RBS at a cost of more than £40bn, suggest the practice was condoned and encouraged by senior executives at the bank, and have now dragged the taxpayer-backed lender to the heart of the Libor scandal.

Tan Chi Min, a former senior trader at RBS's global banking and markets division in Singapore, has alleged that managers "condoned collusion" between staff to maximise profits by rigging Libor.

This story was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site very late last night BST.  I thank Donald Sinclair for sending it...and it's your first must read of the day as well.  The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Ex-Credit Suisse CDO Chief Serageldin Said to Be Arrested

Kareem Serageldin, the ex-global head of Credit Suisse Group AG CDO business charged in a bonus-boosting fraud tied to a $5.35 billion trading book, was arrested by London police as he was negotiating his surrender to U.S. authorities, a person familiar with the matter said.

Serageldin, a U.S. citizen who lives in England, was charged in February with masterminding a scheme to fake collateralized debt obligations. He was taken into custody yesterday outside the U.S. consulate, another person with knowledge of the matter said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because the arrest isn't public.

Serageldin, who couldn't be immediately reached for comment, may appear in court for a hearing on the U.S. extradition request as early as today, one of the people said. In February, when he was first charged in Manhattan federal court, Serageldin said through his lawyers that he was surprised since he had been cooperating with U.S. investigators for four years.

This item was posted on the Bloomberg website yesterday evening...and I thank Elliot Simon for his second story in today's column...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

Debt crisis: Spanish GDP falling at 'significant pace'

"The available data for the third quarter of the year suggest output continued to fall at a significant pace, in an environment in which financial stress remained at very high levels." the Bank said in its monthly report.

Spain's borrowing costs edged back past 6pc on Wednesday as investors sought safer havens. The yield on benchmark ten-year government bonds rose 26 basis points to 6.01pc, the biggest increase since August 31, while the IBEX 35 in Madrid slid 3pc to 7,926.20.

The eurozone's fourth largest economy tumbled into recession in the last quarter of 2011, less than two years after emerging from the previous crisis.

This is another story from yesterday's edition of The Telegraph...and it was posted on their website late yesterday morning BST.  It's courtesy of Roy Stephens...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

Autumn of Discontent: Turmoil over Austerity Hits Spain and Greece

The euro crisis seemed to have disappeared from the streets of southern Europe in recent weeks. But on Tuesday in Spain, it was back as thousands marched in Madrid, resulting in dozens of arrests and injuries. In Greece, a general strike has shut down Athens on Wednesday.

The protests in front of Spanish Parliament in Madrid on Tuesday evening were not huge. But their intensity serve as a warning that patience in the country with ongoing austerity cuts and tax hikes is wearing thin.

Some 6,000 people marched before Spanish Parliament on Tuesday against the belt-tightening measures and several grew violent. Police beat back demonstrators with batons and fired rubber bullets on the crowd, according to several news reports.

Ongoing discontent in Greece over austerity measures there took a disruptive turn on Wednesday as the country's two largest unions went out on a 24-hour general strike. Hundreds of thousands of workers walked off their jobs shutting down schools, museums and courts, slowing down air traffic control and otherwise disrupting transportation. Hospitals are operating with minimal staff.

Thousands of police gathered in central Athens preparing for protests against government salary and pension cuts and other belt-tightening measures. In February protests against austerity measures turned violent as demonstrators set shops on fire. Many stores in the Greek capital closed Wednesday in advance of the protests.

This article showed up on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens for sharing it with us.  It's worth skimming...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

Spain is turning into the new Greece, and Mariano Rajoy has himself to blame

Silver Is Outshining Gold by a 2-to-1 Margin: Tom Lydon

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:25 AM PDT

Silver Is Outshining Gold by a 2-to-1 Margin: Tom Lydon

Gold may have more prestige and a broader fan base, but experts say, silver is where the real action is right now. In the past 3 months alone, the price of silver has risen 25%, while gold's recent run up, albeit impressive, has only been about half as strong.

Still, whether it's gold or silver or platinum or palladium you are chasing, the penchant for precious metals has been reignited by the dovish central bank action commonly called QE3. But Tom Lydon, the editor of ETF Trends, says when it comes to silver, there's more to this hard asset story than monetary policy, inflation concerns and fear.

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Interview with John Rubino on Gold, Mining Shares and the Financial & Geopolitical Crises

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:25 AM PDT

Interview with John Rubino on Gold, Mining Shares and the Financial & Geopolitical Crises

John is the proprietor over at DollarCollapse.com...and co-author [with James Turk] of the book The Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit From It.  The interview is posted over at the geckoresearch.com Internet site...and runs for 21:28 minutes.  The link is here.

BofA Makes The Case For $3,000 Gold

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:25 AM PDT

BofA Makes The Case For $3,000 Gold

Everyone loves gold these days. Deutsche Bank sees $2000 gold soon. And Citi says it could go to $2500 in six months.

BofA, too: the firm recently initiated a $2,400 target price for the shiny yellow metal since the Fed's announcement of open-ended bond buying.

However, BofA analyst Stephen Suttmeier thinks there's a case to be made that gold goes even higher than the bank's official call.

Everyone likes to pick a gold price number, but nobody really knows for sure what it's going to be.  All I can tell you is that a free-market gold price has never existed in all of history...and if it was allowed to trade freely, the market-clearing price would make your eyes glaze over.

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