saveyourassetsfirst3 |
- UPDATE: Game changer: Evander to double Pan African gold output
- Ramphele resigns as Gold Fields chairwoman
- Silver (probably) now the best asset in the world - Mylchreest
- G7 sees no Currency War as gold fails to impress
- Master trader Clark: One of my most-trusted indicators is flashing now
- Chinese New Year brings gold rush
- Gold And The U.S. Dollar
- Investing In Gold Miners While Balancing Leverage And Risk
- Silver to average $33 oz in 2013, $31 in 2014 : HSBC
- Who Stole the American Dream?
- Mark Dice Attempts to Sell Silver Eagles in Front of Coin Shop For .99, Hilarity Ensues
- Gold standard discussed on Bloomberg: The value of gold would have to be astronomically high to be able to back the money supply
- Jim Sinclair: Stare The Bastards In The Eye And Defend Yourself- Time to Go ALL IN!
- Silver coin dealers and the new premium paradigm
- HUI / Gold Ratio Chart
- Ghana again denies official involvement in Iran Gold deal
- The case for silver outpacing gold
- "Lack of catalyst" leaves gold "susceptible to downward move," but silver "should move higher"
- Gold firmer as bargain hunters come into market
- Escalating Currency Wars May Make 2013 the Year of the Epic Economic Failure
- Gold to fall, specialty metals could outperform – Ecclestone
- Gold's bullish case remains despite G-20
- 2013 Silver American Eagles As Low As $2.69 Over Spot!
- Gold, Silver, Platinum to climb higher in 2013
- Alasdair Macleod interviewed on Market Trader's 'Gold Report'
- Chris Ecclestone: Gold will fall, time to switch to specialty metals?
- Currency wars, central bankers’ speeches and gold
- Houston Passes Ordinance Requiring Gold & Silver Sellers to Submit Fingerprints & Mugshots
- Metal Surfers & Fed Tidal Wave – Stewart Thomson
- OCC Compounds Botched Foreclosure Review Process with Barmy Plan for Distributing Peanuts
- Gold consolidation, but no capitulation
- DRDGold announce 37% hike in operating profit
- Will Currency Wars End With a Return to the Gold Standard?
- 'American leaders do believe in the invulnerability of the dollar system, but they are misguided' - James Rickards
- Three King World News Blogs
- Russia may become No. 3 gold miner by 2015
- Stocks Are Set for a Possible Repeat of 1987! Says Marc Faber
- Gold, Platinum, Palladium extend gains in Asia
| UPDATE: Game changer: Evander to double Pan African gold output Posted: 13 Feb 2013 05:18 PM PST With the acquisition of the Evander operations from Harmony, Pan African Resources is well placed to double its gold output over the next year . |
| Ramphele resigns as Gold Fields chairwoman Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:42 PM PST Mamphela Ramphele has resigned as chairwoman of Gold Fields, intensifying speculation she is about to launch a political party to challenge the ruling ANC. |
| Silver (probably) now the best asset in the world - Mylchreest Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:14 PM PST Thunder Road Report writer, Paul Mylchreest, predicts a sharp rise in the silver price within the next six months based on historic cyclical data. |
| G7 sees no Currency War as gold fails to impress Posted: 13 Feb 2013 12:09 PM PST G7 officials released a statement today saying, "macroeconomic policies will be conducted based on domestic objectives and will not be used to target exchange rates." |
| Master trader Clark: One of my most-trusted indicators is flashing now Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:22 AM PST From Jeff Clark in Growth Stock Wire: They say nobody rings a bell at the top of the market. But sometimes... Mom calls. My mother is the epitome of the public investor – which makes her an outstanding contrary indicator. She doesn't pay particularly close attention to the financial markets. Sure, she listens to the news, and she can tell you if stocks in general are trending higher or lower. But she's not exactly glued to CNBC all day, focused on every blip on the financial radar screen. So when mom decides it's time to buy or sell stocks (or gold, or oil, or cattle futures), it's because the idea has gone "mainstream." Her hairdresser is talking about it. The ladies in her bridge club are discussing it. The topic has probably come up at her church choir practice. And whatever she wants to do is usually a bad idea. Mom called me up yesterday... More from Jeff Clark: |
| Chinese New Year brings gold rush Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:06 AM PST Gold is again in fashion in China, more so during the Lunar New Year, when the Year of the Snake heralds the year to buy gold. |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 10:53 AM PST The printing of more paper money usually has the effect of debasing or diluting the strength of that particular currency. The lowering of interest rates also renders a currency less attractive to investors, as better returns might be available elsewhere. The demise of the U.S. dollar can be attributed, in part, to both of the above reasons. However, when this debasement is plotted against other currencies as per the U.S. Dollar Index, we can see that it is having some difficulty when it comes to heading lower, as the chart below depicts. (click to enlarge) The reason for this is that the U.S. Dollar Index is made up of a basket of currencies that in themselves are not static and indeed, are involved in various forms of debasement as nations have taken the view that a weaker currency will boost their exports. Japan, for instance, has recently elected a new Complete Story » |
| Investing In Gold Miners While Balancing Leverage And Risk Posted: 13 Feb 2013 10:51 AM PST By David Pinsen: The Appeal Of Gold Investors wary of a weakening dollar have long been drawn to gold. The supply of dollars is determined by Federal Reserve policy, which can vary widely, but increases in the supply of gold are constrained mainly by how much of it can be mined. Global gold mining production has been quite steady since 1997, averaging about 80 million ounces. Gold Mining Stocks Versus Gold For investors who are bullish on gold, the inherent operating leverage of gold miners can make gold mining stocks such as Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) and Goldcorp, Inc. (GG) attractive: as gold prices rise higher above gold miners' fixed costs of production, miners' profits can rise faster than the price of gold itself. Diversifying Against Stock-Specific Risk Investors who want to diversify the stock-specific risk of investing in gold miners can do so buy buying a basket of Complete Story » |
| Silver to average $33 oz in 2013, $31 in 2014 : HSBC Posted: 13 Feb 2013 10:31 AM PST The bank raised its 2013 average silver price forecast to $33 per ounce from $32 and its 2014 view to $31 from $28 an ounce. |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 10:24 AM PST Don't miss the Zero Hedge article "The Fed's Bailout Of Europe Continues With Record $237 Billion Injected Into Foreign Banks In Past Month." That, in addition to $85 billion from QE3. Sinclair is right – the Fed will create as much money as necessary for as long as necessary to keep the economy in Europe and America afloat. This is scary inflation. It will make itself known soon enough – by the summer of 2014, according to John Williams. That's when he expects the hyperinflation to hit our shores. It will have a destructive affect on the US dollar, which Sinclair predicts will drop to .72 and then crash lower. The Fed is throwing one Hell of a party but someone will have to pay the bill. Holders of dollars will be stuck with the tab. Last evening, Susan and I went to a cocktail party/lecture sponsored by the Prologue Society, at Northern Trust in downtown Miami. The featured speaker was best-selling author, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and Emmy Award-winning producer, Hedrick Smith. His books The Russians and The Power Game were critically acclaimed bestsellers and are widely used in college courses today. As a reporter at The New York Times, Smith shared a Pulitzer for the Pentagon Papers series and won a Pulitzer for his international reporting from Russia in 1971-1974. He has also done prime time specials for PBS including one on Dave Brubeck. Smith was there last night to discuss his latest book, Who Stole the American Dream (or the death of the middle class). We attend these Prologue Society events once a month and Smith was easily the best speaker we have yet encountered. We both looked forward to hearing what he had to say about the causes of the demise of the middle class. I myself have written a bit on the subject. What I was unaware of was that this has been going on for over 40 years. Smith started off the evening reminiscing back to the 60s and 70s, when Susan and I were in college and ventured out as very young newly-weds for the first time into the job market. Like so many of our era, we expected to work for the same company until we retired. We felt safe and protected by the corporations that we worked for. We were paid well and received benefits. For most Americans, it was the American Dream. He reminded us that in those days, everyone had the opportunity to be in the middle class, or the possibility to rise even higher. Today, things are very different. Most of the middle class jobs are gone or filled with qualified hires from out of the country (who will work for less). In the 60s, the captains of industry were willing to allocate a fair share of the firm's wealth to the workers. They were very supportive of their workers and the community where their factories and businesses were located. The discrepancy of income between the boss and the employees was a fraction of what it is today. Profits were spread around fairly. But everything changed in 1971. The change began with a private memo, in effect, a political call to arms, issued to the nation's business leaders in 1971 by Lewis F. Powell Jr. I will talk more about this on Thursday. In his discussion of the last four decades of the American economic experience, Smith described the long, relentless decline of the middle class, a decline that was not by accident, but by design. After his hour-long speech, he opened the floor to questions. Susan raised her hand, stood up and introduced herself. She said that the people sitting in this room no longer had the drive and energy necessary to force a change. She said when she was 30, she marched with women who burned their bras with a baby on each hip. She considered marching in the Civil Rights movement. But now, no one is marching to save the middle class. There are no tent cities in Washington DC. Without massive public participation in an organized effort to convince congress to change the laws that so favor the owners over the workers, nothing would change. Smith replied that she was correct. I raised my hand and said, I loved your presentation. It was very impressive, but there was one area you didn't mention. (Smith had spent considerable time discussing and documenting the disparity of wealth which had left the middle class behind – in fact, he pointed out that the average male worker made the same amount of money today, adjusted for inflation, than he made in 1975, while the upper few percent saw their wealth increase multiple times.) I asked him why he didn't mention Greenspan and Bernanke whose policies let to the explosion in the money supply, which allowed for a massive creation of wealth that was not reallocated to the workers. Most of it accumulated at the top? He acknowledged that was a good question and said, I can't cover all the topics in a 557-page book in an hour, but read chapter 14. And so I shall. In fact, in the future, I will discuss this book in my column. It is a book I look forward to reading. Smith said when he finished his book, his editor and his assistant editor, his wife, both told his it was too grim and he needed to give people some hope. He then added two chapters devoted to things that could be done to change the future, for the better, for the middle class. My feeling was that if he really felt that there were workable solutions, he would have put them in his book in the first place. In essence, he felt that the only way to change things was for the people, in mass, to rise up and demand changes, like the changes that took place with marches on Washington (tent cities) and during the Civil Rights marches, which he covered as a reporter for the NY Times. What I see out there are demands, by the "masses" for more welfare and handouts. Where are the shouts of "We need jobs and we need high paying jobs?" For those of you who believe the middle class was abandoned, and I am talking primarily about manufacturing jobs, which are the highest paying middle class jobs, because we can't compete with the low wages emanating from China and the far east, let it be pointed out that Germany has a trade SURPLUS and exports their technology and automobiles around the globe with a highly skilled and very well paid middle class in their manufacturing sector. It can be done, but here, in the US, the top corporations chose to cut costs and jobs in order to take a far larger share of the pie. America is third on the list, behind only Chile and Mexico as a country with the greatest disparity between the people at the very top and the bottom of the economic totem pole. I will write more on this soon. Although I do believe in free enterprise and reaping the benefits of capitalism, there is a lot of pure unadulterated greed in the system now and Wall Street and the banks do in fact OWN Washington. GE, for example, pays no taxes and actually got a refund. Many US corporations have moved their operations offshore to avoid taxes. This is too big a topic to discuss here, but I had to vent a little. All of these things and more are covered in Smith's book and I highly recommend it to all of our readers. A great book, timely and profound. Check out the article from Daily Wealth titled, "The Smartest Guys I Know Are Moving… Should You, Too?" Rising taxes, at the state level, are encouraging wealthy people to relocate to low or tax-free states. I moved from Minnesota to Florida for the life style and weather – and for tax considerations. Here in Miami, real estate prices for a nice location, high-quality property is on the rise. My condo is up at least 20% in the last 12 months. Wealthy people from Argentina and Venezuela are moving here to avoid the punitive taxes and inflation in their countries. Half of all million dollar plus real estate sold in South Florida are to people from Brazil. Our area has wealthy people from Russia, Israel, Latin America and New York. The climate and tax-free benefits are a real draw down here. People with substantial assets from all over the country and all over the world are sick and tired of footing the bill in socialist countries and here in America in socialist states. In my case, just for the privilege of living in Minnesota, my total tax bill, Federal, State, real estate, sales tax and a myriad of minor taxes, leaves me with less than $0.30 on the dollar. I can up that to around $0.40 on the dollar by living in Florida. What is fair? Ask two different people and you may well get two different answers. Those who don't have enough money see it one way and those who have worked hard all of their lives to get ahead, and have accumulated some wealth and still have a strong salary, see it another. Just about everyone is fed up with the super-rich on Wall Street who are just plain greedy. Salaries and bonuses in the tens or hundreds of millions are obscene. See, I am part of the problem too. Even I think we should tax the rich more than we do, but my definition of "rich" is far, far about $250,000 a year. How about $5 or $10 or $20 million a year as a starter? People in that bracket would say no, we should tax the ones making $50 or $100 million a year. The definition of who are the rich is whoever has more than we do. We, as a country, are being pulled apart, not coming together. Anyone with any answers out there? Everyone wants to know, "What's next for gold?" My friend Jim told me that Ted Butler says gold is ready to explode and it could move up 200 points. The bullion banks have squeezed as many "longs" out of the market as possible, so now it's time to take their foot off the brake. Jim Sinclair says the bottom will be in the rear view mirror long before his next birthday on March 29th. Richard Russell has turned bullish too – here are his comments:
Examine the above chart. The RSI (on the top) is nearing a bottom. Look at where it bottomed the last two times this year. We are close. The MACD (on the bottom) seems to be trending up, from its "neutral" position over the last two weeks. And the Pennant formation is ready for a breakout too, and my guess is that it will be up. If it were my money, I would be a buyer now. Sure, gold "could" drop another $80 but it could also rise another $200. Any further drop will be short-lived. I see no need to play games with the price at this level. There is support for physical gold and silver at these levels. Retail buyers, China and Russia backstop the price when it gets too cheap. That's where we are now. Similar Posts:
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| Mark Dice Attempts to Sell Silver Eagles in Front of Coin Shop For .99, Hilarity Ensues Posted: 13 Feb 2013 10:15 AM PST Mark Dice, the man who unsuccessfully attempted to sell a Gold Maple for $25, and last week unsuccessfully attempted to give away a Gold Maple to anyone who could tell him the spot price of gold +/- 25% is back, this time standing in front of an Encinitas, California Coin Shop, attempting to sell US [...] |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 10:05 AM PST This week saw Bloomberg discuss with a couple of guests the effectiveness (or not as the case may be) of QE and also the possibility of returning to a gold standard: Q. What's the downside of this,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] |
| Jim Sinclair: Stare The Bastards In The Eye And Defend Yourself- Time to Go ALL IN! Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:58 AM PST With sentiment among the precious metals community remaining downright terrible (to see just how bearish the current sentiment is, peruse the reader comments on today's silver chart of the day) legendary gold trader Jim Sinclair continued his efforts tonight to convince PM investors to sit tight and be right. Sinclair again informs readers that the [...] |
| Silver coin dealers and the new premium paradigm Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:57 AM PST The local silver coin dealer may prove to be the ultimate silver price indicator. The lower the managed paper price of silver, the more physical metal is reduced because of increased demand. Furthermore, the higher the demand for silver, the higher the physical premium moves. |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:53 AM PST By request...  |
| Ghana again denies official involvement in Iran Gold deal Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:41 AM PST Ghana again denied any involvement in transferring 1.5 tons of gold to Iran. |
| The case for silver outpacing gold Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:19 AM PST A lot of talk on the web right now says silver is significantly undervalued vs. gold. Many of these pundits and talking heads like to point to the historical relationship between gold and silver prices, sometimes known as the "ratio." Let's take a quick look at this. |
| "Lack of catalyst" leaves gold "susceptible to downward move," but silver "should move higher" Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:06 AM PST The dollar gold price drifted back below $1,650 an ounce Wednesday morning, 1.1% down on the week so far, although it jumped higher in Sterling following after a Bank of England report said policymakers are prepared to "look through" persistently high U.K. inflation. |
| Gold firmer as bargain hunters come into market Posted: 13 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST Gold prices are trading firmer in early U.S. dealings Wednesday. Short covering and bargain hunting are featured. However, a lack of fresh, bullish fundamental inputs has allowed the weak near-term technical posture of the yellow metal to generally dictate price direction this week. |
| Escalating Currency Wars May Make 2013 the Year of the Epic Economic Failure Posted: 13 Feb 2013 08:45 AM PST By SD Contributor AGXIIK: The trade between Japan and Europe and China and Europe will be hit very hard when Europe can't afford goods from China and Japan. The east will suffer badly as devaluations won't overcome the recessions and depressions in Europe. These are real and dangerous tipping points that won't hold back very long. [...] |
| Gold to fall, specialty metals could outperform – Ecclestone Posted: 13 Feb 2013 08:42 AM PST Chris Ecclestone expects the gold price to drop this year as investors realize that there's no more cause for panic. Interview with The Metals Report. |
| Gold's bullish case remains despite G-20 Posted: 13 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST At some point central banks will probably give up on QE, reasoning that the balance of risks outweighs positive outcomes. Until policy makers come to that conclusion, there's still a bullish case to be made for gold. |
| 2013 Silver American Eagles As Low As $2.69 Over Spot! Posted: 13 Feb 2013 07:39 AM PST Doc's Deal Of The Day 2013 Silver American Eagles As Low As $2.69 Over Spot!! Click Here or Call 614-300-1094 To Order!! 1000+ Ounces Only $2.69 Over Spot! 500-999 Ounces Only $2.79 Over Spot! 100-499 Ounces Only $3.09 Over Spot! 50-99 Ounces Only $3.29 Over Spot! 1-49 Ounces Only $3.49 Over Spot! ANY SILVER PURCHASE [...] |
| Gold, Silver, Platinum to climb higher in 2013 Posted: 13 Feb 2013 07:34 AM PST Gold captures the most headlines, but it has been quiet. The market has basically been consolidating the last two years. Silver is in the same situation. There has been talk of an improving global economy and that would benefit silver. |
| Alasdair Macleod interviewed on Market Trader's 'Gold Report' Posted: 13 Feb 2013 07:07 AM PST Alasdair Macleod interviewed on Market Trader's Gold Report (external link - video) |
| Chris Ecclestone: Gold will fall, time to switch to specialty metals? Posted: 13 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST Base metals require less brain work. It's easier to narrow them down and look at what's there. Specialty metals can create some interesting spikes in prices due to supply crises. |
| Currency wars, central bankers’ speeches and gold Posted: 13 Feb 2013 06:51 AM PST Gold price has benefited as a hedge against fiat currency devaluation. The aversion to currency wars will likely hurt gold demand and gold prices. |
| Houston Passes Ordinance Requiring Gold & Silver Sellers to Submit Fingerprints & Mugshots Posted: 13 Feb 2013 06:30 AM PST If you live in the city of Houston, TX and are selling physical gold or silver, you are now officially considered a criminal until proven otherwise, as Houston's City Council has passed an ordinance requiring anyone selling gold or silver to be fingerprinted and photographed, as well as requiring photographs be taken of all items [...] |
| Metal Surfers & Fed Tidal Wave – Stewart Thomson Posted: 13 Feb 2013 06:15 AM PST Submitted by Stewart Thomson: Too much money printing can cause a currency panic. That would be followed by institutions pulling out of the country altogether. The reason I want own to gold is because governments are attempting to print their stock markets higher. Gold and resource stocks will drastically outperform the global stock market indexes [...] |
| OCC Compounds Botched Foreclosure Review Process with Barmy Plan for Distributing Peanuts Posted: 13 Feb 2013 05:33 AM PST The OCC is bravely trying to spin the horrorshow of its botched foreclosure reviews as some sort of positive outcome. It is apparently now trying to present its dereliction of duty in figuring out how to compensate borrowers as no big deal. But the most amazing finesse, which a New York Times article tacitly accepts, is the OCC's pretense that it got a good deal for homeowners in the settlement. Just focus on the cash portion, which is $3.3 billion across the ten servicers in the settlement. The other forms of relief, paralleling the state attorney general/Federal settlement, either aren't worth much (writing off deficiency judgments) or are for things the banks were inclined to do anyhow. 495,000 complaint letters were filed. The estimates of serious harm from the whistleblowers at the Bank of America site in Tampa Bay ranged from 10% to 80%. The average was 33%, and the estimates also clustered around 30% to 40%. So we'll use 30%. To make the math simpler, we'll use 500,000 x 30% x the maximum award, which was $125,000, which would seem to be warranted with "serious harm" (the people on the modification test all described cases where people who were in mods of various sorts and were paying as the bank stipulated but were foreclosed on, so they seemed to have an adequately stringent notion of what "serious harm" amounted to. Basically, to get the maximum award, the bank had to have eaten your home while you were in a mod or it had to be a Servicemembers Civil Relief Act violation). You get $18.75 billion. Let's say maybe the temps were too generous and their estimate is 1/3 too high. You still get $12.5 billion, nearly four times the amount for the banks to divvy up. And you'd have some less large payouts for the people not seriously harmed. If you would have qualified for a mod but the bank never processed your application, or were denied a mod incorrectly, that's a $15,000 award. The folks who were processing mod complaints say they saw another 30% to 40% instances of less serious harm. So if you assume a $15,000 payout for another 20% (that's conservative, the real number is probably closer to 30%), you get another $1.5 billion. $14 billion, which is a conservative estimate of what the banks should have been required to cough up, is more than four times the only part that the OCC got that really matters, hard dollar payments to borrowers that suffered real losses. . No wonder the banks are perfectly happy to pay out $2 billion to consultants who made a mess of things. Those madcap consultant were as clever as foxes. So the OCC got a turkey of a deal. And the New York Times is taking up other OCC/bank messaging in its piece. It's merely making the problem sound as if the issue is that the reviews were supposed to be independent, and now the banks are in charge of handing out the money to homeowners. The conflict issue is theoretically a problem, but it isn't as big a problem given that we are talking about a fixed, if way too small, pot at each bank. The Times underplays the other major problem, that the banks don't have enough of a grasp of who was really harmed to dole the money out fairly:
Check the work!?! The work was not done and not close to being done. Do you get the circularity of this reasoning? The reviews were shut down because the consultants couldn't figure out an efficient process for doing the reviews. The whistleblowers at Bank of American said they were told it would take two years to complete the reviews using the process finally put in place (the most complex test was not put into production until the end of August). Promonotory, Bank of America's "independent" consultant, put in an "optimization" the week before the project was shut down that was supposed to speed the process, but that was never road tested. So how many loans were officially completed, as in the temps did all their work and Promontory reviewed them? I'm told a grand total of 4,800 as of December. That is compared to a universe of at least 121,000 letters, the total as of around December 10. If that 4,800 was as of the end of December, it would be relative to a universe of more like 140,000 to 150,000 loans. So the completed loan reviews were 3.2% to 3.9% of the total. And the OCC really believes Bank of America can make informed decisions on who really deserves the funds? Now there might be places where the work could be completed. But temps were told to leave the premises as soon as the settlement was inked. From what I can infer, the temps look to have completed the tests on 40% of the requested reviews, but one well informed reviewer was under the impression that only 20% were considered to be done from their end, suggesting that half of that total had not gotten through the quality assurance/rebuttal process*. So even this bit of intelligence confirms that the Bank of America were in even worse shape than figure previously disclosed, that of the banks having finished roughly 1/3 of the reviews by the time the process was shut down. The New York Times article runs some other remarkable PR:
This sounds fine if you have no idea of what was going on. What does "might be current on their loan payment" mean? That was monstrously ambiguous at Bank of America for anyone who had a modification. Was someone who was on a trial mod and paying on time current? By common sense, they would be, but Bank of America had only one category that was tagged as current, that of people who did not need special servicing. Anyone who had even missed one payment was put in the "foreclosure" category. Modifications were another "not current" category, even if they had gotten a permanent mod. A temp told how someone who had a husband who had cancer, and was 15 days late on one payment on her permanent mod was foreclosed on two months later. And even if the OCC takes the view that people who were current on trial mods should be treated as current, the BofA records often don't reflect that properly. Contractors also report that trial mod payments were put in suspense accounts rather than credited to the mortgage. If a loan got through the G test, the bank and the OCC might pick that up, but as we indicated, it's pretty much certain that well under half the borrowers that sent letters complaining about mods had a first pass file review on that issue. In addition, it isn't hard to imagine that Bank of America would (at most) only want to use the tests that had been completed by the temps, but also gone through the official pushback process known as "quality assurance." So a much smaller portion of the work completed by the temps would be deemed as usable. This is the only thing we get in the way of an indication of serious problems, and it comes a full 15 paragraphs in, after we get a touching story of a homeowner who really needs the money pronto.
Too bad the Times doesn't clue readers as to the amounts at issue. $3.3 billion divided by 500,000 people is $6,600 a person. That's not nothing, but if you lost your home and have good reason to think the bank was responsible, it's an insult. Not only is the Times far too forgiving of the banks and the OCC on their framework for doling money out, but it also takes up consultant party line on what needed to be done in the reviews. Notice the contradiction in the section before and after the ellipsis:
Did you get that? The consultants weren't able to do the two workstreams the OCC wanted completed, a review of a large sample of loans, plus a review of the the borrower complaints, yet they were champing to make the tests more elaborate. As we've made clear, the foreclosure review process has been a complete fiasco. It's been disappointing to see the mainstream media only give a timid and shallow account of how bad it was. *Around December 10 that there had been 121,000 letters submitted through the IFR process, with a good guesstimate for the final number was 140,000 to 150,000. A, O, S, B, D, and C tests had been completed for all the requests sent in as of the beginning of August, so, only small teams were being kept on those tests to process new letters coming in. Everyone who could be shifted onto E and F test (fees) were being moved to that. G test (mods) was the other bottleneck, but G test took less time than E and F tests and had nearly as big a labor pool. An estimate how much of E and F test might have been done:
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| Gold consolidation, but no capitulation Posted: 13 Feb 2013 05:15 AM PST Gold and silver may be struggling for direction at the moment, but palladium continues to move higher: bursting above the $760/oz mark yesterday. Platinum enjoyed a solid up day - though its ... |
| DRDGold announce 37% hike in operating profit Posted: 13 Feb 2013 04:04 AM PST DRD Gold said it also had a 25 percent rise in headline earnings per share in the same period. |
| Will Currency Wars End With a Return to the Gold Standard? Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:04 AM PST  Bloomberg's Trish Regan and Adam Johnson interviewed TCW Group's Komal Sri-Kumar and Bank of New York Mellon's Michael Woolfolk about the risks from currency wars on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." Trish Regan asks whether there is a danger that "we have massive inflation worldwide for years to come?" The answer is yes and both agree that inflation is a real risk as is a loss of credibility by central banks. Komal Sri-Kumar is asked what the solution is and is asked about his Op-Ed in the Financial Times in which he calls for a return to a gold standard. He replies that a gold standard today would be no different to "how good it was from 1945 to 1971." |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:04 AM PST  In an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia, James Rickards talks about currency wars, critical dynamics of monetary policy and the future of the US dollar. James Rickards is the author of the national bestseller, Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis and a partner in Tangent Capital Partners, a merchant bank based in New York. It's a Q&A in written form...and it was posted on the English version of the ruvr.ru Internet site on Monday...and I thank Harold Jacobsen for digging it up on our behalf. The link is here. |
| Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:04 AM PST  The first is with James Turk...and it's headlined "Last Piece Now in Place to Trigger Hyperinflation". The second blog is with Michael Pento...and it's entitled "Gold Bears Out of Time and About to Pay the Ultimate Price". And lastly is Richard Russell. It bears the title "read more |
| Russia may become No. 3 gold miner by 2015 Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:04 AM PST  Increased output by Russia could see it surpass the United States as the world's third largest gold miner by 2015, Sergei Kashuba, head of the Russian Gold Industrialists' Union, said on Tuesday. Russia has the world's second largest gold reserves after South Africa, an estimated 10 percent of global reserves, and production is nipping at the heels of China, Australia and the United States. "If gold prices remain at a high level, gold output in Russia will continue to grow by 4-5 percent per year, which will allow it to become the third largest producer in the world in 2015," Kashuba told a conference in Moscow. |
| Stocks Are Set for a Possible Repeat of 1987! Says Marc Faber Posted: 13 Feb 2013 03:04 AM PST  "Either the market is going to correct more meaningfully now or we have a shallow correction and a continuously rising market until July or August," Faber told me via phone from Thailand. If stocks don't pullback soon, he says we risk a repeat of 1987 when stocks rallied 40% into summer only to collapse 41% in 2 months. "In March of 2009 everything looked horrible, now nobody can find a reason why stocks could go down," Faber claims. "We ask that you should buy stocks when everything looks horrible, you shouldn't rush to buy them when everything looks perfect." The problem is that it's hard to find anyone claiming the environment is perfect. Even the theme running under the reports of "the masses" buying stocks is that it's a cue to sell, not buy. |
| Gold, Platinum, Palladium extend gains in Asia Posted: 13 Feb 2013 02:47 AM PST Analysts attributed gold's gains to improved physical buying after the break of Lunar New Year. |
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