| Argonaut Gold Announces Pre-Feasibility Study Results for the Magino Project with After-tax IRR of 18% and Total Cash Flow of US$350 million Posted: 17 Dec 2013 10:22 AM PST Toronto, Ontario – (December 17, 2013) Argonaut Gold Inc. (TSX: AR) (the "Company", "Argonaut Gold" or "Argonaut") is pleased to announce the results of a prefeasibility study ("PFS") for the Magino property, located 40 kilometers ("km") northeast of Wawa, Ontario. The study was completed by JDS Energy & Mining Inc., Vancouver, Canada and is based on a December 2013 mineral resource estimate. The Magino mine PFS study takes into consideration the PFS design pit, representing 40% of a larger defined resource. It does not include any potential expansion from the land or mineral rights acquisition pending from neighboring landowner Richmont Mines Inc. All amounts are indicated in US dollars. | ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS OF PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY ($1250 per ounce gold price) | | Net Present Value (“NPV” After-Tax at a 5% discount rate) | | $199 million | | Cash Flow (Undiscounted, After-Tax) | | $350 million | | Internal Rate of Return (After-Tax “IRR”) | | 18% | | Payback (After-Tax, Years of production) | | 4.2 years | | Capital Cost (pre-production) | | $356 million | | | Sustaining and Closure | | | $58 million | | Cash Cost (including leasing costs of $78 million) | | $693 per ounce Au | CEO Commentary
Pete Dougherty, President and CEO of Argonaut Gold, stated "Magino is a high quality property that we are very pleased to have in our portfolio. Economics for the project are strong, and are particularly robust during the first seven years, when the Company will be processing higher grade material and stockpiling lower grade material for processing later in the mine life. Potential upside value exists as the study only takes 40% of the current mineral resource estimate into consideration and excludes pre-1997 underground and surface drilling data, included in a previous resource estimate." Prefeasibility summary
The PFS summarizes financial projections and operational plans for the Magino property, as a conventional open pit mine and gold leaching processing circuit. The following tables summarize the results. | PROJECT LOM PRODUCTION HIGHLIGHTS ($1,250 Gold Price) | | Mine Life (years) | 13.2 | | Life of Mine Strip Ratio (waste: ore) | 2.6:1 | | Gold Grade (average in g/t) | 0.90 | | Gold Recovery (average) | 95% | | Gold Payable | 99% | | M&I Gold Ounces Recovered (000′s) | 1,661 | | Annual Production (average ounces) | 127,000 | | Capital Costs “CAPEX” (millions): | $414 | | Operating Cost/Ore Tonne (average) | $18.94 | | Cash Cost (including leasing costs of $78 million) | $693 per ounce | | | PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS (FIRST 7 YEARS) | | Cash Flow (Undiscounted, After-Tax) | $268 million | | Gold Grade (Average Grams per Tonne “g/t”) | 1.33 | | Cash Cost (Including Leasing Costs of $78 million) | $650 per ounce | | Annual Ounces of Production (Average) | 185,000 | Mineral Resource Estimate
The mineral resource estimate used in the PFS was completed in December 2013 by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., an independent Qualified Person ("QP") and is summarized below (inclusive of mineral reserves). | Deposit | Resource | Tonnes | Cut-off
g/t | Gold
Grade g/t | Contained Gold
Au (k ozs) | | Webb Lake | Indicated | 127.7 | 0.35 | 1.01 | 4,161 | | Webb Lake | Inferred | 30.1 | 0.35 | 1.08 | 1,044 | Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral resource estimates do not account for mineability, selectivity, mining loss and dilution. These mineral resource estimates include inferred mineral resources that are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is also no certainty that these inferred mineral resources will be converted to measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied. Mineral Reserve Estimate
The PFS mineral reserve estimate is summarized in the following table. | Deposit | Reserve | Diluted
Tonnes | Cut-off
g/t | Gold
Grade g/t | Contained Gold
Au (k ozs) | | Webb Lake | Probable | 60.2 | 0.31 | 0.90 | 1,746 | | Total | | 60.2 | 0.31 | 0.90 | 1,746 | The reserve estimate does not include any resources within the adjacent Richmont land even though Argonaut signed a land acquisition agreement with Richmont. The mineral reserves also do not include resources below Webb Lake which lies along strike on the southern side of the PFS pit. The potential for a larger pit exists, which may enhance the overall projects economics, if the land ownership and lake constraints are removed. 2013 JDS pit compared to 2012 Tetra Tech Historical Resource
The 2013 JDS mineral resource estimate and the 2012 Tetra Tech historic mineral resource estimate are contained within the same geologic host environment. The two resources differ, in part, because the JDS resource did not incorporate pre-1997 underground and surface drill holes that were used in the historical 2012 Tetra Tech mineral resource estimate. JDS concluded that this earlier drilling, consisting of approximately 750 holes and totaling nearly 95,000 meters, could not be used for their 2013 mineral resource estimate as it is non-compliant with today's quality assurance and quality control (“QA/QC”) requirements. The absence of the underground data reduced the grades and contained gold ounces of the 2013 mineral resource estimate when compared to the historical Tetra Tech estimate. This can be observed on the attached sections where the limits of the JDS restricted pit are noted. A comparative review of the block models demonstrates a loss of grade when the underground drilling was removed. The Magino deposit is characterized by broad zones of disseminated mineralization hosting pockets of higher grade material. These possible occurrences of the higher grade gold zones reported by the underground drilling were not incorporated in the JDS mineral resource estimate. The drilling information used in the 2013 JDS and historical 2012 TetraTech mineral resource estimations are shown below: | Mineral Resource Estimate | Cutoff
Grade | Contained Au
Ounces
(Million) | No. of Drill
Holes Used | Drilled Meters
Used | | JDS – Dec., 2013 | 0.35 g/t Au | 4.1 | 652 | 180,000 | | Historic Tetra Tech – Oct., 2012 | 0.35g/t Au | 5.8 | 1,402 | 275,000 | Tom Burkhart, Vice-President of Exploration, said "Going forward additional drilling could potentially expand the known resource base. Furthermore, a more expanded mining operation is anticipated beyond the current restricted PFS pit that will address the much larger resource potential of the property." The Company cautions that the October, 2012, Tetra Tech report provides historic information only and does not constitute current mineral resources or current mineral reserves. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historic estimate as current mineral resources or reserves.The Company believes this information continues to be reliable and is relevant as a basis for a better understanding of the Magino deposit and resources. 2013 JDS Magino Long Section, Block Model
2012 Tetratech Magino Long Section, Block Model
 Metallurgy and Mineral Processing
Based on metallurgical test work results, a flow sheet for the processing facility was developed which includes primary crushing, followed by a grinding circuit, gravity recovery circuit, leach circuit, carbon in pulp circuit, electro-winning and smelting to produce gold doré. The flow sheet also includes cyanide destruction and a conventional wet tailings pond. The process facility was designed for an average feed of 12,500 tonnes per day ("tpd"). A gold recovery of 95% was estimated based on metallurgical testwork. Mine Plan and Production Schedule
The Magino deposit is conducive to open pit mining and was planned in the PFS to utilize conventional mining equipment including 240-tonne haul trucks (ramping up to 11 over the mine life), three corresponding shovels and front end loaders and a fleet of standard support equipment such as drills, dozers, graders, water truck, etc. The production schedule was developed to supply 12,500 tpd of ore to the mill. An important element of the production schedule is the accelerated mining rate in Years 1 to 7 to access the highest grade ore possible to feed the mill early in the project life. Low grade ore mined and stockpiled in the early years is planned to be processed later in the project life after the open pit is exhausted in year 8. The annual production schedule for the project is shown in the following table. | Year | Tonnes Ore
(M tonnes) | Tonnes Waste
(M tonnes) | Tonnes Processed
(M tonnes) | Gold Grade
Processed (g/t) | Gold Recovered
(000's oz) | | 1 | 2.0 | 10 | 4.6 | 1.13 | 157.1 | | 2 | 6.3 | 14 | 4.6 | 1.43 | 199.7 | | 3 | 10.4 | 27 | 4.6 | 0.95 | 132.9 | | 4 | 4.2 | 33 | 4.6 | 1.40 | 195.0 | | 5 | 9.8 | 27 | 4.6 | 1.46 | 203.5 | | 6 | 10.6 | 26 | 4.6 | 1.76 | 244.7 | | 7 | 13.2 | 17 | 4.6 | 1.16 | 161.9 | | 8 | 3.6 | 4 | 4.6 | 0.51 | 70.8 | | 9 | | | 4.6 | 0.41 | 56.9 | | 10 | | | 4.6 | 0.41 | 56.9 | | 11 | | | 4.6 | 0.41 | 56.9 | | 12 | | | 4.6 | 0.41 | 56.9 | | 13 | | | 4.6 | 0.41 | 56.9 | | 14 | | | 0.9 | 0.41 | 10.9 | | Total | 60.2 | 157.3 | 60.2 | 0.90 | 1,661.6 | "M" means millions Capital Cost Estimate
The capital cost estimate of US$414 million for the project includes all activities from permitting and development through closure. Costs for the project include; capitalized pre-stripping, access road improvements, upgrades to the local power source, sourcing of water for processing, infrastructure for camp facilities, administrative offices, maintenance shops, warehouses, assay laboratories, on site electrical distribution and miscellaneous fire, safety and environmental infrastructure as shown in the following table. | CAPITAL COST DESCRIPTION | ESTIMATE (US$M) | | Site Development | 8 | | Pre-Production Mining Costs and Capitalized leasing | 45 | | Primary Crushing & Stockpile | 12 | | Processing | 105 | | Tailings Management Facility | 14 | | Infrastructure (on and off site) | 52 | | Project Indirects | 35 | | EPCM | 35 | | Owner’s Cost | 9 | | Contingency | 41 | | Total Initial Capital | 356 | | Sustaining Capital | 34 | | Closure Cost | 17 | | Contingency | 7 | | Total Capital | 414 | Capital cost contingency was estimated by area and averaged 13%. Operating Cost Estimate
Operating costs were estimated using first principles as per the following summary: | Jim Grant: The Fed Has Embarked Upon a Dangerous Course of Monetary Manipulation! Posted: 17 Dec 2013 10:00 AM PST | | 2013 Proves Gold as Insurance Posted: 17 Dec 2013 10:00 AM PST Gold insures your other, more typically profitable investments. Yes, really... YEAR-to-date in 2013, writes Adrian Ash at BullionVault, the gold price in Dollars dropped 25%. The US stock market, in contrast, rose this year by, guess what? The very same 25%. So as a hedge against equities, if you held an equal sum of each at New Year, gold proved all-too good in 2013. Add a few US Treasury bonds to the mix, and you would have lost value this year. Which is what happened to those professional money managers failing to quit the QE Trade even as the Federal Reserve started to talk up the idea it might "taper" money printing this year. Deflation first, inflation next. The script of quantitative easing made fixed-income bonds and gold bullion an unlikely but profitable pair. The end of QE – much discussed but as yet far from a fact – undid both assets this year, as Bullionvault's new Annual Asset Performance Comparison shows. Plenty of other natural resources dropped hard in price in 2013, pulling commodities into second-last place on our comparison table. Corn has dropped 27%. Copper has lost 14%. But gold did much worse, while equities worldwide topped the table, led by US stocks. Together, and reviewing this relationship across 40 years of data, as our Annual Asset Performance Comparison does, this suggests that gold in 2013 really did act as insurance. Yes really. Insurance against stockmarket losses. Insurance against inflation. Insurance against a credit crunch destroying real estate prices once more. Thing is, with stockmarkets surging in 2013, and with US real estate prices (both residential and commercial) continuing to rise, the QE Trade looked finished. So golden insurance didn't pay out. Because it wasn't needed. But that hardly means you can forget to renew your cover. Now, because gold, like bonds, wasn't needed to reverse capital losses on stocks or real estate in 2013, it simply hasn't commanded the same price as it did in 2012, much less 2011. At least, that's how the big flows of capital see things. Which is what counts. Yes, the price drop sure hurts. We're all too aware of that, personally, here at BullionVault. But betting the farm on precious metals, or any other single asset class, never looks wise. Least of all when the beauty contest of investing finds a new fad. No, this year wasn't post-QE in reality. But forward-looking as ever, investors moved on from bonds and gold (aka, deflation first, then inflation) regardless. Because shooting the lights out, as real money managers must, means trying to guess which asset most other investors will find most attractive. And quick. The key for private savings, in contrast, is long-term preservation above all else. And over that long term, as our Annual Asset Performance Comparison Table shows from 1973-2013, that means buying gold and hoping it goes down in price. Seriously. Because odds are, that will mean your other investments and savings are rising. The alternative outcome, of not owning physical bullion but watching it soar as inflation or a stockmarket slump hits your savings, doesn't bear thinking about. | | Gold to rally yearend as traders close some of record short positions Posted: 17 Dec 2013 09:23 AM PST Gold short positions are at multi-year highs, and if the Fed does not taper tomorrow we will likely see a large short covering rally going into the New Year as shorts close out positions and balance books at year end.  | | Ned Naylor-Leyland on Germany’s Gold Manipulation Probe Widening to Deutsche Bank Posted: 17 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST Our old pal, Ned Naylor-Leyland stopped by yesterday for a wide-ranging discussion which included: The new German “gold price manipulation investigation” which, as noted on Friday, has been widened to include Deutsche Bank (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/13/metals-probe-deutschebank-idUSL6N0JS1DK20131213) Empirical data which illustrates these ongoing schemes The new, Asian physical gold exchanges 2013 Silver Eagles Only $3.89 Over Spot ANY [...] The post Ned Naylor-Leyland on Germany’s Gold Manipulation Probe Widening to Deutsche Bank appeared first on Silver Doctors. | | Gold fund exodus to sink holdings to lowest since 2008 Posted: 17 Dec 2013 08:11 AM PST An unprecedented exodus from gold-backed ETFs is expected to push global holdings next year to their lowest since the 2008 financial crisis. | | Despite gold lobby pleas, India keeps tight leash on imports Posted: 17 Dec 2013 08:01 AM PST This is despite a recent improvement in its trade deficit and lobbying by a bullion industry struggling with high premiums and a supply crunch. | | If the Banksters Want You Out of PMs, Isn’t That Exactly Where You Want to Be? Posted: 17 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST Jeff Nielson from BullionBullsCanada joins the SGTReport to discuss how to END the endless corruption in the precious metals markets. We cover the Rothschild's ONE BANK, Bitcoin and everything in between. Jeff says he thinks the Rothschilds will SMASH Bitcoin which has emerged as a rival to their fiat empire. How does Jeff know this? [...] The post If the Banksters Want You Out of PMs, Isn’t That Exactly Where You Want to Be? appeared first on Silver Doctors. | | Technical Analysis vs Fundamentals for Gold Posted: 17 Dec 2013 07:46 AM PST Bill Holter wrote this morning, if you believe in what we are saying and are worried about your friends and family, forward at least five of them an issue of the Miles Franklin newsletter. It would be better yet if you call them and tell them you are sending it and suggest that they sign up. It could well be the biggest favor you do for them this year. What they do with our information is another matter, but you can at least tell yourself that you tried to open their eyes. If even one person is impacted by your phone call and email, you will have done a very good thing. Jim Sinclair of jsmineset.com featured Bill Holter's article 2+2="Quadruple." We give you Andy Hoffman and Bill Holter every day. We are proud of the writers who are a part of the Miles Franklin team. I do a lot of reading every day. There are two points of view on gold. There is technical analysis, which is decidedly bearish. Even the usual bulls, like Dow Theory Letters and the Aden Sisters are backing away from gold and silver, based on the charts. The other point of view is based on fundamentals. The fundamentals – Chinese demand, QE to infinity money creation, cost of mining higher than the current price – all of these suggest higher prices. Then there is Larry Edelson who follows the charts, but at least is acutely aware of fundamentals. He is of the mind that gold and silver should take off by next month. Most analysts think that gold and silver have to bottom before the bull market can return. But no one knows exactly where the bottom is, or what the price will be. We at Miles Franklin are decidedly in the "fundamentals" camp. We don't know if the metals will go a bit lower or exactly when they will start to rise again, but we do know that they will and that the move will be so stunning that it matters not what you pay to get in the game. That is true only for physicals. Those who want to buy contracts or stocks are more concerned with the next 24 hours. We are concerned with the next 12 months. We don't trade metals; we don't speculate with them. We know the winning trade is long gold and silver and short dollars, but one must look ahead. It can't end any other way. Gold Price. Value vs. Momentum Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/16/2013 21:50 -0500 Submitted by Alasdair Macleod For many commentators there are two distinct camps in the gold market: investors in bullion and speculators in the paper market. With the two markets pulling in different directions some dealers think it is only a matter of time before derivatives fail completely and the price of gold will rocket on physical demand. That two ends of one market are in conflict and one will win over the other is a tempting conclusion, but this is unhelpful. The conflict is more about two different types of investor: there are those who buy or sell on grounds of value and momentum investors who deal on the trend. It is the market structure that tends to corral them into different camps. Value investors generally go for physical metal, while momentum investors go for derivatives. Their motivations are different. Value investors include buyers of physical gold from all over the world, commonly seeking value or security compared with holding fiat currency. Speculators in the futures markets rarely evaluate the price of gold, assuming the current price is the only valid reference point that matters. This bifurcation between value and momentum is a common feature from time to time in nearly all capital markets. We saw it in equities during the dot-com boom, when value investors were embarrassed before momentum investors were eventually crushed. However, both classes of investor always fish in the same pool. Continue reading on ZeroHedge.com
Tomorrow I will present a few pages from Jim Willie. I always look forward to his comments. They are NOT for the faint of heart. Just a reminder. This week’s FOMC meeting starts today. One never knows how the precious metals will “react” – or be allowed to react – but we’ll find out as the next two days progress. Similar Posts: | | Chart of the Day: Peak Exorbitant Privilege Posted: 17 Dec 2013 07:00 AM PST In the sixties Europe started demanding gold for their surplus dollars, causing a substantial outflow of gold bars from the US Treasury. From the peak to the bottom in 1971 the United States lost almost two-thirds of their official gold reserve. The exorbitant privilege of the dollar seemed untenable, but when president Nixon closed the [...] The post Chart of the Day: Peak Exorbitant Privilege appeared first on Silver Doctors. | | A Quick Guide to What’s Fake: Everything That’s Officially Sanctioned Posted: 17 Dec 2013 06:31 AM PST Neofeudal financialization and unproductive State/corporate vested interests have bled the middle class dry, yet we accept the officially sanctioned narratives. Why? Let’s cut to the chase and generalize “what’s fake”: everything that is officially sanctioned: narratives, policies, statistics, you name it–all fake– massaged, packaged, gamed or manipulated to serve the interests of the ruling Elites. Anything that might introduce a shadow of skepticism or doubt about the sustainability, fairness and transparency of the status quo (i.e. anything authentic and genuine) is recast or repackaged into a fake that can be substituted for the authentic when everyone’s gaze is distracted by the latest fad/media sensation/scandal. ObamaCare: fake, a simulacrum of insurance and healthcare. The National Security State: fake, a cover for global Empire. The Patriot Act: Orwellian cover for state-corporate fascism. Student loans: parasitic, exploitive loan-sharking enforced by the Central State for often worthless “higher education.” And so on. Yesterday I explored the peculiar dynamic that motivates us to accept forgeries, fakes and illusions as authentic: What’s Real? What’s Fake?. If the fake enables our fantasy (of free money, of owning an authentic canvas by a famous artist, that rising wealth inequality is just a side-effect of freewheeling capitalism, etc. etc. etc.), then we want to believe it so badly that we overlook all the evidence of chicanery, forgery, illusion and fakery. Consider our willingness to accept the conventional narrative about why the Great American Middle Class has been in decline since 1973: rising energy costs, globalization, and the declining purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. While these trends have certainly undermined middle-class wealth and income, there are five other more politically combustible dynamics at work:
1. The divergence of State/corporate vested interests and the interests of the middle class 2. The emergence of financialization as the key driver of profits and political power 3. The neofeudal "colonization" of the "home market" by ascendant financial Elites 4. The increasing burden of indirect "taxes" as productive enterprises and people involuntarily subsidize unproductive, parasitic, corrupt, but politically dominant vested interests 5. The emergence of crony capitalism as the lowest-risk, highest-profit business model in the U.S. economy The non-fake narratives are considerably different from the status quo ones. Please consider two: The Neofeudal Colonization of Home Markets and the Happy Marriage of the Parasitic Central State and Crony Capitalist Cartels. The Neofeudal Colonization of Home Markets The use of credit to garner outsized profits and political power is well-established in Neoliberal Capitalism. In what we might call the Neoliberal Colonial Model (NCM) of financialization, credit-poor developing world economies are suddenly offered unlimited credit at very low or even negative interest rates. It is "an offer that's too good to refuse" and the resultant explosion of private credit feeds what appears to be a "virtuous cycle" of rampant consumption and rapidly rising assets such as equities, land and housing. Essential to the appeal of this colonialist model is the broad-based access to credit: everyone and his sister can suddenly afford to speculate in housing, stocks, commodities, etc., and to live a consumption-based lifestyle that was once the exclusive preserve of the upper class and State Elites (in developing nations, this is often the same group of people). In the 19th century colonialist model, the immensely profitable consumables being marketed by global cartels were sugar (rum), tea, coffee, and tobacco—all highly addictive, and all complementary: tea goes with sugar, and so on. (For more, please refer to Sidney Mintz's landmark study, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History). In the Neoliberal Colonial Model, the addictive substance is credit and the speculative consumerist fever it fosters. In the financialization model, the opportunities to exploit "home markets” were even better than those found abroad, for the simple reason that the U.S. government itself stood ready to guarantee there would be no messy expropriations of capital or repudiation of debt by local authorities who decided to throw off the yokes of credit colonization. In the U.S. "home market," the government guaranteed lenders would not lose money, even when they loaned to marginal borrowers who could never qualify for a mortgage under any prudent risk management system. This was the ultimate purpose of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and now the FHA, which is currently guaranteeing the next wave of mortgages that are entering default. In my analysis, the Status Quo of "private profits, public losses" and the incentivization of gargantuan household debt amounts to a modern financialized version of feudalism, in which the middle class now toils as debt-serfs. Their debt cannot be repudiated (see student loans), their stagnating disposable income is largely devoted to debt service, and their assets have evaporated as the phantom wealth created by serial credit bubbles vanishes as soon as the asset/credit bubble du jour bursts. The Status Quo: A Happy Marriage of the Parasitic Central State and Crony Capitalist Cartels In broad brush, financialization enabled the explosive rise of politically dominant cartels (crony capitalism) that reap profits from graft, legalized fraud, embezzlement, collusion, price-fixing, misrepresentation of risk, shadow systems of governance and the use of phantom assets as collateral. This systemic allocation of resources and the national income to serve their interests also serves the interests of the protected fiefdoms of the State that enable and protect the parasitic sectors of the economy. The productive, efficient private sectors of the economy are in effect subsidizing the most inefficient, unproductive parts of the economy. Productivity has been siphoned off to financialized corporate profits, politically powerful cartels, and bloated State fiefdoms. The current attempts to "restart growth" via the same old financialization tricks of more debt, more leverage and more speculative excess backstopped by a captured Central State are failing. Neofeudal financialization and unproductive State/corporate vested interests have bled the middle class dry. Yet we accept the officially sanctioned narratives as authentic and meaningful. Why? Perhaps the truth is simply too painful to accept, so we will reject it until we have no other alternative. Of related interest: Financialization and Crony Capitalism Have Gutted the Middle Class (July 13, 2012) | | Gold To Rally Year End As Traders Close Some Of Record Short Positions Posted: 17 Dec 2013 06:25 AM PST Gold has lost 25% of its value this year after 12 years of gains. There are credible allegations that the market was subject to price manipulation with banks manipulating prices lower through massive concentrated selling at times of low liquidity. Allegations that Chinese entities may be manipulating paper gold prices lower in order to buy [...] The post Gold To Rally Year End As Traders Close Some Of Record Short Positions appeared first on Silver Doctors. | | Are You The Family Lunatic? Posted: 17 Dec 2013 06:15 AM PST I think that nearly everyone has at least 5 people in their life that they genuinely care about. The chances are that all 5 of these people look at you crossed eyed and think that you are a complete lunatic when the words “gold or silver” comes out of your mouth. I am writing this now because the holiday season is upon us and if not already at Thanksgiving, the chances are good that you will either see or be in contact with them soon. So what is it that I’m getting at? I am suggesting that you forward my/our writings to the people that you care about. You can’t “just send the link” and forget about it hoping that the receiver will magically “get it.” If you are reading this now then it is clear that you already “get it” but most probably your loved ones don’t. I am suggesting that you speak with or contact your loved ones and explain that “you care about them”…which is why you would like to forward our information and put them on our mailing list. This is a little “self-serving” from our standpoint because yes, we do hope to sell some silver and gold to these new potential prospects. But, isn’t that what these people need to do to protect themselves? I am suggesting that you put “our” writings in front of those who haven’t figured it out yet because we don’t write in any “hocus pocus” style. We write “down to Earth” (hopefully) and try to use common sense and logic. I would hope that most of the time an intelligent 5th or 6th grader could understand what we write. We try to simply state the facts and connect the dots which pretty much ALL point to a banking system, financial system and economy that is on the verge of outright collapse. Do some of our forecasts and writings come across as “doom and gloom?” Well, yes but that is the nature of the subject. Did we put an unsustainable monetary and financial system into place? No, we did not. I guess it is best said, “Please don’t blame us for telling the truth.” I am not delusional and think that this is a manner to “save the world.” It is however a way to try to help those in YOUR world. If they think that you are a “crazy” because of the way or manner you have tried to explain the current situation then try in a different way. I would also say that the time (though I believe short) is correct for many more to figure out (be shown) what’s happening. The mainstream is losing face because their “story” has not unfolded and has become even less credible with the passage of time while the “crazy” story now looks like and resembles the reality. So, please speak with your loved ones and ask them if you can send them our common sense reports of where things stand, where they inevitably are going and why gold is your only insurance. I would also add that by doing this now you will lessen the need to “support” them in the future. Think about it, if your sister, brother, mother, father, best friend or whoever came to you for help after a financial disaster…could you turn them away? No, but if they did something for themselves now then they will be more self-sufficient later! The odds are pretty good that even with this effort you will still come across as the “family lunatic” but all you can do is try. When all is said and done YOU will be the one that your family looks to for help, all you can do is “try” to help while the opportunity still exists.Similar Posts: | | Gold To Rally Year End As Traders Close Some Of Record Short Positions Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:20 AM PST Gold short positions are at multi year highs. Wall Street gold speculators look like they will get their greedy heads handed back to them on a plate by the Chinese dragon. Today's AM fix was USD 1,237.25, EUR 898.71 and GBP 759.42 per ounce.
Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,229.50, EUR 892.62 and GBP 754.57 per ounce. Gold rose $3.10 or 0.25% yesterday, closing at $1,240.70/oz. Silver climbed $0.26 or 1.32% closing at $19.96/oz. Platinum fell $3.24, or 0.2%, to $1,358.25/oz and palladium rose $0.25 or 0%, to $715.90/oz. 
Gold in U.S. Dollars, 30 Days – (Bloomberg)
Gold is marginally lower today after two days of gains as the Fed’s two day policy meeting begins. More positive than expected U.S. data and continuing SPDR outflows may have led to weakness. Gold’s gains in recent days are likely partly due to a short covering rally. Nervous traders may be closing some of their record short positions ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision on whether to begin tapering its equity and bond friendly debt monetisation measures. Most economists believe the Fed will not begin tapering till March of next year, which could be prompt traders to further cover their short positions. 
Short positions are at multi year highs and if the Fed does not taper tomorrow we will likely see a large short covering rally going into the New Year as shorts close out positions and balance books at year end. Bearish bets by hedge funds and money managers in U.S. gold futures and options are close to a 7-1/2 year high, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold ETF, said its holdings fell 8.70 tonnes to 818.90 tonnes on Monday – its biggest outflow since Oct 21. Holdings are at their lowest since January 2009 after more than 450 tonnes of outflows this year caused by traders and more speculative investors channelling money towards riskier assets such as equities and bonds which are at record highs in many countries. 
Importantly, and little reported on is the fact that the ETF flows have been matched and greatly surpassed by physical gold in China and imports from Hong Kong into China alone. 
Gold has lost 25% of its value this year after 12 years of gains. There are credible allegations that the market was subject to price manipulation with banks manipulating prices lower through massive concentrated selling at times of low liquidity. Allegations that Chinese entities may be manipulating paper gold prices lower in order to buy physical gold on the cheap are gaining credence. Whatever, the reasons for gold’s price fall it is a healthy development as it has led to the speculative hot money and weak hands being washed out of the market. Gold is on a much more sustainable footing now and is very much in strong hands now, which bodes well for gold in 2014 and 2015. Download Protecting your Savings In The Coming Bail-In Era (11 pages) Download From Bail-Outs to Bail-Ins: Risks and Ramifications – Includes 60 Safest Banks In World (51 pages) | | Gold To Rally Year End As Traders Close Some Of Record Short Positions Posted: 17 Dec 2013 04:01 AM PST gold.ie | | Links 12/17/13 Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:59 AM PST E-mail and RSS readers: the version you see will be a few short of the completed set of Links, since I’m not done as of the 7:00 AM launch. Please visit the site after 7:30 AM to see the full set. How do you get a bobcat out of your window blinds? CBC Porcupine Species Identified in Brazil National Geographic (Carol B) Japanese Man Stole Nearly Two Hundred Thousand Dollars to Buy Cat Food Gawker Polynesians May Have Invented Binary Math Science (Chuck L) The Black Gold Brigade Counterpunch (Carol B) The U.S. Is A Gas-Guzzling Horror Show, In 1 Chart Huffington Post (Carol B). As if you needed proof… Glaxo Says It Will Stop Paying Doctors to Promote Drugs New York Times. Mirabile dictu. A Second Order Cover Up? – Judge Finds Boehringer Ingelheim Allowed Destruction of Records Bearing on Allegations of Cover Up of Drug Adverse Effects Health Care Renewal T-Mobile's self-defeating resurgence Felix Salmon Bloomberg Focuses on Rest (as in Rest of the World) New York Times. Oh dear. China accuses US of 'harassing' navy ships Financial Times. This is getting ugly. Is the renminbi ready for the world? Bangkok Post (furzy mouse) Japan Passes Energy Sector Reform in Wake of Fukushima Oil Price. Shutting the barn door after the horse is in the next county. ‘Brutal Power Politics’: Merkel’s Banking Union Policy Under Fire Der Spiegel Big Brother is Watching You Watch Judge Deals Blow to NSA Phone Spying Wall Street Journal Richard Leon: A Phone Dragnet Is Not a Special Need Marcy Wheeler Military Commission Lifts Provision Classifying "Observations and Experiences" Just Security
Obamacare Launch The Real Reason Healthcare Insurance Companies Are Now Encouraging Obamacare Enrollment: Fear of a pro-public-option or pro-single-payer political juggernaut Angry Bear Reports of erroneous WA health exchange debits KGW
The 6,000-Page Report on CIA Torture Has Now Been Suppressed for 1 Year Atlantic Center For American Progress Discloses Corporate Donors After Investigations DSWright, Firedoglake Child Sex Abuse Crisis of the Religious Right Grows Talk2Action (Chuck L) BP lawyers accused of misleading court Financial Times Productivity growth rises to four-year high. Wages don’t Daily Kos (Carol B) Why stagnation might prove to be the new normal Larry Summers. We are not Summers fans, but here he says he’s not keen about blowing bubbles, which was not so clear from his IMF remarks. This is a really roudabout way to call for more fiscal spending, though, and his caution is striking. He must be angling for a position in the Clinton administration. The Financial Crisis: Why Have No High-Level Executives Been Prosecuted? Jed S. Rakoff. Note this is close to, and might even exactly replicate, his recent speech at a New York Bar Council. So it’s good to see the New York Review of Books bring this to the attention of a larger audience. FOMC Meeting Something of a Nailbiter Tim Duy How far would Bank of America go to screw distressed homeowners? Daily Kos (Carol B). Um, they’re asking this now? Where were they when this mattered, as in when the settlement negotiations were on? Four Ways to Visualize US Income Inequality Visualizing Economics (Chuck L) On relevance and rigour in macroeconomics Lars P. Syll Extinction is Guaranteed if We Do Not Colonize Space Ian Welsh. Shorter: Extinction is guaranteed. Antidote du jour (furzy mouse): 
 | | Wolf Richter: Fear And Trembling In Muni Land Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:08 AM PST Yves here. While Wolf offers a useful, and dour, assessment of the outlook for municipal bonds, a few quibbles are in order. There is no question that a lot of states and municipalities have funding problems underway or probable in the not-too-distant future. But their sorry condition is a direct reflection of the deteriorating finances of ordinary Americans. The biggest cause of stress for many government bodies has been the global financial crisis. The meltdown and resulting hit to the economy devastated state and local budgets, since tax revenues collapsed. And some entities, Jefferson County being the poster child, had entered into complicated swaps as part of fundraisings and their costs blew out when they were downgraded. Another bit of Wall Street inflicted damage on local entities was the collapse of the auction rate securities market (most of the major brokers in this market were fined for their misconduct). And yet another type of swap-inflicted damage took place via Libor manipulation. Transit authorities like Boston’s MTA were big targets for floating-to-fixed rate swaps, and the effect of the protracted understatement of three month Libor during the worst of the crisis resulted in them paying excessive swap costs. An overview from the Fiscal Times: In the two decades before the 2008 financial collapse, the investment banking industry sidled up to state and local finance officials with an offer they couldn't refuse. Instead of issuing plain vanilla 30-year fixed-rate bonds to build roads, schools and parking garages, why not sell variable rate bonds at lower rates and buy a swap that would fix the total payment at something lower than what they'd pay in the fixed-rate market?… There was a slight problem with the formula, though – one that would cause tremendous grief later on. Changes in the variable rate bonds were almost always tied to an index of actual municipal bond transactions compiled by the U.S.-based Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Changes in the swaps, on the other hand, were tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), which is set by the British Bankers Association based on reported rates from global banks. If Libor moved lower at a faster pace than SIFMA, government agencies' hedge would come up short… The revelations sparked a major class action lawsuit filed earlier this year by the city of Baltimore, which entered into dozens of swap-based municipal bond contracts in the past decade that were tied to Libor. The suit accused more than a dozen financial institutions involved in setting Libor rates of engaging in a systematic conspiracy that resulted in "hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in ill-gotten gains." "Just about every jurisdiction in the U.S. was affected," said Michael Hausfeld, one of the attorneys representing Baltimore. "It affected hedge funds, money market investors, institutional investors. The total losses could exceed tens of billions of dollars." The additional losses from misreported Libor rates only exacerbated what had already become an exceedingly bad deal for public agencies. Most swaps contracts included large cancellation fees. In a falling interest rate environment where long-term tax-exempt bond rates have fallen to well below 4 percent, it became prohibitively expensive for governments to refinance floating rate debt that had been fixed via the swaps contracts at 5 percent or more.
So just bear in mind that the efforts to depict state and local governments as profligate are in some cases an effort to divert attention from Wall Street’s hand in their financial distress. By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Testosterone Pit. Municipal bond investors, a conservative bunch who want to avoid rollercoaster rides and cliffhangers, are getting frazzled. And they're bailing out of muni bond funds at record rate, while they still can without losing their shirts. So far this year, they have yanked out $52.8 billion. In the third quarter alone, as yields were soaring on the Fed's taper cacophony and as bond values were swooning, net outflows from muni funds reached $32 billion, which according to Thomson Reuters, was more than during any whole year. Muni investors have a lot to be frazzled about. Municipal bonds used to be considered a safe investment – though that may have been propaganda more than anything else. Munis are exempt from federal income taxes, hence their attractiveness to conservative investors in high tax brackets. Munis packaged into bond funds appealed to those looking for a convenient way to spread the risk over numerous municipalities and states. While the Fed was repressing rates, muni bond funds were great deals. Then came the bankruptcies. The precursor was Vallejo, CA, a Bay Area city of 115,000 that filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in 2008 and emerged two years ago. But it's already struggling again with soaring pension costs that had been left untouched. Jefferson County, which includes Alabama's largest city, Birmingham, filed in 2011 when it defaulted on $3.1 billion in sewer bonds, the largest municipal bankruptcy at the time [but it's already issuing new bonds; read..... Municipal Bankruptcy? Why Not! And so The Floodgates Open]. Stockton, CA, filed in June 2012. Mammoth Lakes, CA, filed in July 2012. San Bernardino, CA, filed in August 2012. They were dropping like flies in the "Golden State." Detroit filed in July this year, crushing all prior records with its debt of up to $20 billion. That's $28,000 per person for its population of 700,000. But Detroit is just a fraction of what is skittering toward muni investors: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The poverty rate is 45.6%. Unemployment is 14.7%. The economy has been in recession since 2006. The labor force has shrunk 16% from 1.42 million in 2007 to 1.19 million in October. The number of working people, over the same period, has plunged from 1.8 million to 1.1 million, a breathtaking 39%. Puerto Rico had a good run for decades as federal tax breaks lured Corporate America to set up shop there. But when these tax breaks were phased out by 2005, the companies went in search for the greener grass elsewhere. To keep splurging, the government embarked on a borrowing binge that left the now lovingly named "Greece of the Caribbean" with nearly $70 billion in debt. That's 70% of GDP, and for its population of 3.67 million, about $19,000 per capita, or about $64,000 per working person. And then there is the underfunded pension system. But unlike Detroit, Puerto Rico is struggling to address its problems with unpopular measures, raising all manner of taxes and cutting outlays. Not even the bloated government payrolls have been spared. Too little, too late? Given the enormous poverty rate and long-term shrinking employment, what are the chances that this debt will blow up? Pretty good, according to Moody's Investors Service. Last week, it put $52 billion of Puerto Rico's debt under review for a downgrade – to junk. Moody's litany of factors: "Failure to access the public debt market with a long-term borrowing, declines in liquidity, financial underperformance in coming months, economic indicators in coming months that point to a further downturn in the economy, inability of government to achieve needed reform of the Teachers' Retirement System." This followed a similar move by Fitch Ratings in November. Alas, Puerto Rico has swaps and debt covenants with collateral and acceleration provisions that kick in when one of the three major credit ratings agencies issues the threatened downgrade. Which "could result in liquidity demands of up to $1 billion," explained Moody's analyst Lisa Heller. It would "significantly narrow remaining net liquid assets." Now Puerto Rico is under pressure to show that over the next three months or so it can still access the bond markets at a reasonable rate. If not…. Puerto Rico's debt was a muni bond fund favorite because it's exempt from state and federal taxes. Now fears of a default on $52 billion or more in debt are cascading through the $3.7 trillion muni market. But Puerto Rico isn't alone. Numerous municipalities and some states have ventured out on thinner and thinner ice. Default risks are dark clouds on the distant horizon or remain unimaginable beyond the horizon. And hopes that disaster can be averted by a miracle still rule the day. However, the Fed's taper cacophony is here and now, and though the Fed is still printing money and buying paper at full speed, the possibility that it might not always do so hangs like a malodorous emanation in the air. Taper talk and bankruptcies are a toxic mix for munis. Now add the lure of stocks that have become the official risk-free investment vehicle with guaranteed double-digit rates of return for all years to come. So muni-fund investors, tired of losing money, are seeking refuge in stocks. This has pressured munis further. The Bank of America Merrill Lynch master municipal index has dropped 2.8% and, unless a miracle happens, will end the year in the red. A first since 2008. Its index of bonds with maturities of at least 22 years has skidded almost 6% – though the Fed hasn't even begun to taper. The Fed's easy money policies over the decades encouraged borrowing binges by municipalities and states. When the hot air hissed out of history's greatest credit bubble in 2008, the Fed's remedy, its ingenious QE and zero-interest-rate policies, blew an even greater credit bubble – kudos! As that credit bubble transitions from full bloom to whatever comes afterwards, the plight of muni bond funds is just the beginning.  | | More ETF Gold at Risk Sub-$1200 Says BarCap as #1 Holdings Hit 5-Year Low Posted: 17 Dec 2013 03:00 AM PST Bullion Vault | | Indian Government to Reconsider Gold Import Limits Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 AM PST "I'm not too sure what to read into yesterday's price action" ¤ Yesterday In Gold & Silver The gold price didn't do a lot for most of the trading day in the Far East on their Monday, but shortly after 3 p.m. Hong Kong time, the price began to sag a bit, hitting its low of the day shortly before 10 a.m. in London. From there it rallied until noon GMT, and the chopped sideways until at, or just after, the London p.m. gold fix. The rally that began at that point made it to its high of the day around 12:15 p.m. in New York. The rally got capped at that point---and from there sold off quietly into the 4 p.m. close of the equity markets before trading sideways into the 5:15 p.m. EST electronic close. The low and high ticks were recorded by the CME as $1,227.20 and $1,251.70 in the February contract. Gold closed the Monday session at $1,240.70 spot, obviously well of its high. Net volume was 126,000 contracts. If yesterday's rally was short covering, my guess is that it ran into resistance from the usual suspects.  The silver price chart looked similar to the gold price chart, except for the fact that the rally in silver that began shortly after the 11 a.m EST London close, was far more substantial than the rally in gold that took place at the same time. The high for silver came at the same time as the high for gold---at 12:15 p.m. in New York. After that, silver got sold back down below the $20 spot price mark again, giving up over half of its gains by the close.. The low and high tick in silver was $19.445 and $20.29 in the March contract. Silver closed at $19.965 spot, up 28.5 cents from Friday's close. Net volume was very decent at 39,500 contracts.  Platinum was under some selling pressure on Monday, and it's low came at the London p.m. gold fix as well. The price recovered a bit into the close, but still finished down on the day by a few dollars. Palladium didn't do much, but spiked down to its low an hour before platinum and then recovered to finish unchanged. Here are the charts.   I had a Christmas/social function to attend last night, so that's why the Kitco charts posted above aren't updated as of midnight EST. The dollar index closed late Friday afternoon in New York at 80.18---and began to head lower almost as soon as trading began at 6 p.m. EST in New York on Sunday evening. The low tick of 79.94 came shortly before 12:30 p.m. GMT in London, but it appeared that there was someone there to catch a falling knife---and the dollar rallied almost back to unchanged by the close, finishing the Monday trading session at 80.11---down seven basis points. Here's the two-day chart that includes the Sunday night open in New York.  The gold stocks pretty much mirrored the price action in the metal itself---and the HUI finished up 0.89%.  The price action in the silver equities was somewhat similar, but the shares topped out just before the silver price hit its high. From there they chopped a bit lower into the close. Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up 1.18%.  The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 526 gold and 15 silver contracts were posted for delivery tomorrow within the Comex-approved depositories. In gold, the only short/issuer worth mentioning was Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia with 491 contracts---and it nearly goes without saying that the only long/stopper of note was JPMorgan Chase with 509 contracts in it's in-house [proprietary] trading account. In silver, the 15 contracts were stopped by JPMorgan and Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia. The 10 contracts that JPM is taking delivery of, were in its in-house [proprietary] trading account as usual. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here. GLD took another big hit yesterday as an authorized participant withdrew 279,724 troy ounces---and as of 7:46 p.m. EST yesterday evening, there were no reported changes in SLV. Even though yesterday was Monday, a day when the U.S. Mint usually has a sales report, nothing was reported sold on their website. Over at the Comex-approved depositories on Friday, it was a fairly busy day for gold, as 96,286 troy ounces were reported received---but only 1,993 troy ounces were shipped out. And, for the fourth day in a row, JPMorgan Chase took precisely two metric tonnes of kilobars into its eligible account---2,000 one kilogram gold bars. The link to that activity is here. It was busy in silver as well, as 600,148 troy ounces were reported shipped in, and 205,649 troy ounces were shipped out. The big receipt went into Brink's, Inc. The link to that action is here. Since it's Tuesday, I have a fair number of stories for you today---and I'll leave the final edit up to you. ¤ Critical Reads Gretchen Morgenson: Wake Up the Banking Police The Volcker Rule has landed. Will the United States financial system be safer and sounder as a result? That’s the goal, after all, of the almost 1,000-page document approved by banking, securities and commodities regulators last week. Years in the making, the rule is supposed to reduce the risks that a major bank will have to be rescued by taxpayers if some of its bets go bad. The rule, named for Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Board chairman, was supposed to be the 21st century’s answer to the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that separated investment banks from their commercial brethren. To at least one financial historian, the emergence of the new rule last week was momentous. As a result, Professor Sylla said, “the financial system should become more responsible and safer.” Let’s hope so.
This commentary was posted on The New York Times website on Saturday...and I thank Phil Barlett for today's first story.  Stern Words for Wall Street's Watchdogs, From a Judge It used to be common for the federal government to prosecute prominent people responsible for debacles that rattled the financial system. Michael R. Milken, the junk bond artist, went to prison in 1991; Charles H. Keating Jr., the face of the savings and loan crisis, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud in 1999; and it looks like Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executive of Enron, will be in prison until 2017. And what of the recent financial crisis? The statute of limitations on most plausible charges is running out, and it seems there will not be a single prosecution of a prominent figure in the entire mess. Judge Jed S. Rakoff wants to know why. In a blistering essay in the issue of The New York Review of Books that arrives this week, he argues that the Justice Department has failed in its rudimentary responsibilities, offering excuses instead of action. This is the second article from The New York Times in a row, but this one was from yesterday. It's the second offering of the day from Phil Barlett...and it definitely worth reading.  udge Rules NSA's "Indiscriminate and Arbitrary" Invasion of Privacy: Likely Unconstitutional A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely to be unconstitutional. As Politico reports, Judge Richard Leon blasted, "I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval." This is the first significant legal setback for the NSA’s surveillance program since Edward Snowden exposed it. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called metadata had helped to head off terrorist attacks. “Plaintiffs have a very significant expectation of privacy in an aggregated collection of their telephone metadata covering the last five years, and the NSA’s Bulk Telephony Metadata Program significantly intrudes on that expectation,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. “I have significant doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism.” This news item was posted on the Zero Hedge website early yesterday afternoon EST...and it's the first offering of the day from Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx. I also received another version of this story from Roy Stephens. It was posed on the businessinsider.com Internet site late yesterday afternoon EST...and the link to that one is here. [Note: The ZH website was down at 5:01 a.m. EST this morning, so I wasn't able to check the link to this story. Hopefully it works OK. - Ed] Officials Say U.S. May Never Know Extent of Snowden's Leaks Investigators remain in the dark about the extent of the data breach partly because the N.S.A. facility in Hawaii where Mr. Snowden worked — unlike other N.S.A. facilities — was not equipped with up-to-date software that allows the spy agency to monitor which corners of its vast computer landscape its employees are navigating at any given time. Six months since the investigation began, officials said Mr. Snowden had further covered his tracks by logging into classified systems using the passwords of other security agency employees, as well as by hacking firewalls installed to limit access to certain parts of the system. “They’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours trying to reconstruct everything he has gotten, and they still don’t know all of what he took,” a senior administration official said. “I know that seems crazy, but everything with this is crazy.” This amazing news item was posted on The New York Times website on Sunday sometime...and its worth the read. I thank Roy Stephens for sending it.  New York Post: Inside the Saudi 9/11 coverup After the 9/11 attacks, the public was told al Qaeda acted alone, with no state sponsors. But the White House never let it see an entire section of Congress’ investigative report on 9/11 dealing with “specific sources of foreign support” for the 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals. It was kept secret and remains so today. President Bush inexplicably censored 28 full pages of the 800-page report. Text isn’t just blacked-out here and there in this critical-yet-missing middle section. The pages are completely blank, except for dotted lines where an estimated 7,200 words once stood (this story by comparison is about 1,000 words). A pair of lawmakers who recently read the redacted portion say they are “absolutely shocked” at the level of foreign state involvement in the attacks. It's worse than that, as it's my opinion that 9/11 was an inside job. This commentary was posted on the nypost.com Internet site on Sunday...and it's certainly worth reading. I thank reader M.A. for bringing it to our attention.  Bank of England's Mark Carney sees shadow banking in emerging markets as biggest global risk Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned that the global financial crisis is rotating from West to East, with shadow banking excesses in emerging markets now posing the biggest threat to the international economy. Mr Carney said the world is still suffering the effects of the credit bubble five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers but the epicentre of stress has shifted. "The last financial crisis in the advanced countries is finished. The greatest risk is the parallel banking sector in the big developing countries," he said. "That is why it is necessary to push through reforms not only in the advanced countries, but also in the emerging countries at the same time," he said, speaking in French after a meeting at the French Treasury in Paris. The warning comes as jitters over bond tapering by the US Federal Reserve lead to fresh strains in the currencies and bonds of the most vulnerable emerging market states, led by sell-offs in India. Mr Carney did not name any particular country but analysts said he was clearly referring to China, where a surge in off-books banking over the past year has accounted for roughly half of all credit growth. This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard commentary was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late Friday afternoon GMT...and it's another offering from Roy Stephens.  Complaint to EU: German Banks Try to Torpedo Transaction Taxes Germany's banks have launched a campaign against new financial transaction taxes introduced by France and Italy. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, six leading German financial industry groups have lodged an official complaint with the European Commission against both countries. The taxes are "a breach of European law," according to two confidential, almost identical letters dated Sept. 23 that SPIEGEL ONLINE has seen. The groups are headed by all the relevant business associations of the German financial sector, including the savings and cooperative banks and the investment fund industry. They also include the Federal Association of Public Banks, which represents state-owned promotional banks and the regional Landesbanken.
The banks have been fighting the introduction of a financial transactions tax for years. European governments want the tax to recoup some of the billions of euros they spent on various bank bailout programs. The European financial transaction tax that Germany plans to introduce together with France, Italy and eight other EU member states could end up being especially expensive for the banks.
This story was posted on the German website spiegel.de yesterday afternoon Europe time...and my thanks go out to Roy Stephens once again.  Senator McCain, interventionism's 'Energizer Bunny' If there are U.S.-backed groups anywhere seeking the overthrow of their government, you will find John McCain in their midst. He is the Energizer Bunny of interventionism. Fresh off his trip to Libya, where he was granted an award by the military on the same day the Libyan parliament declared Sharia law, McCain was this weekend on the streets of Kiev. McCain walked among the protestors, giving encouragement to those who have occupied and trashed government buildings in attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government. “I am proud of what the people of Ukraine are doing,” he said. Of course, when peaceful antiwar protesters showed up at McCain’s own Senate office in 2007, he promptly had them arrested. This op-ed piece by Daniel McAdams, who is Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, was posted on the Russia Today website yesterday morning Moscow time...and is certainly worth reading if your a student of the New Great Game. I thank South African reader B.V. for bringing it to my attention, and now to yours Maintaining Russian Power: How Putin Outfoxed the West President Vladimir Putin has led this country for the last 14 years, but 2013 has been his most successful year yet. Forbes has just placed him at the top of its list of the world's most powerful people, noting that he had "solidified his control over Russia." According to the magazine, Putin has replaced US President Barack Obama in the top spot because the Russian leader has gained the upper hand over his counterpart in Washington in the context of several conflicts and scandals. Indeed, at the moment, Putin seems to be succeeding at everything he does. In September, he convinced Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control. In doing so, he averted an American military strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and made Obama look like an impotent global policeman. In late July, Putin ignored American threats and granted temporary asylum to US whistleblower Edward Snowden, a move that stirred up tensions within the Western camp. The Germans and the French were also outraged over Washington's surveillance practices. This very interesting, but longish 3-page essay was posted on the spiegel.de website yesterday afternoon. It's certainly falls into the must read category, especially for all students of the New Great Game. It's yet another contribution from Roy Stephens. Bank of England's Mark Carney sees shadow banking in emerging markets as biggest global risk Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 AM PST Bank of England's Mark Carney sees shadow banking in emerging markets as biggest global risk Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned that the global financial crisis is rotating from West to East, with shadow banking excesses in emerging markets now posing the biggest threat to the international economy. Mr Carney said the world is still suffering the effects of the credit bubble five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers but the epicentre of stress has shifted. "The last financial crisis in the advanced countries is finished. The greatest risk is the parallel banking sector in the big developing countries," he said. "That is why it is necessary to push through reforms not only in the advanced countries, but also in the emerging countries at the same time," he said, speaking in French after a meeting at the French Treasury in Paris. The warning comes as jitters over bond tapering by the US Federal Reserve lead to fresh strains in the currencies and bonds of the most vulnerable emerging market states, led by sell-offs in India. Mr Carney did not name any particular country but analysts said he was clearly referring to China, where a surge in off-books banking over the past year has accounted for roughly half of all credit growth. This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard commentary was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late Friday afternoon GMT...and it's another offering from Roy Stephens. | | Nine King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 AM PST | | Alasdair Macleod: Value vs. momentum and the gold price Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 AM PST  Alasdair Macleod: Value vs. momentum and the gold price While the gold market increasingly is portrayed as a struggle between value buyers in the East and momentum traders in the West, economist and former banker Alasdair Macleod writes that the struggle will be decided mainly by Western central bankers when they stop emptying their vaults to fill the gap between mine production and demand.
Macleod's commentary is posted at GoldMoney's Internet site...and it falls into the must read category. I found this embedded in a GATA release on Sunday.
| | Alasdair Macleod: FOMC, taper talk, and the gold price Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 AM PST Alasdair Macleod: FOMC, taper talk, and the gold price GoldMoney research director Alasdair Macleod predicts that the Federal Reserve won't be "tapering" its bond purchases just yet. He also sees evidence that European central banks have increased their gold leasing to stabilize their bond markets.
This second commentary from Alasdair was posted on the goldmoney.com Internet site yesterday...and it's also very much worth reading. I found this one on the gata.org Internet site yesterday. | | Smuggling, politics pushing Indian government to reconsider gold import limits Posted: 17 Dec 2013 02:23 AM PST  Smuggling, politics pushing Indian government to reconsider gold import limits Gold buyers and the trade may soon have reason for cheer. The tough restrictions on the metal's imports could be eased following a dramatic improvement in the current account deficit and an unintended consequence of the curbs -- a rise in smuggling. "A review of the duty structure and the measures to restrict exports is expected by this month end," a finance ministry official said. Economists support relaxation of the measures. "The government and the central bank have already begun to unwind steps that were taken to address the high current account deficit and sharp rupee depreciation. This is the right time to begin steps to contain gold imports," said DK Joshi, chief economist for Crisil. But it should be done in a calibrated manner to prevent any shock to the system, Joshi said. The rest of this story, filed from Delhi, was posted on the Economic Times of India website early Sunday morning IST...and it's another news item that I found in a GATA release from yesterday. It's worth reading as well. | |
In this excerpt, precious metals market analyst Ted Butler describes an important evolution going on in the gold market. It has the potential to become a game changer. Although a continuation of this trend is required, it is an encouraging sign for precious metals bulls. This article was published in Ted Butler’s latest newsletter to its premium subscribers.
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