Gold World News Flash |
- Louise Yamada - Still Bullish Gold & Silver, Not Stocks
- Turning Milk Cows Into Beef Cows
- Unrestrained Bullishness for Gold and Silver
- Asian Metals Market Update
- James Turk: The Swiss National Bank gives up
- Gold Price Closed Today at 1,776.40 Down -35.70 or -2.0%
- 30 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is About To Go Into The Toilet
- How to Spot the Triggers of a Socioeconomic Collapse
- Get Ready for Gold and Silver Christmas Rally
- Decade of Deception 3
- Siemens shelters up to E6 billion at ECB
- Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall While Dollar Gains
- Venezuelan government will claim all domestic gold production
- China reported likely to keep buying U.S. debt
- China Pulls The Rug From Under Europe, Halts French Bank Transactions, Makes Good On Trade War Ultimatum
- Trader Dan Norcini: Gold chart and comments
- Why Was Congress Forced To Subpoena Head Of Obama's Budget Office To Get Info On Solyndra?
- Why Was Congress Forced To Subpoena Head Of Obama's Budget Office To Get Info On Solyndra?
- Dutch Socialist Party puts gold questions to treasury
- How Far Can Gold and Silver Climb?
- LBMA 2011: Asia, Mining & Pierre Lassondes "Explosive" Finale
- Gold And Silver Continue Consolidating Before The Next Upleg
- Harvey Organ's: The Daily Gold & Silver Report
- Navigating the Tricky Seas of Russian-American Energy Collaboration
- Gold chart and comments
- Perfect Storm Creates Tidal Wave of Gold Demand
- Guest Post: The Folly of Misspent Optimism: Generation Neutral
- Awaiting the Eventual Return of the Rare Earths Market
- Rare Earths and Dim Bulbs
- Chart Lab
| Louise Yamada - Still Bullish Gold & Silver, Not Stocks Posted: 19 Sep 2011 07:20 PM PDT I would add I think the action in the bond market is indicating a very serious global situation, the fact that you have bond rates falling like this.
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| Turning Milk Cows Into Beef Cows Posted: 19 Sep 2011 06:06 PM PDT We are now entering the final stages of the collapse of the western financial system and the democracies and nation-states themselves. Faced with soaring deficits the western governments have been thrashing around looking at any possible way to stay alive a little longer as their tax milk cows become tapped out.
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| Unrestrained Bullishness for Gold and Silver Posted: 19 Sep 2011 06:05 PM PDT James West has gone from writing the audacious and controversial newsletter Midas Letter to raising over $1 billion for a series of funds called Midas Letter Funds based in Luxembourg. The Gold Report caught up with James in Colorado Springs at the Denver Gold Forum, where he was searching for quality companies to include in his next newsletter. He agreed to sit down with us to find out how this juggernaut of rapid financial evolution came about, and where it is heading next.
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| Posted: 19 Sep 2011 06:01 PM PDT Gold's successive higher base is getting lower after failure to break past $1850 which suggests that gold can fall to $1752 and $1680 in short term very quickly. Anyways the movement after the Federal Reserve meeting is the key for gold as it set the trend for October.
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| James Turk: The Swiss National Bank gives up Posted: 19 Sep 2011 05:57 PM PDT 1:51p HKT Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: With the devaluation of the Swiss franc, the world's last "safe haven" currency has disappeared, Free Gold Money Report editor James Turk writes this week. But Turk, founder of GoldMoney and consultant to GATA, adds that the Swiss franc actually has been devaluing against gold for a long time, along with all the other major currencies. Turk's commentary is headlined "The Swiss National Bank Gives Up" and you can find it at the Free Gold Money Report Internet site here: http://www.fgmr.com/swiss-national-bank-gives-up.html CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Zacks Starts Coverage of Golden Phoenix with 'Outperform' Rating Friday, September 9, 2011 SPARKS, Nevada -- Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM) announced today that Zacks Investment Research has initiated coverage of the company with a comprehensive report giving a rating of "outperform." The Zacks report provides information about the company's business model, its royalty mining growth strategy, recent acquisitions, drilling plans, and gold production. The report is available at the Golden Phoenix Internet site here: http://goldenphoenix.us/pdf/GPXM_InitiationReport.pdf Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. is a Nevada-based mining company whose focus is royalty mining in the Americas. Golden Phoenix is committed to delivering shareholder value by identifying, acquiring, developing, and joint-venturing gold, silver, and strategic metal deposits. Golden Phoenix owns, has an interest in, or has entered agreements with respect to mineral properties in the United States, Canada, Panama, and Peru, including the company's 30 percent interest in the Mineral Ridge gold project near Silver Peak, Nevada. Please visit the Golden Phoenix Internet site here: For the company's full announcement of the coverage by Zacks, please visit: http://goldenphoenix.us/press-release/zacks-investment-research-initiate... Join GATA here: The Silver Summit http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48 New Orleans Investment Conference http://www.neworleansconference.com/ Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins: https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12 Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Platinum Drills 49.5 Meters Grading 1.27 g/t PGM+Au at Yukon Wellgreen Project Company Press Release Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces results from its 2011 drilling program for its first completed hole on the Wellgreen Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Borehole WS11-184 encountered 472.6 meters of mineralization grading 0.43% nickel equivalent from surface to the footwall contact. Within this larger swath of mineralization the hole encountered 49.5 meters of 1.27 grams per ton platinum group metals plus gold, 0.71% nickel, and 0.45% copper (or 1.11% nickel equivalent). The geology transitioned from blebby disseminated to net-textured to massive sulphide approaching the footwall contact grading 6.3% nickel, 1.7% copper, 2.7 grams per ton platinum, 1.6 grams per ton palladium, 0.17 grams per ton gold, and 3.4 grams per ton silver. The drilling zones and results are tabulated here, with more information: http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2011_aug22_prophecy_platinum_wellgreen_...
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| Gold Price Closed Today at 1,776.40 Down -35.70 or -2.0% Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:52 PM PDT Gold Price Close Today : 1,776.40 Change : -35.70 or -2.0% Silver Price Close Today : 39.11 Change : -1.67 or -4.3% Platinum Price Close Today : 1,772.00 Change : -41.90 or -2.4% Palladium Price Close Today : 710.35 Change : -20.85 or -2.9% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 45.42 Change : 0.98 or 1.02% Dow Industrial : 11,509.09 Change : 75.91 or 0.7% US Dollar Index : 76.60 Change : 0.36 or 0.5% Important Note: Franklin Sanders commentary will be updated here shortly 
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| 30 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is About To Go Into The Toilet Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:51 PM PDT from The Economic Collapse Blog:
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
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| How to Spot the Triggers of a Socioeconomic Collapse Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:46 PM PDT by Fernando Ferfal Aguirre, SHTFPlan.com: An economic collapse in many ways is similar to the decline of an empire regarding how complex it is to prepare for it. Unlike defined disasters, natural ones like Katrina or man-made, there's no clear beginning to it. It is a complex, multilevel event that in some aspects may have a clear trigger or milestone (such as defaulting or bank holidays) but on other aspects it may have been cooking slowly through inflation and unemployment for months, even years. Certain economic events may be easy to pinpoint, but how does unemployment affect people, when will this cause an increase in crime, or affect me directly leaving me without income? When will crime stop being only a factor related to the harsh economy and also be influenced in terms of how violent it becomes due to social hatred because of social polarization? Then there's also the consideration that it may have been affecting people in different ways based on socioeconomic level and location in the country. Calling such a situation complex is an understatement.
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| Get Ready for Gold and Silver Christmas Rally Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:41 PM PDT by Peter Degraaf, MarketOracle.co.uk: During 18 of the last 22 years, gold has rallied between US Labor Day and Christmas. Will the pattern this year follow the historical pattern? We will analyze the fundamentals, look at some charts and try to draw a conclusion. The charts in this report are courtesy Stockcharts.com unless indicated. First a quote by President Andrew Jackson: "Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits among yourselves, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out." (Spoken to a delegation of bankers requesting the extension of the 1832 Bank Renewal Act). Several news items during the past ten days were very bullish for gold. The first was an announcement by the Swiss National Bank that they were planning to buy Euros with Swiss Francs. This action effectively removes the Swiss Franc as a convenient alternative to gold, and it moves the SNB into the camp of the money printers. Read More @ MarketOracle.co.uk
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| Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:20 PM PDT YouTuber 'BigDad06' interviews Silver Shield (aka. Chris Duane), founder of the Sons of Liberty Academy, and operator of the popular blog, Dont-Tread-On.Me. They speak about parts 3 & 4 of Chris' "A Decade of Denial and Deception" 4 part article. Click Here for Part 1. Click Here for Part 2.
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| Siemens shelters up to E6 billion at ECB Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:05 PM PDT By Daniel Schafer, Chris Bryant, and Ralph Atkins http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/dca4cc08-e096-11e0-bd01-00144feabdc0.html Siemens withdrew more than half a billion euros in cash deposits from a large French bank two weeks ago and transferred it to the European Central Bank in a sign of how companies are seeking havens amid Europe's sovereign debt crisis. The German industrial group withdrew the money partly because of concerns about the financial health of the bank and partly to benefit from higher interest rates paid by the ECB, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times. In total, Siemens has parked between E4 billion ($5.4 billion) and E6 billion at the ECB's facilities, mostly through one-week deposits, this person said. Only a handful of large companies have the banking licences that allow them to deposit cash directly with the ECB. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Platinum Drills 49.5 Meters Grading 1.27 g/t PGM+Au at Yukon Wellgreen Project Company Press Release Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces results from its 2011 drilling program for its first completed hole on the Wellgreen Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Borehole WS11-184 encountered 472.6 meters of mineralization grading 0.43% nickel equivalent from surface to the footwall contact. Within this larger swath of mineralization the hole encountered 49.5 meters of 1.27 grams per ton platinum group metals plus gold, 0.71% nickel, and 0.45% copper (or 1.11% nickel equivalent). The geology transitioned from blebby disseminated to net-textured to massive sulphide approaching the footwall contact grading 6.3% nickel, 1.7% copper, 2.7 grams per ton platinum, 1.6 grams per ton palladium, 0.17 grams per ton gold, and 3.4 grams per ton silver. The drilling zones and results are tabulated here, with more information: http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2011_aug22_prophecy_platinum_wellgreen_... Siemens' move demonstrates the impact of the eurozone's deepening sovereign debt crisis on confidence in European banks. It was not clear from which bank Siemens withdrew its deposits. A person familiar with BNP Paribas said, however, that it was not the bank involved. Siemens and the ECB declined to comment. The company's move came almost a year after Europe's largest engineering conglomerate prepared itself for a future financial crisis by launching its own bank, an unusual move for an industrial group outside the car sector, where companies run big car financing and leasing businesses. In an interview last December, Roland Chalons-Browne, chief executive of Siemens' financial services unit, said its banking business would enable the group to tap the central bank for liquidity and deposit cash at the ECB. "In the case of another financial crisis, we will be able to broaden our flexibility and take out risk with our own bank," Mr Chalons-Browne said at the time. Siemens does not only use the ECB as a haven; it also gets paid a slightly higher interest rate than it would get from a commercial bank. The ECB paid an average interest rate last week of 1.01 per cent for its regular offers of one-week deposits, under which it withdraws from the financial system an amount of liquidity equivalent to the amount it has spent on eurozone government bonds. That compares with an average overnight interest rate paid by eurozone banks of 0.95 per cent. Join GATA here: The Silver Summit http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48 New Orleans Investment Conference http://www.neworleansconference.com/ Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins: https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12 Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall While Dollar Gains Posted: 19 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT Gold climbed $14.74 to $1826.64 by a little before 4AM EST, but it then fell back off in New York and ended near its late session low of $1770.84 with a loss of 1.98%. Silver slumped to as low as $38.962 and ended with a loss of 3.69%.
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| Venezuelan government will claim all domestic gold production Posted: 19 Sep 2011 03:52 PM PDT Chavez Decrees Nationalization of Gold Industry Amid Surging Bullion Price By Nathan Crooks and Corina Rodriguez Pons http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-19/chavez-decrees-nationalization-... CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today ordered the nationalization of the gold industry and gave companies 90 days to form joint ventures with the state as he seeks to boost control over the nation's metals producers. The government will hold at least 55 percent of any joint ventures, according to a decree in today's Official Gazette. The decree sets a royalty rate of 10 percent to 13 percent and says that all Venezuelan gold production will be sold to the state. Chavez first announced the nationalization of the industry and plans to repatriate Venezuela's foreign gold reserves on Aug. 17. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, is forming joint ventures with both state and publicly traded companies to operate mines, including Las Cristinas, which Chavez confiscated from Canada's Crystallex International Corp. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Lewis E. Lehrman on How to Solve the U.S. Debt Problem Lewis E. Lehrman, chairman of the Lehrman Institute, sponsor of The Gold Standard Now project, advises that to reduce the $1 1/2 trillion U.S. deficit, the Republican Party must initiate an investment program. Working Americans are not saving, which enables the banks to lead the country into a cycle of debt, leverage, boom, panic, and bust. Lehrman says: Eliminating the budget deficit of a trillion and a half dollars cannot be done overnight. The proposal by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan was very dramatic -- one Republican called it radical -- but it was not happily received. The solution, of course, is to design an American program for prosperity, because you can solve these entitlement problems with a growing economy. We need a tremendous program of investment, and investment comes from savings. When you pay savers, middle-income professionals, and working people 0 percent at the bank, you are not going to encourage them to save. Then we are left with a bank cycle of debt, leverage, boom, panic, and bust." To read more and to sign up for The Gold Standard Now's free, noncommercial, weekly report, "Prosperity through Gold," please visit: http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/gata "The government will have a monopoly of gold production and sales," according to the decree. "All the gold that is produced from mining operations in national territory will be turned over to the Republic." Rusoro Mining Ltd., a Vancouver-based company that produces 100,000 ounces a year of gold, said on Aug. 30 that it would transfer its assets to a joint venture controlled by PDVSA, as the Caracas-based company is called. Venezuela produces 11 metric tons of gold a year, and illegal miners extract an additional 10 to 11 tons a year, Chavez said in May. Chavez, who is currently in Cuba being treated for an undisclosed type of cancer, on Sept. 17 approved $130 million of new funding for the country's state mining holding company, Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana. The funds will be used to pay salaries and overtime owed to workers, many of whom have been participating in strikes in recent months, the ministry of mining and basic industries said in a statement today. "It's clear that the mining industry is not producing any dividends for the state at the moment," Chavez said on Sept. 17. Of 18 arbitration cases pending against Venezuela in the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, at least three of them are mining ventures, including Crystallex's claim for almost $4 billion. Gold Reserve Inc., a Spokane, Washington-based mining company, is seeking $2.1 billion in damages after its Las Brisas gold and copper project was seized in May 2008. The South American country, in an effort to boost stalled production and take advantage of rising prices, last year relaxed restrictions on gold exports to allow some companies and joint ventures with the government to send as much as 50 percent of their output abroad. Join GATA here: Toronto Resource Investment Conference http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/toronto-resource-investment... The Silver Summit http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48 New Orleans Investment Conference http://www.neworleansconference.com/ Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins: https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12 Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| China reported likely to keep buying U.S. debt Posted: 19 Sep 2011 03:42 PM PDT By Zhou Xin and Kevin Yao http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/20/us-china-us-treasuries-idUSTRE... BEIJING -- China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, will keep buying U.S. Treasuries, the official People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece, reported on Tuesday, citing government researchers. In an article about the reasons for China's increased purchase of U.S. Treasuries, the newspaper cited Yan Xiaona, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that the dollar "is relatively safer than the euro" because of the unfolding sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Yan was quoted as saying that dollar-denominated assets remained attractive for investors around the globe. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Zacks Starts Coverage of Golden Phoenix with 'Outperform' Rating Friday, September 9, 2011 SPARKS, Nevada -- Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM) announced today that Zacks Investment Research has initiated coverage of the company with a comprehensive report giving a rating of "outperform." The Zacks report provides information about the company's business model, its royalty mining growth strategy, recent acquisitions, drilling plans, and gold production. The report is available at the Golden Phoenix Internet site here: http://goldenphoenix.us/pdf/GPXM_InitiationReport.pdf Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. is a Nevada-based mining company whose focus is royalty mining in the Americas. Golden Phoenix is committed to delivering shareholder value by identifying, acquiring, developing, and joint-venturing gold, silver, and strategic metal deposits. Golden Phoenix owns, has an interest in, or has entered agreements with respect to mineral properties in the United States, Canada, Panama, and Peru, including the company's 30 percent interest in the Mineral Ridge gold project near Silver Peak, Nevada. Please visit the Golden Phoenix Internet site here: For the company's full announcement of the coverage by Zacks, please visit: http://goldenphoenix.us/press-release/zacks-investment-research-initiate... Wang Chaocai, a Ministry of Finance researcher, was quoted as saying that "what else can we buy if not U.S. Treasuries? It's more risky to buy into equities." China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the agency that manages China's $3.2 trillion foreign exchange reserves, is under pressure to accelerate the diversification of the world's largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves. The details of China's reserve is a state secret, but independent economists estimate that two-thirds of the reserves are in dollar-denominated assets. Zhu Ying, a university professor in Shanghai, was quoted by the People's Daily as saying that China could hold up to $3 trillion in U.S. treasuries in its reserves by 2015. The Silver Summit http://cambridgehouse.com/conference-details/the-silver-summit-2011/48 New Orleans Investment Conference http://www.neworleansconference.com/ Support GATA by purchasing gold and silver commemorative coins: https://www.amsterdamgold.eu/gata/index.asp?BiD=12 Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Platinum Drills 49.5 Meters Grading 1.27 g/t PGM+Au at Yukon Wellgreen Project Company Press Release Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces results from its 2011 drilling program for its first completed hole on the Wellgreen Project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. Borehole WS11-184 encountered 472.6 meters of mineralization grading 0.43% nickel equivalent from surface to the footwall contact. Within this larger swath of mineralization the hole encountered 49.5 meters of 1.27 grams per ton platinum group metals plus gold, 0.71% nickel, and 0.45% copper (or 1.11% nickel equivalent). The geology transitioned from blebby disseminated to net-textured to massive sulphide approaching the footwall contact grading 6.3% nickel, 1.7% copper, 2.7 grams per ton platinum, 1.6 grams per ton palladium, 0.17 grams per ton gold, and 3.4 grams per ton silver. The drilling zones and results are tabulated here, with more information: http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2011_aug22_prophecy_platinum_wellgreen_...
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| Posted: 19 Sep 2011 03:20 PM PDT A flurry of headlines out of China suggest global macro-economic volatility may be ready to take it to the next level. We discussed last week how China's oh-so-generous offer of help to Europe was merely a veiled threat playing US against Europe in a game of who-gets-the-funding. Well, tonight, it seems, they are making good on some of those threats. Aggravated by EU's lack of market economy recognition, they pull trading lines with French banks, express concern at the EUR's safety (preferring US Treasuries), and indicate a clear preference for bonds over stocks - all the while warning of growing trade tensions - consider the sabre-rattled. Initial comments from Commerce Minister Shen via Bloomberg:
was quickly followed by the 'threat/promise':
and then Reuters reports:
And the piece-de-resistance of the night was, again from Reuters:
Furthermore, as if he had just read our earlier debt vs equity post:
Lastly, for feces and giggles, China Daily just had to throw in the military element with the tongue in cheeky "Backlash expected if US seals arms deal"... It seems that China did not get the answer they wanted from the Europeans and just as we said last week, swung back in favor of the US - TSYs as opposed to stocks. China 3 - Europe 0 - US 1 is the approximate score in this first round perhaps.
UPDATE: The 'game' continues into the night as China's Xinhua News cites absolutely noone when it claims Fitch's bearish stance on China's banking industry has prompted suspicions of a 'conspiracy'. And remember Fitch is French-owned.
and then goes on to comment (via Bloomberg)
and a seemingly well-time rebuttal from Ambassador Locke:
We have lost score now but this rhetoric seems to be gaining pace...
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| Trader Dan Norcini: Gold chart and comments Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:48 PM PDT some selling occuring in gold but more a function of traders raising cash on their losing equity positions by selling their only winner, namely gold.
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| Why Was Congress Forced To Subpoena Head Of Obama's Budget Office To Get Info On Solyndra? Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:30 PM PDT As more developments arise in the Solyndra case, we find the specifics of how it was none other than Jacob Lew, the head of the Office Management Bureau, elsewhere known as the guy who puts together all those forecasts that Obama pulls out of his hat as seeing growth of 3.7% in 2012 here and budget savings of $4 trillion there, got subpoenaed, and not just over anything, but over the deal that is rapidly becoming Obama's Solargate: Solyndra. As a recap: the man who is the "expert" on how the US will get out of its multi-trillion deficit had to be subpoenaed by Congress to explain his secretive actions that ended up most likely harming US taxpayers for reasons still unknown (but not for long), and what is far worse, Congress has to subpoena the head of the OMB because it failed to exercise proper oversight of the stimulus money in the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act... and all this under the tutelage of a White House which recently won an award for Anti-Secrecy....which was present to the president by among other Gary Bass of OMB Watch...And somehow we are expected to believe that fiscal stimulus in America has even a remote chance of being allocated productively (a fatal Keynesian flaw which Andy Lees described earlier) instead of pumping up crony capitalism schemes that enrich vested interests, and which drown in opacity and obscurity over which not even Congress has any supervision? Lew subpoena link here. And where it gets fun is reading through the slides that have been prepared as part of the production for current and future testimony... and believe us, there will be much more future testimony, as republicans have smelled blood shooting straight out of a punctured artery and are now circling around a president who probably doesn't even realize the danger he is in... Full slidedeck:
Combing through some of the production is the fact that the OMB knew precisely and to the dot, way back in August 2009 when Solyndra would run out of cash. From August 19, 2009: "While debt coverage is robust under stress conditions, the project cash balance goes to $62,000.00 in September 2011. Under the assumption that a small amount of cash is tied up in working capital, the project will face a funding shortfall." Also, the fact that the OMB was looking at a shell company that had absolutely no working capital should probably have set off a few alarms: from the same email - "I'm concerned that we still have a major outstanding issue. The attached model represents the Base Case that was utilized by Fitch and the project team. In this version, all working capital assumptions were eliminated, suggesting that Fab2 will hold no A/R, inventory or A/P balances... The issue of working capital assumptions has been a major issue repeatedly raised since December. Furthermore, the assumption of no working capital at the project company is inconsistent with the model we looked at just yesterday and the project team "due diligence update.... In addition to the critical issue above, we have a number of other modeling issues that need to be addressed. For example, as stated yesterday, property taxes don't seem to appear in the model..." Sigh. Only in America... But where it gets downright surreal, is that as we reported previously Imperial Capital has been retained at a $150K/month fee, and seeks to collect a $1 million success and $1 million sale fee (all expenses paid of course, and since they are comped by the taxpayer- they are uncapped: a first in a bankruptcy advisor engagement letter), in order to.... liquidate the company. To wit from an August 27 2009 email exchange: August 279, 2009, 3:10 pm
Reply -> August 27, 2009, 4:20 pm
Reply -> August 27, 2009, 4:31 pm
Something tells us that the judge overseeing the Solyndra Bankruptcy case will be happy to hear that the one possible outcome for the company is a liquidation. If after this Imperial still continues to collect $150,000 a month for over a year as it liquidates a company, a process that adds no value to the estate and can be done for pennies on the dollar by MBA grads, then surely someone else has ridden to their particular top line rescue. There is much more in the docs entered into the record (link). And there will be much more when Lew testifies and brings the whole can of worms of OMB's corrupt business practices (ignoring their horrendous excel track record) into the open. Just how much credibility will anything coming out of the OMB, the organization that is supposedly in charge of quantifying the cost-benefit analysis of America's near brush with austerity and forecasting the consequences of Obama's fiscal decisions, after the Congressional theater is fully done crucifying him? And by implication, the entire administration? h/t John Poehling
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| Why Was Congress Forced To Subpoena Head Of Obama's Budget Office To Get Info On Solyndra? Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:30 PM PDT
As more developments arise in the Solyndra case, we find the specifics of how it was none other than Jacob Lew, the head of the Office Management Bureau, elsewhere known as the guy who puts together all those forecasts that Obama pulls out of his hat as seeing growth of 3.7% in 2012 here and budget savings of $4 trillion there, got subpoenaed, and not just over anything, but over the deal that is rapidly becoming Obama's Solargate: Solyndra. As a recap: the man who is the "expert" on how the US will get out of its multi-trillion deficit had to be subpoenaed by Congress to explain his secretive actions that ended up most likely harming US taxpayers for reasons still unknown (but not for long), and what is far worse, Congress has to subpoena the head of the OMB because it failed to exercise proper oversight of the stimulus money in the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act... and all this under the tutelage of a White House which recently won an award for Anti-Secrecy....which was present to the president by among other Gary Bass of OMB Watch...And somehow we are expected to believe that fiscal stimulus in America has even a remote chance of being allocated productively (a fatal Keynesian flaw which Andy Lees described earlier) instead of pumping up crony capitalism schemes that enrich vested interests, and which drown in opacity and obscurity over which not even Congress has any supervision? Lew subpoena link here. And where it gets fun is reading through the slides that have been prepared as part of the production for current and future testimony... and believe us, there will be much more future testimony, as republicans have smelled blood shooting straight out of a punctured artery and are now circling around a president who probably doesn't even realize the danger he is in... Full slidedeck:
Combing through some of the production is the fact that the OMB knew precisely and to the dot, way back in August 2009 when Solyndra would run out of cash. From August 19, 2009: "While debt coverage is robust under stress conditions, the project cash balance goes to $62,000.00 in September 2011. Under the assumption that a small amount of cash is tied up in working capital, the project will face a funding shortfall." Also, the fact that the OMB was looking at a shell company that had absolutely no working capital should probably have set off a few alarms: from the same email - "I'm concerned that we still have a major outstanding issue. The attached model represents the Base Case that was utilized by Fitch and the project team. In this version, all working capital assumptions were eliminated, suggesting that Fab2 will hold no A/R, inventory or A/P balances... The issue of working capital assumptions has been a major issue repeatedly raised since December. Furthermore, the assumption of no working capital at the project company is inconsistent with the model we looked at just yesterday and the project team "due diligence update.... In addition to the critical issue above, we have a number of other modeling issues that need to be addressed. For example, as stated yesterday, property taxes don't seem to appear in the model..." Sigh. Only in America... But where it gets downright surreal, is that as we reported previously Imperial Capital has been retained at a $150K/month fee, and seeks to collect a $1 million success and $1 million sale fee (all expenses paid of course, and since they are comped by the taxpayer- they are uncapped: a first in a bankruptcy advisor engagement letter), in order to.... liquidate the company. To wit from an August 27 2009 email exchange: August 279, 2009, 3:10 pm
Reply -> August 27, 2009, 4:20 pm
Reply -> August 27, 2009, 4:31 pm
Something tells us that the judge overseeing the Solyndra Bankruptcy case will be happy to hear that the one possible outcome for the company is a liquidation. If after this Imperial still continues to collect $150,000 a month for over a year as it liquidates a company, a process that adds no value to the estate and can be done for pennies on the dollar by MBA grads, then surely someone else has ridden to their particular top line rescue. There is much more in the docs entered into the record (link). And there will be much more when Lew testifies and brings the whole can of worms of OMB's corrupt business practices (ignoring their horrendous excel track record) into the open. Just how much credibility will anything coming out of the OMB, the organization that is supposedly in charge of quantifying the cost-benefit analysis of America's near brush with austerity and forecasting the consequences of Obama's fiscal decisions, after the Congressional theater is fully done crucifying him? And by implication, the entire administration? h/t John Poehling 
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| Dutch Socialist Party puts gold questions to treasury Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:24 PM PDT secretarySubmitted by cpowell on 10:02AM ET Sunday, September 18, 2011. Section: Daily Dispatches 1a HKT Monday, September 19, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: The Netherlands libertarian blog Vrijspreker reported Sunday that the Dutch Socialist Party, with has 15 seats in the Netherlands Parliament, has put to the country's treasury secretary 10 impertinent questions [...] 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How Far Can Gold and Silver Climb? Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:22 PM PDT I think the baked-in-the-cake inflation rooted in insane debt levels & deficit spending will be primary drivers for rising precious metals this decade.
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| LBMA 2011: Asia, Mining & Pierre Lassondes "Explosive" Finale Posted: 19 Sep 2011 01:46 PM PDT Bullion Vault
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| Gold And Silver Continue Consolidating Before The Next Upleg Posted: 19 Sep 2011 12:34 PM PDT Tweet
Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes
The next round of The Great Credit Contraction has started in Europe with Greece in the target sight. While the world scrambles for liquidity capital is burrowing into and oscillating between FRN$ and gold. This consolidation in the gold price and silver price is laying the foundation for the next major up leg.
The 200 DMA acts like gravity on the price of assets allowing for the relative comparison over time which helps to filter out the daily trading noise. The recent melt-up in the gold price since July has added nearly FRN$300 or €300 that needs to be digested into the 200 day moving average. Keep in mind that 200 days ago was the beginning of March and the gold price was a mere $1,420 per ounce. The 200 day moving average for gold is now at FRN$1,511.69 and increasing at approximately FRN$1.85 per day.
Gold has likely seen a great increase in monetary demand from Europeans who do not want exposure to counter-party risk from bankrupt and insolvent. The banking crisis is far from over and for holders of capital that is at risk it must be extremely scary. Sitting in allocated gold or other precious metals held in segregated, audited, secure and insured storage, like with GoldMoney, would be a much more comforting position than in Societe Generala, UBS, Unicredit, etc. As Bloomberg reported on 19 Sep 2011, "A gauge of banks' reluctance to lend to each other in Europe rose for the first time in a week amid renewed concern Greece is headed for a default." This is likely one of the reasons platinum and palladium are priced so cheaply. Monetary demand has flowed into gold and somewhat into silver. Forecasted industrial demand is anemic. Less cars and other goods will be demanded and produced. So the price of inputs, like platinum and palladium, fall. Or so the argument goes.
Platinum and palladium are a great deal right now. Like gold and silver they can never become worthless and, if held correctly, are not subject to counter-party risk. The supply is much smaller and if there is a significant increase in demand, perhaps from investors looking to preserve capital, then their price can increase significantly. Additionally, although platinum is significantly more rare than gold it is, unusually, cheaper in FRN$ terms and palladium is currently an even better deal!
THE SPECTRE OF PRICE INFLATION Central banks the world over have followed the Federal Reserve and created tremendous amounts of liquidity in an attempt to stave off the first round of The Great Credit Contraction. Round two is beginning to materialize and they are continuing. In an 18 Sep 2011 NYT editorial Paul Volcker sent a warning shot to Ben Bernanke about inflation and how once inflation becomes anticipated and ingrained its stimulating effects are lost. Consider that over the past three months the Federal Reserve has increased M1 by 36.7% and M2 by 23.3%. The specter of price inflation should begin an increasingly aggressive haunting of savers and holders of capital. One place they can seek refuge is gold and silver. Another place to go is platinum, palladium or oil. CONCLUSION The Great Credit Contraction is destroying wealth, both real and illusory, at a tremendous rate. The balance sheets of banks have derivative singularities sucking in any equity that passes near the event horizon. This should be the real driver for precious metal demand like gold, silver, platinum and palladium; the lack of counter-party risk. To make matters worse the stewards of fiat currencies have infected the printing presses with their incontinence. When it comes to safeguarding price stability of fiat currencies those like Ben Bernanke who have succeeded bulldogs like Paul Volcker are lesser men of greater sires. DISCLOSURES: Long physical gold, silver and platinum with no interest in DOW, S&P 500, the problematic SLV ETF, gold ETF or the platinum ETFs. Copyright © 2008. This article was published on http://www.RunToGold.com by Trace Mayer, J.D. on September 19, 2011. This feed is for personal and non-commercial use only. Applicable legal information and disclosures are available. The use of this feed on other websites may breach copyright. If this content is not in your news reader then it may make the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. Please inform us at legal@runtogold.com so we can determine what action, if any, to take. If you are interested in how to buy gold or silver then you may consider GoldMoney.(Digital Fingerprint: 1122aabbLittleBrotherIsWatching3344ccdd) Copyright © 2011 RunToGold.com. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator then the site you are looking at may be guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@runtogold.com so we can take legal action immediately. Plugin by Taragana
      
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| Harvey Organ's: The Daily Gold & Silver Report Posted: 19 Sep 2011 12:03 PM PDT Massive Raid in Gold and Silver ahead of FOMC meeting
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| Navigating the Tricky Seas of Russian-American Energy Collaboration Posted: 19 Sep 2011 10:14 AM PDT Author: Vedran Vuk Synopsis: Russia needs newer technology for oil exploration and extraction; The US needs oil reserves from countries that are more friendly to it than most in the Middle East. Can the intersection of these needs yield a fruitful partnership? Dear Reader, After Doug Hornig's article on GLD, we received a couple of emails inquiring about other gold funds. Most asked whether these funds were also shares of a trust rather than actual ownership of the underlying gold, and how the gold could be redeemed. Unfortunately, we can't specifically review every single gold fund out there. Also, we already have a few recommended gold and silver funds in BIG GOLD. So, what if you're already in one of these other funds? Subscribing to a reputable gold and silver newsletter is probably the best way to find good resource plays, but in case you want to do the resear...
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| Posted: 19 Sep 2011 09:54 AM PDT [url]http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/[/url] [url]http://www.fortwealth.com/[/url] Gold continues moving in a broad sideways pattern, unable to breach overhead resistance centered just below the $1840 but remaining above longer term support just above the $1760 level. The current short-term bias is negative until it can at least climb back above $1820. Thus far forays down below the $1800 level have been met with quality buying in the physical market so this will need to continue to hold it from moving lower through $1760. Should these buyers step back a bit in the hopes of picking up the metal a bit cheaper, we could see it lag down towards the $1730 - $1720 region where one can expect to see very active buying occuring. There is still some of this risk aversion selling occuring in gold (that is very easily seen in silver) but that is more a function of traders raising cash on their losing equity positions by selling their only winner, namely gold. In watching the price act...
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| Perfect Storm Creates Tidal Wave of Gold Demand Posted: 19 Sep 2011 09:49 AM PDT A few weeks ago we held our Case for Investing in Gold webcast with the World Gold Council's (WGC) Jason Toussaint, who gave some remarkable insight into gold demand in the East. In these countries, gold is not only celebrated ... Read More...
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| Guest Post: The Folly of Misspent Optimism: Generation Neutral Posted: 19 Sep 2011 09:49 AM PDT Submitted by Chris Moorman, a 24 year old member of "Generation Neutral" The Folly of Misspent Optimism: Generation Neutral America for the past century has been nearly synonymous with progress. A model based upon constant growth, the American style system of capitalism, built upon the dual building blocks property rights and nearly unlimited economic freedom, has allowed free movement of capital, talent and vision to produce the wealthiest country that the world has ever seen. This has not been without its hiccoughs and imbalances, but on the aggregate, the American system of ever rising prosperity has brought with it a rising standard of living for all parties in the post WWII era. The American birthright has been a promise of a hold on the ladder, and a better life for each subsequent generation. This economic juggernaut used the free movement of capital to allow risk takers to borrow at the present to take advantage of the growth of the future. This system has withstood many shocks; the unilateral pullout of the Bretton Woods gold standard by Nixon, the subsequent stagflationary environment of the late 1970s and early 80s, to the fall of the communism leaving American style capitalism as the unrivaled economic system in the world. American exceptionalism was not so much an opinion as an accepted fact. This was the promise that Generation Neutral predicated its approach to maturity upon. Demographic headwinds stood in our way for sure. The baby boomers and the entitlement economics they had been promised began to seem underfunded at the present which meant declining standards of living in the future. An over-levered system of government subsidized housing found that the hangover left in the wake of the Internet boom and the new diplomatic order put forth after 9/11 would squeeze those on the margins past their breaking point. Government intervention which would have been unthinkable even a generation ago now seemed like the only thing holding our system from the edge of the abyss. We avoided the abyss after the post-Lehman collapse of 2008. Purportedly rational players in the government arena used every tool at their disposal and designed new tools on the fly to keep the system from stalling out. Business cycle boom and bust is inherent in a free movement system such as ours, and we'd dealt with it before. Once the growth engine started running near its historical averages, the economy would rebound and the train would get back on the tracks. Life would return to normal and Generation Neutral would outgrow its debts fast enough to promise our children that life would still be better for them than it was for us. At least, this is what we'd planned on. So we continued to pile on the debt, spending today so that our future earnings would allow us the lifestyle we'd always hoped for. College tuition rose at unthinkable rates when compared to CPI and other inflation measures, aided by a system of government backstops and a "no-way out clause" which took away the mechanism of bankruptcy in order to absolve the insolvent of an impossible to pay debt. Still we borrowed. Ivy league educations cost on the order of $120-150K, while even the "affordable" state school educations hovered above 60k for 4 years. We told ourselves that this was an investment in our future, that when the growth engine restarted, we'd be on the forefront of the new boom. After 2008, it appeared that the growth engine was taking longer to prime than anyone had planned. Ivy League graduates, with crushing amounts of college loans, were forced to take jobs as baristas and retail workers; careers far below those promised by the glossy recruitment packets we'd gotten in high school. Some risk takers in my generation doubled down, and headed off to graduate school to "wait out" the recession as opposed to taking jobs which seemed beneath our level of expertise and education. Increasingly, these "investments" are looking like consumption periods for which the bill will come monthly for 15-20 years. Those who doubled down on their bets with grad school, found that in addition to undergrad debt, the average 75-100k of law school debt looked nearly insurmountable when compared to starting salaries in the 50-70K range. A law school graduate with $150k (a number which errs on the conservative side if any) in combined undergrad and law school debt 6% at is now looking at nearly $1300/month in loan repayments over a 15 year period. This is comparable to the payment on a 30 year mortgage on a $250,000 (slightly above the 2010 median home price) house at 5%. If the baby boomers are planning on my generation bailing out their underwater homes, they'd better find another plan. Currently, a college grad making $75,000 (well above the median for the graduates of the downturn (2007-2010)) in Manhattan contributing nothing to pre-tax retirement brings home a little over $4,000 monthly. When this is stacked up against an average monthly rent of $1350, and a student loan repayment of $1300, this makes for a mere $1350 in disposable income. This makes it quite difficult to save the necessary funds for a downpayment on a house, and even makes it difficult to build a solid safety net of savings. The real issues of my generation have unfortunately been glossed over. There have been the occasional articles chronicling how lifetime earnings are adversely affected for those who come out of school into a recession, but this downturn has already had a duration above and beyond the norm, and at present doesn't appear to be ending any time in the near term. Meanwhile, the bills are stacking up, and even those of us who are working from Generation Neutral are starting to be concerned that the debts we signed on for at 18 will live to haunt us well longer than our worst projections. There is beginning to be a certain resigned malaise hanging over us, and as capitalism is a system predicated on growth and a healthy amount of optimism in the future, this is yet another headwind to our economic and even psychological well being. Other than the turnout brought upon by the "Hope and Change" campaign of President Obama, Generation Neutral has found itself strangely ambivalent about the political discourse, even as the bills are continuing to migrate from our parents' generation to our own. A conversation about the national debt usually ends with the trite phrase "I don't really care about politics" while the political decisions of today affect our economic future at an ever increasing rate compared to our parents and grandparents. I've yet to figure out what will break our apathy, as our misspent optimism still keeps us believing, however fleetingly, that this too shall pass. The day that we collectively realize that better days aren't coming could well be too late, but the debts amassed during our optimistic youth will still continue to knock on our door. If our generation doesn't have it better than our parents', I wonder what the narrative we tell our children will sound like.
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| Awaiting the Eventual Return of the Rare Earths Market Posted: 19 Sep 2011 09:47 AM PDT China is putting the squeeze on rare earths…again. And unless you have a large stash of light bulbs around the house, you're going to feel this one personally. "China is temporarily shutting down most of the industry," reports The New York Times — closing or nationalizing dozens of rare earth producers. Considering China already accounts for 97% of world production, that's putting a squeeze on the producers of everything from wind turbines to hybrid car batteries to ballistic missiles. Oh, and those new compact fluorescent light bulbs.
The average price of a CFL bulb has jumped 37% this year, according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. The increase comes before a federally mandated phase-out of old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs. Come next year, the 100-watt incandescents will be illegal to manufacture or distribute. Come 2013, 75-watt bulbs go bye-bye. And in 2014, even the 40-watt varieties will be no more. Strictly speaking, the old-style bulbs were not banned under the legislation signed in 2007 by President Bush. Rather, the law set "energy efficiency" standards that incandescents can't reach. Think of it as one of the many gifts Uncle Sam bestows on General Electric. GE, for its part, is defending the rising price of CFL bulbs by pointing out that the price it pays for a rare earth called europium oxide has risen 1,128% in the last 12 months. Things are tough all over. So what's behind China's "temporary shutdown" of rare earths production? "They're busting the rare earths mafia in China," said Byron King in this space on Jan. 20 of this year. That is, many of the mines were operating illegally, dumping loads of toxic chemicals into the soil and the water supply. What's more, the black market accounted for up to 40% of China's rare earth production. "Both of these are entirely unacceptable" to China, Byron said, "especially in a communist state with a nominally 'planned' economy. China leadership truly views rare earths as a strategic center of gravity for national economic development, future tech of many forms and, of course, military power." Fast-forward to last month: "Most of the country's rare earth factories have been closed since early August," the Times reports, "including those under government control, to allow for installation of pollution control equipment that must be in place by Oct. 1." At the same time, the government is consolidating dozens of rare earth companies, public and private, under the umbrella of four companies tightly controlled by Beijing. So rare earths supplies that were already tight are getting tighter. The shutdown comes on the heels of years of tariffs and export quotas that have forced rare earth prices to rise as much as 40-fold. You might think recent developments are bullish for rare earth stocks. And if you did, you would be wrong. An ETF made up of rare earth stocks, REMX, got hurt worse than the broad market in the August sell-off… and it's been far slower to recover. So what gives? "I've reviewed pretty much all of the RE plays out there," says Byron. "I've looked at the web sites, reviewed the technical data, perused the 43-101s [regulatory documents], attended presentations and even met with management of many firms. "There are a lot of good, sincere people out there, all working very hard to build out their respective projects. Any number of these rare earth companies will pull through, eventually. "But 'eventually' may be a very long time." Dave Gonigam Awaiting the Eventual Return of the Rare Earths Market originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides 400,000+ readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. The 5 Best Ways to Invest in Gold was previously featured in the Daily Reckoning.       
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| Posted: 19 Sep 2011 09:25 AM PDT Dave Gonigam – September 19, 2011
"China is temporarily shutting down most of the industry," reports The New York Times — closing or nationalizing dozens of rare earth producers. Considering China already accounts for 97% of world production, that's putting a squeeze on the producers of everything from wind turbines to hybrid car batteries to ballistic missiles. Oh, and those new compact fluorescent light bulbs. 
The increase comes before a federally mandated phase-out of old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs. Come next year, the 100-watt incandescents will be illegal to manufacture or distribute. Come 2013, 75-watt bulbs go bye-bye. And in 2014, even the 40-watt varieties will be no more. Strictly speaking, the old-style bulbs were not banned under the legislation signed in 2007 by President Bush. Rather, the law set "energy efficiency" standards that incandescents can't reach. Think of it as one of the many gifts Uncle Sam bestows on General Electric. GE, for its part, is defending the rising price of CFL bulbs by pointing out that the price it pays for a rare earth called europium oxide has risen 1,128% in the last 12 months. Things are tough all over. So what's behind China's "temporary shutdown" of rare earths production?
What's more, the black market accounted for up to 40% of China's rare earth production. "Both of these are entirely unacceptable" to China, Byron said, "especially in a communist state with a nominally 'planned' economy. China leadership truly views rare earths as a strategic center of gravity for national economic development, future tech of many forms and, of course, military power." Fast-forward to last month: "Most of the country's rare earth factories have been closed since early August," the Times reports, "including those under government control, to allow for installation of pollution control equipment that must be in place by Oct. 1." At the same time, the government is consolidating dozens of rare earth companies, public and private, under the umbrella of four companies tightly controlled by Beijing.
You might think recent developments are bullish for rare earth stocks. And if you did, you would be wrong. An ETF made up of rare earth stocks, REMX, got hurt worse than the broad market in the August sell-off… and it's been far slower to recover.  So what gives? "I've reviewed pretty much all of the RE plays out there," says Byron. "I've looked at the web sites, reviewed the technical data, perused the 43-101s [regulatory documents], attended presentations and even met with management of many firms. "There are a lot of good, sincere people out there, all working very hard to build out their respective projects. Any number of these rare earth companies will pull through, eventually." "But 'eventually' may be a very long time." One project after another has run into delays. Shares of industry darling Molycorp, with its massive project in California, are no higher now than they were when Byron recommended taking 178% profits back in January. There's one player outside China that has potential to get into production soon: "It has a proven ore asset, with associated roads, power, rail access and more. Plus, it has actual production equipment that shaves years and millions of dollars off the development cycle." It's one of a handful of tiny mining plays that Byron is eager to share with you. They're spelled out in a package of special reports that go to every new member of his premium advisory, Energy & Scarcity Investor. Membership is currently available for half off, so there's no better time to check it out.
In the end, they delivered no dramatic Sunday night announcement timed for the opening of Asian stock markets. Indeed, they came to no decisions at all. Killjoys. They did, however, express some pique at Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner dropping in to offer advice. "I found it peculiar," said Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter, "that even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the eurozone, that they tell us what we should do." 
"There is likely to be a significant weakening in the AUD/USD currency pair if the minutes create a perception that the RBA may decrease rates," says Abe, eyeing a trading opportunity. "On the other hand (a favorite phrase of economists), if the minutes indicate the possibility that it will keep rates on hold or even increase them, the AUD/USD may strengthen." Abe is urging readers to take both sides of the trade this week — with the wins in one play more than offsetting the losses in the other. We'll know the outcome by Friday. Last week, readers had the chance to collect gains of 52%, 72% and 126% — all in four days. For a one-of-a-kind way to play currencies, and a host of other markets, check out Strategic Currency Trader.
Organizers billed it as America's "Tahrir Square moment" in homage to the protesters who forced out Egypt's dictator Mubarak. In the event, it's turned out to be, well, something less…  A crowd that organizers hoped would number 20,000 turned out to be somewhat less than 1,000 for the first day on Saturday. Police were out in force with barriers to limit where the protesters could camp out. By this morning, the crowd had dwindled to about 200. It's almost beside the point to say we saw this one fizzling back on July 15, but we did. The protesters in Egypt knew what they wanted — for Mubarak to go. The protesters in New York, the ones who could articulate what they wanted, were demanding President Obama set up a blue-ribbon panel to look into the influence of money in politics. Seriously. That's hard to put on a sign. Many more signs had a simpler message: "Tax the rich."
The story began a few weeks ago, when as many as seven coyotes made a den for themselves in an abandoned, burned-out house in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. They're generally docile, but "eventually they're going to get hungry," worried next-door neighbor Cathy Molloy, "and they're going to turn on us."  Earlier this month, Los Angeles County made plans to trap and euthanize the coyotes. That set off a hue and cry. Animal welfare groups promised to trap and relocate them. Hearings were held, opinions were expressed and the whole thing became a local media sensation last week. Since the coyotes weren't threatening neighbor dogs and cats, the county decided not to set traps. Besides, the house is set to be demolished in a few days. That'll take care of 'em. We're sure the coyotes can find plenty of accommodation in the overbuilt — or half-built — suburbs of Phoenix and Las Vegas.
"I should also have added that I am technically a baby boomer woman. I know plenty about discrimination! But ways of earning money are out there: Jobs are not a zero-sum game. At age 52 (in fall 2009), after three years of voluntarily not working at all, and eight years of part-time work, I got a part-time telecommuting job. When their business tanked, I got another part-time telecommuting job." "Most of my high school friends have been laid off in the last few years, and they all found jobs pretty quickly. I now live where one-third of the population is 'retired.' Everywhere I patronize has older employees." "The key is to stave off depression long enough to keep trying and to think outside the large corporation/government box. And remember there are jerks everywhere! When asked about your age, instead of getting defensive, educate about your work ethic and life experience and wisdom and how all will benefit the company." "Agora's publications have helped me understand the new reality: Companies in the U.S. don't want employees, and freelancers can be competing with others all over the world. So pick something like nursing, which has to be done in person, or be able to compete worldwide. Create a product or service that others want and be your own employer." "There are so many ways to make money now that didn't exist when we were in school. Hell, PCs didn't exist when I was in college! LOL! Don't let 'the rules' dictate what you try for: Every job I've had I was told I wouldn't be able to get because that's not the way it's done. Fortunately, small employers don't always follow 'the rules'!"
"But then, there are others — for example, those that waded ashore at Normandy or Tarawa or were shot down over Berlin or the Pacific in a flaming deathtrap and had their actual lives stolen by an even greater evil." "One can and should try to correct things and make it right. However, after having done all one can do to make things right, at one point one also needs to try to just move forward. We can't keep frantically grasping onto the ring like Gollum did in Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, when doing so might blind us to better — albeit different — things." "As Frodo said to Gandalf when he realized he alone had been bequeathed the fateful ring: 'I wish it need not have happened in my time.' 'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'" The 5: Amen.
"But I find it available only with purchase with a package of other items. Is it available stand-alone?" "Now there is the new movie/documentary. Are these available to buy?" "Thanks for your articles, information and excellence." The 5: Buy the new documentary? Addison and crew are still shooting it! But in the meantime, the DVD of I.O.U.S.A. is available from Laissez Faire Books. Here's where to get your copy. Cheers, Dave Gonigam P.S. Addison's most recent documentary shoot was Friday on the West Coast — with Craig Venter, the scientist and entrepreneur whose team cracked the human genome in 18 months. That was an achievement the government figured would take 20 years. We're still chewing over something Venter said — about how the work he's doing will turn medicine on its head. For a century, medicine has treated symptoms, not diseases. Clogged arteries? There's a bypass operation, or an angioplasty or a stent for that. But by identifying the genetic markers of heart disease, treatments can now be developed that will prevent arteries from clogging in the first place. There's a parallel to this in the field of economics and finance. Too often people in Washington are treating symptoms — rising prices or unemployment — rather than the disease of misallocated resources. Almost always, it's Washington causing the disease in the first place. Venter's work will revolutionize medicine. But who will revolutionize economics in a similar way? We're still thinking about that…       
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| Posted: 19 Sep 2011 09:07 AM PDT Here is an update of the daily Silver/Nasdaq 2000 analog from last weeks note. This chart was created intraday ~ 10:30 EST 9/19. This analog puts a target for SLV ~ 36 for this week. Read More...
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If you think the U.S. economy is bad now, just wait for a few months. Things are about to become absolutely nightmarish. None of the long-term economic trends that are hollowing out our economy have been addressed and more bad economic news seems to come out virtually every single day. Now there is constant talk of the "next recession" in the mainstream media. But did the last recession ever truly end? The number of good jobs continues to decline, more stores are closing, incomes continue to go down, credit card debt and student loan debt are soaring, the housing market resembles a corpse, the number of Americans living in poverty continues to rise and government debt is at unprecedented levels. We are losing blood fast, and almost all of our leaders are either too corrupt or too incompetent to be able to do anything about it. The U.S. economy really and truly is about to go into the toilet, and if something is not done very quickly we are going to experience a complete and total economic disaster in this nation.
200 DAY MOVING AVERAGES ARE RISING
The silver price is also consolidating its recent gains. With a current silver price around FRN$40 and a 200 day moving average around FRN$35.76 and adding about four cents per day. So, two more months of consolidation and then the next move up.
Gold is currently consolidating its price 10% faster than silver and is confirmed with the relative price at 1.1133 for silver as compared to gold's relative price of 1.1771. Of all the precious metals gold appears to be the most expensive. The real value seems to be in palladium which is trading at an extreme discount of 0.9224x its 200 day moving average.
The platinum to gold 200 day moving is currently 1.19 compared to the current price of 1.00. The price of platinum in terms of gold has not been this cheap since shortly after the first round of the credit crisis when Lehman Brothers collapsed.
Palladium is a little more difficult to discern through the golden lens. Like platinum it has not been cheaper since the Lehman collapse. Currently its 200 day moving average is 0.51 compared to the current palladium price in gold of 0.40. This makes palladium slightly cheaper than platinum with the current price in gold about 78% its 200 day moving average compared to platinum's 84%. Palladium also has a significantly cheaper relative price in FRN$.
China is putting the squeeze on rare earths… again. And unless you have a large stash of light bulbs around the house, you're going to feel this one personally.
The average price of a CFL bulb has jumped 37% this year, according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.
"They're busting the rare earths mafia in China," said Byron King in this space 
So rare earths supplies that were already tight are getting tighter. The shutdown comes on the heels of years of tariffs and export quotas that have forced rare earth prices to rise as much as 40-fold.
Well, that was a lot of hoopla for nothing. European Union finance ministers met in Wroclaw, Poland, over the weekend to figure out what to do next about Greece.
Thus, with generalized angst about Greece being the prime market mover today, the safety trade is on. And this time, gold is not a beneficiary. To wit…
"Late tonight (at least late in the United States), we have the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) monetary policy minutes," says Strategic Currency Trader's Abe Cofnas — who gets excited by this sort of thing.
Business is proceeding apace on Wall Street despite the third day of the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET demonstration.
From California comes a harbinger of a new phase in the housing bust: The Great Coyote Caper.
"I said 'get a job' to use the common phrase," writes the reader who generated considerable baby boomer ire during our Social Security debate last week. "These days it's really 'make a job.'"
"Yes, I paid into Social Security, and it is unfair to have it stolen," writes another boomer.
"I went to the movie theater to see I.O.U.S.A." a reader writes, "and tried to find a disc of it to show friends. It would help to educate people about the national debt.
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