10 January 2012
SilverDoctors: US Tensions Increasing with China
SilverDoctors: US Tensions Increasing with China: (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Defence warned the United States on Monday to be "careful in its words and actions" after announcing a d...
SilverDoctors: 1 Million Ounces of Silver Withdrawn From JPM & Sc...
SilverDoctors: 1 Million Ounces of Silver Withdrawn From JPM & Sc...: Massive inventory continued in COMEX Silver warehouses Friday, with a large adjustment into Delaware's registered vaults, and over one milli...
SilverDoctors: Gasparino: Break-Up of CME on the Table
SilverDoctors: Gasparino: Break-Up of CME on the Table: Charlie Gasparino of FOX Business states that sources have told him that " a break-up of the CME is on the table " over the lack of CME regu...
90% of Dutch Gold Reserve Is Held Abroad
By Jaco Schipper
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Thursday night Knot gave a live interview to the television program "Nieuwsuur" in which he announced that about 40 percent of Dutch pensioners will soon face reduced pensions. Knot also argued for mortgage tax reduction to address the excessive indebtedness of Dutch households, which is about 120 percent of gross national product. Perhaps most interesting, Knot allowed "Nieuwsuur" to film in the central bank's vault, where the Dutch audience saw what is not there.
Based on the footage shown on Thursday and additional images found at the central bank's Internet site, we had already calculated that there are some 4,500 gold bars located in the bank's vault. Our calculation showed that there are at least 56 tons of gold stored in Amsterdam, possibly more, we speculated, in the form of gold coins. We proved to be not far off, as Friday night the definitive answer was given by Knot himself.
In a follow-up by "Nieuwsuur" Friday night (see below), Knot disclosed that some 67 tons of Netherlands government gold, worth 3 billion euros, is kept in Amsterdam. Knot acknowledged on camera that this is only a small portion of the Dutch gold reserve. For practical reasons, he said, most of the 612.5 tons of official gold reserve is held abroad, so that "if the Dutch central bank wants to sell some of its gold, we don't have to ship it."
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Thursday night Knot gave a live interview to the television program "Nieuwsuur" in which he announced that about 40 percent of Dutch pensioners will soon face reduced pensions. Knot also argued for mortgage tax reduction to address the excessive indebtedness of Dutch households, which is about 120 percent of gross national product. Perhaps most interesting, Knot allowed "Nieuwsuur" to film in the central bank's vault, where the Dutch audience saw what is not there.
Based on the footage shown on Thursday and additional images found at the central bank's Internet site, we had already calculated that there are some 4,500 gold bars located in the bank's vault. Our calculation showed that there are at least 56 tons of gold stored in Amsterdam, possibly more, we speculated, in the form of gold coins. We proved to be not far off, as Friday night the definitive answer was given by Knot himself.
In a follow-up by "Nieuwsuur" Friday night (see below), Knot disclosed that some 67 tons of Netherlands government gold, worth 3 billion euros, is kept in Amsterdam. Knot acknowledged on camera that this is only a small portion of the Dutch gold reserve. For practical reasons, he said, most of the 612.5 tons of official gold reserve is held abroad, so that "if the Dutch central bank wants to sell some of its gold, we don't have to ship it."
09 January 2012
Dudley of N.Y. Fed to Head Organization of Central Bankers
By MARK SCOTT
LONDON — William C. Dudley, the current president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been appointed chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System, a central bank forum for monitoring and examining issues relating to financial markets and systems.
Before his role at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr. Dudley worked at Goldman Sachs from 1986 to 2007, and was the bank’s chief United States economist for 10 years.
His new position as chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System, part of the Bank for International Settlements, an association of the world’s central banks,
LONDON — William C. Dudley, the current president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been appointed chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System, a central bank forum for monitoring and examining issues relating to financial markets and systems.
Before his role at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr. Dudley worked at Goldman Sachs from 1986 to 2007, and was the bank’s chief United States economist for 10 years.
His new position as chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System, part of the Bank for International Settlements, an association of the world’s central banks,
Swiss central bank chief quits over wife's currency deal
BERNE |
(Reuters) - Swiss National Bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand resigned with immediate effect on Monday, saying he could not prove he had been unaware of a currency trade made by his wife and wanted to protect the integrity of the central bank.
Hildebrand's decision to relinquish one of the world's top central banking jobs after just two years came as Swiss parliamentarians met to discuss the scandal, which erupted last week after Sarasin bank sacked an employee who leaked details of the trade to a political opponent of the central banker.
Hildebrand's wife Kashya, a former hedge fund trader who now runs a Zurich art gallery, bought 400,000 Swiss francs ($418,000) worth of dollars on August 15, three weeks before her husband oversaw steps to cap the rise of the safe-haven franc. She later sold the dollars at a higher rate.
At a news conference four days ago, Hildebrand had resisted calls to step down, saying he only learned of his wife's trade the day after she made it and rejecting claims that he had personally authorized the currency deal.
But he told reporters on Monday he could not provide final evidence that he had been unaware of the trade and had decided to step down as he realized the intense public scrutiny over the affair was compromising his credibility.
"I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to provide conclusive and final evidence that my wife did indeed initiate the foreign exchange transaction on the 15th August without my knowledge," he said.
Europe Has A Much Bigger Problem Than Debt, And Nobody Has Any Clue How To Fix It
Michael Pettis, China Financial Markets | Jan. 9, 2012, 1:42 PM
Europe’s underlying problem is not budget deficits or even unsustainable debt. These are mainly symptoms.
The real problem with Europe is the huge divergence in costs between the core and the periphery – in the past decade costs between Germany and some of the peripheral countries have diverged by anywhere from 20% to 40%.
This divergence has made the latter uncompetitive and has resulted in the massive trade imbalances within Europe.
Trade imbalances, of course, are the obverse of capital imbalances, and the surge in debt in peripheral Europe in the past decade – debt owed ultimately to Germany and the other core countries – was the inevitable consequence of those capital flow imbalances. While European policymakers alternatively sweat and shiver over fiscal deficits, surging government debt, and collapsing banks, there is almost no prospect of their resolving the European crisis until they address the divergence in costs. Of course if they don’t resolve this problem, the problem will be resolved for them in the form of a break-up of the euro.
Europe’s underlying problem is not budget deficits or even unsustainable debt. These are mainly symptoms.
The real problem with Europe is the huge divergence in costs between the core and the periphery – in the past decade costs between Germany and some of the peripheral countries have diverged by anywhere from 20% to 40%.
This divergence has made the latter uncompetitive and has resulted in the massive trade imbalances within Europe.
Trade imbalances, of course, are the obverse of capital imbalances, and the surge in debt in peripheral Europe in the past decade – debt owed ultimately to Germany and the other core countries – was the inevitable consequence of those capital flow imbalances. While European policymakers alternatively sweat and shiver over fiscal deficits, surging government debt, and collapsing banks, there is almost no prospect of their resolving the European crisis until they address the divergence in costs. Of course if they don’t resolve this problem, the problem will be resolved for them in the form of a break-up of the euro.
DYLAN RATIGAN: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters And Other Vampires From Sucking America Dry
This is an excerpt from Dylan Ratigan's 'Greedy Bastards, How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry.'
Chapter 1: Trillion Dollar Vampires
Imagine an ordinary man so desperate that he decides to rob a bank. For years, he’s worked a steady job, but when he loses that job, the only work he can find is as a part-time clerk in a convenience store.
Still, he makes do. He cuts his expenses and relies on a little help from his family, though he hates to do so. Then he starts to develop health troubles. He’s nearly sixty years old, and he needs foot surgery. He develops crippling back pain and a frightening bone protrusion sticking out of his chest. He can no longer lift the stock he is supposed to load onto the shelves at the store. Although he could move in with his sister, he doesn’t want to be a burden, and he knows that she can’t afford to pay for his health care out of pocket any better than he can. So what choices does he have? He goes into the local bank and slips the teller a note. It demands $1—and health care.
This is not a fantasy, and the man wasn’t crazy. He was thinking clearly about a crazy situation. Jail, he realized, was the one place where he could get health care without bankrupting himself and his family. “Because he only asked for $1,” Yahoo! News reported, “he was charged with larceny, not bank robbery. But he said that if his punishment isn’t severe enough, he plans to tell the judge that he’ll do it again. His $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000, but he says he doesn’t plan to pay it.” Jail, he said, was the best of his bad options.
Chapter 1: Trillion Dollar Vampires
Imagine an ordinary man so desperate that he decides to rob a bank. For years, he’s worked a steady job, but when he loses that job, the only work he can find is as a part-time clerk in a convenience store.
Still, he makes do. He cuts his expenses and relies on a little help from his family, though he hates to do so. Then he starts to develop health troubles. He’s nearly sixty years old, and he needs foot surgery. He develops crippling back pain and a frightening bone protrusion sticking out of his chest. He can no longer lift the stock he is supposed to load onto the shelves at the store. Although he could move in with his sister, he doesn’t want to be a burden, and he knows that she can’t afford to pay for his health care out of pocket any better than he can. So what choices does he have? He goes into the local bank and slips the teller a note. It demands $1—and health care.
This is not a fantasy, and the man wasn’t crazy. He was thinking clearly about a crazy situation. Jail, he realized, was the one place where he could get health care without bankrupting himself and his family. “Because he only asked for $1,” Yahoo! News reported, “he was charged with larceny, not bank robbery. But he said that if his punishment isn’t severe enough, he plans to tell the judge that he’ll do it again. His $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000, but he says he doesn’t plan to pay it.” Jail, he said, was the best of his bad options.
SilverDoctors: FED Considering Expansion into Principle Reduction...
SilverDoctors: FED Considering Expansion into Principle Reduction...: Now this is the FED we know and have come to love. Captain Ben Bernank and crew are out to save the world beyond their monetary policy man...
Venezuela will not recognize World Bank ruling in Exxon case
CARACAS |
(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that his country would not recognize any ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp.
Exxon took Venezuela to the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, seeking as much as $12 billion in compensation after Chavez ordered the nationalization of the Cerro Negro oil project in 2007.
"I tell you now: we will not recognize any decision by ICSID," Chavez said during a televised speech. He has repeatedly accused the U.S. oil major of using unfair deals in the past to "rob" the South American OPEC member of its resources.
"They are immoral ... How much could they steal in 50 years? Who would dare launch this madness without any foundation? They wanted $12 billion. From where, compadre?" he said.
"We are not going to bow before imperialism and its tentacles, understand that ... They are trying the impossible: to get us to pay them. We are not going to pay them anything."
SilverDoctors: Martin Armstrong: Investments Are No Longer Safe i...
SilverDoctors: Martin Armstrong: Investments Are No Longer Safe i...: Martin Armstrong discusses how Judge Jed Rakoff stands alone against the corruption of the SEC and the NY banks, and advises not to keep ANY...
SilverDoctors: Is Silver Making a Head & Shoulders Top, or A Mass...
SilverDoctors: Is Silver Making a Head & Shoulders Top, or A Mass...: The man who flip-flops more frequently than Mitt Romney is back to predicting an Armageddon-like collapse in silver. While we think a conti...
SilverDoctors: China Increases Easing to Prevent Slow-Down
SilverDoctors: China Increases Easing to Prevent Slow-Down: China will also participate in QE to Infinity.... AND BEYOND!!!! The stronger-than-expected lending and money supply figures suggested ...
Physical silver hits a record 30% premium over spot
By Tyler Durden
One of the main reasons why we have been not so focused on paper representations of real currencies (i.e., Gold and silver) is that ever since the MF Global debacle, in which it became all too clear that if physical gold can be "hypothecated" via conflicting ownership, then there is no way that paper versions of precious metals are viable and indeed credible. After all, the only real owner at the end of the day is the certificate holder, which as we have explained before, is none other than DTCC's Cede & Co. Good luck collecting when the daisy chain of counterparties starts falling.
Which leaves physical. And for a good sense of what the "real" price of the metal is, not one determined by institutions whose interest it is to preserve the hegemony of paper, one can either try to procure gold and Silver at a retail merchant, or one can look to the premium of a dedicated physical ETF over spot. Such as Eric Sprott's PSLV which as of today is trading at an all time high premium of 30%! In other words, someone is willing to pay up to 30% over spot for the right to be closer to the physical metal than merely have a paper claim on a paper claim (pre hyper rehypothecation and what not).
One of the main reasons why we have been not so focused on paper representations of real currencies (i.e., Gold and silver) is that ever since the MF Global debacle, in which it became all too clear that if physical gold can be "hypothecated" via conflicting ownership, then there is no way that paper versions of precious metals are viable and indeed credible. After all, the only real owner at the end of the day is the certificate holder, which as we have explained before, is none other than DTCC's Cede & Co. Good luck collecting when the daisy chain of counterparties starts falling.
Which leaves physical. And for a good sense of what the "real" price of the metal is, not one determined by institutions whose interest it is to preserve the hegemony of paper, one can either try to procure gold and Silver at a retail merchant, or one can look to the premium of a dedicated physical ETF over spot. Such as Eric Sprott's PSLV which as of today is trading at an all time high premium of 30%! In other words, someone is willing to pay up to 30% over spot for the right to be closer to the physical metal than merely have a paper claim on a paper claim (pre hyper rehypothecation and what not).
Weak Dollar, Chinese Buying Supporting Gold Prices
January 9, 2012 5:49 AM EST
A weakening dollar combined with bargain hunting, short covering and Chinese physical demand Monday to lift gold prices modestly.
The steady gains so far this year, however, leave the metal shy of its critical 200-day moving average in the $1,630 area, a target that if reached could spark a return to levels seen last year.
Although Indian demand was weak, Barclays Capital said in a note, "demand from China remains healthy ahead of the Lunar holidays, volumes traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange have started the year on a positive note, exceeding the lower volumes traded in November and early December."
The dollar spent the day declining in Asian and European trading, which offered support for gold. The dollar index, which gauges the strength of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, including the euro, was down 0.33 percent to 81.32.
Iran: we will close the Strait of Hormuz if our oil exports are blocked
TEHRAN (Commodity Online): OPEC member Iran has issued a warning that if its Crude Oil exports are blocked in any way, it will go ahead and completely close down the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is the second largest oil producer in the OPEC.
Ali Ashraf Nouri was quoted by the Khorasan Daily as saying that "The supreme authorities … have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats”. Nouri is the a senior commander of Iran's revolutionary guard.
Ali Ashraf Nouri was quoted by the Khorasan Daily as saying that "The supreme authorities … have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats”. Nouri is the a senior commander of Iran's revolutionary guard.
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