All times are U.S. Mountain Time
(Yesterday's Discussion.)
BR549 (08/24/01; 23:39:45MT - usagold.com msg#: 60226)
HC once again for the Doe
John Doe (msg#: 60217)
Doe-"THE US INVENTED PAPER MONEY"……….
Did not the US invent paper currency? The HC innuendo was not as you surmised but that corrupt banksters began printing and issuing paper against their bankster gold reserves similar to what the Fed did against national reserves prior to the reign of the worst President of all times-FDR.
The history lesson is that banksters corruptly issued more paper than was backed by Gold. Again, a modern history lesson which the HC pointed out.
Doe-" They conveniently left out the fact that the circulating Greenback system was non-interest bearing, unlike the current FRS. In other words, the banks were out of the loop (and that's why Lincoln was assassinated and the Greenback system was killed, asap)."
What channel have you been watching? Is the current FRN interest bearing? I think not. As to Lincoln's assassination—absurd. No history lesson here.
Doe-" The "world" wanted to wean itself off gold because it wasn't "controllable."
Wasn't it that the evil banksters, similar to the present one's, wanted to manipulate for their well being at the expense of the average citizens? Bank runs and economic ruin resulted. Isn't there a history lesson for modern times here also?
Doe-" Money is now (and should be) a "unit of information" and never was a good a unit of measure. (Let's go earn some "units of information" and trade them for some units of energy or units of houses, shall we)?"
Maybe this is tongue and cheek. I am sure that it is, unless this is some more of that Conceptual eClownomics that is well represented by our Neighbors ATR?
There was not a single item in four hours of documentary that you liked? It was all fluff and then lies? I notice that all of your critical comments were gleaned from the last half of the last episode. A coincidence?
One last comment-If the History Channel had presented your ideas in place of tonight's commentary, then I would have even more disgusted with HC's last episode.
Regards from Cornfield County
BR549 (08/24/01; 23:02:46MT - usagold.com msg#: 60225)
HC Gold
Sierra—
T
he HC Gold series had merit up until the last. The areas of interest for us goldbugs was unfortunately compressed at the end with a slant towards paper and away from value-based currencies.
For others to say that the first three episodes were without merit or that gold was presented in a not so favorable light in my opinion is like saying that one can enjoy a movie and then hate the ending.
This is THE HISTORY CHANNEL and the history of gold from the first gold and silver coins up until the Banksters began their manipulations was informative and the gold was beautiful. The first gold coins, their involvement in nations for 2,500 years, King Tut's Treasures, The Roman's, Constantinople, and THE LACK OF CRITICISM HERE ON THE SITE OF THE GOLD SERIES UP UNTIL TONIGHT’S EPISODE, makes my point.
I am glad I watched the entire series because I learned something.
I am going to admit that I wish I had not watched the last twenty minutes tonight as I think that Sierra was correct---that the media bias did indeed rear its ugly head.
I hated the ending.
darkhorse (08/24/01; 22:26:39MT - usagold.com msg#: 60224)
oops, wrong site....
http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/election.htm
sorry....
darkhorse (08/24/01; 21:54:16MT - usagold.com msg#: 60223)
PH in LA, your 16:44 (if nobody has responded to it yet)
http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/tools/post.html
I think this should answer your question....
slingshot (08/24/01; 21:14:39MT - usagold.com msg#: 60222)
Gold ,Investment
PHYSICAL GOLD. YOU ALWAYS KNOW WHERE YOUR INVESTMENT IS!
Slingshot
R Powell (08/24/01; 21:06:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 60221)
Good press
We've noted a great deal of mainstream news on gold recently and some attention paid by the peoples' stock market television channel. GATA is always present and appears to be gaining credibility with those who used to equate godbugs with lunatics.
Now I'm also seeing a reversal of opinion among commodity trader advisers. My weekly magazine featured bullish optimism from Commodity Central Inc., Commodity Review and Outlook, Merrill Lynch & Co., and The Yamamoto Forecast. The only negative report was given by The Windy City Trader and this was basically neutral.
The main reasons given for positive outlooks are from chart patterns that appear to be forming a base (technical analysis) and from the idea that the dollar's strength has peaked, especially against the Euro.
I find more information and good insight here than from most commodity advisers but I believe that the "commodity mainstream press" joining with the other newswire print and bubblevision coverage is a good omen for gold and silver. Remember, the average invester knows little about where his money is invested and many advisers know only slightly more (IMHO). Momentum and irrational exuberance investing will move any market, press coverage helps, no?
Rich
slingshot (08/24/01; 21:02:44MT - usagold.com msg#: 60220)
Gold Series
I did not watch the series either. Instead I read the comments posted. The only thing gained by presenting gold in
an unfavorable light is TIME. I believe the transition from stocks to gold to preserve wealth has been going on for some time. The Talking Heads prevail because Joe Sixpack loves having it fed to him. More now than ever when discussion about the stock market is ended with the words,"I'm in it for the long haul". Well, this goldbug is in it for the long haul. Let them bad mouth Gold. When unemployment and bankruptcy claims become intolerable to an already skittish populace,then the turn to gold by those capable of wealth preservation will begin.Then LOOK OUT! GOT GOLD?
Slingshot
Shermag (08/24/01; 20:35:34MT - usagold.com msg#: 60219)
Looks like Sierra was on the mark
Did not see any of the Gold series on the History channel, but by the looks of John Doe's compilation of the last segment, Sierra Madre was quite correct in his predictions about gold being presented in a not so favorable light.
Cavan Man (08/24/01; 20:32:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 60218)
PH in LA
PH, You wouldn't be Paul Harvey would you? If not, you must be an old saw with a lot of teeth.
I agree with Black Blade. With that kind of attitude you can change the world (if you could). Best....CM
John Doe (08/24/01; 20:15:57MT - usagold.com msg#: 60217)
HC - Gold!, part 4
Did you catch all that?
THE US INVENTED PAPER MONEY -- "as revolutionary an idea as America itself!" (The innuendo being gold was not adequate to the monetary task at hand, but revolutionary, American inventiveness solved the problem).
They conveniently left out the fact that the circulating Greenback system was non-interest bearing, unlike the current FRS. In other words, the banks were out of the loop (and that's why Lincoln was assassinated and the Greenback system was killed, asap). This, they characterized as the undesirable "fiat" system, no mention of the FRS being worse.
The "world" wanted to wean itself off gold because it wasn't "controllable."
Gold caused the depression, not the FRS establishment and expansion leading up to it. Killing the US gold standard ended the Depressionary bank run.
Hitler's desire for negligible amounts of conquered national gold is the cause of WWII. Gold equals Nazism. No mention of ideology, eugenics, "living space", art theft, socialism, nationalism, or rampant genocide. Hitler just $580 million in gold.
Marshall plan never happened, bombed-out Europe forced to trade its gold for $US, "the world's strongest currency." Evil Europe steals US gold in the 1970s, heroic Nixon completes work heroic FDR started.
Money is now (and should be) a "unit of information" and never was a good a unit of measure. (Let's go earn some "units of information" and trade them for some units of energy or units of houses, shall we)? Gold is now worthless to the banks -- just a commodity, a "stack of tires". Backwards third-world countries are still too stupid to have good paper money (or $US). Their paper money is bad and are therefore forced to use gold.
Unbelievable. Worse than useless. Shame, shame on The History Channel. A few well-placed lies in a flood of semi-historical fact and, apparently, "mission accomplished.’’
As I said before, disjointed and confused. The four parts had no continuity whatsoever. The fourth part stops abruptly as soon as all the major lies have been spewed out. The propaganda just kept getting stronger and stronger as the end of section four reached its "conclusion".
See/learn the technique here. You make a four-hour investment in "learning all about gold", three and a half hours of which are fluff. Then, right at the end they insert the bulk of the lies. But since you've already sat through all this garbage, your "investment" will be wasted if you don't apply the same level of cognitive acceptance to the whole thing. Well, I guess that explains the time-hopping and ill-structured presentation. This is no accident. This is good work, very good work.
Leigh (08/24/01; 20:01:19MT - usagold.com msg#: 60216)
PH in LA
PH, don't trust everything you read on the Internet! I read that IQ list too. Urban myth, I would say.
The Bible says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Anything else is just a cheap cleverness, a luck of the draw. You have only to look at Hillary to see that a high IQ doesn't guarantee deep wisdom or fine moral character.
Black Blade (08/24/01; 19:29:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 60215)
RE: PH in LA
You could be right. Al Gore invented the internet. Then again, Bill Clinton doesn't know the meaning of "is."
However, I am of the opinion that most politicians are "idiots" like the majority of North Americans. Evolutionists may or may not be correct - man may not have evolved from the monkey, but man sure spends much time proving that he is one. Politicians are living proof. Cheers!
- Black Blade
PH in LA (08/24/01; 19:14:14MT - usagold.com msg#: 60214)
Leigh:
Of course, trying to be proclaimed is not the same as being proclaimed. BTW, you are the first I ever heard compare him to a village idiot, although just about everybody says that about Bush. In face, just the other day someone published the IQs of past presidents and Dubya was right on the bottom of the list. (It only took him until the age of 40 to figure out that there is more to life than drinking!)
Black Blade (08/24/01; 18:33:22MT - usagold.com msg#: 60213)
Hughes to cut jobs by 10 pct, to take Q3 charge
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010824/n24126189.html
Snippit:
NEW YORK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Satellite television company Hughes Electronics Corp. (NYSE:GMH) said on Friday that the job cuts announced by its DirecTV unit would be expanded to include as much as 10 percent of Hughes' U.S. workforce, citing the need to cut costs against the backdrop of a softening economy. The General Motors Corp.-owned (NYSE:GM) said it would take an unspecified third quarter charge from those workforce reductions, which would total as much as nearly 800 jobs of its 7,900 jobs in the United States.
Black Blade: More gory details - strip away the flesh, and then heap the "Bones" upon the "Bone Pile."
Black Blade (08/24/01; 18:28:15MT - usagold.com msg#: 60212)
Bankruptcies Rise to Record Number
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/010824/business_financial_bankruptcies_dc_3.html
Snippit:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Strapped by the slumping economy and spooked by a looming change in the law, Americans filed for bankruptcy in record numbers in the second quarter of2001, according to data released on Friday. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said personal and business bankruptcies totaled 400,394 between April and June, a 9 percent increase over the first quarter and an almost 25 percent jump from the same period last year.
Experts have been predicting bankruptcies will be on the upswing this year as the U.S. economic slowdown puts the bite on consumers and companies alike. Bankruptcy filings last peaked at 373,460 in the second quarter of 1998. But the scale of the surge still left many slightly breathless. ``It's borderline shocking, actually,'' said Sam Gerdano, executive director of the Alexandria, Virginia-based American Bankruptcy Institute.
Personal bankruptcy filings totaled 390,064 in the second quarter, up a full 24.8 percent from the 312,486 recorded in the same quarter of last year. Business bankruptcies rose a more modest, but still hefty, 11.8 percent to 10,330.
BINGE AND PURGE
Buoyed by the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, consumers binged on debt over the last decade, and are now facing the consequences as the boom wanes, Gerdano said. ``We're in the purge phase now,'' he said. ``The bill is coming due, and it's coming due at the same time that we've had half a million people lose their jobs.''
Black Blade: As the "Bone Pile" grows, so does the number of bankruptcies. This will also continue to grow at a record setting pace. As many wallow in the throes of the Recession, more and more will raid their retirement funds to survive while at the same time putting more pressure on the stock markets as mutual fund managers must sell equities to meet growing redemptions. It is going to get Very Ugly. Remember it was an energy crisis that triggered this as usual. Those that have hard assets (such as gold) free and clear will do much better.
Black Blade (08/24/01; 18:16:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 60211)
Argentines Face Renewed Sacrifice
http://www.iht.com/articles/30330.htm
Snippit:
Voters and Opposition Grumble at Implications of IMF Rescue
BUENOS AIRES The government has told a weary Argentine population that deeper cuts in government spending and more economic sacrifice are in the offing, despite an $8 billion emergency rescue agreement it signed with the International Monetary Fund. With unemployment surging, currency reserves dropping, tax revenue plummeting and credit virtually impossible to obtain, that was not the news Argentines hoped to hear after the government spent nearly two weeks in negotiations with the IMF before arriving at a deal Tuesday. Furthermore, the forecast of more severe austerity was accompanied by the assessment that this is, as one local newspaper put it Wednesday morning, the country's "last chance."
Analysts were also heartened Wednesday by indications that the Bush administration, which previously fought any involvement in the crisis here, appears to have reluctantly decided that Argentina must be saved. Or as the daily Pagina 12 put it in an editorial, "The government has used the United States' fear of a chain reaction in emerging markets to acquire the only thing it can buy in the market today: time."
Black Blade: No one really expected anything less.
Black Blade (08/24/01; 18:02:29MT - usagold.com msg#: 60210)
Forbes Body Count
http://www.forbes.com/2001/01/30/layoffs.html
The "Bones" are piling up as more pink slips are handed out. This will continue for the foreseeable future. The fundamentals are still "Grim" at best. Soon, many of those cast upon the "Bone Pile" will have to draw out funds from investments and retirement plans. The markets will suffer more even as withdrawals from mutual funds increase. The Recession will get much worse.
RS (08/24/01; 17:02:15MT - usagold.com msg#: 60209)
HBM - I miss reading your comments and observations.
HBM - I miss reading your comments and observations.
I hope and pray you are well.
Leigh (08/24/01; 16:58:46MT - usagold.com msg#: 60208)
PH in LA
PH, Gore did come forth and tried to get proclaimed, but fortunately wiser heads prevailed.
PH in LA (08/24/01; 16:14:44MT - usagold.com msg#: 60207)
Was this actually written by Nostradamus?
"Come the millennium, month twelve,
In the home of greatest power,
The village idiot will come forth
To be acclaimed the leader."
-Nostradamus, 1555
Do any Nostradamus scholars recognize this quatrain?
nickel62 (08/24/01; 15:27:52MT - usagold.com msg#: 60206)
Hathaway's piece should be circulated to your more interested friends..
Gold As Theater
At precisely 1:57 p.m. on May 23rd, 2001, a seller dumped 100 contracts (10,000 ounces) of gold on the Comex market. The transaction
was noteworthy as to the amount and timing. It was the largest transaction by far that day and for several weeks on the Comex where
trading activity has dwindled to the lowest levels in two decades. More important, it took place 15 minutes in advance of the announcement
by the Federal Reserve that the discount rate would be reduced by only 25 basis points instead of the 50 that had been widely speculated
(see chart). Gold, which had been rallying strongly since the stock market lows at the end of the first quarter on the view that the Federal
Reserve's concern over the economy's slide was reaching panic proportions, slumped during the remainder of the day. In a few more days,
it settled at $265/oz, down sharply from the intra day peak of nearly $300 reached on May 21st, a few days before the Fed action.
The above chart is a minute by minute account of Comex gold trading going into the Fed announcement at 2:15 (14:15). On the lower part
of the chart, volume for each trade is graphed. The trade in question took place just before 2:00 pm (14:00), and initiated the breakdown of
gold.
The seller, whoever it was, seemed to be acting on the conviction of advance knowledge. For anyone willing to spend the time, more about
the identity of the seller could be learned by examining the public records of the Comex for that day's trading. I'd love to know, but don't
have the time to go to the warehouse and pore through trade records. Whether it was the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) of the
Treasury or a bullion dealer with a hot line to the Fed Conference room is of secondary importance. If it were a bullion dealer for its own
account, the profits on the trade would hardly pay the rent. If it were a bullion dealer for the account of a third party such as the ESF, we
may never know. What is more interesting is the apparent use of gold to convey a message to the markets: Gold tanks!… The Fed has
everything under control…concerns reflected in the previous gold rally have been allayed. Gold remains a highly visible barometer of the
well being of financial markets, despite concerted efforts by central banks to demote its standing as a financial asset.
In a private meeting in June 1993, the late Sir Jimmy Goldsmith asked me whether I thought his bullish stance on gold at the time was
correct. Yes, I answered. We agreed that paper currencies were suspect and that the rising gold price signaled legitimate concerns. He
responded with a question: "But what happens if the authorities try to squash the signal?" In retrospect, this was not only an excellent
question, but quite possibly foreshadowed what has been going on in the gold market since then.
The trade on May 21st illustrates how a well-timed minor action in a very thin market, can turn the tide. It is only a skirmish in a very big
picture. By itself, it proves nothing, but it does suggest something. Government intervention in financial markets is neither surprising nor
new. Gold is a financial asset. Official denials notwithstanding, respected and knowledgeable observers including Jack Kemp and
Professor Robert Mundell appear to regard it as a matter of fact.
On August 21st, the date of the most recent Fed rate cut, a similar pattern could be observed. This time, Goldman Sachs appeared as a
featured seller in the midday hours prior to the announcement. Of the 24,000 contracts traded that day, Goldman accounted for 10,000. A
Comex floor trader told me, the following day, that there had been a very large drawdown of Comex warehouse stocks of 45,000+ ounces,
the same day as the Fed announcement. The drawdown amounted to more than 5% and left the ratio of warehouse stocks to open interest
at a dangerously low 6% (ratio of physical to outstanding contracts), normally a good precursor for a short squeeze. However, the trader
continued, in recent years it has not been profitable to anticipate a short squeeze under these circumstances. "Metal just comes back into
the market mysteriously", he said. On the day of this particular conversation (8/22), "every dealer is selling, including Republic, Goldman
Sachs, AIG, and JP Morgan-Chase. Action like today is what scares people away from the gold market. The dollar is getting crushed, a
short squeeze should be happening, and gold does nothing."
The price of gold in perpetual checkmate became a central motif in the mythology of the new economic paradigm. The imagery played a
role in facilitating the investment bubble that ended over a year ago. The evolution of the financial markets has diminished the role and
effectiveness of traditional monetary policy. The Fed no longer controls the monetary aggregates and now only has a direct influence on
interest rates. Tinkering with the gold price would be a very tempting way to reinforce the strong dollar rhetoric. It would be simply
shocking, even inconceivable if no high level official had ever considered the idea. A low or declining gold price would soothe financial
markets and, conversely, a rapidly rising price would roil them. The price behavior of gold is a simple sound byte able to penetrate the
increasingly confusing overload of electronic inputs and media circus confronting traders and investors. It is a much more efficient way to
communicate a state of being than the inscrutable or indecipherable pronouncements of various economic policy spokesmen, especially
for grass roots consumption. The behavior of gold, notwithstanding repeated attempts to write it out of the script, still affects market and
consumer psychology.
Legions comforted by the somnolence of the gold price assume that such behavior is the result of a free market process. The history of
government intervention in currency markets alone would strongly suggest otherwise. The precedent of the London Gold Pool, a scheme
orchestrated by the US and Britain to rig the gold price in the 1960's, exemplifies the keen interest of our government in the matter. For
these reasons alone, believers in whatever low gold prices are signaling should suspect a fairy tale.
Given the long history of official sector antipathy to gold, especially in the US and the UK, one would be hard pressed to explain why it had
suddenly become sacrosanct. In fact, there is growing body of credible evidence that the US government and others may have been
manipulating the metal price for some time. A few years ago, such claims were unsubstantiated and lacked credibility, but recently some
weighty evidence is beginning to accumulate. Credit for the heavy lifting on discovery of possible price fixing activity goes to Bill Murphy,
Reginald Howe, James Turk and their associates. A useful source to learn more are the two Gold Antitrust Action Committee web sites:
(www.lemetropolecafe.com) or (www.gata.org).
The Exchange Stabilization Fund controlled by the US Treasury, and essentially unaccountable to Congress or the American people,
appears to be a key instrument for intervention. It appears that US gold reserves have been swapped or in some way encumbered. The
basis for this supposition can be found in the ESF financial statements themselves. According to James Turk in his Freemarket Gold &
Money Report (www.fgmr.com) dated August 13th, 2001, SDR Certificates held by the ESF declined from a peak level of 10.2 billion to 2.2
billion as of year end 2000. A precipitous decline from 9.2 billion as of year-end 1998 to current levels coincided with an accelerated
decline in the gold price that began in May 1999 (announcement of UK Gold Auction) and the breakout of the trade weighted dollar index
from a multiyear trading range. Each SDR represents 1/35th/oz of gold held by the Treasury as monetary reserves for the United States.
What is going on here? Mr. Turk's very erudite but complex explanation of the mechanics is available on his web page. A decline equating
to 227.7 million ounces, or 87% of the US gold reserve demands a more than perfunctory explanation.
Reg Howe (www.goldensextant.com/commentary18.html) has turned up a number of curious efforts to reclassify various portions of the
gold reserve. These reclassification attempts have occurred only since Mr. Turk noticed that some of the gold held on deposit at West
Point had been reclassified as custodial gold from gold bullion reserve as of 9/30/00. This designation stood until July 2, 2001 when the
West Point gold along with 92% of US gold reserves or 245 million ounces was again reclassified, this time as "Deep Storage Gold",
peculiar to say the least. There has been no high level official response to these points or many others made by Howe, Turk, or GATA.
There are only a few desultory low level denials including an almost generic e-mail denial on the Treasury's web site
(www.treas.gov/opc/opc0007.html#gold%20markets).
If the US and other governments have been actively involved in manipulating the gold market, there is far greater upside potential for the
gold price than I had previously imagined. The US government may have already expended considerable resources to hold the gold price in
check. Public, press and congressional scrutiny of these matters should commence in earnest. It would have five possible outcomes: (1)
there is no monkey business at all and the government provides the requisite information to satisfy all legitimate questions on the subject,
(2) there has been active intervention but because of public scrutiny and accountability, carrying on will be much more difficult, (3)
resources for future intervention have been severely depleted, (4) because of a combination of #2 and #3, government activity in the gold
market ceases altogether, (5) there is something going on but the government is able to deflect and otherwise thwart all attempts to
illuminate the facts. The investment implication of #1 is simply a non-event. The implications of #'s 2, 3, and 4 are very bullish. Only #5
would be somewhat problematic, as it would prolong the status quo.
On his Golden Sextant web site (www.goldensextant.com), Reg Howe has unearthed an article co-authored by Lawrence Summers, former
Treasury Secretary and current President of Harvard University. The article, "Gibson's Paradox and the Gold Standard" was published in
June 1988 in the Journal of Political Economy. In this article, the two Professors observe that in a "truly free market…gold prices will move
inversely to real long-term rates, falling when rates rise and rising when they fall." Most interesting is the failure of this relationship to
persist post 1995 during Summers’ tenure at the Treasury. "During this period, as real rates (30 year T-bond less CPI rate) have declined
from the 4% level to near 2%, gold prices have fallen from $400/oz. to around $270 rather than rising toward the $500 level as Gibson's
paradox and the model of it constructed by Barsky and Summers indicates they should have." Howe goes on to observe "the low real
long-term interest rates of the past few years may have been engineered with far more sophistication than those of a generation ago,
including the coordinated and heavy use of both gold and interest rate derivatives."
This chart is courtesy of Nick Laird, proprietor of www.sharelynx.net. It plots average monthly gold prices inverted on the right scale and
real long-term interest rates (30-year t-bond minus latest twelve month CPI) on the left scale. The historical relationship disintegrates in
1995.
The mispricing of any commodity leads to a shortage or a surplus depending on whether it has been overpriced or underpriced relative to
its clearing price in a free market. Investment capital is no less a commodity than soybeans, milk, or natural gas. The systematic
underpricing of investment capital achieved by:
o the manipulation of the gold price,
o the debasement of inflation measuring statistics issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics*,
o the shrinkage of supply of 30 year treasuries,
o and the use of derivative instruments
would indeed be a "sophisticated" scheme. The contributions of the most brilliant academic minds of the day would perfectly suit the
needs of an administration addicted to
*Much about this has been written including Grant's Interest Rate Observer and the Richebacher Letter spin and manipulation to achieve
its goals. Academicians and politicians indifferent to the distinctions between substance and artifice, and with a shared disregard for free
market forces, would be easily drawn into a complicated price manipulation scheme if it were deemed to be "in the public interest".
Underpricing investment capital played a key role in creating the financial mania that explains willingness of investors to finance the dot
com craze, telecom infrastructure companies with only a business plan, and other harebrained schemes too numerous to mention.
The underpricing of investment capital occurred in the context of Greenspan's repeated willingness to commit sovereign credit throughout
the market crises of the late 1980's and the entire decade of the 1990's. Since the Latin American Crises of the early 1980's, the Federal
Reserve's response to anyone who had made a bad investment was a massive bailout. The 1987 market crash, the banking crisis of the
late 1980's and early 1990's, Long Term Capital Management, and the Asia Meltdown all drew the same response---a flood of liquidity and
low interest rates. By sending the message that big mistakes would bear no adverse consequences, the Federal Reserve engineered a
tectonic shift in the risk profile of investors, speculators, and financial institutions in favor of ever more leverage. It is the proliferation of
leverage which has rendered the economic system intolerant of the kind of old fashioned recession that would cleanse the excesses of the
previous cycle and place the economy on a sound footing for renewed expansion.
Those jeopardized by the Fed's bailout strategy and the Clinton Treasury's flood of underpriced investment capital extend well beyond
lenders to bankrupt hedge funds, sinking foreign economies, or bad banks. The American public, having been suckered into pouring its life
savings into a dangerously overvalued stock market, is now being called upon to maintain its unhealthy spending patterns to keep the
economy from sinking further. The Fed is targeting equity prices in order to prop up the wealth effect, quite an evolution from its original role
of preserving the purchasing power of money. In his May 24th, 2001 speech before the Economic Club of New York, Alan Greenspan said:
"Owing to the variable and long lags of monetary policy, the effect of our recent policy initiatives will take time to strengthen financial
portfolios and spill over into demand for goods and services." The game plan is clear -- reflate the stock market bubble. Money supply
(M-2) is growing at 9.2% year over year, the fastest pace since 1987, the year of the October stock market crash.
Public policy has been painted into a corner by the misdeeds of economic and political leaders held in the highest esteem during the
preceeding mania. There are no choices left but to open the floodgates once again. Prepare for more policy panic. The neat trick will be
inflating stock prices in the face of deteriorating fundamentals. The investment mania in technology and telecom has created sufficient
overcapacity to last many years. It also sparked a boom in consumer goods that will take years to unwind as individuals struggle with
record indebtedness.
It will not be long before widespread recriminations and finger pointing become a favorite media blood sport. As the malpractice of
economic policy and misdeeds of the financial community come to light, investors will rightfully begin to distrust the half-truths,
misconceptions, gurus, and institutions at the core of the mania. They will gradually discard the idea that the Fed or the Administration
can "fix" any problem and that buying the dips is savvy. Greenspan, the "price fixer and central planner", will replace Greenspan, the
"Maestro", in the estimation of public opinion. As James Grant wrote back in April (NY Times Op-Ed 4/20/01), "How does he do what he
does? Nobody knows. It is a mystery. He collects data and ponders them. He conceives a course of action. This action takes the form of a
double manipulation, first of an interest rate and second of the mind of the market… This is a mighty tall order. In fact, it is reminiscent of
the task that the economic planning agencies of the former Soviet Union were famously unable to carry out."
Unfortunately, Clinton's wild party has become Bush's hangover. The equity markets are completing the first year of a bear market. Rallies
of course will interrupt the decline, but will reach a string of lower highs. The process has much further to go. Bull markets are born in
skepticism and die in overconfidence. The prevailing views on gold are, if anything, skeptical. It has been said that in bull markets investors
are more scared than is justified and in bear markets, they are not as scared as they should be. We have traveled only a short distance
along the way to public disaffection with financial assets.
Instead of clinging to the mantras and rhetoric of the previous decade, economic policy makers should declare a clean break with past
practice. Secretary O’Neill should be familiar with the time honored private sector practice of taking huge writedowns to lower the bar for
the next regime. This would include permitting gold to trade freely. Gold, which has been viewed as a problem and a threat to public policy,
can still be used as theater but in a positive sense. As the world economy continues to globalize, there is no reason that the dollar or the
euro should be called upon to perform the role to which they now aspire, that of a reserve currency beyond national borders. As an
apolitical financial asset, gold represents the superior foundation for a new currency to facilitate the expansion of borderless commerce.
The late 1990's mania stretched well beyond tech stocks, dot coms, media and telecom. It included the unprecedented and exuberant
accumulation of physical goods by American consumer ranging from SUV's to MacMansions, made possible by the overvaluation of the
US dollar. The willingness of foreigners to exchange their goods and services for our IOU's made every American consumer wealthy by
comparison to any other time in history. We had low inflation because foreign capacity became a substitute for home grown capacity.
Artificially low long term interest rates helped consumers to spend more than they saved simply by enabling them to issue record amounts
of mortgage debt. Government agency housing debt is now $2.4 trillion or 23% of GDP. At current growth rates, it will exceed national debt
in four years. It has reached a level, according to the American Enterprise Institute, that threatens systemic risk to the financial markets
and the US Economy.
The so-called globalization of the world economy was in one respect a massive exchange of US paper assets for non-domestic resources
that enabled US consumers/voters to dramatically improve their living standards during the 1990's. Foreigners now hold on a net basis $2
trillion of US assets, or 20% of GDP. They own 44% of the liquid treasury market, 23% of the US corporate bond market, and 12% of the
US equity market. Nobody can say that the Clinton/Rubin/Summers strong dollar scheme didn't work, at least for a while. However, it
could only work on the belief that the paper issued represented real value. For this to be the case, foreigners had to buy into the rhetoric
and mythology promoted over the period. A reassessment of these beliefs will bring about high inflation and high interest rates. The
alternative to the virtuous circle is not pleasant to contemplate, but the long running current account deficit that now exceeds 4% of GDP is
unsustainable. Foreign investors have every reason to ask "where's the beef?" A bear market in stocks, declining interest rates and
vanishing profits all qualify as "less than expected." When the dollar loses its lofty status, American consumers and voters will no longer
be happy or confident. This will have political and financial market repercussions.
The case for gold is that the dollar has been overvalued for an extended period, as we wrote a year ago in The US Dollar: Over Owned and
Over Valued. Its overvaluation was integral to the financial mania that has come and gone. The depressed price of gold has been core to
the system of beliefs underpinning dollar overvaluation. To the extent the depressed price of gold reflected more than natural causes, one
can expect the retribution of market forces to be fierce once they gain the upper hand. The mania and the supremacy of the dollar are
history. With so many of these positive macroeconomic developments becoming more evident, it is disappointing that the gold producers
continue to emphasize the promotion of gold as jewelry. A higher profile and stronger stance on monetary issues would be timely and
most welcome. It would not take much of an investment to bolster the intellectual rationale to rehabilitate the metal's role as a financial
asset. Restoration of gold as the foundation for a multinational global currency is something the global economy could actually use. Now,
that would be really good theater.
John Hathaway
August 2
Rockgrabber (08/24/01; 15:23:13MT - usagold.com msg#: 60205)
Netking: Noahs Ark
http://www.realityzone.com/
They have already found it. Its 17 miles from Mount Arafat. A Sheep farmer found it years back. Was revealed to a researcher (David Fasault) who went to discover some amazing mathematical calculations, to dicipher the shape of the ark. Of course nothing like what your any book shows a picture of. An amazing propulsion system, cleaning system, living system, truly man could never have came up with this ark.
If you go to the link, click *hole catalog*, then scroll down to *Discovery of Noahs Ark* that video says it all. You should order it. Its a site by Edward G. Griffin. Has some great stuff on the scams of banking and finance (books) too.
Netking (08/24/01; 15:01:03MT - usagold.com msg#: 60204)
"No more restraint" (against Palestinians): Israeli Defense minister
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/headlines/010825/world/afp/_No_more_restraint__against_Palestinians__Israeli_Defense_minister.html
Irsael's incursion into the autonomous West Bank city of Hebron means Israel "is no longer inclined to show restraint" against the Palestinians, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said Friday . . .
Cavan Man (08/24/01; 14:50:55MT - usagold.com msg#: 60203)
Sierra Madre
Thanks for the earlier link. Enjoy your thoughts...CM
Sierra Madre (08/24/01; 14:44:14MT - usagold.com msg#: 60202)
For Econoclast: about the New Aristocracy.
The Inverted Pyramid of Power
Our age is witnessing the creation of an inverted pyramid of power.
Tradition, through thousands of years, visualized power as a pyramid reaching to Heaven.
The King, at the apex of power, was the spiritual representative of God. His powers were not only temporal, as Father of his people, but also spiritual. He was Heaven-sent and had to obey the Mandates of Heaven (Chinese thought) (Japanese Emperor, another example)
We are living in an age of World Revolution, that began - it is very hard to say when. Perhaps it corresponds to a force that always has existed, but was held at bay in earlier times.
This World Revolution is based on overturning and inverting all values previously considered as "self-evident". Basically, much more than a re-distribution of wealth, much more than a materialist event or a political event, it is a spiritual revolution: the rejection of the idea that Authority comes from God.
Since the 1600's we have seen this rejection of Authority as coming from God, supplanted by the World Revolution as authority coming from BELOW, from the people. Actually, the people were led to believe that authority resided in their vote, but that was a joke: that counter-authority comes from far below the people, from the Hells.
That was the beginning of a satanic inversion of values, which is reaching horrendous depths in our time.
We are witnessing the creation of an inverted pyramid of power. Where the power above the King was a benevolent Almighty God, now we have Satan at the top, or I should rather say, at the lowest point of the pyramid, for it is inverted, it does not have an apex, it has a nadir, a lowest point. The rulers of today, in accordance with the occult nature of Satan, also hide their identity: who rules? Nobody knows, exactly; it's just "they", whoever they are, "the powers that be".
So now, the people are not oriented upwards to spiritual values and to seeking closeness to God. They are oriented downwards, to all hellish counter-values.
Yes, we have a "new aristocracy", but we should not call it "aristocracy", for "aristos" means "the best"; it is a "kakocracy", the rule of the worst, of the evil. They are subservient to Satan. Part of the inverted pyramid of power.
So we humans abolished Kings, and aristocrats, and Religion, and Morality, How proud we are of our achievements! We are "Free"! ("Liberty" takes its name from "Liber" the Roman God of...wine). "If drunk with Power we loose wild tongues that have not Thee in awe..." Freedom - from God.
And in place of Kings we have satanic despots, a kakocracy that wishes to serve Satan and prey upon humanity, and instead of Religion we have ...Reason, which we worship, although it leads to atrocities such as cloning human beings and breeding embryos in test-tubes for the purpose of using their organs in transplants, or such atrocities as A-bombs and worse - a nightmare world; and instead of Morality we have "if it feels good, do it".
The inverted pyramid is almost complete. Power no longer comes from Above, it comes from Below --not the people, but...the Evil One.
Gold - the King of metals - is it any wonder it has been dethroned and is violently hated? And it will continue to be hated, until it is all accumulated by the kakocracy and we are enslaved to them, servants of Satan.
I had to say it. These are The Signs of the Times. And yet, I believe that at the moment of the triumph of evil, good will be reinstated, from Above.
Sierra
nickel62 (08/24/01; 14:37:38MT - usagold.com msg#: 60201)
fastinfo thanks for the piece on Nesbitt Burns...
They were more than a little involved in the hyping of Brex X around the same time. The real disgrace is the total lack of protection for the investor in the Canadian securities markets. It is pitiful to say the least and the US SEC seems to be intent on catching up with them.
fastinfo (08/24/01; 13:45:18MT - usagold.com msg#: 60200)
Lawsuit against Nesbitt Burns Canadian Brooker
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/pages/010526/5058004.html
Read this
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/pages/010526/5058004.html
John Doe (08/24/01; 13:13:03MT - usagold.com msg#: 60199)
Sierra Madre
The pigs need that corn.
Sierra Madre (08/24/01; 12:51:24MT - usagold.com msg#: 60198)
John Doe...I checked out the link and found....
The PUBLIC DEBT of USA has gone from
$2.1 billion in July, 1900, to...
$5,779 billion ($5.7 trillion) at August 22, 2001.
The PUBLIC debt is thus 2,752 times larger, in numerical terms.
FWIW.- "The march of empire".
Sierra.
Econoclast (08/24/01; 12:40:40MT - usagold.com msg#: 60197)
Sierra Madre #60190
They're all on the same team, partner. I wish I would've cut out the picture that I saw in "Rolling Stone" a few years ago of a 32 yr old Clinton sitting at a country club "fete" table with daddy "the VP" Bush. They "battle" for the people, then go play gold (oops-I meant golf-where is my mind?) and socialize at the same club.
It is Bush's role to be the fall guy in this next act of "The New World Order-Coming soon to a country near you".
So what, his family will still be "living like Kings" (literally) generations from now.
Has anybody else noticed that we now have a bona fide ruling class/aristocracy. The same surnames are not only filling elected offices, but hold top advisory/bureaucratic roles as 2 and even 3 generations ago.
Centennial Precious Metals, Inc. / USAGOLD (08/24/01; 12:40:04MT - usagold.com msg#: 60196)
An Invitation to Join Us Regularly at the Commentary & Review Page
http://www.usagold.com/Order_Form.html
Ed. Note: Here we offer a reproduction of MK's 8/22/01 Commentary & Review to give new readers an idea of what goes on at our client-only page. The full Commentary & Review normally appears only at the restricted-access page established for Centennial's clientele, however, access is also available to prospective clients free of charge on a trial basis. Entry requires an easy one-time registration at the link above.
8/22/01
In Brief: Gold jumped sharply higher in Europe overnight as traders reacted to the latest rate cut and a weaker dollar. The euro moved to five month highs against the dollar on good results from the latest survey of business confidence in Germany. UBSWarburg reports short covering and fresh buying as driving the market overnight. The Australian Financial Review is buoyant on gold's prospects emphasizing gold's strong showings in the past when the dollar has gone into a period of decline:
The real beneficiary of the weaker US dollar was the gold market. On Friday it snapped up through $US280 an oz for the first time in three months, before closing around $US279.50 an oz. Gold and the US dollar have a close relationship. As the US dollar falls, gold rallies. As gold is traded in US dollars this inverse relationship should exist, if all else is excluded. But other factors, like central bank gold sales, interest rates and gold lease rates, do affect the gold price. Back in 1985 the US dollar triggered gold into a wild bull market. A number of traders are now hoping that 1985 will repeat itself. Then the US dollar collapsed and gold rose from $US300 an oz to $US500 an oz.
We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of inquiries at Centennial Precious Metals/USAGOLD over the past several days. Most of the callers note that they are ready to move funds out of the stock market and into gold. Stocks continue to suffer from poor earnings results, the faltering dollar and weakened economic prospects in the United States -- not to speak of the fact that the air is being let out of the greatest equities bubble in history. A growing coterie of analysts -- especially those detached from the Wall Street equity firms and banks -- are beginning to call this a primary bear market. Yesterday's one quarter point cut failed to even slow-down the building negative sentiment in the stock market. Bear markets on average in the past have lasted from 12 to 15 years. Gold during equities bear markets has been a contra cyclical alternative where the investor could safely park funds for the interim -- a salve for the badly wounded portfolio. That understanding has carried over to this bear market. Many mention that their interest is fueled by gold being so undervalued.
That's it for now. See you back here in a few days. MK
- - - - - - - -
'Tis the Season
I have written intermittently about the summer gold doldrums and the chart below generously provided by Spectrum Commodities (please see link below) clearly shows the seasonality of gold demand. September usually marks the New Year for gold and this year promises to be a good one. There are several factors contributing to the optimism building in the gold market. First, traditional Indian demand is forecasted to be strong this year due to a good harvest. India consumes roughly one-third of the annual mine gold production. Second, mainland China will launch a free market in gold based in Shanghai this year. Chinese demand has been forecasted to be the equal to Indian demand. Third, the Dubai gold market in the Persian Gulf has had a very strong year with Mid-East demand scheduled to remain high as the year progresses. Fourth, U.S. demand could continue to grow due to the weaker dollar and faltering equity markets. Fifth, European demand could edge higher as the new currency is introduced for circulation and citizens within the community exercise their perogative to go at least partially to gold as a hedge against the euro. Sixth, the gold carry trade -- the greatest drag to higher gold prices -- continues to unwind as the process of dehedging continues in the mining sector and bullion banks continue to reduce their loan positions. This could be the year that all these factors come to a head. So let me be the first to wish all the goldmeisters a Happy New Year.
Spectrum Commodities: "(High: Jan//Low: Jul or Sep) Demand is usually weakest in Northern Hemisphere summer, especially August when European jewelry manufacturers are essentially shut down. Demand is greatest going into fourth quarter, during which consumption is highest as gift-giving peaks beginning with Indian harvest and wedding festivals in autumn and carrying through US religious holidays and Chinese new year."
Our thanks to Spectrum Commodities. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction without permission.
- - - - - - - - -
I would like to invite anyone who has an interest in gold to click the link below and register for an information packet. That way you will be sure to receive our upcoming issue of News & Views: A Quarterly Review of Forcasts, Commentary and Analsysis on the Economy and Precious Metals along with access to our client only Commentary & Review page.
John Doe (08/24/01; 12:29:58MT - usagold.com msg#: 60195)
.gov $130 billion in hole YTD
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
w/one month to go...
Sierra Madre (08/24/01; 11:52:09MT - usagold.com msg#: 60194)
Cavan Man....the "paradox"...
There is a terrific battle going on behind the scenes, to keep the house of cards from collapsing...
The situation is desperate and no holds are barred; the Establishment knows that it must throw everything it's got at the markets to keep the markets from melting down, as the consequences of the melt-down are politically unthinkable.
The fundamental situation is untenable; the inevitable melt-down will happen. All that matters to those in charge, is to prevent it from happening, for TODAY.
When EARNINGS turn up in the U.S. economy, that will be a sign that the game is going to last longer. It doesn't seem to me that we will see earnings turn up any time soon. and in the meantime, a lot of very ugly things can happen.
Ultimately, the paper game MAY go on longer than the time I have left to live. Empires can take some time to collapse. Things do move much faster in this day and age, though.
So, "we wait and watch".
*******
On another note, check out
http://www.rense.com/general12/crns.htm
Food for thought in another vein.
By the way, and FWIW, the Mayan Calendar ends in August, 2012. After that, "nada". Can be dismissed as nonsense - if metaphysics is nonsense.
Sierra
BR549 (08/24/01; 11:23:12MT - usagold.com msg#: 60193)
The Exchange Stabilization Fund
http://www.iie.com/policybriefs/news99-8.htm
According to GATA, Turk, and recently Tocqueville's John Hathaway, the culprit in gold manipulation is the Secretary of the Treasury via the use of the Exchange
Stabilization Fund.
ESF was originally intended for stabilization of loans and foreign exchange intervention. Now SDR's. Then--
Snippet: "Critics of the ESF raise five objections: (1) the account is a secretive "slush fund"; (2) the treasury has strayed from the original purposes of the ESF; (3) loans from the account illegally or unconstitutionally circumvent the congressional appropriations process; (4) the mechanism by which the treasury can swap foreign exchange in the account for dollars with the Federal Reserve—"warehousing"— is a subterfuge and undermines the central bank's independence; and (5) stabilization loans create moral hazard. "
Congress failed to pass an oversight bill during the Clinton Administration and the potential for abuse (or doing the right thing) has grown but still lies within The Department of Treasury rather than the Federal Reserve.
If gold prices are being manipulated via SDR Certificates, then the capability to reign in ESF gold price fixing abuses should be within Secretary O’Neill's power.
Gold Trail Update (08/24/01; 10:54:31MDT - Msg ID:60192)
The Gold Trail Discussion has been Updated
The Gold Trail Discussion has been updated. Click on the link to read the latest updates.
Cavan Man (08/24/01; 10:52:27MT - usagold.com msg#: 60191)
But Sierra.......
The DOW is winning today and the USD is rising. How to explain the paradox (tongue in cheek)?
Sierra Madre (08/24/01; 10:16:59MT - usagold.com msg#: 60190)
Hooverization in progress..."Vanishing" surplus
As the weeks and months go by, I get a stronger and stronger feeling that George W. Bush is soon going to bear the complete and total blame for the Depression on its way.
It seems odd that he should not have come out of his corner, from day one, punching day after day: "This is what Clinton and the Democrats left us!" But no, he says nothing in that regard.
Was this part of some agreement made in those weeks when taking office was in doubt?
Clinton will forever be associated with: fabulous prosperity. G.W. Bush will be associated in the history books with: Depression and who knows what worse.
Puzzles of our time.
Sierra
BR549 (08/24/01; 10:13:53MT - usagold.com msg#: 60189)
Panning for GOLD in Dahlonega, GA began in the 1820's and continues to this day
Dahlonega, GA was fortunate in that its location was in proximity to a large metropolitan city and it still survives as a new economy. Gift shops, art galleries, FUDGE SHOPPES, and jewelers inhabit the town's old buildings.
I am sure that some ghost towns out West that represented "boom towns" in gold rush era still exist in this revised economic form. Most disappear into the dust that existed before the hunt for gold.
Sitting on the front porch of the "The Smith House" waiting your turn at the long family style tables inside was a very relaxing experience. While waiting or after eating, you could prospect for gold. Under a tent in the front yard was a prospector's load of dirt hauled in from the local digs. For a few bucks per pan, your family could dip into this ore, and sift the dirt out of the pan's ridges down to the precious nuggets on the bottom. You were allowed to keep any gold that you found and they guaranteed you that you would find gold for your efforts or your money back. How could you lose?
There were very personable young locals there to assist you and they would pick out the gold from your efforts (a.k.a. flakes and transfer them into small vials, about the size of the first knuckle of your little finger), and hold them up to the light for your inspection. Let's get another pan. Great fun.
Of course, when you look at the yellow stuff in the sunlight, greed starts to take over. Let's buy our own pans and set off exploring on the hope that the new mother lode is out there somewhere. I'll bet my Aunt who lives near here will know where to find the yellow stuff.
My Aunt, on my father's side, was born in Forsythe County as my dad was (also birth place of Junior Samples). She was salt of the earth whom you would really need to be sick to dislike.
Her house was located down the road to the town of Dahlonega on the main route up from Atlanta. What was unusual about her property was the flat land next to the road was very narrow and to quickly gives way to a steep drop off. Therefore their mountain home was built down the side on the mountain. The house had seven levels, each layer built as they could afford it, and could be seen from seven states across the mountains. In fact, people who lived across the valley from my Aunt would drive over to see how her house could exist without falling off of the side of the mountain. None of them obviously, had ever been to California.
When you pulled up into Aunt Edyth's (correct spelling) narrow front yard, you walked into her house onto the front porch. The door was never locked and there was no doorbell. From the front porch you went down a level into the living room, down another level into the dining room, down another level into the kitchen, down another level into the pantry, down another level into a bedroom, down to the final level onto the back porch. Other bedrooms and bathrooms were situated off of these seven levels. You went down into the house calling her name gently and hoping she would answer before her new husband, Spencer, would shoot you.
Her primary occupation during the week was day care for the working mother's of the area. Our kids couldn't drink her cow's milk as it tasted funny. Mountain kids didn't know what city milk tasted like.
After a brief tour of the dwelling and some small talk, Spencer loaded us all into his pickup truck, adults in the front, me and the kids in the back, over the mountain roads. Finally, after a six flags type ride we stopped at a cold mountain stream back up in the woods. Using our new plastic gold pans and with the vials safely in our pockets, we scooped up some sand and began the process of swishing the light sand out and scouring the bottom of the pan for nuggets. After a couple of hours the kids were ready to go. They dragged me back towards the pickup truck and we returned to the house on the hill. Back to Atlanta and the real world. No gold this time, maybe next time. Prospecting for gold is hard work. But the thrill is like none other. Some of our family's "funnest" times.
Cavan Man (08/24/01; 09:26:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 60188)
Bill Bonner's Daily Reckoning
A quote from Richard Russell in today's commentary:
"In today's market, a dollar buys 3 or 4 cents of earnings and no dividend--it's a suckers market. It is a Las Vegas market. Today Wall Street is one step away from Las Vegas. The difference; wall Street enjoys greater publicity: over-priced stocks are touted around the clock, and millions of people are living with the illusion that stocks at today's prices are a good holding for 'the long haul".
escapethematrix (08/24/01; 07:40:02MT - usagold.com msg#: 60187)
Huge federal budget surplus nearly gone
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/business/36230_surplus23.shtml
WASHINGTON -- Ending a brief but giddy era of fiscal plenty, the Bush administration released figures yesterday showing that the projected federal budget surpluses outside of the Social Security system had dwindled to almost nothing for the next several years.
As recently as April, the White House projected a surplus of $122 billion in the non-Social-Security federal system for the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. For the current fiscal year, the administration estimated, the government would run a surplus outside of Social Security of about $600 million, an almost negligible amount in a $1.9 trillion budget and a $10 trillion economy.
Quite the "forecast, eh?? From 122 Billion ex SS to 600 million in only 5 months....What will the "surplus" look like by the end of the year??
escapethematrix (08/24/01; 07:27:14MT - usagold.com msg#: 60186)
U.S. Orders for Durable Goods Fell 0.6% in July
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20Financial%20News&s1=blk&tp=ad_topright_topfin&refer=topsum&T=markets_bfgcgi_content99.ht&s2=blk&bt=ad_position1_topfin&middle=ad_frame2_topfin&s=AO4ZQhRIxVS5TLiBP
Snippet:
The 0.6 percent decline last month followed a 2.6 percent decrease in June that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said. The July level of orders, at $182 billion, is the lowest since July 1998. Excluding transportation equipment, orders sank to the lowest level in more than four years.
``The adjustment to the bubble in technology equipment continues,'' said Tim McGee, chief economist at Tokai Bank Ltd. in New York. ``There's going to be an extremely difficult and long adjustment to get things back in balance.''
The seemingly endless parade of revisions and poor numbers continues unabated......Got Gold??
LeSin (08/24/01; 05:24:04MT - usagold.com msg#: 60185)
Test
Test
Test
ViewYesterday's Discussion.
