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ARCHIVED DISCUSSION FROM 2/24/2005
All times are U.S. Mountain Time
(Yesterday's Discussion.)
Black Blade
(02/24/05; 23:32:36MT - usagold.com msg#: 129636)
Gold Sales On The Rise - Iraq
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Iraq/180512
Snippit:
An Iraqi owner of a gold shop said that there is new atmosphere in the market. He noted that the improvement of the economic situation is the major factor behind the increase in sales. According to him, the purchase of gold is not restricted for weddings and many Iraqis also buy gold to exchange gifts with family and friends.
Another owner said "we have many customer from Iran, especially who come to visit the holy places in Kathemiya. They like the quality of the Iraqi gold.
Black Blade: Looks like some economic rebound in the play ground of Saddam.
Black Blade
(02/24/05; 23:12:51MT - usagold.com msg#: 129635)
WGC - Gold Demand to Decline?
Quote: "Demand for gold may weaken in 2005 from last year's robust pace, the World Gold Council said Thursday. Global economic conditions may be "less favorable" and thus affect jewelry and industrial demand for gold, the London-based organization said in its report on the gold market for 2004. Mitigating against this, "a weaker world economy and concerns over global imbalances and the dollar should, along with ongoing political worries, favor investment" in the precious metal, the World Gold Council said. For the fourth quarter of 2004, consumer demand for gold rose 6.4 percent from the prior year, while industrial demand rose 2.9 percent. Tonnage supplies of gold fell 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter, the World Gold Council's data showed."
Black Blade: Sounds more like a recipe for increased demand to me. Gold production is falling off a cliff (ie. FCX)and some foreign miners are bankrupt (ie. DROOY). Meanwhile, miners continue to dehedge at a steady pace. Geopolitical uncertainty reigns and economic stability is far from certain - so minor losses from jewelry are met with increases in investment demand. It appears that every time the bears come out they end looking like they are trying to herd cats through a busy train station - it just doesn't work.
spotlight
(02/24/05; 22:41:42MT - usagold.com msg#: 129634)
Balance of payments
The IMF warns: US balance of payments deficits are unsustainable.
It has become obvious that the whole world is dependent on the US continuing to consume their goods. So much so, that countries like Japan are willing to literally print Yen by the trillions and sell them on the open market for dollars. This acomplishes three things. (1.) It props up the dollar. (Enabling US consumers to continue to buy Japaneese goods at much lower prices than if the dollar had not been forcibly manipulated.) (2) It drives down the yen. (Enabling Japanese exporters to enjoy another round of healthy exports.) (3.) It lowers the yeild on US bonds. ( As it buys US bonds with the dollars it recives for the yen, the bond yeild falls.)
There are other ramifications, but just dealing with the above:
How many economists have pointed out the obvious, very silent fourth, very damaging effect, which needs to be shouted out loud? Namely, the more growth the US can muster, the more the balance of payments deficits, (which the IMF calls "unsustainable") will increase. The reason is simple. If the US GDP (growth) grows by say 10% or, one trillion dollars, and 10% of the growth is due to consumers buying foreign goods, simple math informs us that 100 billion dollars more than before, is going to wind up in foreign central banks. Those at the top know this, but obviously have no solutions.
What it comes down to is, either foreign central banks hold our dollars and pray for a miracle, or one of them panics, (as it appeared to have happened with the Korean cental bank) and the whole house of cards comes down.
In the mean time, all other, unfriendly central banks, (of which there are many) will no doubt pass along to the Japanese central bank (of last dollar resort) all of their unwanted dollars. An unfriendly central bank only has to dump his dollars on the open market and wait for Japan to sop them up. They then can repeat the process, buying an appreciating asset, (Gold or Euros, ect.) in exchange for a depreciating one. There has to be a word for this.
Maybe it's.... UNSUSTAINABLE...
spotlight
(02/24/05; 21:39:25MT - usagold.com msg#: 129633)
IRA gold eagle coins
Town Crier:
In the 1980s I bought 50 one ounce gold eagles in an IRA account for one of my clients with Merrill Lynch. I understand now,they do not accept orders for gold coins in IRA accounts. What happened?
Smeagol
(2/24/05; 18:40:08MT - usagold.com msg#: 129632)
...sssoooo....
..the Iran-country is opening an oil market? Will it be in euros, precious? ... sss... what ever shall we do... O! how about a "war on nuclear irresponsibility"? That oughta sell... just like the "war on terror"...
S.
Ned
(2/24/05; 18:17:04MT - usagold.com msg#: 129631)
Thanks BB !!
http://p088.ezboard.com/fdownstreamventurespetroleummarkets.showMessage?topicID=11519.topic
The answers to single hull tankers..........
Ned
(2/24/05; 18:05:26MT - usagold.com msg#: 129630)
Thanks ge for the Iran/Venezuala message.
Does anyone have long term charts for POO and the CRB?
Has anyone heard more about:
1) the Iranian oil trading market to open in March of this year?
2) the abolishment of the single hull tanker (VLCC, ULCC I believe they are called) in April of this year? Apparently this will put enormus pressure on oil shipping.
Thanks and as always.......
"....yellow replaces black...."
Black Blade
(2/24/05; 17:16:43MT - usagold.com msg#: 129629)
Oops!
Sorry, I miss-spelled - "Hoosier Goldbug".
On Social Security - we as peons have no choice in the investments for this defunct Ponzi scheme. Of course the proposed "privatization" will never happen. Politicians need our confiscated funds for squander. Besides, even though we know that this Ponzi scheme is doomed to failure, we have to ask these primates in Congress why, if Social Security is such a wonderful program then why they themselves do not turn over their own government subsidized "private" retirement accounts to Social Security. The answer is quite obvious. There is a reason why these primates and Federal welfare recipients (aka Federal employees) do not participate in Social Security.
- Black Blade
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 17:12:22MT - usagold.com msg#: 129628)
HOOSIER GOLDBUG, on "getting the government to allow the purchase of gold..."
Maybe it is just my own personal quirkiness, but does the novel idea ever occur to anyone else to make personal investment decisions and invest in something separate (not a part of or independent of) from officially organized programs of the government or of their employer?
In other words, if the institutional or individual Social Security Accounts do not facilitate gold ownership, it really ought not effectly prevent anyone from owning as much gold as they deem appropriate -- excepting the amount of capital that gets tied up in the SS program itself.
Looked at in that way, a forced participation in non-gold SS accounts might be the easiest way the government can prevent everyone from going "all in" for gold when it begins to show itself as the only (best) game in town. That'll make sure Wall St. and "Bond St." still get enough crumbs to survive.
R.
Black Blade
(2/24/05; 17:02:36MT - usagold.com msg#: 129627)
@ Hoosier Goldug
Nearly 60+% of the intermountain west is owned by the Feds. We have what is called the "Sagebrush Rebellion" where some locals are trying to rectify the situation. But many say that the percentage should be equally divided in all the states including such places as New York, New Jersey, Florida, Kalifornia, etc. Not a chance IMO. Almost 70% of Nevada where the second largest gold production is mined is Federal owned.
- Black Blade
HOOSIER GOLDBUG
(2/24/05; 16:42:07MT - usagold.com msg#: 129626)
GOLD IN SS
Believer, seems to me that getting the government to allow the purchase of GOLD in the upcoming private individual accounts would be a more easily reachable goal than to get the WHOLE SS FUND to invest in GOLD. FWIW.
HOOSIER GOLDBUG
(2/24/05; 16:38:15MT - usagold.com msg#: 129625)
DEFICITS AND DEBT
The government still has an ace up their sleeve/sleeves. If all federal land would be sold, it would pay off the 7+ trillion debt! It probably would not take care of the unfunded medicare of ss deficits.Only 17% of all the land in ARIZONA is for private/owner use!
Federal_Reserves
(2/24/05; 15:18:21MT - usagold.com msg#: 129624)
Believer> I agree
Since inception
had the SS fund invested excess cash flow (cash receipts > cash payments) into hard assets which appreciate in
value rather than government bonds which depreciate it would be far far ahead.
My favorite would investment - Real Estate specifically land.
Black Blade
(2/24/05; 15:08:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 129623)
US current account deficit not sustainable indefinitely: IMF
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1518&ncid=1518&e=9&u=/afp/20050224/bs_afp/imfuseconomyforex_050224030057
Snippit:
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) - A current account deficit the size of the United States' "cannot be sustained indefinitely," IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato says. "Experience shows that the current account deficits of the order that the US has been running cannot be sustained indefinitely," said Rato, speaking here to the Foreign Policy Association.
While current account deficits are not undesirable "per se", said Rato, noting that the US deficit helped the world economy resist depression in 2002-2003, contributing to the current rebound, "What is undesirable, however, is an unsustainable deficit."
Record levels of debt are now financed by foreign investors, the IMF boss said. "It is highly unlikely that such easy credit will continue to be available to the US on the basis of the existing policy path. "There can be little doubt that the pattern of persistent and growing US current account deficits, and the increase in dollar indebtedness that they entail, have contributed to the recent renewed depreciation of the dollar.
Black Blade: As stated many times before. The twin deficits are clearly unsustainable and we have already passed well beyond the point of no return. Get yourselves stable and get outta debt. Accumulate a stable currency in the form of Gold and Silver. Just check out the "pickins" here at the USAGOLD Castle Treasury.
USAGOLD Daily Market Report
(2/24/05; 14:59:38MT - usagold.com msg#: 129622)
Page Update!
http://www.usagold.com/DailyQuotes.html
The Daily Gold Market Report has been
updated.
If you are considering investments in gold we invite you to
request our free
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forward to working with you.
Thursday Market Excerpts
Gold futures closed modestly lower Thursday, with most of the metals sector following suit. COMEX April gold closed at $435.70, off 40 cents.
The benchmark contract thus remained little changed for a second straight session following a rally of 1.7 percent on Tuesday.
James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com cautioned traders against being lulled into complacency. He said he sees gold trading in "an extremely volatile mood for the next couple of months."
Gold remains closely tied to moves in the U.S. dollar, which Moore said could be roiled by speculation over central banks reducing their official holdings of the greenback.
Moreover, rumors about the International Monetary Fund putting gold reserves on the market also could provoke swings in the precious metal, he said.
Earlier, the World Gold Council issued a 2005 forecast ... that global economic conditions may be "less favorable" and thus affect jewelry and industrial demand. Mitigating against this, "a weaker world economy and concerns over global imbalances and the dollar should, along with ongoing political worries, favor investment" in gold, the London-based organization said in its report.
During the fourth quarter, consumer demand for gold rose 6.4 percent from the prior year, while industrial demand rose 2.9 percent. Data compiled by the World Gold Council also showed supplies of gold falling 4.8 percent in the quarter.
----(see url for 24-hr news, market prices)----
Dollar Bill
(2/24/05; 13:42:51MT - usagold.com msg#: 129621)
.,.
Belgian, I am deep into a few pieces of art that I am working to sell in 2005.
A combination of ideas has me believeing gold is the storehouse for the coming era. Some of those ideas...
--Chicken Little Gazette--
..Avian bird flu could leave total wreckage. Easily.
The transition to the united states of earth financial model is quite a walk into uncharted terrain.
..By this time next year, either Israel has attacked iran, or Iran will have given up its bombmaking and gone back to inspections. If Iran is attacked, mullahs will attack the west via terrorism, and perhaps quite effectively.
.. I think, having found the holy financial grail, the road to unlimited debt......is the equivalent of landing on easy street. Which is the street of destruction. Now that we have the infinite debt model to just completely fund our destruction, or --alteration-- or --management-- of the resources of the planet into extinction, it is time for us to get pounded back to local economy, lower population by the nature. The bird flu.
I know I have an -end of the world-- streak in me.
I just think it is really the time to invest in gold and see if we weather the next 3 years well.
Believer
(2/24/05; 13:23:58MT - usagold.com msg#: 129620)
The Social Security Surplus and Gold
Instead of using our present and past Social Security Surpluses ($1 trillion) to paydown the current Budget Deficit. Why don't WE start promoting using the Social Security Surpluses each year to buy Physical GOLD and SILVER to really have SOMTHING in the Social Security Fund that is worth something, rather than paper,which may be worth nothing, for when people retire?
Right now they are using the surpluses to paydown the current budget deficit so that the current budget deficit will look like it is not so bad.
1 TRILLION in physical GOLD and SILVER might be a hugh retirement option, without having to change anything except the perception of the extent of the administration's budget deficit.
Pass it on! Lets create some grass roots interest.
Gandalf the White
(2/24/05; 12:56:49MT - usagold.com msg#: 129619)
Question ?-- for Lady Whitewaterwoman !
http://charts-d.quote.com:443/1002980432830?User=demo&Pswd=demo&DataType=GIF&Symbol=DX00Y&Interval=10&Ht=600&Wd=800&Display=2&Study=MA&Param1=13&Param2=0&Param3=&FontSize=10
DO you think that it is POSSIBLE that the ESF Boyz had any desired goal to PUMP the US$ during the Bush-Putin meeting period ? See Chart at LINK !
So HOW can you factor in these "minor" POLITICAL manevers ?
<;-)
ge
(2/24/05; 12:22:12MT - usagold.com msg#: 129618)
A rumour about Venezuala switching to Petro-Euro
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=25820
simultaneously with Iran, in June.
Bizarro-Greenspan
(2/24/05; 12:16:01MT - usagold.com msg#: 129617)
Everybody bashing Greenie,with ever increasing frequency and vitriol
He's just an edifice on a large building,the tip of a massive berg,a spokesmodel for a new era of flexible money and flexible dreams of grandeur.
"It's my job,he'd say,I do it for pay".
Bob Dylan
Relax,he's on our team.
"I wouldn't change a word of it"
Alan Greenspan
"Same as it ever was."
David Bryne
Gold to da moon!
B-G
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 11:42:39MT - usagold.com msg#: 129616)
The "abandon ship" warnings are getting louder and more frequent...
http://www.voanews.com/english/NewsAnalysis/2005-02-24-voa31.cfm
Financial institutions around the world observe the declining value of the dollar and plan for the consequences
Washington, 24 February 2005
The dollar is considered one of the soundest currencies in global commerce. Nations often buy dollars as an investment when they want to find a safe place to park their savings.
This has kept the demand for the dollar high and has given U-S policy makers a great deal of flexibility in managing domestic economic affairs. But the dollar is losing its luster and for the first time is faced with a strong competitor, the euro.
Some say the greenback is at a turning point and could forfeit its status as the dominant currency for global reserves.
"Gates and Buffett bet against the dollar" read headlines when two of the world's richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, recently decided to trade billions of their dollar assets into euros and other foreign currencies. Microsoft chairman Gates and renowned investor Warren Buffett, say that they expect the dollar to extend its three-year drop because of widening U.S. trade and budget deficits. Since January 2002 the dollar has fallen 33 percent...
Like the two American corporate titans, central banks around the world are also eyeing ways to move away from the dollar.
...they have made their reluctance clear by not showing up to treasury auctions.
"A reserve currency is meant to be a secure store. But the dollar has already fallen, and it could fall further. A reserve currency should be backed by sound economic policies. The fact that the United States has been running a current account deficit and has what I would call an unsustainable fiscal policy is not a good background from which you run a reserve currency. ... America is now the world's largest net debtor country."
...we are in uncharted territory when the world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt.
^-----(see full article at url)----^
Please see also my related comments at msg#: 129607
R.
Belgian
(2/24/05; 11:37:05MT - usagold.com msg#: 129615)
@ dollar bill
The lying will never stop. Let us stick to the different long term goals,...the road paved with lies.
The Bush-EU-Putin meeting was a (needed-desired) "formality". I only noted the important slips of the tonques. Conclusion : Whatever the different strategies are or will be...it is/remains all about dollar-euro-oil-gold ! Not about Bush or Chirac or Putin or anyone else.
Dollar and euro keep on competing, on the *many* fronts, for oil and gold ! Currencies, resources, military power, changing alliances, economic dominance...weaknesses and strengths ...etc.
Just watch the naked $-€-POO/POG...$-€ exchange rate...USDX...$-€-IRs. Leave all the "noise", that goes with those naked prices, for what it is. We know by now, what the many struggles are for. The more "pathos" one hears in the words, the harsher, more worrisome, the realities have become.
Oil and euro have an undated appointment. One can bet permanently on the final outcome,...the timing... or on both, outcome + timing. What are your bets at present, good cowboy $-Bill ?
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 11:25:20MT - usagold.com msg#: 129614)
Trade impact of China peg overstated - Cleveland Fed
http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh81236_2005-02-24_17-30-55_n24710341_newsml
WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China's exchange rate peg to the dollar has had less of an impact on its trade surplus with the United States than many experts have assumed, research from the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank said on Thursday.
The bank said that analysis often ignored relative inflation rates between the two countries...
"This peg tells us nothing about China's competitiveness relative to the U.S. because it ignores price patterns," the report said.
"The real (inflation-adjusted) renminbi dollar exchange rate adjusts the exchange rate peg for changes in relative inflation rates, thereby providing a clearer picture of China's competitiveness."
The bank said that, on a real basis, the dollar has risen only 2.5 percent against the yuan since 1995.
"That movement cannot confer much of a trade advantage on China," it said.
The Fed report said policy of pegging the yuan has required the People's Bank of China to buy large of amounts of dollars for yuan on the open market. Buy flooding the system with yuan, it expands its money supply and risks stoking inflation.
"In fact, this mechanism will prevent China from realizing a long-term trade advantage from its peg because a rising inflation rate will dull China's competitive edge," it said.
"China has many artificial barriers to trade and financial flows that help it sustain an overall balance-of-payments surplus," it concluded. "But the contribution of its exchange rate policies seems to have been overstated."
^-----(from url)----^
Meaning, we're actually deeper in the soup.
At the end of the day it isn't so much an issue of trade balances as it is an issue of political perception -- on which side the grass is deemed to be greener. From the perspective of the participants, the benefits of consumerism on the trade deficit side are to be measured against the benefits of fuller employment on the surplus side of the fence.
Inevitably, each side wants what the other has, and thus the old system gives way to change. A timely acquisition of gold will help you thrive through the transition.
R.
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 10:43:05MT - usagold.com msg#: 129613)
Gold demand lifts off
http://www.mineweb.net/sections/gold_silver/417487.htm
24-FEB-05
LONDON (Mineweb.com) -- The latest World Gold Council quarterly market survey shows that net consumer demand for gold in the fourth quarter of 2004 was up by 5 percent in tonnage terms and 18 percent in dollar terms by comparison with the fourth quarter of 2003. ... the offtake in euro terms also up on year-ago levels, registering a gain of 7 percent.
For the year as a whole the argument is similar. Tonnage was up 7 percent, approximate dollar value 20 percent and euro value 9 percent.
...even in the most price-sensitive markets such as India, the rest of Asia and the Middle East with consumers not only comfortable with prices in excess of $400, but expecting prices to hold firm or increase.
The market that is capturing every-one's attention in more metals than one is China and here the increase in offtake on the mainland was 13 percent, both for the quarter and for the year as a whole. This latter equates to almost 27 tonnes overall. The Council comments on a "major breakthrough" with respect to the approval in late December by the China Banking Regulatory Commission for Chinese banks to market retail investment products...
...Japanese investment was high throughout the year, scoring a 43 percent or 21 tones gain on 2003 at 71 tonnes, the highest figure since 1999, reflecting both the comparative strength of the yen against the dollar and possibly also reflecting an increase in gold purchases ahead of the planned limitation of government [insured] bank deposits from 1 April 2005.
^----(from url)----^
A world of demand coming to the fore under the spotlight of a weakening dollar reserve.
R.
Gandalf the White
(2/24/05; 10:40:55MT - usagold.com msg#: 129612)
TOWNIE !!!! DARN IT !!!
You were not supposed to tell what the discussions WERE !
<;-)
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 10:32:43MT - usagold.com msg#: 129611)
Asian meeting addresses risk from dollar's slide
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/24/business/dollar.html
(Reuters, Bloomberg News) February 25, 2005 -- Policy makers from Japan, China, South Korea and Southeast Asian nations met in Thailand this week to discuss the impact of the dollar's slide on the region's economies, officials from the countries involved said Thursday.
"They've got every reason to be worried about the dollar's decline," said Tony Norfield, head of currency strategy at ABN AMRO in London. "There's nothing they can do to stop the overall dollar decline, but they can arrange more stability within regional currencies."
Dollars account for a majority of the world's foreign-exchange reserves, which are holdings of foreign currency at central banks.
"It was an unofficial meeting to freely exchange views on macroeconomic issues surrounding Asian nations," deputy finance minister Hosokawa said. "We are not supposed to disclose the content of the meeting."
He said that there had been no discussion of measures to stop the dollar's decline.
^-----(from url)----^
No measures to STOP the decline... let the dollar fall, and take measures to compensate for the loss.
More subtle encouragement for you to strap on your golden life jacket.
R.
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 10:26:14MT - usagold.com msg#: 129610)
US tumbles on dollar slump and oil price surge
http://www.citywire.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?VersionID=72326
(CityWire February 2005) -- Mixed signals on inflation, soaring oil prices and a slump in the dollar sparked sharp falls across Wall Street this week.
...the dollar slumped on reports that South Korea and Thailand were planning to slash their dollar reserves.
The soaring oil price and a dive in the dollar sparked a huge sell-off on Wall Street on Tuesday, with the Dow registering its steepest daily fall in 21 months.
^------(from url)----^
How much of your portfolio is in peril? Diversify into gold and rest easier on the basis of having tangible, non-defaultable, portable and highly liquid wealth.
R.
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 10:19:49MT - usagold.com msg#: 129609)
Official: Russian Inflation Is Soaring
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=527484
The Associated Press
MOSCOW Feb 24, 2005 — Russia's economic trade and development minister said Thursday that Russian goods today are as uncompetitive today as they were before a 1998 financial crisis and ruble devaluation that reinvigorated domestic producers, the ITAR-Tass new agency reported.
German Gref, the government's economic pointman, warned that inflation in the first two months of the year could hit a record 3.9 percent, and said that enterprises' energy and utility payments should be frozen at their current level.
^-----(from url)-----^
Just a reminder that it's a wide world of people all with good reason to choose gold as a significant element of their savings and investment portfolio.
R.
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 09:55:51MT - usagold.com msg#: 129608)
A diversification within a diversification
http://www.usagold.com/gold/special/TwentiesAlert.html
Oftentimes the difference between incredible success and merely satisfactory performance can hinge upon having an extra bit of key knowledge. In business for over thirty years, USAGOLD-Centennial and its brokers have that institutional knowledge to help you make the most of the gold market.
For those investors looking for additional investment opportunities and profit potential within the golden portion of their portfolio, I would encourage you to call for a consulation on United States $20 gold pieces.
I predict you will be very glad that you made this call.
1-800-869-5115
R.
TownCrier
(2/24/05; 09:17:52MT - usagold.com msg#: 129607)
Australia's Henry warns of U.S. bond "exuberance"
http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh67483_2005-02-24_07-05-19_syd121226_newsml
SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The cheap funding of the U.S. current account deficit is worryingly reminiscent of the "irrational exuberance" in U.S. stock markets in the 1990s, Australia's top treasury official said on Thursday.
At a conference in Sydney, Treasury Secretary Ken Henry also questioned whether the large U.S. deficit could continue to attract funding from foreign central banks.
"Some countries' monetary authorities are willing buyers of U.S. liabilities, especially U.S. Treasuries, even though they must surely be expecting negative returns," Henry said in his speech...
"But what if they change their mind because the opportunity and holding costs simply become too high? And what happens when they consider their economies strong enough to bear currency appreciation?"
Henry noted that the current account deficit in the United States had widened in the past four years to an annual level of around $660 billion, or 5.6 percent of gross domestic product, a record in both absolute terms and as a proportion of GDP.
"Whatever happens, the greater the buildup in structural imbalances, the greater is the risk of a large and sudden adjustment to the U.S. economy, global capital and currency markets; and the more likely an adverse shock to all of our economies," he said.
^-------(from url)-----^
The act of monetary officials trying to talk their way through it is one of the steps in trying to bring a "soft landing" -- a smooth transition.
With a sinking ship and rescue operations of this scale, it is impossible to personally attend to each individual so the ultimate hope is that everyone can fend for themselves as all efforts are directed to keep the ship floating just long enough to give folks a chance to get into a life boat, pick up a life jacket, or learn to tread water.
The talking (warning) is always subtle at first, to foster a calm and orderly reaction among the more heads-up members of passengers and crew. As they set the flow into motion and clear the decks, the system can better handle the potentially chaotic pressures of the rank and file untrained masses joining in who are usually best able at following a clear example that has already been set. At such times as the example is in, the warnings to abandon ship can become more strident.
Are we now at that stage in the process where the more strident warnings are beginning, first from Korea and now Australia? The price of gold has calmly and quietly risen for three years as the early smart money has been setting a good example.
Call USAGOLD-Centennial today to lock in your order before we come to the fateful point where these officials are actually mentioning gold by name as a necessary life preserver. In a market economy of supply and demand, the prices are best to those who get in before the rush.
R.
Goldilox
(2/24/05; 09:13:00MT - usagold.com msg#: 129606)
Link to previous post
http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/417127.htm
Sorry!
Goldilox
(2/24/05; 09:12:08MT - usagold.com msg#: 129605)
Gold output lowest in 60 years
snip:
GOLD supply fell 13% in 2004 compared to 2003 recording the sharpest fall in mine production since the 1940s, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in its annual review. Gold production, which totalled 2,478 tonnes in 2004, recovered slightly in the fourth quarter of 2004, however, owing to improved production from Grasberg, a large gold mine in Indonesia. The fourth quarter also benefited from a number of new mines, the WGC said.
Gold mining companies continued to allow their hedging programmes to unravel without renewing them. "De-hedging was high throughout 2004, 59% higher than in 2003," the WGC said. Scrap supply was 14% lower in the fourth quarter "... continuing the trend evident in the first three quarters of the year," it said. . .
Net consumer demand for gold, which is dominated by gold jewellery, increased 7% in volumes terms in 2004 (20% higher in dollar terms) compared to 2003, the WGC said. However, consumer demand for gold was expected to slow this year. "Economic conditions are likely to be less favourable to jewellery than 2004, so growth may be weaker than last year," it said.
-Goldilox
Supply down, demand up, hedging down. One has to wonder if "fundamentals" might come into play in determining price?
Goldilox
(2/24/05; 09:03:35MT - usagold.com msg#: 129604)
Bush and Chirac
@ $Bill,
Interesting thought. I'm more inclined to believe that this visit was undertaken to smooth out the French loss of $15B in oil investment uncurred by the fall of Saddam. What better way to mend a fence than go in with "peace" offerings of deals that were previously only dangled as bait?
But eventually, you're right about one thing. The areas and levels of collusion will not be revealed to the general populace by either mogul.
-Goldilox
OvS
(2/24/05; 08:00:47MT - usagold.com msg#: 129603)
Dollar Bill
You are a good cowboy and are comming
of age...sometimes is nicer to be
dreaming than waking up...ce la vie..
Dollar Bill
(2/24/05; 07:29:56MT - usagold.com msg#: 129602)
.,.
That blasted avian bird flu is really quite a good reason to buy gold I would say.
Also, Israel has made it plenty clear that it intends to attack Iran.
.http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran-strikes.htm
Belgian, any chance my very recent theory that Chirac was on board the plan to handle saddam with the US the whole time?
Militarily it was the best strategy to make Saddam think the US was only going to bluff unless the UN said ok, and France and others made saddam think that was never going to happen.
Could Chirac actually be so smart and so on board that he played his role for reasons we would not guess?
If it was the whole west against saddam this time, it would have polarized the middle east in ways that were lessened .........oh, I dont have it in me to type out the whole conspiracy theory........I guess I was surprised by what Bush said about Chirac. Something about what a good cowboy he is.......I guess I would like to know just how much went on under the surface, how much was staged, and how much on the surface was real.
The level of deception that IS organized in the financial field, that we see to some extent, just how much deception around the big geopolitical issues is going on I wonder.
What a world ! I never had any idea I would be seeing so much lying as an adult.
Just how much lying of course I wont know, but is there a shot in heck that Chirac and Bush were playing much more on the same team than we think during the iraq story?
Not fair to ask you that, but, I am just at a loss to find the line where the lying stops with all these guys.
Boilermaker
(2/24/05; 06:17:26MT - usagold.com msg#: 129601)
Gonlyold
Here's my simple view on the Federal Reserve, fiat banking system and fractional reserve...
The Federal Reserve is the "superbank" ready to bail out the stupider members of the private banking fraternity. Because of this it also gives them (private banks) the confidence to do stupid things like lending into bubble markets. So now we have big Pappa Bank telling the kids "you're part of the family and I'll take care of your indiscretions". This encourages the kids to do daredevil stuff that can end badly just like those amusing TV shows about amateur daredevils.
Add to the above the ability to leverage the game with fractional reserves and we get a recipe that is like a giant punch bowl laced with booze and other good-time ingredients. I get invitations in the mail and on TV every day inviting me to the credit party. "You're pre-approved for a $6,000 line of credit, go for it". "Take some equity out of your castle and go on a cruise". It goes on and on and people get older and deeper in debt. The banks hold more and more loans with dubious borrowers. The dumbest people tend to owe the most money. Would you run your own non-bank business like this?
Then we add to the mix a fiat unit of currency that is guaranteed to "fluctuate" (always down in the long run) and can be produced out of thin air, a punch bowl that never goes dry. Having the benefit of being the world's reserve currency just adds to the fun. Those wonderful Asians just keep sending us stuff and taking our iou's. This is heaven.
Now you, a saver, have some hard-earned fiat and would like to earn some "interest". Your neighborhood banker has a menu of savings plans with various terms that can accommodate your needs. Pappa bank guarantees $100K of your money so what's to worry? Not a thing if you enjoy paying taxes on the "rewards" of watching your wealth shrink. The rate of your wealth shrinkage will be proportional to the rate of change in the quantity of fiat afloat in the world. The fractional reserve system just allows us to "supercharge" the process.
The bank is no place to preserve wealth. It has become an instrument that creates the illusion of wealth but will eventually destroy it just as steroids destroy ones body. In this regime ones wealth must remain in tangible things like gold, just like in the good old days.
ski
(2/24/05; 00:05:27MT - usagold.com msg#: 129600)
Read further to find the silver story ....
http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm
Even though Black Blade has already posted this link to today's Wrapup, near the end of the message is some interesting data on silver.
ViewYesterday's Discussion.
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