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ARCHIVED DISCUSSION FROM 1/6/2004
All times are U.S. Mountain Time
(Yesterday's Discussion.)
Black Blade
(1/6/04; 23:59:47MT - usagold.com msg#: 114778)
1340cc
Sorry I never even heard of that one. I tried "Chili Beer" from AZ, good beer with a jalape--o in the bottle but the after effects for the next couple of days were - well "uncomfortable". Though I got VD or something considering the painful extrusion of bodily fluids (of course I don't embrace dangerous activities as such). ;-)
Actually Fat Tire or Sierra Porter on tap are quite tasty too. One of my favorites is "Bayern" beer from the Iron Horse micro brewery in Missoula, MT and worth a visit should you ever get up that way. A female resident married a brewmeister from Germany and brought him back where upon they opened a brewery in the old Railroad station house. Ah those were the days. Another was ABC beer from Singapore (8% alcohol). I learned to read beer labels after that. After a sixpack I was quite mellow to say the least and only then I figured out something was amiss. ;-)
Cheers!
-Black Blade
Black Blade
(1/6/04; 23:45:24MT - usagold.com msg#: 114777)
ONE SAFE BET ON RATES: GREENSPAN CAN'T DROP 'em
http://www.nypost.com/business/44517.htm
A good and almost funny article by John Crudele about the Fed rate. Some would say it's a "catch-22" but I say Alan Greenspan and the boyz and girlz at the Fed are "stuck between a rock and a hard place". Crudele of the NY Post has a keen eye and a dry sense of humor at times. He has often brought the cockroaches at the BLS into the spotlight an how they "massage" economic data. He does raise some interesting points this time though but without the usual dark humor.
- Black Blade
1340cc
(1/6/04; 23:37:25MT - usagold.com msg#: 114776)
Brew
B.B. Have you ever tried Indeo beer? Yummmmmm As good or better than your favorite brew.
Black Blade
(1/6/04; 23:33:47MT - usagold.com msg#: 114775)
Market Wrap Up - Puplava/King (Special Edition)
http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm
Yesterday's market wrap up is still up (see link). Well worth reading from both a Fundamental and Techical perspective (though I favor FA myself). If you haven't taken the time to read it then you are missing a brilliant piece of work!
Hopefully we can get permission from Jim Puplava to get this issue into our "The Gilded Opinion" series as it relates to precious metals and nails it very well and will be preserved for "posterity" as it were. I think it is worthy of placing into our collection of brilliant essays.
What say you Randy (Townie) and MK? Would it be possible? It is an article that puts precious metals into a bright spot light and ties together much of what we have discussed in bits an pieces over the last couple of years (at least).
Cheers!
- Black Blade
Black Blade
(1/6/04; 23:14:54MT - usagold.com msg#: 114774)
21mabry – FOX and other ramblings
I did not see the show on FOX but I am willing to bet that "Jonathan" is Jonathan Hoenig aka "The Capitalist Pig" (his own words) and is a hedge fund manager bullish on gold. Many times he has been a regular on FOX's "Cashin In" and would hold up a Gold Eagle or Swiss Wafer and tell people to buy gold if anything and especially for new investors with little cash to invest. He also is bullish on a few unhedged debt free low cost producers as well. Of course he has several other holdings as well. He took a lot of abuse from other members of the panel (especially Dagan McDowell and another former female member whose last name is Cramer and now appears occasionally on CNBC). This was long before the wild "gold rocket ride". "He who laughs last laughs best" as it is often said, because his model portfolio has far outperformed the portfolios of the other clowns on the panel. He is a "Gold Bull" for sure.
I used to watch the show on Saturday mornings on FOX. Lately there have been a lot of changed attitudes by many of the carnival barkers on these financial media shows who made fun of anyone who would hold even a small position of portfolio insurance. I even have seen the transition of CNBC's Mark Haines from being very derisive of "gold bugs" and anyone who suggested gold as a holding to being very cordial to guests who favor precious metals – such as David Tice of the Prudent Bear Fund. Liz Clayman on the early opening CNBC show "Wake Up Call" (the same name I used here on the forum for my early morning layout of commodities and futures for several months a few years ago – wow! Has it really been that long?) – has been generally "pro-gold" for quite a long time while most all other CNBC talking heads were foaming at the mouth at the mere mention of gold, including her co-host. Now almost everyday there is discussion on precious metals, oil, and NatGas prices and is even noted in the "bug" (the lower right hand corner of the TV screen in the "pre-market"). Bill Griffith who hosts the mid day "Power Lunch" is a carry over from when CNBC was an independent cable show call FNN (Financial News Network) and he also hosted a Thursday night show with a "Gold Bug" investment advisor named Elliott Pearson when for an hour the talk was all about precious metals and mining stocks (don't know what ever happened to Pearson since then but perhaps he is no longer alive as it was several years ago).
I at times am saddened that my friend the late Harry Bingham formerly of the Van Eck Funds and a serious "gold Bug" isn't around to see the events that have transpired since his demise. The last time I saw him was at a conference in Elko, Nevada a few years ago when he made his case for a revived gold market (unfortunately he was a couple of years early but he was right that "now" was the time to back up the truck and buy precious metals when prices were sinking below $300 an ounce). I somehow envision him sitting back looking down grinning ear to ear though. I am raising my glass of Negra Modelo to him now as I write this after a night of Martial Arts practice. I am sure he would be pleased at the changing attitudes as well because he too had to face the carnival barkers on CNBC from time to time when gold was an object of scorn.
Never fear though, I see the dollar sinking much lower (30-50% at least), declining mine supply, rising demand, liberalized precious metals markets, and central banks unlikely to sell an appreciating asset (though most is long gone through loans and sales, and will never ever be returned except a small portion from some suffering mega-hedgers). I have always maintained that precious metals are "portfolio insurance" and the solid base of every prudent investor's "wealth pyramid" rather than an investment (though it could be that as well but my take is one of safety first, investment in the middle tiers, and speculation last). It's not too late as the dollar has only one direction left and that's lower (the reasons are clearly stated in most of my DMRs). I hammer this message a bit hard at times but precious metals are a hedge against various financial and geopolitical upheavals and an important "currency hedge" that carries its own "intrinsic value" separate from government promises of "faith and credit (whatever the hell that means).
Ah, but I digress and ramble – must be the hard work out and the Negras.
- Black Blade
Dollar Bill
(1/6/04; 22:54:07MT - usagold.com msg#: 114773)
*>*
Well, while the fed pumps and starts the road of inflation and hyper at that, the govt, helps make sure workers cant bail themselves out by working overtime for more pay.
"..the Labor Department, in a summary of its plan published last March, suggests how employers can avoid paying overtime to those newly eligible low-income workers.
"Most employers affected by the proposed rule would be expected to choose the most cost-effective compensation adjustment method," the department said. For some companies, the financial impact could be "near zero," it said.
Employers' options include:• Adhering to a 40-hour workweek.
• Raising workers' salaries to a new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible for overtime pay.
If employers raise a worker's salary "it means they're getting a raise — that's not a way around overtime," Frank said. The current threshold is $8,060 per year.
• Making a "payroll adjustment" that results "in virtually no, or only a minimal increase in, labor costs," the department said. Workers' annual pay would be converted to an hourly rate and cut, with overtime added in to equal the former salary.
Essentially, employees would be working more hours for the same pay."
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 22:41:13MT - usagold.com msg#: 114772)
Hyper inflafla historic scenario
@ Mikal
The Weimar hyperinflafla is not even as scary as what happened in Germany immediately afterwards. The people were so beaten down and frightened that they welcomed the 3rd Reich and all its World Domination rhetoric. Human Rights? Power is much more emotionally satiating.
Sundeck
(1/6/04; 22:06:34MT - usagold.com msg#: 114771)
Cytek - Drowning dollar and POG
The present down-leg in the dollar (USDX drop of 13, or about 13%)is comparable in percentage terms to the large fall which occurred from about Feb 2002 to about Jul 2002 (USDX drop of about 15, or about 12.5%). The difference between then and now is the level of conviction across the financial world that (a) the dollar is overvalued and (b) gold retains its ancient lustre.
Sure, the shorts will take profits along the way, but I suspect greed will win out in their camp for a while longer yet. The fall is not catastrophic yet - pretty much comparable with previous down-legs. Expect international collaboration (perhaps behind the scenes) to control the slide...as a move too far too fast may hurt too many countries.
Gold? Well I suspect that the proportion of buy-and-hold investors is larger now, so any correction, when it comes may be milder than in the past, in percentage terms... I expect a bit more on the upside yet...
FWIW and DYODD
:-)
Sundeck
mikal
(1/6/04; 22:04:53MT - usagold.com msg#: 114770)
Power, elites and the chronicles of cyclic history
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/cook010804.html
The Dollar's Fortunes
Rodney C. Cook, Ph.D. -Excerpts:
"One thing for certain, the financial elite that have used the dollar's status as a world reserve currency to amass imperial powers will not relinquish that power readily, and most any defense that can be imagined will likely be used."
"I have long maintained that the Fed in concert with the Treasury will monetize GSE debt, before being forced to link the dollar to gold. This would rhyme with the actions taken by the Weimar Republic to control their hyperinflation.
Fed minutes reveal mention of buying gold mines. They could opaquely rebuild reserves in this manner. With properly constituted netting legislation they could buy gold shares of those miners with pesky short contracts, averting a short squeeze and building that newly characterized deep storage gold reserve.
Confiscation of gold need not be overt. A rewriting of the mining act to include generous royalties, maybe even payable in gold, from land in the "public trust" together with windfall profit taxation would hardly cause a ripple amongst the masses."
TownCrier
(1/6/04; 22:01:39MT - usagold.com msg#: 114769)
At last! The online ordering system is back on its feet!
http://www.usagold.com/buy-gold-coins.html
That's what happens to me when I try to get by on only 6 hours of sleep in a 54 hour period.
It's also a mistake to shift text editors mid-stream. Turns out when I briefly went back to error-check the Argentino prices being passed through per Goldilox's alert, I used a different text editor, which (unbeknownst to me) had a nasty effect of automatically inserting a blank space into my code at all occurrances of the "&" symbol, thus busting all of the intercart links and rendering the page temporarily dead in the water.
Arrrrgh! (shaking fist as the computer)
Thankfully, I've finally found and closed all of those bogus coding gaps (using yet a third text editor to do the job), and the page is now back on its feet, passing through info and prices in a happy marriage of the 'actual' and the 'theoretical'.
Enjoy!
(And a special thanks to Goldilox for his persistence in conveying to me the nature of the problem with the Argentino.)
Thanks to MK, too, for his tolerance during my public display of incompetence.
Time for me to invest in some sleep.
Randy
Dollar Bill
(1/6/04; 21:46:34MT - usagold.com msg#: 114768)
*>*
On Monday, when former Parmalat finance chief Fausto Tonna was led into the public prosecutors' office in Parma, Italy, he angrily told journalists, "I wish you and your families a slow and painful death," according to Reuters.
Good Grief ! How Baathist!
I cant imagine him tolerating any comments stockholders or employees might want to make to him.
I am glad American crooks have thier lawyers speak for them. Otherwise, who knows what madness we would hear.
a nation of one
(1/6/04; 21:32:35MT - usagold.com msg#: 114767)
Cytek
From everything I've been able to gather, it appears the
dollar has no visible support. Also, it appears that
almost all of the upward movement in pog has been
sufficiently retraced. And it's in a fresh trading
channel. I won't predict what other people will do, but in
my view there is presently no external driver to cause pog
to decline significantly at all. The 50 day ma is around
406. I don't expect pog to go near it.
Cytek
(1/6/04; 21:05:03MT - usagold.com msg#: 114766)
Was $430 the short term top?
Just read Adam Hamilton's Zeal Intelligence report for Jan.
He is saying that it is troubling to see the dollar plunging so fast while the dollar-short-euro-long trade is among the most popular around. So it would not surprise him to see a really strong short-term rally in the dollar, which would be a typical countertrend reaction within its long-term primary downtrend. Today's dollar shorts in the huge global currency markets will want to cover for profits sooner or later. Now the question remains, what will this do for our budddy the POG. Will it test the 50 DMA or the 200 DMA. Your analysis please.
Cytek
Gandalf the White
(1/6/04; 20:57:11MT - usagold.com msg#: 114765)
Look Sir Rich ---- ANOTHER Little GREEN "X" on the GOLD P&F Chart !
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/SC.pnf?chart=$GOLD,PLTB[PA][DA][F!3!!]&pref=G
Still headed for $460. by my estimation.
Hope we do not have any "hic-cups" along the way !!
<;-)
Gandalf the White
(1/6/04; 20:54:13MT - usagold.com msg#: 114764)
The Hobbits are betting that the ESF and Japan can NOT do that again TOMORROW !
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/SC.web?c=$USB,uu[l,a]daclyyay[da][pb200][vc60][iUb14!La12,26,9]&pref=G
A GREAT show of MANIPULATION !
Look at that VOLUME today !
Looks as if they are running about a day LATE !
Tick Tock
<;-)
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 19:07:59MT - usagold.com msg#: 114763)
Bouncie Bouncie
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DXY0
Methinks this dead cat is spending one more of his nine lives! Can he last through the night? That's when the real predators rule.
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 19:05:09MT - usagold.com msg#: 114762)
Gold 330
@ Steady
For those with commodities accounts, that was a nice opportunity, for those with physical, it was a non-event, closing where it started. For those holding miners as proxy, it mostly occured before the SM opened, and was well on the way back to parity by 9:30AM.
Lends credence to Sinclair's warning to get 24Hr capability as a lot of CABAL action can occur out of reach of some mainstream investors.
steady
(1/6/04; 18:38:47MT - usagold.com msg#: 114761)
chaff!
gold broke 330 durning the morning not the middle of the night. there was no excitemt, just a calvery charge, from the troops who answered teh revelry call that am. long time readers rember, cause they rember me calling them to there posts. rember the bugle call the hosts so graciously left up caus teh link ended in au? and i had to remind everyone why the left them up there , and thn rember the charge link as gold wnt thru 330 that mid morning. i do, so whats this junk about excitment thru a nonliving entity in the middle of the night, what folly and chaff!
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 18:34:42MT - usagold.com msg#: 114760)
Dollar Slide Continues - Risks of Rout Increase
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=808&ncid=808&e=1&u=/dowjones/20040106/bs_dowjones/200401060922000754
snippit:
"NEW YORK -- The relentless dollar selling showed no sign of letting up in New York Tuesday, with the dollar sinking to new lows across the board.
In morning trading, the euro was at $1.2794, up from $1.2664 late Monday in New York. The dollar was at 106.17 yen, up a little from 106.07 yen late Monday, only thanks to aggressive dollar bids from Japanese banks on behalf of Japanese monetary authorities, dealers said.
Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was at 1.2256, down from 1.2337, while sterling was trading up at $1.8260 from $1.8060.
If anything, the dollar's slide was accelerating along with the increase in trading volume as investors return to the market after the holiday period. With very little to convince them otherwise, certainly not official rhetoric from U.S. or euro-zone policymakers, they're simply putting on fresh short dollar positions, en masse.
The euro was printing fresh all-time highs and zoning in fast on $1.30, the market's next big psychological target. Meanwhile, sterling was up around two whole cents on the day at new 11-year highs.
The dollar's malaise is widespread, with only official buying -- mainly from Japanese monetary authorities -- and a sprinkling of corporate demand appearing to stand in the way of the current run on the dollar turning into a rout."
Cavan Man
(1/6/04; 18:25:05MT - usagold.com msg#: 114759)
England in EURO
(they have no rational choice)
Blair: I'll take Britain into euro by 2007
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
07 January 2004
Tony Blair has set a target of 2007 to take Britain into the euro, and wants the Government to agree to a public pledge to secure membership by that date.
CM comment: The "Empire" bled to death in WWI and in the aftermath, never was able to manage the continuance of the myth and legend that fueled HM imperialistic and mercantilistic accomplishments in the Victorian age. It's been all down hill in a macro, geo-political sense ever since. Ahhh; but the MONEY is very old and in GREAT abundance. In the Euro, Great Britain shall continue her dominance of global accounting ledgers. It is her rightful place.
steady
(1/6/04; 18:19:57MT - usagold.com msg#: 114758)
pondering
mr kilo that was sure a heavy post you hammered out there for us yesterday.
Kilo (1/5/04; 12:50:24MT - usagold.com msg#: 114645)
Steady - It's ALL relative!
im at a loss to be able to explain what im thinking , guess my mind is trying to sort it out, i think its kinda like what aristotle said once, the more you read the more you think and understand well im at the not understanding thinking almost getting spot, so when it becomes clear to me ill post a reply to the fine answer you gave me. thanks!
ya know ecoism is pondering as well, pondering the effects that its thoughts of self dependency, courage, and firm decesion making, that flow into or create circumstances of individual succss and freedom, freedom for what is rightfully yours, something that you earned by your time, your creativity or by th sweat of your brow, from being discounted by dillution or premired by hot money, yea that kinda freedom, will have upon the planet.
for in making these thoughts turn into action individuals are almost in a sense practicing lassie-fair in reverse on the government. since thru that action govt was hands off the businesses, well now it seems its peope who want hands off the govt, but not in a anarchist kinda way, but in an econmical way, a way that will surley get there attention once more ecohites have figured out what is really happening to there money, there property ( heck how many intellectual law suits u think there have been, while those stooges are fighting over there ideas, the governments are laughing cause they got the best idea of all steal everyones idea of money and repalce it with the hugest ponzi scheme ever run upon the human population, a global far reaching seeeking every corner with lazers and thermal vision goggles as well as computer prying digital spying virusus and forcing those that dont want them freshly minted tokens to submit to unknow time and dates of keyboard launcehed,unheard, unseen missles that devastate there property, because they dont want to play by the so called rules impalmented by those who run the presses. but you see ecoisms problem is the above isnt happening on a world wide basis just in some locals, so while some individuals within a state are taking a hands off the govt not wanting to be associated with them or there actions other individuals within other states look to there govt for direction and controll, and the govt like wise sheppards guide there sheep to verdent gold and silver pasturs form them and there offsprings, now dont get me wrong these shepards have the best sheepherding dogs as well , but its how they are treating there shepps property, they want there sheep to be fat and not to know what no is, so the y open up gold property ownership. So what really is happening? thats what ecoism is pondering how to incorporate this phenominon into its platform, or maybe it doesnt even belong there .
As seen by the recent increase in the pog ecoism is spreading at a pace a lil quicker than a sloth, but one mind at a time, one gram at a time the battle will be won, a return to some form of fairer monetary system, that SUBJECTS everyone to the same principal, and that includes kings and queens, nations and cities,despots, oligarchs tyrants, dictators, presidents, island states and land locked states as well, everyone SUBJECTED to the same rules within a redefined system, on that is fair and honest!
uh maybe we can remove honest money from the oxymoron book this decade what you think?
its kinda embarrasing to have that saying thought of as an oxymoron!
21mabry
(1/6/04; 18:12:02MT - usagold.com msg#: 114757)
Fox
Neil Cavuto show had a segment on gold today they did a round table on the metal.The two women on the panel seemed neutral on gold with the lady from schwab admitting she was not an expert on the metal.The man on the panel Jonathan dont know his last name has been bullish on the metal for awhile and would be at home on this forum.The segment was led off by a Daggen Mcdowell kinda talking up gold.I know I have heard her in the past make fun of gold investors,these people just hop on any train and act like they have always been on it.They count on the short memory of the american public which is not a bad bet.21
mikal
(1/6/04; 17:50:04MT - usagold.com msg#: 114756)
More mainstream chatter "dresses up" gold
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/us/2004-01-06-metals_x.htm
Gold. Numerous favorable perspectives on the metal in recent mainstream news once again.
An almost reverential bias, I hear in a muted voice.
But lacking the devotion and focus found among our gold advocates, they still call it many things:
Jewelry
Industrial input(Utility)
Investment(Savings)
Insurance hedge(Protection against disasters, dislocations, losses, fiat)
Status symbol
Wild speculation
Barbarous relic
Old-fashioned
Which of the above are getting more and more emphasis?
The ones that cannot be easily ignored or ridiculed.
Kilo
(1/6/04; 17:38:44MT - usagold.com msg#: 114755)
Gondolin - Tlaga article
ALot of what you have snipped may have been relevent under a true gold standard, but those days have long since passed into the darkness. What is being "cultivated by the fiat banking establishment" through this gentleman is very obvious. He seems to fall off the truck early on, and has trouble getting back on throughout the remainder.
"....Of the trillions needless dollars clogging the arteries of the world economy today, none, repeat, none are the product of the fractional reserve banking. All of them are the product of the Federal Reserve counterfeiting. Fractional reserve banking per se cannot produce new money out of thin air. Fiat money and central bank are the necessary ingredients...."
That statement, for the most part, is complete hogwash!
But of course fiat money and the central bank are "necessary ingredents", but no more so than the banks themselves, which are used as the conduit to perpetrate the counterfeiting schemes of the central banks in the first place.
"Gold coins" being used in modern reserve banking schemes? Hardly!
Saying that the Federal Reserve and Central Banks are at fault while proclaiming the innocense of the fractional reserve banking establishment is like saying your right hand is guilty of a crime but your left hand wasn't involved...... they are all a part of the same body.
Waverider
(1/6/04; 17:31:44MT - usagold.com msg#: 114754)
Pompous Prognosticators
http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/prognost.html
Randy - this is one of my favorite charts in the archives. Did you by any chance save a few good quotes from 2003 to add on? Maybe if anyone has a good one they could post it for contribution. To get things started..."We have a strong dollar policy." Treasury Secretary John Snow reiterating America's strong dollar policy on Thursday December 4th'03. USDX @ 102 Jan'03 and 89 in early Dec'03. Others?
Waverider (the happy prognosticator)
Gondolin
(1/6/04; 16:56:29MT - usagold.com msg#: 114753)
Fractional Banking and Fiat Money Clarified for Beginners??
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/tlaga010504.html
A little unsure of the rules regarding reference to other sites as I seldom do so, but assume that GE is OK as I have seen references to articles here in others' posts before, so hope I'm not transgressing.
Very good read in an article by J. N. Tlaga discussing fractional banking and fiat money that really clarified a few of the rights and wrongs of banker activities on my part, being a true ignoramus on most financial matters (other than what to do with Ag and Au)for beginners like myself who often get totally lost in the translation of ideas even on this fine forum.
Also apologies to the writer (at University I'd get an E for plagiarism), but the article is long and the following snips are the gist of his argument:
snip
"Of the trillions needless dollars clogging the arteries of the world economy today, none, repeat, none are the product of the fractional reserve banking. All of them are the product of the Federal Reserve counterfeiting. Fractional reserve banking per se cannot produce new money out of thin air. Fiat money and central bank are the necessary ingredients."
--and--
"The only difference between full reserve banking and fractional reserve banking is depositor's permission for bank's loan and depositor's sharing in the interest the loan is going to earn.
Let us restate this point in a language everyone will understand:
In full 100% reserve banking, depositor grants permission to his banker to lend depositor's gold coins to a third party in exchange for sharing in the interest proceeds.
In fractional reserve banking, the banker lends depositor's gold coins to a third party just the same but without depositor's permission in order to keep all the interest proceeds to himself.
Why then -- we ask -- are the Austrian gentlemen maintaining that fractional reserve banking increases the money supply?
Is it because they look at it from the bank accounting perspective? They see two overlapping sets of outstanding "fiduciary media" representing a claim to one and the same reserve in gold coins.
But why so obvious an accounting principle could possibly be wrong?
It is wrong because only one set of those outstanding "fiduciary media" actually represents a claim to the existing gold reserve. The one that is presented for redemption first! "
--and--
"The myth that fractional reserve banking creates new money out of thin air can be maintained only for so long as only one set of the duplicate "fiduciary media" is actually presented for redemption in gold. The holder of the other overlapping set of "fiduciary media" merely deludes himself that he has money in the bank. All that he has is a debt in the bank which is only as good as the bank's ability to repay it. It can never be as good as gold. No one's paper can ever be as good as his gold."
--and--
"People who maintain that fractional reserve banking increases overall money supply out of thin air are simply unable to comprehend that it is not possible to have a cake and eat it too. When there are two sets of banknotes representing the same reserve in gold coins, only one set is valid - the one that is redeemed first."
--and--
"Perhaps the myth that a deposit account increases the existing money supply is believed by so many is that checks and banknotes are being used daily in a multitude of transactions. If we can buy goods and services with checks and banknotes, then the checks and banknotes are as good a money as silver and gold, are they not?
What these simple souls cannot see is that every single check and banknote must be exchanged into gold in order to constitute a valid payment. Those who neglects to attend to this formality are sometimes rudely awakened to the reality that the banknotes they are holding as money are not money at all.
For as long as their checks and banknotes are being honored in payments for their purchases, most Jacks and Jennies will think of their checks and banknotes as real money. It will take insolvency of their bank to make them realize that without redemption in silver and gold their checks and banknotes can only be given to their children to play with.
The more people use checks and banknotes in daily commerce the higher the percentage of their gold deposits can safely be used by the bankers for loans, because the use of checks and banknotes reduces demand for gold coins.
If the local market area would have only one bank, most of the daily transactions could clear without gold or silver, and more silver and gold could be used for loans. But this would not allow for increase of money supply either, it would merely allow for reduction of the local fractional reserve requirement.
A one bank situation is attainable also in large towns by a clearinghouse agreement between the existing banks, where all the transactions of the day of every bank in town are reduced to a net balance which every bank must settle in gold before the sun sets upon it. But this again does not allow for increase of the money supply either. It merely allows to mobilize the existing money supply more broadly.
Without central bank and fiat money it is plainly impossible to defeat gold discipline and actually increase the available money supply at will.
If it would be possible to increase money supply within fractional reserve banking system, central banks would have never been created."
--and--
"The myth of "creating new money out of thin air" by way of the fractional reserve loans is a hocus-pocus maintained by the fiat banking establishment for purposes of distraction and deception.
Why would the fiat banking establishment be interested in maintaining the false belief that new loans increase money supply by a multiplier of the fractional reserve?
Because being accused of "creating new money out of thin air" is incomparably less damaging to bankers reputation than being accused of... "converting other people's property".
"Conversion... may be consummated without any intent to keep and without any wrongful taking, where the initial possession by the converter was entirely lawful. Conversion may include misuse or abuse of property. It may reach use in an unauthorized manner or to an unauthorized extent of property placed in one's custody for limited use. Money rightfully taken into one's custody may be converted without any intent to keep or embezzle it merely by commingling it with the custodian's own, if he was under a duty to keep it separate and intact." Morissette vs United States, 342 US 246 (1952).
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=342&invol=246
The English Larceny Law of 1916, does equate conversion with stealing:
"...a person may be guilty of stealing any such thing notwithstanding that he has lawful possession thereof, if, being a bailee or part owner thereof, he fraudulently converts the same to his own use or the use of any person other than the owner..." Ibidem. (The legal status of a bank is that of a bailee.)
"Creating money out of thin air" implies extraordinary intelligence and skills bordering on supernatural powers. It brings to mind the concept of philosopher's stone sought by alchemists in medieval times.
But "converting other people's property" in the regular course of business is nothing short of racketeering. All it brings to mind is... the RICO statute.
This is the reason why the fiat banking establishment is supporting universities, news media, publications, research institutions, even Nobel Prizes to cultivate the myth that fractional reserve banking increases money supply out of thin air.
The truth is, it does not! It cannot!"
--and--
"Again and again, fractional reserve banking cannot create new money out of thin air. It actually enforces gold discipline.
The first step on the road to creating new money out of thin air is the central bank, then comes coercion of the public to accept a "money" that is professed to be "as good as gold", and then comes a naked fiat central bank note that proclaims on its face: This Note is Legal Tender for All Debt, Public and Private.
Under fully developed fiat money system administered by a central bank, fractional reserve banking becomes redundant, and it is used by a central bank only as a useful administrative device; under fiat, there is no need to maintain money supply discipline, anyone with a credit card can create new money"
--and--
All that needs to be done is to reform it so it can be used to mobilize all available savings for credit and capital formation, without fleecing savers and without causing instability to the financial markets. The only valid complaints against fractional reserve banking were precisely those, fleecing savers and causing financial instability.
What reform we have in mind?
A general rule that every bank must be owned by its depositors!
"When every bank that is not presently a credit union or a mutual bank is required to undergo a formal dissolution and re-incorporation as a mutual bank, most of the problems associated with the banks as we know them will disappear"
end snip
Gondolin: This article clarified much for me and for beginners and newbies struggling with the concepts of fractional banking and fiat money the whole article is well worth a read (but get comfy and turn the background noise off unless it's some relaxing jazz.
I assume there is much debate/smoke and clouds on the matter of whether fractional banking actually adds to the money supply and would be interested in reading comments on this matter from the great minds on the forum.
21mabry
(1/6/04; 16:49:27MT - usagold.com msg#: 114752)
Gold
I was thinking about the forum and I think one of the most memorable nights was fall or later of 2002.One night gold started moving and it broke 330 for the first time in a while.I remember the posts on the forum it seemed like that was the night everyones belief in gold was felt confirmed.I do not think since I have been here ever seeing a night when you could almost feel the excitment thru the computer screen.That was the night a hunch became a something much more concrete,that was the night I thought gold could not be held back.That was a night on the forum I wont forget.21
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 16:31:35MT - usagold.com msg#: 114751)
Thanks
@ Gandalf:
Yep, even QA testers miss the obvious sometimes. LOL
-G
Gandalf the White
(1/6/04; 16:22:03MT - usagold.com msg#: 114750)
Sir Goldilox ---- You missed it by that much ---> <----
Data at the bottom of each forum page !
===
© 2003 Michael J. Kosares / USAGOLD All Rights Reserved
www.usagold.com
products and service: cpm@usagold.com
website support: sitemaster@usagold.com
The USAGOLD logo and stylized gold coin pile are copyrighted trademarks.
===
<;-)
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 16:12:11MT - usagold.com msg#: 114749)
FED on hold 'til 2005?
http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/05/news/economy/fed/
snippit:
"NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - If the U.S. economy were the starship Enterprise, then right about now would be the time when Scotty, the ship's chief engineer, would complain to Captain Kirk -- Alan Greenspan, in this metaphor -- that the ship was being pushed too hard.
But Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan and his crew have made it clear lately that they're keeping interest rates super low and the economy at Warp Factor 9 for some time -- perhaps until the far-off year 2005.
To be sure, plenty of observers are already playing the role of the nervous Scotty in the old TV series "Star Trek," and they have a compelling case."
Goldilox:
Linked from jsmineset. Lots of justifications to keep IRs low, especially employment and election, the double E effect.
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 16:00:01MT - usagold.com msg#: 114748)
qty/discount bug
Townie,
I don't think that clicking the appropriate qty box was the issue either, as I began in the 26+ column of the Arg 5 Peso. Here was my actual trail for debugging purposes.
1. Click Arg Peso $5 26+ quantity box
2. fill in 30 qty on order page
3. Click "update"
4. Results:Updated page listed 30 qty but totaled amount using one piece price
or "secure order"
3. click "secure order"
4. Results: Next page listed 30 qty but totaled amount using one piece price
When I worked at Intel in the 80's we used to walk around the shop singing a parody of the Eagle's "Life in the Fast Lane"
"Bugs in the Backplane - surely make you lose your mind."
Good luck. If you'd like me to test any feature fixes, I'm happy to help. I have a lot of experience chasing SW bugs. It's the least I can do for all the information I've been freely given here.
P.S. I tried both randy@usagold.com and webmaster@usagold.com and the mail server bounced them both back.
Mr Gresham
(1/6/04; 15:57:11MT - usagold.com msg#: 114747)
Another way of looking at things... (& Sir Operative's dilemma)
Lots of commentary about how gold is not seeing as much of a bull market in many other currencies (in other words, tracking the dollar's fall, but stable in Euros, etc.)
Maybe you could say that, as deserved or undeserved as it may be, us USAmericans have gotten the first warning flare that has gone up, in our own currency of note, to announce the gold re-pricing against ALL fiat currencies.
Perhaps since our public has been so anti-gold-deluded, it could be considered a handicap in the race, to give us a little bit of a head start in acquiring the physical?
Sir Operative: "Don't throw that, I was going to (OUCXH) sell that vase!" Is that symbol, OUCXH, a stock tout you're giving us, my man? Sounds like it could be BRE-X's younger cousin, OUCH-X. I had some of that, awhile back. ;)
Operative
(1/6/04; 14:45:36MT - usagold.com msg#: 114745)
A Letter To My Wife
Dearest Love,
I regret to inform you I have sold the house, barn, and even the John Deere. Same is true for the critters, vehicles, and most of the furniture, except for our oak handmade bed. ( We may have to sleep under the pines, but I'll be darn if Im going to sleep on the ground.) Why?
Well, uh, you see dear, understand it was not my doing, but that certain Michael at CPM opened an online order desk for gold coins and ....OUCH! Don't throw that, I was going to (OUCXH) sell that vase! HEY NOW! Remember I said you never point that at anything you don't intend to (BANG!) ouch.
Wait honey! Let me tell you the great price I got for your set of China and the crystal...Hey, now that is a good idea, why dont you take that axe and go cut some firewood to help you work off that frustration. (Whack)
(Online ordering huh? I am not sure you guys have thought this idea through.)
TownCrier
(1/6/04; 14:36:21MT - usagold.com msg#: 114744)
I should also point out
http://www.usagold.com/buy-gold-coins.html
This system doesn't "process" your order or your payment -- it simply passes the vital info through to Centennial Headquarters via a secure server where the likes of Marie, Jonathan, George, MK, or Jill process the order, just as they would as if it had been phoned in and written by hand on an order ticket.
Simply nothing more elaborate than a modern tool to convey the pertinent info for an otherwise routine task.
Randy
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 14:32:10MT - usagold.com msg#: 114743)
Multiple coin entries
I tried both the Update button and the Secure button and the price remained at the single coin value. Are you saying that the recalc doesn't happen until the order is finalized?
By the way, as this is probably not the appropriate place for bug reports, I'll send them directly to you if you give me a direct email address.
TownCrier
(1/6/04; 14:26:13MT - usagold.com msg#: 114742)
Goldilox -- multiple items require use of the 'Update' button within the Cart
It's a subtle thing, and not as intuitive or clearly laid out as it should be, but with the Intercart system we use, when you select a coin, and then specify/increase the number of coins you prefer within the Intercart order-form interface, you need to click the "Update" button to have it acknowledge/recognize that you want more than one. Then you can click the "Continue Shopping" button to return to the inventory page, or else click "Buy Secure" to proceed to the checkout routine.
It can seem tricky. Feel free to play around with it, adding and deleting items from your cart as often as you wish. The only time the contents of your cart matter is when/if you decide to click the "buy secure" button, which signifies that you've made your final choices. Clicking "clear cart" will do just that; it will purge any fanciful notions or obligations and will deliver you (sans coins) to the USAGOLD homepage.
Randy
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 14:03:56MT - usagold.com msg#: 114741)
Online order system
Great idea Michael and Randy-
One bug. I tested the volume discounts using the Arg 5 Peso and the one coin price came up no matter how many coins I entered in the order column. Should be a quick fix.
Pizz
(1/6/04; 14:00:04MT - usagold.com msg#: 114740)
GAB
What the heck, I remember reading an article that the Argentineans actually got to the point that they were buying AUTOMOBILES as a hedge against the falling peso. Course there were no dealers left. . . .but who counts the small stuff. . .
I'm takin' a snow day - 6 degrees, 20+mph wind and blowing snow. . .look out BB, heading your way. . .
Pizz
TownCrier
(1/6/04; 13:50:59MT - usagold.com msg#: 114739)
The aforementioned gold ordering system
http://www.usagold.com/buy-gold-coins.html
I should have pointed out that this system is for domestic (U.S.) orders only. Sorry, Kiwi's, all you heroes in WETA-land will still have to use the phone.
R.
TownCrier
(1/6/04; 13:43:06MT - usagold.com msg#: 114738)
So much gold, so little time...
http://www.usagold.com/buy-gold-coins.html
(This should really come in handy for everyone on days like this when the phone-lines are swamped.)
To help save everyone time, for your ordering convenience, and to relieve some of the more routine phone pressure, MK has asked me to automate a portion of the Small Order Desk.
As a result, USAGOLD~Centennial is now accepting online orders for the pre-33 suite of gold coinage (including both of the ever-popular raw and graded $20 gold pieces) for orders under $5k.
Shipping is FREE over $1,000, but if you want more gold than $5,000, you'll want to call it in and take advantage of USAGOLD~Centennial's volume discount pricing.
Bullion orders still require a call, too.
1-800-869-5115 extension 100
see url to access our online ordering system
R.
USAGOLD Daily Market Report
(1/6/04; 13:13:34MT - usagold.com msg#: 114737)
Page Update!
http://www.usagold.com/DailyQuotes.html
The Afternoon Gold Report by Jon H. Warner has been
updated.
If you are considering investments in gold we invite you to
request our free
introductory information packet detailing the products and services offered
by USAGOLD ~ Centennial Precious Metals. We welcome your inquiry and look
forward to working with you.
A new barrier broken over night as gold surged past $30 an ounce only to be pounded lower by bullion banker Morgan Stanley today. Yet other precious metals continued to rally and energy prices are climbing higher. It has been an "interesting" day.
Jon H. Warner
Mr Gresham
(1/6/04; 13:10:22MT - usagold.com msg#: 114736)
The Hook
From MK's News page: (Reuters) "Bullion's around 20 percent increase in value this year follows a 24 percent rise in 2002."
Anyone remember that it was the third year -- was it '95-'96-'97? -- of 20+% gains in the Dow that had the public hooked on stocks stocks stocks forever (G-d, the drivel of the financial "planners" screaming from a million magazine covers! "Long-term", blah blah)
What happens if we get our third up year? Will the crowds go wild? (Or will they just mumble in frustration as they stand on line to collect what's left of their stock market 401k? (To make their ARM payments.))
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 13:07:44MT - usagold.com msg#: 114735)
$$ Bounce
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DXY0
A dead cat bounce if ever I have seen one! MEEOOOW!
Solomon Weaver
(1/6/04; 13:06:16MT - usagold.com msg#: 114734)
The great deflation has already hit...or is just 50 miles out.
Mr. Gresham and post 114703.
Just food for thought.
With about $ US 30 trillion of global debt instruments held as assets, and a cascading paper avalanche drop in global dollar index to the tune of 30% (and more to come if you are right), on a real "mark to market" basis, this has the effect of eliminating about $10 Trillion worth of assets off of the world's total bank, corporate, and hedgefund books.
Perversely even, the American half of that $30 Trillion, who marks to market in $ has actually lost "nothing", while the rest of the world, who marks to market in their own currencies, are the ones who's banks wind up with issues of capital inadequacy!!! In truth, if the dollar never comes roaring back, then we all lose.
With an accordant rise in POG from $280 to $430 (used to get a convenient $150)...and multiplied by the estimated 4 billion known ounces of above ground gold, the mark to market increase in gold is about $600 billion....or only six percent of the dollar loss.
Now, imagining how badly books are being burnt by dollar asset losses, and that most of the calm is maintained by some kind of massive global "interest rate and currency derivative" structure (so the books don't look so bad), does it not make a certain sense that the counterparties who have written those derivative insurances (to delta hedge the $10 trillion book value loss) might begin to use the uptrending gold paper market to hedge "against" their losses in the dollar...i.e. use the up in gold to cover their ass(ets) in $.
Do current interest rates on that $30 Trillionish debt mountain accurately reflect the risk most bond buyers would see in a bond which has lost 30% of principle value in the last 24 months, and has a chart with a nicely behaving down channel??
It' almost like were all sitting on the Coast of California, and seeing this huge tsunami that is 50 miles out, and two miles high, rising like a great bulge, so we instruct the children they should move up off the beach and get up behind the concrete "storm barricades".
POS
Operative
(1/6/04; 13:05:49MT - usagold.com msg#: 114733)
@ A Nation of One : BAM!
Sir, Your recent writing has "kicked it up a notch" and I really am savoring the distilled version you end with. Bravo!
"As long as the dollar falls, it will take more and more dollars to buy gold. Therefore gold will cost more dollars. As long as the FED authorizes the printing of more worthless dollars, the value of the dollar will continue to decline. As long as there is a perception that an increasing number of dollars will enduringly cure our nation's economic ills, more worthless dollars will be printed. And as long as the peoples of nations allow their most ambitiously selfish citizens to gain and hold public office, and allow them to do whatever they want to do once they are there, such injurious and ignorant perceptions will persist.
For these reasons, and for others, gold looks very good right now, if your currency is the dollar.
Claimer: The decline of the dollar does not cause me to be happy. (I am an American patriot.) But it does cause me to buy gold."
- A Nation of One
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 13:03:33MT - usagold.com msg#: 114732)
Inverse relationship of Gold to Equities
Certainly superficial. As is often true of interview snippits, I got the impression he was speaking in generalizations, not to be taken as precision data. Unfortunately for the usefulness of his statement, the history of violation of this generalization is much more important than the generalization itself. This point was nearly missed until Puplava's comparison with the previous gold bull.
contrarian
(1/6/04; 12:54:16MT - usagold.com msg#: 114731)
Solomon Weaver...Mr. Jaideep Wairal
Just wanted to put in my two cents that Wairal statement that equities and gold are inversely proportional is misinformed--a superficial analysis.
There is no inverse correspondence between gold and stocks that holds over time. I wish I could reference the article that delved into this issue (because I remember reading an article on this issue a year or two ago), but suffice it to say that sometimes when stocks go up, gold goes down, and also viceversa. There is no formal relationship between stocks and gold, and there have been periods of time where the impact of one upon the other varies. If one is to claim that there is an inverse relationship, then one is reaching for straws. There are simply too many other conditions and variables involved to have such a rule be valid.
Certainly a casual observer might theorize an inverse relationship, but all one has to do is look at the historical record to see that no such relationship exists.
I will, however, point to the Dow/gold ratio as a valid relationship between stocks and gold--how many Dows it takes to buy an ounce of gold.
Nevertheless, "inverse relationship of gold and stocks" another example of superficial analysis and misinformation, although perhaps it may not be badly intentioned.
a nation of one
(1/6/04; 12:45:38MT - usagold.com msg#: 114730)
clarification
The words not in quotations are my remarks.
a nation of one
(1/6/04; 12:38:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 114729)
rumblings
Dr. Mark Faber quotes Peter Bernstein: "The imbalances are now enormous, far more glaring than at any point in the past. Furthermore, the linkage of the parts are so tightly knit into the whole that reducing any one imbalance to zero, or even compressing them all to a more manageable level, appears to be impossible without a major upheaval . A hitch here or a tuck there has little chance of success. When it hits, and whichever sector takes the first blows, the restoration of balance will be a compelling force roaring through the entire economy globally in all likelihood. The breeze will not be gentle. Hurricane may be the more appropriate metaphor. "
"Sector" refers to one of these: "Private sector saving, private sector investment, household consumption, government spending, government revenues, capital flows, and trade balance."
It would be hard to paint a clearer picture. Whenever someone is able to craft a concise distillation, such as that, about an issue, it helps clarify the landscape. The following are several more highly refined realizations, by Dr. Faber, from the same article.
"I hope the reader appreciates the precarious nature of this state of affairs. The entire US economy is depending on high 'asset inflation' in order to stay afloat! Only if asset prices continue to rise at high rates can consumers maintain their borrowing binge." And,
"This highly artificial recovery is, in our opinion, not sustainable for very much longer, although we should all realize that the fed is fully aware that asset prices must, under no circumstances, be allowed to decline." And,
"...We are in a situation where the imbalances are likely to worsen further until something gives. At some point, the American consumer will be forced to retrench through a rapid loss of the US dollar's purchasing power, which will lead [to] rising inflation rates and inevitably also to higher interest rates." In other words, blood will be spilled.
There are also these facts:
As long as the dollar falls, it will take more and more dollars to buy gold. Therefore gold will cost more dollars. As long as the FED authorizes the printing of more worthless dollars, the value of the dollar will continue to decline. As long as there is a perception that an increasing number of dollars will enduringly cure our nation's economic ills, more worthless dollars will be printed. And as long as the peoples of nations allow their most ambitiously selfish citizens to gain and hold public office, and allow them to do whatever they want to do once they are there, such injurious and ignorant perceptions will persist.
For these reasons, and for others, gold looks very good right now, if your currency is the dollar.
Claimer: The decline of the dollar does not cause me to be happy. (I am an American patriot.) But it does cause me to buy gold.
Solomon Weaver
(1/6/04; 12:30:19MT - usagold.com msg#: 114728)
Mr. Jaideep Wairal must be younger than Jim Pupluva
http://www.financialsense.com/Market/archive/2004/0105.html
"This is the first time that gold and the stock market are heading in the same direction. Till now it was always inversely proportional. This implies a strong price trend in bullion in the near future," Jaideep Wairal, director at the Mumbai-based consultancy firm Bullion India Inforservices and Consultancy, said.
AND
"Today's new bull market in silver and gold reminds me of the last bull market in gold that began in 1971. Back then like today gold and silver prices were rallying along with equities." Jim Pupluva
POS
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 12:17:22MT - usagold.com msg#: 114727)
Gold surges in India to record Rs6370
http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=22&story=31562
snippit:
"This is the first time that gold and the stock market are heading in the same direction. Till now it was always inversely proportional. This implies a strong price trend in bullion in the near future," Jaideep Wairal, director at the Mumbai-based consultancy firm Bullion India Inforservices and Consultancy, said.
Another first of its kind is the gold and silver price trends. Till date, silver moved up in sympathy with higher gold prices, but this time round the roles seem to have been reversed. "Gold seems to be rallying on the back of silver," Wairal said.
Goldilox:
Another analyst looking closer at silver's role in the bull market.
Great Albino Bat
(1/6/04; 11:43:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 114726)
Pizz - thanks for your comments. No contradiction there...
Your recent message:
Pizz (1/6/04; 08:00:22MT - usagold.com msg#: 114716)
My further comments:
Yes, we are in agreement, fundamentally. The credit expansion has to come to an end. Well, it can be halted by edict from the FED, a la Volcker, or by simple market exhaustion as the present behavior of M3 is indicating: no more borrowers in sufficient quantity. Either way, the credit expansion ceases - and credit collapse takes place.
Stock market behavior reminds me of what people did when the Argentinian financial system caved in - they bought stocks! An alternative, however precarious. (I guess buying gold was not an option in the Argentinian market). Stocks might be taken as a proxy for things controlled by the stocks.
As to revolutions...don't think of the pols and bankers being taken to the guillotine...they generally manage to escape such a fate, though they deserve it. It's more likely some poor suckers will get the blame...as usual.
The GAB
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 11:38:20MT - usagold.com msg#: 114725)
Whoops again
@ Gandolin
I'm sure we'd all love to see gold at 423 POUNDs STERLING, but alas, it closed at US$422.1.
I cured my OS blues and bought a UNIX Mac.
(:> Goldilox
Gondolin
(1/6/04; 11:18:38MT - usagold.com msg#: 114724)
Whoops
...sorry bout that...as I was saying and to prove my point (ok maybe that was my fingers)
Windows XP - rubbish programme.
Is there a pattern forming here or am I just imagining things? Has everyone been taken to the cleaners here?
Off topic I know, but nice to see the £423 line holding well and POG bouncing back up.
Goldilox
(1/6/04; 11:17:47MT - usagold.com msg#: 114723)
Earthlink sending jobs to India, Manila
COMTEX PR Link
snippit:
"Under the plan, EarthLink will close its contact center operations in Harrisburg, PA, Roseville, CA, San Jose, CA, and Pasadena, CA and reduce its contact center operations in Atlanta by the end of the first quarter of 2004. EarthLink expects a seamless transition as customer support functions will be routed to its remaining Atlanta staff and to outsourced contact center providers (India and Manila). Approximately 1,300 employees will be directly impacted."
Goldilox:
What more can I say? The "bones" being "impacted" are not wisdom teeth. . . dem bones . . . dem bones.
Gondolin
(1/6/04; 11:15:05MT - usagold.com msg#: 114722)
Slingshot
Rock me Amadeus--- Falco. Great track.
Back hard at work after the Festive Season- much like the Cabal Schmucks today.Jjust an observation.
Windows 95 - good programme
Windows 98 - rubbish programme
Windows 2000 good programme
Windows XP
MK
(1/6/04; 09:04:33MT - usagold.com msg#: 114721)
News & Views
http://www.usagold.com/AMK/MK-gold.html
Updated.
You are invited to visit now, often. Updated regularly. Stay abreast the gold market via News & Views, this forum and Jon Warner's Afternoon Gold Market Reports.
This is the website where serious gold investors congregate and keep in touch with the market. Please bookmark this page.
slingshot
(1/6/04; 08:59:11MT - usagold.com msg#: 114720)
Gold
Oh, Chubber chubber.
Gold going to bounce like rubber.
Slingshot-----------------<>
a nation of one
(1/6/04; 08:55:28MT - usagold.com msg#: 114719)
An interesting similarity between Ancient Sparta and the US
In Ancient Sparta, young males were made to live together in dormitories, and they could not marry a female until they were near maturity. Even then, they had to remain in the dormitory, and a young man could visit his wife only by stealth. Later, when he was older, he and his wife could live together. Because of this practice, young males were forced to decieve those around them, as an institutionalized practice. Only those young men succeeded in marraiges who could successfully escape the dormitory without being found out. Sparta fell, and its system has not returned. In evolutional terms, what this means is that the system which Ancient Sparta used, in determining which males were fit to reproduce, was proven unviable.
Presently in the US, there are very few ways by which wealth may be acquired and maintained, without it being taxed significantly. Whatever may be said about the virtues and necessity of taxation and its result, it must be clear that such practice furnishes the average individual with an incentive to find a way of making and preserving wealth without having to pay taxes. Speaking in evolutional terms, wealth is not as important as reproduction perhaps, but it runs a close second or third. Therefore, these practices have important biological implications. So far, the US has been able to avoid taxing its people to the maximum extent. But by taxing every means of producing and keeping wealth, it does a lot of damage to people, individually. Whether this practice will survive numerous more civilizations is doubtful. And therefore, the present practices, in this regard, can be viewed as being an evolutional trial of a practice that has biological consequences, much like that which occurred in Ancient Sparta, described above.
Gold was found useful by both societies, and it survived Sparta and will also survive the US.
This seems the case, whether good or bad.
slingshot
(1/6/04; 08:41:21MT - usagold.com msg#: 114718)
That's It
You Cabal Stinkers
No More! No More! You will not dare cross the line of yesterdays gains.
Keeping in Line with USAGOLD protocol.
Slingshot---------<>
Pizz
(1/6/04; 08:24:11MT - usagold.com msg#: 114717)
R. Powell
Don't ya just love buying puts to protect paper profits. . kind of like buying life insurance - you're betting your going to die and the insurance company is gambling you won't. . and life usually goes on, as the price of silver (smile) - at least for now. . .
Pizz
Pizz
(1/6/04; 08:00:22MT - usagold.com msg#: 114716)
GAB
Just scanned your post, and we seems to be in agreement. A year or so ago, when most bears were in the deflation camp, I was in the "inflate or die" camp. It was simple, M3 was growing as if there was no end to money creation. The FED, banks, and GSE's were pumping like there was no tomorrow.
A couple months back M3 hit a wall. The velocity slowed, then the aggregates. It's still slowing, and by the looks of the real world (home sales, refi's, auto's) it will continue. This, IMO, is why the FED is on hold indefinately. They have not won the reinflate battle, and I don't think they are going to.
The banks are the key, because to increase M3, they have to INCREASE loans, and their isn't a viable sector out there that has either the desire or ability to take on enough debt to pull us out.
Higher import prices? No, people just won't buy because they can't afford to. Basic necessities are starting to take up way too much of disposable.
I think another thing that confirms my reasoning is the stock market. Some are baffled by the rally. I think the markets are saying that it is better to hold stock of companies, even with bubble valuations, rather than the dollar. Scary thought for 2005 and beyond if you think about it.
Right now I'm trying to renegotiate and renew lines of credit, and the easy money is no longer there. The banks are getting tough and when they do, they stay that way for years, not months.
When was the last time you heard any talk of M3 on the financial news, or on the net for that matter. It's a scarier item than gold. . .
I've been playing the game for quite a few years, and like you, I don't see a solution other than a gold standard of some type, but you can bet your boots there will have to be pain to the extent of revolution for that to happen. . .
course a few bankers and politicians loaded up in those old, French two wheel carts (trumbils I think they were called - or were they furry creatures on star trek?) heading for the guiotine (no spelling comments please, smile) might speed the process. . . .
Pizz
Paper Avalanche
(1/6/04; 07:57:12MT - usagold.com msg#: 114715)
Correction to last post...
The story was not taken completely off of the site, but taken down from the top story line and made story #36 in chronological order.
I still thank that this story is the BIGGEST gold news out today. I may be wrong. I often am.
Take care.
PA
Paper Avalanche
(1/6/04; 07:47:07MT - usagold.com msg#: 114714)
I'm no conspiracy theorist, but......
Since I posted the story on China expanding it's gold market (which likely caused the run-up to $430+ IMO), it has since vanished from the gold site where it was posted just an hour or two ago (which miraculously coincided with a concerted sell effort on the part of the gold-manipulation crowd during the same period of time).
Coinkydink? You decide.
Food for thought.
PA
slingshot
(1/6/04; 06:52:12MT - usagold.com msg#: 114713)
Walk in Fields of Gold
Sting
In a short while we shall endure the opening of the New York Markets. Be Calm. It is nothing we have not experienced before.
Slingshot--------------<>
slingshot
(1/6/04; 06:21:37MT - usagold.com msg#: 114712)
steady
Zum baa ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Very Controlled.
Slingshot-------------------<>
steady
(1/6/04; 06:10:37MT - usagold.com msg#: 114711)
slowly, rhythmatically, confidently with hamonony , poise , confidence and controll
a 1,and a 2, and a 3, and a 4 ZUBAZOOM, ZUBAZOOM, ZUBAZOOM, ZUBAZOOM, ZUBAZOOM, ZUBAZOOM,
Paper Avalanche
(1/6/04; 05:46:36MT - usagold.com msg#: 114710)
1.499994 Billion To Go.......
"BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, has halted taking in gold of purity below 99.95 percent from Chinese firms in a small step to open the precious metals sector further, industry officials said on Friday.
Firms would have to refine the sub-standard gold so that they could trade the precious metal on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, where 99.95 percent and 99.99 percent gold can be bought or sold, officials from the central bank and exchange told Reuters.
The latest move by the central People's Bank of China, which took effect on January 1, meant that it would stop acting as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of all kinds of gold inthe country, analysts said.
Prior to the launch of the gold exchange in October 2002, all precious metals trade was rigidly controlled by the central bank."
PA
slingshot
(1/6/04; 05:33:44MT - usagold.com msg#: 114709)
Operative
Toothpicks at a premium
I really want to give my coin /bullion dealer a call and see what his price is for gold or silver. Seven percent on gold? How about $1.00 over spot on silver for one dealer and he is the lowest. Lets not talk about Silver Eagles.
Price flux will be the name of the game.
Forget cigs. I'm breaking out the cigars.
Slingshot----------------<>
The Invisible Hand
(1/6/04; 05:28:17MT - usagold.com msg#: 114708)
Five years up to the day - yes, it was worth it!
Gandalf the White (1/6/99; 10:01:45MDT - Msg ID:1662)
Are things looking better -- or should I take off my rose colored glasses ?
The Dow and stock Indexii are blasting into the ionosphere, BUT the rate on the long temp bond in slowly moving upward, the XAU gap opened up today, but is slowly falling back, and the GC9G Feb Gold contract is bouncing about in the 288 range with an increase in volumn level. However, the most interesting change for me are actions of the commodities --
WOW -- HAVE they awoken ? Things are undergoing a metamorphosis --- and I believe that what shall be hatching are GOLD BUGS !
<;-)
Black Blade
(01/06/04; 04:52:07MT - usagold.com msg#: 114707)
A Little Profit Taking Now
Gold is a bit off its highs but the yellow surged past $430 an ounce and the barrier broken through like a hot knife through butter. The Euro goes for over $1.27 and the Pound Sterling over $1.82. The US dollar just cannot attract enough buyers and weakens in the face of unlimited Yen selling and dollar buying by the Bank of Japan. There simply is little if any effect. The soaring US budget and current account deficits are just purely unsustainable and the dollar has passed the point of no return.
Time to catch a few zzzzz, so "golden dreams with silver linings".
- Black Blade
Socrates964
(01/06/04; 04:49:03MT - usagold.com msg#: 114706)
GAB
I agree with your analysis of the USD.
Having seen a series of currencies fall off a cliff, there is a characteristic pattern:
1. An indefensible rate is defended until the financial elite has shifted out its cash.
2. The authorities adopt a more flexible approach - which basically entails firing the chairman of the central bank and letting the market determine the exchange rate.
3. Massive devaluation occurs within a month or two. Assuming the exchange rate was 1 to the dollar, it goes to somewhere between 3-6 within a few months.
4. At this point, one of two things happen. Markets perceive that the government has the resolve to implement a terrible austerity strategy that controls inflation but that ruins labor (capital has already been ruined or has fled the country). The exchange rate then rallies against the USD and settles around 2.50 to 3. Confidence returns within 18 months.
OR
Markets perceive that there is no such will, and rampant inflation pushes the real exchange rate back to where it was before the devaluation, albeit with a much higher nominal exchange rate. If the country has anything worth exporting, the external sector eventually balances the economy.
You can more or less split devaluing currencies into what I call 3ers (i.e. they go from 1 to 3) or 6ers (from 1 to 6).
The Won, the Brazilian Real and the Argie peso were 3ers, the Rouble and the Rupiah were 6ers.
Now, in these countries, no-one trusts their own currency, but has absolute faith in dollars.
I've always wondered to what degree this highly consistent pattern applies to the dollar.
Evidently, there is no obvious refuge currency, so I think that we have to price dollars in terms of gold. Since gold is behaving as a strong currency proxy, it is as good a yardstick as any, and may even shine more brightly than the Euro (hopefully).
What was the artificial $ parity price for gold. let's assume it was the low of $255 (it may have been higher, say $300, which gives us an even higher base).
I will bet that the $ will turn out to be either a 3er or a 6er, which points to gold going to somewhere between $765 and $1530.
Which is it? I don't know - it depends on a number of variables that GAB has pointed out.
He is right to highlight the likelihood that the deindustrialization of the US precludes economic recovery through the external sector. The problem here is that this has always been the only recipe for recovery for those countries whose currencies have gone off a cliff. None managed to generate an internally-driven recovery.
I nevertheless feel that an even more important factor is the absence of an IMF-like organization to impose austerity on the US. The only tool is the market, and note that the market does not change its view until government shows intent to change its policy.
For any other economy, the verdict would be unanimous: the government doesn't want to clean up its excesses, so it's not a 3er but a 6er. US media spin would have us believe that it is neither, something I doubt.
Whether it's 3 or 6, however, this analysis shows that there's still lots to play for.
Operative
(01/06/04; 04:44:36MT - usagold.com msg#: 114705)
History channel showing a documentary on gold.
And while it is showing, I now see gold is rising. Just too cool me thinks. 430 gold. What? Has the world come to an end? Nah...just the dollar.
Off to start another pot of coffee, been waiting too many months to miss the fun now. Some toothpicks for the eye lids and I am set.
slingshot
(01/06/04; 04:41:57MT - usagold.com msg#: 114704)
Glad I stayed up all night.
Strange Days --- Doors
When I'm Sixty Four ----Beatles ( Special Friend)
Fire ----- Crazy Would of Author Brown
Judy Blues Eyes ----- Crosby Stills Nash
Magic Carpet Ride -----Steppenwolf
Respect-------Arethra Franklin
Red Rubber Ball ----Circle
Rock Me Armadeous-------------?
A Night at the Opera-------------Queen
Sing my Friends,
Slingshot-----------------<>
Mr Gresham
(01/06/04; 04:35:08MT - usagold.com msg#: 114703)
Calling Sir LimitUp!
Meanwhile, Sir Pizz has nailed it: (I'm only halfway through, but can't restrain myself)
"What I am trying to express is the idea that the dollar is going to continue to fall much further than anyone supposes. (Excellent for gold, of course!) Indeed, there will be no levelling of the Balance of Trade through devaluation, because this devaluation is not linked to Trade. It originates in excessive credit creation in the US."
If Sir LimitUp is not in the building, then the Elephant is certainly in the room. The bogus economists will throw us the idea of "trade adjustments" for awhile, for that is the first thing that occurs to them when they think of foreign currencies, and for now, the Euro impresses. (This is a stable world fiat system? Oh yeah, a One World Currency, any day now! WHO gets to print it?)
The press is full of "dollar down, gold up" -- and people's usual thinking is "This is gradual, I have time to think over my response to it".
But with all we've learned here, from years back with our Guides, the "re-pricing" will be sudden, dramatic, surprising to all. ("All paper..."?) Only the date to be ascertained.
If not now, then on a date very much like these past few.
Meanwhile, $428? I think I remember picking up my first few (and, for that time, only) doubloons at that level 20 years ago. Back when you had to cross a state line to avoid sales tax!
While it's on my mind, I'll rehash a thought I've heard only from myself ;) These past years of tribulation, of waiting, of being thought and occasionally called a fool -- these are the stickpins of memory you will carry to help you conserve and use wisely to your and family's benefit what the IRS would like to label "unearned income."
Few investment "victories" have been gained with as much "blood, tears, toil, and sweat" as this one. You stood up to the takers who marshalled all your neighboring citizens' tax and savings money against your stand for honest money. You paid your dues -- now do not give up any of it lightly...
BB: Few Negra Modelos have tasted as sweet as this evening's.
Now back to Sir Pizz's thoughts, and perhaps a short jog on the Trail...
Black Blade
(01/06/04; 04:17:43MT - usagold.com msg#: 114702)
Another Joke -
To top it off today would be for the Prez or Sec. Snow to repeat that they "support a strong dollar policy". That would be good for a laugh or two.
Well, OK since it's late and we are having some fun:
A hunter brings in two rabbits to a taxidermist. The taxidermist asks: "do you want them mounted?"
The hunter replies: "No thanks, holding hands would be fine."
- Black Blade
Black Blade
(01/06/04; 04:09:30MT - usagold.com msg#: 114701)
There It Is!!!
Gold just surpassed the $430.50 level. The Japanese and even Hong Kong intervened in the currency markets buying US dollars but they just don't really count anymore. No one takes them seriously after all their currencies are a joke. Meanwhile the Euro is flying higher along with Gold!
- Black Blade
Gandalf the White
(01/06/04; 04:06:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 114700)
OOPS -- There SPOT goes over the $430. Level !!
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/default.asp
LONDON is ACTIVE on Tuesday !
<;-)
Gandalf the White
(01/06/04; 04:03:45MT - usagold.com msg#: 114699)
There goes SPOT over the $429. level !
http://focus.comdirect.co.uk/en/detail/_pages/charts/main_large.html?sSymbol=GLD.FX1
<;-)
Gandalf the White
(01/06/04; 03:54:02MT - usagold.com msg#: 114698)
Why ? --- You ask, is SPOT active tonight ? Look at this chart and see.
http://charts-d.quote.com:443/1002980432830?User=demo&Pswd=demo&DataType=GIF&Symbol=DX00Y&Interval=10&Ht=600&Wd=800&Display=2&Study=MA&Param1=13&Param2=0&Param3=&FontSize=10
THERE GOES the US$ !! DOWN, of course !
slingshot
(01/06/04; 03:20:54MT - usagold.com msg#: 114697)
GAB
Calling a Spade, A Spade!
Bravo!
Slingshot----------<>
Black Blade
(01/06/04; 03:17:21MT - usagold.com msg#: 114696)
Looks Strong - $430 Soon
http://focus.comdirect.co.uk/charts/cdcharttcl?symm=GLD.FX1&hist=1&dbrushwidth=1&charttype=1&gd1=na&gd2=na&benchmark=&infos=3&indtype1=0&indtype2=0&volumen=2
An impressive chart (see link). Going straight up!
- Black Blade
Waverider
(01/06/04; 03:17:21MT - usagold.com msg#: 114695)
Spot 'n Spike.......
http://focus.comdirect.co.uk/en/detail/_pages/charts/main.html?sSymbol=GLD.FX1
Yes BB...in fact, maybe Sir Gandalf would be so KIND as to do us a favor and PLEASE feed Spot 'n Spike their roo meat in the morning and NOT at bedtime - they are FAR too rambuctious for this hour and you know how they DEMAND attention! ;o) Okay - Golden Dreams All!
Black Blade
(01/06/04; 03:09:25MT - usagold.com msg#: 114694)
Gold Tagged $428
Spot just jumped to a new high moments ago and looks strong as the US dollar falls even with massive Japanese currency intervention. Should at least be an "interesting" day.
- Black Blade
slingshot
(01/06/04; 02:59:24MT - usagold.com msg#: 114693)
bugs
How are you doing partner? First time post?
Ah, to sell and take profits. Tempting isn't it?
First of all I am not a financial advisor. But a Die Hard Goldbug. Asking the indulgence of the Sages of the Forum, I again state I rode the POG to $254 and never looked back.
Should I take profits now knowing what I have learned at this forum by those more learned than I? I await the shaking out of weakhands and the thrust upward by supply and demand and other fundamentals according to austrian school of economics.
Slingshot---------------<>
bugs
(01/06/04; 02:39:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 114692)
my apologies
the eddys not the eddies... eeks...
in any case, it's a good time to be in gold. "When life looks like Easy St., there is danger at your door.", or something. Not to be a worry wart or anything.
bugs
(01/06/04; 02:36:18MT - usagold.com msg#: 114691)
waves...
the long waves are the best, but I think the little eddies here and there may be good for a bit of surfing, eh? and why not.. especially now. Time to sell! :)
Waverider
(01/06/04; 02:29:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 114690)
Euro....
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=FOREX_EURUSD&v=s&w=5&t=l&a=2
...breaks 127.00 while Spot is just shy of $426.00!
Operative
(01/06/04; 02:16:12MT - usagold.com msg#: 114689)
@ GAB
"Sorry to be so negative about the US problems."
Well, at least you did not sugar coat it. :)
Great job of bringing a coherant conclusion to loose thoughts we all are wondering about. Personally, I would only make one change in your qoute above, replace negative, with realistic.
Great Albino Bat
(1/6/04; 01:46:24MT - usagold.com msg#: 114688)
PIzz - your comment on the free fall of the dollar....
Pizz (1/5/04; 11:06:21MT - usagold.com msg#: 114635)
Most orderly free-fall in History
******************
Went to bed last night pondering on this subject; here are my thoughts:
Both Austrian theory (as I understand it) and personal experience lead me to believe that we are witnessing, in this abrupt fall of the dollar, an event that is not in the same class as the "floating" we have become accustomed to in recent years.
This dollar devaluation is not going to work as a corrective mechanism that, when its effect takes hold, will taper off into stability. The financial system in the US has gone beyond its parameters of stability; in simpler terms, the dollar is falling off the table where it had its ups and downs.
What I am trying to express is the idea that the dollar is going to continue to fall much further than anyone supposes. (Excellent for gold, of course!) Indeed, there will be no levelling of the Balance of Trade through devaluation, because this devaluation is not linked to Trade. It originates in excessive credit creation in the US.
As long as that credit creation continues out of control, as so many writers have noted with great alarm - David Tice of Prudent Bear and Doug Nolan at the same institution come to mind - the devaluation will continue.
Normally, a devaluation will act to cut imports; and though devaluation of the US dollar may cut down somewhat on imports, this will work only for a short time and for amounts insufficient to reinstate a balance between imports and exports. Since this devaluation is caused by excessive credit creation, higher prices for imports will not stem the flow of imports. The US consumers will simply pay higher prices BECAUSE THE MONEY CONTINUES TO BE MADE AVAILABLE.
The only thing that will stop this process of devaluation, is a sharp, or rather brutal, hike in interest rates which will cut off credit creation. That is something that will have to happen, but it is being put off as long as possible. The elections in the US are an important impediment to taking this decision.
This reminds me that Paul A. Volcker did just that - apply a brutal shock to credit creation back in '79. That put the house in order, back then, at a fearful cost. However, that measure produced the confidence and credibility in the dollar that has lasted to our days, but has now been exhausted. One might say that the dollar has coasted on the effects of Volcker's tightening, during the past twenty some years. That salutary effect has now worn off. Dollar credibility is falling by the day, and no action is being taken to maintain or repair it.
Of course, thngs have now gone to such extremes that even a hint of tightening is scary; the US economy, in my humble opinion, will just implode when tightening happens. The conditions we will see then, will be utterly frightful. Forget about pabulum such as "soft landing"!
The dollar devaluation is not going to act as a corrective mechanism, but rather on the contrary, it is going to increase problems for the US. As the dollar falls, it will be harder to fund the US fiscal deficit with foreign money, which will demand higher interest to make up for the downward trend in the dollar. That will increase the fiscal deficit. This is just one field where negative effects will be felt. On the whole, the fall of the dollar is not a corrective mechanism, as I said, but it rather a symptom of unravelling, of falling off the table.
The US has gutted its industrial base. So even if the dollar cheapens, what will there be to export?
The US economy is a house of cards and the devaluation may turn out to have catastrophic effects.
ONLY a massive slowdown in further credit creation will halt further devaluation. And that would mean, the end of an era for the U.S. of A. There is just no easy way out of this problem.
If the whole rest of the world were to engage in a parallel program of credit creation and debasement of their currencies, maybe the debasement of the dollar would not be so noticeable, as all currencies would debase together. I just don't think that option is possible; if is does turn out that way - everyone doing a Japan thing - then GOLD will shine all the more.
I think that in retrospect, in a couple of years we may see this present sharp fall in the dollar as the prelude to the last act: loss of world reserve currency status.
Sorry to be so negative about the US problems. I hope I am mistaken. Perhaps there is still one more rabbit in the hat.
The GAB
Operative
(1/6/04; 01:43:12MT - usagold.com msg#: 114687)
Interesting Gold Chart
http://www.bullandbearwise.com/GoldOverlayChart.asp
Thought this part of the trail looked a little familiar.
slingshot
(1/6/04; 00:57:29MT - usagold.com msg#: 114686)
Midas Crusade
The sounds of drums and pipes filled the morning air at Hammerton and the Goldbugs had finnished their task. Sir Black Blade looked across the Epis. In just a few days the Goldbugs had built two large barges to ferry them across the Epis. They would now be able to bring man,horse and wagon together to the other side with ease for the barges would be pulled by horses with lines attached to yokes. The long lines of rope and horses made the dangerous crossing the day before and a cheer sounded as they reached the opposite shore. When the lines were attached to the barges, Sir Black Blade ordered that they be loaded and the crossing begin with earnest.
Sir Black Blade had some concern in the decision to split their forces, but the East Gate to Hammerton had to be secured. He would go to the far shore and Sir M.K. would stay behind to secure the West Gate. Sir Black Blade wondered how far behind were the Knights of Old and the army from the Valley of Clouds.
Then his worst fear came upon him as a rider sent from Omar rode up.
Hail, Sir Black Blade the rider said. I bring you a message from Omar Khayyam, and handed Sir Black Blade a scroll. He opened it and read the writing on the paper.
Bonfir! he yelled and a short time later Bonfir was at his side. We must get to the other side quickly for riders have been seen approaching Hammerton and that does not bode well for us. If they catch us in this crossing they can do much damage. Bonfir, you with the help of Jachin and Boaz, must hasten this crossing, said Sir Black Blade.
It will be done, said Bonfir and he rode off to find Jachin and Boaz.
Lady Waverider , standing close to Sir Black Blade come over to him.
Let us cross with the wagons, she said. Let us provide protection till the crossing is complete.
Your are needed here, for they believe the crossing of the Epis can not be made and our main force is still in front of them. The branches thrown in the river was a ruse to make them think we will assualt the West gate in force. They now move to enter the East Gate and if all goes well, we will deny them.
It was at mid day that things went bad for the Goldbugs.
Although the crossing of their forces was almost complete there came an alarm that there was movement on the West Gate.
Sir Black Blade rode to the bluff to observe and he could see archers and horsemen. They crossed the bridge and assembled in front of the earthworks. The Scots played on.
Sir M.K.rode up to join Sir Black Blade on the bluff.
Think they had enough of the Scots music, Sir Black Blade? He said with a smile.
Maybe, and he chuckled, but he knew this could become serious.
The horsemen moved to the front and the archers fell in behind. These riders then slowly move forward followed by the archers.
The Lady Warriors come forth from the treeline to face them.
You could hear the horses breath across the field.
Closer they came. The Scots put down their instruments and picked up their weapons.
Aye! Do you think they're looking for a fight? One Scot could be heard asking another. Naw! They're just out for an afternoon walk. Laughter broke out in their mists.
Then it started. The horsemen broke to full Gallop and the archers ran behind them to cover ground.
The Lady Warriors too raced to cover the distance between them. The foot soldiers of the Goldbugs ran behind them. The thunder of hoves and the waving of swords.
One voice could be heard above all, "FREE GOLD".
The next second was the sound of clashing horses and blade.
The Scots ran forward like antelope and entered the scuffle. Between the horses they made their way breaking through, to face the archers, who were now sending arrows of flame to set the woods afire. Startled, some drew down on them. Yet others turned and ran as the Scottish Broad Sword found its mark.
From the north,riders of Omar rode down on the battlefield. Omar had kept close watch on the West Gate.
Those that turned to run, met the Swords of Omar. The arrows rained down on them from the earthworks.
None would returned to the gate.
But they succeded in their objective. The forest was now a blazed. The dry underbrush flamed up and soon the treetops was engulfed. The riders of Omar turned to help the Lady Warriors and all was quiet on the battlefield.
They watched as the fire race from tree top to tree top.
They began to pick up the wounded and ride back.
They could see Sir M.K. and Sir Black Blade still on the bluff. Bonfir,Jachin and Boaz had safely move all to the opposite shore of the Epis.
They too would make the crossing, but Omar Khayyam would moved his horse men to a position directly opposite the West Gate. Defying all, and would not move despite the callings of Sir M.K.
Smoke fill the air. Gandalf asked Shadowfax to ride like the wind.
Slingshot--------------------<>
Denarius
(1/6/04; 00:41:54MT - usagold.com msg#: 114685)
Interesting Times
Salute,
Four-twenty here, Six-twenty there, not to mention that Eight-twenty stuff. It's all so confusing. What ever happened to the simpler times when Gold was Three-something and Silver was -- silver?
I wouldn't be complaining except for the smoke from all that paper -- 'burning':
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/history.gif?s=NYBOT_DXY0&t=l&w=1&a=0&v=dmax
And then there's the annoying soot from all that oil which is -- 'on fire':
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/history.gif?s=NYMEX_CLG4&t=l&w=1&a=0&v=dmax
No, I'm afraid the days of our youth and innocense are over. Time to step up to the counter and place your order, unless you have already done so. Then, my friends, we can withdraw to safety and bear witness to the latest folly in the never-ending saga of mankind's arrogance and ignorance. The few who will see the glitter through the smoke and fury will find their way to the counter with our help. The others? Well, there will always be the others.
So, what's the next event? Has the Plunge Team returned from holliday yet? They have been known to do some of their nastiest work on Tuesdays. Or are they still busy trying to open their off-shore bank accounts without alerting the Enforcement Arm of the Money Laundering Division of the Homeland Security ..... Oh forget it.
Today is today and it will be just as much fun watching Silver bounce off the six-dollar level as it was the five-dollar line. I wonder what all our friends living in strong-currency lands are watching. Probably news leaks on how much of the people's gold their Central Banks are swapping for worthless 'reserves'. That doesn't sound near as much fun to me.
In any case, best wishes to each of you in this, the Chinese 'Year of the Monkey' or, as some would have it, the 'Year of the Bush', a distinction lost on me.
Salvete, Denarius; Coin of Empire, Tool of Commerce,
Metal of Freedom, Keeper of Wealth, Humble Servant.
P.S. Any volunteers to help me shoehorn one of them there hemi-head V-8s into my '69 Peugeot 504?
Operative
(1/6/04; 00:16:33MT - usagold.com msg#: 114684)
China will launch 10 satellites this year
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040106/photos_sc_afp/040106063104_v1szyhvy_photo0
China will launch 10 satellites this year, more than ever before, as its space program enters what state media describe as a 'pivotal period'.
Comment: Would it be asking too much to at least have a giant Wal-Mart Logo attached, or "Sponsored by Wal-Mart", or some kind of similar credit where credit is due? Afterall, without Wal-Mart sales, they would still be playing with firecrackers.
Black Blade
(1/6/04; 00:06:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 114683)
Operative and specie-man
Operative - there;s a saying: "Live hard, live fast, die young, and make a pretty corpse". I hope I got most of that "hard livin" outta my system my now. ;-)
Specie-man - I may have seen the show once if it was on "Spike" network a few weeks ago. I tend to watch Orange County Choppers for a few good laughs cause I know some "halfway disfunctional" families like that. Though under all the hostility they are really quite close and that's just the way they are. Now I just have a Dodge Ram 4X4 having sold my 2000 Viper last year (at a profit no less - high demand). I see that some foreigners (especially in Japan of all places) are paying a high prices for older US made muscle cars and they are fewer as time goes on. Mine was lacquer black, chromed, and interior black leather "tuck and roll" - one of the worst decisions I made was to sell it. Of course "The Dukes of Hazard" TV show a few years ago had to have destroyed quite a few chargers too. ;-)
Cheers!
- Black Blade
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Permission to reprint is hereby granted where the USAGOLD name is cited along with our web address, mailing address and phone number. For electronic reproductions, citing the post heading and the http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/ website address as the source is sufficient.
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Centennial Precious Metals Gold coins & bullion since 1973 Denver, Colorado 80246-0009 We educate first-time investors! |
for quotes and purchase information.
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