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ARCHIVED DISCUSSION FROM 8/9/2005 All times are U.S. Mountain Time (Yesterday's Discussion.) Goldilox (08/09/05; 23:33:10MT - usagold.com msg#: 134788) AN ASSET ALLOCATOR'S NIGHTMARE - by Doug Wakefield http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2005/0804d.html snip:The world of modern finance refers to diversification as the use of non-correlating assets. The College of Financial Planning's Investment Planning textbook teaches that, "Diversification and the reduction in unsystematic risk require that assets’ returns not be highly positively correlated. When there is a highly positive correlation, there is no risk reduction. When the returns are perfectly negatively, risk is erased. This indicates that combining these assets whose returns fluctuate exactly in opposite directions has the effect on the portfolio of completely erasing risk." In short, assets that move in step with each other have more potential risk than assets that move in opposite directions from each other. My purpose here is only to say that true diversification can be useful in reducing certain types of risk.Our common sense and life experiences tell us as much. We have all heard the old saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." We all agree that if we have five people each carrying a basket with one egg, we have less chance of all of them getting broken than if we had one person carrying all five eggs in one basket. The problem is that the current situation appears to be more like 5 people running a race with their legs tied together on a rainy day after the staying up all night at a keg party.**** insert charts ****So as you can see from these numbers, with the exception of the 30-year government bond, over the last 2 years all of these indices have exceeded the highest 20-year average returns of the S&P 500.To see what has caused all of these indices to move in step with stellar returns for the last two year, we need look no further than the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. We are floating on a sea of liquidity. From June 28, 2003 to July 18, 2005 the money supply, as measured by M3, has grown by $836 billion dollars from $8.913 trillion to $9.749 trillion. 6 From the indices presented here and the GDP and other numbers coming from the government, one would think that we have, once again, inflated our way to victory. As for the debt that has been created along the way, (don't worry) we'll inflate that away too.However, oddly, since the first Federal Funds Rate increase was announced on June 30, 2004 and in spite of its inflationary monetary polices, the 30-year government bond is up from 105.61 to 115.31. This is what we would expect to see if the Fed had cut interest rates or kept money supply growth to a minimum. As we are all aware, the Federal Reserve has raised its rate from 1% to 3.25%. When government bonds go up almost 10% in an environment where the Fed Funds Rate is increasing, this does not bode well for future economic prospects. The predominant theme in history has been that when an economy has grown weaker, bonds prices have gone up. When inflation concerns are tame and business prospects are bleak, we see a flight to the safety and returns of the government bond. When the economy picks up, business prospects expand, and inflation heats up, bond prices fall. So while the stock market churns out high returns, the bond market does not seem the least concerned with inflation or a stronger economy. Once again, something is wrong.So based on our common sense, modern financial theory, and decades of price history on the S&P 500, we know that the real world is screaming a story far different than pretty pie charts of average annual returns produced to give investors a false sense of security. Coloring the eggs differently will not make investment portfolio returns safer. A lot of eggs are about to be broken. Goldilox (08/09/05; 23:14:31MT - usagold.com msg#: 134787) Long-Term, 1995-2007, Pictures of the US Housing Supply-Demand, Vacancy, and Renters vs. Owner Occupancy http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2005/0807.html snip:The Costliest Lie In HistoryDoes anyone believe that the economists who work for the real estate industry don't look at the US Housing Inventory data? If they don't then they must be fired. How could it be possible that none of them look at it?And why is it that they never mention this data when they make claims about the supply falling short of demand? Could there be a collusionary conspiracy to hide the facts?As the data clearly show, the incessant propaganda by the Unreal Estate industry in the US, mostly over the past two years, that there is a shortage of supply to meet the demand for housing is a BIG LIE. In terms of the financial damage to Americans, who have borrowed trillions, it might prove to be the costliest lie. I first became convinced of this lie when I read that the California Association of Realtors’ economist put out a number for the current demand in California at 250,000 per year. The data showed the actual demand at less than half that amount. Why 250,000? Because the permits were running at 215,000. One must pick a number higher than the permits to scare people into the future scarcity, a scarcity that simply does not exist.There are lots of vacant housing units all over America and California and they keep increasing in numbers every day that the sun sets.GoldiloxI picked a few paragraphs to highlight his conclusions, but I recommend reading the entire piece by Jas Jain to get a proper view of his hypothesis and support. This is a very interesting look at the housing market. Goldilox (08/09/05; 23:04:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 134786) DUMB AND DUMBER - Sol Palha and John Tyler http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/ti/2005/0807.html snip:Now we can understand why so few people truly know the true significance of Gold and how it could end all the misery caused the insidious silent killer tax other wise known as inflation. It seems that things will have to get so bad before this generation attempts to understand the true power of this powerful metal. This is another reason why Gold has not appreciated as fast as say real estate and some of the other hot commodities; when the panic hits though it will move rather fast. The only problem is that no one really knows when this scenario will unfold; we seem to be getting closer to it with the passage of each day (and the printing of billions of more dollars each year).This also proves two points:One should apply the contrarian perspective to every aspect of ones life and not only to the investing aspect if one is to be a true contrarian; do not forget the mass psychology component too. It also illustrates the paradox theory in full effect one never gets what one chases or hopes for. There is no room for hope or desperate people (those who chase usually are very desperate). In their desperate attempt (it may not seem desperate but study the actions of most parents and you will find that in general it is) to give their kids a better live then they had they are actually giving them one that is infinitely worse then they could have ever imagined.Once again we find ourselves mouthing the same phrase "welcome to the new world order", an order which will be built on chaos and the "I want everything now syndrome".The only thing that ever consoles man for the stupid things he doesis the praise he always gives himself for doing them.-Oscar Wilde 1856-1900, British Author, Wit Goldilox (08/09/05; 22:57:30MT - usagold.com msg#: 134785) Is the Stock Market Predicting Happy Times? http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/droke/2005/0808.html snip:The growth of corporate profits has coincided with the decline in incomes for the average American working man and the yawning chasm separating the haves and the have-nots continues to widen. Steven Rattner, writing in the August 8 edition of Business Week, notes that the top 1% of earners take a larger piece of the economic pie now than at any time since the 1920s. "Over the past 30 years, the share of income going to the highest-earning Americans has risen steadily to levels not seen since shortly before the Great Depression," writes Rattner.Rattner tells of how the disparity between rich and poor has progressively widened over the past 30 years, with the share of income garnered by the top 10% of Americans growing by nearly a third, while the share of the top 0.01% of households with an average income of nearly $11 million has multiplied nearly four times. The blame for this situation, according to Rattner, is in part globalization (the emergence of the Global Economic Order), the employment of cheap labor in emerging markets to the exclusion of American labor, and an increasingly regressive tax code.To the above list we can probably add the periodic resurgence of stock bull markets, since they tend mainly to the aggrandizement of the haves and to the penury of the have-nots. This has been eloquently described in George Brockway's magnum opus, "The End of Economic Man." In his book, Brockway details how the stock market can only rise by sucking in more and more money, which is thereby denied to the producing economy."The bull market that started in 1982 took five years to absorb a trillion dollars," wrote Brockway in 2000. "The bull market that started in 1988 absorbed a trillion dollars in less than four years and is well on its way to six trillion more...but the devastation, disorder, and despair resulting from the extraction of $7,000,000,000,000 from the producing economy in less than twelve years challenge our capacity to understand."He concludes, "The economics of the rational greedy economic man failed our forebears. It is failing us. We fail ourselves if we refuse to understand that failure."-GoldiloxClif Droke's commentary over at Financial Sense.com - it speaks for itself. PRITCHO (8/9/05; 18:45:10MT - usagold.com msg#: 134784) Richard Russells Latest Comments - - Yes he Does mention gold! http://www.dowtheoryletters.com/DTLOL.nsf Richard nails it down in simple terms - - See LinkSNIP - -Russell's "What If?" In my dreams I evidently ask a lot of uncomfortable questions. What if? What if the Bush family never had any connections with the Saudi royal family, and what if the US never had any interest in keeping the corrupt Saudi dynasty in power? What if the US had never backed all the assorted dictators who were supposed to keep the "bad guys" out of the Mideast, all the while keeping the Mideast "stable" and oil cheap? What if the US had stayed totally out of the Mideast, and what if the US had just bought the oil instead of trying to control it? If all that had occurred, would oil be any more expensive than it is today at over $60 a barrel?If all that had taken place, would young Americans be dying in the deserts of the Mideast? If all that had occurred, would the US be spending over a billion dollars a day in Iraq? What if? ...........................................................I thought the piece below was so thought-provoking that I wanted all my subscribers to read it. Many thanks to Bill Bonner. Convenient Beliefs by Bill Bonner from the always excellent Daily Reckoning site. "America became an empire without anyone noticing. But Americans came to believe in empire…so much so that they are willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on it." We have been wondering about the way people seem to play whatever role is offered to them.They adjust their beliefs to the role. Where the roles come from, we do not know, but we marvel at how people seem to come to believe whatever they need to believe when they need to believe it. Alan Greenspan believed strongly in gold –until he became a central banker. Then, he believed he could do a better job than gold. The belief was necessary to the job, just like a wrench to a plumber. In public life, for example, people generally believe in the system in which they live. We are all democrats in the United States. We believe in electing our leaders. There is no particular reason why this method should be superior to having leaders selected by lottery or hand-to-hand combat. Throughout most of human history, people believed in other systems…and lived in other systems. Are we smarter than they were? Maybe not. If we lived in a kingdom, we would probably believe strongly in monarchy. But circumstances change…and ideas change with them. America became an empire without anyone noticing. But Americans came to believe in empire…so much so that they are willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on it. They maintain military bases all over the world – to protect a world economy that once served their own economic interests. Now, the pax dollarium serves the interests of their creditors and competitors…but Americans still believe in their empire. They believe they must meet challenges in Iraq, Iran, North Korea…all around the periphery of the empire. They might just as well think that the poor Iraqis, Iranians and North Koreans can take care of their own problems…but the thought wouldn't be compatible with the imperial role. A rich person plays the role of a rich person. He is the person who must find ways to get rid of his money. He cannot get richer and richer forever. Trees do not grow to the sky. There is no yin without a yang…no day without night…no boom without bust. Everything regresses to the mean – including the wealth of an individual or a group. Even our own lives regress. No one was ever born who was not destined to die. The mean is the grave – for which we are all bound. When a man gets a certain amount of money, he has to find ways to spend it. And so he takes up the beliefs of a man who needs to spend money. He believes he needs a bigger house. He believes that more expensive wine is better than the cheap stuff. He may even take a course on wine…and bore his friends and neighbors with his sophisticated palette.He believes a Maybach is superior to a Honda. He believes he needs a mistress. Or a yacht. He gives himself handicaps until he is able to get his wealth down to more reasonable levels – closer to the mean, that is. If he dies before his work is done – that is,while he still has some change in his pockets – he can be sure that the next generation will finish what he began. In a few years, the family will have average wealth rather than extraordinary wealth. So, too, does a rich society need to give itself handicaps – so that its wealth and power can come back to a meaner level. America surpassed Britain as the world's leading economy in 1910. Its lead gained over the next five decades – greatly aided by two devastating European wars, one of which it prolonged and made far more disastrous for Europe than it otherwise would have been. But America's handicaps increased. It now spends almost as much on its military as all the rest of the world combined. After 9/11 it might have put a few more cops on the case…instead, it launched a whole "war against terrorism" – another costly, distracting handicap. Over the years, it has also increased its expensive social welfare programs; the economic freedom that made the U.S. economy the leader of the world has given way to a rigged, controlled, and regulated economy. General Motors has the handicap of having to spend thousands of dollars worth of health and retirement costs for every car it builds. Its competitors in China have almost none. The empire is still in business. But it is, like General Motors, wobbling under the weight of its handicaps…and headed for the graveyard. TownCrier (8/9/05; 18:14:41MT - usagold.com msg#: 134783) Toolie, with regard to physical I wouldn't say "hard pressed" to cover (i.e., prevent) a delivery failure; after all, this is exactly what's been going on with success for as long as gold lending (or 'leasing', if you prefer) has been in practice.In effect, the futures market and lending practices under consideration have worked together to provide willful buyers with a pricing subsidy for the acquisition. The larger point that I've tried to make in adjacent posts is that despite the success of the effect, it can't be continued forever. And even more important is the consideration that the process need not necessarily be tolerated to the inevitable failure/exhaustion point, but rather may be abolished sooner on international political will to reap the benefits of strength and stability of a central banking structure upon a foundation of rightly priced MTM physical gold reserves.R. TownCrier (8/9/05; 17:55:24MT - usagold.com msg#: 134782) Policy recommendations to shift from dollar predominance http://www.iie.com/publications/newsreleases/pa75pr.pdf International investors poured vast sums of money into East Asia and Latin America during the mid-1990s, when the emerging-market boom was at its peak. Then Thailand stumbled, panic seized the markets, and boom gave way to bust. Investors suffered large financial losses.Asian countries suddenly experienced large capital outflows, and the subsequent macroeconomic pressures plunged into crisis countries that had been growing rapidly.Much the same had happened in Latin America when the debt crisis broke in 1982: The banks that had lent money to the region suffered years of anxiety capped off by substantial losses, and the countries that had been growing nicely suddenly found themselves confronting a lost decade.Latin America again suffered a similar fate a few months after East Asia stumbled, in 1998. Can feasible policy actions curb the sequence of boom and bust and thus permit both investors and emerging markets to tap the potential benefits of capital mobility without the costs of crises?[IIE News Release] Washington, DC -- A new Institute for International Economics study by Senior Fellow John Williamson concludes that a series of new policy actions by creditor and debtor countries could curb at least some of the volatility in capital flows that causes so many problems for emerging market economies and investors alike. In Curbing the Boom-Bust Cycle: Stabilizing Capital Flows to Emerging Markets, he proposes several initiatives with this aim:-- Emerging markets should limit, and perhaps ultimately eliminate, foreign currency borrowing by their governments. These governments should instead start issuing inflation-indexed and plain vanilla bonds on their local markets, and growth-linked bonds on the international market.-- Emerging-market governments should also discourage their private-sector borrowers and lenders from issuing and holding assets denominated in foreign currency since currency mismatches in debtor countries aggravate crises. This might be accomplished by imposing higher taxes on interest earned on foreigncurrency assets than on interest from domestic-currency denominated assets, or by limiting the tax concessions on interest on borrowing that is denominated in foreign rather than domestic currency.-- Emerging markets ought to retain the right to use capital controls in certain situations, especially where they are being flooded with excessive capital inflows.^----(from url)----^This brings to mind evidence of early trail blazing in a portion of the Wim Duisenberg memorial speech by J-C Trichet that 968 brought up here during Saturday's Forum:"Equally, Wim's influence at the European Monetary Institute ... where the crucial decisions to prepare effectively the single currency were wisely taken, including the decision that the ECB should have all its accounts in euro from the outset, which owed a lot to Wim"In the end, it comes down to recognition and efforts toward eliminating exchange-rate risks, not only as pertains to the value of international obligations, but also to the value of international reserve assets held on the CB's balance sheet.The comments above address the potential problems with respect to obligations.And, to address the other concern, given the expansive nature of national (or regional) montary systems found everywhere, there is nothing better than a mark-to-market system of gold assets -- within a "free gold" pricing paradigm -- to ensure that there is a class of "international reserves" for which the price/value will never significantly drift adversely to the locally denominated balance sheet.R. Toolie (8/9/05; 17:18:27MT - usagold.com msg#: 134781) Townie, Let's see if I "fully comprehend" your post.What I should take from it is this: While the Treasury is capable of cushioning a failure to deliver notes to buyers due to naked shorts, they would be hard pressed to cover a failure to deliver physical bullion. Trurl (8/9/05; 16:55:54MT - usagold.com msg#: 134780) Mars closest approach http://www.floridastars.org/marshoax.html This is a hoax:http://www.floridastars.org/marshoax.htmlIt it easy to propagate information on the Internet.I would say little of it is true.You need to learn for yourself sources you can trust....Being here is a good start... TownCrier (8/9/05; 15:53:55MT - usagold.com msg#: 134779) Gold prices seen rising further on festive demand http://www.business-standard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=196833 (Mumbai) August 10, 2005 -- Global gold prices rose in the second half of July recovering from a declining trend in the first half of the month, a report by the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange said. The upward trend in gold prices should continue on speculation of a higher demand ahead of the Chinese New Year and upcoming festive season in India, the report said. There was a continued disconnect between the price of gold and the dollar since mid-May... but the link became weaker over the past three months. The strong inverse relation between gold and dollar resumed in the second half of July. The impact of soaring crude oil prices on the world economy and the revaluation of the yuan weakened the dollar and increased the value of gold. ...Another development seen supportive of gold is the strike at South Africa mines, which many fear, may affect the global supply, the report said.^---(see url)---^This final point on supply effects out of S.Africa recalls the general point from my previous post regarding volume in futures markets bing up sharply while supplies of the underlying 'physical' deliverable are constrained.As noted in the article, a mitigating source of liquidity to bridge the futures market (price dynamic) with the spot 'physical' market is through lending of the underlying asset.(For that, please recall this excerpt, "the Treasury is considering setting up a special lending facility to address liquidity problems.")In this financial world, with so much futures-driven pricing going on in everything, and so much artificial supply as a result of lending activities to provide, essentially, price-depressive liquidity, how on Earth can an owner of an asset ever hope to find a point of solid ground as a benchmark from which to assess a relative value of his wealth?That's where we perceive that the architects of a new IMS reserve paradigm will turn to FOA's "free gold market" as the bastion of stability and benchmark for the easy determination of relative monetary values.R. USAGOLD Daily Market Report (8/9/05; 15:24:16MT - usagold.com msg#: 134778) Page Update! http://www.usagold.com/DailyQuotes.htmlThe Daily Gold Market Report 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.Tuesday Market ExcerptsAugust 9 (from MarketWatch) -- Prices for gold futures in the evening session posted slight gains Tuesday as traders digested the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates. "Gold has consolidated nicely this past week and there's nothing in the Fed news to cause it to drop sharply," said Peter Grandich, editor of the Grandich Letter."The fact that the U.S. dollar can't rise sharply in face of another Fed hike is very bullish for gold, and likely to give it cause to resume its uptrend for the balance of the week," he said.September gold was last at $440, up 20 cents in evening trading.Gold for December delivery closed at $439.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 50 cents.Shortly after regular trading for metals futures ended Tuesday, the Federal Open Market Committee raised its target for short-term interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 3.5% and gave no hint that it is interested in stopping anytime soon."The Fed has become quite predictable, and the market response has become even more so," said Dale Doelling, chief market technician at Trends In Commodities.The euro climbed a bit following the announcement, and that "cements the fact that the dollar is dying and those traders who are now long the major foreign currencies are about to do a serious tap dance on the heads of the dollar bulls," he said.In turn, "this will eventually allow the precious metals to break out of this consolidation range and take prices to levels not seen in decades," Doelling said.(from Reuters) -- Consultant CPM Group said strong investment demand has dominated the gold market through the first half of the year, though interest has waned since the first quarter when physical demand bolstered prices near last year's 16-year high.CPM said in its Gold Survey 2005 that the market still was benefiting from the most sustained investor buying in at least 60 years, even though buyers appeared more cautious on gold since April.----(see url for full news, 24-hr newswire, market quotes)---- Clink! (8/9/05; 15:16:04MT - usagold.com msg#: 134777) Ermmm That last post of mine was, of course, also an advert for the Greater Bad Speler.C! Clink! (08/09/05; 15:05:15MT - usagold.com msg#: 134776) Another marker in the road ...... http://www.condoflip.com/ Catchy slogan :- Bubbles are for Bathtubs !This site isn't actually up and running yet, but you can see the trend. If this isn't an advert for the Greter Fool Theory, I don't know what is.C! 968 (08/09/05; 14:56:29MT - usagold.com msg#: 134775) @ Towncrier Very, very interesting posting ! Thanks ! TownCrier (08/09/05; 14:44:10MT - usagold.com msg#: 134774) CBOT aims to avoid repeat of June 10-year expiry woes http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh87933_2005-08-09_20-19-13_n09406350_newsml CHICAGO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Some of the basic ingredients look the same, but after a controversial expiration for 10-year Treasury note futures in June, the Chicago Board of Trade hopes for a tamer outcome in September.That is especially so with the U.S. Treasury looking back at events to sniff out possible wrongdoing...Problems in June revolved around scant supplies of the cash 10-year note that was cheapest to deliver against CBOT futures, and questions on whether holders of those notes were deliberately keeping supplies off the market.[...In June, low supplies of the CTD note led to a series of "fails" in the cash market, when sellers of the security were not able to deliver the note to buyers.]Each contract represents a U.S. Treasury note with $100,000 face value.Stung by events in June, the Board of Trade on June 28 told regulators it would change some of the terms of its Treasury futures contracts. .....position limits will apply for the final 10 trading days for expiring Treasury futures contracts. For 10-year note futures the limit for any person will be 50,000 contracts.For its efforts, the CBOT got a rebuke from the Futures Industry Association, a Washington-based lobbying group whose members include major investment banks....Separately, the Treasury is considering setting up a special lending facility to address liquidity problems.Traders need to be aware that the cheapest to deliver note is "just one issue, and that futures might not always be able to price off the CTD," he said. "Going to the next cheapest note can be a costly matter, but it exists."The June expiration showed that the CBOT has in some ways become a victim of its own success.Volume in Treasury debt futures is up sharply while supplies of cash notes are relatively flat, increasing the chances of bottlenecks at expiration.^----(see url for full article)-----^It is my singular greatest hope for this day that everyone here who reads this article will fully comprehend it, and more importantly, will see the important applicability to the 'liquidity' and pricing dynamics of the gold market.R. Survivor (08/09/05; 13:54:26MT - usagold.com msg#: 134773) @ Federal_Reserves Those boys know full well what's going on. They are in a game of confidence and spin. If they drop the fantasy rhetoric for even a minute it, is game over for them.-Survivor Federal_Reserves (08/09/05; 13:36:48MT - usagold.com msg#: 134772) FED statement What a joke. No mention of the credit bubble that is driving consumer spending, nor the trade deficit or fiscal deficits, they mentioned a good labor market but no mentioned that wage growth is paltry and at record lows, only a little by-line about the energy crisis and no mention of the fact we are running out of crude oil in the next 10 years - these guys are living in a Goldilocks dream land. No real analysis or understanding of what we face anywhere at the FED, and for that matter in the government or media. Prepare for the crash folks. Idiots are in charge. No truth telling anywhere at anytime at any level. TownCrier (8/9/05; 12:22:59MT - usagold.com msg#: 134771) FOMC Policy Statement -- August 9: Rate increase to 3.5% http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/monetary/2005/20050809/default.htm PRESS RELEASEThe Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3-1/2 percent.The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative and, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing ongoing support to economic activity. Aggregate spending, despite high energy prices, appears to have strengthened since late winter, and labor market conditions continue to improve gradually. Core inflation has been relatively low in recent months and longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained, but pressures on inflation have stayed elevated.The Committee perceives that, with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal. With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured. Nonetheless, the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability.Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Richard W. Fisher; Donald L. Kohn; Michael H. Moskow; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero; and Gary H. Stern.In a related action, the Board of Governors unanimously approved a 25-basis-point increase in the discount rate to 4-1/2 percent. In taking this action, the Board approved the requests submitted by the Boards of Directors of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco.^---(from url)----^More of the same old same old.R. USAGOLD / Centennial Precious Metals, Inc. (8/9/05; 11:55:25MT - usagold.com msg#: 134770) FREE Gold Information Packet... http://www.usagold.com/Order_Form.html krash (8/9/05; 08:25:43MT - usagold.com msg#: 134769) Alan Greenspan Rants Against Threat to US Dollar Due to Iran and PetroEuro http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s8i8837 Written by Felix at www.thespoof.com (Satire) WASHINGTON (Reuters)—On Wednesday, US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan ranted against the planned switch to the "PetroEuro" by Iran for oil sales which he claims endangers the PetroDollar and the plain old American greenback. "I can't stand it anymore!" shouted Greenspan during Congressional testimony in which he alternately chewed on crack cocaine and gulped quaaludes. "Iran's Oil Bourse will be denominated in PetroEuros and that is a grave threat to the US dollar and our domestic interest rates. We must bomb those Persians back to the stone age just like we did to the Iraqis!"To illustrate his point, Greenspan withdrew a 9mm Glock from his briefcase and repeatedly fired it into the ceiling of the Senate hearing room until cordite fumes and the clatter of spent shell casings filled the chamber. Guards quietly asked Greenspan to tone it down."I'm the God and ruler of the PetroDollar and the greenback and interest rates and no one can stand in my way!" Greenspan bellowed. "We must bomb Iran all to hell and gone and topple its government with an invasion just the same way we did to Iraq because Saddam also switched to PetroEuros for his oil sales!"Aides quickly converged on the outspoken Fed Chairman and calmed him down by reading from the novel "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. They also took away his crack cocaine and his Glock.Greenspan was under an understandable degree of stress because he was out on bail after being recently charged by police with killing off large sections of the American middle class with his Federal Reserve policies. The charges arose due to revelations in the new book by economist Ravi Batra "Greenspan's Fraud: How Two Decades of His Policies Have Undermined the Global Economy" -- see the related story "Alan Greenspan Charged With Killing Off Middle Class, Setting Stage for Economic Collapse" (click here).Under Greenspan's questionable management of the Federal Reserve, America's rich have gotten a lot richer and the poor have gotten a lot poorer as the middle class have been eroded, just like in the 1920s before the Great Depression began. Many believe such an unjust division of society reduces purchasing power of the masses and causes economic collapse and depression, which is just about to occur today too. The US dollar could lose its status as the world's reserve currency for trade, oil sales and foreign exchange holdings, and could collapse in value.Now to potentially worsen things for the US dollar, the government of Iran is planning to open its Oil Bourse in March 2006 to sell its oil for Euros, rather than for dollars. Iraq had also just begun selling its oil in Euros in 2000 rather than in US dollars which many believe was the real reason that prompted the US government to invade that country in 2003, in addition to seizing control of Iraq's oil wealth to the benefit of large US oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Chrevron Texaco.Many currently believe that the US military is even now planning to attack Iran with nuclear weapons in order to similarly prevent its moving to the Euro, and to make Israel happy. The pretext for the attack is the hysteria being orchestrated by western media over Iran's enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes.Meanwhile, other nations including Russia, China and Japan are diversifying their foreign exchange holdings out of US dollars, and out of US treasuries, further lowering the value of the US dollar and raising US interest rates."I'm in charge of interest rates, not some slanty-eyed Eastern tinpot despot government," sobbed Greenspan as he finally broke down. The Fed Chairman was last seen being carried from the Senate Chamber on a stretcher and in a strait-jacket with a strong sedative being fed into his arm in an IV drip. Goldilox (8/9/05; 05:09:16MT - usagold.com msg#: 134768) Strike Question Is the Strike a big enough deal that one might expect some PoG manipulation to make them appear unsuccessful and go back to work? Goldilox (8/9/05; 05:06:54MT - usagold.com msg#: 134767) More Strike Non-news http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=631&fArticleId=2829606 snip:Johannesburg - The rand recovered against the dollar yesterday, shrugging off news of the biggest mining strike in 18 years as the focus turned to domestic and US interest rates.The rand moved in a thin band ahead of the Women's Day public holiday today, boosted by offshore investors selling dollars and euros.At 5pm the rand was bid at R6.4462 a dollar, 1,87c stronger than its close on Friday. It hit an intraday low of R6.5050."The rand has been very quiet. Initially it followed the euro, but offers came back in from offshore names. With the holiday [today], there has been limited interest," said a Johannesburg trader.About 100 000 South African gold miners downed tools yesterday to demand higher wages in the world's top bullion producer, but traders said the stoppage was largely dismissed in currency markets."It's not considered much of an issue ... Strikes in South Africa don't seem to last long," the trader added.-GoldiloxSo far, so Ho Hum! Goldilox (8/9/05; 04:56:28MT - usagold.com msg#: 134766) Mars close approach McCanney mentioned this disinfo on his radio show Thirsday.Close approach might make Mars appear a scosh brighter, although one would be hard pressed to tell in most light-polluted environments, but certainly not much, if any, larger, except with a good telescope, where one is multiplying the effect.The Moon is a 1/4 Earth 's radius, and Mars is about 1/2. It would need to approach to about twice the Moon's distance to appear equivalent in size.Not EVEN CLOSE! Topaz (8/9/05; 04:38:02MT - usagold.com msg#: 134765) Six Years too early into Gold... http://www.futuresource.com/charts/charts.jsp?s=GC&o=100/DX&a=D&z=610x300&d=LOW&b=LINE&st= ...Two yr's late on Mars, Bad-Timers Anon might be worth a Google!Speaking of which, that Google-Earth is worth a look, spent Hours last night pinging the Planet. THE Status simbol du-juor would be to have your House whited out methinks.Meanwhile, back in the cess-pool......our Gold seems to be suffering from futuritis with Dec now holding sway and "current" action taking a back seat.The Good souls at NovaScotia ponied up 1K contract equivalents Yesterday for a tidy Monthly total to date of 6.9KWe're not done with Aug yet I feel! Topaz (8/9/05; 04:13:52MT - usagold.com msg#: 134764) Touche too Sundeck. 'tis a foin way to start a Golden Day ;-O Topaz (8/9/05; 04:08:09MT - usagold.com msg#: 134763) G - Lionheart I just spent a half-hour scanning the eastern sky for "Mars" then, on giving up and reading your post I thought I'd better check.Seems as if I'm 2 Yr's LATE!!...and who said snail-mail was slower than email! Sundeck (8/9/05; 04:07:43MT - usagold.com msg#: 134762) Mars and the golden (or is it silver??) Moon Hold on a minute, or at least a few secs, Sir Topaz...the Moon subtends approximately 30 minutes of arc at the Earth (that is, about half a degree...roughly the same as the Sun, a coincidence of Nature that has lead to things like total eclipses and annular eclipses of the Sun), but at closest approach, Mars subtends only about 25 arc seconds at the Earth...that is, less than half an arc minute. Thus Mars will appear less than a sixtieth of the diameter of the Moon (sixty arc seconds in an arc minute...thanks to the Babylonians...ancient Iraqis...remarkable people...had lots to do with finance as well...don't know if they had a FED 'though...but they certainly had lots of gold).Golden Lionheart is pretty safe in his assertions...and George Walker Bush will NEVER need to worry!Now...is the Moon golden or silvery...Take care Sir Topaz...;-) Golden Lionheart (8/9/05; 03:42:28MT - usagold.com msg#: 134761) The chances of anything coming from Mars............... If Mars ever looks as big as the Full Moon to the naked eyethen we Earthlings are in a lot of trouble. Never happen! But lets hope the occurence bodes well for gold.Should it look as big as a full Moon then I will publically declare that George Walker Bush is the greatest President the Estados Unidos has ever had. Topaz (8/9/05; 02:14:42MT - usagold.com msg#: 134760) this might be an interesting diversion... ...from watching the Lines.>NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.>>The Red Planet (MARS) is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.>The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.>The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. By August 27, Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot.>At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively>brighter and brighter throughout the month.>>>Share this with your family, friends, children and grandchildren. ViewYesterday's Discussion.
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