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Gold and Silver • Will The NY FED Try To Pull A Goldfinger?
Will The NY FED Try To Pull A Goldfinger?
FEB 1
Posted by sierra2one
By: Tom Chatham – Author of The American Dream Lost
As one of the financial capitals of the world, New York has some of the worlds’ largest financial companies. Among them is the NY branch of the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank. This bank is actually owned by some of the largest banks in the world. As a center of global finance, it only made sense in the past to store some of the gold from many countries there so trade imbalances could be quickly satisfied by moving gold from one pile to another. The Federal Reserve operates on the confidence of other central banks around the world.
As of 2010 the NY Fed had something on the order of 200,000,000 troy ounces of gold in storage for many different nations. It has become common knowledge that many of the worlds’ banks and institutions have leased out and sold literally tons of gold in the last several years. The gold stocks have been moved around so much the last few years, at the very least on paper, that rightful ownership of much of it is now in question.
Since the Fed is merely storing this gold for other countries, they have the right to withdraw it at any time and repatriate it to local bank vaults, at least in theory. With the U.S Dollar coming under pressure in the last few years and the reserve currency status of the Dollar now in question, many governments are now contemplating the return of their gold to backstop their own currencies if something happens to the dollar.
Recently Germany decided to bring some of their gold home and decided to repatriate about 374 tons from France and 300 tons from the U.S. The Fed is currently holding about 1,500 tons of Germanys’ gold. Since Germany is only asking for 20% of its gold back from the Fed that would seem like a small matter to resolve. For some strange reason, Germany will have to wait 7 years to get that amount out of the Fed. This raises some very troubling questions.
Some people have speculated that much of the gold has been leased or outright sold and very little remains in the vaults. The fact that no one is allowed to audit their gold stocks is also a troubling sign. Let’s just suppose for a moment that the gold has been sold. What would that mean?
Keep in mind that the Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank. It is owned by some of the largest banks in the world. If they sold this gold the parent banks would almost certainly have to know about it and approve the transactions. Also keep in mind that this gold is owned by governments henceforth the citizens in many cases and not the banks themselves. If the banks sold this gold they profited from it immensely, at least until they have to replace it. With the price of gold at near record levels it would be devastating if the banks have sold all of that gold and had to replace it at much higher prices. That presents another problem.
If the Fed had to buy large sums of gold to replace stocks, what would that say to the markets? The bankers have always called gold a barbarous relic and don’t consider it real money. If the Fed suddenly started buying large sums of gold it would signal to everyone that they consider gold more valuable than the money they print. Remember, the Dollar is the world reserve currency so why do you want to own any gold? If they sold the gold, and printed money was just as good, then they could just replace the gold with currency, right?
With the large amount of gold in the vaults, 300 tons should be an easy matter to fix by just buying it back from the current owner with newly printed money and no one would be the wiser. That would be easy unless the gold is not physically in the vaults. If it had been removed and was somewhere else in the world, they would have to go into the world markets to buy it back, thus exposing themselves. Some have speculated that much of this gold has ended up in China, and if so, they probably won’t want to sell it back anytime soon.
So, you are a banker that has sold 1/3 of a trillion dollars in other peoples gold and now they are starting to ask for it. What do you do now? If they accept cash instead you’re ok but they don’t want cash, they want the hard stuff. Buying back all of that gold would be impossible because once people realized you were printing more money to buy it they would refuse to sell at any price. That is if you can even find that much gold to buy.
But why would you need to print more money? What happened to the money you got from the original sale? Gee, maybe you shouldn’t have given everyone all those multi million dollar salaries every year.
So what happens when you tell everyone you don’t have any gold to give them? They won’t come after the U.S government because they have no control over the Fed. They will come after the bankers with a vengeance. So as a banker how do you save your neck without having to give the gold back?
I’m sure everyone has seen the James Bond movie Goldfinger. The arch villain wants to destroy the U.S. supply of gold in order to make his gold worth more. How do you destroy gold? With a radiological bomb of course, making it radioactive for a very long time.
If a “terrorist” group made its way into the NY Fed vaults and exploded a radiological bomb, everything in the vault would be radioactive for a very long time. If the blast was contained in the vault and only irradiated the contents, it would be an easy way to eliminate gold that does not really exist. This would let the bankers off the hook as none of the gold could be removed or even audited. Would someone do something like that for real? What would you be willing to do if you stole 1/3 of a Trillion dollars in gold and wanted to cover it up?
Could a bank stage something like this? Not on its’ own, but with the help of a major government that it basically owns, it would be a simple matter. Would the U.S. government do something like this? Why not? It would get the bankers off the hook and provide the government with a crisis to institute even more measures to lock the country down. We know the government has no shortage of lame plots that it is willing to feed to the gullible public and they have little concern about any casualties.
Is this speculation? Of course. But if the gold is really gone, how will they hide it? I suspect that it is gone and the crisis that is building will reveal it sooner rather than later. Where do I think it is? To allude to an old song, all the gold in New York City, is in a bank in the middle of Switzerland in somebody else’s name.
http://projectchesapeake.wordpress.com/
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:07 am
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Business • Investors pull billions more out of stocks
The flight out of U.S. stocks continued last week, with investors yanking $2.7 billion of domestic stock mutual funds.
The retreat from the U.S. stock market continued last week, as investors refrained from making any big bets amid the market’s summer doldrums.
Another $2.7 billion was pulled from U.S. stock market mutual funds during the week ended Aug. 15, according to the Investment Company Institute, bringing the 2012 outflow total to more than $69 billion. By comparison, those funds lost in the neighborhood of $40 billion during the first seven months of 2010 and 2011.
While stock mutual funds have been bleeding money, investors have shown a voracious appetite for bonds, which are considered safe haven investments. In fact, bond funds raked in $7.2 billion last week, the most since early April, according to ICI data.
Hedge funds are betting on disaster
Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, have also been in favor among investors. Hybird funds brought in $949 million last week, the most since early July.
http://buzz.money.cnn.com/2012/08/23/st … ?iid=HP_LN
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:11 pm
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International News • Chinese companies pull out of US stock markets
Chinese companies pull out of US stock markets
Chinese firms leave US stock markets amid complaints about price, accounting scrutiny
By Joe Mcdonald, AP Business Writer
Just a few years after Chinese companies lined up to sell shares on Wall Street, a growing number are reversing course and pulling out of U.S. exchanges. This week, Focus Media Holding Ltd., announced its chairman and private equity firms want to buy back its U.S.-traded shares and take the Shanghai-based advertising company private. The deal would value Focus Media at $3.5 billion, according to financial information firm Dealogic. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
BEIJING (AP) — Just a few years after Chinese companies lined up to sell shares on Wall Street, a growing number are reversing course and pulling out of U.S. exchanges.
This week, Focus Media Holding Ltd., announced its chairman and private equity firms want to buy back its U.S.-traded shares and take the Shanghai-based advertising company private. The deal would value Focus Media at $3.5 billion, according to financial information firm Dealogic.
Smaller companies also are withdrawing from U.S. exchanges. In a sign of official encouragement, a Chinese business magazine said a state bank has provided $1 billion in loans to help companies with listings abroad move them to domestic exchanges.
The withdrawals follow accusations of improper accounting by some companies and a deadlock between Beijing and Washington over whether U.S. regulators can oversee their China-based auditors.
Some Chinese companies say they are pulling out of U.S. markets because a low share price fails to reflect the strength of their business. Withdrawing also eliminates the cost of complying with American financial reporting rules.
Focus Media "has been seriously undervalued on U.S. stock markets" and being taken private will help to promote its "long-term strategic development," said a company spokeswoman, Lu Jing.
The company, formed in 2003, operates electronic advertising displays in elevators, grocery stores and other locations.
"We haven’t considered whether to list the company on Chinese markets but that possibility has not been excluded," Lu said.
U.S.-traded Chinese companies faced scrutiny after auditors for several quit and others were accused of accounting irregularities. Concerns about company finances have caused share prices to tumble, costing investors several billion dollars.
"Probably all these companies have some questionable accounting, so they may prefer to move out of the U.S., not to come under too much scrutiny," said Marc Faber, managing director of Hong Kong fund management company Marc Faber Ltd.
A financial firm, Muddy Waters Research, accused Focus Media last year of overstating the number of its display panels and questioned acquisitions reported by the company. Focus Media denied the allegations and said independent auditors confirmed the size of its network.
This week, Muddy Waters founder Carson Block said in a statement: "The markets are far better off if a few deep pocketed investors own Focus Media instead of mutual funds and other public shareholders."
The group proposing to take the company private includes its chairman, Jason Nanchun Jiang, and private equity firms Carlyle Group, CITIC Capital Partners, CDH Investments and China Everbright Ltd.
The status of Chinese companies in the United States could be complicated by a dispute between U.S. and Chinese regulators over whether American inspectors will be allowed to examine the work of their China-based audit firms.
Washington wants auditors to hand over documentation on companies that are under investigation but Chinese authorities have barred the release of some information. If a settlement is not reached, the SEC could reject audits by China-based firms, forcing companies to find new auditors.
In May, Beijing took steps to tighten control of local affiliates of major accounting firms by issuing a requirement for Chinese citizens to head those offices.
Dozens of Chinese companies issued shares on Wall Street over the past decade, raising billions of dollars from investors who wanted a stake in the country’s booming economy.
Many were private companies that could not raise money on Chinese exchanges that were created to finance state industry or wanted the higher public profile.
Chinese regulators encouraged the move as a way for entrepreneurs to raise money and speed the development of China’s economy. But in recent years Beijing has encouraged private companies to issue shares in China to help develop its markets and give Chinese households better investment options.
Regulators have made it easier for private companies to join China’s two exchanges in Shanghai and the southern city of Shenzhen, though most listings still are for state enterprises. The Shenzhen exchange created a second board for small companies, imitating the U.S.-based Nasdaq market.
Major state companies such as oil giant PetroChina Ltd. and China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone company by subscribers, also have issued shares abroad. None has indicated it plans to withdraw from foreign stock exchanges.
The economics also are shifting in China’s favor.
U.S.-traded companies saw share prices plunge following the 2008 global crisis, while economic growth at home, even after a recent decline, is still forecast at about 8 percent this year. Rising Chinese incomes are creating a bigger pool of money for investment.
"Generally speaking, a company’s shares are sold at a higher premium in initial public offerings on Chinese stock markets than on U.S. markets," said Mao Sheng, a market strategist for Huaxi Securities in the western city of Chengdu.
Also, he said, "If the company’s business is mainly in China, it will be good for its brand promotion."
Another U.S.-traded company, Fushi Copperweld Inc., announced plans in June by its chairman, Li Fu, and a Hong Kong firm, Abax Global Capital, to take the maker of metallic conductors private.
Muddy Waters cited Fushi Copperweld in April as one of several companies it said dealt with an investment bank that helped enterprises seeking U.S. stock market listings to conceal problems and misrepresent financial information.
Fushi Copperweld denied Muddy Waters’ "vague and nonspecific" claims.
The company said its privatization will be financed with loans from the China Development Bank.
Created to support construction of highways and other public works in China, CDB plays a growing role in its corporate expansion abroad. The bank provides credit to buyers of Chinese telecoms gear and other big-ticket goods and has financed building projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
CDB has lent $1 billion "to help Chinese public companies leave the U.S. stock market to return to domestic markets," the business magazine Caixin said last month.
Employees who answered the phone at Fushi Copperweld said no one was available to comment.
Also in June, China TransInfo Technology Corp., a provider of traffic management technology, announced privatization plans to be financed by CDB’s Hong Kong branch. A company spokeswoman said she could not comment because the plan is not finalized.
In October, Harbin Pacific Electric Co. withdrew from Nasdaq in a share buyback financed by $400 million in loans from the CDB.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-c … 49722.html
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:42 am
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American • City officials pull the plug on vibrator giveaway, leaving t
City officials pull the plug on vibrator giveaway, leaving thousands dissatisfied
They must have rubbed Mayor Bloomberg the wrong way.
City officials pulled the plug on a vibrator giveaway by the Trojan condom company yesterday, disappointing potentially thousands of pleasure-seeking women who hoped to get their hands on some no-cost sex toys.
“I’m 57 years old. I should be able to get a vibrator!” declared Linda Postell, who was among hundreds of women (and men!) waiting in the heat on Pearl Street only to be left unsatisfied. “I have a problem with the smoking ban, and the soda ban — and now this!”
Trojan sent tingles of excitement across the city when it announced the giveaway of some 10,000 vibrating sex toys from hot-dog-style pushcarts.
New Yorkers line up for free vibrators on Pearl Street yesterday.
The promo was shut down, but not before Justina and Maria Santiago — mom and daughter — scored the sex toys.
Trojan began by handing out about 400 free vibrators without incident on Sixth Avenue in Rockefeller Center between 11 a.m. and noon.
The giveaways were scheduled to start at 4 p.m. in the Flatiron District and near the South Street Seaport.
As carts arrived at each location, nearly 300 women — and quite a number of guys — queued up.
But instead of climaxing in a successful giveaway, the promotion was prematurely interrupted by City Hall, which sent a dark-suited representative to put the squeeze on Trojan’s “Pleasure Carts.”
The spoilsport, who declined to identify himself, told Trojan’s reps at the Flatiron location that they had to shut down because of the size of the crowd that had gathered.
The event barely got started. The downtown event shut down about 40 minutes later, and Trojan managed to dole out just a couple of hundred battery-operated tinglers.
The decision to nix the giveaway clearly caused the mayor’s voter satisfaction ratings to plummet among the empty-handed thrill seekers.
“There’s a lot more important things the city should be worried about than a free-vibrator giveaway,” complained Park Slope bar owner Melody Henry, 42. “Bloomberg doesn’t want anyone to have fun. You can’t have a giant soda. You can’t have a vibrator.”
The Mayor’s Office insisted the vibrator switch-off was a permit issue, and not due to any prudishness.
“This activity promoting Trojan products, which impeded pedestrian and street traffic, did not have a permit,” City Hall said in a written statement. “The production company affiliated with the event is currently in discussions with the Mayor’s Office to hold a promotional event with proper permits at a later date.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manh … z234RwwyZX
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:24 am
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