http://harveyorgan.blogspot.com/2012/05/spanish-banking-needs-more.html
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen:
Gold closed at its highest point on Friday $1568.80 for a gain of $11.50. Silver also did pretty good
rising by 20 cents to $28.37. Friday was truly remarkable for our precious metals because they rose despite a 75 point drop in the Dow and a fall in the euro/usa dollar cross.
(The final dow figures: 12454 for a drop of 74.92 points.
The Euro/dollar cross closing: 1.25152)
Here is the closing gold and silver prices in the access market:
Gold; $1573.50
silver: $28.54
The big story of the day is Spain where we find the nationalized bank of Bankia asking for more money to fill the cracks due to its huge losses. On May 9th, the day the bank was nationalized, the government stated that they were solvent. In the following week, the needed 9 billion euros which was followed by 15 billion euros. Yesterday Spain announced that Bankia will need 19 billion euros. No doubt that all Spanish banks are in the same trouble as they have underestimated the losses in their real estate mess. Most Spanish banks have seen massive bank runs which thus increase target 2 imbalances. If Spain were to leave the EU, then the rest of the EU will have to share in those losses in which in turn will bring on more contagion like destruction as nations will have to deal with bonds purchased by the ECB of Spanish derivation.Yesterday the wealthiest regional state of Catalonia which houses Barcelona also stated that it was in serious trouble and in need of much funding. I will spend most of time on those paper stories with respect to Spain and its major creditor Germany.
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen:
Gold closed at its highest point on Friday $1568.80 for a gain of $11.50. Silver also did pretty good
rising by 20 cents to $28.37. Friday was truly remarkable for our precious metals because they rose despite a 75 point drop in the Dow and a fall in the euro/usa dollar cross.
(The final dow figures: 12454 for a drop of 74.92 points.
The Euro/dollar cross closing: 1.25152)
Here is the closing gold and silver prices in the access market:
Gold; $1573.50
silver: $28.54
The big story of the day is Spain where we find the nationalized bank of Bankia asking for more money to fill the cracks due to its huge losses. On May 9th, the day the bank was nationalized, the government stated that they were solvent. In the following week, the needed 9 billion euros which was followed by 15 billion euros. Yesterday Spain announced that Bankia will need 19 billion euros. No doubt that all Spanish banks are in the same trouble as they have underestimated the losses in their real estate mess. Most Spanish banks have seen massive bank runs which thus increase target 2 imbalances. If Spain were to leave the EU, then the rest of the EU will have to share in those losses in which in turn will bring on more contagion like destruction as nations will have to deal with bonds purchased by the ECB of Spanish derivation.Yesterday the wealthiest regional state of Catalonia which houses Barcelona also stated that it was in serious trouble and in need of much funding. I will spend most of time on those paper stories with respect to Spain and its major creditor Germany.
and Ted Butler calls out the CFTC as complicit in silver short manipulation ? When did he finally wake up.........
ILLEGALITIES
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May 25, 2012 - 4:22pm
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been negligent in failing to terminate the obvious manipulation ongoing in silver. Furthermore, the agency may be complicit in this manipulation. Worse, it has lied to the public and elected officials. This all goes back to the time when Bear Stearns was taken over by JPMorgan in March of 2008. It is well known that Bear Stearns went under as a result of a sudden loss of liquidity amidst a run by creditors and customers. What is not well known is that those problems were greatly exacerbated by a $2 billion margin call on silver and gold short positions from the end of December 2007 to March 2008. I believe the silver and gold margin calls were at the heart of Bear Stearns’ failure.
We know now (from CFTC correspondence to lawmakers in 2008) that JPMorgan took over Bear Stearns’ giant silver and gold short positions on the COMEX. Up until that time, we did not know that Bear Stearns was the concentrated silver and gold short. Using Commitment of Traders Report (COT) data, Bear Stearns had a COMEX silver short position of no less than 35,000 net contracts and a COMEX gold short position of no less than 60,000 net contracts from the end of December 2007 to their takeover by JPMorgan two and a half months later. From December 31, 2007 to mid-March 2008, the price of silver rose by $6 (from $15 to $21) and the price of gold rose from $850 to over $1000. Based upon the number of contracts held short by Bear Stearns and the price movement at that time, that resulted in margin calls of $2 billion. I would contend that was the real reason for Bear Stearns’ demise.
So where do I get off claiming that the CFTC is complicit in the silver manipulation and lied about it to the public and to lawmakers? This is easy to prove. On May 13, 2008, the CFTC published a 16 page public response to my allegations of an ongoing manipulation in silver by means of a concentrated short position. The response was based upon silver market activity through the end of 2007, thereby conveniently sidestepping the drama that occurred through March 2008 when the biggest silver short in the market, Bear Stearns, failed and needed to be rescued with taxpayer assistance (Federal guarantees given to JPMorgan). The May 13, 2008 report from the CFTC went into great lengths in explaining there was nothing amiss on the short side of silver, even though the Commission knew that two months before the report was issued, the biggest concentrated short had failed and needed to be rescued by taxpayers. A lie by omission is no less of a lie.
Why am I bringing this up now? Because I’ve had enough of the CFTC’s lies and its refusal to do its job. As a result of the transfer of Bear Stearns’ concentrated short position becoming visible in the August 2008 Bank Participation Report the Commission initiated another formal investigation of the silver market, this time by the Enforcement Division. This investigation is now 3 years and 9 months old, the longest-running investigation in U.S. Government history. It has lasted longer than most wars. Just as with the two prior investigations by the Division of Market Oversight, the current investigation is a phony investigation. I say this because there has been no attempt by the Enforcement Division to contact me or anyone claiming that silver has been manipulated. It’s clear that the agency does not want to get to the truth. The agency keeps initiating investigations which involve time and taxpayer money, but they never check with the person who has caused them to investigate in the first place.
Only two of the five commissioners currently serving at the agency were at the Commission when JPMorgan took over Bear Stearns or when the Enforcement Division began its current investigation. But all have received vastly more public complaints about silver than for any other commodity. None of them can claim ignorance of the issue. Chairman Gensler preaches about the need for transparency in our markets. How about some transparency for the Commission? The Commission lied in its May 13, 2008 report (by omission) and is lying now when it claims to be conscientiously investigating silver. See my article from 2009.
The stalled investigation has only served as cover for the crooks at JPMorgan and the CME to manipulate the price of silver more egregiously than ever before. I think it’s time to press for the removal of all current commissioners, including Gensler and Commissioner Chilton. Who wants to hear platitudes when a serious crime is in progress? Clearly, the Division of Market Oversight lied in its 2008 letter and the Enforcement Division is lying now. Who needs public servants like these?
Please send this article to your Congressman or Senator and ask them to investigate. Also please e-mail the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with your comments.
ggensler@cftc.gov Chairman Gensler
bchilton@cftc.gov Commissioner Chilton
jsommers@cftc.gov Commissioner Sommers
Somalia@cftc.gov Commissioner O’Malia
mwetjen@cftc.gov Commissioner Wetjen
dmeister@cftc.gov Director Meister
and.....
And finally this great piece of gold demand from a story I delivered to you on Thursday. Jeff
Nichols comments on the latest IMF gold purchases by Mexico, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia and the Philippines:
(courtesy Jeff Nichols)
"The lastest IMF data on central bank gold reserves was just released earlier today -- showing gold purchases by Mexico, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, and the Philippines. Undoubtedly, China and perhaps a few other countries bought gold but did not report their purchases to the IMF." This reiterates the widespread belief that some countries - of which China is thought to be the major entity - for political reasons do not report their total holdings to the IMF, but hold new gold purchases in accounts that are not reported until it is considered politically expedient to do so. Last time China reported an increase in reserves was in 2009.
Since then there has been much speculation that China could be building up its reserves at a rate of four or five hundred tonnes a year or more given the level of domestic gold production and the big surge in imports seen. Although China is the world's sixth largest holder of gold, the metal only represents a tiny 1.8% of its reserves and there have been a number of presumably government approved (is there anything else in China?) statements by officials that do suggest the nation is carefully buying on dips in the gold price so as not to create disruption in a relatively orderly global gold market.
Overall reported Central Bank gold purchases last year amounted to over 450 tonnes - the highest for nearly 50 years and The World Gold Council and GFMS have suggested that this year will see another 400 tonnes or more flowing into Central Bank coffers - and the purchases to date suggest that this target may well be achieved. Gold may have fallen out of Central Bank favour for a few decades but the realisation now is increasingly that it should be a significant part of a country's foreign reserve base as fiat currencies the world over lose their intrinsic value.
Nichols comments on the latest IMF gold purchases by Mexico, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia and the Philippines:
(courtesy Jeff Nichols)
"The lastest IMF data on central bank gold reserves was just released earlier today -- showing gold purchases by Mexico, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, and the Philippines. Undoubtedly, China and perhaps a few other countries bought gold but did not report their purchases to the IMF." This reiterates the widespread belief that some countries - of which China is thought to be the major entity - for political reasons do not report their total holdings to the IMF, but hold new gold purchases in accounts that are not reported until it is considered politically expedient to do so. Last time China reported an increase in reserves was in 2009.
Since then there has been much speculation that China could be building up its reserves at a rate of four or five hundred tonnes a year or more given the level of domestic gold production and the big surge in imports seen. Although China is the world's sixth largest holder of gold, the metal only represents a tiny 1.8% of its reserves and there have been a number of presumably government approved (is there anything else in China?) statements by officials that do suggest the nation is carefully buying on dips in the gold price so as not to create disruption in a relatively orderly global gold market.
Overall reported Central Bank gold purchases last year amounted to over 450 tonnes - the highest for nearly 50 years and The World Gold Council and GFMS have suggested that this year will see another 400 tonnes or more flowing into Central Bank coffers - and the purchases to date suggest that this target may well be achieved. Gold may have fallen out of Central Bank favour for a few decades but the realisation now is increasingly that it should be a significant part of a country's foreign reserve base as fiat currencies the world over lose their intrinsic value.
and.....
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The retiree is the endangered species in the Western financial world.
All your benefits are going to start to disappear. A society that mistreats its elderly has no valid reason to continue to exist.
Feds eye retirement-fund tax to cut $16 trillion-plus deficit By GREGORY BRESIGER
Last Updated: 8:25 AM, April 22, 2012
Last Updated: 8:25 AM, April 22, 2012
Uncle Sam, in a desperate attempt to fix its $16 trillion-plus deficit, is leering over Americans’ retirement nest egg as its new bailout fund.
Capitol Hill politicians are assessing tax changes that could let the Internal Revenue Service lay claim to a portion of the $18 trillion sitting in 401(k) accounts and other tax breaks used by middle-class workers, including cutting the mortgage tax deduction.
A commission looking for ways to close the deficit, and, noting the extent of 401(k) tax breaks, recommends an examination of the system as one way to prevent government bankruptcy.
Besides 401(k)s, other possibilities include the mortgage-interest deduction on second homes, as well as benefits from employer-provided health insurance, which are untaxed now.
Under current 401(k) rules, total employee/employer contributions can’t exceed $50,000. In the proposed rule change, employer/employee contributions would be limited to 20 percent of the employee’s compensation, with a maximum of $20,000, the so-called 20/20 proposal.
Another proposal being discussed in Congress says all tax deductions on 401(k)s and IRAs to be replaced with an 18 percent credit. The credit, according to a proposal that has been endorsed by economist William Gale, would be placed directly in a person’s retirement account.
“Unlike the current system,” Gale told Congress, “workers’ and firms’ contributions to employer-based 401(k) accounts would no longer be excluded from income and would be subject to taxation, contributions to IRAs would no longer be tax-deductible and any contributions to a 401(k) plan would be treated as taxable income.”
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