Category Archives: Gold

Economics, Gold, Silver, The Mint

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part V – Final Catastrophe and Hope for the Future

10/21/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

As the western world braces for a full scale currency collapse, we have endeavored here at The Mint to offer an explanation as to why these events are taking place and, along the way, offering the obvious solution to the chief problem, mistaking credit for money.  

For those of you who have missed Part I, Part II, Part II, and/or Part IV, you may read them by clicking on the following links:

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part I

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part II – Irony

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part III – Money or Credit?

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part IV – The Catastrophe at Hand

If you require only a brief summary, Part IV above offers a relatively brief and comprehensive summary of the previous three.  Now where were we…

Ah yes, in the United States, circa 1968, a time not so unlike our own.  The Vietnam war was becoming increasingly unpopular and the social climate was ripe for protest.  The US had run up a large and increasing trade deficit with the rest of the world.  It was becoming clear that if foreign dollar holders were to redeem a significant amount of their Federal Reserve Notes, which we now understand to be banknotes and not money proper, for gold, which we now understand to be money proper, the Federal Reserve would not be able to deliver enough gold.

The solution, if it can be called that, was to gradually increase the amount of Federal Reserve Notes required to obtain an ounce of gold from $35 to $41 between 1968 and 1971.  Then, in 1971, with the US dollar collapsing in value and the Bretton Woods system falling apart at the seams, then President of the United States Richard Nixon announced that US dollars were no longer convertible into gold.  The event is now referred to as the Nixon Shock.

And a shock it was.  The US dollar, the benchmark of Central Bank currencies throughout the world, was now officially backed only by the faith that it would continue to be accepted in trade.  The Federal Reserve had defaulted.

Most of the world still lives by this faith today, and if anything, the delusion that a banknote issued by a Central Bank which has defaulted on its obligation to deliver real money on demand has only grown.

The reason that the large scale catastrophe of modern Central Banking lies before us is that over the last 40 years, the lack of gold and silver to back the banknotes in circulation has been replaced by the expectation that governments, and by extension their subjects (citizens), will produce enough goods and perform enough services to repay the obligations represented by the banknotes. As the unrestricted quantity of banknotes and obligations to deliver banknotes in existence will always tend to exceed the stock of available goods and services, these obligations are impossible to satisfy.

Human beings are fallible.  It is normal and should be expected that they will not be able to deliver on certain obligations.  The natural beauty of banknotes redeemable in gold and silver was that, if it was suspected or observed that a person or entity would be unable to pay their obligations, the creditor would move to seize the gold, silver, or other assets that the debtor had pledged as collateral.

The seizure of collateral or the threat of seizure was often enough to correct the failed human action or decisions that were leading to the net loss of wealth incurred by the activity which was undertaken.  In economic parlance, we would call this the correction of the malinvestment of resources.

Without gold and silver to act as a natural limitation on the supply of banknotes and other forms of credit, the bad decisions that lead to the malinvestment and the activities that lead to the destruction of wealth and resources can continue for a very long time.

The use of gold and silver as money had another, more important function that is often overlooked.  Gold and silver are inert, non-consumable objects.  Their hoarding and use as money will not generally cause starvation or want.  In fact, the hoarding of gold and silver as money would have the effect of lowering general prices as productivity increased, naturally creating an incentive to decrease production which in turn would raise prices, making the expenditure of more silver and gold necessary and in turn raise prices, creating a natural  incentive to produce.

Gold and silver allow the economy to naturally regulate itself and, by virtue of the difficulty in extracting them, cause the rest of the earth’s resources to be used in harmony with each other.

Finally, gold and silver are inanimate objects.  Their recognition and possible seizure as collateral does not threaten the liberty or life of a person.  However, because modern central banking has replaced money proper and placed credit in its place, it will become increasingly common to entire societies held as security for a debt that many of them had no direct hand in creating. This is the logical end of using credit as money.

It is the truth that will bring tragedy to the earth.

Without the natural counterbalance to trade and growth which gold and silver money had provided for over 9,000 years, man’s activities, whether productive or destructive, have continued nearly unchecked for the past 40 years.  It is staggering to think of the catastrophe that awaits if man is truly on the path to destruction.

Man, by nature, is always on the path of destruction, but the use of gold and silver as money served to correct him before he strayed too far down it.

Most people alive today have been trained to believe that using Gold and Silver as money is an unnecessary and environmentally harmful process.  Even Adam Smith believed that if the effort expended to mine metals to create money could be directed to other, more useful activities, that humanity would be better off.

What Smith did not realize was that man would not always direct its energies to useful activities.  Like modern Socialists, he underestimated the power of self interest inherent in all human action.  Today we are preparing to reap the consequences of 40 years of unrestricted and more often misguided human actions.

While it may be too late to avoid the catastrophe that Modern Central Banking may bring upon us, it is comforting to know that a return to the understanding and use of gold and silver as money offers hope for a future of truly infinite possibilities.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at www.davidmint.com

Key Indicators for October 21, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.23
Oil Price per Barrel:  $87.40

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.49
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.20%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,642 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,809  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,056,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,570,500,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

Economics, Gold, Silver, The Mint

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part IV – The Catastrophe at Hand

10/20/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

For those of you who have missed Part I, Part II, and/or Part III, you may read them by clicking on the following links:

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part I

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part II – Irony

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part III – Money or Credit?

Again, for those of you who are too lazy to click the links, here we offer a brief summary to get you up to speed:

 

Central Banking is the physical expression of Man’s need to safeguard his wealth and to increase trade.  A Central Bank’s usefulness and scope were greatly increased when dual entry accounting could be employed to manage a Central Bank’s accounts.

 

The Central Bank’s role as a storehouse of wealth has generally attracted the attention of the Government, which is the physical expression of Man’s need to protect his life.  The Government, in this capacity, does not generate wealth and must maintain itself either by taxing its subjects or borrowing funds.

 

The Central Bank, as the repository of wealth and facilitator of trade, by default creates a majority of the banknotes which circulate in a society.  As such, the Central Bank becomes the natural creditor of the Government.  Whether it lends funds directly to the Government or indirectly, the result is the same.  That result is that the use of its subject’s wealth by the Government is greatly facilitated by the existence of a Central Bank.

 

Having established the fact that some form of both a Government and a Central Bank will naturally, in some form, come into existence and become increasingly interdependent, the only question is one of the size and scope of such entities.

 

Today, that the scale of modern Central Banking is excessive and that the potential for catastrophe is unprecedented.

 

The reason for the unprecedented scope of Central Banking is that money, as it is widely understood today, does not really exist.  Rather, banknotes issued by Central Banks, which are by definition credit instruments, are misunderstood to be money proper by a majority of the people in the developed and semi-developed world.

 

This misunderstanding flies in the face of 9,000 years of human history, in which Gold and Silver in bar and coin form have been tacitly used as money proper.  It is this misunderstanding which has set the stage for the greatest catastrophe in history to occur.

Federal Reserve Notes Begin toReplace Gold and Silver as the concept of Money for a Generation
 

The misunderstanding of money and credit began, like many experiments, in Northern Europe with the establishment of the Bank of Amsterdam.  Established in 1609, the Bank of Amsterdam is widely recognized as at least a precursor to modern central banks.  For over 400 years since it was established, the use of banknotes issued by a Central Bank which are not directly convertible to coin has slowly but steadily increased.

 

Modern Central banks issuing banknotes were subsequently formed in Europe, England, and Japan.  As these Central banks and their successors began to slowly absorb the true money supply and issue banknotes in their place, man began to slowly transfer the concept of money proper from Gold and Silver and attribute the qualities of money to the banknotes issued by the Central Bank.

 

This process of wealth absorption greatly accelerated in 1913 when the United States of America granted a 100 year charter to its third Central Bank, the Federal Reserve.  The FED, as it is commonly known, was to act primarily as a reserve and to create “money” (read banknotes) as necessary.  At the advent of World War I, the FED stepped in and issued bonds to finance the war and after the war the FED was granted exclusive control of the money supply in the United States.

 

In 1933, in the midst of what was to be the great depression in the US, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 which required citizens to deliver all but a small amount of gold coin and bullion held by them to the FED in exchange for $20.67 worth of Federal Reserve notes (the banknotes issued by the FED) per ounce.

 

Naturally, most citizens with large quantities of gold at the time had it transferred to Switzerland.

 

Then, by decree, the Government raised the price of redeeming gold from the FED to $35 per ounce.  Redemption could only be made by Foreign parties as, naturally, it was now illegal for US Citizens to own gold.

 

Federal Reserve notes were now the only form of “money” that an entire generation of Americans were likely to handle.  However, foreigners could still redeem the Federal Reserve notes for gold, though they rarely did, at $35 per ounce.

 

After World War II, the US emerged as the most powerful nation on earth.  It was only natural that the western governments would peg their currencies at a fixed exchange rate to the US dollar (Federal Reserve Note) which was redeemable in gold at $35 per ounce.  This is commonly known as the Bretton Woods system.

 

The system held together for around 20 years, accepting that $35 US Dollars were as good as gold until 1968, when things began to get dangerous…

 

Stay tuned and  Trust Jesus.

 

Stay Fresh!

 

David Mint
 

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for October 20, 2011

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,622 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,056,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,570,500,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!
Economics, Gold, Silver, The Mint

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part III – Money or Credit?

10/19/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

For those of you who have missed Part I and/or Part II, you may read them by clicking on the following links:

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part I

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part II – Irony

For those of you who are too lazy to click the links, we do not blame you.  Below we offer a brief summary to get you up to speed:

Central Banking is the physical expression of Man’s need to safeguard his wealth and to increase trade.  A Central Bank’s usefulness and scope were greatly increased when dual entry accounting could be employed to manage a Central Bank’s accounts.

The Central Bank’s role as a storehouse of wealth has generally attracted the attention of the Government, which is the physical expression of Man’s need to protect his life.  The Government, in this capacity, does not generate wealth and must maintain itself either by taxing its subjects or borrowing funds.

The Central Bank, as the repository of wealth and facilitator of trade, by default creates a majority of the banknotes which circulate in a society.  As such, the Central Bank becomes the natural creditor of the Government.  Whether it lends funds directly to the Government or indirectly, the result is the same.  That result is that the use of its subject’s wealth by the Government is greatly facilitated by the existence of a Central Bank.

Having established the fact that some form of both a Government and a Central Bank will come into existence and become increasingly interdependent, the only question is one of the size and scope of such entities.

Central Banking, like alcohol and socialism, may be a good idea when used in moderation.  However, each one of these also represents a catastrophe waiting to happen.  For if the circumstances under which they are created or used take an unfavorable turn, the wealth and lives of many may be lost in a very short period of time.

How, when, and most importantly why will this catastrophe take place?  As mere mortals, we can only answer the why and speculate as to the how and when.

Why, then, will the current system of Central Banking come to an end which will cause wealth destruction on a scale which will make the weapons of war seem like child’s play in comparison?

The answer, fellow taxpayer, is that money as it is widely understood today does not really exist.

You read correctly.  What a majority of the developed and semi-developed world uses as a store of wealth, unit of account, and medium of exchange, is a figment of the collective imagination.

Allow us to explain.  It is generally understood today that the value of money is not necessarily in money proper, rather the value of money is found in the ability of the bearer to exchange said money for goods and services.  What is often overlooked in this observation is that, for money to be exchanged for something of value between willing participants of a transaction, what is used as money in the transaction must be universally perceived to have value that is easily transferable between parties.

Following this logic, what society uses as money is, by definition, simply another good which is widely recognizable as useful in exchange and therefore carries a price premium (we will call it the monetary  premium) of a certain amount usually far above what some economists would incorrectly* call the good’s “intrinsic” value.

* We say incorrectly because value judgments, while often influenced by what are known as “market” or “intrinsic” values, are by definition made by the individuals who willingly enter into a transaction, not disinterested observers.  It is for this reason that it is more accurate to appraise value by observing price points of transactions on “the margin” (i.e. transactions that are actually taking place) as opposed to appraising value based on past transactions or transactions imagined to take place in the future.  Many are the hypothetical gains and losses of those who refuse to enter into transactions because they are waiting for and offer at “market prices” or the “intrinsic value” of an item.

Regardless of the monetary premium that a good may carry, whatever is used as money, by definition, must be a tangible good.  Otherwise, we are dealing with credit, which is a promise to pay in money at a future date. Credit may be given in exchange in the place of money and is often traded at a discount to money delivered immediately. 

The distinction between money and credit is common knowledge to but it is important to make a clear distinction in order to properly understand what happens next.

 

Examples of Money Proper - Courtesy of Mark Herpel - www.dgcmagazine.com

 

In roughly 9.000 years of human history, it has been tacitly agreed upon that silver and gold, usually in coin or bar form, are the highest and most widely recognized goods used as money and that the accumulation of silver and gold represent wealth. 

As you recall, the concept of a Central Banking arose in response to the need for man to protect his wealth.  You will further recall that in order to both protect wealth and facilitate trade, a Central Bank creates banknotes which represent a claim on the wealth being protected by the Central Bank. 

These banknotes which the Central Bank creates are, by definition, credit and not money.  They are generally the highest, least discounted, form of credit which is traded, but this does not change the fact that the banknotes are credit and thus carry an implied risk of default.  This risk of default places the ultimate limit on the circulation and acceptance of the banknotes in trade.

From time to time, when a Central Bank’s ability to protect the wealth entrusted to it came into question, banknotes would be presented to the Central Bank to be redeemed for the amount of silver and gold which they represented.  If the Central Bank could not produce the amount of silver and gold that was being redeemed, the Central Bank was considered to be in default and, as word of the default spread, the banknotes in circulation would trade at an ever increasing discount to real goods.

This logic further supports the fact that banknotes are credit, subject to default risk, and not money proper.

Can you now smell the impending catastrophe?  Or, to put the question more directly:

What’s in your wallet?  More tomorrow,

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for October 19, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.25
Oil Price per Barrel:  $86.11

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.38  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.16%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,671 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.3%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,505  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,201,800,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,554,000,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

Gold, Uncategorized

Watch “BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth: “The Collapse Is Coming…And Goldman Rules The World”” on YouTube

This interview on BBC is making the rounds.  A candid interview if I ever saw one. Protect your assets.  Be prepared!

Economics, Gold, Silver, The Mint

Reports of the FED as “Only” Lender of US Dollars, The Definition of a System Collapse

9/28/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

We have taken a small breather here at The Mint.  What has occurred in the past week simply boggles the mind.  Precious metals have taken a beating and it is our guess that they will continue through tomorrow.  The most interesting reasoning for the drop in Gold and Silver that we have heard is that there will be an announcement on October 4th limiting short positions on the COMEX.

Guess who has a huge short position in silver that needs to be covered this week?  JP Morgan, to the tune of 121 million ounces.  We can only guess at the machinations but needless to say, it would be very convenient for them to be able to cover their positions at a discount.  Hence the increase in margin requirements at the COMEX last Friday which has shaken out the weak long positions this week.

Across the board in commodities, current prices reflect a rush to cash, not changing fundamentals.

Some interesting reading on the current, sorry state of employment in the US from US News:

15 Stunning Statistics About the Job Market

It is much worse than most imagine.

Other than that, chaos is reigning as the dollar funding markets for banks in Europe are apparently non-existent.  As September 30, 2011 approaches, banks are holding on to cash in the absence of clear direction from the Eurozone as to how they intend to bail out their large institutions.

In the meantime, the FED has apparently opened up swap lines (read printing presses) to provide dollars to these banks.  According to a report that we saw from Bloomberg, the FED has gone from its role as the lender of last resort to a role as the lender of ONLY resort.

We take this to mean that nobody is willing to lend US Dollars at any price to the largest banking institutions in the world.

Does this indicate that, at long last, the US Dollar system has technically collapsed?

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for September 28, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.21
Oil Price per Barrel:  $79.95

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.30  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.00%
FED Target Rate:  0.08%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,610 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.4%!!!   UP UP UP!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,011  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,010,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,541,800,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

Gold

Gold still crushing Equities

Fear is overwhelming optimism. Gold is crushing equities which only look good relative to a collapsing dollar. Check out the chart courtesy of The Money Game…

image

 

 

Climate Change, Economics, Events, Gold, Jesus, Silver, The Mint

We’d like our gold now, Chavez Calling JP Morgan’s bluff? Bank Stocks Tanking, as Palestine flares up on cue

8/18/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

It is 66 degrees on a mid-August afternoon in Portland.  As a banker friend of ours put it, “we hope you are enjoying the mild winter.”  The truth is, were it not August, we would be quite enjoying the weather.  Unfortunately people have certain expectations about the weather, hence the widespread belief that man can control and reverse trends like global warming or cooling.  August in the Northern Hemisphere should be hot.

But its not.

If people are upset at the weather, then they must be seething at what is occurring in the financial markets.  The relative calm in the financial markets has vanished like free beer at a NASCAR event.  A 400+ drop in the Dow today and an even more significant drop in the price of oil and financial stocks, coupled with a rise in gold, silver, and Treasury Bills? (yes, you read it right) on the surface are evidence of a classic “flight to safety.”

But what is going on?  Why such a massive flight to safety on what would otherwise be a calm August day, so fit for reflection and the pondering of life as one knows it?  We don’t know exactly why all of this occurred today but suffice it to say, none of it should come as a surprise.

For instance, it should come as no surprise that banks are completely broke and at this point, worse than worthless, as they are destroying real wealth.  The modern bank is built on the assumption that the currency regime and the demand for debt denominated in that currency will increase infinitely.  Demand for debt in US Dollars began to wane about four years ago and as far as we can tell is not coming back anytime soon, at least not in the quantities (nor at the margins) necessary for the modern megabanks to exist on their current scale.

Hence, the banks are toast.  Short them if you can after the next round of short covering passes.

The FED unwittingly made matters worse for the banks a couple of weeks ago when they announced that short rates would be near 0% for at least two years.  The FED has given up, and they have done it in the worst possible way.  Rather than standing ready to bail water out of the waterlogged currency ship, they have turned the spigot on full blast and walked away.

The FED will probably not be around in two years.

In yet another twisted irony that is a by-product of the current insane “debt is money” currency system, these low short rates, which in theory should be a boon to banks, will drown the banks with large deposits that they cannot lend except at razor thin margins to sub-prime borrowers such as the US Government.

Yes, society’s aversion to debt has fundamentally changed the banking business from one which primarily benefits from usury to one that must redefine itself as a trusted custodian of assets.  This change seems to be happening overnight, and the banks are completely unprepared.

Case in point, it appears that Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s democratically elected dictator has been moved to repatriate his country’s roughly 211 tons of gold held by foreign banks.  He has already issued a demand to the Bank of England and rumor has it He will soon issue a demand to JP Morgan, which reportedly holds 10.6 tons of Venezuela’s gold.

Show Me The People's Money!

The problem is, JP Morgan only has 10.6 tons of gold in custody on liabilities of roughly 100 times that amount.  This would not be a huge problem except for the fact that thanks to the internet the entire world now knows this.  Leave it to Chavez to strike at the heart of US imperialism.  Things should begin to get interesting.

JP Morgan’s short position in physical Silver is even more frightening.   If JP Morgan’s skills as a custodian is any indication, it appears that the modern banks are unable to provide this service.  Protect your assets accordingly.

And speaking of frightening, almost as if on cue, violence in Palestine began to escalate again after attacks on Israeli civilians, the deadliest in two years, led Israel to retaliate by launching an airstrike against Gaza earlier today.

Our instinct tells us that a major event is unfolding in Palestine ahead of the UN’s statehood vote and it just may coincide with the collapse of the Western Currencies.

Coincidence?  Most certainly.  And a very sad coincidence indeed.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for August 18, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.95
Oil Price per Barrel:  $81.83

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.99  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.08%
FED Target Rate:  0.09%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,825 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.5%!!!   UP 0.7% IN ONE MONTH, 8.4% ANNUALLY AT THIS PACE!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  10,991  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,033,000,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,478,200,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

Gold, Silver

Watch “Silver Shortage This Decade, Silver Will Be Worth More Than Gold” on YouTube

The compelling case for silver, beyond words:

Economics, Gold, The Mint, The Mint en Español

The Mint en Español 11 de agosto, 2011 versión en audio

Climate Change, Economics, Gold, The Mint

New Bans on Short selling in Europe, Margin Requirements for Gold, Money’s role in Climate Change

8/11/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

Fresh injections of electronically printed cash from the US and Euro FEDs appear to have tranquilized a market in free fall.  That, along with a ban on short selling in Europe seems to be sufficient to continue the illusion that the financial system is operating normally.

Elsewhere, we see that margin requirement for Gold contracts were increased by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in an attempt to arrest Gold’s parabolic rise over the past several days.  This must have been what Obama and Bernanke talked about last night at the White House.  They probably made a few revisions to the jobs numbers that were printed today while they were at it.

The ban of short selling in Europe is eerily similar to the ban placed on short selling large bank stocks in the US not so long ago.  The increase in the Gold margin requirement is eerily similar to the increase in Silver margin requirements by the CME last spring.

What is going on?  Nothing good, fellow taxpayers.  A tip, if you see the Government actively trying to stop something, it is good idea to be on the other side of the government’s trade.  In this case, sell European bank shares and buy gold.  Think of it as an indirect governmental subsidy to little old you.

The markets are desperately trying to correct nearly 40 years of errors that have been created since the US Dollar was officially de-pegged from gold.  The FED’s, who see currency that can be created on a whim without the inconvenience of having to either mine it from the earth or earn it in honest, fair trade as extremely convenient , are desperately trying to fight the correction. 

If the numbers just look normal, they think, people will continue to pacifically labor under the illusion that the Government has everything under control.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

It occurred to us that we may need to clarify what the money problem is and why it, and not fossil fuels, are the cause of economic imbalance and may lead to what is popularly referred to as climate change.

Many deride the use of gold and silver as money because it must be mined from the ground, refined, minted, carried around, kept secure, etc.  It is inconvenient.  They see money created out of thin air as a simple net gain to society.

 Presto, you have, with a stroke of the pen, saved the miners from years of hard labor underground.  You have saved who knows how many trees, fossil fuels, and other elements required for the refining process.  And you have saved Jack and Jill consumer and shopkeeper from the inconvenience of carting around loads of heavy coins.

So what is the matter with instant money?  The problem, if you have not identified it, is precisely in the fact that it is easy to create.  When you remove the effort required to create money for trade, you free that effort to be spent in a lot of other ways.  That is great, except for the fact that no one considers that instant money would give people the time to scorch the earth in a thousand other ways which are much more harmful than mining.

By making money “free”, you throw the economy completely out of balance and perpetuate bad decisions for a much longer time than if the wrong speculations were limited by the need to back them with real money, acquired by difficult toil both under and above the earth.

The problem with “free” money is that it has no value, and it serves to devalue the production and lives of all who are forced to circulate it.  The longer it circulates, the more damage it does.

Worst of all, it concentrates power in the hands of those who create it out of thin air and enjoy it first.

The world has gone 40 years down this insane path.  How much more can it take?

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for August 11, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $4.03
Oil Price per Barrel:  $85.42

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.02  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.34%
FED Target Rate:  0.10%  TIGHTENING?  NOT!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,768 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  -0.2%!!!  PULL OUT THE HELICOPTERS!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,143  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,140,300,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,404,000,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

Climate Change, Economics, Gold, The Mint

Global Banking Collapse, Global Cooling, Opinions on Climate Change

8/10/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

Gold hit $1,800 today.  That should tell you all you need to know about what is happening.

We are trying not to look at the markets today.  It gives us the morbid feeling that one gets as they are about to witness a train wreck or other catastrophe.  Our curiosity begs us to look but our morality forbids it.

What we are hesitant to watch as it gets underway is some form of global banking collapse.  From CNBC:

“Rochdale banking analyst Richard Bove said there is little chance of a French bank default.

“If a bank in Europe went under, it would cause huge counterparty risk. It wouldn’t be that bad for 99 percent of the banks in the country. It would be bad for the biggest banks…Why are all the banks falling in price? The deeper issue is what the Federal Reserve did yesterday,” said Bove.

The Fed, in an unusual move Tuesday, revealed that its “extended period” to hold rates at zero runs until the middle of 2013. The Fed also downgraded its view of the economy to a picture of slow growth.

“The Federal Reserve told me, number one, that the economy is weakening and my loan losses just went up,” Bove said. “The ability to make new loans is hampered by the weaker economy, and on top of that, the Federal Reserve said they were going to keep margins on my product down,” he said, explaining banks need higher rates to make profits on lending and deposits.”

As we alluded to yesterday, the Federal Reserve essentially ended its storied career yesterday.  In an all out attempt to goose the markets it spent its last bit of credibility.  It is currently being carted off the field to cheer its losing team from the sidelines.  It may come back, but, like Brett Farve, it may find its former glory elusive.

With the FED injured and out of the game, the world’s largest banks are readying to show the world that there really is no entity on the planet which is “too big to fail,” starting with themselves.  There is no doubt that the ECB will pull out all the stops to save the large French banks, as Mr. Bove suggests above.

They will be carted off behind the FED.  But enough of the markets, it is just too ugly to gaze upon.

Let’s talk about the weather!

It is an unusually cold “summer” day here in Portland.  We loosely use the term summer because it now seems that summer has taken its own vacation and left the inhabitants of the Northwest with a straight shot from Spring to Fall.  Not so bad, provided we get the best of both seasons.

Still, the lack of sunshine at this time of year seems to be taking its toll on people.  When the sun comes out here, you suddenly become aware that the city has about triple the number of inhabitants than you once thought.  People literally hibernate here and when the sun brings them out it can be startling if you are not expecting it.

Logic would follow that, with the recent weather data taking a turn for the cooler, the global warming crowd would declare victory and let the planet move on to bigger and better things.   Now that the myth of global warming is apparently being disproved by nature herself, scientists are clinging onto the term “climate change” to justify the right to determine who needs how much energy.  The right to energy in recent times was determined by wars so perhaps this is an improvement. 

Many will quickly note that we have certain facts wrong about global warming/climate change and will want to correct us in our error.  To them we say, please do not waste your time.  We do not pretend to be an expert at anything here at The Mint, we are merely opinionated.  The most normal thing is for us to be wrong, it helps keep us humble.

Flooding on the Missouri River at Omaha, Nebraska - July 2011

That said, we base our “the globe is now cooling” opinion on two anecdotes that we heard while in Nebraska recently.  First, Lake McConaughy, which just five years ago was nearly bone dry is now full to overflowing.  The “experts” said that it would take 50 years to reach normal levels.

Second, we spoke with a guy from northern Wyoming who said they are seeing new GLACIATION taking place right before their eyes.  In a valley where last season there was merely a stream coming down from the mountains now stands a new glacier over 50 feet high.  Not just snowpack, a glacier.  He could not recall this ever happening there before.  Let alone so quickly.

Then there are the bears.  Rumor has it that they are moving to lower altitudes in the Northwestern US because snowpack in the mountains is not receding as it normally did and this is driving the bears closer to populated areas in search of a feast to fill their bellies for the winter.

More Flooding near airport on the Missouri River at Omaha, Nebraska - July 2011

And finally, everyone is aware of the flooding taking place along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers this season.

To us, here in the Northern Hemisphere, it appears that the globe is now cooling at an alarming rate.  Is the solution now to burn more fossil fuels?

Our point is that the weather is something that no man, no matter how many terms he has spent in Congress, can control.  Those who believe that mankind can somehow master the weather (the logical implication and end of most policies invoked in the name of stopping “climate change”) are innocently deluded at best and in the worst case may be power hungry control freaks.

As for allowing Wall Street first dibs at selling us the air we breathe (cleverly disguised as “carbon credits”), any thinking person should quickly identify this notion as just plain insanity.

On the other hand, we have great respect for people who are deeply committed to taking care of the environment.  We wish them well and whole heartedly support their dream of bringing peace to the earth and balance to what occurs on it.

Our disagreement with most mainstream climate policy is a question of methods.  While most see a problem with what mankind currently uses to create energy, we see as a problem with what mankind has chosen to use as money.

Once the monetary system is fixed (which may be occurring shortly), we suspect that the earth will be cleaner and greener than even the most ambitious environmentalist has ever imagined.

Best of all, the change will be a product of mankind’s collective free will, not of the hollow decrees of a governmental edict.

Imagine.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for August 10, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $3.91
Oil Price per Barrel:  $82.89

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.78  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.13%
FED Target Rate:  0.10%  TIGHTENING?  NOT!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,795 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  -0.2%!!!  PULL OUT THE HELICOPTERS!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  10,719  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,012,200,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,226,100,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!

72 Hour Call, Gold

72 Hour Call for June 13, 2011

Today’s Call:  Price of Gold to fall.  Currently $1,534.80.

Rationale:  Nearly all asset classes are going to begin to cave in to a perceived deflationary spiral that is taking hold as inflation in food and energy costs begins to take its toll.  This will temporarily bring Gold and other precious metals down with it.  Government likely to announce new stimulus plans in the near future.

Result of Call for June 8, 2011:  Yield on 10yr US Treasury bond to fall (price to rise).  Was 2.962%, Currently 2.991%.  Bad Call. 

Calls to Date:  Good Calls: 28, Bad Calls: 20, Batting .583

Key Indicators for Monday, June 13, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $4.03
Oil Price per Barrel:  $97.00

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.82
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.99%
FED Target Rate:  0.09%  FED STILL IN DESPERATION MODE

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,534

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.25%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.4%
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,953
M1 Monetary Base:  $2,022,700,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,005,800,000,000 STARTING TO DRY UP?  NOT!

 *See FED Perceived Economic Effect Rate Chart at bottom of blog.  This rate is the FED Target rate with a 39 month lag, representing the time it takes for the FED Target rate changes to affect the real economy.  This is a 39 months head start that the FED member banks have on the rest of us on using the new money that is created.

72 Hour Call, Gold

72 Hour Call for May 25, 2011

Today’s Call:  Euro to fall vs. USD.  Currently $1.4076:1€

Rationale – Speculation of Greece exiting Euro, which in the long run should strengthen the Euro, to initially cause concern about durability of currency union.  Euro holders to buy dollars until storm settles.

Result of Call for May 20, 2011:  Gold to Rise.  Was $1,514.70, Currently $1,525.90.  Good Call

Calls to Date:  Good Calls: 22, Bad Calls: 14, Batting .611

72 Hour Call, Gold

72 Hour Call for May 20, 2011

Today’s Call: Gold to Rise.  Currently $1,514.70.

Rationale – Issuance of Google Bonds simply to lock in low yields seen as sign that inflation will pick up, indirectly lifting gold.

Result of Call for May 17, 2011: July Corn to Rise. Was $7.20 per bushel. Currently $7.58. Good Call

Calls to Date: Good Calls: 20, Bad Calls: 13, Batting .606

Gold

Gaddafi a victim of the currency regime? Will Iran or China be next?