“The physical gold market is actually being drained by euro gold buyers. People are converting their euros to gold and there is only a finite amount of physical gold available.” The “London Trader” made this assertion to King World News on January 17, 2012.

He also expressed concern over the amount of “paper gold” being created: “Yes, you will still see games being played and yes you can create paper gold out of thin air. But there comes a point where each time you do that the physical buyers are taking it and it has a lagging effect that will catch up, and eventually it gets reflected in the price.”

What is “paper gold”?

As might be inferred, it amounts to a trick.

“The IMF actually invented what became referred to as “Paper Gold” in 1971 – months before the U.S. severed the tie between the Dollar and Gold.

The IMF knew this step was coming, and so it invented the “SDR” (Special Drawing Right).

It was touted as a Reserve “Currency” that would replace both the U.S. Dollar and Gold in the basements of the world’s Central Banks.” source: The Privateer

This is astonishing: the yellow metal, something solid, something of genuine value was going to be replaced by – paper! It gets worse: in discussing StreetTracks Gold Shares (ticker symbol: GLD), the NYSE-listed exchange-traded fund sponsored by The World Gold Council, James Turk (Founder, Gold Money) explained on March 5, 2007 just how this paper gold “functions”:

“Investments in gold can be nearly anything gold related. For example, they can be gold certificates and other promises to pay gold. Importantly, they do not have to be physical gold”. Therefore, all GLD has to do to satisfy its auditor is to show them the bank statement (i.e., a piece of paper) that says gold is stored in any Subcustodian appointed by the Custodian. The auditors do not have to go to the vault of the Subcustodian to prove that the gold actually exists, is not encumbered in any way, is securely placed in allocated storage, and accurately records the ownership of the fund.

“If GLD declared its asset to be “Gold”, the fund’s auditor would have to substantiate that the gold really exists, which GLD of course cannot do because of the inability to audit or even inspect gold stored in subcustodians and sub-subcustodians, which is a risk noted in the prospectus. This reality just re-confirms what I and others have concluded all along – GLD is just a paper scheme. It should not be considered as an alternative to physical gold ownership because it is not.” source: The Paper Game

This happens because what is being traded is called “Investments in Gold” rather than “Gold” as such. So in effect this is trading on a promise, and a loose one at that. One must wonder why the World Gold Council endorses what looks suspiciously like a fraud: read more of Mr Turk’s article to discover how trades in these “assets” can result in two people owning the same piece of gold!

Friedrich Hayek pointed out that merely putting the word “social” in front of a legitimate concept (e.g. “social justice”) automatically deprived that concept of meaning; the word “paper” clearly fulfils the same function in high finance….!

by Mark Rogers

Earlier this month on Goldcoin.org, we looked at hazardous gold mining operations in South America (Unclean Gold). The context was the Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto’s findings that the vast majority of the world’s poor operate in economies that give them no access to title and other capital-realizing legal arrangements. There will be a great deal more to say about these insights, but here I want to address an important distinction that needs to be made about eco-crisis and the environment. This is to clear up some of the misapprehensions voiced by critics of capitalism and free trade, such as “Occupy” and many of the rancidly left-wing organizations financed by Soros.

The anti-globalization movement has global ambitions far in excess of those entertained by the merchants and manufacturers who drive globalization. The latter want to acquire or produce their goods at the best possible costs and sell them for the best possible prices. Not only are these relatively modest ambitions, but they are also perfectly normal: merchants and manufacturers down the centuries have always traded on these assumptions.

A main platform of anti-globalizers against the despoliation allegedly caused by capitalist enterprise is environmentalism, and this vision is entirely holistic – i.e. global! They also embrace goals far in excess of what any economy can bear, especially a developing one: the grandest is the demand that carbon emissions are reduced by an improbable amount in an unachievable time…

The reason: “global warming”. However, this is an ideology and can have no bearing on what real people struggling in real economies must do to survive and prosper. Hence the refusal of India and China to sign up to carbon quotas; hence the puzzlement of Africans and South Americans that they should be sacrificed, denied the possibility to improve their lot because of the perceived “fate of the earth”.

Global warming is now a legislative fact, and it is so because the wrong science is used: the study of the “greenhouse effect” is based on the composition of gases, i.e. chemistry. However, what drives the climate is convection, i.e. physics. The Earth is 70% water, and the land mass that makes up the rest contains high mountain ranges: the effect is the creation of a planetary climate which helps regulate temperatures over time.

“Environmentalism” is merely another attempt by those who despise wealth creation, and all the benefits that flow from it, to reduce western economies and suppress emerging ones.

Yet are there not serious ecological problems such as the unclean and illegal gold mines discussed earlier? Of course there are, but refusing to be blinded by environmentalism means approaching such eco-crises more circumspectly. That is, each crisis must be seen on a case-by-case basis, and not dove-tailed into a wider and misleading perspective. Why should what needs to be done – and more to the point that can be done – to alleviate a local problem, be deferred until globalization and the environment are “fixed”? The attempt to co-opt the unclean gold mines into a productive framework, would demonstrate that such problems can be solved on their own terms – and give true value not only to the gold extracted but to the lives and work of the extractors.

By Mark Rogers

Son of the Italian king Victor Emmanuel II, Amadeo I was proclaimed King of Spain on the 2nd of January, 1871. Hitherto, the influence exerted by the Spanish government sought to found a constitutional monarchy – hence they selected a foreign king and put in place a system of mandates, namely: the people for the king, through Parliament.
Amadeo I was the first king of Spain to be selected by Parliament. He was not recognised by certain parliamentarians, including; Carlists, Bourbons, the church and by the people; who judged him as being unpleasant and reticent towards learning the Spanish language.
Upon the death of General Prim, the political alliance which had placed Amadeo I on the throne began to dissolve little by little. The pressures brought by the federalist revolts, the loss of support from capitalists and the Carlists war pushed the Italian monarch to renounce the throne on the 11th of February, 1873.
From his 2 years of rule, hallmarks bearing his effigy were designed for the 5 Peseta coins as well as the 25 and 100 Peseta gold coins – some were struck as trials.
In 1868, a new parameter was integrated into the Spanish monetary system. Unique to the world, two dates were to be inscribed on the coins: the approval date of the coin type and when it was struck. Nevertheless, this initiative was not correctly followed between 1871 and 1875, partly covering the rule of Amadeo I. According to information collected in el Catálogo de la Peseta, it appears that the number of coins issued with the year (between the stars) 18-71 are more common than those of 18-73, those of 18-74 appear in only 20% of cases while those of 18-75 appear in only 10% of cases, approximately.
It was only during the 1st republic, i.e. not before the end of the year 1873 that the process of the two dates began to function better, inscribing the correct date between the stars of the coins.
But this accuracy of dating came at a time when the currency did not reflect reality since Amadeo I renounced the throne in February 1873. The republic followed and thereafter, in 1875, came the rule of Alfonso XII, although the currency with Amadeo I’s effigy continued to be struck until mid-1875.

Marks of guarantee of the Amadeo I coins

Five people were charged with assuming the guarantee of these coins. On the obverse side are affixed the first name and surname initials of the engraver – on the reverse, the surname initials of the two Testers and Beam Balancers:

Engraver: L.M.: Luis Marchionni

Testers and Beam Balancers:

SD M: Donato Álvarez Santullano, Eduardo Díaz Pimienta y Ángel Mendoza Ordóñez.

DE M: Eduardo Díaz Pimienta, Julio de Escosura Tablares y Ángel Mendoza Ordoñez.

25 Peseta gold coin

Characteristics:

Fineness: 900 Thousandths.

Diameter: 24mm.

Weight: 8.0645g.

Workshop: Madrid.

Edge of the first coins: Relief engraving of 27 six-ray stars, using the hoop system open to three points.

Edge of the coins struck later out of reddish gold: JUSTICIA Y LIBERTAD (JUSTICE AND FREEDOM) separated by three groups of two six-ray stars.

Obverse: AMADEO I REY DE ESPAÑA *1871* (AMADEO I KING Of SPAIN *1871*) - portrait of the king facing right.

Reverse: Ley 900 Milésimas (Title 900 thousandths) – 124 piezas in Kilog. (124 coins in Kilog.) SD 25 PESETAS M, around the Spanish armouries carrying the coat of arms of Savoy, surrounded by the coat and fleece.

Number of strikes: 1871 (75) SD M = 25

<The first strikes were made with an alloy containing 10% silver and conferred a bright yellow tone to the gold of these coins, which differentiates them from the other coins struck later, these latter ones displaying a more reddish tone of gold.

These coins, as well as the 100 Peseta coins of the same year were the first gold coins displaying a face value in Pesetas, emanating from the Reform of October 19^th 1868. Struck under the Order of the General Directorate of the Treasury of August 22^nd 1871, “as tests, and it is impossible to specify the quantity of coins manufactured in 71”>

(Information extracted from the Catálogo de la Peseta by J.Aledón & Modern World Gold Coins).

In general, the 25 Peseta coins began to be struck under the Royal Decree of March 15^th 1871. Previously, the reform of the Peseta did not integrate in the values struck out of gold the 25 Peseta coins, omitting the 8 gram model so well-known in Spain, Germany, Holland, etc…

Of these coins, only some were struck as tests. It is under the reign of Alfonso XII that they started to be manufactured in series.

100 Peseta gold coin

Characteristics:

Fineness: 900 Thousandths

Diameter: 35mm.

Weight: 32.25g.

Workshop: Madrid.

Edge: Relief engraving using the hoop system open to three points with the words JUSTICIA Y LIBERTAD (JUSTICE AND FREEDOM), separated by three groups of two six-ray stars.

Obverse: AMADEO I REY DE ESPAÑA *1871* (AMADEO I KING OF SPAIN *1871*) – portrait of the king facing right.

Reverse: Ley 900 Milésimas (Title 900 thousandths) – 31 piezas in Kilog. (31 coins in kilog.) SD 100 PESETAS M, around the Spanish armouries bearing the coat of arms of Savoy, surrounded by the coat and fleece.

Number of strikes in Yellow gold: 1871 (71) = 25

Number of strikes in Red gold: 1871 (71) = 50

> An auction was held in Madrid on March 16^th 1995, selling one of these coins at the starting price of 15 million pesetas (€ 90,151.82)

(Information extracted from Catálogo de la Peseta by J.Aledón & Modern World Gold Coins)

Re-striking of these coins

Unable to gain possession of the original specimens of the said coins, King Alfonso XIII commissioned the re-striking of specific ones in order to honour certain obligations. Thereafter, it was discovered that these coins appeared in 1963 coming from Switzerland.

The Decree of March 21^st 1871, which enacted the creation of the 25 Peseta gold coin, stipulated that it would contain any caption on the edge, and if possible that the smooth part of the corners would contain differences to distinguish these coins from those emanating from other countries.

But the coins re-struck out of reddish gold display on their edge: Justicia y Libertad (Justice and Freedom), separated by three groups of two six-ray stars, similar to the engraving on the edge of the 100 Peseta coins.

Thus, these two coins of reddish gold were a re-striking produced in an unofficial way with the original coins, and to purely profit-driven ends.

As these are very unusual and rare coins, to possess or decide to purchase some is a true luxury – a great treasure!

France’s loss of the triple A rating sharpens the focus on what needs to be done to avoid the Eurozone’s crisis deepening further. What happens in France in the immediate as well as the long term future is therefore of concern to those outside France as well as those within. This week it was made clear that through increased IMF funding, the UK is likely to be contributing to the bail out funds, although the UK remains committed to countries not currencies. Of particular concern to English readers is the likely reaction in France to the required social reforms. And of course the flight into gold helps strengthen the hand of the wise investor.

The loss of the triple A is only one of the superficial symptoms of the trends of 2012. The economic crisis continues to deepen, which may well cause the price of gold to climb more quickly than envisaged, but not initially.

The consequences for the economy…

This is not due to having been warned of the possibility of such a loss. Since October last year, the agency Moody had been holding the sword of Damocles over Gallic heads.
The downgrading of the French credit rating from AAA to AA by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has far graver consequences than would be implied by the speeches of leaders who wish to give reassurances, a mere few months ahead of the elections.

The interest rates at which France borrows and which are already twice as high as those of Germany will increase, to cover the risk of default. The first direct impact on the economy is the flight of investors and thus a fall in the CAC 40 index.
And for individuals
Higher interest rates on mortgages, tax hikes, diminished access to credit… the French will have to curb their spending. All the large companies in which the State has a stake (EDF, GDF, France Telecom, Renault, SNCF…) will see their financing costs increase, which inevitably will impact the expenditure of individuals, not to mention the degradation of public services.

Is the A lost forever?

Of course, France can regain its triple A, but how soon and, especially, at what cost?
The corporate VAT plan is only a tiny initiative when viewed in the light of the catastrophic impact of such a downgrading. According to Norbert Gaillard, consultant at the World Bank, France can only recover its AAA at the expense of important social reforms and “a drastic reduction in public expenditure”. Flexibility of the job market for greater competitiveness, extending the period of contributions to pension funds, elimination of the 35 hour working week… Are the French ready to give up their social gains whilst increasing their daily expenditure? Working more and earning less money?

The consequences for gold

As soon as the credit rating of a country is downgraded, the cautious markets fall, demand for gold increases and hence its price. Initially, the need of banks for liquidity can result in a massive withdrawal following the resale of credit and a fall in the price of gold on the markets, as has been already more or less the case since December. One should therefore take the opportunity to strengthen one’s position on gold and buy now because the secondary effect once the selling off stops will see: gold reach new highs this year breaking the $2000 an ounce barrier and beyond.

Fools or Gold?

Once the dominoes of Debt start to tumble the skies the limit but more importantly, when states fail, currencies collapse or sovereign debt strangles everyday life, where would you rather have your “money”?
In a tangible precious asset with perennial true value?
Or tied up in the worldwide web of debt derivatives, Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and untraceable off-ledger accounts?

The choice is simple, give your money to the crooks you’ve been conditioned to trust with blind faith and risk losing everything or buy something solid that you own and trust yourself to manage it properly?

It’s what they call a no-brainer!

I returned home to Hong Kong after undergoing my last two years of schooling in the UK; I quickly found employment and after work (six days a week) and on Sundays, I began to explore areas of Hong Kong that I had never visited during my childhood and adolescence.

One of the consequences of the several waves of refugees from communist China (the revolution itself, the Great Leap Forward in the 1950s, the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s) was the rapid accumulation of informal dwellings on the mountainsides. These shacks were made out of anything handy: packing crates, corrugated iron, planks. They were incredibly hardy edifices: typhoons capable of lifting a battleship, blowing it out of the harbour and impaling it on a rocky island in the South China Seas, would leave the squatter huts crowded onto an exposed side of the island at the harbour mouth intact!
As a child I had always been fascinated by these places: they embodied escape, freedom, the mastering of adversity; they had an air of romance and adventure. Yet I had never visited one: this was something I remedied as I explored Hong Kong anew during 1975.

What I discovered was remarkable. First of all, these places were orderly and clean, the natural drainage of the mountainsides enabling the latter. The homes were sturdily constructed despite their flimsy materials. What was truly astonishing, however, was the discovery that the expensive cars parked at the foot of the hills belonged to the owners of these huts! This was not all: the informal lifestyle of the hillsides meant that the hut doors tended to be left open: there were always a few children or an ancient grandmother (whom we shall meet again) to keep an eye on things. Through these doors I glimpsed the good life inside: the huts had all the conveniences – fridges, deep freezes, television sets, electric fans, air conditioners, electric lighting: the hills were ablaze with electricity, all legally installed.

This lifestyle reflected a dominant desire among the Hong Kong Cantonese: the ambition, if not for themselves, then for their children to emigrate to one of the Anglosphere countries, far from China, which had caused them such grief. This being so, many prosperous people simply did not want to spend on property. The millionaire who lived on the hillside above us had built himself a house – it was in the style of a mansion, to accord with his status but was really very modest: what was the point of investing in substantial real estate when you might have to abandon it?

Portable Purchasing power?

The personal or family memory of enforced flight also gave rise to the idea that if you were going to have to pick up and go, then property should be portable. The wealthy of Hong Kong are unusual amongst the world’s richest in that they spend more of their money on jewellery and watches than any other type of investment and/or luxury good, mansions and yachts coming right at the bottom of their priorities – only a tiny percentage bother with these things. The desire for wealth in a safe and portable form surely means that the idea of putting their assets into gold coins would appeal to the wealthy, economy-stimulating entrepreneurs of Hong Kong.
Enter Grandma: while I was exploring the shacks and shanties, I saw the most revealing thing of all: the family wealth of these entrepreneurs was stored in gold – in Granny’s teeth: the fillings were so abundant that their mouths gleamed with gold!

by Mark Rogers

The twentieth century saw in both extreme (Nazism/Communism) and mild (the European-style welfare state) forms the strange phenomenon of governments repeatedly taking against their own peoples – in the name of the people. No longer was an independent citizenry to be trusted to look after itself, educate its children, defend its homes and families, and generally stand on its own feet: the munificent state was to do all that, and the end result is bankruptcy. And evasion: the bankrupt states of Europe are not prepared to be honest about where state intervention leads, even though the lessons have been spelled out twice in the twentieth century in draconian form: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

As the eurocrisis deepens, measures antipathetic to savings are being mooted across the continent, involving amongst other things bans on the purchase of gold over certain amounts and bans on cash transactions. Any attempt by savers to convert increasingly worthless cash into solid investments like gold are to be thwarted, raising fears that a Franklin D. Roosevelt style confiscation of privately owned gold may be on the horizon.

Certainly measures proposed or drafted into law in the last quarter of 2011, in Italy, France and Austria, give cause for concern: in Austria there is a restriction on the purchase of more than 15,000 euros’ worth of gold; in France, all metal sales over 450 euros must be paid for by credit card or bank transfer; in Italy it is proposed to ban all cash transactions over (the figures vary) 300, 1,000 or 5,000 euros. The effect of these measures would be to render all significant purchases of precious metals recorded and therefore traceable to their owners.

It has been claimed that the various reasons for these measures are an attempt to rein in credit, to comply with U.S. requests for assistance in combating money laundering, or to help prevent the theft of ordinary metals: in the case of the latter there have been widespread spates in recent months of the theft of metals from anything ranging from telephone poles to industrial plant. While these may all be true goals (whether the proposed remedies will work is another matter – it always is), there is the significant problem that nowhere are the precious metals excluded from the measures. Hence the fears of confiscation.
Gold is a safe haven competitor against fiat money; this may not cause problems when economies are genuinely booming (i.e. the boom is not fuelled by easy expansions of credit). Yet when the fiat money system is collapsing and inflation is rampant the idea that people may protect their assets and their pensions by converting their cash into gold becomes a serious “problem” for the state: savings are seen as a threat.

We have seen how Keynes thought “wealth accumulation” a vice (Austerity for you – privileges for Politicians, December 16th, 2011). He further mockingly remarked: “The duty of ‘saving’ became nine-tenths of virtue and the growth of the cake the object of true religion.” Reckless governments are hardly likely to admire or condone prudence in their peoples; whatever the ultimate reason for this, such an attitude on the part of the authorities will only widen the gap between the political elite, unable to admit the error of its ways, and nervous private citizens wondering whether they have a future.

Finally, savings based in fiat currencies or related to debt-ridden financial institutions have the possibility to fall to zero in a crisis. Savings based in physical assets that you own help protect to preserve your accumulated wealth as they retain worth through a crisis.

The best physical asset to own during a crisis is gold which has proved its perennial purchasing power for over 6000 years – no fiat currency has ever existed that long to compare it and no other asset can compete with the value retention of gold. After all Gold can never be worth zero – it has intrinsic value, it is relatively rare on the planet and it has always been revered as precious because it is and has chemical and physical properties unmatched by any other metal.

By Mark Rogers

It is taken for granted that to qualify as a banker one must be greedy. The proposition is so silly that it is distressing to note how widespread is its acceptance. Of course there are greedy bankers, just as there are greedy butchers, bakers and train drivers; yet if banking was based on greed, it couldn’t exist. (This is another example of the misunderstanding of self-interest: see  Austerity for you – privileges for Politicians, December 16th, 2011).
The web of trust that is banking could never have come into existence if it was driven by the unqualified greed of all those who tried to participate. Banking arose out of the need of merchants to protect their monetary assets from theft en route as they travelled about Europe trading. They established networks of trust, whereby assets, often gold, could be placed in a secure depository, and redeemed through paper pledges at other trusted depositories, thus ensuring that the merchant carried as little as possible of his wealth about with him. This web of trust is the basic principle which still governs modern banking, and without it the system would collapse.
Isn’t the system already collapsing; doesn’t this prove that governments and people no longer trust the bankers because they are greedy? And the answer to the problem? Legislation: there must be more regulations to fetter the bankers, and to make them pay.
The trouble is they already do. Take bonuses: they are taxed as bonuses, and not as part of income, at a 40-50% rate. The greater a banker’s earnings, the more he already “contributes”. The level of income even without bonuses ensures that the wealthiest people in the country pay a huge percentage of the nation’s taxes, which are largely wasted: the tax-funded welfare state is notoriously inefficient, and a main driver of inflation.

The curious aspect of the demand for regulation is that it is MPs who are to be the overseers of this legislative campaign against greed. There is a strange dichotomy in the democratic mind: nobody much trusts politicians (though like bankers there are eminently worthy men and women to be found amongst them); nevertheless we entrust our health, our education, and all manner of things the state really has no business being involved in, to just these unloved politicians.
The question arises as to whether playing to the masses, which is what democratic politics now largely consists of, is likely to produce viable policies to prevent another crisis. In an editorial in the London Evening Standard, 19 December 2011, concerning the likelihood that parliamentary and public pressure will force the Chancellor to accept the Vickers recommendation on banking reform that banks must separate their investment and retail banking operations, it was pointed out that “[s]ome of the banks most exposed to the sub-prime crash – notably Northern Rock – did not conduct investment bank-style ‘proprietary trading’. Conversely, Lehman Brothers conducted only such activity, having no retail arm. Then again, Barclays Capital, Barclays’ investment banking arm, survived the crisis.”
In other words a key recommendation is based on prejudice and not the facts. So much for financial probity!

By Mark Rogers

Watch the Ads they didn’t want you to see here – read on

There are many theories surrounding the manipulation of the Gold Market and the Gold Spot price but few doubt that it takes place, orchestrated by some greater beings that seek to control the money supply.

In a recent cynical twist, gold has been effectively censored off the air of a host of major US TV Networks working in collusion with the Obama administration and the Fed.
An established gold investment company recently made two TV ads to be aired across the networks. The ads feature caricatures of Obama, Bernanke and Pat Boone who narrates the story. The latter works for the company Swiss America and has long been an advocate of the virtues of gold versus dollars.
The first of the ads takes a humorous jibe at Bernanke’s Wall Street reputation for being “helicopter Ben” , ready to dump money on a crisis.

“made-up” reasons for ban?

The reasons given for rejecting the ads vary from ;
• Comcast who explained that it “doesn’t meet our standards on public symbol. The Comcast Public Symbol Policy apparently specifies that the “use of the name or likeness of the President of the United States and/or the Presidential Seal for endorsing commercial purposes must be authorized by the White House.”
• Fox News said the “representation of public figures is something we try to avoid.”
• CNN/HLN told Swiss America the commercials were “not appropriate for the current political landscape.”

Swiss America CEO Craig Smith said “The networks’ reaction shocked me,” Smith said. “It’s a threat to First Amendment rights when a commercial message is rejected not because it is inaccurate or misleading, but because it makes what is perceived to be a political statement the networks want to avoid.”

Smith told WND he was concerned that the networks were protecting Obama and Bernanke.
“All we are saying in these two commercials is what dozens of responsible professional economists are saying every day,” Smith said;

“Gold investment as a responsible diversification strategy when governments printing of fiat currencies with abandon risk unleashing inflationary principles.”

Inflationary pressures are building globally and no-one has an answer to them rising and the consequent economic impact.
It is a common known fact that storing gold through a crisis and inflation is the BEST way to protect your wealth value and its purchasing power. This has been the case for 6000 years.

Gold can never be worth zero – it has intrinsic value.
Fiat currency can become worthless – its only value is that of a piece of paper

The Ban backfires

However, the censorship has backfired as Google TV accepted the ads which will eventually be shown throughout the networks via Google TV!
These humorous videos tell a very straight and simple story and the only possible reason for banning them is because of how close to the TRUTH they really are – and that hurts the Politocrats who believe they are all supreme and mighty to judge over us, control us and bankrupt us.

They are so desperate to cling on to power they will do anything – except we are not the fools they take us for – are we?

Here we continue our conversation from the previous article “When Debt’s called Credit”.

So, you mortgaged your salary and have been fortunate enough with your earnings to stay the course of a twenty-five year mortgage repayment plan. However, the asset which you now possess has cost you something like three times its original price. You are inclined to think that this, plus the profit on any potential sale, is what your house is now “worth”. However, your house will only be worth its inflated price (a price entirely created by debt) relative to a booming economy which puts a premium on home ownership. That is, it is worth this potential only if there is sufficient activity in the economy to fuel someone else’s borrowing to purchase your house to further inflate the value of that property.

One point to clarify, at the risk of stating the obvious (though there is little that is obvious about the modern mortgage): where does the borrowing come in – you have paid for your house out of your earnings on a monthly payment plan. The bank/building society has lent you the money by buying the house, and the repayment plan reflects the cost of, and length of time that, the money is out on loan in the form of bricks and mortar.

Thus house prices become grossly inflated. If the cycle continues, the house at the end of each twenty-five year period will keep tripling its nominal value – but this is unsustainable in the long run, and, despite Keynes’s dictum that “the long run is a misleading guide to current affairs”, that is exactly the view that should be taken: in the long run, the mortgage inflates the value of the asset, and it is entirely foreseeable that it should do so. In fact, that it does so renders the word “asset” in this context potentially meaningless. What happens if you cannot sell the house, and no-one wishes to rent it at a price that reflects anything like your “investment” in it?

Of course, there are many who buy their houses as homes and a long-run inheritance for their children. But the trouble with the modern mortgage is that it is sold largely on the basis that the asset is a tradable good. This is not a natural assumption for most people to make, especially families, and was not something that our forefathers generally assumed – unless they were builders, property developers and speculators.

There is a serious and somewhat sneaky consequence of the inflation of house prices: the government under New Labour changed an important measures of inflation, the Retail Price Index which included mortgage interest repayments, that is house prices, (and was used, amongst other things, to adjust selected benefits, including state pensions) by switching to the Consumer Price Index, which does not (interestingly, the latter also omits Council Tax, which is a concern for pensioners, who may well own their homes, but are not free of this major property cost). The measure of inflation used by those who make public policy does not include a major source of inflation.

Has the desire to own one’s own home become a mania of the Tulip or the Railway kind?

It is also worth remembering that inflation rates currently higher than interest rates, thus all monies stored/saved in this type of way are effectively losing value daily and their purchasing power rapidly eroded.

There are few “inflation-proof” savings or savings plans on offer but one to consider is the purchase (and ownership) of the only safe haven tangible asset – Gold in physical form. Historically gold has always protected wealth against periods of inflation and crisis. One important aspect is to ensure that you own your gold as this gives you complete control over its eventual resale which is the most important moment for your investment.
We strongly advise against the purchase of “paper” gold such as ETFs as these are so oversold that only 5% could be redeemed against physical stocks. These types of investments are extremely vulnerable in an economic crisis and the risk of significant losses is increased.

True value is an asset that maintains its worth at all times – during prosperity and austerity.

Choose yours wisely!

By Mark Rogers

The profession of numismatists has changed in the past 30 years. Lovers of beautiful and rare gold coins have been gradually replaced by amateur investors.

Pierre-Yves Lathoumetie in “Avers et revers de la numismatique (1973)” makes a distinction between the humanist collector and the speculator.
The former may make some honest investments guided by his passion for rare or unusual Gold, silver or bronze coins. The latter, instead, will fail unless he is able to appreciate the true historical value of the coins.

Why consult a numismatist?

Both need to consult an expert: the numismatist, who will be able to advice them on price and history of a Gold, silver or bronze coin. Consultation with a numismatist and trust in him does not prevent the collector or speculator from comparing prices or obtaining information from other sources.

Roughly speaking, this is basically what awaits those who want to get involved in the numismatic world. Experts and novices run the risk of finding themselves lost in a market that has changed considerably in 30 years and which is subject to fluctuations and uncertainties.

A market without rules

It is important to know that there are no rules governing the rare coin market. The price on a piece may differ greatly within the same category, from one country to another, depending on demand. There is no fixed price. Two identical coins may have two different prices with the same exhibitor. What this tells us is that the market of extremely rare pieces has no uniformity, in contrast to the market of gold bars or investment coins which is structured and organized. These changes, obviously, have an impact on the profession of numismatist.

Numismatic influences of the Art market

After 30 years, we are witnessing a type of negotiation between vendors and purchasers where any price is possible, within the higher band. We are also witnessing an extremely sensitive market where the most insignificant event may shoot up the price of some particular coin: public sale, archaeological discovery.

From collector, the numismatist has become speculator, ignoring in most cases the past of the coins, the art and archaeology.

Varied consequences

-Perfect coins are being sought after due to their premium, and because those that are damaged or deteriorated lose their charm. There have been cases when extremely rare pieces have been sold for very little money and others less unusual have been sold at gold price because they are intact.

-Investors grab Gold coins which are easily recognizable (newer pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries) the prices of which increase rapidly, in detriment of rarer pieces which are not so popular among the public.

- The price of a coin may differ from one country to another as the demand is not the same (usually national pieces are more valued in their own country).

To summarize, the rare coins market has nothing in common with the common coins market reserved for investment. But as is the case with works of art and fine wines, the truly rare coins are the ones that in the long term are a good investment, because a rare piece has a “long life” and never depreciates. Its value is based on its rarity and not the gold price.

Mother Nature has been extremely generous with Peru, and has presented it with a valuable treasure such as its exuberant Amazon Forest and in the depths of its earth, the presence of the coveted golden mineral, which has given rise to the existence of numerous mines and gold washing places in the country.

Over the years, many national and international companies have heard of the treasures which may be extracted in Peru and have settled in its provinces. In this process methods have evolved and they have the Escuela de Minas, whose object is to train competent professionals, capable of offering a better organisation in order to guarantee the optimum achievement of the mining companies’ aims.

But there is another side to the story, beside the great mining companies and their expensive equipment and potential, sits the illegal extraction of this mineral in far away areas of the Amazon Forest, where control by the Government environmental and financial agencies has proven difficult. There are different reasons why this illicit activity has arisen such as shortage of employment in rural areas, increase in the gold price and tax avoidance which in turn results in an increase in profits. But all this is being done without control and the heads of these illegal extraction operations do not take into consideration environmental conservation issues provoking in turn further erosion (than that caused by any mineral extractions, even when using appropriate means) and an increase in the contamination of rivers as mercury and cyanide are being poured inappropriately into water sources.

In this scenario, problems are not only environmental but also social. According to studies undertaken by Peruvian authorities, the business of illegal extraction creates problems such as child prostitution (in the area known as Madre de Dios, it is thought that over 300 children work in prostitution in bars near the illegal mines) and that others are subject to child labour, having to work from a very early age without being paid for it. Other consequences of illegal extractions are smuggling and illegal trafficking of arms.

It is not just a matter of gold. In these crossroads, the wish of the few to quickly enrich themselves provokes serious problems, which may be more difficult to eradicate than illegal mining itself.

Article by : Lizette Paternina

Last May in an article with the heading “Has Jean Claude Trichet gone mad”, we explained why the move to increase interest rates initiated at that time had, in our eyes, little chance of being sustainable.

Confirmation came on November 3rd, 2011 with a fall in the official market rate of the European Central Bank, the ECB.

On taking up his post, its new governor, the Italian Mario Draghi, decided for his baptism of fire in the media to lower the interest rate by 0.25 points – this whilst he is supposed to give his first official press conference next Thursday.

What is necessary to understand by the taking of this decision that we had largely anticipated, is that Europe and generally all of the said developed countries have now fallen into the “trap of low rates”.

The best example to illustrate this phenomenon “of the trap of low rates” is of course Japan which for several decades now has been in the situation of financial impossibility with regard to increasing its interest rates.

To finance not the refunding of the debt but solely the interest on the debt, it is vital that the rates should be as close as possible zero. The slightest increase puts the public finances of all nations in danger.

The second reason it is not possible to raise rates is that there is quite simply no growth, nor return to growth, and that here too Japan perfectly illustrates this situation of lack of growth over the very long term.

This decision is excellent for gold. This news is excellent for the banks which will be able to increase their margins through cheaper recapitalization with the ECB and by lending at a higher price to their customers (reconstitution of margins). This news is good for companies because by lowering rates that can make it possible for the euro to drop slightly compared to the dollar giving some breathing space to our exporters. This news is excellent for borrowers at variable rates. This news is excellent to limit and support the risks of a new unavoidable recession (which the ECB expects) in Europe because of the massive austerity plans affecting almost all of the European countries.

The Italians had nicknamed Mario Draghi… super Mario! Our new governor of the ECB has only to finally announce an “unconventional program of quantitative easing” to ignite a bullish trend in the financial markets. This barbaric expression simply means that the ECB would use the money printing instrument according to needs. Like Switzerland. Like the USA. Like the United Kingdom.

The message communicated today by Mario Draghi is an important reorientation. We have from now on one certainty. Rates can no longer go up. We expect for the next few months that the money printing machines will be brought into use. If the attacks continue against Italy, it will be the only solution possible.

Until now the Germans totally reject this solution. If the situation worsens, they will have to accept the recourse for the printing of money, or… leave the euro.
Germany’s exit from the euro is the less considered scenario and yet for us it is the one that is most likely to occur.

It would undoubtedly be the best solution to put an end to the European psychodrama.

Translated from an article by Charles SANNAT
Director of AuCoffre.com
Economic studies
www.aucoffre.com

The G20 in Cannes is in crisis as its host President Sarkozy remains distracted by the Greek referendum announcement and the implications for his cunning Franco-German solution, hatched with best chum Chancellor Merkel to the European debt crisis.
The G20 group accounts for 80% of global wealth but also brings together huge differences in perception of where the world is at.

The Chinese have 3 Trillion dollars to help out the troubled western economies if it chooses. But then the Chinese are a nation of savers, hard earned cash they earn from long days of toil, often in self-enterprise ventures, is regularly put aside as investment for their future. On average the Chinese put aside 25% of monthly income for a rainy day. However their view of our crisis is somewhat different as one guy likened it to “ a bankrupt wealthy old man asking a poor man for money”. Some Chinese also remember the past experiences of decadent Western capitalism and imperialism. As Holly Williams from Sky News said “They don’t see why they should invest their hard-earned savings to help out economies and people to continue to have much more than they ever have had or ever will.

It is worth remembering that the average Chinese citizen lives below the poverty line and the new found wealth and middle class does not benefit the majority of China’s population – just like every other country you may care to analyse. The distribution of wealth always remains top heavy to keep our governing powers in the manner they’re accustomed and the bankers with enough profits to pay for it as well as their own hefty bonuses.

If you want to know to whom all the “money” has been paid that has resulted in this planet-sized debt then look no further than Goldman Sachs, their lawyers, all ex-heads of state and the personal fortunes of other prominent world politicians over the last 40 years, the Federal Reserve, the history of the Rothschild fortune and the IMF.

Will this debt ever be properly accounted for or ever paid back? No and No.

That’s why China does not want to lose value of its accrued wealth to the whims of US or European debt. Both lack a credible and coherent plan. Obama and Sarkozy have both got one eye firmly on domestic matters as they prepare for re-election next year.

Greek Tragedy?

The joke is they were all so smug thinking they’d sorted out a plan to buy time with Greece and then Papendréou goes and drops a bombshell with his referendum offer as a democratic gesture to the Greek people – oh yeah!
Trouble is he doesn’t actually care because he has nothing to lose and he knows what is coming as we wrote in “Greeks prepare a coup d’état ?”

He has taken this opportunity, his last on the European and G20 stage, covered by the world’s media, to play centre stage and enjoy his moment. He was called before the Headmaster and Headmistress of the Franco-German alliance, to explain his unilateral approach to life and to discuss the question that will be put on the referendum.
He indicated that sovereignty of Greek affairs remained the jurisdiction of the Greek parliament and its decisions are binding before all others and not open to outside interference. So not your average pro-European stance!! As I’ve said he’s got nothing to lose and knows what is coming.

US upgrades priority on plans for Iran airstrike

I also heard that the US and therefore by default the UK as well are bringing forward their plans to conduct air strikes on Iran. Seems they’re centrifuges are back in business as is the possibility of producing weapons grade nuclear material. Looks like they’ll hit their not-so-secret secret mountain production facilities. Intelligence reports backed up by International Atomic Energy Agency gives this story more than usual credibility. The word on the street is that Obama is nervous.
Israel says report proves “we told you so” for years that Iran posed a significant threat to its existence.

UK General strike will paralyse a nation

In the UK a massive general strike looks set to take place at the end of the month over public sector pension reform plans. The nation could be brought to a standstill with a 3 Million walkout planned. Negotiations between the Government and Trade Union leaders are not making any progress even if there is an improved offer on the table. The taste of austerity is always bitter.

Silvio doesn’t want to spoil a party

Finally Italy rushed out a message on the eve of the G20 to announce a package of austerity measures no doubt to comply with some previous handshake and just to make sure drinks with the others went well in Cannes! We’ll believe them when they’re implemented, successful and have brought about the desired effect.

Ever wondered why the announcements of “new improved measures and offerings to us all” from politicians always get great airtime but we rarely see a “results show” – then again fixing figures is a way of life for some so don’t settle for less than “seeing is believing” proof.

Crisis, what crisis?

So the world, its economies, all nations and globalization are working fine and there’s nothing to worry about – fine – and remember in this case do nothing, just enjoy every moment of a beautiful daily life.

If you thought for one minute this may be in jeopardy would you insure against it? Just like you would a car against an accident so you can afford to replace it if necessary, or against a fire so you could rebuild your home?

How do you insure yourself against a crisis?

Transform some of your wealth into an inflation-proof, crisis-proof physical asset to protect yourself against devalued or worthless currencies, loss of income and employment, contagion, bank collapse and debt default.
The problem with hindsight is that it’s too late to take preventative action. Only acting before the event gives insurance cover so find out about owning gold and gold coins as a real alternative for a safe place to store wealth.