Beiträge von Schwabenpfeil

Now, to let you in on yet another coming GATA BOMBSHELL. This past year has been something else as far as GATA’s soaring credibility is concerned. It has been bing, bing, bing – boom, boom, boom:

*Oleg V. Mozhayskov, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, bluntly brought GATA to the attention of the mainstream gold world. Mozhayskov delivered the keynote address at the London Bullion Dealers Conference in Moscow on June 4th 2004. His speech was delivered in Russian. The only words he mentioned in English were Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (or GATA).

* Last August Sprott Asset Management in Toronto released its own publication, "Not Free, Not Fair: The Long-Term Manipulation of the Gold Price," confirming GATA's work.

*Then just two weeks ago Eckart Woertz, vice president of CFC Securities in Dubai, for the Gulf Research Center released a study, "The Role of Gold in the Unified Gulf Cooperation Council Currency." One of the major features of this study was that GATA’s assertions are correct.

Now we have a fourth independent confirmation of all our hard work – one which blows the most noted gold establishment organizations out of the water. Frank Veneroso, who calls ‘em like he sees ‘em, has written an expose for Gold Newsletter, published by Brien Lundin of Jefferson Financial Inc. "Gold Newsletter stands as the oldest and most respected precious metals and mining stock advisory in the world."

http://www.goldnewsletter.com/

Does that say it all, or what!

Some more input from Dan on the CRB/gold relationship, which reveals gold is at least $200 undervalued because of the rigging when compared to the historic CRB/gold relationship:

Hey Bill:
Just looking at the chart I made up the other day comparing the CRB index to the spot gold price.

I made another that allows me to have more versatility. I am sending you both of them to look at.

Take a look at the top chart I created using Metastock. If you notice I drew two vertical parallel lines that intersect the CRB index when it is AT or ABOVE the current level where it closed today. It creates a sort of rectangular area. If you follow the lines up they will intersect the closing monthly spot gold price. Look at how obvious this makes what has happened to gold appear.

Gonna turn in and finally get some rest after a long week but I wanted to get this up your way to let you see it and get even more worked up!
See ya pal,
Dan

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2005/Midas/Midas0313CRB.gif]

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2005/Midas/Midas0313SpotGold.gif]

TAS: But is Greenspan still the best Fed chairman in history?

Kudlow: You know, in his own clumsy way Paul Volcker may be the best Fed chairman in history. He's an odd character--by no means a supply-sider. By and large he didn't like Reagan's tax cuts. But he took the inflation rate from fifteen and brought it down to two, roughly between 1980 and 1986. You have to say that was the most extraordinary achievement in the Fed's history.

Alan took the inflation rate from four or five to two. That is a fine achievement, but not quite the same. I was on a panel with Volcker the other day. He's a very eccentric man, very dogmatic. But in his own way, brilliant. Remember, he was around when the dollar was linked to gold. He was in the Treasury Department in the '50s. He's a relic of the past. You know what? He gave us an antiquated monetary policy. And that's what was needed. He took the gold price down from $800 to $300 an ounce.

TAS: You are still largely a gold guy?

Kudlow: Yes. It provides important information about inflation.

TAS: But is gold really relevant, with all of these currencies trading against each other? We have wonderful barometers. Why still gold?

Kudlow: It has not failed me. When gold is low, inflation is low. In 1999 and 2000 when Greenspan was wrongly obsessing over inflation, I just kept saying wake me when gold hits $300. Sure, the gold bugs are gone, the investors. But I don't want gold to be a hot investment. The minute it is, I know the rest of the story is going to fall apart.

-END-

Let us not forget what Rob Kirby brought to our intention re the bogus US jobs report – the one which juiced US stock market after Wall Street spun the 260,000+ gain in jobs as US economy friendly and stock market bullish. The real story from Rob (see Send In The Clowns in the Little Bear Table Library):

According to the BLS, 11/12ths of this increase was factored into Feb. numbers [186,000]. So folks, on my planet we back 186,000 out of the published 262,000 published number and we now have a grand total of 76,000 new jobs. But we are not done yet. The BLS uses another hedonic measure called the birth/death model. As you can see here, an additional 100,000 jobs were added to the headline number published. So backing this number out of 76k and we actually lost 24,000 jobs without the use of hedonics:

See: http://www.bls.gov/web/cesbd.htm and http://www.bls.gov/web/cesbmart.htm#2
***

Thus, in a one week period the US Government has delivered at least two misleading reports to the investing public. All of this is disingenuous to put it mildly. Yet, mild is the right word compared to what the Orwellians are doing with the gold price.

As we all know, the greatest deception of all is the blatantly outrageous manipulation of the gold price. It is so obvious these days, it is embarrassing our critics who remain silent no matter what we say. They don’t know how to counter the truth which of late has to be apparent to even a high school student.

Over the years GATA has received many queries as to the motive of The Gold Cartel to rig the gold market and of their efforts to suppress the price by so many hundreds of dollars per ounce. One of Wall Street’s and CNBC’s most visible cheerleaders provided a VERY revealing answer years ago:

March 2001 LAWRENCE KUDLOW: THE INTERVIEW
Republished from The American Spectator
On: http://www.kudlow.com/pdfs/American%20Spectator.pdf

Over and over again, MIDAS has presented specific detail from the likes of Bill King of The King Report and others how the CPI is way understated and how US official economic statistics have been reduced to spin and propaganda. The latest US trade number is a perfect example of the deception.

Peter R explains in somewhat humorous fashion what they are doing:

Here's a concept for how statisticians can monkey around with oil prices. One of the classic examples used to justify hedonistic adjustment is that if beef goes up in price, consumers will substitute chicken or pork, thus the cost has not really risen (and there is no inflation). How about substituting lower crude or fuel grades when oil
prices move up? Now it is possible that some motorists are using lower octane gasoline to save money, but would you like to fly in a plane burning diesel instead of aviation grade fuel? The whole thing is ridiculous. When the bubble bursts I hope someone fires all the statistics massagers in Washington. We will never be safe until those stables have been swept clean.

Best wishes,
Peter R.

Bill,
Saw the info Dan relayed about the government's trade numbers on average monthly crude oil prices and couldn't believe what the government published and how far out of line they are from the actuals.

In the table below are the government's bizarre numbers reported in Midas along with the actual average monthly price of crude oil (cash), based upon the daily close. As you can see there is a substantial difference.

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2005/Midas/Midas0313CrudeOil.gif]

According to the table, the government's crude numbers are understated by almost 25%.

To put this in the proper perspective, this is the equivalent of only 3 months of data reported in a 4 month period, or 9 months of data reported in a 12 month period. This severe understatement certainly isn't a clerical error.

If anyone knows the crude oil component for the trade figures, they may be able to calculate a more accurate number.

However, if the monthly average price is this far out of line, the other numbers which go into the calculation are probably out of line as well. How long has this been going on?

Hope this sheds some additional light on top of Dan's initial beam.

All the best,
Raymond
RGreen@ilnk.com

The main reason for putting this MIDAS out today is to enhance the theme of Friday’s MIDAS, "Potential For Serious Financial/Real Estate Market Chaos Builds."

The bottom line is the spin program coming out of Wall Street and Washington is completely out of control. The Orwellians in charge have gone mad. A book could be written on this subject there is so much out there to support that point. I cover just a few items which makes it very clear just how entrenched their madness is these days and how much jeopardy Joe and Jane investor are in as far as their net worth is concerned. It could evaporate overnight in tsuanami-like fashion at any time this year.

The Washington folks and Bush Administration are petrified of allowing the truth to be told about how the US economy is really faring and what the real inflation picture is. Thus they spin and lie.

For example, the trade deficit announced Friday, over $58 billion and the second highest on record, was horrendous. However, it would have been much worse had they not fudged the numbers (fibbed about them) as pointed out by Houston’s Dan Norcini. Some follow up from yet another Café member on what Dan brought to our attention Friday:

More on the Chinese move to diversify their reserves:

Hello Bill
Hope you are well.

Further to the snippet you placed from Lehman's on the Chinese reserves, i.e. the change in the percentage of dollars they hold from 82% at the end of 2003 to 76% at the end of 2004. That by itself does not look much to be concerned about, but have a look at what it means in absolute terms:

China's reserves at end of 2003 = $403.3 billion. 82% of that in dollar assets = $330.7. At the end of 2004 the reserves were = $609.9. 76% of that in dollar assets = $463.5

The increase in dollar assets during 2004 were $132.8 billion, or just 65 % of the total increase during the year of $203.6 billion

The decline from 82% of reserves to 76% still meant an increase in total dollar assets; it is the fact that at the margin they are down to just 65% of reserves being held in dollars that is important. Wonder what the ratio will be for 2005??

Perhaps Mr. John "There is no evidence we have seen that central banks are changing their portfolio proportions" Taylor of the US Treasury has either been blindfolded or fitted with blinkers. A change from an 82% holding of dollars to adding only 65% at the margin should be visible and significant even to an Econ 101 student.

You might want to enlighten Taylor and Reuters??

Enjoy your weekend.
Daan

Bad news for oil bears; good news for gold bulls:

Official: OPEC Has Reached Output Limit

Sat Mar 12, 5:10 PM ET Business - AP

ALGIERS, Algeria - OPEC (news - web sites) has reached its production limit, and trying to stretch output by one million barrels per day isn't likely to lower oil prices, Algeria's minister for energy and mines said.

Chakib Khalil said prices were high because of world economic growth — particularly in the United States and China. Algeria is one of the 11 members of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"OPEC has reached its production limits. It doesn't have much production capacity," he said at the opening of an industrial plant in the western town of Arzew, according to newspaper reports on Saturday.

"If it came to a crunch, it has capacity for one million barrels (more per day), and I don't think a production increase would influence the barrel price," he told reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Crude oil futures prices climbed above $54 a barrel Friday after the International Energy Agency estimated global petroleum demand would grow faster than previously expected in 2005.

-END-

Iran signs 3bn-euro cooperation protocol with Italy

Rome, March 11, IRNA -- Iran and Italy signed an economic cooperation protocol worth three billion euros here Thursday night, based on which the Italian government is urged to provide Tehran with industrial machinery upon request, in return for Iranian oil.

According to a report by Italy`s ANSA news agency, the protocol was signed by Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce Mohammad-Reza Behzadian and Deputy Head of Milan Chamber of Commerce in Promotion ofInternational Trade Sandro Bicoucci signed the protocol on behalf of the two countries.

The volume of Iran-Italy trade was around four billion euros priorto the signing of the protocol in question.

ANSA`s economic analyst says in the report, "Iran, and important Middle East country, intends to strengthen the foundations of its traditional industries, such as the textile industry, for which it seeks the assistance and modern machinery of leading countries` in the related fields."

The Italian state news agency adds, "Iran is expanding the range of its economic transactions with Italy, and the chambers of commerce of Tehran and Milan play a decisive role in that respect." ANSA has also carried Behzadian`s comments on the issue.

-END-

Harvey, the COT report released around 3:30 EST on Friday makes me yawn these days it is so predictable. We know the funds are piling in and The Gold Cartel is selling and selling and selling. So are other bullion dealers who know the drill and trade along with their scam. Even the degree of bullion dealer selling and spec longs really doesn’t matter that much anymore. The reason is because of the pathetic repetitive routine The Gold Cartel inflicts on the market over and over again. They draw in the specs on the upside and get shorter and shorter as the dollar sinks. AS the dollar strengthens after sustained weakness, and after the specs have themselves longer and longer by following the gold price rises on the dollar weakness, they move into action. They commence to bomb gold to turn the specs into sellers by triggering sell stops at key moving average points. This is what they did in December. When GLD announced 15 tonnes of gold left their ETF, the cabal pulled out all stops, taking bullion down $20 at one point during a single Comex trading period. It was nothing more than a consorted, orchestrated illegal theft of speculators money, one undertaken in violation of US anti-trust laws. It is what The Goldman Sachs’ and JP Morgan’s do. This is how they record such significant trading profits on a quarterly basis.

The Commercials reduced their longs by 3,226 contracts and increased their shorts by 14,592 contracts. Could have been a lot worse. Of course, since this data was collected last Tuesday, we know the next report will reveal and even greater shift.

One day we will get our Commercial Signal Failure (the Commercials are buried by the speculators) and the bad guys will be routed. It is long overdue.

There is a huge dichotomy out there between what the wants of the US and the wants of Europe:

March 13 – Gold $445.50 – Silver $7.51

EVIDENCE Of Blatant US Market Deception Builds

"Perhaps the most obvious political effect of controlled news is the advantage it gives powerful people in getting their issues on the political agenda and defining those issues in ways likely to influence their resolution." -- W. Lance Bennett

So much has come my way since Friday’s MIDAS, I felt compelled to publish another one.

Starting off with a query:

Hi Bill:
Any word on the COT report released after the market last night? I would expect huge increases in the commercial short position.

You may wish to tell our readers that the Central Gold Trust Fund (GTU.un) is trading below theoretical value of gold.

With this fund you get gold in a verified vault and the storage of that gold is covered with cash on its balance sheet. The easy way to calculate the fund is to take .0375 oz of gold per share plus .61 dollars per share usa funds.

The other ETF "GLD" security listed on the NYSE has no evidence of any gold in any vault.

Take care
Harvey

Zitat

Original von Schwabenpfeil

Diese Versuche, unterschiedliche Ansichten über Aktien ins persönliche zu ziehen, sind das was ich als Armutszeugnis empfinge !!!

Ich habe meiner obigen Meinung nichts mehr hinzuzufügen !

Gruß
Schwabenpfeil

Zitat

Original von dempf

Der 'nette' Mr. Kebble ist bei DRD gefeuert worden und muß noch
ca. 40 Mio Rand aus einem Gerichtsverfahren an DRD zahlen.
Was soll das also ?!

Hallo dempf,

es hätte mich mehr überzeugt, wenn Du einfach gesagt hättest:

Sorry Ulfur, ich habe Dir Unrecht getan ... Fakt ist, Du hattest gepostet "Ein Armutszeugnis, wenn man so eine Scheiße immer wieder zitiert.". Ulfur hat Dir nun die Zitatstelle belegt und für Ihn war das ganze kein Armutszeugnis ... Diese Versuche, unterschiedliche Ansichten über Aktien ins persönliche zu ziehen, sind das was ich als Armutszeugnis empfinge !!!

Versuchen wir daher lieber, zu einer sachlichen Diskussion über DRD zurückzukehren. Diese stellt sich aus meiner Sicht so dar:

Ohne die südafrikanischen Minen hätte DRD eine Jahresproduktion von 330.000 oz in Papua Neuguinea und den Fuji Inseln. Dieser Ausstoß wird bei Nettoproduktionskosten von 206 $/oz erzielt. Dies belegt meines Erachtens, dass alleine die nicht-südafrikanischen Assets wesentlich mehr wert sind, als die gesamte DRD Marktkapitalisierung. Sollte also Kebbles einseitiges Angebot angenommen werden, müßte dies dem DRD Kurs eigentlich gut tun.

Jedem DRD Aktionär (also auch mir) müßte aber trotzdem das Herz bluten, wenn DRD seine südafrikanischen Assets verschleudert. Bitte nicht vergessen, es handelt sich um Goldressourcen von etwa 90 Mio. oz, die (völlig ungehedgt !) ein gigantisches Potenzial für den Aktienkurs bei einer veränderten Wechselkurssituation bedeuten !

Das Interesse des nüchtern abwägenden DRD Aktionärs muss es also sein, dieses Potenzial für die Zukunft zu sichern und gleichzeitig das Cash-Burn in Südafrika bestmöglich zu reduzieren. Bei dieser Aufgabe hat das DRD Management in den letzten Monaten aber völlig versagt, da muss ich Ulfur (leider) Recht geben.

Es ist nun höchste Eisenbahn, dass DRD ein überzeugendes Konzept präsentiert. Wenn das DRD Management dazu nicht in der Lage ist, muss es zurücktreten oder von den Aktionären vom Hof gejagt werden.

Momentan ist sowohl ein Totalverlust durch DRD Konkurs als auch eine Kursvermehrfachung bei Lösung der Probleme denkbar.

Gruß
Schwabenpfeil

Tragically, my friend Blake Joyner died of a heart attack not too long after our trip and fortunately Michel Roy, a sharp mine operator, became the new CEO.

It seems to me the markets are set up for some serious financial market chaos, as I touched on above. Why:

*Contrary to the Wall Street spin, commodity price inflation is not just rising, it is going bonkers. While these same New York spinsters would have the American public believe this doesn’t matter, just like the US fiscal deficits don’t matter, they do. Denial has run its course too. Tell the American consumer these price rises don’t count when they go shopping or fill up their tank with gas. And tell US corporations sharply higher commodity prices aren’t going to affect their bottom lines.

*Rising long-term interests are surely going to have an impact on the housing market bubble too. The 30-year bond closed at 110 20/32, down 25/32, a new low close for the move. The 10-year note was down a half of a point, also making new lows for the move. Rising mortgage rates could be the pinprick to the housing bubble. The rising interest rate costs are sure to dampen corporate profits too.

*The Working Group on Financial Markets and The Gold Cartel have managed US markets for so long they have the investing public in a coma regarding the potential for severe market losses. Hard to remember the last time there was any real investing public fear out there about the US financial and real estate markets. The PPT has come to the rescue for years now before the public has thought about going into panic sell mode. This time might be different.

The reason is the foreigners paying for our increasing deficits are clearly becoming more reticent to adding to those positions. Some even want to cut back as quietly as possible. Pile soaring commodity prices on top of lessening foreign demand to satisfy US credit demands and you have the perfect storm for long term rates to take off from here. Sanguine Wall Street is going to begin to stutter about what to tell the public.

No time to cover the rest of the waterfront on why market chaos could be around the corner except to say with Americans so complacent and so over indebted, you have a recipe for a complete change as to investor psychology. Greed is very likely to turn to fear and when it does, LOOKOUT!

The gold shares stunk up the place with the XAU only up .10 to 101.89, while the HUI lost 1.10 to 221.56. With gold up nicely, the dollar down and commodity prices going berserk, this makes no sense unless one factors in The devious Gold Cartel.

While today turned out to be another annoying one, the big picture remains spectacular. As said often of late, the reasons to own gold are going off the chart. To catch up to the CRB, it must DOUBLE in price.

Sweet dreams for the weekend.

GATA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

MIDAS

A quick comment on ECU silver (my third largest position) and a blast from the past:

Someone else will have to do the analysis on ECU's recent release, but this 34 cent CDN company has a chance to do its own Moon Shot. This is a silver producer with resources on hand and should come up with some kind of reserve estimate in a couple of months or so.

Yesterday’s results, according to what I have heard, were awesome. There aren’t too many genuine silver producers out there. No reason this company should not be a 10 bagger, at a minimum. Management is top notch too.

The blast from the past:

Indiana Jones And The Mine Of Boom

February 25, 1999 - Spot Gold $287.50 unchanged - Spot Silver $5.57 up 17 cents

The trip to Torreon, Mexico to the silver mines of ECU Gold Mining was a long one, absorbing the good part of a day. Mexico City was hopping and was my first stop in Mexico, but when I arrived in Torreon (two hours north of Mexico City and hometown of giant silver producer, Penolas) there was only one other plane (a small one) that could be seen on the runway. That was when I first felt like this was some sort of Indiana Jones sort of thing to do.

There was decent activity in Torreon, but it surely had the feel of a bygone day, just as mining represents an activity that has not changed all that much in hundreds of years. My first visual on taking a look see around outside the hotel was to see a burro driven cart sauntering by and a fun looking pack of dogs following each other in a single line while looking to go play.

On the first day of my stay we went to see one of ECU's secondary mines (San Diego) which is not in production yet. It is now a resource of about a million tonnes of ore and will come on stream in the future. We will never forget that little excursion. It was not like the way to San Jose. Bumpiest ride any of us ever took. We had already ridden for some time to reach the area and now had been on this bumpy path for 1 1/2 hours. Had not seen an animal, much less a person during that time. As we went through a small tunnel in a mountain to reach the mine, low and behold, there was a parked cab driver. Just sitting there as if waiting for a fare. We could not believe our eyes. Had he taken a wrong turn in Mexico City? Had he been there for years waiting for a fare? A big belly laugh for all.

The next day our cast of characters was assembled to visit ECU's Valardena underground silver mine. This cast included:

Jim Culver - The Executive Director of IIG (The International Investment Group). Jim was formerly in charge of Merrill Lynch's gold operations for 18 years. IIG loaned ECU $2 million in December to go into commercial production.

Patrick Paird - President of Global Equities in Paris, France. His firm is the biggest independent brokerage firm in France and they are a major investor in ECU. Patrick is well versed about the gold and silver mining business having been a Director of Burns Frye ( the forerunner to Nesbitt Burns ).

Merlin Bingham - President of Medalline Mining Company. Hailing out of Coeur D' Alene, Idaho, Merlin has a significant silver project in Mexico himself. Merlin's claim to fame is that he discovered the biggest massive sulfide in the world called Greens Creek in the Yukon. Merlin is a Café member

David Morgan - For 10 years, David was the highly regarded gold mining analyst for Lehman Brothers in London. Prior to that he did project and investment evaluations for Consolidated Gold Fields. David is also a Café member and will be writing an institutional type of analysis of ECU which we hope to have up at the Dos Passos Table.

Peter Pojtos - The former President of Greenstone Resources and now an Independent Director of Mining Companies. Peter hails from Lakewood, Colorado and knows the mining business cold.

Then there was my friend, Blake Joyner, a gold and silver broker for First Albany Securities in Chicago, Andre St Michel, President of ECU and myself…

-END-

Greenspan had better not hold his breath:

Bill-
You may have already come across this. I found it quite interesting the remarks today from the Federal Reserve Chairman regarding the dollar and "his hope that further declines in the value of the U.S. dollar would narrow the trade deficit". This may be true but ?????

Greenspan said in prepared remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York today March 10, 2005 http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=570491

Down at the bottom of the page:

On trade, Greenspan expressed hope that further declines in the value of the U.S. dollar would narrow the trade deficit, which mushroomed to an all-time high of $617.7 billion in 2004.

A weaker dollar makes U.S. exports less expensive to foreign buyers and thus more competitive on overseas markets. A weaker dollar also can raise the prices of imported goods flowing into the United States.

By the way, excellent Midas today. My wife, who is very good at tuning me out, had no problem understanding "Why The Historic Gold/CRB Comparison To Today Is So Important."

I truly believe the more people that are exposed to this concept alone, will greatly increase investment demand in Gold. Perhaps the person at CNBC who you sent information to in the past, might appreciate this info.
Best,
Bernie

But you aren’t Mr. President, which is why foreigners are beginning to run for the hills:

China Reduces Dollars in Reserves, Increases Euros, Lehman Says

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- China's central bank cut the share of its currency reserves held in dollars and raised its holdings of euros, according to an estimate by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Seventy-six percent of China's reserves, the world's second- largest, were in dollars last year, down from 82 percent in 2003, Lehman said in an analysis yesterday of figures published by the People's Bank of China. Lehman is the fifth-largest U.S. securities firm. The rest are in euros, Lehman said.

The shift may make it harder for the U.S. economy to attract enough money to compensate for a record current-account deficit, Shruti Sood, a currency analyst at Lehman in London, wrote in the report. The dollar fell after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday the country should consider diversifying its foreign currency holdings, the world's largest…

-END-

Spinmeister time:

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Concerns that Asian central banks are looking to reduce their dollar-denominated reserves are misplaced, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs John Taylor told Dow Jones in an interview published on Friday.

"There's no evidence we have seen that central banks are changing their portfolio proportions," Taylor said.

-END-

Get a load of this – from Jesse again:

President says that US Treasury Bonds are "not so safe unless we fix the deficit"

He was cracking a joke during the Q&A, but is he? Does he really understand the difference in risk expectations and returns between stocks and bonds? I wonder.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…/2005/03/20050310-14.html
Scroll down into the Q&A

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something about the Thrift Savings Plan. This is a Thrift Savings Plan that has a mix of stocks and bonds?

MS. WEBSTER: Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Now, how hard was that to learn how to do that?

MS. WEBSTER: And I chose the safe plan, government bonds. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: That's all right. Well, not so safe, unless we fix the deficit. But other than that -- (laughter). We're fixing the deficit. (Applause.)

-END-

All kinds of goodies today. From what I know of the Asians, this note from Peter to Dan might have hit the nail on the head:

Dan,
Your well-supported and well-illustrated observations of the bond market – vis-a-vis Asia's role in it – are fascinating. My own impression is one of watching a group of synchronized dancers who are signaling to each other that they are ready to change steps. If each country's reserve accounts are going to suffer losses by diversifying their holdings, isn't it more acceptable to do it as region? That way no one minister or central bank – or banker – is singled out.

While I am no expert on Asian psychology, I do believe these cultures value consensus. If this is true, someday soon the East Asians will present the United States with a done deal and find the strength in regional resolve to fend off America's howls. The U.S. can't crack down on them all at the same time. The day that happens is the day the stretcher bearers will have to work overtime. This should be real interesting.

Best wishes and thanks for all you have done to educate me,
Peter R.

Get a load of this – from