Putin stockpiling Gold – anyone wonder why?

September 9, 2012 — bunkerville

Anyone who has been watching the Gold market recently has been aware of the rise of gold stocks, and gold bullion.  China has been on a tear in buying up precious metals of all types world-wide, needed for the new technologies. Meanwhile we sit on our hands and let China move even into our country without a concern.  While China buying up U.S. energy reserves. Obama touts solar, it is the metals that will ensure a safe future. So here we go:

I can’t imagine it means anything cheerful that Vladimir Putin, the Russian czar, is stockpiling gold as fast as he can get his hands on it.

 As was first reported, in April of last year, according to International Monetary Fund calculations, the U.S. is on track to lose its status as the world’s biggest economy—when measured in real, purchasing-power terms—to China by 2017.

Not long ago, world gold reserves were mainly in the hands of the U.S. and the Europeans, which accumulated their holdings during their centuries at the top. The U.S. has 75% of its currency reserves in gold. Many other first world powers have comparable proportions.

According to the World Gold Council, Russia has more than doubled its gold reserves in the past five years. Putin has taken advantage of the financial crisis to build the world’s fifth-biggest gold pile in a handful of years, and is buying about half a billion dollars’ worth every month.

It emerged last month that financial gurus George Soros and John Paulson had also increased their bullion exposure, but it’s Putin that’s really caught my eye.

No one else in the world plays global power politics as ruthlessly as Russia’s chilling strongman

H/T: Marketwatch

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Trading Of Over The Counter Gold And Silver To Be Illegal Beginning July 15

June 19, 2011 — bunkerville

Consider this posting a heads up. I read the full article and it requires a law degree to even to be able opine on the matter. Since this memo came out from FOREX, it apparently warrants a deep concern. Dodd-Frank– the bill that keeps on giving. There are still hundreds of pages of regs yet to be written on this behemoth bill that passed once again in the dark of the night. It is interesting that Gold and Silver seem to be the focus and concern. You might want to check out one of my earlier posts which follows at the bottom of the page.

Zero Hedge
June 18th, 2011

One small step toward Executive Order 6102 part 2, and one giant leap for corruptcongressmankind.

From: FOREX.com <info@forex.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Subject: Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading
To: xxx

Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading

We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011.

In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET.

We encourage you to wind down your trading activity in these products over the next month in anticipation of the new rule, as any open XAU or XAG positions that remain open prior to July 15, 2011 at approximately 5:00 pm ET will be automatically liquidated.

We sincerely regret any inconvenience complying with the new U.S. regulation may cause you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our customer service team.

Sincerely,
The Team at FOREX.com

It appears that Forex.com’s interpretation of the law stems primarily from Section 742(a) of the Dodd-Frank act which “prohibits any person [which again includes companies]from entering into, or offering to enter into, a transaction in any commodity with a person that is not an eligible contract participant or an eligible commercial entity, on a leveraged or margined basis.”  More here at The Intelhub

Dodd Frank Fiasco- now we are on the hook for the derivatives market

Only seven months too late, official Washington is starting to acknowledge flaws in the architecture of the Dodd-Frank law passed last July. Tuesday, for example, Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo admitted in testimony to the House Committee on Financial Services that by forcing much of the derivatives market through central counterparties, the government would now be creating new too-big-to-fail institutions and new potential sources of systemic financial risk.

 More on the Dodd-Frank Bill

Last week, I described how the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed last summer violates constitutional separation-of-powers safeguards by giving unaccountable bureaucrats the power to seize companies and legislate through administrative fiat.  But that is not the only way Dodd-Frank violates the Constitution.  It also violates property rights and equal-protection guarantees.

For example, it contains racial preferences that were criticized by members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. It “imposes race and gender employment quotas on the financial industry,” noted economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth in the Washington Examiner. Its ”Section 342 states that race and gender employment ratios must be observed by all government agencies that regulate the financial sector, as well as private financial institutions that do business with the government.”

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