Bank Of America Sees Fed Assets Surpassing $5 Trillion By End Of 2014 … Leading To $3350 Gold And $190 Crude

And for some (idiots) this is not enough …

Paul Krugman: QE3 Should Have Been ‘More Stronger’ (Quote Of The Day)

… versus those who can clearly see what is coming:

Marc Faber: ‘Fed Will Destroy The World’ (Video)

Ron Paul On QE3: ‘Country Should Panic Over Fed’s Decision’ – ‘We Are Creating Money Out Of Thin Air’ – ‘We’ve Lost Control!’ (Video)

From the article:

“Even when unwinding its balance sheet would mean sacrificing 30% of US GDP and, let’s be honest about it, civil war.”


BofA Sees Fed Assets Surpassing $5 Trillion By End Of 2014… Leading To $3350 Gold And $190 Crude (ZeroHedge, Sep 14, 2012):

Yesterday, when we first presented our calculation of what the Fed’s balance sheet would look like through the end of 2013, some were confused why we assumed that the Fed would continue monetizing the long-end beyond the end of 2012. Simple: in its statement, the FOMC said that “If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability.” Therefore, the only question is by what point the labor market would have improved sufficiently to satisfy the Fed with its “improvement” (all else equal, which however – and here’s looking at you inflation – will not be). Conservatively, we assumed that it would take at the lest until December 2014 for unemployment to cross the Fed’s “all clear threshold.” As it turns out we were optimistic. Bank of America’s Priya Misra has just released an analysis which is identical to ours in all other respects, except for when the latest QE version would end. BofA’s take: “We do not believe there will be “substantial” improvement in the labor market for the next 1.5-2 years and foresee the Fed buying Treasuries after the end of Operation Twist.” What does this mean for total Fed purchases? Again, simple. Add $1 trillion to the Zero Hedge total of $4TRN. In other words, Bank of America just predicted at least 2 years and change of constant monetization, which would send the Fed’s balance sheet to grand total of just over $5,000,000,000,000 as the Fed adds another $2.2 trillion MBS and Treasury notional to the current total of $2.8 trillion.

In other words, for once we actually were shockingly optimistic on the US economy. Assuming BofA is correct, and it probably is, this is how the Fed’s balance sheet will look like for the next 2 years:

Or, in terms of US GDP, the Fed’s balance sheet will have “LBOed” just shy of 30% of all US goods and services.

It gets worse:

Read moreBank Of America Sees Fed Assets Surpassing $5 Trillion By End Of 2014 … Leading To $3350 Gold And $190 Crude

The Only ‘Un-Manipulated’ Chart Of The Real Un-Recovery You’ll Ever Need

The Only ‘Un-Manipulated’ Chart Of The Real Un-Recovery You’ll Ever Need (ZeroHedge, Aug 17, 2012):

Probably no other commodity is tied to global growth, especially EM and China growth, than the key steel-making ingredient – Iron Ore. The iron ore price continues to plunge and it would appear that very few are focused on it. Critically, this is the one commodity that is not a futures contract, cannot be manipulated by trading desks or by levered hedge funds. Despite all the euphoria about risk assets and commodities – and the central bank front-running – Iron Ore prices continue to sink lower and lower…

Gold, Silver, Corn, And Brent Are Best Performers On The 5-Year Anniversary Of The Great Financial Crisis


World’s biggest gold coin

Gold, Silver, Corn, And Brent Are Best Performers On The 5-Year Anniversary Of The Great Financial Crisis (ZeroHedge, Aug 9, 2012):

Five years ago today BNP Paribas stopped withdrawals from three of their investment funds – because they couldn’t value their holdings following the subprime fallout – and arguably marked the start of the Great Financial Crisis as money markets seized up and the ECB did its first emergency liquidity pump. In the five years hence, as Deutsche’s Jim Reid notes, its been a pretty good run for commodities and most fixed income assets. Given all that’s gone on over this period it’s fair to say that returns have been pretty good if you’ve been in the right areas. The authorities have played a big part in ensuring the period wasn’t a disaster even if there have been frightening periods and very poor returns in some areas. Given that there are still numerous unresolved issues, the authorities need to continue to be on full alert for the next 5 years to ensure that when we do the 10 year anniversary there haven’t been set-backs in many of these assets.

Source: Deutsche Bank

Famous Investor Jim Rogers: ‘Volume Is Not Going To Come Back. We’ve Had A Great 30 Years. That’s Finished!’

Rogers: “Volume Is Not Going To Come Back. We’ve Had A Great 30 Years. That’s Finished!”

Jim Rogers is hedging his gold (and silver) positions reflecting that this is normal, following such a tremendous run, and that this is good for the precious metal in the long-run. In his discussion with Maria Bartiromo this afternoon, he notes India’s anti-gold ‘protectionism’ (and its potential balance of payments issues) that are trying to force the hoarding into risky ‘productive’ assets (as others might say). The immutable commodity maven suggests JPMorgan (and its peers) could be behind the drops in the overall commodity complex as the uncertainty of their positions (and liquidation potential to raise cash as bank examiners begin their forensics) becomes more important. He holds the USD, which he hates; has a number of equity shorts; and is most fearful of banks – specifically admitting he is a serial seller of calls on JPMorgan. His advice, and perhaps Maria should look into it given their ratings recently, is to become a farmer; own farmland; and speculate on agriculture. On the dismal ‘ethical’ state of our leaders and management, the thoughtful Rogers opines, “You can read world history for decades. There are always people doing things wrong. We have not changed our human nature and we will continue to have scandals and problems” and in a follow-up to CNBC’s standard ‘money-on-the-sidelines’ argument he crushes the money-honey’s dreams: “Finance had a great 30 years. That’s finished. Now to advance, we have too many people, too many MBAs, too much leverage and too many governments that don’t like us”. A must-see rebuttal to the ‘normal’ CNBC hopium with more on China’s slowdown, a US recession, Europe and a Greek exit, QE3, and ‘tractors’.

Monsanto Threatens To Sue The Entire State Of Vermont … If It Requires To Label GMO Food Products!

Monsanto threatens to sue the entire state of Vermont (RT, Edited: 11 April, 2012):

Lawmakers in Vermont are looking to regulate food labels so customers can know which products are made from genetically modified crops, but agricultural giants Monsanto say they will sue if the state follows through.

If the bill in question, H-722 (the “VT Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act”) passes the state Senate and House, manufacturers will be required to label products that are created either partially or in full from a genetically modified organism, or GMO. Such man-made crops have become a trademark of the billion-dollar Monsanto corporation, and in the past the company has gone to great lengths to keep themselves the number-one name in American agriculture, even if those profits are made possible from playing God.

Monsanto is going mad over the proposal, however, which would also make them unable to label their productions as “natural,” “naturally made,” “naturally grown” or “all natural,” if, in fact, they are not. For the corporation, it would seem that moving products and making money is much more of a worthwhile venture than telling its customers what exactly they are consuming.

Read moreMonsanto Threatens To Sue The Entire State Of Vermont … If It Requires To Label GMO Food Products!

Precious Metals Plunge And India’s Industrial Production Crashes

Precious Metals Plunge And India’s Industrial Production Crashes (ZeroHedge, Dec. 12, 2011):

The metals space has had a rather disconcerting start to the week this evening with Silver and Copper dropping almost 2% from their opening levels and then Gold following suit. All this as the USD inches very gradually up tracking almost perfectly with Crude for now. These moves seem very liquidation-like in their velocity but have for now stabilized at the lows. The last few minutes saw some of the ugliest macro data we have seen in a while come out of India as it’s Industrial Production growth missed expectations by a mile falling to levels only seen in the middle of the global economic shutdown in Q1 2009. So another leg in the EM-will-save-us-all stool just got kicked out and still we are to believe the US will decouple and ‘muddle-through’?

The metals are ‘decoupling’ from oil for now and it was interesting that the reaction in Gold was ‘delayed’ a few hours on the simultaneous drop in Copper and Silver. They are extending their losses now after the India IP print…

ES is leaking back from its highs but is trading in a narrow range so far and maybe 3-4pts rich to broad risk assets for now.

Charts: Bloomberg

Eric Sprott Fights PM Manipulation Fire With Fire: Calls Silver Producers To Retain Silver Produced As ‘Cash’

See also:

Eric Sprott To Buy $1.5 BILLION In PHYSICAL Silver

Flashback:

James G. Rickards of Omnis Inc.: Get Your Gold Out Of The Banking System

US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HAS TOLD BANKS – IN WRITING – IT MAY INSPECT SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES WITHOUT WARRANT AND SEIZE ANY GOLD, SILVER, GUNS OR OTHER VALUABLES IT FINDS INSIDE THOSE BOXES!


Eric Sprott Fights PM Manipulation Fire With Fire: Calls Silver Producers To Retain Silver Produced As “Cash”

In what is likely the most logical follow up to our post of the day, namely the news of the lawsuit between HSBC and MF Global over double-counted gold, or physical – not paper – that was “commingled” via rehypothecating or otherwise, we present readers with the monthly note by Eric Sprott titled “Silver Producers: A Call to Action” in which the Canadian commodities asset manager has had enough of what he perceives as subtle and/or not so subtle manipulation of the precious metal market, and in not so many words calls the silver miners of the world “to spring to action” and effectively establish supply controls to silver extraction to counteract paper market manipulation in the paper realm by treating their product as a currency and retaining it as “cash”. To wit: “instead of selling all their silver for cash and depositing that cash in a levered bank, silver miners should seriously consider storing a portion of their reserves in physical silver OUTSIDE OF THE BANKING SYSTEM. Why take on all the risks of the bank when you can hold hard cash through the very metal that you mine? Given the current environment, we see much greater risk holding cash in a bank than we do in holding precious metals. And it serves to remember that thanks to 0% interest rates, banks don’t pay their customers to take on those risks today.” And the math: “If silver miners were therefore to reinvest 25% of their 2011 earnings back into physical silver, they could potentially account for 21% of the approximate 300 million ounces (~$9 billion) available for investment in 2011. If they were to reinvest all their earnings back into silver, it would shrink available 2011 investment supply by 82%. This is a purely hypothetical exercise of course, but can you imagine the impact this practice would have on silver prices?” And there you go: Sprott ‘reputable’ entity to propose to fight manipulation with what is effectively collusion, which in the grand scheme of things is perfectly normal – after all, all is fair in love and war over a dying monetary model. Who could have thought that the jump from “proletariats” to “silver miners” would be so short.

From Eric Sprott

Silver Producers: A Call to Action

Read moreEric Sprott Fights PM Manipulation Fire With Fire: Calls Silver Producers To Retain Silver Produced As ‘Cash’

How Goldman Sachs Started The Food Speculation Frenzy


The banking sector is lobbying hard to stop regulation of food speculation

How Goldman Sachs started the food speculation frenzy (Ecologist, Sep. 13, 2011):

US Investment bank Goldman Sachs convinced government officials in the early 1990s to allow it to start gambling on the price of food. Alan Bjerga explains how they did it

In 1991, Goldman Sachs had an idea that changed commodity-trading forever.

J. Aron & Co., Goldman’s commodities trader, wanted to enter into a swap with a pension fund that wanted to add commodities to its portfolio. Raw goods were looking attractive at the moment. Inflation had risen more than 6 per cent the previous year, and the economy was in the recession that, in 1992, would elect Bill Clinton president.

Read moreHow Goldman Sachs Started The Food Speculation Frenzy

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

Hmmh.


Trading Of Over The Counter Gold And Silver To Be Illegal Beginning July 15 (ZeroHedge, June 18, 2011):

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

From: FOREX.com <[email protected]>
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

So far we have only received this warning from Forex.com. We are waiting to see which other dealers inform their customers that trading gold and silver over the counter will soon be illegal.

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.”

Some prehistory from Hedge Fund Law Blog:

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

For All Those Who Believe The Economic Crisis Is Over

20 Questions To Ask Anyone Foolish Enough To Believe The Economic Crisis Is Over (Economic Collapse Blog, May 26th, 2011):

If you listen to Ben Bernanke, Barack Obama and the mainstream media long enough, and if you didn’t know any better, you might be tempted to think that the economic crisis is long gone and that we are in the midst of a burgeoning economic recovery.  Unfortunately, the truth is that the economic crisis is far from over.  In 2010, more homes were repossessed than ever before, more Americans were on food stamps than ever before and a smaller percentage of American men had jobs than ever before.  The reality is that the United States is an economic basket case and all of these natural disasters certainly are not helping things.  The Federal Reserve has been printing gigantic piles of money and the U.S. government has been borrowing and spending cash at a dizzying pace in an all-out effort to stabilize things.  They have succeeded for the moment, but our long-term economic problems are worse then ever.  We are still in the middle of a full-blown economic crisis and things are about to get even worse.

If you know someone that is foolish enough to believe that the economic crisis is over and that our economic problems are behind us, just ask that person the following questions….

#1 During the 23 months of the “Obama recovery”, an average of about 23,000 jobs a month have been created.  It takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.  So shouldn’t we hold off a bit before we declare the economic crisis to be over?

#2 During the “recession”, somewhere between 6.3 million and 7.5 million jobs were lost.  During the “Obama recovery”, approximately 535,000 jobs have been added.  When will the rest of the jobs finally come back?

#3 Of the 535,000 jobs that have been created during the “Obama recovery”, only about 35,000 of them are permanent full-time jobs. Today, “low income jobs” account for 41 percent of all jobs in the United States. If our economy is recovering, then why can’t it produce large numbers of good jobs that will enable people to provide for their families?

#4 Agricultural commodities have been absolutely soaring this decade.  The combined price of cotton, wheat, gasoline and hogs is now more than 3 times higher than it was back in 2002.  So how in the world can the Federal Reserve claim that inflation has been at minimal levels all this time?

Read moreFor All Those Who Believe The Economic Crisis Is Over

UN Warns Of Food Riots In Developing World As Food Inflation Continuous To Skyrocket

European dry spell and commodities speculation combine to push up average cereal costs by 71% to record levels


The dry riverbed of the Loire near the Anjou-Bretagne bridge in Ancenis, western France. Photograph: Stephane Mahe/REUTERS

Food prices are expected to hit new highs in the coming weeks, tightening the squeeze on UK households and potentially triggering further unrest in developing countries unless there is heavy rainfall across drought-affected Europe, the United Nations has warned.

The average global price of cereals jumped by 71% to a new record in the year to April, more than three times higher than a decade ago, according to latest UN figures, prompting its Food and Agriculture Organisation to warn that Europe faces a pivotal few weeks.

With the dry spell forecast to continue for several weeks across Europe, Abdolreza Abbassian, senior grains economist at the FAO, said: “Europe is entering a very critical month. We can’t do without rain any more. If the current situation continues prices will respond very aggressively.”

“Our fear is that we still haven’t seen the worst of food inflation in vulnerable countries and that could be coming. One way or another, rising food prices bring hardship on their people and you can’t rule out the possibility of further food riots. A lot depends on the next few weeks and it’s impossible to predict how Mother Nature will behave,” Abbassian added.

Read moreUN Warns Of Food Riots In Developing World As Food Inflation Continuous To Skyrocket

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange’s 1 Kilo Gold Contract To End Comex Gold Futures Trading (And ‘Bang The Close’) Monopoly

‘BTFD!’ (Buy the f****ing dip!)

(… but only in the form of physical gold and silver.)


30 years ago, Bunker Hunt, while trying to demand delivery for virtually every single silver bar in existence, and getting caught in the middle of a series of margin hikes (sound familiar), accused the Comex (as well as the CFTC and the CBOT) of changing the rules in the middle of the game (and was not too happy about it). Whether or not this allegation is valid is open to debate. We do know that “testimony would reveal that nine of the 23 Comex board members held short contracts on 38,000,000 ounces of silver. With their 1.88 billion dollar collective interest in having the price go down, it is easy to see why Bunker did not view them as objective.” One wonders how many short positions current Comex board members have on now. Yet by dint of being a monopoly, the Comex had and has free reign to do as it pleases: after all, where can futures investors go? Nowhere… at least until now. In precisely 9 days, on May 18, the Hong Kong Mercantile exchange will finally offer an alternative to the Comex and its alleged attempts at perpetual precious metals manipulation.

From Commodity Online:

The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) has received authorisation from the Securities and Futures Commission and will make its trading debut on May 18, 2011 with the 1-kilo gold futures contract offered in US dollars with physical delivery in Hong Kong.

Read moreHong Kong Mercantile Exchange’s 1 Kilo Gold Contract To End Comex Gold Futures Trading (And ‘Bang The Close’) Monopoly

How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis

Don’t blame American appetites, rising oil prices, or genetically modified crops for rising food prices. Wall Street’s at fault for the spiraling cost of food.



Demand and supply certainly matter. But there’s another reason why food across the world has become so expensive: Wall Street greed.

It took the brilliant minds of Goldman Sachs to realize the simple truth that nothing is more valuable than our daily bread. And where there’s value, there’s money to be made. In 1991, Goldman bankers, led by their prescient president Gary Cohn, came up with a new kind of investment product, a derivative that tracked 24 raw materials, from precious metals and energy to coffee, cocoa, cattle, corn, hogs, soy, and wheat. They weighted the investment value of each element, blended and commingled the parts into sums, then reduced what had been a complicated collection of real things into a mathematical formula that could be expressed as a single manifestation, to be known henceforth as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI).

Read moreHow Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis

Apmex Starts Reverse Inquiry: ‘We’ll will pay you $3.00 over the current spot price of Silver for your Silver American Eagles. ANY year, ANY quantity!’ AND ‘We will pay you $38.00 over the current spot price of Gold for your Gold American Eagles. ANY year, ANY quantity!’

As any MSM brainwashed sheep can clearly see there are no shortages and silver and gold are in a bubble.

ROFL!

Got silver and gold?

Expect gold at$10,000/oz and silver above $500/oz (with corrections in between).


Over the past hour Zero Hedge has been inundated with reader comments notifying us that Ampex has, validating the earlier post speculating about a possible silver shortage at the metals distributor, launched a “reverse ïnquiry” in which it will pay “you $3.00 over the current spot price of Silver for your Silver American Eagles. ANY year, ANY quantity!” and “We will pay you $38.00 over the current spot price of Gold for your Gold American Eagles. ANY year, ANY quantity!” So aside from this first public confirmation that one of the biggest wholesale retailers of precious metals is now inventoryless [sic], we can certainly see why Asia has decided to take silver down in the afterhours electronic session.

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/25/2011 19:22 -0400

Source: ZeroHedge

Will JP Morgan Now Make and Take ‘Delivery’ of Its Own Silver Shorts?

There is nothing inherently wrong and certainly nothing “illegal” about J.P. Morgan Chase gaining a vault license for storing and taking delivery of gold/silver/platinum/palladium from the futures markets known as NYMEX/COMEX. However, the speed, timing and manner in which the exchanges just granted it troubles us.

The process of being approved as a licensed vault or weigh-master/assayer for the NYMEX/COMEX futures exchange usually involves a careful security inspection of the vaults, a full report of that inspection, and a completely transparent package submitted to the U.S. Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC) for approval. This process will ordinarily consume considerably more than 45 days. Apparently, such correct and careful practices apply only to banks and independent storage facilities that are not J.P. Morgan Chase.

Some vault operators are more equal than others. JPM appears immune from processes that everyone else must suffer through. On March 15, 2011, the Commodity Exchange (COMEX) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) advised the CFTC that they had approved J.P. Morgan’s application to become a licensed vault facility, using a “self-certification” process. The newly licensed vault, located at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, NY, NY, is ready to roll as both “weighmaster” and depository, for delivery of gold, silver, platinum and palladium contracts, as of March 17, 2011, two days later.

As a smaller player, the NYSE-Liffe exchange uses COMEX licensed depositories for delivery and storage of its metals. The new JPM vault, therefore, will also qualify to accept delivery of metal coming from the maturity of NYSE-Liffe gold and silver futures contracts, including the smaller 1,000 ounce silver contract.

Read moreWill JP Morgan Now Make and Take ‘Delivery’ of Its Own Silver Shorts?

The Silver Rocket

Additional recommended reading:

The Silver Bullet And The Silver Shield (Must-read!)

Best Article on Silver in Ten Years!:

Bob, of 321gold.com, is part of the problem. He would rather not publish well researched facts, to “save his readers” from buying into what he thinks was a near term top that might see a 10% pullback. He doesn’t want his readers to buy into a top; to protect his readers, or to protect his reputation? OK, I hope I helped to expose him for what he is. Apparently, Bob was trying to protect his readers from the risk of buying silver at $6/oz., too! HA HA!!

Listening to Liars (Bob Moriarty – 321gold)


The Silver Rocket:

(I have already been accused of “showing my ass and shaking my pom poms” for silver by 321Gold.com. I figured I would spend the month of March cheering on silver from the sidelines, since I am not a player ;)

I made the prediction that silver would hit $50 by the end of March. This prediction was based off of a possible CRIMEX default of physical silver in the delivery month of March. By all accounts we are already looking pretty good with a 4% jump on Friday to $35.67. There are rumors that silver is already $50 at the CRIMEX and that JP Morgue is paying 80% premiums not to take delivery in the crucial month of March. There are only 40 million ounces available for delivery and little under $1.5 billion would expose this greatest of frauds.

I believe that we just are in the early stages of a Mania Phase in Silver. So I put a chart together to put this silver market into perspective.

As always, I want to warn all of you “greedy, little bastards” to be very careful of this silver bull. This is a very volatile market and I know of many investors that got wiped out in 2008. There are big market makers that can turn the silver market on a dime. Remember, the market can stay irrational longer than you can remain solvent. If you need further analysis of silver fundamentals, I suggest you read the Silver Bullet and the Silver Shield.

Read moreThe Silver Rocket

Silver Rise Protection Team Strikes Again – JP Morgan In Worse Shape Then We Ever Dared To Hope

Each day this week, silver has been hammered down at approximately 9:00 am EST. Now, we all know that this isn’t atypical…the EE have been doing this for years and we did see copper sell off at roughly the same time. However, several readers have brought to my attention the little nugget below and I think it requires your serious consideration.

(Click on image to enlarge.)


First things first, here’s a 15-minute May silver chart to peruse. Keep in mind that today’s smackdown was in the face of ongoing strength in gold and crude, so, silver acted somewhat independently.

“WB: JPM is in worse shape then we ever dared to hope 20-Nov-10 07:06 am

Blythe,

This is what I am now hearing from traders on the floor. These traders are not even sure if Blythe knows the full extent of JPM’s silver exposure.

When I first started to realize that JPM has shorted far more silver than they could ever hope to cover, my first question was “why would they do that?” Not only that, why do it with a commodity where you must report your positions through the COT and Bank Participation Report? After all,the whole world can see what you are doing. [my added comment: Ted Butler included!]

Now I know the answer. According to Max Keiser and now a couple of other independent sources, it seems the reasons why first Bear Stearns and now JPM are so desperate to manipulate the price of silver down is due to the fact that BS and JPM shorted billions (yes billions not millions) in ounces of silver through their derivatives.

Just like Joe Conason at AIG, silver shorting through derivatives have caused literally billions in losses not the millions that we know about publicly. That is why JPM has been so desperate to manipulate the price of silver downward so blatantly. If I am right about this, then JPM will be dead when silver hits $60 or so. Based upon the COT and BPR, if silver hits $60, JPM will lose around an additional $6 billion dollars, a large number but not nearly large enough to bring down mighty JPM.

But what is not known is that due to the way that its derivatives are written, JPM’s losses are exponentional once silver breaks $36 or so. Rumors has it that JPM could be losing as much as $40 billion once silver is above $50. It has something to do with how the derivatives are written with payment tied to the price of silver.

Since JPM was a price manipulator with respectt to the price of silver, JPM assumed that any derivative payments tied to silver would be less than they would be tied to some other index like the CPI or TIPS implied inflation index. JPM’s inability to hold down the price of silver relative to other measures of inflation will cause unbelievable losses due to a mismatch in their derivative structures.

In essence,JPM has bet (a huge amount)through derivatives that silver will never outperform inflation. And why not,since JPM assumed that it will always be able to manipulate the price of silver. We have now come to understand that JPM’s loss exposure to silver is much greater than we have ever dared to hope.
WB: In an effort to clear up some recent confusion regarding my latest posting, I will try to explain what I have recently uncovered.

JPM’s current short silver position is estimated to be approximately 150 million ounces down from the recent 180 million ounces in August. The losses from these positions are easy to figure out. For every $10 rise in the price of silver, JPM will lose $1.5 billion. But what I have recently discovered is that through its derivative positions, JPM will lose about 5 times that amount ounce the price of silver is above $36. And ounce silver is above $45 dollars, JPM’s losses will increase to 8 times the amount of losses in their short positions. The reason is that as the price of silver increases, certain provisions get activated which multiplies the losses.

Read moreSilver Rise Protection Team Strikes Again – JP Morgan In Worse Shape Then We Ever Dared To Hope

Hedge-Fund Manager Eric Sprott: Silver Will Keep Outshining Gold


* Hedge fund boss says more dollars flows favor silver

* Wary of investing in base metal due to uncertain economy


TORONTO, March 8 (Reuters) – Silver is likely to keep outperforming gold thanks to strong dollar flows, though both are still good investments compared with copper and other base metals, according to Eric Sprott, the hedge-fund manager and Canadian investment guru.

“I watch where the money goes and the money’s going into silver. There’s as much money going into silver as into gold in dollar terms,” said Sprott in an interview with Reuters.

Sprott, who heads Toronto-based hedge-fund Sprott Asset Management, said it is important to note that silver available to buy is relatively scarce in terms of value, and that bodes well for further gains.

“There is 75 times more dollars worth of gold to buy than silver, but the money’s going in one to one,” says Sprott, while speaking on the sidelines of an investor event held in conjunction with the annual PDAC mining convention in Toronto.

Silver stocks in COMEX warehouses are near their lowest since April 2006, when the metal traded at $5 an ounce. Demand for silver coins has also picked up, especially in the United States, where it was at record levels early this year.

“My biggest thing is silver — I think silver is going to go up a lot here. Gold’s right in there, but not as good as silver,” said Sprott, following a presentation to hundreds of investors in a resplendent ballroom at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel.

Read moreHedge-Fund Manager Eric Sprott: Silver Will Keep Outshining Gold

Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management: ‘A Hyperinflationary Deluge Is Imminent’, And Why, Therefore, Bernanke’s Motto Is ‘Après Nous Le Déluge’

Apres Nous, Le Deluge

Happy days are here again! Stock markets are strong, company profits are up, bankers are making record profits and bonuses, unemployment is declining, and inflation is non-existent. Obama and Bernanke are the dream team making the US into the Superpower it once was.

Yes, it is amazing the castles in the air that can be built with paper money and deceitful manipulation of all economic data.  And Madame Bernanke de Pompadour will do anything to keep King Louis XV Obama happy, including flooding markets with unlimited amounts of printed money. They both know that, in their holy alliance, they are committing a cardinal sin. But clinging to power is more important than the good of the country.  An economic and social disaster is imminent for the US and a major part of the world and Bernanke de Pompadour and Louis XV Obama are praying that it won’t happen during their reign: “Après nous le déluge”. (Warm thanks to my good friend the artist Leo Lein).

Moral and financial decadence

A deluge of an unprecedented magnitude is both inevitable and imminent. The consequences of the economic and political mismanagement will have a devastating impact on the world for a very long time. And the consequences will touch most corners of the world in so many different areas; economic, financial, social, political and geopolitical. The adjustment that the world will undergo in the next decade or longer, will be of such colossal magnitude that life will be very different for coming generations compared to the current social, financial and moral decadence. But history always gives us lessons and the one that is coming will be necessary and eventually good for the world. But the transition and adjustment will be extremely traumatic for most of us.

Read moreEgon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management: ‘A Hyperinflationary Deluge Is Imminent’, And Why, Therefore, Bernanke’s Motto Is ‘Après Nous Le Déluge’

JP Morgan And HSBC Silver Manipulation Explained In The New York Times!

Must-see:

JP Morgan Silver Manipulation Explained (Part 1-4)


(New York Times) — As Americans know all too well by this point, commodity prices — for corn, wheat, soybeans, crude oil, gold and even farmland — have been going through the roof for what seems like forever. There are many causes, primarily supply and demand pressures driven by fears about the unrest in the Middle East, the rise of consumerism in China and India, and the Fed’s $600 billion campaign to increase the money supply.

Nonetheless, how to explain the price of silver? In the past six months, the value of the precious metal has increased nearly 80 percent, to more than $34 an ounce from around $19 an ounce. In the last month alone, its price has increased nearly 23 percent. This kind of price action in the silver market is reminiscent of the fortune-busting, roller-coaster ride enjoyed by the Hunt Brothers, Nelson Bunker and William Herbert, back in 1970s and early 1980s when they tried unsuccessfully to corner the market. When the Hunts started buying silver in 1973, the price of the metal was $1.95 an ounce. By early 1980, the brothers had driven the price up to $54 an ounce before the Federal Reserve intervened, changed the rules on speculative silver investments and the price plunged. The brothers later declared bankruptcy.

Read moreJP Morgan And HSBC Silver Manipulation Explained In The New York Times!

Jim Rogers: ‘Saudi Arabia Is Lying About Being Able To Increase Its Oil Production’

Rogers Interview on Commodities, Global Stocks, Feb. 28

“Saudi Arabia has been lying about the reserves for decades.

Saudi Arabia the last two times said they are going to increase production and they couldn’t increase production. Don’t fall for that.

The reason oil is going up is the world is running out of known reserves of oil.”

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) — Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, talks about his investment strategy for global stocks and commodities. Gold advanced, approaching a record, as tensions in the Middle East boosted oil prices, increasing demand for precious metals as a protector of wealth and hedge against inflation. Rogers also discusses his strategy for the U.S. dollar. He speaks in Hong Kong with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television’s “On the Move Asia.”

Source: Bloomberg
?

??

The Market Is Telling Us That The US Dollar Is Finished

There’s major shift occurring right now in financial markets.

Sure, the food and freedom riots that are spreading across the globe are a major indicator that civil unrest follows very closely behind resource shortages and economic turmoil… but there’s something else that I’ve noticed recently– it’s a sea change in the financial system.

In the past, major crises normally caused investors to seek safe haven assets, and everything else equal, the dollar would rise. They call it a ‘flight to safety’, and investors would flock towards the perceived stability of US Treasury securities.

In 2008, for example, the Lehman collapse spurred the market to go rushing into the dollar. The pound, euro, S&P, oil, and gold all went into freefall, and the dollar surged. Anyone holding cash felt pretty smart, and the market paid tribute to the US dollar as the world’s safe haven currency.

There were a lot of reasons for why this happened. The US government likes to claim that it has never failed to pay on its debts. Of course, even the most cursory analysis would lead one to conclude that they trade debt for inflation… and more debt.

Regardless, when financial markets were collapsing in 2008, investors made a rational decision to accept negative real rates in the dollar (effectively paying a fee to hold short-term treasuries) over other currencies and asset classes.

It was the lesser of all evils at that particular moment and should not be conflated with ‘confidence’.

The other big reason for the dollar’s 2008 surge was that many of the world’s financial markets were leveraged to the hilt… in dollars. When Greenspan started slashing rates in 2001, investors around the world had been able to borrow cheap US dollars and park them in higher yielding assets abroad.

This global carry trade helped produce huge returns in emerging financial markets as investors borrowed four to six times their dollar equity at 2% to 8% and invested in China at 20%+.

Read moreThe Market Is Telling Us That The US Dollar Is Finished