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Gold Buying Frenzy Continues: China, Japan, And Australia Scramble For Physical
We noted here that the plunge in the paper price of gold (and silver) had prompted considerable renewed demand for physical and now it seems the scramble among the "more stable investor base" is increasing. The shake out of ETFs and futures has left the Australian mint short of deliverables and Japanese and Chinese gold retailers seeing a "frenzied" surge in demand. The customers are not just the 'rich' or 'elderly'; in China "they tend to wear water shoes and come directly from the market...;" in Australia, "the volume of business... is way in excess of double what we did last week,... there’s been people running through the gate," and Japanese individual investors doubled gold purchases yesterday at Tokuriki Honten, the country’s second-largest retailer of the precious metal. The panic selling by a weaker 'imminent inflation-based' investor base has sparked physical shortages - "there’s been significant sales made as people see this as great value." It seems our previous discussions of a rotation from paper to physical were correct and this physical demand will eventually leak back into the paper markets.
Australia (via The Age):
Gold sales from Perth Mint, which refines nearly all of the nation’s bullion, have surged after prices plunged, adding to signs that the metal’s slump to a two-year low is spurring increased demand.
“The volume of business that we’re putting through is way in excess of double what we did last week,” Treasurer Nigel Moffatt said, without giving precise figures. “There’s been people running through the gate.”
...
“There’s been significant sales made as people see this as great value,” Mr Moffatt said. “Gold owners are very reactive to significant market movements.”
...
The Perth Mint’s sales of gold coins climbed 49 per cent to 97,541 ounces in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier
China (via China News):
Beijing gold store two hours to sell 20,000 grams of gold bullion trading volume of nearly 200 million
and (via YCWB):
People have to rush to buy gold, ... gold bullion out of stock yesterday, investors yesterday to spend as much as 600 million yuan to buy 20 kilograms of gold bars
The mad pursuit gold insufficiency is not just a game for the rich. Yesterday, the Yangcheng Evening News reporter learned from the East flowers to Bay store, many growers, pork traffickers, fishmonger recently put down his job went straight to the mall to buy gold.
Japan (via Reuters):
Some Japanese also harbor fears that the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies dubbed "Abenomics", coupled with a national debt more than twice as large as annual economic output, could trigger a crisis down the line.
Skeptics about the radical attempt to reflate the economy -- or those simply worried that a slide in the yen that began in anticipation of Abe's election victory last December will continue unabated -- are still buying gold, dealers say.
"Investors in gold are convinced that Japan's fiscal position will get worse," said Wakako Harada, general manager of Japan's top bullion house, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo.
"What I see at our counter is that more people are getting worried about Japan. That's why we are seeing a lot of buying."
...
"In contrast this time, we are seeing interest to buy on dips to take exposures to gold,"
...
"Investors are using this opportunity to buy gold to diversify beyond bonds, stocks and the yen currency as Japan's fiscal situation could deteriorate."
(via The Age):
Japanese individual investors doubled gold purchases yesterday at Tokuriki Honten, the country’s second-largest retailer of the precious metal.
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I don't think we are going Mad Max either. But, it might feel like it for a unknown period of time... depending on where you live, proximity to major city centers, etc.
If anything were to interrupt the free shit parade, it would only take a few days at most for the fires to start.
edit: not sure that the world we are heading for in the short to medium term will be any better than a Mad Max outcome.
One, the Germans also had a large part of the population dependent on entitlements(unemployment) and on state employment.
Two, cultural diversity will mean little, it is economic diversity that is the main factor and most people are middle class to poor.
Three, people were no more self reliant than today.
Please cite an example. Otherwise, hyperinflation lasted one year. A relatively short time frame and currency was merely renamed with a promise and it held. However, presidential powers to claim control over farm production could be a wild card. Though food problems existed during the weimar incident as well. For the most part, people adapted non-violently.
The LA riots are a whole different animal. The abuse of human rights over extended periods of time can produce a emergency situation. Katrina? Most people found means of surviving, though many went WHERE THEY WERE TOLD AND PROMISED FOOD AND SHELTER.
Food takes up 10% of american income. Most countries run between 20 and 50%. The people will adjust to less.
You both need to consider one very important point. You want to complete the journey safely, don't you? Being well diversified is a good goal you should have. It allows you to choose the most overpriced asset as the one to liquidate when you need to consume, take an opportunity, readjust or whatever. However, 1) you can never be perfectly diversified, so there will be times when you can't do that exactly as you wished, and 2) the most important aspect of an asset, after issues of its value, is its liquidity. Diversifying to achieve a stable valuation in practice is hard enough, now try diversifying on 2 dimensions. Both price and liquidity. Not very easy, certainly not for people who want to do other things in their lives, besides investing.
Fiat cash and gold are some of the most liquid things around the world. An important factor related to liquidity is how easy and certain it is that you will be able to find buyers and sellers when you want, i.e. a good market. With e.g. stocks and bonds there is an extreme concentration of counterparty risk with a few institutions, including the central banks who print the currencies in which those are usually exclusively traded, meaning liquidity can either be superhumanly high, or instantly go extremely low or even reach zero. Both physical precious metals and cash have excellent liquidity. Physical precious metals have an inherently assured liquidity, unlike cash, because central banks can only promise so much liquidity, before people stop accepting the cash precisely because of expectations that this will destroy the currency.
As a result of the current increased transfer of physical away from cartel controlled paper schemes (ETFs, COMEX) to the public, investors, physical gold exchanges, etc. physical gold and silver are going to have increased liquidity in the long term, while at the same time fiat currencies lose liquidity (due to margin calls and I expect other developments that will soon transpire).
I would argue that we are in a time when liquidity is becoming harder to come by, compared to other times in history, especially the recent past.
The recent 15% move in gold prices in USD seems to speak badly for the historically good stability of the value of gold, but I would exercise some caution and patience and still consider physical gold an asset with very stable value.
So in my opinion today gold has not just an excellent, but the best combination of good value, stable value and good liquidity. Ask yourself what is the greatest single part of your assets (excluding maybe the home you need to live in) and if it is not gold, then you better have a really good reason for that.
"At some point cash (USD) will probably be king. Then PM's will have their moment in the sun... maybe brief. "
I'd tend to swap these positions, saying that USD will be king for a short time* and that PMs will end up being king.
* It'll win the beauty contest at the glue factory. Problem is, the glue factory needs to keep operating; if it does not then the entire notion of being a "winner" becomes moot. "Heads" you're [USD] dead. "Tails" you're [USD] dead.
It should be clear that PAPER is being hammered and that people are losing trust in all things paper. USD IS PAPER, and until it has some backing with other than PAPER there is no way that it can trump the PHYSICAL over the longer haul. The historical lifespan of fiat is 41 years; aren't we past that now?
However, whatever is "king" will only be so in a transitive way as ALL things are in a state of flux.
tell that to the Chinese.
Now eat your F*ck'n rice.
A a lot of your arguments are correct. There is no intrinsic value of Gold. BUT.
1. Money is what people decide money is in the end.
2. The currency is issued against credit, if the currency is only issued against the circulation (good bills doctrine), no need of Gold. This the Good Scottish currency of the XIX century. But if the currency is issued against financial asset which are long dated and crap, the liability side (the currency is crap).
3. The only way for Gold to go down is for bad credit to be written off.
4. THE ULTIMATE VALUE OF GOLD IT IS BECAUSE GOVERNMENTS HAVE NOT FIGURED OUT HOW TO INCREASE GOLD TO INFLATE AWAY THEIR DEBTS.
5. If Gold could be printed easier and faster than electronic currency controlled by the Governments, Governments would use Gold as currency.
6. In a scenario Gold would be used by Government and people would try to find a form of money that is not controlled by Governments. Say that Gold is printed ad libidum by Governments and that someone would create an electronic currency, let us assume way stronger than Bitcoin even let us assume for argument sake. Something really really impossible to track and crack and manipulate in supply demand.
7. In that case you would be apologist of Government and would be bashing this electronic government.
8. You are just an apologist of Government. Gold is just a non Governemnt control form of money.
9. Let us push the argument further. Let us say that in a remote planet, Gold is really really plentiful everywhere. And let us say that Silver is relatively scarce (I know from a geological and physics stand point it does not make sense). And let us say that copper is more scarce than Gold on that planet. Let us assume further than some civilization not to different from our exist there. What would they use as neutral form of money. By neutral I mean a form of money not defined by a small group of other people. Then people there would use their neutral form of money as Copper First and maybe silver.
electronic tally sticks. stupid question. money can be whatever any two people agree upon. wampum was money and there was an ass load of it free for the picking. this is the computer age...there is no need for gold. none. bitcoins or some variant will be the currency of the future...as it should be
My friend, I will not accept bitcoin for my eggs. My hens lay about 50 eggs a day. Right now I accept fiat and I also accept things I need sometimes beef, sometimes supplies and feed and I've even accepted silver.....but what use do I have for some imaginary currency that exist only on the internet? I barely use a computer and my economy is local...sorry bitcoins won't get for me.
"bitcoins or some variant will be the currency of the future...as it should be"
IT REQUIRES TPTB's INFRASTRUCTURE! (which requires vast amount of electricity- is energy becoming MORE or LESS available/affordable?)
What fucking problem is it that we're trying to solve? (somewhat rhetorical question here)
You only need negligible amounts of energy for transacting. There are many good solutions for portable, personal sources of energy.
Bitcoin doesn't actually need vast amounts of electricity for mining no matter what. Bitcoin only needs more computing power than any single potential attacker would attempt to use.
So for those who wish to mine - I don't think it will be a problem.
As for connectivity - there are also fully decentralized solutions for that, such as wireless mesh networks. Bitcoin is free from "TPTB" that you are talking about.
Gold vs. Bitcoin is mostly a matter of liquidity and stable value vs. ease of transfer and storage.
Actually, I think some day gold will be just traded for its practical value, but that could be centuries away. For now I think we still need it because we are still barbarous in many many ways.
Couldn't have said it better.
Who the fuck said it was an investment.
I got enough spam to last me through the crap storm that is coming.
When we crawl out of the cinders and ashes, someone will start printing fiat again. I will tade them my barbaric relics for their new fiat.
What will you trade?
Electronic shares of XON? Good luck with that.
mars should have a capital 'm'.
Gold is the best store of wealth at the present time, in a world where paper money, promissory notes from crooks and thieves, have lost all semblance of trust.
But having said that, what you posted is absolutely true. Mining and refining gold is a very destructive and polluting process. And outside a few industries, its usefulness is questionable when better materials exist to do the same job. If given a choice between having clean water & food for the rest of my life and a vault full of gold, I know I would always choose the former. In sane world we all would. Put that way, owning gold almost seems like a pyrrhic victory.
The reality of life in capital based societies means striving always to have more than your neighbours so you can exploit those under your socioeconomic ladder. We assign concepts and commodities with value to do that, and we aspire to lives of leisure where somebody else does all the hard work. And that's the system we're stuck with. Personally I am not happy about it, but know just enough not to argue with the forces of tradition, not vocally anyway. In the meantime, I stack and pray for a better world based on merit and sanity after this one collapses under the weight of its own greed, hate, hysteria, and hubris.
Edit. Maybe I'll have enough one day and the courage to leave the rat race to buy a little steading of my own in a beautiful part of the world to grow things and grow as a person. That's my aspiration.
My thoughts exactly. Nice post. :D
Well said.
extremely. never lose the heart or it's all for naught.
Who's the dickface junking that great post? Ben Shalom is that you?
I vote for the edit. Nice piece. I have to say, after three years of building a small but productive, very diverse, year round garden, nothing has brought me greater health and piece of mind. Don't wait. As we say every day on this great site, no one knows exactly when it will blow, just that it will
That was very brave of you to make these observations here, among the rabid gold mongers still living in a duality frame of mind ("It's either paper or metal... democrat or republican kind of thing). No one likes to have his reality questioned, escpecially those who have much invested in it. That's why you get called fool or dickhead. But if anyone here could make an honest, logical assessment of what you wrote, they would come to the same conclusion: It's just a fucking piece of metal! How hard is it to accept that? If you do, you might just start looking for something that has real value in your life: peace of mind, friends, family, love, and cooperation.... and good food and drink. Others can add to that fine list. But yeah, I don't disagree with those who would rather have gold/silver than stuffed pockets full of paper. Me too. I don't think gold will go to zero. It will go up in value and allow one to prevent theft throuogh inflation, assuming that the main components of our barbaric economy remain unchanged.
I say barbaric because that's what it is, even if we were on a gold/silver standard. Gold is barbaric and so is money, and if those are the only two choices that come to your mind, then please start looking for a third. How many of us gold/silver bugs would gladly accept a zero value for their metal in return for a truly fair and spiritually advanced system of wealth dispersement? If I gave you the choice of fixing the entire world's poverty for a zero value of gold/silver, how many would accept? Or is it that most people still want to be richer than others, drive a nicer car and live in a bigger home? I keep PMs basically because I want to fuck the system, fuck it up beyond repair. Fuck the money printers. But do I value metal? Only in so far as I need to live in this BS world with its BS assumptions and rules. I'd gladly give it away for nothing for a better, more advanced system based on something better than metal or paper. Okay... now it's time for people to call me a fool, too. :D
Allow me to return the compliment and tell you that was a superb post. There are a lot of old hands at ZH who think alike. This place is unique in that regard as a financial/geopolitical site.
personally i think most folks (esp. the lurkers amongst us) come here to have their reality questioned, whether they wish to admit it or not. that was the essence of the original Fight Club novel. cheers to you for remaining true to that spirit, instead of blindly following the breadcrumbs from the tricksters amongst us.
if you see a buddha (gold nugget) on the road, kill (smash) it. they don't call it a transition element for nuthin'...
Gold is barbaric...
Right. So is war and human aggression. As long as we have one, we will have the other.
We are still savages in our nature and we like shiny stuff for our nests.
Humans are barbaric. So Humans and gold are a match made in heaven...
Wonderful series of posts guys.
I've noticed both on the internet and within myself an odd feeling of calm throughout this PM beatdown. I keep getting this feeling in my mind of "zooming out" to a wider angle on the slowly growing economic insanity engulfing us all.
I'll admit to being relatively idealistic when I forst bought gold a while back. I thought, "a quick banking collapse and currency revaluation and I'll cash out and carry on with life". By the time the Cyprus story broke, I was thinking, "We haven't even seen a downpayment on the crazy we're gonna see before this is out".
Which brings me back to the serenity of the last week. I think its realizing that there is really nowhere to hide when all the important actors have powerful incentives to evade reality. I still think Gold will help it's holders in the long run but it may be briefly worthless (but also unavailable for purchase) depending on how shit goes down.
For me the whole thing has expanded into an excercise in thinking about the nature of value and of my limited time on a planet that will be no more rational when I leave than it was when I got here.
@ Creeko & YHC-FTSE:
At the heart of the matter, this is exactly how I feel. Personally, I would love nothing more, than to "leave the rat race behind". I'd rather work, because I know "my productivity is for the benefit of humanity", as opposed to knowing "my productivity is protecting the bottom line, and ensuring higher shareholder value", or "doing it because I got bills to pay".
To tie your post together with YHC-FTSE's, let me say this:
Our money system is inherently evil, and corrupt. The reasons behind purchasing physical Gold can be looked at a lot of different ways. Is it not true that buying Gold is a vote of "no confidence" in the system? If that's true, then is it also true that Gold is perhaps the "soccer ball" in the match of "good vs. evil"?
Remember, Lloyd Blankfein is doing 'God's work'. The only question is, "Which God?"
Gold, like knowledge = Power. Our motivations for having 'power' are what define us as 'good' or 'bad'.
Just a thought/
So, you're stacking spam?
"It destroys habitats where real things come from like salmon..."
So all the boating accidents experienced by numerous ZH readers have affected salmon. Really?
Been catching alot of Salmon lately, some with crescent shaped dents in their heads. Eagles I think?
you seem to be in the minority here, eh Skippy?
youtube: ron paul vs ben bernake is gold money.....
when the establishment crony is uncomfortable, you know the truth is close.
If gold isnt money, then why are all the governments stockpiling it?
I have both, gold and spam just in case. Hedge the end of the world with spam lol. Spam sliced thin and fried in bacon grease is out of this world. Spam gets a bad rap but it is an awesome prep food loaded with fat for long release energy and some protein to keep you from wasting your muscle. Any kind of fat will be precious during the reset, stock up while it's cheap.
Beer battered and deep fried. Mmmmm. Next I have to do the same, but thinner, and throw it on top of a burger.
PUD:
You mean 1500 a post?
Seriously though, if you are being serious writing this post, I suggest you check my post #3461155 above.
Basically most people need a long term store of value that they can liquidate very fast if need be.
All the numerous characteristics, which make gold suitable as money, (which you probably know very well, and don't forget liquidity) together with its intrinsic value (its practical uses, which you mentioned) are what forms gold's value. Precisely what immoral or stupid do you see in this process?
Gold can protect you from dishonesty, greed, short-sightedness, hubris and all the other immoral and stupid things that counterparties and third parties to "paper" contracts can exhibit.
Gold owners are willing to pay a price for the privilege of NOT supporting governments, cartels and other criminal organizations that destroy vast amounts of land to which they claim monopoly on. We do NOT want to support the enslavement of people, including children, which you can't say you have not noticed that is committed by the same criminal organizations in vast prison complexes, labor camps, sweatshops, and many more. We do NOT want to support monopolists and cartels that destroy vast amounts of land, sea and air with oil spills, nuclear fallout, agricultural pesticides and genetic time-bombs, to name just a few. Probably most important of all, we gold owners see how these criminal organizations have ruinous effects on ALL PEOPLE who do even as much participation as holding a paper note in their pocket.
I see MDB has a new account
i'll buy physical, when its under $1000/oz. until then, prices are set in the paper market and can be manipulated by cb's and their banker overlords at JPM, GS, Barclays, etc....
Been hearing that for the last 10 years....
Good luck buying physical gold under $1000. Spot price would probably be about $800 for you to get any physical at $1000. Look at silver. Can you buy ANY today at $23? No. Best you can do is 99 cents over spot for no name bars or rounds and you have to buy at least 500 ounces. Try and buy an ounce for 99 cents over. Silver eagles are $5.49 over spot for 500 on Apmex today.
Same thing will happen with gold. At $1000 an ounce everyone will be a buyer and no one will be a seller. Thats already happening today.
Those premiums reflect volatility. The more price action in the market the more of a premium you have to pay for ownership of the commodity. Its a protection for those in the business of selling gold/silver to protect them from sudden price movements that may affect their cost of buying from a mint/refiner and then selling to end buyer. The premiums dont reflect anything other than a risk to the dealer. Even when inventory was higher you were paying 4 bucks over spot for physical silver. I can go buy 1 ounce gold Krugerrands all day for 40 bucks over spot. But, thats not the popular choice i guess. Just like i can go buy 100 ounce silver bars all day long. But, small investors eat up the coins and pay huge premiums due to volatility. Just go buy a few 100 ounce bars and sleep at night.
good luck
FCK YOU DRAGHI!
Fuck the shorts. They have dislocated the physical market and they're gonna pay for it big time. They've exchanged short term gains for massive future pains.
put all those lumpen sheeple together and they have about three fiddy all told http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cn7xfBpZ3M
After a decade of worrying that fiat currency would go the way of Zimbabwe, and that stocks & bonds were no refuge, gold-haters have come out of the woodwork to celebrate the demise of the metal.
They feel better now. They can place their belief in the central bankers and stop worrying about that damn shiny metal that might displace their freshly printed bank notes.
Enjoy yourselves now, gold-haters -- just don't look over your shoulder, or you might see that stampede of gold buyers cranking up their engines ;-)
beating that same old drum ZH -BUY GOLD / SELL STOCKS - I really hope no one has followed your advice over the last 2 years . Please stop the bullish Gold stories it looks to much like former communist propaganda .
i gave you what will probably be your only green stamp of approval...
this for your awesome display of imbecility...
now, back to sleep - sheep...........
FYI: The same old drum that ZH is beating, is called "disclaimer", and it says:
"Zero Hedge is a financial news and information site, not an investment advisor. Making investment decisions based on information published on Zero Hedge, or any internet site for that matter, is more than unwise, it is folly."
Anything else we could help you with?
And, by the way, I did not downarrow you.
yes i fully understand that .
do you not think the information provided has an agenda that is gold biased ?
zh agenda is to generate advertising revenue via whatever means possible with whatever topic is currently mainstream... these days its economic doom. 70s same thing but no internerd to make ad revenue off of. imo, this article screams dont buy gold bc its what the rest of the world is doing. housing bubble but on a global scale. gold will go sub 1k.
Warren? Is that you?
Mr Beatty to you
FUCK YOU BERNANKE YOU RAT BASTARD!!!
YOU AND YOUR GOLDMAN MATES HAVE FAILED - IN FACT YOUR PLAN HAS BACKFIRED - EVEN MORE PEOPLE WANT PM BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN EXPOSED AS A MARKET MANIPULATOR. THEY KNOW YOU ARE SCARED SHITLESS AND THEY ARE INSURING THEMSELVES WITH THE ONLY THING THAT PROVIDES PROTECTION AGAINST YOU AND YOUR VAMPIRES.
From None Other than the WSJ
Sales of gold and silver coins are surging despite the sudden plunge in precious metals, benefiting mints around the world and driving the cost of the collector items to well above the value of the metal they are made of.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732449370457842833209597480...
The joke of the day:
Investors are dumping gold funds at the fastest pace in two years in favor of equities, compounding a slump that has wiped $560 billion from the value of central bank reserves.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/gold-wipes-out-560-billion-from-central-banks-as-equities-rally.html
it was kinda of weird when i dropped in to pick up some more real money on Monday...
for the first time there was more than myself in the store buying - at least 5 people whereas for the past 2 years i dont recall anybody buyin when i was buying....and i buy bi-weekly...
the sentiment on the street has changed...it was black folk, chinese folk, white folk...
i guess when a debt coupon dollar doesnt even by u a fucking soda anymore the muppets finally start sayin' "hey what the hell is goin on???"
anyway, just sharing with ya'll...
Each day more people realize, that it could be a quite pleasing thing that gold just lies where you dropped it and does nothing else.
edit: That's also true for silver.
From Thailand. Gold panic buying today. Long lines with numbered cues. I have lived here a long time and never seen this.
Thailand had a holiday and markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday. My Thai friends were itching to buy gold.
I can confirm near panic buying in Bangkok's Chinatown gold shops. Thai television showing images of gold shops with customer 4 deep. I bought Tuesday in Mega Bangna.
the "economic elites" will not be happy about this
My Bad - Business Insider Did Publish A FRED Chart For Their Gold Hit Piece And As Usual It Was Meaningless
http://chartistfriendfrompittsburgh.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-bad-business-insider-did-publish.html
Aww man this time you added a little flavor commentary there before pimping the link. That is the professional touch we have come to expect from realtick and the chartist friend from pittsburgh brigade.
those who can write and chart
those who can't bitch and troll
So you do write it?
write what?
There is a good chance of a surge on Friday in PMs prices (before 15:00 when the COT report comes out) as the bullion banks could very well be net long.
Headshot! You've taken the lead!
Japan has $3.36 trillion in pension funds which have just 0.03% in gold. They need much more to protect against unlimited printing by the BOJ (currently $75 billion a month).
China has $200 trillion in real estate. Even 0.1% of that going into gold would move the price substantially.
Anyway, the cost of mining gold is about $1200 to $1250 an ounce. So current prices are a bargain.
Gold should show some fireworks soon.
Just like those bottom fished the residential housing market here back in 2008?
Holy CowAaaaaaaaaa!
regarding the calculated gold and silver takedown by the bankers
a piece written by Russell Rhoads, CFA of the CBOE Option Institute, who wrote the following:
"'Friday was a 4.88 standard deviation move in the price of gold. For simplicity's sake let's call it a five standard deviation move. Statistically we get a five standard deviation move approximately once every 4,776 years. So we should not expect another move like this out of the price of gold until May 17, 6789. ... Currently the two-day price change in GLD is 16.65, which can be converted to just over eight standard deviations. I wanted to share what this comes to, but the table I use only goes up to seven standard deviations. Let's just say the sun is expected to burn out first.'"
Damn unreliable sun!
In a natural world that would be true, but it just shows that the gold activity has been engineered -- not natural.
Going just as predicted......
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/
Best part of the article and well worth posting..
When silver was taken out of US coins in the 1960s and copper was taken out of the US penny in the early 1980s, despite my opposition as Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Economic Policy, all real constraints on fiat money were removed.
Today we see the Fed protecting its protection of “banks too big to fail” with low interest rates by creating enormous sums of money in order to purchase both Treasury bonds and mortgage backed derivatives.
These Fed purchasers are at the expense of savers and CD and bond purchasers who receive a negative real rate of interest.
Now, to protect its bank rescue policy, the Fed is attempting to drive down the price of bullion, thus depriving Americans of any way of protecting their life savings from the inflation that the Fed’s money printing will ultimately cause.
Save a handful of corrupt banks, screw the American public--that is the Fed’s policy.
Like almost every other American institution, the Fed represents the mega-rich.
Anyone with open eyes can see that it is impossible for the US dollar to maintain its current exchange value and role as world money when its supply is being increased by $1,000 billion per year while the world is ceasing to use the dollar for international payments.
The attack on gold is a desperate attempt to protect the US dollar from the Fed’s policy of quantitative easing. But the attack on bullion has apparently failed. The price was driven down, but the demand for physical possession has hit new highs.
What is it that we really know? What have we learned since the Clinton regime?
We have learned that integrity is rare in the US government, in the justice system, and in the financial sector. Whatever integrity one can find in these arenas wouldn’t amount to one ounce of gold.
Americans live in a rigged system in which propaganda determines the public’s awareness and consciousness. Americans, or most of them, live in the Matrix.
Good stuff.
Reality is going to come back with a vengeance though. The Matrix in this case is powered by perpetual growth. What happens when perpetual growth is no longer possible?
+1
Nuf' Said, Bitchez
Do you all notice all the headlines on gold when it drops. This latest drop was about 15%. All told, down maybe 24% from the highs. But all the stupid, idiotic news media ONLY talk about is the demise of gold. Only worth $800. Hedge funds, mutual funds suffering.
Never mind AAPL which is down over 40% or the fact that AMZN has a forward PE over 1,000 or the fact that our country is broke, insolvent....Bankrupt. 17 Trillion in debt our grand children can never repay. Nope, lets just talk about the correction in gold. 48 million on food stamps and over 80 million not working, another day. What about Europe slowly imploding or Japan a last gasp at trying to grow their dead economy? Italy, Spain, Cyprus, not important. College debt, sub prime auto loans, echo bubble in housing. Nope, the story is the collapse in GOLD>
The point being, they are all afraid of what they know, and do not want the sheeples to understand the carnage that will follow at some point in this country. The Bernank will lose control of interest rates. When, I have no idea. But this entire house of cards that false "hope and change" is built on will come tumbling down. Sell my gold, silver. I don't think so. Adding makes the most sense for me. How can human beings be so stupid and just follow MSM over the cliff? It is mind boggling to me.
It is all about faith....
Do you trust Bernanke and his ponzinomics or do you trust a physical commodity you can hold/hide/bury/trade....?
You never know, gold going to down 'could' also be a precurrsor to a big rally. However fucking crazy that may sound it may happen. I think it's just countries dumping and 'possibly' a precurrsor to crash a friend pointed out the rally scenario. Boy wouldn't that be the fucking shits, DOW 16k here we come. Make more room in tent city please. Could happen, who the fucks going to invest in the euro? Rotation. Put your $ into the least crappy investment eventually it will be the US's turn.
great work zh being a light in a dark world
When will the gold mining companies screw the normal sales channels where they get paper pricing and go to a weekly self-auction sales system? Every Friday they put up for bid their weekly gold production and it gets sold to the highest bidder. I realize most of the management in gold companies are dumb as bricks but why they continue to get screwed by accepting paper pricing is beyond me.
stateside
these bastards know market is a lot about psychology so if they can just mess with your head and get you depressed and make you afraid that your brother in law will alugh at you at the next family gathering, they can get you to dump and gladly buy it from you
Central banks are buying hand over fest.
Dear JonNadler, what you wrote makes sense to me. But could you be so friendly to change your avatar? On first glance I thought you were Paul Krugmann and was about to break out into a rant. Then I realised, that what you said wasn't dumb at all, and had a second look. You aren't making it easy to remain calm, as long as you look like "him" ... ;-)
being i JonNadler, am the king of all trolls i just want o honor our latest troll with his picture in my avatar you know. Where's that ho Orly to complain though?
I think all of us should change our avatars to Paul Krugman's pic. That would be such a great mind fuck on him.
Oh My God that would be INSANELY funny!
My first literal "laugh out loud" of the day!
Care to coordinate that, MeatHammer? Maybe we could all plan ahead for one particular day to do that?
Gasoline is now starting to drop like a rock in my neck of the woods. Down $0.25 in three weeks. This isn't just about gold. I think this is the "busting" of the speculators. The extra "speculation baggage" that the average man had to carry is being taken off his back. At least for now.
you remember in 08 when they said the commodities bubble had burst? remember that ah-ha
Well, it did. Then "someone" promptly refloated it. And now?
refloat? bubbles don't reflate do they? and not for years certainly
And when this deflation wave is over they are gonna crank it up again after (of course) they buy all the oil/gold/silver/commods at rock bottom prices......
In Singapore
http://www.todayonline.com/business/local-gold-demand-after-price-slump
Even the Monaco of Asia is buying em up. Looks like the whole world is buying up gold when the banks are dumping them. Boom.
"physical shortages"
Doh!
No really?
I already loaded up with physical, but will continue to do so if the spot price remains suppressed. Was just thinking my nieces and nephews piggy banks could do with something which retains it's value by the time you've opened it. Frankly I think that's one of the most despicable things which bankers and politicians do. They steal wealth from children's piggy banks.
IMF Sees 20% of Corporate Debt Unsustainable in Parts of Europe
short cover rally
since when does panic buying mark the bottom? we goin lower BITCHEZ!!
Since when is "panic buying" a thing?
I think someone tipped their hand on this gold frenzy here, if it was a Central Bank that initiated the price drop.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/gold-wipes-out-560-billion-from...
‘Bubble’“If you think about the intrinsic value of gold, there’s not a lot,” Guy Debelle, assistant governor at Australia’s central bank, which owns 79.9 tons, said at a business lunch in Canberra on April 16. “Gold often has a high price because people believe that other people believe that it’s worth a lot. When you describe other markets like that, the word ‘bubble’ gets thrown about.”
Individual investors added $19.5 billion this year to mutual funds holding U.S. equities, after removing $400 billion in the previous four years, according to the Washington-based Investment Company Institute.
“Since the opportunity cost to hold gold was very high, people moved to the more remunerative assets like equities and cash,” said Walter “Bucky” Hellwig, who helps manage $17 billion of assets at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.
I maybe reading too much into it but I think he inadvertently let the cat out of the bag. Everything is blowing bubbles with these guys. Create a selling bubble and inflating an existing bubble some more, the biggest bubble of them all Benny Boy is blowing right now aka the S & P 500.
“Gold often has a high price because people believe that other people believe that it’s worth a lot. When you describe other markets like that, the word ‘bubble’ gets thrown about.”
No shit, he just explained the reason behind overvalued price of the US Dollar!
The Secret World of Gold
A look at the power and politics of gold. Where is the gold and who really owns it?
Thursday April 18 at 9 pm on CBC-TV
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/
I am hearing this is not a puff piece, we shall see
Also, stop volunteering to be a US citizen, reclaim your birthright
http://www.stopfedtaxliens.com/
Well done ZeroHedge. Once again you keep us clear your activism is gone and now you're just a lobby. A lot of complaints against the so called "MSG medias" and you guys are trying to manipulate things anyway when anyone touches your gold.
People dumping gold, gold dropping its price and suddenly you guys make it look that the gold thing is still ok.
please provide evidence of where anyone is dumping physical gold sir or STFU...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/gold-wipes-out-560-billion-from...
Oh, wait, it's the MSM! The horror! The horror!
Cretin, you clearly do not understand the difference between paper and PHYSICAL gold.
Nor, apparently, even the difference between a selloff and a buying spree.
Back under your bridge.
You're just misreading the title. The article claims that CBs have lost $560b in their fake hypothecated gold holdings because of the drop in price of fake paper gold.
A statement which ironically, I think has some truth in. It just doesn't have anything to do with gold.
.
.
go to ANY online seller and look at how long and how much you have to buy. Go to ebay and the price on most metals sold there is 25% up aka an oz of gold is still 1850+. You get paid by the post or is it a monthly stipend?
Did you actually read the article or just go straight to the comment section to talk shit? The article is about a buying frenzy in gold.
My usual retail shop told me they run out of gold coins. They said that they won't have any in the next 15 days!! Can you believe this? Their main selling bussiness is selling those shiny things, and they have none!
Fortunately, I could find another shop and buy at discount. If it goes even lower, I'm going to max out my credit card in a buying frenzy. As much as I hate debt, this could be the opportunity of a lifetime.
What the hell. If the big investors are really dumping all their gold, they're supposed to be pushing it to the retail shops, even at a loss. Not the other way around! There wouldn't be a single shop in the planet which remains 15 days without stock.
Check out the jewelry shops in HK....bursting at the seams with buyers for those 24k dragon necklaces, rings and so on.
Who left the bathroom door open. Smells like troll shit here.
Australia's biggest wanker award goes to.... Guy Debelle. Well, Guy why the fuck do you hold 79.9 tons of gold then? Oh, you were talking shit as usual?
Back to sucking America's dick Guy, you know you love it.
Well, Guy why the fuck do you hold 79.9 tons of gold then?
Tradition.
Good Lord, don't those idiots realize that gold is going to zero? It's not backed by the full faith & credit of Jamie & Lloyd, or anything!
/s
don't forget it has ZERO intrinsic value.
And one can't eat it, either, edibility being of course the sine qua non of investment criteria.
Actually, you can eat it. It just has the same nutritive value as sucking from an helium balloon.
Hard to know which MSM site wins the most The Onion like presentation of financial news.
I think Market Watch wins the prize, always have a laugh at all the satire there on stocks, commodities, gold, finance...economics. Too funny, funniest site business site on the net.
Their old blog was quite entertaining. The new one is crap....
I agree.......their original comment section was pretty good, but then they placed the new one in and everyone left.
I really enjoy when they say: "gold rises as blah blah", and then after just one or two days, and nothing has changed in the fundamentals, "gold falls because blah blah". You couldn't make this shit up.
Physical gold is just a drop in the ocean of paper. Until there are no buyers for paper promises things will stay interesting.
Sooner or later the shorts need to cover.
Let's see how many contracts stand for delivery on next option expiry day.
So long as governments tend to corruption gold will never lose its importance as the only ,money to fall back on.
Like gun control, the PM take down BACKFIRED, folks want the real stuff not fake paper shit.
FUCK YOU! Ben, Goldman,Jpm and the rest of you m"fuckers!
I agree! +1
Goodbye greenback, enter CAD and AUD as per the soon to come IMF disclosure of reserve holdings, ta-da motherfucker \o/
Thanls for the spam: pump and dump courtesy of ZeroHedge.
The Tylers should be ashamed of themselves. There is no difference between ZH pimping gold and NAR pimping condos ... using the same language!
"Now is the time to BUY!"
"Prices will NEVER BE THIS LOW AGAIN!!!"
"You don't want to MISS OUT! LOOK at what ALL THESE OTHER PRESUMABLY PRIMITIVE IDIOTS ARE DOING!"
ZH doesn't factor that 99% of its audience is flat broke and can't afford a Big Mac or widows and orphans.
ZH = bucket shop.
Steve, either your /sarc tag is off or you are just off. Please go back through the ZH archives and educate yourself about real money.
Stevia, recently from the Vaginia,
A true weaner, if you know what we meania.
No idea. Back to Virginia.
Back it up chops!
I just added 100oz of silver today.
Contrary to gold, silver is consumed, and currently, silver price is below the real cost of production in most miners. Price could tumble down further (as part of a liquidation), but it will never stay below 25$ for long.
I've been saying this also that silver is better buy right now for the same reason. The market just will not allow for it to be priced at or below production price for an extended period of time. We are pretty much at the bottom of the dip, the game is finding the best price among the coin dealers right now. I think gold still will go down some more before it rebounds back up though if you are not adventurous this is still a great time to buy some coins or bars right now as hedge, gold bug or not from a plain old common sense diversification strategy investment standpoint if you have some extra cash or savings you want to protect.
+1
from a plain old common sense diversification strategy investment standpoint
The hell with diversification. Today I moved my entire worth into PM.
I even sold some assets at a 25% loss so that I could buy more.
If there's another smackdown this week, I'm gonna run into debt and max out my credit card for the first time in my life.
I think gold will go lower still. The market anticipates selling by Cyprus and European central banks.
Cyprus reserve is just peanuts. Absolutely irrelevant.
The only market which "anticipates" this is the paper market. Which is becoming irrelevant, too.
Ask yourself, how many gold is left in dealers around your area? If there's none, then you can kiss low price goodbye no matter what the paper price does.
Today I called my shop they told me they wouldn't have any gold for sale during the next 15 days. You bet your ass when they do, it's at a completely different price.
Hmmm maybe they should sell 1000 tons of paper and drive it down to $1000/oz.
See if that has the desired effect on the public's phyicial buying spee LMAO.
They should of done the opposite... and let it go to $2000/oz, that would of turned many from buyers into sellers.
If they push it to $1000 then I am selling both kidneys to buy gold.
They should of done the opposite... and let it go to $2000/oz, that would of turned many from buyers into sellers.
They'll try that next. Then it'll be time to short their stupid paper gold, and get some FIAT profit in the run down (which will be promptly traded for MOAR physical at the next bottom, if there ever is one).
They will never allow paper gold to skyrocket, so shorting it near the top is mostly safe (unlike equities).
Americans are much more polite and well trained. They only stampede when there is a WALMART sale in which case they gladly trample people to death.
Heaven forbid that we should be barbarians chasing after a barbarous relic.
Makes you wonder sometimes why the Americans are so determined about their guns but not their money (real money that is).
So people are starving but farmers can't get money for their product. I wish I could say this was a new thing but it's not. I wish I could say "it's a bad thing and someone will change that" but they won't. In fact...it's been made worse by what's going on."
Some rich people bought bars in kilos in Beijing. It remains to be seen whether paper readers will take physical delivery at the Shanghai exchange. Store sales jump 400% in that city.
Not everyone is buying. But rich people are stuck with cash when they cannot buy more houses with government control.
Geesh. Do the math. How many ounces are people swarming to buy? Even if the Perth mint has seen "a surge" in investor buying, how many ounces can that be? All this "surge" can be destroyed with one sell order from a hedge fund or a central bank. The volumes in physical sales to John Q Public are miniscule in comparison to a large buyer somewhere wanting to get in or out of the market. Buy up all you want and use anecdotal evidence to help you sleep at night. But if another large order comes in to sell its 1100/oz gold overnight. Just sayin.... Don't rush out to buy more physical when the market won't support it. The 1% are waiting (or have sold)...the foolish 99% are buying. Why buy now when I can buy more at a cheaper price. When Gold recouples with the traditional gold to oil ratio of around 11 to 1, I'll buy. But market fundementals and deflationary pressures indicate we are still overpriced. The fear trade has busted and a lot of hedgies and fear traders are underwater. They are loving that people are rushing out to buy because they can continue to unwind their positions into a strong physical market. Very very dangerous PM market right now. Let the market stabilize. Use real evidence that the market is there, dont just read about "surging physical demand" and go out and buy it up. After watching the market open this morning I'm more convinced we are gonna see another 15-20% drop in commodities. It's all overpriced, not just gold. Gold and silver led the market decline in 2007/08 too. Stay away from gold and silver. 1100 gold/ 18 silver on the way.
"All this "surge" can be destroyed with one sell order from a hedge fund or a central bank."
So what? The point of buying physical is NOT to make money. The point of buying physical is to say "FUCK YOU" to the banks and the government, to make a conscious decision to step outside the system that these VERMIN have imposed upon the rest of us. Why should I give a shit if I lose some money on physical gold and silver? The opportunity to slowly and inexorably call the bluff of these subhuman scum is WELL worth the price of admission...
Wow
On a fractional reserve basis you need to multiply the amount of physical anywhere between 20 and 100 to understand the effect it will have. It depends how leveraged the bullion banks are.