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With A Venezuela Default Looming, This Is What A BofA Banker Wanted To Look At First
With a 66% chance of default/devaluation implied by the Venezuelan credit market, BofA economist Francisco Roriguez sprung an unusual question on the struggling socialist nation's central bank - Can you show me your gold?
As Bloomberg reports, the answer was "yes"...
He’d been itching to take a peek for years and now was the time to ask. With the government’s bonds sinking toward prices that indicate investors are bracing for the possibility of default, the country’s $15 billion of gold bars are crucial to ensuring debt payments are met.
His first impression once inside the vaults? Those bars don’t take up a lot of room.
“You picture that amount of money requiring a lot of space when, in reality, it all fits in five small cells that were not even full to the top,” Rodriguez, a Venezuela native who covers Andean economies for Bank of America Corp. in New York, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
He said he started counting frantically in his head, summing up figures scrawled out on signs near each pile of the metal. By his quick math, the gold was all there.
At least they have all their gold thanks to Chavez' repatriation, which is more than can be said about Germany.
Gold accounts for about 71 percent of Venezuela’s $21.4 billion of foreign reserves, according to the World Gold Council. About $13 billion of the gold is held at the central bank in downtown Caracas, with another $2 billion at the Bank of England, according to Rodriguez. Those gold assets have grown in importance as Venezuela’s overall foreign reserves plunged 34 percent in the past five years, the result largely of a drain of its more liquid assets.
The central bank didn’t reply to an e-mail seeking comment on the meeting. In a Sept. 23 note to clients, Rodriguez said the “rare” look at the gold was “largely symbolic yet reassuring.”
“It’s not that the majority of the people doubt that the gold is there,” he said by phone. “But it’s one of these things that linger, something that’s nagging you and makes you wonder: What if it’s not?”
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As one commenter noted, "It's quite sad when Venezuela's Central Bank demonstrates more transparency with its assets than The Federal Reserve."
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i wondered how long it would take the tylers to focus on this story. it's an interesting diversion after syria.
Well.. F'ck it .. ask Gross...
Bill Gross to BTV: 99.9% sure Yellen is next fed; US will avoid ‘catastrophic’ defaultHe nailed that call from 1 year ago.... http://hedgeaccording.ly/2013/10/bill-gross-to-btv-999-sure-yellen-is.ht...
Next question will be: "Do you value air and water, and do you want to see your kids tonight? If so, give me your gold."
Barbarous relic sure gets alot of attention.
Or you give me some air and water otherwise I give you some lead works for me.
With all of that gold and oil, it will be a damn strange default. Kind of like a Doctah going bankrupt.
The real crisis will be when they have to raise the gas price from a nickel to a couple of bucks.
Shit, meet fan.
Bingo.
Given that every Latino economy (Cuba, Argentina, Guata., Brazil (30% of distil's) need the cheap PVDSA heavy crude & subsidized fuels to function on their own socialist system, this could be a very fun time for a repeat of the Mexico debt crisis. That's not counting on countries like Iran who also rely on Venez. support services to maintain their own arms sale/cash exchange network.
In Judo you learn the best way to seriously fuck up your opponent is to use his own leverage against him. So the irony is not lost on anyone.
The bigger questions are: 1. how much of that gold has claims on it (Russia/China payables) and how much is free gold. In the event of a market event, The English gold will likely be used to secure trade creditors (airlines, insurance, warehouse loans/cash floats) And 2, how will the Chavistas feel when Russian/Chinese Spetnaz come to reenforce Caracas. Will the world protest RC moving to support their pet dictator with the same ferocity which was applied to NATO and IMF/World Bank rescue packages?
first you show them your gold
next they boots-on-the-ground your country and regime-change your leadership
somehow the gold disappears in all that chaos
Zionist bankers: "Okay, now that we've seen your gold, we will now show you our guns. You are all Palestineans now, fuckers!"
I wish I could steal their gold. I have no money. I'm a broke dead dick. If you see me on the streets, please throw me a sandwich. Thank you.
Its like Fox muting the truth about the Federal Reserve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLpXv6ICre8
You posting this on every thread?
Apparently, more than once on every thread.
v (see below) v
.
Its like Fox muting the truth about the Federal Reserve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM2O3gkeApU
Never mind that pile of gold spray paint cans in the corner and this woozy feeling in my head from this weird vapor in the room as I do these quick tabulations (without assay).
Its all here! Weeeeee!!!! ;-)
No shit.
"Step right up! Step right up!
Guess how much 'Gold' is in this pile from 20 feet away; if your guess is right you will win a warm cerveza!
Step right up! Step right up!"
True, perhaps. It still begs the question of why won't the Fed even do the dog n pony show like Venezuela has. Even if the Fed showed us all the gold without seeing the lease/ownership ledgers you don't know if it's really "there" or not--but why won't they at least put on a show...hmm
Next question will be: "Do you value air and water, and do you want to see your kids tonight? If so, give me your gold."...
Or perhaps your life saving Ebola virus vaccine?!!!
Ebola... Now they're zombies LOL
http://www.infowars.com/zombie-apocalypse-ebola-patients-reportedly-rise...
You know, sometimes that Jones cat has some good guests, I have to wonder about stories like this though.
Gross went on to say that a default will be “unimaginable” and would trigger a “complex series of events worldwide.”
US will avoid ‘catastrophic’ default
I'm sure a ‘catastrophic’ currency devaluation instead will be so much better!
Well they don't have the full faith and credit of, well you know, us.
It's really just the "full faith" part they don't have...
OK so they can now move it to the next country to count.
Either that or swap it for some blow or high end meats.
"Just ignore the 'Property of the Federal Republic of Germany' stamp on those bars."
.
Barbarous relic - show us the Alibaba shares.
I am sure the Chinese will gladly pay a premium for a big lump of gold worth $15 billion with the benefit of an off market transaction not unsettling the market.
And I suspect that the premium will end up in the hands of just a few people on the Venezuelan side.
" I suspect that the premium will end up in the hands of just a few people on the Venezuelan side."
Um, well...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela
"El Tiempo reported that some goods in Venezuelan stores had a 114% to 425% premium due to "under the table" negotiations between the Venezuelan government and traders. "
- Can you show me your gold?
Does anyone that understands the meaning of "store of value" and "no third party risk" surprised?...
The answer is no but your syntax and grammar is lousy.
Your point however is one that is sorely not understood by the unwashed masses until their bank accounts are looted.
Listen Pan.
Are you a "NAZI"? Back off!
If NAZI stands for Not Another Zionist Infiltrator then the answer is no.
In any case what has bad grammar etc have to to do with being or not being a NAZI?
In any case what has bad grammar etc have to to do with being or not being a NAZI?
PP
My apologies. I rattled that one off too quickly and tried to go back in and change it before you responded.
Will do better next time!
Listen Nemo,
There is no need to apologize to "THE NAZI". He is a Nazi, a twisted sick gramm-er Nazi just trying to interrupt the good citizens of "THE HEDGE".
I'm pretty sure he is German.
Listen Bangalore,
Erm, dude, like, lighten up, will ya?
Hey Bangalore,
You should get into forensics. According to you I am a NAZI and a German.
Your forensics are about as good as those of the US Government trying to pin the downing of the Malaysian Airline onto the Russians.
Read some of my other posts before going to the trouble of earning your down votes.
HEY.... If someone calls you a Nazi, anti semite, racist or something along those lines... The correct response is, "so, whats your point?'
Usually it is total idiots who make such accusations. Those accusations are often made as an emotional response to a logical point that the accuser does not want to to hear or have others hear.
Political correctness is just plain evil and the excuse used to stifle free speech. And don't give me that shouting "fire' in a crowded theatre bullshit. It's like comparing a disgruntled postal employee with a semi automatic gas operated weapon going cubicle to cubicle .... to a child with a water pistol.
Listen Jacksonville, it's obvious that you are a NAZI too.
I am not an idiot!
So.....What's your point?
Listen Nemo,
"NO".
Is it part of your programming to start every comment you make with "listen"?
Just a simple yes or no will do for this test ;-)
is it tungsten filled gold or the other way around
is it tungsten filled gold or the other way around...
Even with tungsten in it you're still ahead with QE inifinity as the backdrop!
If you like your GOLD Venezuela, you can't keep your GOLD!
Sincerely,
BofA
Viva La Raza....bitchez! He who is first will be last, and he who is last will be first. Remember....there is no spoon.
Gold in exchange for toilet paper, taps running water around the clock and electricity provided 24/7?
Not a bad deal. Wonder when they'll come up with: "Can you show me your oil wells?"
Can you show me your implants?
Well, I could always mail you some for a 'price'.
Easy to kick them while they're down.
Why don't he ask to see uncle sam's gold?
Their hard core Socialists, they will never be up again, it is not part of the paradigm. Huge oil reserves and dirt poor only Socialism can deliver these results.. So yeah kick them now and just keep kicking.
Wait a minute? BofA did not ask to see their Bitcoin Blockchain??
Calling foneystar, calling foneystar.
No need, they can watch it in real time if they want...
http://blockchain.info/
The correct answer is , "what gold?" ^^
Seriously though, if I ran a country, first thing I would do is start a secret program to fake a shit-ton of gold bars, shove them in a vault made out of blast-proof acryllic 3 feet thick and put it on public display ^^ . . . it would become a great tourist attraction and boost the domestic economy ! ^^ imagine a glass vault in time square, "The Glass Vault of New York" ^^ it would be epic.
The statue of liberty and empire state building is lame and have lost their tourist luster..
Oops, you've just inadvertently revealed the next cunning little scheme of the US government.
We heard you had oil, but we, you know, well, seeing is believing, right? After all, you can't even afford TP.
No gold at Fort Knox either.
According to a friend of mine, who works there, it has turned into a really faggety ass gym.
They did a shitload of digging near the front gate entrance, then put up a tiny building about 1/16 the size of the footprint they dug up.
I wondered what all the digging was, I guess it was for your friend's faggety ass gym.
They must have put it underground.
IF that chart is accurate Venezueala has already been divested of something on the order of 27% to 30% of the Gold it claimed to hold as FX Reserves only three or four years ago.
Chavez brought the Gold Reserves back to Venezuela alright...
...& by the looks of that chart Maduro and his cronies have already spent or stolen well over a quarter of it.
Maybe, but its just as likely that the total dollar denominated holdings have gone down due to weekly price slams. Holdings by weight would be interesting to see as well.
I guess that depends on HOW Venezuela values it's Gold reserves.
The US Treasury is still pricing Gold at just $42.2222 per troy ounce or some such...
Inflation is reproted to be over 63% by the venezuealan Central Bank, and might actually be much higher.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/inflation-cpi
Maduro will preside over either a hard default or a horrendous series of deep devaluations.
"As one commenter noted, "It's quite sad when Venezuela's Central Bank demonstrates more transparency with its assets than The Federal Reserve."
The Fed has no physical. The Treasury does, and I'll wager strongly that they still have their stated hoard of 8,000+ tons. They will show their stack when they are in similar straits to Venezuela, but they will do so as part of a global revaluation of physical.
The real trick with Physical Gold is whether it is unencumbered or not.
I know, I know, possession is all that matters.
Well, NO, it isn't. If the paper is to GS, then they are higher up the ownership chain that Taxpayer physical....
When the world figures out that our treasury has sold all of our gold...baby...it's Katy bar the fucking door! Iam going scuba diving!
I'll lend you the money but you need to show me some tits first
They've run out of US/EU silicone tits so they're getting discount ones from China.
Tungston bars are possible without closer inspection. It is difficult to imagine that with so many countries, each with their own secret inner circle, that some of them have not considered partialy fake gold reserves.
And the global extortion racket keeps on rolling along
At this point, gold matters not. We have already past the point of no return. When this corrupt circus show comes crashing down, all that will matter is how much lead you have put away. When social unrest ensues, you need brass and lead.
All that will matter is being some place where people don't have to resort to violence to survive.
Lead is greater than gold. Unlike the sword, which is lesser than the pen.
Rock, Paper, Scissors...
How do you keep a banker from getting close to the gold?
Put it in his work boots?
Venezuela has more crude oil reserves than does Saudi Arabia. approximately the same size population, but less than 1/2 the GDP. How could a country with so much promise, fail so miserably? Its not like the average Saudi is industriious. They take 5 breaks a day to pray, and whether they're breaking from actual work is questionable.
Scocialism, its works every time its tried.
"It's quite sad when Venezuela's Central Bank demonstrates more transparency with its assets than The Federal Reserve."
Maybe sad, but understandable. Governments have at least some accountability to the people. Central banks are only accountable to their owners... and the Fed is owned by international banks.
I find it EXTREMELY odd that governments would be expected to secure the loans they receive when banks have to show no evidence that the fiat they lend has any value whatsoever. They create it out of thin air and expect people and government to secure repayment with real assets.
It is pure fraud and insanity.
lets do a little math here. Venny sits on the largest heavy oil reservs on the planet. At 100 usd a barrel, and a 10% profit margin (which is way low), they are sitting on approx 700bn usd of P1 and P2 reserves. Their total debt incl PDVSA, the state owned oil co is 87BN usd.
Capex, as high as it needs to be, notwithstanding, This is not a country on te brink of default, and if the credit markets are pricing Vennie 10 yrs at 20%, its says more to me about the state of market makers balance sheets than the true value of venny debt.
Madura, Like Hugo before him, knows that being current keeps the taps flowing, and that in turn keeps him popular. He is NOT about to default.
Shoot em in. Shag.
Dollar steadily going up (above 85 now)
Gold and silver steadily going down.
And not a peep as to why.
I don't know why others can't see its a scramble to get everyone in the world to go belly up (or to bomb them into submission) so we (or Russia/China through us) can get the gold to keep the Ponzi going.....sooner or later it will all be in stronger hands and it will be lights out....
Time to buy more silicone Breast Implants!!
Oh my, I thought the Elite's would finally leave the country, having no imported implants. But now, there is money in the bank and all is well.
party time!
I bid three 99.9999 pure gold bars for all the tungsten you can remove from all that rehypothicated gold at the Treasury, FED and Fort Knox. I can then have it made into excellent AP inserts for 7.62 mm bullets. Such recycled tungsten is as effective as DE going through AS 400 armor, which will be the only thing between my peeps and the remainder of the gold. A fair trade, eh? Isn't asymmetry beautiful? And you folks thought all that tungsten was worthless.....
Show me the money! Show me, the money! Show, me, the money!
An American, not US subject.
$2 billion worth of gold at the Bank of England has been stolen though.
“But it’s one of these things that linger, something that’s nagging you and makes you wonder: What if it’s not?”
And the Federal Reserve????
Can you show me your gold?
Followed by a very low, loud, unearthly evil laugh.
Don't know why the Bankster was surprised at how small the volume of gold is/was. All the gold in the world would apparently only fill an olympic sized swimming pool.
Tungsten-filled twinkies.
I like gold but I like silver more! Check out the zilverprijs grafiek and see the potential when silver starts moving up.