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An Example Of Non-Gold Standard "Price Stability": A 1 In 1,516,122,879,893,320,000,000,000,000,000 Event

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Earlier today, at least one economist was ridiculing the gold standard because supposedly while under one, there was "price instability", despite empirical proof by George Selgin that the Fed's mandate of 'price stability' has been a disastrous exercise in complete futility. For those who have a shorter attention span and can not be bothered with multi-page, non-bulletized presentations, here is an example of your precious centrally planned price stability: as Sean Corrigan demonstrates, the swing back and forth in the CHF trade weighted index on SNB (non)intervention in one short week is a 11.5 sigma event, or a 1 in 1,516,122,879,893,320,000,000,000,000,000 event, which without central planning price stability intervention would occur roughly once every several trillion qunitillion years. And the kicker: a quick look around today's markets is chock full of such examples. But yes, aside from the facts, the gold standard is a "joke." In the meantime, anyone who took said economist's advice and went long spam and short gold, is broke about 10 times over in the past two years...

P.S. the number above is not the total US debt... yet. A few years from today - yes, courtesy of a non-gold standard based monetary system.

 

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Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:41 | 1566079 speconomist
speconomist's picture

Tyler, any news regarding what will Hildreband do tomorrow?

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:01 | 1566579 In Fed We Trust
In Fed We Trust's picture

It turns out, Alex Jones is a fraud, protecting the Zionist empire. A controlled movement so to speak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPSt5wP8vg

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:03 | 1566584 In Fed We Trust
In Fed We Trust's picture

Tyler Durden,

Now the burden is on you to prove that you are NOT like Alex Jones and Matt Drudge.

 

Seeing how you write under an alias and all always promoting the idea of "trading" I think I may already have my answer....

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 17:34 | 1566820 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

You need to come with a lot more than this bullshit video if you want to make any assertion about anything.

Tyler has told everyone to get out of the Markets.

YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION. Do your homework before you come into someone's house and talk trash about them.

Who's a disinformation agent?

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 17:59 | 1566892 unky
unky's picture

when i was in china last time i could access infowars.com but was unable to open zerohedge.com  hmmm.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 18:35 | 1567019 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

1 too many Free Tibets from the anon-y-mouse pi-rat?  LOL!  we can only hope for change!

t.y.  or maybe the grammar nazi's here got tyler to censor them b/c they are almost as bad as me...

...am...

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 19:55 | 1567222 theoilyboy
theoilyboy's picture

ZH has worked fine in China every day for the past six years.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 19:18 | 1567143 Young Buckethead
Young Buckethead's picture

Michael would be so disappointed with the quality of your work.

You must be new.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:41 | 1566080 Ahmeexnal
Ahmeexnal's picture

run that signal through your SETI@home

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:47 | 1566114 spiral_eyes
spiral_eyes's picture

quadruple A, bitchez

http://azizonomics.com/2011/08/16/krugman-calls-for-alien-invasion/

Aliens, Aliens, Aliens, Aliens 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:58 | 1566165 trav7777
trav7777's picture

the lizards already invaded the US and UK well over a century ago

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:05 | 1566190 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

Romans invaded Britain, and Puritans invaded America.  Lizards?  Call 'em whatever, just don't call them late to steal.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:14 | 1566454 I think I need ...
I think I need to buy a gun's picture

i've seen roubini and his employees on bloomberg and cnbc in the last 3 years. since the initial credit collapse they have been wrong about everything.

the best one was stay in all cash april of 09

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:25 | 1566657 bb5
bb5's picture

Roubini is a Keynesian economist, so he automatically rejects gold. The reason for this is that Keynesianism is built on a fiat currency system, and it allows the government to take money from savers and fixed income folks based on the idea that they are not smart enough to realize the difference between nominal wages and real wages. It is a highly immoral system. In a free market ,100% reserve, gold backed monetary system (classic liberalism), there would be absolutely no function for Keynesianism. I wonder if Roubini has ever thought about the origin of money and the function that gold played in the original barter system. It's really sad that the world is so screwed up that it's economic system is  Keynesianism. That said, in his class, Roubini is top of the line. He just needs to stick to analysing the macros and stay away from things that he obviously knows little about. 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:45 | 1566341 seek
seek's picture

I think he's making a reference to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilians

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:07 | 1566425 spiral_eyes
spiral_eyes's picture

lizards.

is there a triple L credit rating? 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:58 | 1566167 Kyron95131
Kyron95131's picture

did

still no signs of intellegent life...

anywhere...

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:27 | 1566277 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

It's Pedobear!

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:04 | 1566590 fuu
fuu's picture

Hopefully Sudden Debt will not show up. To much meme in one place.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:16 | 1566632 JW n FL
JW n FL's picture

President Hugo Chavez has celebrated that the Unified Regional Compensation System (Sucre) is being evaluated by the Union of South American Countries, Unasur. According to Chavez, the adoption of a single currency like the Sucre has the potential to become a tool to shield the region from the financial crisis caused by the global economic meltdown originated in the U.S. and Europe.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194159.html

 

Go Team Republican!

Fucking with America's AAA Rating was MORE THAN DOUBLE WINNING!!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 19:27 | 1567164 Young Buckethead
Young Buckethead's picture

And doing strafing runs in your underwear after banging a six gram rock!

YEAH!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:02 | 1566182 max2205
max2205's picture

SIGMA.......it's back......

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:41 | 1566081 Robslob
Robslob's picture

But but but...you can eat SPAM?!?!?

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:48 | 1566115 spiral_eyes
spiral_eyes's picture

you can also eat iPad mmmm delicious slave labour technology NOM NOM NOM

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:42 | 1566085 In Fed We Trust
In Fed We Trust's picture

It has come to my attention that there exists a positive coraltion between the stock market and the oil market.

What do u think?

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:43 | 1566087 kito
kito's picture

roubini is a shit talking emetic. 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:44 | 1566095 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

with news like today, I'm pretty sure that one day in the comming 5 years they'll put it against the law to own PM's.

Better have a lot of "collectable" coins to.

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:46 | 1566109 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

And if the timeline is estimated to be 5 years, that means it is likely to happen within the next 2 weeks.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:53 | 1566140 Jonas Parker
Jonas Parker's picture

Methinks TPTB will have considerably less cooperation from the citizens this time than they did in 1933...

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:58 | 1566163 Young Buckethead
Young Buckethead's picture

My sentiments exactly, SD. With the puppets and their puppet masters now starting to promote gold ownership, let the population (mostly using credit cards) buy up the remaining available gold at today's prices. Then make gold ownership illegal. First they sweep the safety deposit boxes, then they come to your home because they have your credit card/address file. This would make selling gold illegal (no legal investment potential), so there would be only very long term holding, which most/all will not survive (Fukushima and Los Alamos) or the black market/barter, which would require armed defense which many, if not most, gold holders are not capable of. (Firearm ownership does not necessarily translate to ability to successfully survive)

The Jews in Germany invested heavily in large, thick gold mens rings with large gemstones. Easier to smuggle/explain away, not illegal to sell when investment gold is illegal.

I agree that gold is going through the roof, but ownership will have a shitload of problems.

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:22 | 1566261 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Relax.  You are getting excited and not thinking about the probable.  The longer they can draw this out, the more gold is stacked in the vaults of sovereign funds and central banks.  The more gold they stack, the less your gold is of significance to powerful people.  Powerful people also have their own stash of gold, and don't want their ability to move that product inpaired.  Most of the public doesn't own PMs, and the ones who are aware of it are in paper, not the real thing.

Also, don't forget that there isn't a mountain of gold coins in circulation that need to be melted.  Even in the 1930s, the ban on owning gold was targeted to get the gold in the vaults of the banks around the country, not from the public.

Most importantly, they don't want a confrontation.  They don't want violence.  They want to stay in power and put you to sleep.  They can't do that by telling everyone gold is a valuable backer for the new currency and then try to forceably take it from you.  They could take over the mines, but I don't see them doing that either.

At worst, they could impose a harsh "windfall profits" tax on gold sales.  Confiscation through taxation is still confiscation.  I don't see that happening either because it is simply unnecessary.  They will have all the gold they need by the time they switch us off the old system to the new.  They don't need your paultry horde, they have a dragon's horde of their own.

They always win.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:02 | 1566406 Young Buckethead
Young Buckethead's picture

You're assuming they don't want it all. Every last bit of it.

Don't want violence? They launch wars on a whim, just to increase their profits. Hundreds of camps are ready for those that want to keep their gold. And others . . .

Mine ownership? Nationalising industry isn't necessary in a fascist environment. The miners will just sell all their gold to the puppet masters only.

Yes, they always win. Until they don't . . . They'll all die from radiation sickness at the same rate as us.Too late to go underground.

Karma, Bitchez!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:59 | 1566170 trav7777
trav7777's picture

or learn how to smelter...jewelry will be exempt

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:05 | 1566187 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

I'd rather throw in a second level in my basement than melt them ;)

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:45 | 1566099 robertocarlos
robertocarlos's picture

But they still have the Spam right?

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:46 | 1566105 nah
nah's picture

keeps people busy and according to krugman that aint all so bad

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:46 | 1566106 jamisonLikePancake
jamisonLikePancake's picture

This news is clearly bullish for NFLX.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:46 | 1566108 Dnice0123
Dnice0123's picture

I remember thinking the same thing seeing that twitter feed. I may never log back into his website after that comment.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:46 | 1566110 dfornika
dfornika's picture

What is the null distribution?

I've been meaning to read this book for a while:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780465043576-3

I skimmed it briefly in the bookstore, and it seems like one main thrust of Mandelbrot's argument is that the Normal Distribution is misused a lot in economic analysis.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:26 | 1566275 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

That was the main topic of Mandelbrot's friend, Nick Taleb in his excellent book, The Black Swan

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:47 | 1566111 TomB
TomB's picture

If we could only get a fake space alien invasion things would be back to normal after 18 months or so, according to world's smartest economist, Paul Krugman.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhMAV9VLvHA

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:50 | 1566121 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

If you can get past the fool and his thinking (Krugman that is) all he is really saying is that perception is reality.

I say the same thing, but they forgot my Nobel. :>)

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:01 | 1566168 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

Krugman ain't no fool.  He knows very well what he is doing.  His Nobel Laureate speech concerned, "The Rise of Firms".  His take is that countries will give way to firms.  Personal freedoms do not increase returns, firms do.  He wants the corporations to take over, so he wants the governments to go bankrupt.

During the speech he even says he is lying about his theories being for the benefit of everyone, by putting his finger to his nose, several times. 

THEY TELL YOU WHEN THEY ARE TAKING YOUR MONEY, because if they do, then you are a willing victem.  Got Stockholm?

The Rise of Firms:

http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1072

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:04 | 1566184 trav7777
trav7777's picture

his clan already pretty much took over

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:13 | 1566218 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

So can I have his Nobel when you're done hanging him in the public square? Don't want it to go to waste.

It will look good next to my Krugman bobblehead doll.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:08 | 1566209 wombats
wombats's picture

 

False flag scenarios like this are well predicted in 

 

"The Creature from Jekyll Island : A Second Look at the Federal Reserve"

The last several chapters address situations such as this whereby false threats are used to control populations.  The world is falling apart very much as predicted.

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:31 | 1566289 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Perception is reality in The Crowd, (A great book)

Right up until we go over the cliff,

Then eveyone says nobody saw it coming.

Perception is reality in our minds, but we also live in the real world, a place filled with harsh realities.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:51 | 1566361 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

In fact Krugman is saying you can indefinitely postpone dealing with reality and he uses the 'alien invasion' as the transportation vehicle. You can always debase your currency by another 50% as long as everyone else does.

This BTW is precisely why Gold bugs and other assorted hard/sane money advocates are the arch enemy to fiat. It is only when insanity is seen in contrast is it so obviously insane. In a world of total insanity, practicing insanity is sane.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:12 | 1566448 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Sure, until the juggling act gets so complex that TPTB have to everything perfectly to keep it working.  With the amount of derivatives involved and the debt levels, we are at that point now, and the real world is showing through the cracks.

Krugman's alternate reality works, until it doesn't, and then real people pay the price for their fantasies.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:51 | 1566132 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

I think theres a lot more to Krugmans space alien invasion comments than off handed kooky remarks...its been a huge topic on youtube and elsewhere for a couple years. Search for 'false flag alien invasion' on youtbe and you get a million + videos.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:59 | 1566169 Waffen
Waffen's picture

This is what people are reffering to in regards to "Project Blue Beam."

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:47 | 1566707 KowPie
KowPie's picture

"Prject Blue Beam"

Funny. When I was much younger a buddy of mine & I used to go out on the town on weekends and hit the bars. We would proceed to get sh&tfaced drunk and shoot pool. When he go pasted enough he would swear that he could see a "Blue Beam" of light aligning his shots on the pool table. That drunken basturd NEVER missed when the "Blue Beam" came on line. He would run the table from that point on.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:15 | 1566458 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Sounds like the plot from Watchmen (the comic not the movie).  I'd chip in some PMs to see that big blue guy blowing up bankers.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:55 | 1566148 Jonas Parker
Jonas Parker's picture

Or space aliens that eat politicians and piss gasoline..,.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:32 | 1566293 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Now that is what I call sustainability.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 23:03 | 1567750 MayIMommaDogFac...
MayIMommaDogFace2theBananaPatch's picture

LMAO!

(but think of the carbon-footprint!) 8-b

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:32 | 1566297 doggings
doggings's picture

either that we could tap them up for an intergalactic bailout instead

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:47 | 1566112 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

On a long enough timeline everything is a 11.5 sigma event.

We are just having a good run lately, that's all. #Winning

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:48 | 1566116 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Never paid much attention to Roubini. Cue Krugmans space alien invasion and world war that is deemed, 'what the world economy really needs'.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:48 | 1566118 ramblinon
ramblinon's picture

So we should give all the keys to the global economy to a cabal of major gold producers?  Uhhhh, yeah, I'll a fiat currency.  At least Bernanke has a background in econ.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:35 | 1566310 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

So we should give all the keys to the global economy to a cabal of major gold producers?  Uhhhh, yeah, I'll a fiat currency.  At least Bernanke has a background in econ.

a)  You might want to bone up on life before fiat.  The gold producers were not in charge of the world.  You are misinformed.

b)  People with a background in Economics caused all this.   As a group, they are mostly:

  • liars,
  • fools,
  • whores,
  • or a combination of the above.
Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:48 | 1566120 Troy Ounce
Troy Ounce's picture

 

 

Roubini hates the gold standard because it will stop him eating from the trough the financial industries built for him & other Keynesians

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:50 | 1566125 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

P.S. the number above is not the total US debt... yet. A few years from today - yes, courtesy of a non-gold standard based monetary system.

So what you're saying is, we will all be trillionaires?  Sweet.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:50 | 1566128 drink or die
drink or die's picture

When will those damn aliens attack us so we can be saved???!!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:52 | 1566136 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

'Blue Beam' up and running.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:05 | 1566134 narnia
narnia's picture

mandating gold & silver as legal tender has shortcomings too.  you still have to centrally plan & manipulate the conversion rate.  

the solution is no legal tender / competing currencies.  if you have a tax system, base in on a % of sales & services payable in whatever currency is used. 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:52 | 1566137 casey13
casey13's picture

Gold is good for protecting people from government stupidity but not as a form of government money.

The reason is that they can not be trusted and will debase any money standard regardless of the form.

The Romans only used gold and silver as money. In the end base medal slugs is all that was left.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:54 | 1566147 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

We're already at zinc slugs for coins.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:02 | 1566181 espirit
espirit's picture

...and the dollah is trolling the gutter as a third world currency.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:06 | 1566424 seek
seek's picture

It's unlikely that a new physical currency could be debased as it was in Rome, as the technology has improved too much (ultrasonic testers, precision pocket scales, etc.) The best they could do would be to try an change the value of a certain amount of gold via price controls.

Any debasement will come from the paper side (fraction reserve banking, government gold-denominated bonds that get defaulted upon, undeliverable gold contracts, etc.)

I think the ideal would be an electronic gold-denominated system with storage/transaction fees and some form of required auditing and enforce exchangability for physical to mitigate attempts at fractional reserve attempts.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:53 | 1566143 DonnieD
DonnieD's picture

For Nouriel Houdini's next trick, he will turn spam into gold.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:56 | 1566157 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

But can he do it in 140 chars or less?

Get your Twitter Battle on!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:50 | 1566718 KowPie
KowPie's picture

"For Nouriel Houdini's next trick, he will turn spam into gold."

mmmmm... edible gold.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:54 | 1566145 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

Funny you should mention crises and price instability, Nouriel. 

It's laughable that a knowledgeable guy would choose to ignore the 2 biggest counterweights to US money printing starting in the 1970s. Without those 2, there would have been a Weimar situation

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:55 | 1566149 binomial
binomial's picture

This is the signature squeal of the "bloodthirsty deranged bat" as it homes in on its prey!

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/08/BAC%208.10.jpg

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:55 | 1566150 Don Quixotic
Don Quixotic's picture

A truly free gold standard devoid of government manipulation is a multiple sigma event as well. One we'll be waiting on for a while...

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:56 | 1566153 sitenine
sitenine's picture

There is no stability in a currency war; only scorched earth.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:56 | 1566155 FranSix
FranSix's picture

Why would you need a gold standard.  Governments always abused the printing press, even under a gold standard.  Gold prices could be the benchmark, but you would need a floating price.  Bond prices float, and iinterest rates are the benchmark.  

Only nobody but nobody has the slightest notion of what a gold price advance means any longer.  That currencies have become 7X depreciated in the meantime is some sort of abstract concept.

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:59 | 1566162 hambone
hambone's picture

Baffled -

How is that the dollar will not, cannot catch a bid against the Euro...YET...people continue moving into T's now at 2.2% on 10yr???  If dollar is so sick why tie yourself to it???  Why dollar denominated instruments in a currency looking ready to fall off the monetization cliff?

Can get this one through my noodle.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:06 | 1566194 trav7777
trav7777's picture

we're AAAA and so are they

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 17:02 | 1566217 sitenine
sitenine's picture

It makes perfect sense. Example: Remember, Buffet announced that he would still buy treasuries at 0.0%? Of course he would, he owns a bank. You can buy treasuries, and you can borrow against them (you can't borrow against cash). Remember, he owns a bank. Leverage means everything to a bank (as well as any large company). So he buys X units of treasuries (AA+ rated 'assets') for 10,000 units of fiat, and promptly borrows 100,000 units of fiat against his AA+ rated 'assets' as collateral. Of course this is an overly simplified view of how it works - hope it helps your noodle.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 22:06 | 1567598 Ponzi Unit
Ponzi Unit's picture

I heard JPM doing tons of rate swaps to run the market up.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:05 | 1566188 apberusdisvet
apberusdisvet's picture

My luck will be that I get the alien girl that shits lead and not gold.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:05 | 1566189 topcallingtroll
topcallingtroll's picture

Damn ......u gold bugs are kicking my ass today...enjoy

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:07 | 1566192 wombats
wombats's picture

 

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:06 | 1566196 Eireann go Brach
Eireann go Brach's picture

I am short golf, cigarettes, fro yo hairspray, trips to Martha's Vinyard and Kenyan birth certificates

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:08 | 1566207 DonnieD
DonnieD's picture

Don't forget GM trucks.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:13 | 1566222 caerus
caerus's picture

i just adopted a gold beer standard

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:06 | 1566198 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

Faith in paper can evaporate in a minute. Faith in gold is universal. The votes are already coming in. 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:16 | 1566235 proLiberty
proLiberty's picture

The only way out for the SNB is to require that new money coming in to CH-land for deposit be held in physical gold in a repository on Swiss soil.  This would greatly reduce the pressure on the CHF.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:27 | 1566279 gangland
gangland's picture

 

The Price Stability™

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:34 | 1566299 DavidC
DavidC's picture

. Just saw TD's P.S., which makes my post redundant!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:48 | 1566348 Byte Me
Byte Me's picture

...and went long spam and short gold,...

Have you seen the price of Spam over the last 2 years. Smart move was long on both...

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 14:59 | 1566395 dcb
dcb's picture

add central bank infatuation with leverage which createes instability, plus hft and you get multi sigma events all the time. for some reason I can't forward to the ny times, it should go to floyd norris. hey, it's an everyday event!!!

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:05 | 1566416 alainton
alainton's picture

Roubini was making a quite different macroeconomic point which you completely missed Tyler - the sudden stops and recessions every 3 or 4 years under the Gold Standard

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:27 | 1566502 Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

As opposed to the recessions every 3 or 4 years and deferred depressions under the non-gold standard?

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:12 | 1566446 dcb
dcb's picture

these idiots think stability means a constant amount of inflation per year. if you haven't noticed economicst like to talk about things, but they use their own unique definitions that meean something different to normal humans

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 15:20 | 1566476 Downtoolong
Downtoolong's picture

A 1 In 1,516,122,879,893,320,000,000,000,000,000 Event

These tail of the tail events are surprising in themselves. But, who ever thought the black swans they are attached to fly in flocks and we would have so many of them swooping down in a short period of a few years? I think the collective probability of this happening in a true free market is approaching that of the universe imploding tomorrow in a reversal of the big bang. If we get there, let’s call it the big suck.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 18:19 | 1566970 Willzyx
Willzyx's picture

+1

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:06 | 1566598 Atoyota
Atoyota's picture

@nouriel?

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:22 | 1566648 Motley Fool
Motley Fool's picture

The Gold Standard, a.k.a a fixed amount of gold relating to the value fo a paper currency is a joke. Gold is a wealth reserve not a medium of exchange.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:39 | 1566695 Black Friday
Black Friday's picture

If someone accepts gold as payment then it is a medium of exchange whether under a gold standard or not. Historically gold is definitely a medium of exchange.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:49 | 1566716 Motley Fool
Motley Fool's picture

Historically. That is correct. That does not mean it will be true in the future. Our monetary system is evolving.

If someone accepts gold in future as payment it will for that moment be a medium of exchange, that is true to the definition. But, who is stupid enough to pay someone with gold, when paper is so much easier to Pay with and loses it's value.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 17:05 | 1566758 caerus
caerus's picture

non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 17:39 | 1566823 valuetrader
valuetrader's picture

I love it when I see another gold bashing. It is ''barbaric'', yields no income and is ''the ultimate bubble'', among other things. Silver on the other hands suffers from the fact that it dropped 35% in a few days recently. If you don't remembrer this, please tune to CNBC and you are likely to hear the story often mentioned there. So, gold is a bubble about to burst and silver is a bubble that has burst already but likely to burst even more!!! Sell, sell, sell. I can't even listen to this crap any more.

The truth remains: hardly anybody has invested in gold or silver, CB's are buying, China and India are hungry for gold and nobody and I mean nobody seems to be able to print it! Well, with the possible exception of some CB's who claim to have tons and tons of it but don't allow anybody to verify that. Erste research (very good piece) says that there is more gold in the world than officially known due to gold in some private hands but I think that this maybe compensated by the lack of gold at CB's that is counted in the total but actually is not there. I just hope that prices go up slowly rather than too fast. Don't like this speed of appreciation because it may mean that we are getting to a very nasty situation. 

However, I challenge the Comex guys to hike margin requirements 10 times within 3 days on both gold and silver and see what happens to the price. Somehow I don't think prices are likely to collapse again.

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 22:12 | 1567592 scratch_and_sniff
scratch_and_sniff's picture

The silver price collapsing had nothing to do with margin hikes, the margin hikes were an attempt to slow its ascent, nearly everything got hammered in May, from GBP, Brent, copper, EUR, equities all at the same time...all from the dollar bouncing off its lows, it had fek all to do with silver. Silver was taken down because it was a bubble that was purposefully pumped with rumours of the comex not having enough silver to cover its contracts, and JPM having to cover some apocalyptic position that talking bears told everyone they had. Even though comex works as a fractional reserve( how many banks keep all they're cash in one vault) and JPM has raised its forecasts for PM's. Everyday you heard "comex is near the edge, any day now, any hour now, any minute, arrghh by silver fools its going to the moon..." aaaaand exhale the fumes of that particular watery fart. It could only happen in the silver market because it's the easiest to pump.

Here is a look at the sucker money flowing into silver at the time...you tell me, bubble? So what started it?

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0-7&q=%22buy%20silver%22&date=1%2F2004%2092m&cmpt=q

Incase you were wondering, here is the present one for gold...

 http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0-7&q=%22buy%20gold%22&date=1%2F2004%2092m&cmpt=q

 

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 19:11 | 1567053 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

can i bet 1 cent like in the casino from which i just arrved home?  that would win me everything on the planet, which would be enuf for now

i think the bell curve may be suffering from inflation, whereas the standard deviation has deflated

statisically, of course

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