Free Republic

To begin with, Russia has no need to sell gold. In fact, Russia added 150 tonnes of gold to its Central Bank holdings in August, September and October. It didn’t make any sense that Russia would then turn around and sell gold. Why? Russia runs a current account surplus - LINK. It has cash on its balance sheet. Something the U.S. can only dream about, as the U.S. Government has to issue debt every hour to fund itself. The last time the U.S. sniffed a positive balance of payments was in the 1980’s. Second, Russia just got through paying down...

Tyler Durden 12/30/2014 USDJPY has tumbled overnight back below 119.50, dragging stocks (equity futures now at session lows) and Treasury yields with it. But it appears the Gold/Yen trade that is reacting most significantly as a huge volume flushes through futures markets spiking Gold back above $1200...(snip)

A wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread. This is what Obama, with his fiscal cliff plan, threatens us with. For many years now we have heard chilling tales about that elusive, powerful and manipulative entity conspiracy theorists have called “The New World Order”. Not only have the members of this group managed for the most part to remain anonymous, but their agenda has remained mysterious and obscure. So much so that many good people have been perfectly fine with ignoring its existence or viability. Whether or not this New World Order is in lockstep with World Communism...

In Russia, the overnight lending rates between banks has soared to 19%, a sign of widespread and warranted mistrust between banks, as one bank has failed. To stabilize the situation, Putin is considering bank deposit insurance up to an amount equivalent rate of about $26,000. Meanwhile, and although Russia is still burning through currency reserves, the value of the Ruble has been rising. CNN Money reports Russia Empties the Vault to Prop Up Ruble. So far this year the central bank has burned through more than $110 billion in foreign currency supplies. That's more than a quarter of what it...

[ Secondary blog source: Tyler Durden / The Zero Hedge / www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-24/we-live-new-world-and-saudis-are-first-get-it ] There are many things I don’t understand these days, and some are undoubtedly due to the limits of my brain power. But at the same time some are not. I’m the kind of person who can no longer believe that anyone would get excited over a 5% American GDP growth number. Not even with any other details thrown in, just simply a print like that. It’s so completely out of left field and out of proportion that you would think by now at least a few more...

The events of the past few months seem astounding when taken in all at once. The plan to destroy the U.S. dollar and the American middle class is moving at an ever increasing speed. At the recent G20 meeting the nations agreed that bank deposits would no longer be considered money. These bank deposits become the property of the banking institution and as such can be used any way the bank wants. This means that any money you deposit in a bank now is no longer yours but makes you an investor in the bank and subject to lose that...

On the teetering economy and possible economic collapse, Dr. Roberts says, “We know something serious is wrong. The only provision of Dodd-Frank that has any teeth is the provision that says if the big banks are going to be casinos and gamble on derivatives, they cannot do that in the depository institution where depositors have their accounts. They have to farm it out into subsidiaries. So, if the subsidiaries get into trouble, the subsidiaries have no access to depositors’ money. This is the only real reform part of Dodd-Frank. Citigroup got put into the recent spending bill, the repeal of...

Diamonds and precious metals found in the eastern United States might have rained down during the last Ice Age after a comet shattered over Canada and set North America ablaze, all leading to a mass die-off of animals and humans. New chemical analyses of diamond, gold and silver found in Ohio and Indiana reveal the minerals were transported there from Canada several thousand years ago. The question is, how?

Yet Another #TOLDYA: Commodities Giant Ceases ALL Gold Trading There are actually TWO Barnhardt Axioms. The second Barnhardt Axiom is: Seeking and/or holding office, especially national-level office, is today, in and of itself, proof that a given person is psychologically and morally unfit to hold public office. The first, older Barnhardt Axiom is: If you can’t stand in front of something and physically defend it with a firearm, then you don’t own it, and probably never did. The fifth largest Commodity trading company (not a brokerage firm per se, but specializing in trading commodities in both the physical and on...

Shortly before his death in 2007, Manhattan landlord and lawyer Edward Giaimo Jr. revealed to his two siblings a secret — he had hidden a stash of silver and gold worth millions. While being treated for cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital, Giaimo allegedly told his brother and sister that he had stowed away a large amount of precious metals and they would need a truck to move it. The lifelong bachelor added that the metals, believed to be silver bullion and South African gold coins known as Krugerrands, were safe, but they needed to be removed from their hiding spot...

"Russia is at a critical juncture and given the sanctions placed upon them and the rapid decline in oil prices, they may be forced to dip into their gold reserves, if it happens it will push gold lower." That is what, according to some people Bloomberg has quoted, is in the cards.

December 17, 2014 John Rubino To say that gold is in a bear market is to misunderstand both gold and markets. Gold isn't an investment that goes up and down. It is money in the most basic store-of-value sense. Most of the time it just sits there, and when its price changes in local currency terms that says more about the local currency than about gold. But when currencies collapse, gold shines. Consider the above from the point of view of a typical Russian. The ruble is tanking (no need to understand why -- all fiat currencies go this way...

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec 15, 2014) - YAMANA GOLD INC. (YRI.TO) (AUY) ("Yamana" or "the Company") today announced a new vein discovered at El Peñón and the best drill intersections in the history of Chapada, immediately west of the main pit. At El Peñón the new north-south vein, named Ventura, is expected to lead to expansion of the mineral resource base at what appears to be high grades. The results at Chapada, from the newly discovered mineralization named Sucupira, continue to support the potential of a much larger district of mineralization, which could also significantly expand mineral resources. In both...

The human race is ready to begin harvesting the resources of space both for their use in space and to increase the wealth and prosperity of the entire world. Promotional DSI Video

Asteroid sourced hydrogen and oxygen will literally and figuratively fuel expansion of the space economy by providing a locally sourced fuel resource that will change how industry operates in space. While existing satellites cannot be refueled directly today, space tugs fueled by asteroids that are currently being developed, will maneuver Geostationary satellites into their assigned orbit. Thus, keeping them operating and generating revenue far beyond their current life expectancy. Water from asteroids can also be used for a plethora of other applications beyond fuels in space. It can be consumed, used as a radiation shield for humans during deep space...

On January 16, 2013 Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said it will ship back home all 374 tonnes it had stored with the Banque de France in Paris, as well as 300 tonnes held in Manhattan by the US Federal Reserve, by 2020. Fast forward a year and Buba, as the Federal Bank of Germany is affectionately (or maybe not) known, has only managed to bring home a paltry 37 tonnes of gold. And a mere 5 tonnes of that came from the US, the rest from Paris. The US Fed holds 45% of the total 3,396 tonnes German gold....

Criminal scams are not unique to the precious metals industry, as it is but one minor niche of the massive financial markets. However, it is the industry in which I participate. Where possible, I try to help would-be buyers of physical precious metals avoid the crooks. There are many different ways that unscrupulous dealers may try to take advantage of uninformed buyers, but today I want to focus on the problem with people purchasing and paying for merchandise, then never receiving their goods. There have been some operations that never delivered promised merchandise right from the beginning. Such crooks tend...

December 09, 2014 Jeff Clark A glance at any gold price chart reveals the severity of the bear mauling it has endured over the last three years. More alarming, even for die-hard gold investors, is that some of the fundamental drivers that would normally push gold higher, like a weak US dollar, have reversed. Throw in a correction-defying Wall Street stock market and the never-ending rain of disdain for gold from the mainstream and it may seem that there’s no reason to buy gold; the bear is here to stay. If so, then I have a question. Actually, a whole...

Tyler Durden 12/09/2014 Gold prices have surged this morning to their highest since October (over $1221) as leveraged hot money greatly rotates its repo-driven way out of risk assets and into Greenspan's alternative currency. However, there is a bigger problem for the biggest pairs trade that no one is discussing - apart from us - the decoupling of the long Nikkei, short gold trade as the repo market folds in on itself from the suck out of $80 billion in collateral by China... Gold back at its highest since October...(snip)

Do you remember seeing old pictures of the Great Depression which depicted "lines"? There were two types, bread lines and also lines to the front doors of banks. While we don't see any bread lines today, trust me, there are bread lines in every single state, and long ones at that. Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. survive on SNAP, EBT cards or whatever they are called in your state. Can you imagine the "confidence" it would instill if each day on your way to work you saw massive lines of people waiting for breakfast? Or, when you came...