Just now found this nice short piece of code for drawing a simple 5-pointed star:
>> theta = 0:4/5*pi:4*pi;
>> figure;
>> plot(cos(theta),sin(theta),'m-')
>> axis equal; axis tight
根據IMF聲明，現年55歲的拉加德是在未經正式投票表決的情形下，以成員國協商並獲得一致通過方式贏得此一任命。現任墨西哥央行行長卡 斯滕斯則在此次爭取IMF總裁中確定敗北，因此，拉加德的任命案在獲得IMF的24個成員國背書後，意味著70年來IMF由歐洲人主導的「傳統」並未改 變。
首要任務 解歐債危機
拉加德隨後發表聲明表示，她將繼續推動IMF在世界經濟和金融危機中扮演的角色，努力促進世界經濟強勁持續穩定增長，目標便是「為IMF的全體成員國服務」。
法國總統薩科齊則在第一時間對拉加德當選表示祝賀，並稱這是「法國的勝利」。
法新社則報導，拉加德上任後，第一個面臨的難題就是如何緩和希臘國內反對財政緊縮計畫引發的示威活動，造成對歐元區整體穩定的威脅。
《華爾街日報》報導，拉加德接掌IMF後，將捲入不斷加深的歐債危機，其首要任務之一就是在歐元區和IMF同意向希臘提供1100億歐元救助一年後，幫助制定第二個希臘救助計畫。
分析師認為，拉加德上任後，不會偏離她自己常說的支援希臘、維護歐元區完整的一貫立場。
其次，由於拉加德入主IMF，被外界認為，IMF未來的重心仍將偏重歐洲，因此，她未來勢必被要求給予發展中國家更多的權力，並協助IMF走出前總裁卡恩因性侵案突然辭職的陰影。
傳朱民可望任副總裁
為博取中國支持，拉加德先前在訪中行程中承諾，中國未來在IMF的代表權將獲提升，包括巴西在內的其他新興經濟體也將在IMF中扮演更重要的角色。
值得注意的是，由於中國對拉加德表態支持，加上IMF第一副總裁利普斯基（John Lipsky）將於8月31日退休，前中國人民銀行（大陸央行）副行長、現任IMF總裁特別顧問的朱民已被外界認為是可能接任IMF第一副總裁的熱門人選。
事實上，拉加德在當選前也曾強烈暗示入主IMF後，將支持朱民在IMF高層中扮演更重要的角色；復旦大學經濟學院副院長孫立堅對此認為，以中國當前在全球的經濟實力，未來朱民出線的機率應該很大。
From CLSA's Greed and Fear:
Belgian central bank Vice Governor Francoise Masai reportedly told shareholders that about 41% of the central bank’s 216 metric tons of gold was on loan at the end of last year, and that the central bank earned a 0.3% return on its loans of physical gold to commercial banks last year. There are two points to note about this. The first is the puny annualised return earned on the gold leasing market. The second is the significant percentage of the central bank’s gold lent out. This is a reminder that the paper gold market is significantly larger than the physical market. Just like a run on a bank in a fractional banking system, GREED & fear suspects it will be very hard to settle all the paper claims to gold physically in a real scramble for the metal. This is why in a parabolic spike physical gold is likely to trade at a significant premium to paper claims. On this point GREED & fear should make it clear that the 25% of the global portfolio for a US dollar-denominated pension fund allocated to gold bullion is in physical gold.
Meanwhile, it is an interesting note that more than a dozen state legislators in America have now seen bills introduced that would make gold and silver coins legal tender in the respective states. Thus, gold and silver coins minted by the US government are now considered legal tender in Utah. Much of this activism is coming from Tea Party supporters. Financial sophisticates will scoff. But to GREED & fear it is a healthy sign that some people in America are thinking. For more on this popular movement to return to the monetary role of gold read an article published last week by the Los Angeles Times (“Pushing for a return to the gold standard”, 3 June 2011 by Nathaniel Popper).
(綜合報道)(星島日報報道)塑化劑風波繼續蔓延，大型連鎖個人護理產品零售商「萬寧」在自願性產品測試中，發現兩款新加坡製的本港註冊藥劑產品「萬寧消炎喉片30片」及「萬寧葉酸5毫克60片」，含有塑化劑需要回收，不論產品拆封與否，巿民可攜產品包裝或發票，到萬寧門巿辦理退款或換貨手續。衞生署呼籲巿民停用該產品，並檢取樣本作進一步化驗。
衞 生署昨日接獲萬寧母公司牛奶有限公司通知，指用作紓緩喉嚨痛的「Mannings消炎喉片」檢出含有百萬分之一點四的DEHP及百萬分之三點八的 DINP；食物補充劑「Mannings 葉酸5毫克」則含有百萬分之一點三的DEHP及百萬分之一點六DINP。巿民可於辦公時間致電二二九九 三三八一向萬寧查詢。
醫院藥劑師學會副會長崔俊明說，消炎喉片多數供成人服用，但有關葉酸產品多為孕婦食用，相信短期攝取塑化劑對成年人不會造成即時影響，但擔心或會影響男性胎兒的生殖器官發展。
衞生署發言人建議，市民立即停用有關產品，署方已檢取產品樣本化驗，並將事件通知新加坡藥物監管當局跟進。
署方至今無接獲相關不良反應報告，但完成調查後，將把個案提交律政司尋求法律意見。
[http://news.sina.com.hk/news/5/1/1/2361590/1.html]
摘自<川普.清崎讓你賺大錢>
清崎和川普的建議是：
一、別買基金，別買股票。坑殺散戶是股市鐵律、定期定額是基金套房。
二、買房地產。如果你跟川普、清崎一樣不懂科技、不懂網路的話。收租為先、少想增值。
三、不只當員工，也要變股東。員工當然有機會發財，前提是這家企業入股門檻低，否則你領高薪致富機率極低。
四、加入直銷。如果想學生意，卻沒有富爸爸教，就請加入一家直銷商，幾年就好，因為他們比任何人都希望你搞懂生意是什麼。
五、善用槓桿。如果你的小生意還算成功，接下來就要會複製自己的長處，能力的槓桿能讓你舉重若輕、倍數擴張。發明麥當勞的人賺小錢，複製麥當勞的人發大財。
發不了財的原因 :
一、懶惰
二、習慣差
三、缺乏教育
四、缺乏經驗
五、缺乏指導
六、態度差
七、朋友和家人的不良影響
八、不專心
九、決心不夠
十、缺乏勇氣
當然最大的原因是: 找不到一個支持我們變富有的環境....
《華爾街日報》-- 2011/6/ 20 星期一 (http://hk.biz.yahoo.com/110620/364/47d7m.html)
中國無疑是個經濟奇跡。改革開放以來，每10年中國人的生活水平就翻一番，而美國即使在經濟增速最快時期，要取得這樣的成績也要花上30年左右。不過，中國的經濟基礎開始出現裂縫。
把這些裂縫稱作三大矛盾吧。
矛盾一：中國領導人一方面決定放緩經濟增長步伐，抑制通貨膨脹；另一方面繼續給工人加工資，給民眾提供各類商品。同時實現這些目標對任何政府來說都是個挑戰，對於害怕失去控制權、不願讓市場力量主導國民經濟的中國政府來說，尤其困難。
在仍供奉著馬克思和恩格斯雕像的中國，工資佔國民總收入的比重持續縮水，貧富差距不斷擴大，這很難成為推動更多消費支出的秘訣。中國有眾多零售商店，但很多都像是博物館：人們前來「觀摩」，卻並不買東西。
由於勞動力需求強勁，中國工人的工資增長較快，這是維持中國領導人高度重視的穩定社會的關鍵，也是推動消費支出，讓中國擺脫出口依賴的關鍵。
到目前為止，一切順利。但不斷上漲的工資似乎正在稀釋中國工廠的競爭力。一個不言而喻的跡象是，美國服裝品牌Gap在中國商店裡出售的T恤 衫上標著「馬來西亞製造」的字樣，最便宜的牙刷也在越南製造。要解決這一問題，中國應實現轉型，成為更先進的製造商和服務提供商，而這就需要中國有更大、 更好、更自由的教育制度。一位官員說，中國現行教育制度在科學研究方面受到蘇聯管理模式的影響，中國精英人士都把子女送到國外讀書。
矛盾二：中國政壇最近的潮流話題是「人民幣國際化」，而實際上，人民幣目前基本上完全是一種國內貨幣。之所以要人民幣國際化，其中既有民族自豪的原因，也有貿易大國買賣本國貨幣的渴望。還有就是，如果再爆發金融危機，中國人決心要像美國一樣能獲得自由、低息的外國貸款。
到目前為止，一切順利。但人民幣不可能一夜之間實現國際化，除非中國取消低利率管制。現在中國的存款利率甚至趕不上CPI漲幅。參與全球貨幣遊戲意味著國民經濟要受到全球市場的影響。
有些官員看到了利率過低的危險。中國建設銀行行長郭樹清在接受採訪時說，你需要在失控之前，針對實際利率為負值做點什麼；很多人覺得把錢存起來沒多大好處，因此紛紛購買黃金和白銀等東西；很多人買房不是因為他們需要一個住處，而是為了投資。
的確，富人通過購置第三套和第四套房進行投機，而其他人因為房價太高連一套都買不起。驅動中國資產泡沫的是中國的貨幣政策，而非美聯儲（Federal Reserve）的貨幣政策。
美國利率低是因為美聯儲在刺激人們借貸。中國央行想減少貸款，但擁有強大政治力量的企業和政府借款人卻阻止利率升高。全球經濟分析師魯比尼（Nouriel Roubini），將中國的政策描述為：「收入從政治上弱勢的家庭向政治上強勢的企業大規模轉移：弱勢貨幣導致進口產品昂貴，低存款利率，以及對企業及開發商的低貸款利率，都相當於對儲蓄存款徵稅」。
讓人民幣國際化，意味著結束是出於政治原因；而將利率保持在經濟上最合理的水平之下的做法，意味著要讓經濟政策透明化。
矛盾三：在經濟每年增長10%的時候，一個壓制性政府讓人民高興比較容易。目前為止一切順利。
但從來不受人歡迎的給經濟踩剎車之舉，對一個不信任人民的政府來說，是個威脅。Twitter在中國被屏蔽。學生們抱怨說他們被限制在「中國的互聯網」之內。政府的過濾似乎減緩了網速。
民眾以其人之道還治其人之身。就連外國遊客都能感覺到很多人不信任政府。清華大學一個研究生在吃飯聊天時生氣地問：「一個國家的領導人，把自己的女兒送到國外接受教育，這個國家還有什麼可說的？」
在北京以北約96公里 處的一個村莊，蜿蜒的長城基本上對遊客沒什麼吸引力，映入眼簾的是十幾幢簡易的農舍，還有一幢嶄新的、更寬、更高的三層磚房。它看起來與周圍環境格格不入。大家都知道是誰建的：當地的村支書，而且花的不是他的工資。
地基的裂縫不一定預示著崩塌，但它們是壓力的痕跡。如果得不到處理，它們可以動搖一座經濟大廈，即使中國這樣宏偉的經濟大廈也不例外。
The European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are negotiating hard among themselves about how to structure debt relief for the Greek economy. The latest reports suggest they might have come up with a temporary deal among themselves. But what the EU, ECB and IMF want won't matter unless they get the Greek government to play as well. And that's by no means assured.
For one thing, Greeks are growing fed up with austerity and seem very unwilling to take on the still stricter conditions being demanded of them to win fresh funding and avoid default. The Greek economy has taken a beating during the past couple of years. Non-stop, large-scale political protests, routine general strikes and parliamentary rebellion have brought Athenian streets to a standstill. And Prime Minister George Papandreou's government is teetering.
Greeks are starting to question whether there might not be an easier way out of their crisis. And inevitably, Argentina's experience a decade ago has been attracting plenty of interest.
In the three years leading up to its crisis the Argentine economy struggled, contracting a total of 8.4% by the end of 2001. Strains became so great that the country defaulted on its sovereign debt, causing its economy to slump another 11% in 2002. But the unshackling of its currency from the dollar and subsequent devaluation also reignited growth. Since its 2002 low, Argentine gross domestic product will have expanded by an average annual 7.4% by the end of this year, according to IMF data. Crucially, Argentine output was back above its previous peak within three years of default.
Compare this with Greece's prospects. The IMF forecasts the Greek economy will have contracted 9.3% from its 2008 peak by the end of this year. Although the IMF expects Greece to start growing again next year, that is difficult to believe. The one constant of this crisis has been that all forecasts for Greece have been overly optimistic. Worse still, once Greece starts to grow, it is expected only to do so at an anemic rate of around 2% per year. By the end of 2016, the Greek economy will only just be back to end-2008 levels.
Greeks might well decide an Argentine solution is the only real option. In other words, an exit from the euro, default and devaluation. And maybe that's what the market is already anticipating.
Barry Eichengreen, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, famously argued that a euro-zone country couldn't leave the single currency because to do so would trigger "the mother of all financial crises." Long before the long political process necessary for any euro-zone country to leave the single currency was concluded, investors would have voted with their wallets. They'd dump the country's sovereign debt and flee its banks.
But this is pretty much what has already happened to Greece. Two-year Greek debt yields 28% while 10-year bonds are trading at less than half of face value. And for months now, depositors have been pulling funds out of Greek banks. Only the lifeline of yet more EU and IMF loans is keeping Greece in the euro. Loans that will have to be paid back.
If Greeks come to think they're already near or have reached the worst-case outcome of a euro exit but are getting none of the upside, they may well start to agitate to leave the single currency.
That would put the EU and the ECB into a very difficult position. A Greek default and departure from the euro would risk a systemic crisis across Europe's financial sector because of the huge exposure of Europe's banks to Greek government debt. The EU doesn't want to give in to Greece because of the costs involved and for fear of feeding moral hazard. But as the financial crisis showed, punctiliousness goes by the wayside when the crunch becomes severe enough.
The Bank of England worried publicly about the consequences of bailing out Northern Rock but then, after the Lehman Brothers collapse, had no compunction about pumping enormous amounts of money into the rest of the U.K.'s banking sector.
German, Dutch and Finnish politicians may be worried about how handing bottomless buckets of money to Greece will play out with their voters, but the alternative looks even uglier.
Ironically, were the Greeks to decide that a euro exit was not only possible, but desirable, the core EU, led by Germany, would almost certainly make huge concessions, including wholesale debt forgiveness.
Of course before they did so, core euro-zone countries would have to weigh up the costs of letting Greece off the hook relative to another rescue of their banking sectors. And not just Greece. Ireland and Portugal and possibly Spain and Italy would demand some sort of easing of their national liabilities if they saw Greece getting too good a deal. This would potentially be catastrophic for the politicians making the concessions. But the more Greeks become convinced they can go it alone the better the deal the EU would have to serve up to prevent them from doing so.
Could core Europe do this without going the way of Ireland, becoming a backstop that itself goes bust under the crushing weight of others' debts? It'll be interesting to see who draws the line where in this Greek standoff.
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304186404576389632761803982.html)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has been targeted by a sophisticated cyber attack.
Officials at the fund gave few details but said the attack earlier this year had been "a very major breach" of its systems, the New York Times reports.
Cyber security officials said the hack was designed to install software to create a "digital insider presence".
The IMF, which holds sensitive economic data about many countries, said its operations were fully functional.
The cyber attack took place over several months, and happened before former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested over sexual assault charges.
"I can confirm that we are investigating an incident," said spokesman David Hawley.
"I am not in a position to elaborate further on the extent of the cyber security incident."
The New York Times said IMF staff had been told of the intrusion on Wednesday by e-mail, but that the Fund had not made a public announcement.
The e-mail warned that "suspicious file transfers" had been detected and that an investigation had shown a desktop at the Fund had been "compromised and used to access some Fund systems".
There was "no reason to believe that any personal information was sought for fraud purposes," it said.
High profile breachesA cyber security expert told Reuters the infiltration had been a targeted attack which installed software designed to give a nation state a "digital insider presence" at the IMF.
"The code was developed and released for this purpose," said Tom Kellerman, who has worked for the Fund.
Bloomberg quoted an unnamed security expert as saying the hackers were connected to a foreign government. However, such attacks are very difficult to trace.
The World Bank said it briefly cut its network connection with the Fund out "an abundance of caution".
"The World Bank Group, like any other large organisation, is increasingly aware of potential threats to the security of our information system and we are constantly working to improve our defences," said spokesman Rich Mills.
The incident is the latest in a string of high-profile cyber security breaches.
In April, the Sony Playstation network was shut down after hackers stole the personal data of about 100 million accounts and in May, US defence firm Lockheed Martin said it had come under a significant cyber-attack.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told the US Congress earlier this week that a large-scale cyber attack which would cripple power, finance, security and governmental systems was "a real possibility in today's world".
http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/rogers-only-a-crisis-can-fix-us-debt-problem-2011-06-08/7B14FAAB-F745-4ECA-ADB4-F8D5BD0A2C96?link=kiosk#!4037F460-50B5-4C32-8AAB-EAAB717DA6D9
JUNE 10, 2011
In an interview with WSJ's Simon Constable, famed investor Jim Rogers weighs in on what it will take to solve the U.S. debt crisis, why he's shorting U.S. tech companies, why the stimulus package was a bad idea, and the looming energy crisis.
問題食品全國氾濫，昨日母親節，中國母親們有個簡單而奢侈的節日願望：讓子 女可吃上無毒食品！在重慶，一名八十後母親為減少兒子吃到毒食品風險，甘願做農夫，她租下農田，親手種植有機蔬菜，雖然辛苦，但勝在新鮮無毒。類似情況， 在內地已非個案，輿論直指民眾對政府已信心盡失，改革開放卅年，反而退回農耕時代，怒問「當官的有母親沒有？」
家住重慶涪陵區的母親唐建華，育有一名七歲大的兒子，備受毒食品問題困擾，為了讓兒子嘗到安全新鮮的蔬菜，健康成長，今年三月在區內農村以四千元租下一塊六十平方米的農田種菜。她無奈地說：「這幾年，食品安全問題連續不斷，染色饅頭，地溝油……一次次挑戰着我們的心理底線。」
唐建華租下田地種菜後，每逢周末均會趕到菜園，由播種、澆水、拔草，她都親力親為，在烈日當空下耕種，每每汗流浹背，不過家人的健康成為她繼續下去的動力。她近期在農民的指導之下，按照季節種植不同種類的蔬菜，包括了油麥菜、茄子、黃瓜、萵筍等，收穫不俗。
「萵筍摘下來洗洗就能吃，有股清香味、吃起來還略帶甜味。」唐建華表示，農田蔬菜每兩周採摘一次，每次的分量足夠他們一家人享用三日。「有些菜還帶有泥土和水，看起來沒有超市裏的蔬菜乾淨，但很新鮮，味道也特別好，最重要確保食品安全，總較外出購買有保障。」
其實，內地近來愈來愈多民眾抱着唐女士的想法，上個月她菜田隔壁就增加了五十多戶「菜農」。除此，內地部分民眾也興起在住家露 台、天台，甚至馬路邊種菜，而各大政府機關、國企更誇張，耗費巨資包農場種菜、養殖，專供自己的飯堂。大批網民對於民眾無奈自種的情況大表同感，直言若非 政府瀆職，監管不嚴，何來大批「城市農夫」？
另一方面，全國各地昨均有各種各類的母親節活動，有小學生模擬大肚子體會懷孕之苦，有監獄組織囚犯向母親獻花活動，願天下母親暫忘充滿艱辛的現實。
雖然母愛無限偉大，但是湖北武漢大學前日對校內學生進行調查，顯示九成男生從未親口對母親說「我愛你」，大都認為「心照」就可以。
本報綜合報道
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20110509/00178_001.html
I just got off the phone with Pierre Jananovic . . . La Banque Postale has lowered the limits on the amounts of cash customers can withdraw per week by 50%. First of all, for you Americans and Brits, the way France works its banking system – customers are limited to how much they can withdraw per week from their accts no matter what the balance. Now what has happened here is that Gold card members – who could take out 3,000 euros a week – are now limited to 1,500 a week. This was sudden, without warning, and people here in France are freaking out. Pierre tells me that its the first clear sign that liquidity in the European banking system is drying up.
(http://maxkeiser.com/2011/06/07/the-biggest-bank-in-france-has-atm-card-access-to-cash-in-half/)
Today I came across this clip, very interesting:
http://www.greggmckenzie.com/pages/IconNew/HSBC.html
A few items that I should look at when I have more spare time:
1. Climategate (sadly I overlooked this news and related stories when it happened)
2. The Secrets of The Federal Reserve written by Eustace Clarence Mullins, Jr. (March 9, 1923 – February 2, 2010)
Thats right. The Fed owns NO gold. Zero, zip, ziltch.
For those of you who did not watch yesterday’s monetary policy hearing in the house of representatives, you most likely missed this bombshell exchange between Federal Reserve lawyer Scott Alvarez and committee chairman Dr. Ron Paul. My jaw literally dropped when I heard the Fed’s general counsel declare that the Federal Reserve owns no gold. After 1934, Alvarez explains that the Fed handed its gold over to the Treasury in exchange for gold certificates. When pressed further, Alvarez noted that the gold certificates do not represent any interest whatsoever in the gold itself. He explained the gold certificate listings on the Fed balance sheet, not as a claim to gold, but at most a claim to dollars from the Treasury. See the quotes here (and watch the videos at the bottom of the post):
Scott Alvarez: “The Federal Reserve does not own any gold at all… we have not owned gold since 1934, um, so we have not engaged in any gold swap. Before 1934 the Federal Reserve did, we did own gold. We turned that over by law to the Treasury and received in return for that gold certificates.”
Ron Paul: “…You have the securities for essentially all the gold?”
Scott Alvarez: “No. No we have no interest in the gold that is owned by the Treasury. We have simply an accounting document that is called gold certificates that represents the value at a statutory rate that we gave to the Treasury in 1934″
This issue is even more complicated than may appear and after doing some research we seem to have settled some of the quirks in this odd Treasury-Fed scheme. Bare with us when reading through this.
What appears to have happened under the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 is the Treasury seized the Fed’s gold, taking full ownership and claim to its proceeds. The Treasury as an aside transferred a sum of special 1934 series gold certificates to the Fed amounting to the statutory value of gold ($20.67 per ounce) times the quantity of gold transfered from the Fed to the Treasury. The official gold price was later revalued to $35 an ounce, an effective devaluation of the currency, but the quantity of gold certificates issued to the Fed was not amended to reflect revaluation until the passing of the Par Value Modification Act of 1972. Under this act, gold was revalued again, this time to $38 an oz, and the Fed’s gold certificate account was credited upwards by $822 million worth of certificates to reflect the change in the gold price from $35 to $38. The gold was revalued one last time in 1973 to $42.22 and again the Federal Reserve was credited with more gold certificates, $1.157 billion to be exact, to account for this. After everything, the Federal Reserve was left with $11.16 billion dollars worth of gold certificates.
So what exactly are the gold certificates the Fed holds? For one, the Fed’s gold certificates are unlike previous gold certificate issues, and are not publicly trade-able. They are also not direct claims to gold, but rather reflect claims only to US issued currency or coin held by the Treasury. The Fed can take claim to this currency on demand, and their certificates are an accounted for liability of the Treasury as listed in Note 19. Treasury’s “Other Liabilities”. In addition, if the Treasury is unable to satisfy a demand by the Fed for the funds, the Fed is able to gain access to the gold, since the gold stands as collateral for the gold certificates issued by the Treasury. This fact is taken from this statement in Note 2, from the Treasury’s balance sheet:
“Gold totaling $11.1 billion as of September 30, 2010, and 2009, was pledged as collateral for gold certificates issued and authorized to the FRBs by the Secretary of the Treasury.“
Given that the Fed has an indirect claim to the Treasury’s gold, it is questionable what line of reasoning the Fed’s general counsel was using when stating so broadly that the Fed has “no interest in the gold that is owned by the treasury”.
In any case, we can analyze the implications of the basic facts and come to a couple of conclusions:
1) The widespread notion that the Fed owns gold is false. The corollary to this is the mistaken belief that the Fed understates its gold holdings on its balance sheet by only reporting certificates based on the $42.22 statutory gold value. The Fed does not in fact own the US gold stock multiplied by the market price of gold, unless the Treasury defaults and even then its not clear. The Fed does, however, own a claim to currency totaling $11.1 billion and this value has a remote chance of going up significantly if the Treasury revalues its gold and maintains the practice initiated in the Par Value Modification Act.
2) The fact that the Fed owns no gold, nor claims to any gold, means the fundamental value of the dollar lacks any backing besides dollars themselves, not including Fed building and equipment. Dollars are in essence worth a lot less than many people thought, and the Fed is much more impotent in using the prowess of their assets, and conducting monetary policy in general, than many believed. In all, Alvarez’s clarification strengthens the case for gold’s high dollar value immensely.
“We’re moving nearer and nearer to the edge of the hurricane. I can feel it in my bones. Every newspaper now carries an ad for gold. The ironic clincher was this ad below that I clipped from a weekly newspaper.
“Is there a gold bubble? Are you kidding me? Here’s an ad that somebody paid for suggesting that people should turn in their gold (!!) for Federal Reserve Notes. They’re not telling you to buy gold during one of the greatest bull markets in history – hardly, they’re asking you to throw parties in which the object is to get ignorant people to SELL their gold.
“I can feel them caressing my face – the early breezes. They are blowing gently and hinting of the forthcoming gold hurricane that will sweep across the US and the planet with all the force and power that was seen when gold was first discovered at Sutter’s Creek during the California gold rush of 1849. The gold rush of the 2000s is in the wings. The old phrase is ringing in my ears again (I haven’t heard it since the late ’70s): ‘There’s no fever like gold fever’.
“If the temperature of full gold fever is a hot 106, we’re only at 99 now, but I can feel it, I can tell you that the temperature is rising, rising.
“The panic to buy gold will override everything else. It will be one of the greatest financial phenomena that most of today’s investors will ever see. It will blot out everything else like a cloud blotting out the sun.
“After the calm, comes the storm. We’ve been watching ten years of gold climbing amid an atmosphere of calm. The great gold tsunami lies ahead. It will be historic.
“… BEFORE the great gold tsunami we might have a frightening gold correction that would clean out all the gold sceptics. This ‘clean out’ may be necessary prior to the big gold tsunami, and it’s a reason to hold some cash and not put ALL your money into gold at this time. Remember the old adage – ‘The market always does what it’s supposed to — BUT NEVER WHEN’.”
Source: Dow Theory Letters, April 21, 2011.
