Baltic Dry Index. 666 -03
LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
The
9/11 attrocity 11 years on. Spare a thought and a prayer for the victims and
their families.
We open this
morning with a rising flurry of speculation about what has happened to China’s
presumed President in waiting. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping hasn’t been seen since
September 1st, and is mysteriously cancelling scheduled meetings with
visiting foreign dignitaries. Has Princling Xi Jinping fallen ill, fallen from grace, or
fallen from power in an internal Communist Party of China power struggle? The semi-official
line is that Xi is suffering from a “bad back.” Maybe, but this old timer still remembers when
Egypt’s President Sadat simply “was shot in the hand.” It comes at a bad time
for China where an increasing hard
landing is coinciding with rising food and fuel inflation. The euro will not
get a white knight rescue from the Middle Kingdom this time round.
China VP Xi’s Absence From Public Fuels Speculation
By Bloomberg News - Sep 11, 2012 6:07 AM GMT
Chinese
Vice President Xi Jinping’s absence from public events for more than a week
fueled speculation about the health of the leading candidate to succeed
President Hu Jintao in a once-in-a-decade leadership change.
Since
speaking at the Party School of the Communist Party on Sept. 1, Xi cancelled a
Sept. 5 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After foreign
journalists in Beijing were told the same day that Xi would meet Danish Prime
Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on Sept. 10, the event wasn’t included in an
official agenda distributed Sept. 7. The foreign ministry said yesterday no
such meeting was planned.
Secrecy surrounding China’s leadership, combined with the ouster of Politburo member Bo Xilai earlier this year, has left investors with limited information on who’ll be overseeing the world’s second-biggest economy. The Communist Party has yet to release the dates for the gathering anticipated in coming weeks where the next generation of policy makers will be appointed.
“China is the second-largest economy in the world and Beijing is one of the central stages of international diplomacy,” said Yawei Liu, director of the China Program at the Atlanta-based Carter Center. “Open government information is absolutely crucial for the government to maintain political stability. The lack of transparency will weaken the wobbling legitimacy even more.”
More
Now back to suicidal, German imposed, austerity wracked Euroland. Your
turn will come George Soros tells Germany, continuing on with his personal
thesis that Europe’s paymaster Germany should put up the cash to mark it’s
leadership role in the ill-fated Bilderberger monetary union, or else should
itself leave the monetary union, probably taking along a few others, leaving
behind a French led Latin monetary union of the tax and works shy cheats.
Sept. 10,
2012, 2:32 p.m. EDT
Soros: Germany’s heading into depression
SAN
FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Europe’s recession will intensify and spread to
Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy, within six months, said George Soros,
chairman of Soros Fund Management.
“The
policy of fiscal retrenchment in the midst of rising unemployment is
pro-cyclical and pushing Europe into a deeper and longer depression,” Soros
said in prepared remarks for a Monday speech in Berlin. “That is no longer a
forecast; it is an observation. The German public doesn’t yet feel it and
doesn’t quite believe it. But it is all too real in the periphery and it will
reach Germany in the next six months or so.”
More
Philips ups cost cuts to 1.1 billion euros, axes more jobs
AMSTERDAM
| Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:49am EDT
(Reuters) - Philips Electronics raised its cost-cutting target to 1.1
billion euros ($1.4 billion) and said it would axe a further 2,200 jobs as it
battles a tough economic backdrop and pension costs.The group, which had previously targeted 800 million euros of cost savings, announced the plan on Tuesday ahead of an investor event in London. Last year it announced 4,500 job cuts.
"The identified additional overhead cost reduction measures will help us mitigate the effects of macro-economic headwinds and changes in pension-cost accounting, while making us a more agile innovation company serving our customers effectively across the world," said Chief Executive Frans van Houten.
Europe's largest consumer electronics producer, the world's biggest lighting maker and a top-three maker of hospital equipment reported bumper second-quarter earnings in July, giving investors hope that a drastic overhaul of the business, Van Houten started just over a year ago, is starting to pay off.
In his first year at the top, Van Houten started overhauling the company where he worked most of his life, including trying to change the corporate culture which he says isn't entrepreneurial enough.
In his first year s CEO, he issued two profit warnings, reset financial targets, cut thousands of jobs, replaced his entire top executive team and, eventually, hived off the loss-making TV business.
After two quarters of better-than-expected results, Van Houten told Reuters in July that the firm is now in "sustainable recovery mode," although he wouldn't rule out taking further measures to cut costs.
More
Debt crisis: ECB's Draghi Plan doused by rebellions in Germany and Greece
A delay to the highly anticipated German court decision on bail-out funding and a rebellion in the Greek government over austerity doused hopes that the European Central Bank will be able to stem the crisis after all.
Germany’s federal constitutional court said it might be forced to delay its ruling on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) because of an eleventh hour objection by an MP. Peter Gauweiler, a member of Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition, argued that the court ruling, due on Wednesday, should take time to assess the impact of the ECB’s “outright monetary transactions”, announced last week.The German Chancellor’s spokesman insisted that the ECB’s plan to buy unlimited sovereign bonds from countries being supported by the bail-out funds - dubbed the Draghi Plan - should not impact the court ruling. However, the court said it would consider the request and announce its decision on Tuesday. A delay could push ratification of the fund back until next year, when countries including Spain are expected to require help imminently.
Meanwhile, Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister, failed to deliver the approval of his two coalition partners for the €11.5bn (£9.2bn) programme of cuts needed to secure the next tranche of international aid.
Athens said Greece’s finance minister Yannis Stournaras will meet with senior officials from the ECB and International Monetary Fund mission on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the latest upheaval.
"With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people."
F.A. von Hayek
Strike at gold mine as South African unrest spreads
Labour unrest has spread to two more South African mines as the industrial action that left 44 dead at Lonmin’s Marikana operation sweeps from the platinum to the gold belt.
Gold Fields International, the world’s fourth biggest gold miner, said it had been hit by a wildcat strike by 15,000 workers in the west section of its KDC mine on the West Rand.Workers downed tools just days after 12,000 employees staged a seven-day walk-out at KDC’s eastern section.
“We haven’t been given any demands but the pattern is the same as KDC East. It is intimidation. The strikers went around from hostel to hostel to prevent the others going to work,” said Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche.
Meanwhile, Lonmin rival Implats said 15,000 workers were demanding a 10pc pay rise, though they are continuing to work for now.
The latest unrest came as all but 6pc of the 28,000 Lonmin miners at Marikana defied a deadline to return to work after last week’s “peace accord” with some unions.
----Around 4,000 Lonmin strikers, some armed with sticks, spears and machetes, marched chanting “The white men are shaking” and “The police who shot us are shaking”.
A
23-year-old rock driller, Umpho, said: “We are looking for the guys working. If
we find them, we have to kill them.”
----“It’s almost become contagious,” said Crispen Chinguno of Johannesburg’s Witwatersrand university. “Although workers have genuine labour grievances, it’s gone well beyond labour unrest.” He said “politicians are hijacking the disgruntlement among the workers”, making mining the focus for political, social and economic discontent.
Gold Fields gets interdict against illegal KDC West strike
JOHANNESBURG
(miningweekly.com) – South African miner Gold Fields has received an interdict
from the Labour Court against the illegal strike by about 400 employees at the
West section of its KDC mine, which had prevented some 14 000 workers from
reporting for duty on Sunday night.
Spokesperson
Sven Lunsche told Mining Weekly Online on Monday afternoon that
the unlawful strike was still ongoing and that all production at KDC West had
been suspended as a result. “We would have to see if the strike continues
tomorrow,” he added.
He stated
that the miners had given the company a list of ten demands. “The miners are
unhappy with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) branch leadership and want
them removed from their positions; they have also called for equalisation,
which effectively means the miners want the same salaries for the same job
categories across all of our operations,” he said.
KDC West
has already agreed to the equalisation demand and would implement this soon.
Workers were also demanding a salary increase to R12 500.
The
workers have also asked for the lowering of tax on their salaries. NUM
spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka explained that its members did not want
their bonus schemes to be taxed.
No work, no talks over Lonmin wages – CCMA
10th September 2012
Talks to
end a month-long strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in North West failed to
proceed as scheduled on Monday, the CCMA said.
The
Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) said not all
workers had returned to work, which had been a pre-condition for pay talks to
resume.
"The
CCMA facilitation is dependent on a return to work by all workers in the Lonmin
Marikana wage dispute," it said in a statement.
Lonmin
reported a slow start on Monday, with 2.1 % attendance for the only shift it
was able to run at present, the 7am shift.
This rose
to 6.34% after 9pm and remained at that level until midday, when wage
negotiations were to have started.
This was
across the 11 shafts of the Marikana complex, which includes Eastern Platinum
and Western Platinum.
The CCMA,
a statutory body which helps broker resolutions in labour disputes, said the
existing binding collective agreement, which was valid until next year, had
been reopened for a new set of negotiations.
----"However, the return to work of all striking workers is a pre-condition of such intended negotiations," the CCMA said.
A group
of around 5 000 people marched to Lonmin's Eastern Platinum mine on Monday.
They told
reporters that work would not continue until they were given a pay increase to R12
500.
A leader
of the protesters, Anele Nogwanya, said they would go to different
mining shafts in the area to demand the closure of all operations.
"Mining
activities at the Eastern Platinum mine have to be halted as the workers there
are underpaid," he said.
"We
have now buried all our fallen colleagues. Now is the time to honour our
promise to them of getting the R12 500.
More
Gold One lowers production guidance after mine unrest
10th September 2012
PERTH
(miningweekly.com) – South African miner Gold One on Monday lowered its
production guidance for its flagship Modder East operations, following unrest
at the operation, east of Johannesburg.
The
miner, which is listed in Australia and South Africa, slashed its guidance for
the three months to September by 1 400 oz, to 53 600 oz. This compares with a
previous guidance of 55 000 oz at Modder East.
In
addition, the Cooke 4 shaft was also forecast to produce an additional 6 000 oz
for the months of August and September.
Total
production for the September quarter was now expected to be some 59 600 oz,
compared with the forecasted 61 000 oz.
The miner
said that no further protests had occurred at Modder East, following the latest
illegal gathering last week, which saw police use teargas and rubber bullets to
disperse the crowd.
Gold One
said that the operation was continuing as normal, but added that the police had
maintained a strong presence at the Modder East operation, and was assisting
the company in protecting current employees following reports of ongoing
intimidation.
More
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/gold-one-lowers-production-guidance-after-mine-unrest-2012-09-10
"The
amount of risky financial derivatives floating around the globe is as much as 20 times size of the entire GDP of the world. It's unsustainable and impossible to unwind
in any kind of orderly way."
Keith
Fitz-Gerald, president of The Fitz-Gerald Group.
At the Comex silver depositories Monday final figures were: Registered 38.04
Moz, Eligible 102.63 Moz, Total 140.67 Moz.
Crooks and
Scoundrels Corner
The bent,
the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
Europe’s
crooked central banker’s again. As Germany
forces austerity on the Latin’s, the Latin’s force the bill back on Germany
with the connivance of the German Chancellor. Welcome to Serf-land, where
treaties are made to be broken, rules mean whatever the ECB’s top Italian say
they mean, and “doublespeak” rules the ECB.
When I use a word,' Mario Draghi, in
rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more
nor less.'
With apologies to Humpty Dumpty and Lewis Carroll.
Draghi Almighty Why ECB Bond-Buying Plans Undermine Democracy
A Commentary by Armin Mahler 09/10/2012
Anyone who breaks a law can hardly excuse his actions by claiming that he is
acting within the scope of the law. In any case, it won't help him much --
unless his name is Mario Draghi and he is the president of the European Central
Bank (ECB).
The ECB is politically independent, but it is not above the
law. It is only independent within its mandate, which is clearly defined by the
European treaties: The central bank is tasked with safeguarding price stability
in the euro zone -- no more and no less.
Draghi wants more, though; he wants to save the European common currency at all costs. The euro, he says, is "irreversible."
Many similar statements have already been made over the course of the euro rescue. There is no alternative to the measures that have been agreed, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But aside from the fact that there are always alternatives, the chancellor has been democratically legitimized; anyone who disagrees with her actions can punish her at the polls in the next election.
Draghi, on the other hand, has no democratic legitimization. And yet he has taken it upon himself to make the most important and possibly momentous decision in the history of the monetary union: defending the euro at all costs. Jens Weidmann, head of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, is the only member of the ECB's Governing Council to vote against this decision.
----In the future, the ECB will be able to purchase sovereign bonds from crisis-ridden countries, provided these member states have already requested aid from the euro-zone rescue fund and meet the strict conditions that naturally go hand-in-hand with such a bailout. And what if they fail to meet these conditions? Will the ECB halt its purchases? The bankers won't be able to do that if Draghi's comment about the irreversibility of the euro is to be taken seriously.
So far, the ECB has already spent over €200 billion ($256 billion) buying sovereign bonds from crisis-stricken euro-zone countries. If the exception now becomes the rule, additional bonds worth hundreds of billions could quickly follow. German taxpayers are also ultimately liable for this amount -- without the German parliament, the Bundestag, having a say.
"The fate of the nation and the fate of the currency are one and the same."
Dr. Franz Pick
The monthly
Coppock Indicators finished August:
DJIA: +76 Up. NASDAQ: +97 Up. SP500: +69 Up. All
three indicators have reversed from down to up.
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