Thursday 6 June 2013

“Dopey’s Alive.”



Baltic Dry Index. 801 -04 

LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000.  Revised due to QE programs.

A permanent Governor of the Bank of England [Fed, ECB, BOJ, BUBA] would be one of the greatest men in England, [your candidate here.]  He would be a little 'monarch' in the City; he would be far greater than the 'Lord Mayor.' He would be the personal embodiment of the Bank of England; he would be constantly clothed with an almost indefinite prestige. Everybody in business would bow down before him and try to stand well with him, for he might in a panic be able to save almost anyone he liked, and to ruin almost anyone he liked. A day might come when his favour might mean prosperity, and his distrust might mean ruin.

Walter Bagehot. Lombard Street. 1873

For more on “Dopey” and the History of Watford, England, home of the Bilderbergers assembling at The Grove hotel later today, to gather together, mating and eating;” scroll down to Crooks Corner, though that rather does an injustice to honest crooks like Bernie Madoff.

Today, just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean that they’re not out to get you. In the worst kept secret of the 21st century, our markets are rigged, and not in your favour. When the likes of Barclays, Goldie, HSBC, BOA, and UBS pay multi-million fines for rigging Liebor, the price of oil, stocks, precious metals, or laundering drug money for  murderous scum dope peddlers, it’s just chump change for these too big to fail or jail, market riggers. Moral hazard isn’t just pervasive in the system. Since the Greenspan rig of 1987 to bailout the failed stock market speculators, it is the system. All pretence of capitalism ended under Greenspan, although it's just the logical outcome of the Great Nixonian error of fiat money.  If you’re a crony close to the central bankster, your losses will be socialised away, courtesy of the taxpayer and the central bank’s magic printing press. But if you’re disabled, retired, or otherwise trapped in the welfare state, don’t expect central bankster help.

Why would anyone other than a Quaker stay honest in such a system?

One of the queries Quakers are asked to consider, is: "Do you maintain strict integrity in your business transactions and in your relations with individuals and organizations? Are you personally scrupulous and responsible in the use of money entrusted to you, and are you careful not to defraud the public revenue?"

Probably why there a no Quakers on Wall Street.

June 5, 2013, 1:13 p.m. EDT

Madoff, other felons say markets are unfair

MarketWatch interviews five Wall Street felons, including three in jail

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Faced with a rash of insider trading in the markets, federal prosecutors and securities regulators in recent years have stepped up efforts to crack down on violations.

But insider trading and market fraud persist, perhaps at epidemic levels. Even though the Securities and Exchange Commission has brought more insider-trading actions in the past three years than in any three-year period in the agency’s history, and even though the U.S. attorney in New York City has convicted 73 people in insider-trading cases since 2009, the crime remains all too common.

That’s what MarketWatch found in a series of interviews with people convicted of insider trading and fraud. These felons painted a picture of an unfair market driven by widespread cheating that favors those with privileged information and expensive technology. The cheating also hurts individual investors and retirement savers trying to follow the rules of the road and produces a deeply unfair market environment.
MarketWatch reporters conducted a series of in-depth interviews with ex–investment brokers and others who lost their trading licenses and are either in prison serving multiyear sentences or have done their time in the slammer and now advise others on what not to do.

The results were discouraging.

MarketWatch found that insider trading may be one of the most common crimes on Wall Street and one of the least prosecuted. And that was only the beginning. MarketWatch discovered that the problem for retail investors goes far beyond a failure of regulators to identify insider-trading violations.

The financial criminals we spoke with said that not only do many investors routinely skirt insider-trading laws, but the explosion of computerized high-speed trading in recent years has made the situation even more unfair for the retail investor.

Those retail investors should be careful when relying on audited financial statements because accounting fraud continues unabated, according to one interview. Accounting-fraud cases are complex, and regulators don’t have the resources to enforce the law effectively, according to one felon.

As one fraudster put it to MarketWatch, the Securities and Exchange Commission has roughly 4,000 employees to regulate the financial industry while there are 35,000 cops in New York fighting blue-collar crime.

---- An ex–New York stockbroker and hedge-fund manager currently serving 16 years for defrauding investors said insider trading is a black hole that leaves regulators in the dark. A former Wall Street broker who spent 12 years as a broker at big New York investment banks before pleading guilty to wire fraud says no one on Wall Street can be successful without cheating.
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Elsewhere on the slightly more sophisticated, if tax and work shy side of the Atlantic, it was panic time in France as China retaliated in the EU’s new trade war with China. It was surrender time in Paris as the Chinese Panda began readying up French wine makers as the first course in their counter attack. Imported Benzes and Beamers next, and all to make Europe safe from cheap Chinese made inefficient solar panels, in favour of expensive German made inefficient solar panels that no one would use if it wasn’t for outrageously expensive taxpayer subsidies. Is Europe institutionally dumb or what? Who would want to be a member of this European Mad Hatter’s club?

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”

Karel de Gucht, with apologies to Lewis Carroll and the Mad Hatter.

France demands emergency EU summit over China's wine tax threat

France has demanded that the European Union holds an emergency summit after Beijing responded to a Brussels announcement of “anti-dumping” tariffs on Chinese solar panels by threatening retaliatory levies on wine imported from Europe.

One day after the European Commission levied heavy tariffs, reaching 48pc in August, on subsidised solar panels made in China, the Far Eastern country announced it is considering a tit-for-tat move to levy a similar “anti-dumping” duty on wines made in EU.

Francois Hollande, the French President, has expressed alarm at a development that threatens exports worth €546m (£464m) for France and called for a special Brussels summit to discuss the escalating trade war between the EU and China.

“The President of the Republic expressed his desire that the European Commission take steps to organise a meeting to establish a united position of the 27 based on solidarity,” said Mr Hollande’s spokesman on Wednesday.

Echoing the language used by the EU before the commission hit Chinese solar panels with import tariffs, the Chinese trade ministry announced it had begun an anti-dumping investigation into EU wines at the request of Chinese wineries.

---- The Chinese move targets France and other wine producers, which all happen to be countries that supported the commission’s tariffs on Chinese solar panels despite opposition from Germany, Britain and 16 other exporting or free-trade supporting countries.

French wine exports account for 71pc of the European wines imported by the Chinese, a fast-growing market among China's burgeoning middle classes for France, a country that is currently struggling to export goods.

In an added twist, Karel de Gucht, the EU trade commissioner who took the decision to hit China with the solar panel levies, is himself a wine producer with a €1m stake in a Tuscan vineyard that produces Chianti.
Mr De Gucht’s “La Macinaia” has benefited from a €1,500 EU farm subsidy “for the services of a consultant on biodynamic winery” but in 2011 still incurred a loss of more than €145,000 despite selling its bottles of wine for €22.49 to Belgian retailers.
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The knock-on effects of solar panel tariffs will be huge

The UK and Sweden stand unequivocally for free trade, open borders and an ambitious climate and energy policy.

By Greg Barker and Anna-Karin Hatt 4:43PM BST 05 Jun 2013
---- The renewables industry is booming all over the world. In Sweden, electricity from onshore and offshore wind has shot up seven-fold since the Alliance Government came to power in 2006. Here, the coalition Government has equally overseen a huge expansion in its wind-powered generation – which currently stands at 5.5 gigawatts (GW). The International Energy Agency estimates that renewable electricity could be the world’s second largest source of electricity production as early as 2015.

Solar is an integral part of that picture. In Europe, installed capacity of solar panels has doubled in just two years; in the UK alone, solar power generation has risen to around 2.5GW.

The main reason is the falling cost of renewables. In just three years, the per kilowatt cost of installing solar electricity has dropped by around 60pc, made possible by technological advances, subsidies to support deployment and increased trade between continents.

---- At almost 68pc, these swingeing tariffs ignore the wider economic effects on the solar installation sector in the EU. They will simply offer old-fashioned protection to a small number of European manufacturers of silicon-based solar panels.

The knock-on effects will be huge: these tariffs will cause heavy job losses in the wider solar photovoltaic sector across the EU; they will raise the cost to consumers of installing household solar panels by up to 25pc; and they will have a devastating impact on the viability of solar projects across the EU. They could jeopardise the EU’s efforts to meet its own target to produce 20pc of energy from renewables by 2020.

Thousands of jobs across the EU depend on the whole solar supply chain, which adds significant value to basic Chinese modules.
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What shall I put you down for?"

"Nothing!"

"You wish to be anonymous?"

"I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the prisons and the workhouses, -- they cost enough, -- and those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

Angela Merkel. With apologies to Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol.

The Great Disconnect is about to draw to its close.

"When it becomes serious, you have to lie"

Jean-Claude Juncker. Luxembourg Prime Minister and ex-president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed liar.

Philippine to Thai Exchanges Try to Calm Investors on Stock Rout

By Anuchit Nguyen, Norman Aquino & Ian Sayson - Jun 6, 2013 5:57 AM GMT
tock exchanges in the Philippines and Thailand have moved to soothe investors as the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve scaling back bond purchases prompted selloffs by overseas investors.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand President Charamporn Jotikasthira today urged investors not to panic, saying economic and corporate earnings growth in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy remains strong. Philippine Stock Exchange President Hans Sicat described the selloff as an “extreme overreaction.”
he Philippines benchmark index has slumped 11 percent and the Thai gauge 8.4 percent since May 22, when Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policy makers could consider reducing the pace of monetary stimulus if the nation’s labor market improves. Overseas investors have sold a net $414.4 million of Thai stocks and $147 million of Philippine shares this month.

“Foreign net selling is an extreme overreaction to Bernanke’s” outlook on possible stimulus cuts, Sicat said in a televised interview with ABS-CBN News today. “Technical corrections tend to be buying opportunities for others who are more conservative.”

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We end for the day with mind control in China. Coming soon to a police station near you, if the Bilderbergers want it. A must read article, on the fate of individual liberty in the 21st century.

All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.

Benito Mussolini.

China Blogger Questioning Home Prices Taken to Tea Party

By Bloomberg News - Jun 5, 2013 11:00 PM GMT
Two men greeted him at the police station as he was escorted in from the January cold. Peng Chengxian didn’t ask who they were. Each wore a light-colored jacket and carried a dark handbag.

They must be “Guo Bao,” Peng says he thought. That’s the name of China’s secret police in charge of keeping order among more than 1.3 billion people for the ruling Communist Party.

“You’ve been invited here for a chat,” one of the men, who looked about a decade older than the other, told Peng. “No need to be nervous.”

“I know,” Peng, 32, replied. “It’s a ‘tea chat,’ isn’t it?”

“You know quite a lot,” the officer said. “Have you ever been to one of those?”

Peng said he hadn’t. A small-time blogger who wrote about the rising home prices, forced evictions and corruption that have accompanied economic growth, he’d read about tea chats online. The term “he cha” in Chinese, literally meaning to drink tea, is a euphemism for the informal interrogation of citizens deemed to have stepped out of line.
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"Gold would have value if for no other reason than that it enables a citizen to fashion his financial escape from the state."

William F. Rickenbacker

At the Comex silver depositories Tuesday final figures were: Registered 42.03 Moz, Eligible 122.17 Moz, Total 164.20 Moz.  


Crooks and Scoundrels Corner

The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.

Today, the most bent, doubled over, reprehensible elitists on the planet gather in Watford for their annual 3 day summit, to fix how the other 99 percent of us Muppets should live during the next year. Slumin it, or putting on the Ritz. You decide. I mean Watford’s nice, Elton John even owned a football team there until he got bored with failure, but it’s hardly Davos, North London. Perhaps after five years on taxpayer handouts, some of the Lords of the Universe aren’t worth what they used to be.  Perhaps they just wanted to stay at the original home of the whopper, partying and mating like no one’s business, getting up to all those ancient Brit’s Ice Age and Stone Age pastime’s.  Perhaps it’s merely that the Tiger is bringing along his telephone book. Whatever the reason, it’s Bilderberger time in Watford, England! Little wonder that they want total privacy and police protection.

Look down our timeline; our history is fascinating. It all starts way back in 7,000 BC. Since Early Man, Queen Victoria, King Edward, Tiger Woods and many more illustrious guests have stayed, played and partied here.

7,000 BC Early man settled on the site of The Grove, gathering together, mating and eating; little has changed since then…

Bilderberg 2013: Charlie Skelton on the Annual Secret Meeting of the World’s Elite [VIDEO]

Some of the world's most influential political and business figures will be descending on Watford this week for Bilderberg 2013, an annual conference that famously keeps what is discussed amongst its members a secret from the general public. Despite being labelled as a private event among the world's elite, comedy writer and regular Bilderberg follower Charlie Skelton says he expects this year's conference to attract more attention than ever.

Being held this year behind the doors of the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire, he tells IBTimes UK, "I'm expecting quite a large number of people to be coming along to Watford to see it". Pressure from journalists and activists mean that for the first time in its 59-year history there will be an unofficial press office to deal with inquisitive journalists, angry protesters and paranoid conspiracy theorists expected to flock to the event.

Skelton has been covering the group's annual meeting for The Guardian for the past five years. He notes that the first time he tried during the 2009 conference in Athens was, "A baptism of fire," adding that he spent most of the week, "Being chased around Athens by the Greek secret police".

The chancellor George Osborne, Ed Balls and Kenneth Clarke are all set to attend the conference in their official capacity as ministers of state, a fact that Skelton believes is both hypocritical and highly suspect.

"It doesn't exactly sit well with this new era of transparency which George Osborne has been keen to trumpet," he notes.

"I think that there's a lot of concern amongst the general public about the way this conference comports itself."

The week ahead: Bilderberg 2013 comes to … the Grove hotel, Watford

The Bilderberg group's meeting will receive greater scrutiny than usual as journalists and bloggers converge on Watford
Sunday 2 June 2013 17.03 BST
When you're picking a spot to hold the world's most powerful policy summit, there's really only one place that will do: Watford. I guess the Seychelles must have been booked up.

On Thursday afternoon, a heady mix of politicians, bank bosses, billionaires, chief executives and European royalty will swoop up the elegant drive of the Grove hotel, north of Watford, to begin the annual Bilderberg conference.

It's a remarkable spectacle – one of nature's wonders – and the most exciting thing to happen to Watford since that roundabout on the A412 got traffic lights. The area round the hotel is in lockdown: locals are having to show their passports to get to their homes. It's exciting too for the delegates. The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell will hop from his limo, delighted to be spending three solid days in policy talks with the head of HSBC, the president of Dow Chemical, his favourite European finance ministers and US intelligence chiefs. The conference is the highlight of every plutocrat's year and has been since 1954. The only time Bilderberg skipped a year was 1976, after the group's founding chairman, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, was caught taking bribes from Lockheed Martin.
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The seven dwarves are down in the mines when there is a cave-in. Snow White runs to the entrance and yells down to them. In the distance a voice shouts out "Watford are good enough to win the European Cup." Snow White says, "Well at least Dopey's alive!"

Watford, North London.

Watford is first mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1007. It does not get a mention by name in the Domesday Book, but was included in the entry for the then more important settlement of "Cashio" which stood half a mile away at the crossroads of the St Albans road and Hempstead road near the modern Town Hall.

---- Watford is a major regional centre for the northern home counties. It is the most westerly of these commercial centres and the only one in Hertfordshire. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford and Stevenage to be its major sub-regional centres, heading its list of preferred sites for retail development.[20]
The primary shopping area is the Harlequin Shopping Centre, a large purpose-built indoor mall with over 140 shops, restaurants and cafes built during the 1990s, opened officially in June 1992. In January 2013, the owners of the shopping centre, Capital Shopping Centres announced that there was a nationwide rebrand of all their shopping centres with The Harlequin changing its name to Intu Watford from May 2013.[21]
High Street, running through the town centre, is the main focus of activity at night having a high concentration of the town's bars, clubs and restaurants.
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People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices…. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies, much less to render them necessary.

Adam Smith. The Wealth Of Nations.

The monthly Coppock Indicators finished May:
DJIA: +142 Up. NASDAQ: +144 Up. SP500: +177 Up.  The  Fed’s Final Bubble continues. But hurricanes and tornadoes appear. Getting out first beats getting out last.

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