Monthly Archives: September 2013

Rebalance To Buffer Crises?

"Sovereigns may save themselves at the expense of citizens. Poland has withdrawn $37 billion in government holdings from national pension funds to pay down sovereign debt. Its markets dropped 4.8% the day the news hit. Given relative GDP size, a similar take here would be north of $1 trillion and laws have been prepared to bail-in major banks. Many cities already are bankrupt and pension funds are at risk as pensioneers and bond holders battle over the remains. Those who buy the official narrative are riding in a ticker-tape parade on which Central Banks are showering confetti. When the dreamers awake, they will be looking at a demonic jack-o-lantern." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRebalance To Buffer Crises?

The feds pay for 60 percent of Tor’s development. Can users trust it?

"The NSA’s sustained attempt to get around encryption calls into question many of the technologies people have come to rely on to avoid surveillance. One indispensable tool is Tor, the anonymizing service that takes a user’s Internet traffic and spits it out from some other place on the Web so that its origin is obscured. So far there’s no hard evidence that the government has compromised the anonymity of Tor traffic. But some on a Tor-related e-mail list recently pointed out that a substantial chunk of the Tor Project’s 2012 operating budget came from the Department of Defense, which houses the NSA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe feds pay for 60 percent of Tor’s development. Can users trust it?

Let us count the ways: How the feds (legally, technically) get our data

"It’s worth considering the various vectors of technical and legal data-gathering that high-level adversaries in America and Britain (and likely other countries, at least in the 'Five Eyes' group of anglophone allies) are likely using in parallel to go after a given target. So far, the possibilities include: A company volunteers to help (and gets paid for it). Spies copy the traffic directly off the fiber. A company complies under legal duress. Spies infiltrate a company. Spies coerce upstream companies to weaken crypto in their products/install backdoors. Spies brute force the crypto. Spies compromise a digital certificate. Spies hack a target computer directly, stealing keys and/or data, sabotage." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLet us count the ways: How the feds (legally, technically) get our data

Gold And Silver Safe Haven Status Displayed

"The era of stable bond prices and stable income disappeared six years ago and is unlikely soon to return. Another storm-maker is the debate on the debt-ceiling which like many things is now hidden by the cloud of dust the government has chosen to make over Syria. Only four years ago the Secretary of State dined amicably with the latest 'Hitler,' Bashir Assad and his wife. That datum is pertinent to markets because it indicates the often irrational and shifting agendas of our diplomatic - financial echelons. Recognizing this allows one to adopt a defensive position and select growth areas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold And Silver Safe Haven Status Displayed

Polish Gold to be Repatriated?

"Poland currently owns around 109 tons of gold deposited abroad. Most of the reserves are stored in the UK. In the face of financial crisis, every major country should keep gold within easy reach. Therefore, the Polish gold should return to their homeland – say the initiators of the 'Give Us Our ​​Gold'. The vast majority of Polish gold reserves are currently at the Bank of England, and went there before the Second World War. In order to put pressure on the Polish National Bank, advocates have launched an action entitled. 'Give Us Our gold'. Among the partners are the Mises Institute of Poland. Organizers cite the example of Germany, which has decided to bring its provisions into the country." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolish Gold to be Repatriated?

‘Like the end of a dream’: Family finds $300K in gold off Florida coast

"A Florida family of self-described treasure hunters brought home the proverbial big score on Monday after recovering gold and jewelry estimated to be worth about $300,000, the Orlando Tribune reported. The collected haul — five gold coins, a gold ring and 64 feet of gold chain — has been traced back to a Spanish fleet of ships that was almost completely destroyed off of the Florida coast in July 1715 by a freak hurricane. The storm is blamed for the deaths of 1,000 people, and the region, located off the coast of Fort Pierce, is known as the Treasure Coast." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Like the end of a dream’: Family finds $300K in gold off Florida coast

Bill Bonner: When Gold Will Really Start to Glitter

"After telling readers how awful it was, now the mainstream press is back to neutral on gold. Barron's recently ran an article titled 'Gold Regains Its Glitter'. Markets make opinions. Gold is up about 17% from its June low. Opinions on it are becoming more favourable. But you ain't seen nothin' yet. The central banks of the major developed economies are engaged in massive debt monetization (aka 'QE'). If they all start to taper their bond buying, they risk resurrecting the calamity they're trying to avoid - a deflationary depression (at least in their minds). So, they've got to keep going. The markets...and the economy...depend on it. You wanna see something really glitter? Just wait! " Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: When Gold Will Really Start to Glitter

Goldman Sachs Buys Gold; Tells Public to Sell

"Gold declined sharply in early April. That’s when Goldman Sachs issued a “sell” signal Then Goldman began quietly to buy shares of GLD, the ETF for gold. It now owns 3.7 million shares. It looked like a great call. The rubes who believed the report shorted gold. They made money. Briefly. Gold continued downward, bottoming at $1192 in on June 28. Meanwhile, Goldman was buying gold all the way down. Now gold is around $1400, and Goldman is sitting on a pile of shares of GLD, bought at rock-bottom prices. Watch what they do, not what they say." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoldman Sachs Buys Gold; Tells Public to Sell

Morgan Stanley execs mocked value of securities before sale to Taiwan bank

"Financial services giant Morgan Stanley may be facing charges it perpetrated a massive fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities, but no one can accuse the firm of lacking a sense of humor about it. Last month, e-mails surfaced in a 2010 New York civil fraud case showing that the firm’s executives sold the instruments to a Taiwanese bank for hundreds of millions of dollars knowing the impending collapse of the US housing market made the securities a hazardous investment – and they laughed about it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMorgan Stanley execs mocked value of securities before sale to Taiwan bank

Blackstone rental bonds revive fears of mortgage-backed crisis

"The private-equity firm Blackstone and Deutsche Bank are considering selling the first bonds backed by home-rental payments. The new security shows Wall Street financial engineering, blamed for deepening the financial crisis, has become more creative. Blackstone is among the firms that have spent billions buying homes out of foreclosure, helping to bolster demand and strengthen the US housing market, the WSJ reports. The private-equity giant has spent $5.5bn buying more than 30,000 houses to rent out. It is now working with Deutsche Bank to create securities tied to about 1,500 of the properties to form a rental bond deal worth up to $275 million." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBlackstone rental bonds revive fears of mortgage-backed crisis