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India gold price at all-time high

"As we have discussed in previous articles, gold is synonymous with savings and security for many of India’s 1.24 billion people and recent events clearly show why. With capital leaving the country, investors fleeing the stock market and dumping Indian bonds, the only asset that has protected capital has been gold. In fact, holders of gold have prospered in an environment where there are few safe assets. The RBI has attempted to make gold ownership difficult and expensive for Indian buyers by restricting imports and increasing taxes, yet the chart below is evidence they have failed in their campaign." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia gold price at all-time high

Indians Who Bought Gold, Won. Those Who Didn’t, Lost.

"The idiot Keynesians who ran the Bank of India destroyed the rupee. In India, fathers buy gold for their daughters’ dowries. They don’t buy rupees. India put a tax on gold imports in a vain attempt to save the rupee. It didn’t work. The government hates it when Indians buy gold. This shows a lack of faith in the government. That lack of faith is well deserved. The government said that Indians who bought gold were making a big mistake. But it turns out that Indians who trusted the government’s rupee made the big mistake. If you think it can’t happen here, you could wind up like all those Indians who have lost a quarter of their wealth in recent months. They believed their government. Silly them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndians Who Bought Gold, Won. Those Who Didn’t, Lost.

Gold’s Protective Power In Action: India’s Ongoing Currency Destruction

"Although the Indian currency has been falling against the dollar for four decades now, it certainly is in an accelerating downtrend lately. The following paragraphs, quotes and charts paint a picture of a country desperately trying to save its economy and currency. The victims of this situation are of course the citizens. In their attempt to run to gold, they are stopped by their own government. How ironic is this situation when looking as an outsider. Did you ask yourself: am I prepared if this situation hits my country? In this global currency war, that just started two years ago and is expected to last till at least 2020, every country will be hit sooner or later. Are you prepared?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold’s Protective Power In Action: India’s Ongoing Currency Destruction

India Bans All Gold Coin Imports, Increases Capital Controls

"Not satisfied with raising import tariffs on gold and putting in place jarring new FX flow capital controls, it seems the war on a weakening Rupee continues. We previously discussed the unintended consequence of such actions - including the rise of the gold smuggler - but the latest total ban on the importation of gold coins and medallions is edging India closer and closer to the Argentinian edge of Cristina Fernandez totalitarianism (after the initial ban on sales in June). In an effort to 'moderate outflows' of Rupee, the Indian central bank slashed the amount of money families can send out of the country per year to $75k and limited overseas investment to 100% of net worth (from 400%)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia Bans All Gold Coin Imports, Increases Capital Controls

How To Cash Checks From America’s Water Needs

"In the most recent study and analysis by the EPA, 73,400 water systems are at risk of putting contaminated water into homes, businesses and agricultural operations across the nation. Fixing the problems is expected to cost at least $384 billion — but we won’t really know until we actually dig into the water systems… many of which were built a century or more ago. Then there’s the matter of aging piping. Every day, on average, there are 850 water main breaks. Since 2000, the number of failed water pipes is some 4.2 million. Fixing all the known pipe problems would cost another $549 billion. These are fixes required by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow To Cash Checks From America’s Water Needs

Turning Off The Spigot In Western Kansas Farmland

"Big irrigated fields of corn in this part of the country are taking water out of underground aquifers much faster than rain or snow can fill those natural reservoirs back up. If Kansas farmers keep pumping water out of the High Plains aquifer as they have in the past, the amount of water they're able to extract will start to fall in just 10 years or so. They'll still be able to continue harvesting more corn for another generation, though, because technology will let them use that water more efficiently. But after that, even the latest technology won't save the corn fields. Irrigated fields will start to disappear, followed by cattle feedlots. The long expansion of agricultural production in western Kansas will end." Continue reading →

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The cost of being the world’s No.1 uranium producer

"Kazakhstan has steadily risen to become the world's No. 1 uranium producer, surpassing such nations as the United States, Canada, and Australia, which require more cleanup. Rather than employing miners to haul rock up to the surface, mine operators in Kazakhstan have embraced a newer – and generally cleaner – process by which a chemical solution is injected down a pipe to dissolve the underground uranium deposits and then is sucked back up to the surface. This in situ leach (ISL) method avoids making a mess above ground, but leaves toxic levels of heavy metals in the ground water." Continue reading →

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South African labor unrest spreads, gold, construction strikes loom

"Tens of thousands of construction workers prepared to down tools next week and unions in the gold sector also signaled their intention to call a strike over wages. NUM represents about 64 percent of the roughly 140,000 miners in the South African gold industry, where major operators include AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye Gold. Seshoka also announced that NUM's 90,000 members in the construction industry would go on strike from Monday. South Africa's faltering economy is already losing an estimated $60 million a day to a strike by 30,000 workers in the car manufacturing sector that accounts for 6 percent of gross domestic product." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth African labor unrest spreads, gold, construction strikes loom

Paulson Offsets Gold Bullion ETF Sale with Gold Swaps

"Hedge fund manager and gold bull John Paulson made headlines this week after regulatory filings revealed he cut his stake in the largest bullion-backed ETF by more than half in the second quarter. However, Paulson offset much of the sale by buying gold swaps in the over-the-counter market, the Financial Times reports, sourcing a person familiar with the matter. 'Paulson & Co.’s decision to shift a chunk of its gold holdings out of the ETF and into the OTC market reflects the relative costs of the two,' the FT reports. GLD charges an expense ratio of 0.40%." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaulson Offsets Gold Bullion ETF Sale with Gold Swaps

Gold flows from Britain to Switzerland surge in first half

"Britain's gold exports to Switzerland surged in the first half of this year, Australian bank Macquarie said on Monday, suggesting bullion being sold out of exchange-traded funds may be heading for Swiss refineries before being sold on in Asia. The UK exported 240 tonnes of gold to Switzerland in May alone, while its exports over the first half of this year totalled 797 tonnes. In contrast, Britain exported just 92 tonnes of bullion to Switzerland in the whole of last year. 'The UK does not have gold mines, so where has it all come from? The obvious source is the gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), most of which hold their gold holdings in London vaults, and which saw huge outflows in 1H 2013,' Macquarie said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold flows from Britain to Switzerland surge in first half