UNDERSTANDING MONEY

by John H. Hotson
An understanding of the true nature of money is essential for those seeking economic reforms toward the creation of sustainable societies. People today have more erroneous ideas about money than Victorians had about sex, so please read the following with care.
Let's begin with the distinction between "legal tender" money which only the government or its agency, the Bank of Canada in the case of Canada, can create, and the "money" created by private banks-and increasingly by "near banks". If you happen to have a Bank of Canada note, on it you will read the words "This note is legal tender."
These notes, and checks drawn on the Bank of Canada, are the only legal money in Canada. What that means is that if you owe someone $20 and you give him a $20 bill he is paid and if he refuses payment in this form you are absolved of the debt. By contrast, he does not have to accept your check drawn on a private bank, or even a certified check of a private bank. Money issued by the Bank of Canada is sometimes called "Right of Purchase" money to distinguish it from "Promise to Pay" money created by private banks.
While private banks are in effect creating money out of nothing, they are providing an important service as their "promise to pay money" is for many purposes safer and more convenient to use and store than actual cash. Furthermore, it costs the banks billions of dollars to maintain the payments system that clears your check back to your account and to keep the necessary records. All those nice, or not so nice, people who work in those banks, deciding who gets a loan and what happens if they can't pay have to be paid their salaries. Banks also have to pay phone bills, electricity, heat and so on. What they create is intangible, but at the same time very real. Essentially, the bank is substituting its promise to pay-which is accepted as money-for your promise to pay, which is not.
Today only about 4 percent of the money in circulation in Canada is Bank of Canada legal tender. In other words, 96 percent of our money is created by private banks. In 1945 the Bank of Canada accounted for 27 percent of our money. At that time the bank rate of interest was only 1.5 percent and the Canadian economy boomed.
Some 96 percent of the "money" we are now using is not Bank of Canada "legal tender," but rather the promise of private banks to pay the bearer Bank of Canada legal tender on demand. This promise is what a private bank provides for you when you take out a loan with the promise to repay it with interest. The bank knows that mostly you don't want legal tender. What you want is a checking account or a bank issued check for the amount borrowed so that you can send the bank's promise-to-pay to folks you owe money to-folks who also don't want legal tender, but do want to deposit your check in their own bank account.
The money supply of Canada increases at the moment a bank issues you a loan. As you repay your loan the money supply shrinks. So money is being created and destroyed every day.
Banking came into existence as a fraud. The fraud was legalized and we've been living with the consequences, both good and bad, ever since. Even so it is also a great invention-right up there with fire, the wheel, and the steam engine.
In the 16th century as the gold and silver the Spanish had stolen from the American Indians poured into Europe, coins grew larger, more plentiful and heavy. Merchants needed a safe place to keep them when they weren't needed. The goldsmiths had large safes and fierce dogs and it became customary to leave coins on "safe deposit" with them. Next people saw that a "gold certificate" or warehouse receipt signed by the goldsmith was more convenient to circulate than those heavy coins made of soft metals that quickly wore out if they passed hand to hand. So the smiths printed up receipts in convenient denominations promising payment in gold to whomever presented the receipt. Some people took to writing notes to the smith ordering him to transfer the ownership of some of their coins to someone else. Thus the personal check was born.
Then one day one of the smiths had a brilliant, and wholly dishonest, idea. He noticed that people so much preferred his paper money to its "gold backing" that the gold in his vault hardly circulated-some of it hadn't moved in years. So he thought, "I could print up some extra gold certificates and lend them out to gain the interest." The idea was irresistible, and thus banking was born!
Just 300 years ago, in 1694, William Patterson talked King William III into chartering a private bank with the official sounding title of "The Bank of England." The King had another war to fight with France's King Louis XIV and not much money to pay for it. Being a Dutchman, he was unpopular with the British Parliament and it balked at voting the needed taxes. The royal credit was zilch because of his predecessors' extravagance. What to do?
He jumped at Patterson's promise to lend him lots of "Bank of England Notes"-which had little or no gold "backing"-at a reasonable sounding 3 percent interest. Thus national debt was born.
King William seems never to have asked His Royal Self the obvious question, "Why the hell should I pay William Patterson interest to print money for me? Why don't I get a printing press and print some money myself?" Nor did he notice that his humble subjects in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in what would one day become the United States, had already come to just this solution to solve a similar problem.
In 1690, the Massachusetts Bay Colony decided to do its bit in King William's War by invading Canada. The soldiers were told, "We can't pay you, but the French have lots of silver. So beat them out of it and we will pay you with the spoils." But the French won and the soldiers came back to Boston sore, mean and unpaid. Necessity being the mother of invention, a bright Yankee named Benjamin Franklin thought of printing up government "promissory notes," declaring them "legal tender" and using them to pay the soldiers. That worked so well that the other colonies copied the idea. From that day until the American Revolution (1775-1782) there were no banks in the 13 British North American colonies.
By the time of the Revolution, Pennsylvania was the richest place on earth. Franklin liked to boast that part of the credit was due to the government money he printed. As he pointed out, the government could spend the money into circulation for a new bridge or school, then tax the cost back over the useful life of the project. It could also lend the money to businessmen at 5 percent interest instead of the 10 percent the British banks charged. Or it could transfer the money into circulation to take care of widows, orphans and other unfortunates. Pennsylvania made so much money out of creating money-and selling off lands stolen from the Indians-that it hardly had to levy any taxes.
When word of this reached Great Britain, the Bank of England decided to destroy the competition of the colonial money. It got Parliament to forbid the colonies to produce any more of the stuff and the fat was on the fire. The Continental Congress met and defied Parliament and the King by issuing its own currency-the Continental. As Franklin saw it, the attempt of Britain to restrict the coloniess from issuing paper money was one of the main causes of the Revolution.
The Continentals paid for most of the cost of the revolution. Since they had to be overissued, prices rose greatly. Much of the inflation, however, was caused by massive British counterfeiting of the Continentals. "You revolting Yankees like paper money? Here! Have lots of it!" So Americans still have a saying. "Not worth a Continental." After the war banking came to America.
Some historians have much criticized this method of financing the American Revolution and held up British practice as a model of "sound finance." However, as William Hixson shows in his book, Triumph of the Bankers, those historians have it backwards. According to Hixson, the total cost of the war to the Americans was about $250 million and much of this was financed by the "Continentals" and other paper monies. An additional war debt of $56.7 million accumulated some $70 million in interest before it was all paid off in 1836.
The direct war costs to the British government came to about $500 million. However, the British financed their side of the war almost entirely with borrowed money. Since they have never since reduced their national debt below $500 million, they still owe this money! Assuming a modest average interest rate of 4 percent, the British taxpayer has by this time paid the British bondholder over $4 billion in interest on the initial $500 million loan-and is still paying! Sound finance?
What a pity that King William did not have a Benjamin Franklin to advise him! What a pity that the wisdom of Franklin was lost and Alexander Hamilton was able subsequently to charter the Bank of The United States modeled directly on the Bank of England! What a pity that many historians, like many non-historians, so badly misunderstand money and banking!
The financial system the world has evolved on the Bank of England model is not sustainable. It creates nearly all money as debt. Such money only exists as long as someone is willing and able to pay interest on it. It disappears, wholly or partially, in recurring financial crises. Such a system requires that new debt must be created faster than principal and interest payments fall due on old debt.
A sustainable financial system would enable the real economy to be maintained decade after decade and century after century at its full employment potential without recurring inflation and recession. By this standard, a financial system that creates money only through the creation of debt is inherently unsustainable.
When a bank makes a loan, the principal amount of the loan is added to the borrower's bank balance. The borrower, however, has promised to repay the loan plus interest even though the loan has created only the amount of money required to repay the principal-but not the amount of the interest. Therefore unless indebtedness continually grows it is impossible for all loans to be repaid as they come due. Furthermore, during the life of a loan some of the money will be saved and re-lent by individual bond purchasers, by savings banks, insurance companies etc. These loans do not create new money, but they do create debt. While we use only one mechanism-bank loans-to create money, we use several mechanisms to create debt, thus making it inevitable that debt will grow faster than the money with which to pay it. Recurring cycles of inflation, recession, and depression are a nearly inevitable consequence.
If, in the attempt to arrest the price inflation resulting from an excessive rate of debt formation, the monetary authorities raise the rate of interest, the result is likely to be a financial panic. This in turn may result in a sharp cutback in borrowing. Monetary authorities respond to bail out the system by increasing bank reserves. Governments may also respond by increasing the public debt-risking both inflation and growing government deficits.
Governments got into this mess by violating four common sense rules regarding their fiscal and monetary policies. These rules are:
1. No sovereign government should ever, under any circumstances, give over democratic control of its money supply to bankers.
2. No sovereign government should ever, under any circumstances, borrow any money from any private bank.
3. No national, provincial, or local government should borrow foreign money to increase purchases abroad when there is excessive domestic unemployment.
4. Governments, like businesses, should distinguish between "capital" and "current" expenditures, and when it is prudent to do so, finance capital improvements with money the government has created for itself.
A few words about the first three of these rules, as the fourth rule has been discussed extensively elsewhere.
1. There is persistent pressure from central bankers and academic economists to free central banks from the obligation to consider the effects of their actions upon employment and output levels so that they can concentrate on price stability. This is a very bad idea indeed. Dominated by bankers and economists, central banks are entirely too prone to give exclusive attention to creditor interests to the exclusion of worker interests. Amending central bank charters to give them independence from democratic oversight, or to set up "price stability" as their only goal would complete their subjection to banker interests. Canada's own Mackenzie King said it all, "Without Government creation of money, talk of sovereignty and democracy is futile."
2. Anyone who understands that banks create the money they lend can see that it makes no sense for a sovereign government, which can create money at near zero cost, to borrow money at high cost from a private bank. The fact that most governments do borrow from private banks is one of the greatest errors of our times. If a government needs money created to pay for public spending it should create the money itself through its own bank; or spend the money debt and interest free as the United States did during the Revolution and again during the Civil War. If a government does not wish to "monetize" its deficits during periods of unusual need such as wartime, it should either make up the deficit with higher taxes or borrow only from the non-bank public-which cannot create the money it lends to the government.
3. One of the most mistaken ideas, with which Canadians especially are cursed, is the idea that a country should maintain its interest rates higher than those of its main trading partners "to attract foreign investment." To begin with, high interest rates inhibit real investment spending on new buildings, machinery and equipment by diverting funds to finance government deficits. Furthermore, the foreign funds attracted to Canada by high interest rates cannot be spent on Canadian employees and products. They are only useful for importing foreign goods and making payments on foreign debts. Moreover, these funds bid up the value of the Canadian dollar in foreign exchange markets, giving foreign goods a domestic price advantage over similar goods produced in Canada, while making it harder for Canada to export. Thus the inflow of foreign funds actually contributes to a "current account deficit" and depresses the Canadian economy. Those who argue that Canada must borrow on "capital account" because she has a "current account deficit" have cause and effect totally reversed. Canada has a current account deficit because she is borrowing on capital account. What she needs to do is to stop borrowing, lower interest rates until she stops attracting foreign funds, and let the Canadian dollar find its own level in the foreign currency markets.
When the Bank of Canada encourages the Canadian government, provinces, and municipalities to borrow in New York and Tokyo it is a betrayal of Canada. Where should they borrow when new money is needed for government spending? They should borrow at the government owned Bank of Canada, paying near zero interest rates-just sufficient to cover the Bank's running expenses.

---

John H. Hotson was professor emeritus of economics University of Waterloo and executive director of the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER), a Canadian based network of economists working for economic and monetary reform. This article is based on a series he published in the October 1994, November 1994, and January 1995 issues of Economic Reform, the COMER newsletter, Comer Publications, 3284 Yonge St., Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M7, fax (416) 486-4674. He gave the PCDForum permission to use this material only five days before his untimely death on January 21, 1996 following heart surgery.
People-Centered Development Forum papers may be reprinted, and distributed freely with appropriate credits without prior permission.

Why A Fed President Wants To Break Up The Banks

Richard Fisher's plan.
'The system is biased towards Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.'
Excellent Bloomberg interview.  Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher details his plan to break up the banks.  Here's a quick summary:

• There are 12 banks that meet the criteria for too big to fail.
• Dodd-Frank is killing small community banks.
• Fed is constantly reassessing stimulus.
• QEternity is false.  Will not last forever.
• Voted against latest round of QE.
• Worried about Treasury bubble bursting.
• Worried about Fed's exit strategy.
• Biggest inflation hawk on the Fed and he sees little inflation.

Why Giving Away 'Free Government Money' Is So Expensive

Rent seeking.  May the best lobbyist win.
The hidden cost of giving away free government money.
Dr. Michael Munger of Duke University explains why subsidies, grants and giveaways awarded by the government have substantial hidden costs in a phenomenon called rent seeking.  The "rent" is the money being offered.  When government gives money away, the people who compete for it incur costs—sometimes more money will be spent in total trying to compete for a grant than the amount of money being given away.
The end result is that governments give money to organizations with the best lobbyists, not those that provide the best services.
***
Further reading:

• 30 Major U.S. Companies Spent More on Lobbying than Taxes

• Experts Get Paid: Inside The Lobbying Media Complex

• STUDY: 25 Of Highest Paid CEOs Earned MORE Than Their Companies Paid In Taxes, Others Spent More On Lobbying Than Taxes

Cartoon courtesy of Qwartz.com

The Fed a private family is controlling the markets, keeping interest rates at ZERO and bailing out Europe? Where did they get the money

I’m sick and tired of hearing about everything that the Fed is buying. The Fed is buying treasuries, the fed is buying mortgage backed securities, the fed is bailing out the banks of Europe, the Fed is keeping interest rates at 0, the fed is, the fed, is, the fed, is!!!!!!
Everyone is watching the FED, why the hell don’t they use names. The Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank, has no reserves, and is not, I repeat not federal.
Somehow magically the ability to create money out of thin air without ever having the responsibility to ever pay it back is bestowed upon a select few ultra secretive people.
They are truly wizards, conjuring up some magical spell over an entire populace as if they have some divine resource for all their wealth that is just magically handed to them from another realm that doesn’t exist here on earth and no one else has access to.
You know as a child I had a very vivid imagination, I was very creative, but I was always told that some day I would have to grow up and live in the real world. What a crock of total shit that was. The real world? I’ve never seen such make believe in my life. Good thing the dollar says “In God We Trust” because you would have to have a faith greater than anything here on earth to actually believe in this system.
Look, these are people, they are not super human, they walk, talk, breath air, bleed, shit, piss, and there is absolutely nothing, I repeat nothing special about them. They do not have superior IQ’s they do not come from another dimension, they do not ride unicorns, or fly on winged horses. They do not have a rainbow at which they go to collect gold every day.
The only thing they have is your blind faith, their temples of marble, their printing presses, their own police, their politicians, their rigged elections, their mercenary military, and the illusion that it is all theirs, and you are weak, and you have no power.
http://www.save-a-patriot.org/files/view/whofed.html
Private families, private families, private families.

A private family is keeping the interest rate at 0 today.
A private family is bailing out the banks of Europe to prop up the Euro.
A private family is calling for harsh austerity upon the people to pay back the debt on money that never existed that they lent.
A private family is buying mortgage backed securities.
What is the market going to do? It is clearly going to go higher as long as the private family keeps injecting money they don’t have.
A private family is buying our nations treasuries.
The private family received more power from the President and Congress today in order to protect our nation from fraud and corruption on wall street.
A private family now has their own police force.
A private family is where your penalties for not buying Obamacare will be sent.
A private family is ready to receive your taxes (their share of your labor) and lend that money back to your puppets in government to finance the next year of going further into debt.
A private family!!!!!
Do you get it?
The private family (FED) bailing out Europe.

How The Fed’s Latest QE Is Just Another European Bailout

…

As shown above, cash held by foreign-related branches operating in the US has surpassed that of domestic banks only for the fourth time in history, the first being the end of QE2 when Europe was again “fixed” (just before it broke), the second was just before the coordinated central bank bailout of Europe in November 2011, the third was May 2012 just before Spanish spreads soared to record highs, and now.
With all of the above, anyone who was wondering where all those hundreds of billions in Fed cash created out of thin air were going now knows the answer: straight into the coffers of mostly European banks operating in the US.
 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-02/how-feds-latest-qe-just-another-european-bailout-vehicle

GodFrequency

Best Buy Is Losing Its Best Chance of Survival: Jeff Macke

Hope may be running out for Best Buy (BBY). Since Richard Schulze, Best Buy's founder and former chairman, announced plans last August to take the ailing electronics retailer private for $10.8 billion -- including debt -- the stock has plunged almost 25%.

The company's board rejected Schulze's initial offer to buy back the company. Schulze has missed several deadlines to give the board another proposal; the next deadline is Feb. 28.
Schulze may scrap his bid in favor of lining up investors to take a minority position in the company, according to The Wall Street Journal. He owns about 20% of the company and is its largest shareholder.
Can this last ditch effort, which hasn’t even been confirmed by Schulze or the company yet, save Best Buy? Jeff Macke of Yahoo! Finance says that’s unlikely unless Best Buy changes “radically," which he doesn’t expect it will do.
“There’s not really any space in the marketplace for 150,000 square-foot stores that sell a bunch of TVs,” says Macke.
The Daily Ticker’s Henry Blodget says Best Buy and other electronic retailers with physical stores are “basically showrooms for Amazon (AMZN). [Consumers] come in and test the products, and then buy it cheaper on Amazon and have it shipped to your house.”
Related: Here's Why Amazon's Stock is Soaring While Apple is Cratering
Macke says Best Buy lost an opportunity that Target (TGT) and Wal-Mart (WMT) took: matching the price of major online retailers selling the same item for less.
“If you’re a retailer and you get people coming into your store with the stated intent to buy a product and you don’t sell it to them you’ve got troubles and that’s what’s going on at Best Buy.”
Its best chance – and maybe only chance—to survive is a successful bid by Schulze. But executive buyouts aren’t a sure thing. Even Michael Dell’s offer to take Dell (DELL) private is running into trouble. Several of company’s s biggest shareholders—including T. Rowe Price and Southeastern Asset Management—are opposing the $24.4 billion deal as too cheap.
Related: Here's the Secret Private Equity Plan for Dell
“Best Buy and Dell are losing share fast," says Macke. "They’re worth more private to these guys—Schulze and Dell—than they are in the public market…they’re not going to get a better white knight. In both cases the boards... the shareholders and the big institutions got too cute and now they’re going to lose the entire deal."
Tell Us What You Think!
Got a topic you’d like covered? Have a guest you’d like to see interviewed? Send us an email to: thedailyticker@yahoo.com.
You can also look us up on Twitter and Facebook.
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The National Debt: A Short History Of Presidential Lies

Presidents love to lie about cutting spending.
New video produced by the non-partisan Bankrupting America on Washington’s history of inaction on cutting spending
Talk Is Cheap, Overspending Is Not
In 1986 our debt was $2.1 trillion and Washington was making promises to rein in our excessive spending.  Twenty-seven years later Washington is still making promises, but the only differences we see are a $16.5 trillion debt and better picture quality on C-SPAN.
If we’ve learned anything since then, it’s that the only thing a talking politician is good for is a distraction.  #TalkIsCheap.
---
DB here.  Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher calculated that the government's unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare alone comes to a staggering $99.2 trillion, or $330,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.
It's an impossible figure, but still on the low side compared to this estimate of $222 trillion published at Bloomberg.
The national debt has grown by $6 trillion since the Spender-In-Chief took office, and four more $1 trillion deficits are on the way before Obankster leaves Washington in 2016.
Check the debt clock and decide for yourself.  Is there anything, anything at all, that appears 'under control' to you?
---
Bonus - David Walker with Jon Stewart.

"There is no party of fiscal responsibility in Washington."
"When the statutory budget controls expired in 2002, Washington lost total control.  Unfunded tax cuts, unfunded war costs, expansion of entitlement benefits.  And we are where we are today."

The European Union and the US will begin formal talks on a free-trade agreement, paving the way for the biggest trade deal in history

Source: News Forage

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made the announcement following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

A deal would bring down trading barriers between the two biggest economies in the world.

EU-US trade is worth around 455bn euros (£393bn; $613bn) a year.

Mr Obama announced US support for talks as part of his annual address to Congress on Tuesday, saying a free-trade deal would "boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia".

In a joint statement, US and EU leaders said trade between the US and EU supported millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

"We are committed to making this relationship an even stronger driver of our prosperity," the statement said.

The EU estimates that a "comprehensive and ambitious agreement" will boost annual GDP growth by 0.5%.

 

It is not clear how long the talks will take, but similar trade deals have involved years of negotiations.

'Protectionist pressures'

The idea was discussed following the formation of a working group in 2011, and the formal talks may begin in the summer, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.

He said the deal would focus on bringing down remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade, and standardise technical regulations, standards and certifications.

Free trade between the US and the EU has been under informal discussion for years.

Previously politicians have been discouraged from pursuing free trade deals for fear of exposing domestic industries to greater competition from abroad.

But Steve Davies from the Institute of Economic Affairs, a think tank, said the economic crisis in Europe has injected more urgency into the talks.

"It's happening now because there has been seriously depressed growth in the EU, and this will be good news for economic growth," he said.

"On the American side, the critical factor is that Obama is now in his second term, so he doesn't have the protectionist pressures from US businesses to worry about."

Mr Davies said agriculture was likely to be particular area of contention, along with intellectual property, which could lead to political wranglings on both sides of the Atlantic.

The NUMEC Cover-Up: The Diversion of U.S. Weapons Grade Uranium from NUMEC to Israel

Doug Kass: 'Market Feels Like 1987 Right Before The Crash'

Kass puts on his bear suit.
'I'm getting the 'summer of 1987' feeling in the stock market, which means we’re headed for a sharp fall.'

It’s Time For Name That Insolvent Banking System!

by Phoenix Capital Research
Let’s play a little game.
The game is called “Name That Insolvent Banking System.”
The way you play the game is by trying to guess which the countries whose Bank Assets to GDP ratios are in the below chart. There are only seven countries and I’ll tell you that they’re all western economies in the developed world.
If you win this game, you win the knowledge of knowing which countries’ banking systems are leveraged beyond any credibility. You can then invest accordingly, sheltering your assets from these banking system disasters. You can also ignore the tripe being spewed by the various political leaders and Central Bankers about everything being great in the global financial system.
Ready? Let’s play!

As you can see, the seven counties listed here have banking asset to GDP ratios ranging from 90% to an incredible 400%. Five of the seven have banking asset to GDP ratios above 250%, which is simply extraordinary given the implications of this horrific metric.
Having trouble?
OK, I’ll give you a hint, one of these countries is the US. We’re often cited as the debt nightmare of the world, which makes all other countries look good in comparison. So which one is the US?
Did you guess number 6?
Wrong!
OK, here’s another hint, the other six countries are all based in EUROPE.
Give up? Here’s the answer:

As you can see, the US’s banking system is in fact dramatically smaller relative to its GDP than the big players in Europe. As much grief as I and others have given our financial system about being overleveraged and filled with toxic debts, the US is NOTHING compared to Europe, including the allegedly rock solid banking system of Germany.

It’s also worth noting that France, which is considered to one of the essentially sovereign backstops of the EU is in fact one of the worst offenders when it comes to having a totally out of control banking system. Remember this when you hear French politicians talking about the EU crisis being “over.”
So… the next time you hear someone on the TV talking about great things in Europe are, remember the above chart and ask yourself… how can a country be in great shape when it’s banking system is over 200% larger than its economy? Just what are all these “assets.”
And the multi-trillion Euro question: how much of them are in fact garbage?
So if you have not already taken steps to prepare for systemic failure, you NEED to do so NOW. We’re literally at most a few months, and very likely just a few weeks from Europe’s banks imploding, potentially taking down the financial system with them. Think I’m joking? The Fed is pumping hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars into EU banks right now trying to stop this from happening.
We have produced a FREE Special Report available to all investors titled What Europe’s Collapse Means For You and Your Savings.
This report features ten pages of material outlining our independent analysis real debt situation in Europe (numbers far worse than is publicly admitted), the true nature of the EU banking system, and the systemic risks Europe poses to investors around the world.
It also outlines a number of investments to profit from this; investments that anyone can use to take advantage of the European Debt Crisis.
Best of all, this report is 100% FREE. You can pick up a copy today at:
http://gainspainscapital.com/eu-report/
Best
Phoenix Capital Research

The Flag Is Still There

But the Country is GONE!

Source image: hstrial
The Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key 1814

 “Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave…” ?

NO!

America’s Declaration of Independence states:
“(W)hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, (it’s the right of the people, it’s) their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Straightaway as president, Obama violated his sacred trust. He betrayed his constituents. He’s a serial liar. He broke every major promise made. He serves illegitimately.
He institutionalized tyranny. He’s a war criminal multiple times over. He’s guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
He menaces humanity. He’s heading America for WW III. He wants America’s social contract destroyed. He wants millions impoverished, unemployed, left hungry and homeless. He’s beholden to powerful moneyed interests that own him.
He spurns fundamental civil and human rights. He mocks democratic values. He’s contemptuous of essential needs.” (1)
Last night Obummer delivered yet another campaign-speech that had absolutely nothing to do with any reality in this already-failed country. He spoke to the nation as its unelected-DICTATOR; as he has emerged from an election so-riddled with fraud, that his very presence is an insult to the entire human-race.
The ‘country’ he referred to throughout his long and odious ramblings has never existed, and he should not be part of anything for much longer because he has no credentials, no past: Not even a social-security number that he can prove is his own.
He did not sign up for the selective-service, he has no military-experience of any kind and all of his supposed academic achievements were and still are fake. His”speech” was filled with down-home-homilies, as if he had led a normal life with problems and difficulties which he cannot prove ever existed. He “knows” nothing about work or life, or even being human. He’s a traitor who commits treason every day, as frequently as smoker’s light their cigarettes. Yet this totally unnecessary congress and the silent courts continue to contribute to his lies by not impeaching him or any of his appointed criminals that still pretend that they are actually running this place.
Technically this creature is not a traitor because he’s never even been an American. His actions amount to espionage committed for Israel and world-wide communism in a perverted variant of the takeover of this country in every way imaginable, and in some ways that have never been attempted by any other nation.

 QUESTION

“The new LAWLESS American cities are NO LONGER AMERICAN CITIES. What this change means has not yet dawned on the public. Will the businesses and homes within the 100-mile-wide-zone be SEARCHED without cause, everywhere within these LAWLESS ZONES? This will kill the country now, even though the traitors are only taking over this ZONE, for starters?

The United States has been SURROUNDED.
The dark orange zone is no longer the Property of the USA.

This was designed to give these traitors a protected-zone to supposedly bring in troops (UN-NATO or otherwise), to do what they cannot do without this CRIMINALLY-ENFORCED-TREASON. This way they can have full control of all the ports and all the major cities near what used to be the borders of the United States.
This will effectively give the rogue-government full control over everything coming into or leaving the USA—including everything the nation needs to survive. Without access to the oceans, or the airspace above the 100-mile wide DEAD-ZONE, everyone else in the country will be imprisoned inside what remains of the USA…”

QUESTION

“How do we tell our loved-ones who are serving in the US military; that while they were deployed to kill millions supposedly to protect and defend the people of the United States—this rogue-government has stolen this country and made almost all Americans, including all returning vet’s into traitors?
More important: What do the GI’s tell themselves about what is going on when every man, woman and child in this country has a target on their back. While they are “SERVING-OVER-THERE” their loved-ones here, will be trying to stay alive without their much needed physical-protection. Why not ask them the next time you speak with them—because these questions must be answered…
Israel has used buffer-zones to control civilian-populations wherever they have tried to crush other nations. But even Israel would never have dared to create a ONE-HUNDRED-MILE DEEP buffer-zone.
Americans now face the same kind of fascistically lawless conditions, a full one-hundred miles BEFORE Americans can even get to a U.S. Border. This effectively reduces the size of the country and intensifies a new war-zone in this100-mile-wide zone. This ends all our “rights” within the United States for 2 out of every 3 people in the USA. America will become the largest GULAG on the Planet if this crime is allowed to stand.” (2)
The litany of the ‘DICTATORS’ crimes are legion. NONE of his promises have ever been kept. Yet the public treats this liar as if he is someone to be listened to, when he should have been in jail rather than being allowed to run for re-election to an office he was never qualified to hold the first time.

By whatever name he chooses to use
This DICTATOR should be publicly hung!

Jim Kirwan
1) Impeach Obama - A National Imperative
2) Questioning America Without Constitutional Law

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All images are © kirwan, all rights are reserved (unless otherwise noted).

RAID! 90 Million Ounces of Paper Silver Dumped to Smash Silver Towards $30

Another day another waterfall decline for silver as the metal just dropped 70 vertically to $30.37 as 90 million ounces of paper silver were dumped on the market as the cartel attempts to induce a $20 handle for silver.

*Update: 2nd wave in progress as cartel pushes for $29 handle in silver, 4 year uptrend line since 2008 at $30.50 has been broken to the downside.

Freedom Girl Now Available From the Silver Bullet Silver Shield Collection at SDBullion.com!!

Latest vertical smash in silver:


After 3 attempts, the cartel has finally pierced stubborn support at $30.50 and the 2nd leg of the raid appears to be getting underway:


And the 2nd wave attempting to induce a $29 handle:


Meanwhile, the HFT algos have been gunning gold away from strong support at $1650 towards $1630:


Stack the smack!!

HIGHLIGHTS: Jack Lew's Treasury Confirmation Hearing

'I promise to be better than Tiimmaaayy.'
Treasury secretary nominee Jack Lew appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
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New Details Revealed In SEC Report
UPDATE - Jack Lew Oversaw 113 Cayman Island Investment Funds
Jack Lew, who has been nominated as the next treasury secretary, oversaw up to as many as a hundred Cayman Island investments when he worked at Citi Bank as chief operating officer of the alternative investment services unit, SEC disclosures reveal.
It has previously been reported that Lew himself had only been invested in a fund that was based in the Cayman Islands.

The number of Citi subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, which fell under the jurisdiction Lew was in charge of, was 113. In the 2012 presidential campaign, the Obama campaign called Mitt Romney's own Cayman Island investments "bets against America."  But only months after the election ended, Obama nominated his former chief of staff Jack Lew, who himself had similar investments and even oversaw investment funds there, to be the next treasury secretary. 

When asked this morning at a Capitol Hill hearing about his investment in the Cayman Islands-based fund, Lew plead ignorance.  He claimed today that he "actually didn’t know" the fund he invested in was housed in the Cayman Islands.  Besides, he said, my "benefit was really very small."

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Highlights:
Lew asked about Citigroup bonus.
UPDATE - Jack Lew Oversaw 113 Cayman Island Investment Funds

Full Hearing Recap From Marketwatch

EDF profits surge to £1.7BILLION… just months after slapping British customers with 10.8% bill hike

• EDF profits surge 7.5 per cent to £1.7bn
• Bumper profits announced just days after EDF is named by Ofgem as the most complained about of the 'big six' energy firms

Energy giant EDF saw its UK profits surge by 7.5 per cent to £1.7billion in 2012, it announced today, just weeks after slapping its British customers with a 10.8 per cent average hike in bills.
Household budgets are being squeezed harder than ever this winter after all 'big six' energy firms put up their prices, taking average annual energy bills to £1,336 for those paying by cash and cheque and £1,247 for direct debit customers.   
The price hikes have pushed a further 300,000 UK households into fuel poverty, taking the total to 7.5million according to the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group.

Under fire: EDF got 8,072 complaints for each 100,000 customers in the final quarter of last year

EDF insists household gas and electricity sales remain loss-making, with earnings driven instead by the generation business. But the mammoth earnings figure will nevertheless spark fresh questions about why EDF introduced double-digit price hikes just as winter set in.

EDF’s results come a day after Bank of England Governor warned the UK’s stubbornly high rate of inflation was here to stay thanks in part to soaring energy bills.

 

 In a separate report, the punitive level of inflation in the UK was shown to have brought back real earnings to the same level as they were in 2003.
The attack from rising prices on UK households' income and savings has squeezed spending power for the last three or four years as salaries have been frozen and savings rates slashed.

Although consumer prices index inflation has been at 2.7 per cent since October ONS data revealed this week that households have suffered faster rises among essential items such as energy bills, food and rent.

Why prices have risen: Rising electricity, gas and other fuel prices are having a considerable impact on inflation (Source: Bank of England)

Today's profit announcement by EDF also arrives just days after it was named by regulator Ofgem as the most complained about among the top energy suppliers.

It received 8,072 complaints for each 100,000 customers in the final quarter of last year, more than double the 4,001 logged for the second most complained-about firm npower.
EDF also came second from the bottom in a recent customer satisfaction poll about gas and electricity suppliers by consumer group Which?.

Inflation woes: Consumer price index inflation is likely to rise over the next couple of years before falling again, according to the latest forecasts (Source: Bank of England)

The company said its UK profits followed a leap in generation output last year, with its best performance from nuclear operations in seven years and a 37 per cent jump from its coal-fired plants, helped also by rising wholesale prices.
The generation arm, which accounts for around 95 per cent of UK earnings, has been offsetting losses at its residential UK business, which fell into the red by £124million in 2011.

Household squeeze: Average annual energy bills are running at £1,336 for those paying by cash and cheque and £1,247 for direct debit customers

Adam Scorer, director of policy at Consumer Focus, called for greater transparency between prices and profits in the utility sector.

'Greater transparency about industry costs and company profits is going to be critical if consumers are to have confidence in an energy market where prices just seem to go one way,' he said.
EDF added it re-invested £1.3billion into its services and nuclear and coal stations, up £200million on 2011.

Revenues at EDF's UK arm rose 6.4 per cent to £8.4billion in 2012. Results for the wider EDF group showed the firm made €16.1billion (£13.8billion) in profits last year, up 7.7 per cent on 2011.

Vincent de Rivaz, EDF Energy chief executive, said: 'Our financial performance last year enabled us to make significant investments in both our existing power stations and our plans for new nuclear stations in the UK, which will help keep the lights on in future with reliable, secure and low carbon energy.'

It announced in December it was extending the lifespan of its Hunterston and Hinkley Point nuclear plants by seven years to 2023.

The group is currently in talks with the UK government over investment for a new multi-billion pound nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset, which is expected to cost around £7 billion. It also plans to build a reactor in Sizewell, Suffolk.

Nowhere to go but down?

By John Nyaradi

After a sharp New Year's run-up, major U.S. stock indexes have stalled at significant resistance levels and multiple fundamental and technical indicators suggest that perhaps there is now nowhere for equities to go but down.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've all read a steady stream of overly-bullish headlines and listened to media commentators celebrating Dow 14,000 and the possibility of a new, eternal bull market. However, overhyped headlines and a series of fundamental and technical factors point to the possibility that, as usual, such enthusiasm tends to mark market tops rather than bottoms.

Starting with technical indicators, a chart of the S&P 500 dating back to 1998 demonstrates how the index has established a triple-top over the period from 1998 through the present. This is an enormous resistance level and one that will need to be convincingly broken before one can declare eternal life for the bulls.

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A second chart that gets little attention is the chart depicting the percentage of S&P 100 stocks above their 200-day moving average.

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This chart presents a fascinating study of buying habits in the S&P 500, and it's easy to see that we're now also at a quadruple-top level in this data series. With 87% of the stocks trading above their 200-day moving average, one could argue that the market has passed a saturation point and that there is little upside room for U.S. equities at the current time.

If past is prologue, today's lofty level on this chart could easily lead to a decline of some magnitude as it has in the past. A number of these have been quite significant while others have been more benign.

Of the major declines depicted, the slowest swoon was in late 2007, when it took six months for the S&P to slide 17%. In mid-2010, it took only three months to make 15% disappear, while in mid-2011, the market declined 18% over four months.

In addition to technical factors pointing to an overbought market, a number of fundamental factors are also flashing red.

Extraordinarily-high levels of bullishness have recently popped up in various investor sentiment gauges. The American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment Survey results for Feb. 6 were 42.8% bullish — down 5.3 from the previous week, however, still above its long-term average, as retail investors expect the bull to continue its run.

Bullishness among financial advisors appears to be even more elevated as The National Association of Active Investment Managers' (NAAIM) weekly survey shows a reading of 94.06 for the week ending Feb. 6 compared to last quarter's average of 70.53.

With recession beginning to grip Europe, a source of a significant percentage of S&P 500 profits, one must to look to Germany, Europe's strongest economy, as the "canary in the coal mine," and unfortunately, the canary might be about to croak.

Until recently, the euro zone's largest economy has exhibited resilience in the face of a recession which is likely to afflict the other 16 member nations through the end of 2013. Unfortunately, both the DAX Index and the iShares MSCI Germany Index ETF (EWG) have taken a turn for the worse since the beginning of February. In fact, the both the DAX and the iShares MSCI Germany Index ETF have nearly completed the formation of head-and-shoulders patterns, signaling the possibility for further declines. Read European Stocks Decline As Euro Advances

Other fundamental factors that must be considered is the recent fourth-quarter GDP estimate of -0.1% for the United States and the upcoming sequestration debate and the draconian cuts scheduled for March 1. We all know that two consecutive quarters of negative GDP is the official definition for recession, and no matter what happens in this discussion between Congress and the White House, it's hard to see a positive outcome.

Sequestration cuts are widely forecast to trigger a significant stock market decline and even recession, while even modest cuts to government spending will inevitably be a further drag on the U.S. economy. Another option is "kicking the can down the road" yet again, but even that path has potential peril, as ratings agencies will likely frown on such a move and interest rates could rise, making the towering mountain of government debt even more difficult to service.

Adding it all up, it's very difficult to make a compelling case for higher stock prices ahead over the short term. Of course, "Mr. Market" always tries to inflict as much pain on as many people as possible, so everything is always subject to change. However, for today, Wall Street Sector Selector remains in "Yellow Flag" status, expecting consolidation or correction ahead.

Quickest Way to Kill 3D Printing - Get the Government Involved

Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post

The US State of the Union speech made by US President Barack Obama excited many across the tech community. Obama mentioned 3D printing as one of several emerging technologies that might help revitalize US industry.

Image: A screenshot taken from the "enhanced broadcast" of President Obama's State of the Union speech. Seen napping and slumped in their seats, are the vanguards of corporate special interests, ever ready in bi-partisan fashion to betray their voters in the service of big-business special interests, and who, along with whoever occupies the Oval Office, are the cause of America's decline in the first place.

Unfortunately, what many in the tech community seem not to realize, or have forgotten in their moment of presidential aggrandizing, is that Obama represents bi-partisan servitude to corporate-financier interests, the very interests that off-shored the planet's most advanced and capable manufacturing base in human history in the first place.

They also seem to have quickly forgotten that additionally, Obama represents the same big-business interests that hounded one of the tech community's own, Aaron Swartz, literally to death in an intellectual property witch-hunt that allegedly drove Swartz to commit suicide.

 Indeed, corporate-financier interests realize the threats and opportunities 3D printing represents. And like P2P file sharing, they are eager to co-opt, control, monopolize, and regulate this emerging industry to maintain the technological and socioeconomic disparity they have benefited from for so long. The establishment is relying on an old trick, the manipulation of human weakness - the need for recognition, and the prospect of fame and fortune.

And surely, those who sell out to special interests as they attempt to wrap their tentacles around 3D printing, may just achieve fame and fortune - but the promise of 3D printing will almost certainly suffer because of it.

While it may seem exciting to have the US President mention you during the State of the Union address, it is in fact a warning sign that you have attracted the attention of the very interests that have destroyed this country in the first place, and have left it in need to be "revitalized."

Obama's mention of 3D printing is akin to the buzzing of a parasitic mosquito's wings before it lands, with its hungry, ever-searching proboscis preparing to bury itself inside its host and begin to feed. It is a warning, not a ray of light. It is a reaffirmation of the gravity this emerging technology holds and the responsibility that falls upon those in the tech community to protect it, keep it open, independent, free of the meddling of big-business and their political proxies, and instead, in the service of humanity.

It's not just us! Germany and France are on brink of recession too as euro crisis crushes their economies

Germany and France suffered nasty economic shocks today as fallout from the euro crisis pushed the two biggest single currency members to the brink of recession.
The German economy has slammed into reverse, with a 0.6 per cent contraction in the final three months of 2012 - the country's worst performance since the global financial crisis raged in 2009.
Worryingly for Berlin, it was exports, the motor of the economy, that did most of the damage.

Eurozone trouble: Dire economic figures from Germany and France show crisis has reached heart of euro bloc

France held up slightly better but its 0.3 per cent contraction at the end of last year also undershot forecasts.
If Germany and France shrink again in the current quarter, they will be officially back in recession -  the same prospect that faces the UK, which also contracted 0.3 per cent at the end of 2012. A recession means two quarters in a row of negative growth.

Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King yesterday painted a bleak picture of high inflation combined with stagnant economic growth when it comes to UK prospects.
The 17-member eurozone has slid deeper into recession after the region suffered a 0.6 per cent decline in the final three months of last year. It already shrank 0.1 per cent in the third quarter and 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2012.

Financial markets saw losses deepen by early afternoon trading as traders assessed the economic damage. The FTSE 100 was down 41.4 points at 6,317.75, while Germany's DAX was 75.5 points lower at 7,636.4 and France's CAC 40 lagged 20.7 points at 3,677.8.
Evidence of weakness at the heart of the eurozone took a toll on the single currency - and offered some relief to sterling, which has seen brutal falls since the start of the year as currency traders lose faith in the British recovery.
The euro fell to just above €1.16 to the pound (86p) this afternoon. However, this was a minor correction considering sterling stood at just under €1.22 against the euro at the beginning of 2013.
'So it’s not only the UK that’s on the verge of dipping back into an official recession but the other major economies just across the Channel,' commented Angus Campbell of Capital Spreads.
'In the longer term there isn’t a huge cause for concern as the recent data has indicated that there is high probability that not only will the UK avoid another official recession, but so will France and Germany.
'The real worry is that the contractions are deeper than expectations and so economists and politicians are still deluding themselves as to how the economy is currently performing and how the "recovery" is materialising.
'Germany is leading by example by imposing its own austerity measures upon itself so to see the real powerhouse of the European economy suffer so badly in the fourth quarter is a worry for the eurozone.'

Sir Mervyn King: Bank of England governor yesterday painted a bleak picture of high inflation combined with stagnant economic growth when it comes to UK prospects

Anita Paluch of Gekko Global Markets said: 'The latest numbers out point to an erosion of growth at the heart of Europe.
'Having said that though, let’s not forget – against the backdrop of the gloom and doom Germany still [looks pretty] good.
'On the dimension of inflation rates and in terms of its labour market it has all the conditions necessary to pull itself out and back on the growth track.'
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said although the eurozone recession deepened in the fourth quarter of 2012, this should mark the low point.
'GDP contraction of 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 was deeper than expected and brought a dismal end to a very difficult year for the Eurozone.
'However, the signs are that eurozone economic activity bottomed out around last October and it is very possible that GDP could stop contracting in the first quarter of 2013 with the overall economic environment significantly helped by the European Central Bank’s Outright Monetary Transactions [government bond buying] programme.
'Nevertheless, even modest overall growth for the eurozone could well remain elusive for some time to come with ongoing contraction in Spain and Italy set to weigh down on the eurozone’s performance through 2013. France also faces a difficult year. Germany, however, should see a clear return to growth in the first quarter.'

PA official: Israel continues to withhold tax revenue

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) – Israel is still withholding Palestinian tax revenue breaching the 2004 Paris agreement, an official in the Palestinian Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.

Spokesman Rami Mahdawi told Ma'an that the ongoing breach "confirms that Israel is going on with its piracy on Palestinian money."

He referred to recent remarks by Israel's Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz related to tax revenue Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian government. "These remarks clearly prove that the Palestinian government is facing a severe financial crisis rendering the government unable to pay civil servants’ salaries and to pay back debts."

Mahdawi urged Palestinian trade unions to back the government and stop the ongoing rounds of strikes highlighting that strikes only harm public interests and add more burdens.

Steinitz told Channel 1 TV Monday that the motives behind Israel’s decision to withhold tax money still remained. The main reasons for withholding tax money, he explained, were the PA attempts to establish partnership with Hamas, and the declarations by Palestinian leaders about their intentions to sue Israeli officials in the International Criminal Court.

If the Palestinian president abandons these paths, all options will be open for us to resume cooperation with the PA which we seek to maintain rather than destroy, added Steinitz.

Rand Paul: Obama Claiming To Have Cut Debt By $2 Trillion Is Absurd - 2/13/2013

xrepublic.tv/node/2161

Record Dollar Value Gold Demand In 2012 - India, China and Central Banks Buy

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,644.00, EUR 1,233.22 and GBP 1,060.37 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,648.00, EUR 1,223.55 and GBP 1,054.59 per ounce.
Silver is trading at $30.85/oz, €23.24/oz and £19.98/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,730.84/oz, palladium at $765.00/oz and rhodium at $1,200/oz.

Cross Currency and Precious Metal Table – (Bloomberg)
Gold fell $8.50 or 0.51% yesterday on closing at $1,643.00/oz. Silver slipped to as low as $30.72 and ended with a loss of 1.09%.
Gold edged up on Thursday, as bargain hunters showed buying interest and gold was particularly strong in euro terms after data from Europe confirmed the continent remains very vulnerable to economic shocks.
The euro area recession deepened and data showed that the euro area economy shrank the most since 2009 and its three biggest economies, Germany, France and Italy, suffered slumping output.
G20 nations should take a stronger stance against currency manipulation the Russian Finance Minister said this morning after G7 conflicting statements about currency wars in recent days.
Hong Kong opened trading today and is seeing the physical jewellery demand pick up, but the bulk of Asia is still closed for the entrance of the Year of the Snake for the lunar New Year.
U.S. weekly jobless claims are reported at 1330 GMT.  
The world's largest gold-backed ETF, SPDR, said its holdings edged off 0.07% to 1325.99 tonnes on Wednesday from 1326.89 tonnes on Tuesday, but remains near record highs.

Central Bank Gold Demand (1971 to Today)
According to the World Gold Council’s Q4 2012 report issued today, Global gold demand in Q4 2012 reached 1,195.9 tonnes, up 4% from Q4 2011. In value terms gold demand for the quarter was 6% higher year-on-year at $66.2bn marking the highest ever Q4 total and driving annual demand in 2012 to a record value of US$236.4bn.
Gold demand ended a challenging year on a strong note, with a level of demand in Q4 2012 second only to the record level in Q3 2011, highlighting gold’s ongoing attraction and resilience to economic uncertainty. Overall gold demand remains above the five year average with demand in Q4 2012 driven by India, China and the official sector.
In India, investment and jewellery demand reached their highest levels for six quarters with overall demand up 41% on Q4 2011. China recovered from a difficult start to the year, with strong demand in investment and jewellery, both up marginally on the high levels from the final quarter in the previous year.

Indian Gold Demand (2005 to Today)
Central bank purchasing was up 29% on Q4 2011 marking the eighth consecutive quarter of official sector net purchasing, with full year 2012 seeing the highest levels of central bank purchasing since 1964.
The key findings from the report are as follows:
• Whilst Indian full year demand was down 12% on the previous year, the market performed strongly in the final quarter with total demand at 261.9t, an increase of 41% on the same period last year.  Both jewellery and investment demand reached their highest levels for six quarters. Demand for jewellery was up 35% year-on-year to reach 153.0t, and strong retail demand led to 108.9t of investment buying.  In India the prospect of duty increases, which came in to force in January 2013, may have added to strong buying in the final quarter to beat the anticipated price rises.
• Chinese demand was flat year-on–year, reflecting the impact of economic slowdown. However looking at Q4, total demand was up 1% on the previous quarter to 202.5t. Jewellery demand was137.0t up 1% on Q4 2011 and investment demand was 65.5t, up 2% on the previous year. These increases may reflect the fact that the economic slowdown in China appears to have been shorter than expected.
• Central bank buying for the full year rose by 17% compared to 2011, totaling 534.6t, the highest level since 1964. Central bank purchases stood at 145.0t in Q4, up 29% on the corresponding quarter in the previous year, making this the eighth consecutive quarter in which central banks have been net purchasers of gold.
• Global investment in ETFs in 2012 was up significantly by 51% on the preceding year, though Q4 was down 16% to 88.1t when compared with the high levels recorded in Q3 2012.
The World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report for Q4 2012 and full year 2012 is now available to download from here.