Friday, September 30, 2011

Gold and Silver Update 09/30/11


Submitted by: Francis Soyer

King World News interviews economist Martin Armstrong. Martin Armstrong the inventor of historical economic modeling techniques is probably one of the most accurate long term market cycle economists on the planet. Armstrong in the below interview answers one of the more central questions of late as to which currency will fail first the Euro or the US dollar.This interview is relevant in terms of Gold and Silver in that as fiat money fails and implodes on itself the only real safe havens for preservation of wealth is Gold, Silver and to some extent hard commodities in general.

“This is what a lot of people didn’t understand.  That is why a lot of people (Congressmen) ended up coming to me because I understand these markets, how they were created, I was there when they were created.”

When asked which currency will collapse first, Armstrong responded, “Americans tend to focus really just on the United States.  The United States is, among the Western countries, it’s actually in the best shape.  Europe is going to largely collapse first.  What you have to understand with the dollar is that the dollar is the reserve currency.  What that means is that about 40% of the interest that we pay goes overseas.

All of the foreign central banks hold US government bonds, not actually physical dollars, but they actually hold bonds as a reserve. So the reserve currency is not something that is going to crack first.  You have to understand that because if the dollar were to be the first thing to collapse, the rest of the world has to go with it.

In Europe, to put it into an American context, imagine if every state had the right to print dollars, it would be total chaos.  That’s what Europe did (by allowing individual country bonds to be issued) and that’s why I warned them that they were going to collapse, but politicians just didn’t want to hear it ten years ago.  They were more interested in creating a euro than they were in creating a (long-term functional) system.

...This is also why the banking system over there is in trouble.  They (European leaders) are going to try to hang on as long as they can.”


Original Article Here:
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/9/30_KWN_Special_-_Martin_Armstrong__Who_Will_Collapse_First.html

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Gold, Silver and Market Update 09/27/11

Good for them...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8793010/Germany-slams-stupid-US-plans-to-boost-EU-rescue-fund.html


Germany slams 'stupid' US plans to boost EU rescue fund

Germany and America were on a collision course on Tuesday night over the handling of Europe's debt crisis after Berlin savaged plans to boost the EU rescue fund as a "stupid idea" and told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others.


By
8:51PM BST 27 Sep 2011
 
German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said it would be a folly to boost the EU's bail-out machinery (EFSF) beyond its €440bn lending limit by deploying leverage to up to €2 trillion, perhaps by raising funds from the European Central Bank.
"I don't understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea. The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states. It makes no sense," he said.
Mr Schauble told Washington to mind its own businesss after President Barack Obama rebuked EU leaders for failing to recapitalise banks and allowing the debt crisis to escalate to the point where it is "scaring the world".
"It's always much easier to give advice to others than to decide for yourself. I am well prepared to give advice to the US government," he said.
The comments risk irritating the White House. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been a key driver of plans to give the EFSF enough firepower to shore up Italy and Spain, fearing a drift into "cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk" without dramatic action.


The danger for Germany is that America will lose patience, with unpredictable consequences. The US Federal Reserve is currently propping up the European banking system in a variety of ways, including dollar swaps.
Markets across the world ignored the mixed signals about the true scope of EU rescue measures, convinced that EU leaders have a "grand plan" up their sleeves and will unveil the details after the Bundestag has voted on Thursday on the earlier July deal to revamp the fund.
France's CAC-40 surged by 5.7pc, led by a 17pc rise for Societe Generale. Germany's Dax was up 5.3pc. The FTSE 100 jumped 4pc in London, the biggest one-day rise this year. Oil jumped almost $4 in New York to $88 a barrel.
In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel was fighting for her political life as the rump of lawmakers from her coalition vowed to reject the EFSF package, though the latest tally suggests she may squeeze by with her own majority. Angry dissidents suspect that secret plans are being withheld until after the vote.
Greek premier George Papandreou told German business leaders that his country would honour its austerity pledges, but also issued a veiled warning. "The persistent criticisms levelled against Greece are deeply frustrating, not only at the political level, where a superhuman effort is being made to meet stringent targets in a deepening recession, but frustrating also for the Greeks, who are making these painful sacrifices."
"Drastic measures have had a dramatic impact on the living standards of our citizens. Many Greeks feel they have little left to give. If people feel only punishment and scorn, this crisis will become a lost cause," he said.
Mr Papandreou's Pasok party passed a crucial vote on Tuesday to raise property taxes, but at a high political price. The party's approval rating has fallen to 15pc in the latest Mega poll.
Greece has a trump card in rescue talks with the IMF-EU "Troika". If it opts for a "hard default", it could set off a chain reaction. Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi, an ECB board member, said those arguing that Europe's banks could withstand a Greek default are misguided. "Similar views were held before Lehman. Those who say this have no idea how contagion works," he said.
Analysts say the Troika will have to approve the next €8bn tranche of aid for Athens in October whether or not Greece has complied fully with the terms. It cannot risk a showdown before Europe's banks have beefed up their capital base, or before the EFSF is fully equipped to defend the rest of the system.
Like a forced marriage, Europe and Greece must kiss and pretend.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Gold and Silver Update 09/22/11










Submitted by: Francis Soyer

Yesterday the day after the Federal Reserve gave the market a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when it was hoping for a steak continued its violent sell off. The Federal reserve in addition gave a pessimistic assessment of the US economy on a forward looking basis.

Commodities were sold with vigor. Algorithm selling by hedge funds and banks alike led to falls in precious metals and basically all commodities with funds scrambling to cut losses and using those sales to cover margin requirements and fly to safety in cash.

Expect a near term bounce in metals as shorts cover into the weekend and bargain hunters emerge, specifically China as they step in a buy with both hands. Note this is one of only 4 opportunities to buy at or below VWAP prices (volume weighted average price.) Gold on the other hand has been harder over the past year with virtually no opportunities to buy at or better than VWAP.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Gold and Silver Update 09/22/11


Submitted by: Francis Soyer

I came accross an article at Seeking Alpha from an analyst named Todd Johnson. To discuss this article and his thesis that you should sell your physical gold and silver specifically PHYS and PSLV here are my takes on his work.

On PSLV: Article from Todd Johnson's Seeking Alpha saying to sell PSLV:


Original Article at Seeking Alpha Here:


http://seekingalpha.com/article/295093-sprott-insiders-are-selling-pslv-and-so-should-you#que=http%3A%2F%2Fa.collective-media.net%2Fadj%2Fsek.target%2Farticle%3Bsz%3D728x90%3Bx%3Dx%3Btile%3D1%3Bd%3Dtarget%3Bt%3Darticle%3Ba%3Dtodd-johnson%3Bt%3Dfinancial%3Bt%3Detf-long-short-ideas%3Bt%3Dus%3Bt%3Dinvestment-brokerage-national%3Bt%3Dsa-exclusive%3Baid%3D295093%3Bd%3Detfs%3Bd%3Dsectors%3Bs%3Dgtu%3Bs%3Dcef%3Bs%3Dgld%3Bs%3Dslv%3Bs%3Dpslv%3Bs%3Dphys%3Bp%3D1%3Br%3Df%3Bqc%3DD%3Bqc%3DT%3Bord%3D266261595%3F%22&par=article_dashboards%3D%40etfs%40sectors%40%26article_sectors_themes%3D%40financial%40etf-long-short-ideas%40us%40investment-brokerage-national%40sa-exclusive%40


From Todd Johnson at Seeking Alpha spoke with Carolyn at Sprott, phone number (888) 362-7172. "I asked why there was so much insider selling of Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV). Carolyn advised me that Sprott Asset Management, and perhaps Eric Sprott, were selling because of Sprott Physical Silver Trust's (PSLV) 20% premium to net asset value. Then bought physical silver and precious-metal-producing equities."


"I asked if there was a chance for a secondary. Carolyn said a one-year trading history is required prior to a secondary. Carolyn advised me November 1st would be the first time a secondary could be considered for a Sprott Physical Silver Trust secondary offering."


Todd Johnson’s sell recommendation, issued on July 24th, was to sell Sprott Physical Silver Trust at that time PSLV’s price was: 18.83 Close price as of Yesterday 9/21/11 was 19.04: a sell loss recommendation of 1%


Todd Johnson’s disclosure: “I am long GTU, CEF, GLD, SLV” The fact that he is long GLD and SLV to me says that he has not done his homework on 100% of his article stated holdings in that if he needed delivery of the metals he will not have a snow ball’s chance in hell of taking delivery of either GLD or SLV. Good luck Todd when JPM (The Custodian) goes belly up because of their short exposure to both and when the holders of GLD and SLV demand delivery. JPM has no audited holdings, has on paper holdings of 1 ounce for every 100 claims to that ounce for both GLD and SLV for equity shares and 1 ounce for every 1000 claims in derivates. Read the prospectus for GLD and SLV. As for Todd's "better alternatives" to PHYS and PSLV being his holdings of GTU and CEF as stated in his disclosure of holdings read on from these fund's stated fund summary here:


http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=GTU+Profile


Take notes on the following:


“Business Summary

Central Gold-Trust primarily invests in unencumbered gold bullion. As of September 30, 2003, the company’s gold holdings were 82,619 fine ounces of physical gold bullion and 4,581 fine ounces of gold bullion certificates. The trust is taxed as a mutual fund trust for income tax purposes, pursuant to which it distributes all taxable income earned by it to the unit holders and deduct such distributions for income tax purposes. Central Gold-Trust was established under the laws of Ontario in April 2003; and is headquartered in Ancaster, Canada.”


Todd, the bold red text above means by owning GTU, CEF that you will be taxed for capital gains at the nominal rates listed below:


Capital Gains Calculator
Capital gains rates are designed to encourage long-term investing. Most people can get a significant advantage from holding stock investments for more than one year:


Tax Bracket Capital Gain Tax Rate


Short Term Long Term

10% 10% 0%

15% 15%

25% 25% 15%

28% 28%

33% 33%

35% 35%


The Sprott Physical Silver trust is NOT TAXABLE because you CAN NOT TAX CURRENCY. Yes this means that Silver and Gold Bullion is considered CURRENCY. While the “22% premium” may seem extravagant if you are in the 35% tax bracket the 15% you will need to deduct from your returns and 35% to deduct for a short term gain on a sale to me hardly seems like you are in a losing proposition by owning either PHYS or PSLV.

Shoddy research man… How did you get that Job at Seeking Alpha anyway?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You Are Under Arrest

Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You Are Under Arrest


http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=26690

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been stripped of legal immunity for acts of torture against US citizens authorized while he was in office.

The 7th Circuit made the ruling in the case of two American contractors who were tortured by the US military in Iraq after uncovering a smuggling ring within an Iraqi security company. The company was under contract to the Department of Defense. The company was assisting Iraqi insurgent groups in the “mass acquisition” of American weapons. The ruling comes as Rumsfeld begins his book tour with a visit to Boston on Monday, September 26, and as new, uncensored photos of Abu Ghraib spark fresh outrage across Internet. Awareness is growing that Bush-era crimes went far beyond mere waterboarding.



Torture Room, Abu Ghraib



Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters in 2004 of photos withheld by the Defense Department from Abu Ghraib, “The American public needs to understand, we’re talking about rape and murder here… We’re not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience. We’re talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges.” And journalist Seymour Hersh says: “boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has.”


Rumsfeld resigned days before a criminal complaint was filed in Germany in which the American general who commanded the military police battalion at Abu Ghraib had promised to testify. General Janis Karpinski in an interview with Salon.com was asked: “Do you feel like Rumsfeld is at the heart of all of this and should be held completely accountable for what happened [at Abu Ghraib]?”


Karpinski answered: “Yes, absolutely.” In the criminal complaint filed in Germany against Rumsfeld, Karpinski submitted 17 pages of testimony and offered to appear before the German prosecutor as a witness. Congressman Kendrick Meek of Florida, who participated in the hearings on Abu Ghraib, said of Rumsfeld: “There was no way Rumsfeld didn’t know what was going on. He’s a guy who wants to know everything.”


And Major General Antonio Taguba, who led the official Army investigation into Abu Ghraib, said in his report:

“there is no longer any doubt as to whether the [Bush] administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”


Abu Ghraib Prisoner Smeared with Feces



Amazingly, the two American contractors in the 7th Circuit decision were known by the military to be working undercover for the FBI, to whom they had reported witnessing the sale of U.S government munitions to Iraqi rebel groups. The FBI in Iraq had vouched for Vance and Ertel numerous times before they nevertheless disappeared into military custody. They were held at Camp Cropper in Iraq where the two were tortured, one for 97 days, and the other for six weeks.

In a puzzling and incriminating move, Camp Cropper base commander General John Gardner ordered Nathan Ertel released on May 17, 2006, while keeping Donald Vance in detention for another two months of torture. By ordering the release of one man but not the other, Gardner revealed awareness of the situation but prolonged it at the same time.


It is unlikely that Gardner could act alone in a situation as sensitive as the illegal detention and torture of two Americans confirmed by the FBI to be working undercover in the national interest, to prevent American weapons and munitions from reaching the hands of insurgents, for the sole purpose of using them to kill American troops. Vance and Ertel suggest he was acting on orders from the highest political level.


The forms of torture employed against the Americans included “techniques” which crop up frequently in descriptions of Iraqi and Afghan prisoner abuse at Bagram, Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib. They included “walling,” where the head is slammed repeatedly into a concrete wall, sleep deprivation to the point of psychosis by use of round-the-clock bright lights and harsh music at ear-splitting volume, in total isolation, for days, weeks or months at a time, and intolerable cold.


The 7th Circuit ruling is the latest in a growing number of legal actions involving hundreds of former prisoners and torture victims filed in courts around the world. Criminal complaints have been filed against Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials in Germany, France, and Spain. Former President Bush recently curbed travel to Switzerland due to fear of arrest following criminal complaints lodged in Geneva. “He’s avoiding the handcuffs,” Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.


And the Mayor of London threatened Bush with arrest for war crimes earlier this year should he ever set foot in his city, saying that were he to land in London to “flog his memoirs,” that “the real trouble — from the Bush point of view — is that he might never see Texas again.”


Former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief-of-Staff Col. Lawrence Wilkerson surmised on MSNBC earlier this year that soon, Saudi Arabia and Israel will be “the only two countries Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest will travel to.”


Abu Ghraib: Dog Bites



 
What would seem to make Rumsfeld’s situation more precarious is the number of credible former officials and military officers who seem to be eager to testify against him, such as Col. Wilkerson and General Janis Karpinsky.


In a signed declaration in support of torture plaintiffs in a civil suit naming Rumsfeld in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Col. Wilkerson, one of Rumsfeld’s most vociferous critics, stated: “I am willing to testify in person regarding the content of this declaration, should that be necessary.” That declaration, among other things, affirmed that a documentary on the chilling murder of a 22-year-old Afghan farmer and taxi driver in Afghanistan was “accurate.” Wilkerson said earlier this year that in that case, and in the case of another murder at Bagram at about the same time, “authorization for the abuse went to the very top of the United States government.”

Dilawar


The young farmer’s name was Dilawar. The New York Times reported on May 20, 2005:



“Four days before [his death,] on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Id al-Fitr, Mr. Dilawar set out from his tiny village of Yakubi in a prized new possession, a used Toyota sedan that his family bought for him a few weeks earlier to drive as a taxi.On the day that he disappeared, Mr. Dilawar’s mother had asked him to gather his three sisters from their nearby villages and bring them home for the holiday. However, he needed gas money and decided instead to drive to the provincial capital, Khost, about 45 minutes away, to look for fares.”


Dilawar’s misfortune was to drive past the gate of an American base which had been hit by a rocket attack that morning. Dilawar and his fares were arrested at a checkpoint by a warlord, who was later suspected of mounting the rocket attack himself, and then turning over randam captures like Dilawar in order to win trust.


The UK Guardian reports:


“Guards at Bagram routinely kneed prisoners in their thighs — a blow called a ‘peroneal strike’… Whenever a guard did this to Dilawar, he would cry out, ‘Allah! Allah!’ Some guards apparently found this amusing, and would strike him repeatedly to show off the behavior to buddies. One military policeman told investigators, ‘Everybody heard him cry out and thought it was funny. … It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes.’”


Dilawar was shackled from the ceiling much of the time, with his feet barely able to touch the ground. On the last day of his life, after 4 days at Bagram, an interpreter who was present said his legs were bouncing uncontrollably as he sat in a plastic chair. He had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.


The New York Times reported that on the last day of his life, four days after he was arrested:


“Mr. Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua R. Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Mr. Dilawar’s face. “Come on, drink!” the interpreter said Specialist Claus had shouted, as the prisoner gagged on the spray. “Drink!”


At the interrogators’ behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.


“‘Leave him up,’ one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.”


The next time the prison medic saw Dilawar a few hours later, he was dead, his head lolled to one side and his body beginning to stiffen. A coroner would testify that his legs “had basically been pulpified.” The Army coroner, Maj. Elizabeth Rouse, said: “I’ve seen similar injuries in an individual run over by a bus.” She testified that had he lived, Dilawar’s legs would have had to be amputated.


Despite the military’s false statement that Dilawar’s death was the result of “natural causes,” Maj. Rouse marked the death certificate as a “homicide” and arranged for the certificate to be delivered to the family. The military was forced to retract the statement when a reporter for the New York Times, Carlotta Gall, tracked down Dilawar’s family in Afghanistan and was given a folded piece of paper by Dilawar’s brother. It was the death certificate, which he couldn’t read, because it was in English.


The practice of forcing prisoners to stand for long periods of time, links Dilawar’s treatment to a memo which bears Rumsfeld’s own handwriting on that particular subject. Obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request, the memo may show how fairly benign-sounding authorizations for clear circumventions of the Geneva Conventions may have translated into gruesome practice on the battlefield.


The memo, which addresses keeping prisoners “standing” for up to four hours, is annotated with a note initialed by Rumfeld reading: “I stand for 8–10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?” Not mentioned in writing anywhere is anything about accomplishing this by chaining prisoners to the ceiling. There is evidence that, unable to support his weight on tiptoe for the days on end he was chained to the ceiling, Dilawars arms dislocated, and they flapped around uselessly when he was taken down for interrogation. The National Catholic Reporter writes, “They flapped like a bird’s broken wings.”

Contradicting, on the record, a February 2003 statement by Rumfeld’s top commander in Afghnanistan at the time, General Daniel McNeill, that “we are not chaining people to the ceilings,” is Spc. Willie Brand, the only soldier disciplined in the death of Dilawar, with a reduction in rank. Told of McNeill’s statement, Brand told Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes: “Well, he’s lying.” Brand said of his punishment: “I didn’t understand how they could do this after they had trained you to do this stuff and they turn around and say you’ve been bad.”


Exhibit: A sketch by Sgt. Thomas V. Curtis, a former Reserve M.P. sergeant, showing how Dilawar was chained to the ceiling of his cell


Exhibit: Dilawar Death Certificate marked “homicide”



Exhibit: Rumsfeld Memo: “I stand 8-10 hours a day. Why only 4 hours?”


Dilawar’s daughter and her grandfather


Binyam, Genital-Slicing


Binyam Mohamed was seized by the Pakistani Forces in April 2002 and turned over to the Americans for a $5,000 bounty. He was held for more than five years without charge or trial in Bagram Air Force Base, Guantánamo Bay, and third country “black” sites.


In his diary he describes being flown by a US government plane to a prison in Morocco. He writes:


“They cut off my clothes with some kind of doctor’s scalpel. I was naked. I tried to put on a brave face. But maybe I was going to be raped. Maybe they’d electrocute me. Maybe castrate me…One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. He did it once, and they stood still for maybe a minute, watching my reaction. I was in agony. They must have done this 20 to 30 times, in maybe two hours. There was blood all over. ‘I told you I was going to teach you who’s the man,’ [one] eventually said.


“They cut all over my private parts. One of them said it would be better just to cut it off, as I would only breed terrorists. I asked for a doctor.


“I was in Morocco for 18 months. Once they began this, they would do it to me about once a month. One time I asked a guard: ‘What’s the point of this? I’ve got nothing I can say to them. I’ve told them everything I possibly could.’


“‘As far as I know, it’s just to degrade you. So when you leave here, you’ll have these scars and you’ll never forget. So you’ll always fear doing anything but what the US wants.’


“Later when a US airplane picked me up the following January, a female MP took pictures. She was one of the few Americans who ever showed me any sympathy. When she saw the injuries I had she gasped. They treated me and took more photos when I was in Kabul. Someone told me this was ‘to show Washington it’s healing.’”


The obvious question for any prosecutor in Binyam’s case is: Who does “Washington” refer to? Rumfeld? Cheney? Is it not in the national interest to uncover these most depraved of sadists at the highest level? US Judge Gladys Kessler, in her findings on Binyam made in relation to a Guantanamo prisoner’s petition, found Binyam exceedingly credible. She wrote:


“His genitals were mutilated. He was deprived of sleep and food. He was summarily transported from one foreign prison to another. Captors held him in stress positions for days at a time. He was forced to listen to piercingly loud music and the screams of other prisoners while locked in a pitch-black cell. All the while, he was forced to inculpate himself and others in plots to imperil Americans. The government does not dispute this evidence.”


Obama: Torturers’ Last Defense


The prospect of Rumsfeld in a courtroom cannot possibly be relished by the Obama administration, which has now cast itself as the last and staunchest defender of the embattled former officials, including John Yoo, Alberto Gonzalez, Judge Jay Bybee, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and others. The administration employed an unprecedented twisting of arms in order to keep evidence in a lawsuit which Binyam had filed in the UK suppressed, threatening an end of cooperation between the British MI5 and the CIA. This even though the British judges whose hand was forced puzzled that the evidence contained “no disclosure of sensitive intelligence matters.” The judges suggested another reason for the secrecy requested by the Obama administration, that it might be “politically embarrassing.”


The Obama Justice Department’s active involvement in seeking the dismissal of the cases is by choice, as the statutory obligation of the US Attorney General to defend cases against public officials ends the day they leave office. Indeed, the real significance of recent court decisions, the one by the 7th Circuit and yet another against Rumsfeld in a DC federal court, may be the clarification the common misconception that high officials are forever immune for crimes committed while in office, in the name of the state. The misconception persists despite just a moment of thought telling one that if this were true, Hermann Goering, Augusto Pinochet, and Charles Taylor would never have been arrested, for they were all in office at the time they ordered atrocities, and they all invoked national security.


Judge Kessler’s findings point to yet another even more alarming aspect of the Bush-era crimes for which Rumsfeld is now being pursued for his part. And that is the emerging evidence that the tortures perpetrated were not designed to protect national security at all, but to obtain false confessions in order to score propaganda points for the War on terror.


Andy Worthington writes that:


“As it happens, one of the confessions that was tortured out of Binyam is so ludicrous that it was soon dropped…The US authorities insisted that Padilla and Binyam had dinner with various high-up members of al-Qaeda the night before Padilla was to fly off to America. According to their theory the dinner party had to have been on the evening of 3 April in Karachi … Binyam was meant to have dined with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Sheikh al-Libi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Jose Padilla. What made the scenario ‘absurd,’ as [Binyam's lawyer] pointed out, was that ‘two of the conspirators were already in U.S. custody at the time — Abu Zubaydah was seized six days before, on 28 March 2002, and al-Libi had been held since November 2001.’”


The charges against Binyam were dropped, after the prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Darrel Vandeveld, resigned. He told the BBC later that he had concerns at the repeated suppression of evidence that could prove prisoners’ innocence.


The litany of tortures alleged against Rumsfeld in the military prisons he ran could go on for some time. The new photographic images from Abu Ghraib make it hard to conceive of how the methods of torture and dehumanization could have possibly served a national purpose.


The approved use of attack dogs, sexual humiliation, forced masturbation, and treatments which plumb the depths of human depravity are either documented in Rumsfeld’s own memos, or credibly reported on.


The UK Guardian writes:


“The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of ill-treatment and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know what they are doing, according to British military sources. The techniques devised in the system, called R2I – resistance to interrogation – match the crude exploitation and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad.


“One former British special forces officer who returned last week from Iraq, said: ‘It was clear from discussions with US private contractors in Iraq that the prison guards were using R2I techniques, but they didn’t know what they were doing.’”


Torture Now Aimed at Americans, Programs Designed to Obtain False Confessions, Not Intelligence


The worst of the worst is that Rumsfeld’s logic strikes directly at the foundations of our democracy and the legitimacy of the War on Terror. The torture methods studied and adopted by the Bush administration were not new, but adopted from the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape program (SERE) which is taught to elite military units. The program was developed during the Cold War, in response to North Korean, Chinese, and Soviet Bloc torture methods. But the aim of those methods was never to obtain intelligence, but to elicit false confessions. The Bush administration asked the military to “reverse engineer” the methods, i.e. figure out how to break down resistance to false confessions.


In the 2008 Senate Armed Services Committee report which indicted high-level Bush administration officials, including Rumsfeld, as bearing major responsibility for the torture at Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, and Bagram, the Committee said:


“SERE instructors explained “Biderman’s Principles” – which were based on coercive methods used by the Chinese Communist dictatorship to elicit false confessions from U.S. POWs during the Korean War – and left with GTMO personnel a chart of those coercive techniques.”


The Biderman Principles were based on the work of Air Force Psychiatrist Albert Biderman, who wrote the landmark “Communist Attempts to Elecit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War,” on which SERE resistance was based. Biderman wrote:


“The experiences of American Air Force prisoners of war in Korea who were pressured for false confessions, enabled us to compile an outline of methods of eliciting compliance, not much different, it turned out, from those reported by persons held by Communists of other nations. I have prepared a chart showing a condensed version of this outline.”


The chart is a how-to for communist torturers interested only in false confessions for propaganda purposes, not intelligence. It was the manual for, in Biderman’s words, “brainwashing.” In the reference for Principle Number 7, “Degradation,” the chart explains:


“Makes Costs of Resistance Appear More Damaging to Self-Esteem than Capitulation; Reduces Prisoner to “Animal Level…Personal Hygiene Prevented; Filthy, Infested Surroundings; Demeaning Punishments; Insults and Taunts; Denial of Privacy”


Appallingly, this could explain that even photos such as those of feces-smeared prisoners at Abu Ghraib might not, as we would hope, be only the individual work of particularly demented guards, but part of systematic degradation authorized at the highest levels.


Exhibit: Abu Ghraib, Female POW



This could go far toward explaining why the Bush administration seemed so tone-deaf to intelligence professionals, including legendary CIA Director William Colby, who essentially told them they were doing it all wrong. A startling level of consensus existed within the intelligence community that the way to produce good intelligence was to gain the trust of prisoners and to prove everything they had been told by their recruiters, about the cruelty and degeneracy of America, to be wrong.


But why would the administration care about what worked to produce intelligence, if the goal was never intelligence in the first place? What the Ponzi scheme of either innocent men or low-level operatives incriminating each other DID accomplish, was produce a framework of rapid successes and trophies in the new War on Terror.


And now, American contractors Vance and Ertel show, unless there are prosecutions, the law has effectively changed and they can do it to Americans. Jane Mayer in the New Yorker describes a new regime for prisoners which has become coldly methodical, quoting a report issued by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, titled “Secret Detentions and Illegal Transfers of Detainees.” In the report on the CIA paramilitary Special Activities Division detainees were “taken to their cells by strong people who wore black outfits, masks that covered their whole faces, and dark visors over their eyes.”


Mayer writes that a former member of a C.I.A. transport team has described the “takeout” of prisoners as:


“a carefully choreographed twenty-minute routine, during which a suspect was hog-tied, stripped naked, photographed, hooded, sedated with anal suppositories, placed in diapers, and transported by plane to a secret location.”


A person involved in the Council of Europe inquiry, referring to cavity searches and the frequent use of suppositories, likened the treatment to “sodomy.” He said, “It was used to absolutely strip the detainee of any dignity. It breaks down someone’s sense of impenetrability.”


Of course we have seen these images before, in the trial balloon treatment of Jose Padilla, the first American citizen arrested and declared “enemy combatant” in the first undeclared war without end. The designation placed Padilla outside of his Bill of Rights as an American citizen even though he was arrested on American soil. Padilla was kept in isolation and tortured for nearly 4 years before being released to a civilian trial, at which point according to his lawyer he was useless in his own defense, and exhibited fear and mistrust of everyone, complete docility, and a range of nervous facial tics.


Jose Padilla in Military Custody



He was convicted by a Miami jury and sentenced to 17 more years. As of this writing, and meriting it’s own outrage, on Sept. 19, an appeals court threw out Padilla’s sentence as “too lenient” and has sent it back for review.


Rumsfeld’s avuncular “golly-gee, gee-whiz” performances in public are legendary. Randall M. Schmidt, the Air Force Lieutenant General appointed by the Army to investigate abuses at Guantanamo, and who recommended holding Rumsfeld protege and close associate General Geoffrey Miller “accountable” as the commander of Guantanamo, watched Rumfeld’s performance before a House Committee with some interest. “He was going, ‘My God! Did I authorize putting a bra and underwear on this guy’s head and telling him all his buddies knew he was a homosexual?’”


But General Taguba said of Rumsfeld: “Rummy did what we called ‘case law’ policy — verbal and not in writing. What he’s really saying is that if this decision comes back to haunt me I’ll deny it.”


Taguba went on: “Rumsfeld is very perceptive and has a mind like a steel trap. There’s no way he’s suffering from C.R.S.—Can’t Remember Shit.”


Miller was the general deployed by Rumfeld to “Gitmo-ize” Abu Ghraib in 2003 after Rumfeld had determined they were being too “soft” on prisoners. He said famously in one memo “you have to treat them like dogs.” General Karpinski questioned the fall of Charles Graner and Lyndie England as the main focus of low-level “bad apple” abuse in the Abu Ghraib investigations. “Did Lyndie England deploy with a dog leash?” she asks.


Exhibit: Dog deployed at Abu Ghraib, mentally-ill prisoner



Abu Ghraib prisoner in “restraint” chair, screaming “Allah!!”


Rumfeld’s worry now is the doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction, as well as ordinary common law. The veil of immunity stripped in civil cases would seem to free the hand of any prosecutor who determines there is sufficient evidence that a crime has been committed based on available evidence. A grand jury’s bar for opening a prosecution is minimal. It has been said “a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich.” Rumsfeld, and the evidence against him, would certainly seem to pass this test.


The name Dilawar translates to English roughly as “Braveheart.” Let us pray he had one to endure the manner of his death. But the more spiritual may believe that somehow it had a purpose, to shock the world and begin the toppling of unimaginable evil among us. Dilawar represented the poorest of the poor and most powerless, wanting only to pick up his three sisters, as his mother had told him to, for the holiday. The question now is whether Americans will finally draw a line, as the case against Rumsfeld falls into place and becomes legally bulletproof. Andy Worthington noted that the case for prosecutors became rock solid when Susan Crawford, senior Pentagon official overseeing the Military Commissions at Guantánamo — told Bob Woodward that the Bush administration had “met the legal definition of torture.”


As Rumsfeld continues his book tour and people like Dilawar are remembered, it is not beyond the pale that an ambitious prosecutor, whether local, state, or federal, might sense the advantage. It is perhaps unlikely, but not inconceivable, that upon landing at Logan International Airport on Wed., Sept. 21st, or similarly anywhere he travels thereafter, Rumsfeld could be greeted with the words such as:


“Welcome to Boston, Mr. Secretary. You are under arrest.”


Massachusetts District Attorneys Who Can Indict Rumsfeld, Please Email them this post and call them.SAMPLE INDICTMENT TEXT, BASED ON GERMAN CRIMINAL COMPLAINT


Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley:

email: ago@state.ma.us

One Ashburton Place

Boston, MA 02108 -1518

Phone: (617) 727-2200

Here is the contact info for members of the Boston City Council, which could pass a resolution directing the Police Commissioner to arrest Rumsfeld on sight (google Brattleboro Resolution, George W. Bush):

http://www.cityofboston.gov/…


And Gov. Duval Patrick has an obligation to order the state police to do the same: CONTACT FORM

Local District Attorneys

Berkshire County: District Attorney David F. Capeless

Elected November 2006

OFFICE ADDRESS: P.O. Box 973

888 Purchase Street

New Bedford, MA 02741

PHONE: (508) 997-0711

FAX: (508) 997-0396

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.bristolda.com


Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter

Appointed March 2004

Elected November 2004

OFFICE ADDRESS: 7 North Street

P.O. Box 1969

Pittsfield, MA 01202-1969

PHONE: (413) 443-5951

FAX: (413) 499-6349

Internet Address: http://www.mass.gov/…


Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe

Elected November 2002

OFFICE ADDRESS: P.O.Box 455

3231 Main Street

Barnstable, MA 02630

PHONE: (508) 362-8113

FAX: (508) 362-8221

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.mass.gov/…


Essex County: District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett

Elected November 2002

OFFICE ADDRESS: Ten Federal Street

Salem, MA 01970

PHONE: (978) 745-6610

FAX: (978) 741-4971

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.mass.gov/…


Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni

Elected 2010

OFFICE ADDRESS: Hall of Justice

50 State Street

Springfield, MA 01103

PHONE: (413) 747-1000

FAX: (413) 781-4745


Middlesex County: District Attorney Gerard T. Leone, Jr.

Elected November 2006

OFFICE ADDRESS: 15 Commonwealth Avenue

Woburn, MA 01801

PHONE: (781) 897-8300

FAX: ((781) 897-8301

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.middlesexda.com


Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey


Elected 2010

OFFICE ADDRESS: 45 Shawmut Ave.

Canton, MA 02021

PHONE: (781) 830-4800

FAX: (781) 830-4801

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.mass.gov/…


Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan

Elected 2010

HAMPSHIRE OFFICE ADDRESS: One Gleason Plaza

Northampton, MA 01060

PHONE: (413) 586-9225

FAX: (413) 584-3635


FRANKLIN OFFICE ADDRESS: 13 Conway Street

Greenfield, MA 01301

PHONE: (413) 774-3186

FAX: (413) 773-3278

WEBSITE:

Northwestern http://www.mass.gov/…


Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz

Appointed November 2001

Elected November 2002

OFFICE ADDRESS: 32 Belmont Street

Brockton, MA 02303

PHONE: (508) 584-8120

FAX: (508) 586-3578

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.mass.gov/…


Suffolk County: District Attorney Daniel F. Conley

Appointed January 2002

Elected November 2002

OFFICE ADDRESS: One Bulfinch Place

Boston, MA 02114

PHONE: (617) 619-4000

FAX: (617) 619-4009

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.mass.gov/…


Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr.

Elected November 2006

OFFICE ADDRESS: Courthouse – Room 220

2 Main Street

Worcester, MA 01608

PHONE: (508) 755-8601

FAX: (508) 831-9899

INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.worcesterda.com/


Global Research Articles by Ralph Lopez

Political Perspectives 09/21/11

From Rick Ackerman 9/21/11

http://www.rickackerman.com/2011/09/for-a-corrupt-and-decadent-congress/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RicksPicks+%28Rick%27s+Picks%29

When we talk about how our Government is corrupt and decadent to the core, it is items like the following in particular that raise our ire. I received this as an e-mail with the suggestion that I recirculate it to 20 others. I’ll recommend that you do so by copy-and-pasting it to friends. Here’s the message:


“No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women who serve in the U.S. military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, only get 50% of their pay while politicians who hold their political positions in the safe confines of the Capitol, protected by these same men and women, receive full-pay benefits after serving just one term.

“It just does not make any sense.

“From Fox News on Monday, we also learned that the staffers of Congressional family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if other news networks broadcast it. When you add this to the facts noted below, you wonder where it will all stop. Thirty-five states have filed lawsuits against the Federal Government for imposing various, unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 states to convene a Constitutional Convention. This will take less than a minute to read. If you agree, please pass it on. This is an idea that we should address. For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws.

“The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform… in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn’t seem logical. We do not have an elite that are above the law. I truly don’t care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever; their self-serving ways must stop. If each person who receives this message forwards it to 20 others, most Americans will see it within three days. This is one proposal that should be circulated: a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution, written as follows: “Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.”

Monday, September 19, 2011

Market News and Update 09/19/11


Submitted by: Francis Soyer

Here is a news piece that you will not find on any front page of MSN, Yahoo Finance, CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, WSJ or the Financial Times. How could this be? Here is the answer and pay particular attention to the criticism section.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_conglomerate

This story below occurred this weekend, however according to the above, non existent or buried somewhere in the pages as a side story.

Gold and Silver Update 09/19/11


Submitted by: Francis Soyer

This is a sign of where things are headed. For gold and silver they are headed north and the reason can be tied to the economic confidence model. The economic confidence model is not what you may think from the name. It does not measure a consumers confidence in being able to spend money at the mall. It is a measure of the masses confidence in governmental systems, specifically the global fiat monetary system. When fiat money and confidence in it fails it drives out of the market real money or assets that have a tangible value like gold and silver. When governments start asking "where is our gold" to their respective Treasury Secretaries it marks an early beginning of a stampede out of fiat and into precious metals.

This is the second notable demand for the physical metal. The first a few weeks ago when Hugo Chavez President of Venezuela demanded his 99 tons of Gold from European banks. Now we have the Dutch Socialist party inquiring about where their own gold is held, probably because they want it in hand for when the fiat system collapses.

From: Vrijheidsnieuws
Dutch Socialist Party has asked the Secretary of the Treasury for the whereabouts of the Dutch Central Bank’s gold
On Friday 16 September, the Dutch Socialists Party (SP)’s spokesman for financial affairs, Mr. Ewout Irrgang, has asked the Dutch Secretary of the Treasury 10 detailed questions about the gold supposedly held by the Dutch Central Bank. Questions vary from: where is the gold? why are gold and gold receivables one line item? how much gold is loaned out? All questions (in Dutch) can be found here and copied below.
This is potentially a big breakthrough for global awareness on how central banks hide crucial info from the public and the disastrous effects central banks have on society. The society benefits from competitive currencies, chosen voluntarily by the people.
The Questions:
1 Did the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) loan part of their gold? If yes, how much and to whom?

2 Why are gold and gold loans stated as one line item in the annual report 2010 instead of mentioned as 2 separate items?

3 Can you give an overview of the yearly yields of the gold loans during the past years?



4 Where IS the physical gold of DNB? At which locations and how much is where? What is the reason that the gold is still at these locations?

5 What was the most important reason for DNB to sell the gold in the past? Are the storage costs a reason? What are the actual costs to store the gold?

6 Can you confirm that since 1991 of the 1700 tons of gold about 1100 tons have been sold? Is the remark of journalist Peter de Waard correct that because of these historic sales there is a loss of about 30 billion euro? If not correct, what is the right amount?

7 How much of the National Debt has during the past 20 years been paid off with the proceeds of the gold sales? Are you of opinion that the sustainability of the national debt will be improved by paying off the debt and at the same time selling the gold?

8 What is in your opinion the present function of the gold stock?

9 What is the relation between the size of the market of the gold stock and the size of the market of gold derivatives? What are the possible consequences of this?

10 Can you confirm that recently a number of countries have even enlarged their physical gold stock?
Do you have an explanation for this development?

As for what the Secretary of The Treasure has answered to these questions we are waiting to hear. The fact that the answers were not posted in the article is disturbing. Original article is below. Go to the bottom of the page for an English translation.

http://www.vrijspreker.nl/wp/2011/09/sp-stelt-kamervragen-over-de-nederlandse-goudvoorraad/

Friday, September 16, 2011

Silver Update 091611 Silver Manipulators Identified

This is long overdue and will probably take JPM to zero. Article and link below.

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/9/16_Identities_of_JP_Morgan_Silver_Manipulators_Exposed.html

Identities of people involved in the alleged JP Morgan conspiracy to manipulate the price of silver have been exposed, along with the mechanisms of the manipulation of silver. I was contacted two days ago by key people familiar with this situation. This was described by an individual out of London who is very familiar with the lawsuit as, “The biggest news in a long time because these are actual people who are coming out and naming names of individuals who were involved in this alleged conspiracy with JP Morgan to actively manipulate the price of silver. People may go to jail over this. JP Morgan has all barrels pointing at them as traders are named in this suit, including senior traders at JP Morgan.”



Robert Gottlieb, who is currently a Managing Director/Trader at JP Morgan and an alleged participant in the manipulation is brought up in the lawsuit. What is interesting about Mr. Gottlieb is that in February of 2008 he made the following statement, “If you take just 1-2% of hard asset pension fund money earmarked for commodities and put that into gold, you can project much higher prices in the future than even where we are today.” The timing of the statement is so interesting because at the time Bear Stearns was massively short silver and the firm collapsed within weeks of his comments.


Guess who inherited that massive silver short position? You got it, JP Morgan. Not only did they pick up the massive silver short position, but they also picked up Mr. Gottlieb in the deal as you can see.


Stay tuned as we will have more interviews and comments from key people regarding the JP Morgan lawsuit.


Below are some critical portions from the lawsuit against JP Morgan that King World News was able to obtain. This is a 104 page document, so we just wanted to highlight key points from the suit:


1. Unlawful conduct. “Defendants combined, conspired and agreed to restrain trade in, fix, and manipulate prices of silver futures and options contracts traded in this District on the Commodity Exchange Inc. (“COMEX”) division of the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”). Defendants thereby have violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.


Also during the Class Period, certain of the Defendants, including JP Morgan, have intentionally acted to manipulate prices of COMEX silver futures and options contracts.


2. Purpose and Means. Defendants have effected their foregoing restraint of trade and manipulations in order to profit themselves. Defendants have caused declines in the price of COMEX silver, and COMEX options, and also stabilized such prices through diverse means. These means include (a) a dominant and manipulative short positions and market power manipulation; (b) repeated manipulative and uneconomic trades and trade manipulation; (c) false trades made to facilitate a trade manipulation; and (d) other acts.


3. Market Power Manipulation. (a) JP Morgan, gradually acquired control, between March 17, 2008 and August 2008, of an enormously large ounce short position in COMEX silver futures and silver that previously was held by Bear Stearns. This short position and JP Morgan’s existing COMEX short silver positions gave JP Morgan substantial market power in COMEX silver futures contracts.


4.Manipulative and Uneconomic Trades (a) During the Class Period, JP Morgan also made large manipulative trades that repeatedly caused sudden, unreasonable and artificial fluctuations in COMEX silver prices which profited JP Morgan. (b) One of these episodes occurred on August 14 and 15, 2008. JP Morgan’s trades caused a very large decline of almost $1.41 per ounce, or approximately 12%, in COMEX silver futures. This represented an approximately $220,000,000 increase in the value of JP Morgan’s COMEX silver short positions.


7. CFTC Commissioner Comment (a) Such depressions of the prices of COMEX silver futures through large uneconomic trades created benefitted JP Morgan’s extraordinarily large COMEX short position. (c) Also, these types of trades were reported to the CFTC by other persons. Plaintiffs further specifically allege that Commissioner Bart Chilton made public statements, including on October 26, 2010, to the effect that he believed there had been manipulation or related unlawful conduct in the COMEX silver futures market. “I believe that there have been repeated attempts to influence prices in the silver markets. There have been fraudulent efforts to persuade and deviously control that price. Based on what I have been told by member of the public, and reviewed in publicly available documents, I believe violations to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) have taken place in silver markets and that any such violation of the law in this regard should be prosecuted.” Bart Chilton


58. JP Morgan executed its trades on this day through, at least, a futures floor broker named Marcus Elias. Marcus Elias was a former classmate and wrestling teammate of Chris Jordan, a senior silver trader at JP Morgan. After the close of floor trading on June 26, 2007, Marcus Elias acknowledged that he had executed purchase trades for JP Morgan at or near the lows of the market. Marcus Elias also executed sell orders on behalf of JP Morgan in the morning, which contributed to the price declines, and then purchased futures on behalf of JP Morgan subsequently as the market bottomed.


65. Through its trading conduct on this day, JP Morgan intended to force traders who were short out of the money puts to cover their positions. As options on July futures approached expiration, JP Morgan had no fundamental reason to believe there would be a price move downward. Yet JP Morgan maintained its put positions until the last available day to trade these options - an economically unjustifiable action because at expiration the options would expire out of the money and worthless. However, by virtue of this large put options position, JP Morgan knew that a large and less capitalized segment of the market was conversely short options. So, rather than simply liquidate its out of the money positions at a loss, JP Morgan sold futures into the market and placed “spoof” orders to generate widespread panic. This selling forced panicked traders to systematically sell silver futures. As discussed below, this conduct was repeated again in August 2008.


The suit also names Robert Gottlieb who came to JP Morgan from Bear Stearns along with a massive silver short position which JP Morgan inherited from Bear Stearns:


c. JP Morgan’s Communications with HSBC


88. Between 1996 and 2000, Robert Gottlieb, Christopher Jordan and Michael Connolly worked together at the Precious Metals Trading Desk of HSBC and at Republic National Bank of New York, prior to its acquisition by HSBC.

89. In 2006, Jordan began his employment at JP Morgan where, until 2010, he was one of JP Morgan’s principal COMEX silver futures and options traders.

90. After a brief stint at Bank of America as a commodities trader, Mike Connolly returned to HSBC in 2007, where he served as Senior Vice President of HSBC’s Precious Metals Desk.

91. In March 2008, Robert Gottlieb began his employment at JP Morgan Chase where he presently serves as a Managing Director/Trader.

92. Prior to JP Morgan’s acquisition of Bear Stearns in 2008, Mr. Gottlieb had worked for Bear Stearns from January 2006 forward.

93. Bear Stearns, through Robert Gottlieb and others, had developed the previously alleged large Bear Stearns short position in COMEX silver futures prior to March 17, 2008.

94. Contrary to standard antitrust compliance manuals, Mr. Gottlieb regularly spoke to, and communicated and met with HSBC silver trader Mike Connolly from the time that Mr. Gottlieb joined JP Morgan until at least October 2010. JP Morgan’s Motive and Financial Incentive to Cause Lower COMEX Silver Futures Prices From The Second Quarter Of 2008 Forward.


95. By the second quarter of 2008 and continuing thereafter through the end of the Class Period, JP Morgan possessed a large financial incentive to cause lower COMEX silver futures prices. Lower COMEX silver prices caused the market to market value of JP Morgan’s short COMEX silver positions to increase. The amount of the increase in the value of JP Morgan’s short COMEX silver short positions was at least $100,000,000 and was as much in excess of $150,000,000 for each $1 decline in COMEX silver prices.


116. According to other witnesses as well, on or before August 15, 2008, brokers who often executed trades for JP Morgan accumulated a significant number of September puts that were well out of the money.

117. As prices decreased, these September puts became much closer to being in the money. Accordingly, those who had been selling these puts had to close out their positions by buying back the September puts on August 15, 2008. 118. Chris Jordan at JP Morgan was selling back large amounts of September puts on August 15 at an enormous profit.


124. In his communications with the CFTC, the whistleblower described how JP Morgan signaled its co-conspirators in advance of the manipulation, so that JP Morgan along with its co-conspirators, could reap enormous profits by artificially and unlawfully suppressing and manipulating the price of COMEX silver futures and options contracts

World Situtation Update 09/15/11


Submitted by: Francis Soyer

There are a few things in the works that investment advisors and or just plain investors should be aware of for the month of September. Below a breakdown of the events to follow for the rest of this month.

9/21/11 Fed Reserve Board scheduled to meet and render decision on interest rates and a possible nother round of quantitative easing. If they do go ahead with another program expect a short term bounce in stocks, and precious metals and the dollar to get murdered.

9/22/11 UN resolution on Palestine and Israel and whethor or not the UN will mandate the border to be drawn between Israel and Palestine once and for all to prohibit Israel from its continous encroachment into Palestinian land. Expect this resolution to fail. However also expect retaliation from Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Iran as they have made it clear and in no un certain terms that they are sick of seeing palestinian civilians be murdered almost on a daily basis and that if the UN does not act THEY WILL. The armies of the above listed as I write this are amassing on the borders of Egypt, Syria and Turkey. The Iranians have deployed their Navy off the coast of Israel and their floatilla hardware is that of offensive capability.

9/27/11 Oboma will be visiting Denver Colorado to promote his jobs plan or at least that is what his press core is reporting. The EU times however is reporting something far different and much more disturbing:

Obama Ordered To Denver Bunker By US Military
Posted by EU Times on Sep 14th, 2011

A disturbing report prepared by General Alexey Maslov, the Senior Military Representative of the Permanent Mission of Russia to NATO, states that he has been notified by the Americans of their plan to hold a DEFCON 1 “Cocked Pistol” maximum readiness alert drill on 27 September which will be overseen by President Obama at one the United States most secure bunkers located beneath the Denver International Airport.
Under the SALT I Strategic Nuclear Arms Control Agreement signed between Russia and the US, both parties are required to notify the other in all cases of such maximum readiness drills occurring, but are not required to state their reasons for doing so.
The full article here: http://www.eutimes.net/2011/09/obama-ordered-to-denver-bunker-by-us-military/

CNN Reports Michael Shoyer former CIA Counter Intellegence Officer confirms President Obama has secretly authorized covert operations in Lybia and that the agenda for those operations is to throw out Khadafi and seize the countries oil.

The video here:


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Gold and Silver Update II 091511


Submitted by: Francis Soyer

Here is something a bit fringe on what precious metals are and what is coming in the near term. Read the article below. Nuf said.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/09/donald_trump_is_now_accepting.html


Donald Trump Is Now Accepting Gold Bullion From Tenants


Forty Wall Street, a Trump-owned building, has a new tenant, precious-metals dealer Apmex. Instead of handing over $176,000 worth of fiat currency for a security deposit, Apmex is giving Trump three 32-ounce bars of gold. The company is promoting its product, obviously; the Donald is promoting his own product, too. (Himself. Also obviously.) Trump (who — obviously! — declined to reveal how much gold he himself owns) told The Wall Street Journal that "The economy is bad, and Obama's not protecting the dollar at all ... If I do this, other people are going to start doing it, and maybe we'll see some changes." Obviously.

Trump's New Gold Standard [WSJ]

Gold, Silver and Oil Update 091511


Submitted by Francis Soyer:

Here are the YTD compares as of 09/15/11. The sheet here looks at performance for the S&P, Dow, physical Gold, physical Silver and Oil. In terms of the great disparity that exists between these asset classes it is not so much that Gold and Silver have outperformed. It is more that they have held their value better than stocks in relation to dollar depreciation.

See Below: