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Precious Metals Market Report 3.8.12 [PDF]
Audio Chapters
1. Introduction & Theme – 0:00 – Theme: The Battle at Kruger (video). Water Buffalo vs the Lions on Safari.
Subscribers, have lunch with Catherine:
- in Tucson, Arizona – Saturday, March 17 @ Noon
- in Austin, Texas – Saturday, March 24 @ 12:30pmPT
- in San Jose, California – Saturday, April 14 @ 2pmPT
You may bring one guest. RSVP to communicate@wordpressdevurl.com with the following information:
- Luncheon you wish to attend
- Date of the luncheon
- Names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of those attending
2. Money & Markets – 02:12 – Signals of slow burn everywhere you turn. Continued signs of deflation in income….China down, Brazil down, technology projected earnings down. Lots more signs of inflation of expenses. Spain refusing to comply with deficit reductions. Various local currencies spouting up in various places. Oil hit 106 today, with gas at the pump hitting consumers hard. The worst kick was the fed governor on savers – they should not complain about getting no yield, they benefit in other ways. Tornadoes – 39 dead; covert QE3. Ugliness of Attorney General settlement with the banks on foreclosures grows. CNN Reports foreclosures way up. Fannie asking for $4 billion more, while refusing to participate in Attorney General deal because they don’t believe in write downs…JUST THEIR OWN. Kaptur beats Kucinich in Ohio. Presidential primaries drag on – biggest suspense is what are the campaign’s going to do to get people interested, as people continue to be overwhelmed by inflation, debasement and real problems. …
3. Ask Catherine – 8:56 — U.S. merge economically with Canada? Teacher Retirement System from hedge fund investor to hedge fund owner? Government changing rules on IRAs? …
4. Solari Hero – 13:50 – Solari Report Subscriber who provides interesting and useful suggestions for movies …
5. Interview & Movie – 14:56 – When to buy gold and silver; core holdings; Franklin testifying in Nashville about Tennessee tax on precious metal sales. Comment on Jim Sinclair’s theory that Fed 29 gold smash was to cover Fed’s (QE3) biggest one-day injection into the global system in history. Cost of gold and silver in the market; is it manipulated / Movie: “Under Our Skin” about lyme disease, see also The Tick Slayer by Perry Louis Fields. …
7. Up Next & Closing – 1:11:23 – Mar 10, Catherine in Ojai at a Thrive Showing; Mar 15, Organizing the Legal Structure for Your Start Up: The Comfort Calls Story; Mar 22, an overview of Local Financing Vehicles with Tom Greco; Apr 5, Joe Mysak of Bloombergs Briefs on Municipal Markets. …
By Catherine Austin Fitts
I’m in Southern California and Franklin is at Top of the World Farm in Tennessee. One of the reasons I love doing the Precious Metals Market Report when I am on the road is enjoying quality time with Franklin. Given the markets these days, we are mighty pressed to find time, particularly when the markets are open.
I am headed to Arizona and Texas over the next three weeks. We are having a subscribers luncheon in Tucson on the 17th and one in Austin on the 24th. We are still looking for the right fresh food restaurant in Austin with a private room or space. Got recommendations for a great place in Austin for lunch on the 24th? Do post them!
I will start with Money & Markets. Then Franklin will update us on the gold and silver markets. Franklin has been up testifying in Nashville about the state sales tax on precious metals sales. He will update us on his efforts and on the steps we can take to circulate gold and silver coins. This opportunity is growing as debasement continues to drain communities. My (estimate in 2008 calculated that a county of 100,000 people had lost $3.3 billion of purchasing power in the prior five years – imagine how that has grown after another five years!.)
It’s tax time, with corporate taxes due next week and personal taxes due on April 15th. We will also cover some of the key issues that relate to precious metals. Two of Solari Special Reports are relevant: Foreign Financial Filing Requirements – 2011 and Selected Tax Issues to Consider When Investors Move or Exchange Precious Metals Holdings
Franklin and I will also answer your questions on precious metals so make sure to post your questions in the comments section for this blog post or in the webinar software when we are live.
I will also report on my recent speech at Health Freedom Expo last weekend in Long Beach. To help do so, for Let’s Go to the Movies, I will review Under Our Skin, an award winning documentary about lyme disease. The film is freely available at Hulu.com
hulu (2009)
Talk to you Thursday!
If you have comments, thoughts or questions that you would like me to address, please post by Thursday.
Are precious metals held by IRAs and Trusts as “safe” since transactions must go through a custodian and a bank clearing account with the metals ultimately stored at a repository?
My concern is that the precious metal market seems to have some fundamental problems; there might not be near as much physical gold and silver as we are led to believe. Yesterday, Zero Hedge reported that Switzerland Wants Its Gold Back From The New York Fed. — http://www.zerohedge.com/news/switzerland-wants-its-gold-back-new-york-fed
Zero Hedge also reported that the “Germans are increasingly concerned that their gold, at over 3,400 tons a majority of which is likely stored in the vault 80 feet below street level of 33 Liberty (recently purchased by the Fed with freshly printed money at far higher than prevailing commercial real estate rates for the Downtown NY area), may be in jeopardy,and will likely soon formally inquire just how much of said gold is really held by the Fed.” — http://www.zerohedge.com/news/germany-review-bundesbank-gold-reserves-frankfurt-paris-london-and-new-york-fed
And, author and filmmaker Bill Still, director of The Money Masters & The Secret of Oz, said that there was no gold at Fort Knox during a recent interview with Max Keiser even though it has been reported that there should be as much as 8,200 tons on hand. — http://goldbasics.blogspot.com/2011/09/bill-still-there-is-no-gold-at-fort.html
If most of the world’s gold has been stolen, won’t there be a day of reckoning coming our way? My fear is that in our lawless society, people will be junior to the big banks senior claims on assets in banks, and possibly repositories when the SHTF. After all, there does not appear to be any investigation taking place to find the missing +billion at MF Global. See “Do they think we are stupid? ‘Mr. Vaporized’ of MF Global scandal unmasked? Part 1 — http://www.opalesque.com/641018/Do_they_think_we_are101.html
Larry Larkin
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas just went from hedge fund investor to hedge fund owner. Last month, the Texas pension took a $250 million stake in Bridgewater Associates, the giant money manager. Now, rather than plowing money into specific portfolios, it can claim a piece of the whole operation. It is an unusual move for a pension. Does this speed up centralization or slow it down? I get their intent to keep making money but is vertical integration appropriate for a trust fund?
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/texas-teacher-pension-buys-stake-in-bridgewater/?partner=rss&emc=rss
For the pension, the fate of the investment will depend largely on Bridgewater’s performance. As a longtime investor, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas has been participating for years in the gains of the hedge funds. In the last 20 years, Bridgewater has made an average of 14.7 percent a year.
Now, the pension will also stand to benefit from fees that Bridgewater collects. The firm, which has roughly $120 billion in assets, makes about 2 to 3 percent a year in management fees on the money invested in its hedge funds.