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Two Things Government Wants Desperately to Control – Gold and People

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Yes governments can steal your gold and kill the people, that doesn’t mean they can control either. Look at what is happening in India…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government spent 16 months trying to persuade Indians to deposit their jewelry in the bank to earn interest, in an effort to curb soaring imports of the precious metal. But the program has only lured a tiny fraction of the $900 billion of gold that families and temples are estimated to have stashed away. On the other hand, Modi’s controversial decision to withdraw all high-value banknotes did the job instead. Source

Taking away their cash has not worked. People are still acquiring gold. Maybe not as much, especially of the “official” persuasion, but they are still adding to their stack every single day.

Gold doesn’t pay interest, remember? It is a barbarous relic held by central banks as a “tradition,” so I am little confused as to why the Indian government wants the 20,000+ tons of gold held by the people. Oh yeah, gold is money and represents freedom and independence – two things all governments hate. The Indians like their gold and want to keep it to protect themselves from thieving government officials.

“The government tried, but the people are not coming forward,” Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist at India Ratings & Research Pvt., the local unit of Fitch Ratings, said by phone from New Delhi. The government is under less pressure to fix it because “the position right now on the current-account side is relatively comfortable.” Source

The Modi government thieves are demanding the people take their gold to an official assay company with a promise to return the gold or cash equivalent at the end of a specified “loan” period. Needless to say the Indians want nothing to do with this latest scheme to steal their gold.

Under Modi’s plan, holders hand over that jewelry, or at least part of it, to a bank in return for interest payments on the value of the precious metal and a promise to return the equivalent amount of gold or cash at the end of the loan term.

The customer first has to take the jewelry to an independent assay office nominated by the bank to verify its purity. The bank then sends the gold to a refiner before finding a buyer for the resulting bullion. At the moment, there are only about 440 assayers and 10 refiners across the country approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards. [Emphasis added] Source

This is truly a scheme operating in plain sight and the sad part is, the government thieves believe the people are going to fall for this nonsense. The Indians have not trusted paper currency for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. What makes Modi and his ilk think that today that is going to suddenly change? What an idiot.

As if the scheme, that was unleashed on the people in 2016, when Modi announced the government would be eliminating 86% of all cash in the country was some type of confidence builder for the people. Did they really think the people would see this vicious act as a sign the government was now going to represent the people instead of the bankster criminals? Seriously?

This latest scheme is going to fail just like all the other recent schemes have failed. The Indians will continue acquiring gold any way possible. The Indians will not trust the government to treat them with the respect they deserve nor will they believe anything the government says, especially about gold and currency. Why should they? With a track record like the one Modi is running on, it is a wonder the people listen at all. Oh, that’s right, they’re not. (For more from the author of “Two Things Government Wants Desperately to Control – Gold and People” please click HERE)

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Gold Bars Found Inside Stomach of Indian Businessman

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Photo Credit: John Louis / Creative Commons

Photo Credit: John Louis / Creative Commons

Twelve gold bars were found inside the stomach of a businessman who tried to smuggle the precious metal into India from Singapore.

The Indian Express reports that the 63-year-old man visited a hospital in New Delhi earlier this month, saying he had swallowed the cap of a water bottle and wanted it removed. Doctors soon operated after he repeatedly vomited and complained of pain, and later found 12 gold bars, weighing nearly a pound and worth $23,000.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gold Price Stumbles to 6-Month Low After Fed Stimulus Trim

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Photo Credit: Zeenews.com

Photo Credit: Zeenews.com

London: Gold slid more than 1 percent on Thursday to its lowest since late June after the U.S. Federal Reserve took its first step away from the ultra-loose monetary policy that had helped drive bullion prices to record highs in recent years.

The Fed said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy was finally strong enough for it to start scaling back its massive bond-buying scheme, winding down the era of easy money that saw gold rally to USD 1,920.30 an ounce in 2011.

Spot gold was down 1.2 percent at USD 1,203.85 an ounce at 1000 GMT, having earlier touched a low of USD 1,200.25. U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down USD 32.00 an ounce at USD 1,203.00.

That move came despite the Fed blunting its taper with a continued dovish message on interest rates – that tapering was not tightening.

“This is another sign of increasing normalisation for the world economy,” Macquarie analyst Matthew Turner said. “Gold’s insurance function is less desirable in that environment.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Gold Rush Threatens to Bring New Era of Genocide to War Torn Darfur

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAHImpoverished tribes in war torn Darfur, the scene of decades of misery and genocide, now have one of the oldest reasons for fighting known to man: gold.

More than 800 people have been killed and 150,000 displaced since January as poor, but heavily armed tribes fight over the Jebel Amer gold mining region. That is more than double the number of people killed in political and ethnic fighting in 2012, and world leaders fear the mad dash for precious metal could be plunging the region into a new era of violence. Humanitarian groups say the Sudanese government, led by accused war criminal President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, is pitting tribes against each other in a bid to get the most possible out of some 4,000 mines.

“Ten years after the genocide began, state-sponsored violence has once more taken hold of the region,” said Akshaya Kumar, a policy analyst for the Enough Project, a Washington-based humanitarian organization. “Cash-strapped and dollar-starved, Sudan sees gold as its new oil. The recent gold discoveries are fueling atrocities again in Darfur.”

When South Sudan split from Sudan two years ago, it took with it much of the nation’s oil wealth. With shrinking oil revenues, al-Bashir is seeking to increase the $2.2 billion worth of gold produced by the mines annually. And his strategy to keep control of the vast region’s gold, amid hundreds of thousands of amateurs in a virtual free-for-all, relies on fighters battle-hardened from decades of ethnic and religious war.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gold Surge Bodes Ill for Economy

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The recent increase in gold prices suggest investors are increasingly worried the Federal Reserve may soon back off its current policy of quantitative easing in which it has bought billions of dollars of U.S. treasury debt and mortgage backed securities over the past few years.

In an article published Monday, Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge.com noted investors last week covered an enormous number of options contracts going short on gold futures prices, 23,518 futures contracts in total, suggesting a short-squeeze on gold is starting to solidify.

Short positions on gold futures contracts involve bets an investor makes that the price of gold will drop in the future. If the price of gold does not drop as anticipated, the investor owning a short contract must take a loss by purchasing gold at current prices to close out the contract on the expiration date.

When gold prices increase, investors owning gold futures short contracts risk losing money on the bad bet that the price of gold would have declined between the date the contract was purchased and the expiration date of the contract.

Durden noted the covering of gold shorts occurred last week at the fastest pace seen in the past 13 years.

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill Making Gold, Silver Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: Reuters Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a measure on Thursday that would have made gold and silver legal tender in the state, saying the legislation could have resulted in lost tax revenue.

The Republican-controlled state legislature voted through the measure last month in a response to what backers said was a lack of confidence in the international monetary system.

The bill called for Arizona to make gold and silver coins and bullion legal tender beginning in mid-2014, joining existing U.S. currency issued by the federal government.

“While I believe the concern over a devalued dollar as a result of an unsustainable federal deficit is justified, I am unable to support this legislation,” Brewer, a Republican, said in an open letter to state Senate President Andy Biggs.

Brewer noted that the “administrative and fiscal burdens” for taxpayers and the revenue department “remain vague.” She also cited uncertainty over whether the legislation would have required the state to exempt transactions involving collectable coins and bills that were authorized by Congress and could be used as legal tender.

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona Lawmakers Pass Bill Making Silver, Gold Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: Reuters The Arizona Senate on Tuesday approved a measure to make gold and silver legal currency in the state, in a response to what backers said was a lack of confidence in the international monetary system.

The legislation cleared the Republican-controlled Senate by an 18-10 vote after being approved by the state House earlier this month. It now goes to Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who has not indicated if she will sign it into law or veto it.

The bill calls for Arizona to make gold and silver coins and bullion legal tender beginning in mid-2014, joining existing U.S. currency issued by the federal government.

If signed into law, Arizona would become the second state in the nation to establish these precious metals as legal tender. Utah approved such legislation in 2011.

More than a dozen states have considered similar legislation in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona Could Soon Approve Gold, Silver As Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: digitalmoneyworld

Arizona could soon become the second U.S. state to recognize gold and silver as legal tender if the Arizona House approves SB 1439.

The bill has already won the approval of Arizona’s State Senate and the Arizona House Financial Institutions Committee which voted the legislation out of committee on a 4-2 vote Monday. The measure now goes to a vote of the Arizona House.

Thus far, only the State of Utah has officially recognized gold and silver as legal tender, (See: Gold, silver coins now officially legal tender in Utah) although the issue has been under consideration this year in four states including Arizona. The Arizona bill defines legal tender as a mode of paying debts and taxes.

The measure also states that any coin or bullion that has gold or silver content and is issued by the United States Government can be defined as legal tender. However, no one can be compelled to accept coin or bullion containing gold or silver. The measure would also mandate that coin or bullion containing gold or silver issued by the U.S. Government cannot be taxed as property since it is to be considered money.

Read more from this story HERE.

Confirmed: Turkey Trading Gold for Iranian Oil

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Over the last six months, Iran has evaded U.S. sanctions by importing Turkish gold to pay for billions of dollars worth of energy sales to Turkey.

Turkey’s deputy prime minister has described what amounts to a gold-for-oil barter system.

“Why did, all of the sudden, Turkey’s gold exports, especially gold bullion, go up?” Ali Babacan asked while speaking before a parliamentary budget commission this month. The official transcript of his statements was published by a Turkish government website Wednesday.

“An important part of that is Iran,” he said. “When Turkey buys Iranian oil, we pay for it in Turkish lira. … However, it is not possible for Iran to take that money as dollars into its own country due to international restrictions, the U.S.A.’s sanctions. Therefore, when Iran cannot take this money back as currency, they withdraw Turkish lira and buy gold from our market. They take the gold back to their own country.”

According to Turkish government statistics, Iran has imported billions of dollars worth of gold from Turkey since it was ejected from the SWIFT international electronic banking system in March.

Read more from this story HERE.

Top Investor Warns of “Financial Armageddon” as Billionaires Dump Stocks, Buy Gold

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In what analysts say is another indication that the economy will get worse in the not-too-distant future, recent filings by billionaire financier George Soros show he dumped virtually all his holdings in major financial companies like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup. His multi-billion-dollar U.S. fund also loaded up on gold, with the portfolio now holding more than $130 million worth of the precious metal.

Data compiled by analysts based on Soros’ most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that during the last quarter, his American fund sold more than a million shares of the big financial companies with a value of almost $50 million. During that period, Soros Fund Management also more than doubled its position in the SPDR Gold Trust to nearly 900,000 shares.

“When a major global player with direct ties to the White House, Wall Street, and the banking system starts off-loading stocks and starts stacking gold, it suggests a very serious market move is set to happen,” observed commentator Mac Slavo, a generally pessimistic analyst who follows financial news closely and has long predicted unprecedented economic chaos.

Despite his far-left political agenda, Soros has a solid track record of making wise financial moves. Americans should pay attention. “Soros is getting out of those companies which are most at risk should the financial system buckle like it did in 2008 and he’s shifting his assets into what may be the only asset class left standing when it’s all said and done,” Slavo concluded.

Major banks have already started drawing up plans for a potential financial calamity, news reports in recent weeks revealed. But Soros was hardly the only heavyweight investor whose recent actions foreshadow potential economic trouble to come.

Another billionaire investment legend, John Paulson, who successfully predicted the sub-prime meltdown and made a fortune in the process, also added a significant amount of gold to his already-gold heavy hedge fund portfolio — an increase of more than 25 percent in the last quarter worth some $700 million, regulatory filings show. Paulson’s largest holdings are in the SPDR Gold Trust, and Bloomberg reported that almost half of his U.S.-traded equities are now tied to bullion.

Read more from this story HERE.