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- in reply to: Gold Enters Major Bull Market #5543
Gold $1561.30 Down $43.30
Silver $28.48 Down $ 0.96The NY bullion banks are putting extreme paper pressure on gold. For what reason we ask? The conclusion here is that a financial crisis is brewing or more expected currency devaluations are coming with some upward pressure on the dollar but putting potention strain on our export market. Who really knows?
Respected gold analysts are all saying this is a shakedown by the bullion banks would are forcing gold out of weak hands into theirs so they can benefit by the next big advance in the metal.
Below are a few words from Toby Connor from Gold Scents:
Investors just need to get through the bottoming process of this yearly cycle low. Considering that gold is now on the 15th week of its intermediate cycle, which usually lasts about 18-25 weeks We should be getting close.
Actually we are probably closer than it appears by that previous statement. The last intermediate cycle ran a bit long at 25 weeks. Long cycles are usually followed by a short cycle. So I would expect this cycle to run a bit short at 16-18 weeks.
All in all, I expect a final bottom sometime in the next 5-10 days. And once that bottom has formed gold should be ready to break out of the consolidation zone it has been in over the last year and a half and get busy delivering the second leg of that T-1 pattern.
in reply to: From the Sixteen to One Archives #5542I was recently criticized for not doing enough reaching out to the public at large about the evilness of social wrongs that occur during my life as a hard rock gold miner in California. You (reader of this forum) are the public. Some of you keep up with the Forum entries. Some have even been around since its beginning. I forget content, so must you? If you are new to the Sixteen to One, please take a Forum topic and read it from the beginning forward. Much of the entries disclose stuff worth spreading to a broader audience, like the letter below that I just found in a discarded file. Minerals are vital and will be vital in even a primitive society let alone the social network of the 21st century. Wars are fought for natural resources even though oil is the one most talked about. Take a quick look around. All that you see has its basis in minerals. Even the wood or food would disappear if it were not for the mineral extraction industry. The raw materials of manufacturing are mined from somewhere. Prosperity will return to the countries and societies that recognize the value of sane natural production within their borders. The private and public institutions and small businesses will lead the financial recovery. Our governments must assist not impede prosperity.
The letter below is just as relevant today as it was almost eight years ago. Not much has changed, in fact I could site MSHA behaviors that are more damaging today than in 2005. This letter could be placed in the INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES topic. What good is bitching without offering solutions? I do not have the resources to reach the public much beyond this web site. Please help.
David Dye, Assistant Secretary June 29, 2005
MSHA
U.S. Department of Labor
1301 Airport Road
Beaver, West Virginia 25813-9426Dear Mr. Dye,
Congratulations on your new appointment to head the federal workers safety program for America’s most precious resource, its miners. I am president of America’s oldest gold mining company and perhaps the only working hard rock, traditional, underground gold mine in continental United Stated. It is not something to brag about; it is something to mourn and investigate why there are so few. I also operate as an independent contractor for several projects and have been in the gold mining business since 1974. Your agency is partly responsible for the decline in the domestic natural resource industry. I am not sure that you are aware of the decline in the partnership between MSHA and operators to keep the miners safe. I write today to give you a recent example of how your agency is hurting the small operator.
On June 22, and 23, 2005, MSHA conducted a regular quarterly inspection. Accompanying the inspector was a young trainee. She had no experience working in an underground mine. She said that she had never been underground before. During the inspection she began lagging behind. It required a second employee of mine to stop and accompany her. She was unprepared for the inspection both physically and with her provisions. She put herself in danger, our crew in danger, compromised the agency’s credibility and endangered the operator and owner of the mine.
I request the following:
1. By what authority grants MSHA the right to bring trainees onto our property?
2. Is this practice occurring elsewhere?
3. Who at the Western field office approved her visit?
4. Please notify the Western office to cease bringing trainees on inspections or at least unqualified and unprepared ones. Please let me know their response.I support the reasonable enforcement of the Act of 1977 as Congress intends it. The practical benefits for those of us in the trenches were lost almost a decade ago. Reasonableness no longer is a concept practiced in the field and offices. MSHA no longer is meeting the best interest of the American public. Maybe you will be able to enforce better training for those attending the National Mine Health and Safety Academy as a first step to improve operations of the mining industry in the United States. I hope so.
Where will there be mining jobs in the future? Not likely in this country if the misdirected regulatory agencies continue their trends. Why are federal tax dollars passing through MSHA to China to help them development mine safety teams? The International Mine Contests are held every two years and about fifty teams compete. Last year in Las Vegas, China participated for the first time and placed third. China will likely win the next contest, which is fine with me; however, public money is going to them while MSHA has introduced a policy of increasing revenue with citations and penalties against the operators in the United States. Poland gets as much money or maybe even more than China granted through MSHA. Why?
MSHA employees take frequent trips to China and elsewhere. I was told that someone goes to China at least every other month from MSHA headquarters. How is this expense justified as helping America’s most precious resource, its miners? China has invested heavily in Australian natural resources. None of this bodes well for America’s economic freedom. China has something like a trillion dollars foreign trade asset.
Last year there were forty deaths related to mining. Last year in China the government admitted to 10,000 mine related deaths. Last year 658 people died every day in automobile related accidents on our roadways. My point is the mining industry in America is a responsible industry. It should be treated that way by MSHA, which has not occurred in various operations in the west. Right now there is an insidious and specious effort to further impede the American operator by insisting that the category of “lead miner” reflects a management position within an operation. This is not true. Most within the mining industry both public and private know this is not true. Yet our small company has been forced to challenge this reckless assertion by MSHA agents and lawyers working for the Secretary to establish this position. The case is in the hands of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Your agency is driving this outrageous myth. How about getting involved and putting an end to this costly abuse of process?
Does America derive benefits from the money it spends to send agents onto private property under the authority of the ACT of 1977? The answer is “no”. Should America continue to fund an out-of-touch agency like MSHA? The answer is “yes” but changes are necessary. Good luck. I am at your service to improve the situation.
Sincerely yours,
Michael M. Miller, president Original
Sixteen to One Mine / owner Morning Glory Gold Minesin reply to: Gold Enters Major Bull Market #5540My Dear Friends,
What does Russia know that is motivating their purchase of gold? What does China know that is motivating their intend to be the world largest owner of gold? What is behind the downside manipulation to separate you from your gold by scaring the hell out of you and you out of your positions?
This occurred in the 70s. It is nothing new. What is new is you.
The answer is very simple. Gold is not valued at $42 as the US Treasury would have you believe. The majority of the BRICs are going to mark to market valuation of their gold. That will put a necklace of gold on their currencies.
It is the major gold banks now operating in hopes of producing a waterfall of gold into which they will accumulate. Believe me because I know.
You are being royally had. You have a defense even if you are fully committed on a cash basis – simply do nothing.
If you are a coward, admit it and do whatever you have to do to get it over with. That certainly will memorialize the bottom before gold trades over $3500.
I can help people with logic. I have no hope of herding cats.
Sincerely,
Jim (Sinclair)in reply to: Gold Enters Major Bull Market #5539Gold $1667.20 Down $3.80
Silver $31.43 Down $0.03The following building debt in the country is the real reason why our handlers are trying to suppress precious metal prices. From jsmineset.com:
Federal Reserve – the Buyer of ONLY Resort
February 8, 2013, at 7:03 pm
by Dan NorciniDear CIGAs,
I came across the following story in my readings today and quite frankly, was thunderstruck after going through it and looking at the data. I did not think this was possible and am still at a loss to explain it so perhaps some of you math whizzes out there can make it simpler for me. Either way, it is simply mind-boggling!
Here is the title – see if it makes you sit up and take notice as it did me!
Fed Has Bought More U.S. Gov’t Debt This Year Than Treasury Has Issued
Here is the link:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/fed-has-bought-more-us-gov-t-debt-year-treasury-has-issued
Here are the appropriate links referenced in the article.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
Federal Debt outstanding as of the end of the calendar year 2012: 16,432,730,050,569.12
Federal Debt outstanding as of February 6, 2013: 16,479,954,658,103.57
Amount of Increase in Debt: 47,224,607,534.40
If I did my math correctly, the size of the Federal Debt increased $47.224 Billion since the beginning of the year.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/
Now look at the Fed Balance sheet holdings of US Treasuries over that same period.
Fed Treasury Holdings as of Wednesday, January 2, 2013: 1,666,118
Fed Treasury Holdings as of Wednesday, February 6, 2013: 1,717,182
Amount of Increase in Fed Treasury Holdings since the beginning of the year: $51.064 Billion
That is $3.879 BILLION MORE than the US Treasury has issued this year!
Again, I have no idea how this is supposed to be possible but the numbers are what they are. Scotty beam me up. We are freakin’ doomed!
More…
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5538MSHA works for The devil.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Mines, there were 9,000 operating gold mines in the U.S. in 1940.
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5537The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) said 36 miners (19 in coal and 17 in metal/nonmetal mining) died in work-related accidents at the nation’s mines in 2012, the second lowest annual fatality total on record. Last year, three of the miners killed at metal/nonmetal mines had less than one year of experience at the mine, while five miners had less than one year of less experience at the job or task they were performing.
In metals/nonmetals mining six miners died in powered haulage accidents, while three miners died in machinery accidents. Three miners died in fall of person accidents, and two died as a result of falling material. One miner died from a fall of highwall, another died from a fall of rib, and one from other types of accidents. Four (24%) of the 17 fatalities were contractors, while four (24%) were supervisors.
Analyzing the factors that affect this splendid report will be left for others. Congratulations to America’s mine operators, its miners, the technological improvements in equipment and tools and of course the safety regulators. MSHA, the federal primary safety agency, is a positive factor in lowering fatalities; however its reach into the gold mining activities in most of California has created a negative atmosphere that is destructive to the very intent of Congress (according to the law that established the agency in 1977). Congress is unlikely to take up the subject due to its troubles with so many issues that affect the country. We miners are not a large group of activists and all the small operations do not have the cash to spread in Congress for its attention.
Every civilization rests on a set of promises. If the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how rich it may be or how mechanically clever. Hope and faith depend on promises; if hope and faith go, everything goes. Congress promises to protect those mines and miners that affect commerce. Congress was responding to the industry as it existed prior to the new law of 1977. Congress intended the regulations to be broadly written and fairly enforced. MSHA no longer enforces the law as intended. It has shut down too many gold miners from taking a chance in mining. This reduced level of activity hurts America as well as those in the industry. MSHA has broken the promises of its maker, the United States Senate, House of Representatives and President. It has the power already within its agency to interpret its founding law as it was meant to be interpreted. This is the 21st Century and time to help the small miner.
in reply to: Gold Enters Major Bull Market #5536I like to keep my gold for an economic insurance policy against disasters to our economy.
in reply to: Gold Enters Major Bull Market #5535A few words from Jim Sinclair:
Gold will rise to $3500 and above. Make sure you are there when it happens. Simply stop quoting it because that is the temptation to trade it. If you starve the paper exchanges of paper contract trading the game ends there. If the patsies do not show up on the paper exchange to be skinned, the skinning will stop. Join gamblers anonymous if you have to. Ladies and gentleman, prepare to defend yourself by doing nothing.
You frustrate any take down if you cannot be taken down. Stop giving the paper exchange your business and the paper exchange will stop. Here is an absolute way to beat the devil by “Gold and Silver Non Violent Resistance.” Then we practice “Non Cooperation” as you exit the financial system as fast as you can, adopting direct registration or certification where it still remains. Keep your bank cash not in the bank, but rather in fully paid gold coins and sell a few when you need funds. Bite the tax bullet and get out of those retirement plans which really are plans to confiscate or direct your retirement funds into instrument of confiscation and treasury bonds.
in reply to: Clips from Alleghany #5534Heard a surprising sound driving past the Alleghany Park yesterday. It was unexpected due to the time of year, the snow on the ground, the freezing mornings and the warmth of the sun in the afternoon. The frogs were chirping.
Alleghany has an interesting water table. Volcanic lava flows cover the famous Blue Lead, a buried river channel sitting on ancient bedrock. The gold settled down in existing quartz about 130 million years ago.in places where pre mineral faulting movements and post mineral faulting occurred. Alleghany also received rich placer gold and lode gold about the same elevations as the town’s present terrain. How does this relate to frog noise?
The park sits on Smith Flat, an old hydraulic, rich gold deposit so water, which influences frog habitat is confused. Alleghanians aren’t sure whether their frogs are the four legged type, the three legged yellow buggers so famous with environmentalists or have some other legged configuration or peculiarities. Alleghanians do know that frogs are abundant in the spring and by their chirping seem very healthy. Maybe Alleghany has something here comparable to that rodent that sticks its head out of the ground to check the sun.
Scoop predicts that some sunny days are ahead for Alleghany even though it is the heart of winter.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5533Gold Production Cliff
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5532I am preparing a brief to file the end of February with the Secretary of Labor regarding the MSHA hearing held last November. From time to time while working with the transcript, lines jump out and I put them in a document for consideration. I’ll just share some with you. This was the third day. MSHA inspectors and solicitor rested their argument. The primary issues for the Sixteen to One are money and credibility. To let false charges go unchallenged creates a huge liability for our future. A bonus exists for other miners, natural resource operators and Americans who believe that domestic productivity, good paying blue collar jobs, increasing GDP and lessening our dependence of foreign interests. Unqualified MSHA regulators without the background, experience and training AND without accountability/responsibility have moved into western United States or at least the goldfields of California to the detriment of all but themselves. They may be small in number but so far the federal agency has failed to harness their malfeasance.
Witness: Michael Miller: Citation P-25 should be vacated. This citation never should have been written, let alone considered significant and substantial. This is so common to our type of mining. We’ve all done it so many times (dumping waste in old stopes). I do believe that that railing that was put up to terminate this citation created a danger. It could hang up bigger rocks that you’re dumping, which would require a miner to go out there with a double jack and break them up so they could fall through the hole. I’m saying this from experience.
This hole is a waste dump- First of all, things MSHA didn’t mention: the car was — the car was chained down, you know, so the car is not going to flip. The guys have done — this is routine work for them. It’s just like when I see a NASCAR race. The guys are running around to change the tires or go and put the gas in the car. They better be trained. And so our miners are task trained. They’re not rookies. They’re not coming from a surface mine. Every miner working in here at this particular time was not only an experienced miner, qualify as a lead miner. That takes experience to another level
The material was coming out of the heading and being dumped into an abandoned stope. It was abandoned because we’d already metal detected it, everything in it, and there weren’t any pillars left. So that’s one of the reasons we backfilled it. A lot of mines automatically backfill. There are reasons to do that as well, but at the Sixteen to One, we normally don’t backfill because things could change in technology. We may have a different metal detector, so we’re very careful before we start backfilling and putting waste in one of these old stopes.
I thought you (Jonathan Farrell is asking mike as a lawyer would do) did a pretty good job of testifying to that. I don’t want to belabor the point. I think — I understand the intent of the standard (regulation cited by MSHA). I also know that the miners and the mine operator must establish methods of operating in a mine, If it’s deemed that they’re not doing it safely, they should be told, but if there’s evidence presented that this is a customary practice that’s been in use for a long period of time, I would hope they’d be allowed to operate that mine in the same fashion that they’d been doing for, say, a hundred years. If they screw up, they need to be told. (NOTE: the law passed by Congress establishing MHSA is clear that the mine operator and miners set the methods of operations.)I don’t think everybody recognizes the inherent dangers of a mine, but I think the Sixteen to One miners do. They’ve always taken care if they needed a barricade, if they needed to put more wood in or if they needed ground to support.
One thing you (witness Farrell) might not have cleared up is, and I was thinking about this is that — imagine railroad track and a train. The track…that’s the travelway. Imagine a spur that’s running off to one side. Maybe that’s where they load the wheat or the coal. I’m not going to use coal because I don’t know coal. I don’t even want to pretend to know coal. It’s a spur that’s not used on a regular basis. Maybe they just pulled an old car out there to get it out of the way. We have those throughout the mine, and they’re not maintained as travelways because they’re not. And they’re not regularly traveled.
And when — when someone says that a miner travels it twice a day, that doesn’t mean he travels it every day twice a day. When you’re operating a mine, you might drill, blast — you might be mucking where you have to travel that twice a day, but you might go five days when you never go there again and you’re setting timber or you’re moving timber, whatever you’re doing. It’s not — this is not like a conveyer belt production line. The Sixteen to One doesn’t operate that way. And it’s hard to bring that imagination into this when you’re used to seeing, you know, everything moving in big orderly fashions like that.
I’ve always tried to think of the Sixteen to One as a thinking miner’s mine. We expect our miners to think, and that’s one thing that we look for. And the ability to assess a situation. Quite frankly, it’s not the operator ordering down. It’s the miners ordering up. It’s like the privates in the trenches telling the generals in the office what to do. Not because they’re smart asses, but they’ve got more experience in what it’s like to be in the trenches of warfare. So this is a prime example, right here, of a standard accepted way to practice in a small vein high grade course gold mine like –Go from Mariposa to Plumas County, 200-mile gold belt in California. I don’t think anybody that’s using this dump pocket would want to — would imagine trying to do it another way.
I don’t think Mr. Berglof (MSHA inspector) fully understood our men and mining operation.- There’s one more point.- Look at the standard. It says if you don’t put a barricade up, you have another alternative. You know what that alternative was there? A light. We put S/O cord thousands of feet down the level
The miners said, “Why are you doing this?” I said, ” I want light.” I think light creates a safer environment. That section was lit. I think that barricade is hurting the miners. No one’s working there right now, but if I brought an inspector there and explained to him….I don’t think that Bill realized….I wasn’t there when he looked at the dump pocket. I would have said, “Look, we’ve solved this regulation here because there’s a choice. Either put a barricade or put some kind of a device of a warning. A light underground in a very dark mine is very expensive to do, by the way. You’re running thousands of feet of electrical wire. And that’s also where they ate lunch.
Q: So would it be reasonable to give consideration to the dip of the vein in the fact that it’s flat? If it was a steeper descent, it would be a different situation?
A. Oh,.yes, sometimes things are so obvious. –Sometimes some things are so obvious to me, like this hole — You could walk down it. Anybody could walk down there. You’re not going to slip and slide. It’s not — it’s not vertical. It’s flat. And actually, you know what else you have to do here? You have to put a slusher down to get that material out and drag it back farther down, — down the old stope. It just doesn’t flow all the way to the bottom. If we opened up this place again, I’d want to take that barrier down and say, “We’re addressing the standard by that light that’s up there right now. It’s an acceptable warning device.”.
THE COURT: A light is a warning device?
THE WITNESS: Working around — no, no, that’s not it. Oh, you know what? I pulled — did I pull it out of the book? Yeah, I pulled it out of the book so I had it with me. “Protection for openings around travelways. Openings above, below, or near travelways through which persons or materials may fall shall be protected by railings, barriers, or covers. Where it is impractical to install such protective devices, adequate warning signals shall be installed.”
– I feel that’s impractical. I feel that those barriers inhibit the dropping of the materials. I know sometimes when you’re taking out old debris, you have large rocks. I’ve seen guys break them up with hammers. We installed a protective device. Now, maybe big-time miners might not understand this because they have a different way of handling material. They’re bringing different trains in, and they have different types of situations, so I’m very comfortable in the belief of this, and there’s no sense in beating it up anymore. And I believe that’s my last response to the citations.
in reply to: From the Sixteen to One Archives #5531Sense in that Golden Nonsense
Published February 19, 1965A Charles de Gaulle press conference is known around the State Department as his “semiannual anti-American lecture.” Last fortnight he used one to launch an assault on the dollar. The dollar, say De Gaulle, should be replaced as the international currency by something “which has a real value, which must be earned to be possessed.” And what is that? Gold.
“Yes, gold which does not change in nature… which has no nationality… the immutable and fiduciary value par excellence.” Behind De Gaulle’s words you could almost hear the stuff jingling in a million French mattresses, its hideout through the centuries. He wants gold restored to its throne because the Common Market countries now own almost as much gold as the U.S. and could own a lot more if they wanted to turn in their dollars for it.
Most money experts dismissed De Gaulle’s “vast reform” as dreamy nonsense. U.S. Treasury officials called it “a retreat to 1931”. Yet as always with De Gaulle’s pronouncements, this one has a shrewd aim and much prophetic content. The subject of gold is not nonsense when the dollars is in trouble.
Under the prevailing “gold exchange standard” of international payments, the dollar has been generally accepted as a substitute for gold because the U.S. stands ready to buy or sell gold at $35 dollars an ounce. For seven years we have been mostly selling and out stock of gold, once $24.5 billion is now scarcely $15 billion. Monetary experts have shown mounting uneasiness about this system. They question its ability to support an expanding world trade or to surmount another crisis like the run on the pound last autumn.
The currencies that finance most of the world’s trade are the pound and the dollars. Unfortunately, Britain and the U.S. are themselves in chronic deficit in their own balance of payments, and the pound and the dollar are losing the confidence of the other industrial countries for this reason. De Gaulle even charges that the U.S., as the only manufacturer of dollars, can and does create capital “by what must be called inflations” and thus “indebts itself abroad at no cost.” He is in effect summoning all the hard-money men of Europe to declare their independence of the dollar.
Although most German, Dutch, Belgian and even French money experts do no share De Gaulle’s anti-Americanism, they do not like the behavior of the dollar either. “Seven successive years of deficit,” warns Raymond Aron, “end up by shaking confidence in any money, even the dollar.” Washington has known for months that it must take sterner measures to end these deficits.
President Johnson made a couple of choices regarding de Gaulle’s expressions. The one with the most public impact was to reduce the duty exemption on tourist purchases abroad. Whoopee! The one with the most business impact was to tax U.S. bank loan abroad. Whoopee again! He also urged banks and corporations to limit their “not essential” exports of capital. But while Johnson’s words were determined (“the dollar is, and will remain, as good as gold”), the measures proposed more hortatory than muscular. Conspicuous by its absence was any use of the most powerful corrective of all, the Federal Reserve’s influence on the total flow of dollars by way of bank reserve requirements and interest rates.
Johnson’s reluctance to use monetary policy stemmed from fear of dampening a domestic boom. The increase in money and credit that fed this boom fed Nixon’s choices in the 1970’s. The longer avoidance of “classical medicine” of tighter credit, the more complex and irritating become Johnson’s substitute half measures to end the dollar outflow – and the less persuasive to the European central bankers, whose good opinion one of the dollar’s major supports.
A financial editorial during the de Gaulle rant opined: “On the collaboration of these foreign bankers we must depend, not only to keep the present international monetary systems stable, but to work out the needed improvements in it which De Gaulle’s cries of “gold!” have overdramatized. De Gaulle himself has not the power to undermine the dollar or to sever its links with Europe. But the U.S. can, by paltering with its own balance of payments deficits, gravely weaken the dollar’s voice in its own future.”Now almost 48 years later can anyone opine what others will be reading 48 years from now about the dollar, gold and international monetary policy?
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5530Hi, Jim,
I thought you might like to share a poem I wrote with your readers. I’ve got more. I find that poetry helps explain things in a better perspective sometimes.
CIGA Matthew
CHAMELION’S GOLD:
When Jefferson spoke of money
Our gold was brightly seenA lighthouse across the pond
That escaped the English Queen200 years of bankers lanterns
Makes fogs of gray cloud mindsGuiding the lost with promises
Of a new and better kindThe promise of the bankers note
Was filled with lies and spinJekyll Island and the Federal Reserve
Was the beginning of the endJust bring the note in lightly with ease
Walk out with gold and silver to spendBut what happened to the promise when it vanished from the note?
The old devil told the new one, “Haha, I told you this works well!”Divide and conquer by deceit
For centuries the game is played this wayThey hire a crew in Congress and News
Talk in spades and false arguments
While lobbying those who should lobby for youThe founders knew well- for years we’ve been told
That to keep your money from scoundrels
Everything green must be goldJim Sinclair’s Commentary
When surrounded by the mean and awful of today’s financial world, a spontaneous act of kindness clears away the crap.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5529From http://www.jsmineset.com:
Dear Jim,
The president is going to announce that Mary Jo White will be the new chairman of the SEC. Here is a little background info on Ms. White:
She is currently chair of the litigation department at Debevoise & Plimpton.
Of which lists the following as clients: AIG, American Airlines, American Express, AXA, BNP Paribas, The Carlyle Group, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, The Coca-Cola Company, CNN, Delta Air Lines, Deutsche Bank, Gap, Goldman Sachs, Hasbro, International Paper, JPMorgan Chase, Kelso & Company, MetLife, National Football League, National Hockey League, NBC, The New York Times Company, Providence Equity Partners, Prudential Financial, Polyus Gold, Siemens, Shell Oil Company, SONY, Universal Music Group, Verizon, Yahoo!.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
CIGA Sarah
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5528From the last day of a public hearing held in Nevada City on 11-19-2012. I was surprised when the judge asked me the following question while I was testifying. Her question allowed the opportunity to clarify an important issue miners face in gold mines in California. The enforcers (inspectors) lack the background, experience and training to carryout Congresses’ intent as written in AN ACT of 1977.
THE COURT: I have a question. I asked you before we went on the record why you had testified and asked of Mr. Farrell questions that would put in evidence the fact that the two of you were indicted by a grand jury, and I’d just like you to summarize that for the record, please.
THE WITNESS: The impact of statements in a hearing like this or in a citation written at some mine have far-reaching impacts to the individuals that are involved. Jonathan and I and this company all experienced that impact when outside lawyers indicted us with a grand jury indictment in our county, a grand jury indictment in our county, for basically willful manslaughter in the death of one of our fellow miners. For Jonathan, it changed him so much that he really decided that he no longer wanted to be involved in management if this could happen.
It’s had an ongoing effect on, obviously, me, but also on our company because it’s hard to refute or get fair recognition when people make accusations. This story hit the front page of the L.A. Times and college friends call me up and ask what was going on? So it’s far reaching, these questions about negligence and the idea. That the enforcers get their pound of flesh..
Two things happened: One is, the inspector that MSHA brought in, special inspector for the accident, came from out of the area. He was not part of the team that’s in Vacaville that goes to the Sixteen to One. But he came in; and it was obvious to me that he did not do a fair, open investigation. He had a prejudice right from the start. And the prejudice was that we were wrong. We were guilty and that we all caused the death of Mark Fussell. There was so much evidence that any reasonable person would have not come to that conclusion. So we challenged the citation, forcing us go through — step by step through the process all the way up to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
In the meantime, a group of private lawyers (California District Attorneys Association) had taken MSHA’s information, violations, and with that testimony, led the Grand Jury. That’s how we were indicted. So we were arrested. We were fingerprinted, booked, arrested, and came back to get bail, and the judge said that we wouldn’t leave the county. So there was no bail; however, the — so that’s the background of it.
The reality of it is that these MSHA citations have some checkmarks. Sometimes they’re automatically checked by an inspector without the understanding to know really what they’re doing to the degree I believe they should know what they’re doing. The damage is great.
For example, negligence: A S & S (serious and substantial) checkmark is a very, very serious charge versus a, “Whoops. We made a mistake and—”THE COURT: So you — if I understand you, you put that on the record — you testified to it and asked Jonathan Farrell questions about it because you want it understood that there can be serious consequences that follow citations and how they’re characterized?
THE WITNESS: Your Honor, that’s a great summary. And there was one other reason too. I think it was the first day of this hearing. It might have been even before we got to Nevada City. For many people, this would seem like a trivial waste of everyone’s time and money, and it never was for me. Today, people really don’t realize the consequences of a lot of their actions. The other thing about our experiences with MSHA that I’ve learned is that we’re (presumed) guilty and — I’m saying from my past experience that we’re presumed guilty of something automatically.
It’s not the burden of — we have to prove our innocence here against something that’s harder to do when there’s a force that can just get away with making average — Negligence, for example, is the biggest one, in my mind. Negligence. And then the potential of injury. There’s all these things that go into a citation.
The point of it is, is that you can have a standard in this mining industry that could be violated, but it doesn’t meet the other two aspects of being a citation, which is danger to a miner, which is one of the components of the whole process of these regulations. And also, there was another reason. I know how much — obviously, I didn’t know how much it still affects me, but it does, but I knew how much it affected Jonathan. And that’s all.THE COURT: Okay. Thank you.
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5527The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer people become.
– Lao-Tzuin reply to: Miscellaneous #5526Switzerland issues every adult a gun and trains them how to use it. Switzerland has the lowest gun related crime rate of any civilized country in the world.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5525Personal message to corporate America, UP YOURS!
Should we have to work until 70? These CEOS say yes
Bertha Coombs , CNBCExecutives of the Business Roundtable are urging Congress to raise the Social Security and Medicare age eligibility to 70, from the current 67, and to adopt means testing for wealthier retirees, in order to keep the entitlement programs solvent longer-term.
“When you look long-term at the U.S. fiscal health, you have to look at these questions,” said Business Roundtable President John Engler during meeting with reporters in Washington Tuesday.
The idea is not likely to be popular. The Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction committee saw opposition when it suggested lifting the retirement age to 69. The Roundtable executives argue that raising the level gradually for those less than 55 years of age now will provide substantial long-term savings to the entitlement programs, while still giving Americans time to adjust to the new requirements.
“It’s the power of compound savings here,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T, and vice chair of the group’s health and retirement committee. “If you start to save now, it really adds up.”
The Roundtable executives contend older workers will still be able to access subsidized health care through Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare, which begins in 2014. What’s more, they say, the economy will need older workers to remain in the labor force.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5524Support your local Sheriff
From jsmineset.com
Kentucky Sheriff to Feds: ‘You Are Never Going to Pull Guns Out of Jackson County’
by AWR Hawkins 13 Jan 2013, 4:46 AM PDTAs I wrote on Jan. 11, Jackson County Kentucky Sheriff Denny Peyman has made it clear that gun laws which violate the United States Constitution or the Kentucky Constitution will not be enforced in his county.
On Jan. 12, he followed this up with a press conference in which he explained that a Sheriff’s powers are predominant over the powers of federal and state agents. When he says these things he drives gun-grabbers batty because he says them with the conviction that rests on knowledge, and he has no intention of backing down.
During the press conference, he took time to explain his powers as sheriff:
I am responsible for the people inside this county. I am the highest elected official in this county, and this is the only opportunity the people have to speak for themselves and say ‘this is what we want.’
I can ask federal people to leave, they have to leave. I can ask state people to leave, they have to leave. …[And] it doesn’t matter what [new laws] Obama passes, the sheriff has more power than the federal people.
He said that if federal gun-grabbers don’t understand this, then “they need to go back and study it,” because Kentucky “is a commonwealth.”
Peyman says he has been approached by liberals within the gun-grabbing world since he made his original promise of no gun control in his county, and he told them plainly: “You are never going to pull guns out of Jackson County.”
in reply to: Clips from Alleghany #5523Howdy up there!!! How cold is it outside? (Of quartz, we know how warm it is inside….)
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5522Mike, I like your opening statement, Goverment regulators are no longer concerned about saftey, it’s about creating revenue through fines, Doug Bonelli’s experiance at Ridge Rock proves that. He had a visit from MSHA, everything was ok. then the inspector spotted a loose piece of tin roofing on the generator shed, it was fixed immeadiatly, with the inspector waching, he was still fined 2000.00 by MSHA. Big Al
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5521By the Judge’s order prior to opening the hearing the respondent was not to bring up the issue of jurisdiction. Respondent behaved. The prepared opening is recorded below on 11/18/2012.
OPENING STATEMENT by Michael Miller
SOL vs. Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. 11-16-2012- Volume IIIThe first thing I’d like to do is acknowledge the administrative law justice’s committee in allowing us to meet here in Nevada City. It’s approximately an hour from our mine site. The way I first intended to present the respondent’s position was to bring maybe 30 different miners to testify who we are. I realized that it was not necessary. I’ll only have two witnesses today. Our plan is to present a view, an image, a realistic image of facts, not speculation, about a very special mine, a very special operation and a very special company. We should be judged as the law and the regulations of MSHA are intended with specific interest, specific recognition of the individual nature of mining, miners, and the mining industry.
We like to look at the act which spawned all of MSHA with a broad brush and Congresses’ intent for regulating the mining industry It takes a broad brush to understand the mining industry. Every mine is different. Every deposit is different, and it’s obvious that this is something that needs to be presented to those in the public sector or the government sector or the private sector who choose to judge our industry. With that in mind, respondent will present evidence about every one of these citations, that will contradict the presentation by the petitioner. It will be primarily based upon our experience, background, and training, which are demands placed on inspectors when they come out to inspect a property. This is something that all of us in the mining industry also respect. I’ve decided not to read any of my other statements. I have other things that I think are relevant, but —
THE COURT: Anything you wish to put on the record about us touring your mine yesterday?
MR. MILLER: There is something that happened yesterday that makes this whole — it may seem petty that we’re gathered here for some hundred dollar citations, but it’s not petty at all. I don’t think anybody, at least on our end, thinks it’s petty. It’s very, very important or we wouldn’t be here. And something happened yesterday — no, actually, it happened a little bit on Wednesday about the idea of overcoming a problem in the industry that all judges, all inspectors, all lawyers, all mine operators seem to be facing right now, at least in the western area of the United States: that’s the understanding of our business.
And it turned out that an offer was given and accepted for all sides of this particular hearing to go take an hour and dr- — well, we took hours and drove to Alleghany. We went through the mine and had, from my perspective – I can only speak from my perspective — it was some of the greatest time to prove a point or to have the chance to get to some resolutions that may affect mining in America.
I would encourage the people that make these decisions to make this a practice, when possible, for people coming outside the area who are professional in their field but not necessarily experienced in mining, which is a special industry with special languages and special everything It is a very dangerous industry that — those in it understand it. It really is hard to understand if you’ve never been in a mine. If, in fact, some mine operator in the future requests that the –the hearing officers go to their mine site and it’s possible, I would so strongly support that.
And the most interesting thing that I found yesterday was the support from the MSHA people, as well. I mean, we could have all done high fives when we left yesterday or when we talked even Wednesday about the possibility that a judge from Washington and a lawyer from Denver take the time to go up to a little tiny town of about 60 people to spend their time (qualifying that with their supervisors). We were all very, very excited. In fact, when I met this gentleman here sitting next to Mr. Sanders MSHA inspector) this morning the first thing he asked was, “How did it go?”
And I said, “You know, I think it really went well.”
It seemed to me that we could probably have saved a lot of time yesterday if we — if we had a Sixteen to One vision of what mining is really like. So, I encourage mine visits and — I mean, I not only encourage it, I’ll do whatever’s necessary to make it an option, when a judge or even one of the either two advocates feels it’s important, to at least have a site visit considered. I really do have a lot to say, but I think it’s better to probably — that I think would — I would like the ears of our federal government to understand. Perhaps this is not the arena to do it in, and it has nothing to do with the admonitions that were given us on the first day of this hearing. It has to do with totally different relevant things, but —
THE COURT: Well, I have to tell you, this is your opportunity. Let me say something before you go on, if you do, which is that the deputy solicitor for the Secretary of Labor, Douglas Sanders, and I went to the mine with you and Mr. Farrell, and it was a tremendous experience. I thank you for having us and hosting us. And you were true to your word. Except for one little slip, which is, “This is the shovel,” which was the subject of one of the citations, we did not talk about any of the citations or any prospective issues that may come before the commission.
We talked about the mine. We did not talk about the business at hand in this proceeding, and so I was very pleased about that, and I was very honored that you hosted that tour of your mine. I’m — you’re a very proud operator, and it was my privilege, at least, to have been there. I think Mr. Sanders feels the same way.
MR. SANDERS: I do. And I was also going to say, for the record — I thanked both of you yesterday, but on the record, I’d like to do so, as well. It was very informative, and I’ll be relaying as much of my experience as I can to my colleagues because I think it was very helpful. Thank you very much.
THE COURT: And I know Mr. Farrell used to work for you at the mine, but I think, at the very least, you should hire him back as a tour guide.
MR. MILLER: May I ask him to say his comment for the record, too, so that others may understand his perception? I think — the one thing I noticed, I noticed a change in my behavior as soon as I got to the mine property. I knew that there was no danger to Your Honor or — and I wanted to convey that as quickly as possible. We had a little screw-up with all the lights, but a mine is a dangerous place. it’s where we go to work, and we know it’s dangerous. Over the years, we’ve created a very, very, very safe environment. So Jonathan, what were your thoughts?
MR. FARRELL: I just want to say that I appreciated the opportunity to bring both of you down
there, and I think that all of us involved have a greater appreciation for what we’re talking about. I think the MSHA inspectors also appreciate the fact that you now have a visual of what they deal with in their job, as well. Thanks for coming down there with us. It was an enjoyable day.THE COURT: Thank you.
MR. SANDERS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: I’d like to add maybe two thoughts and speak from notes that I’ve written and edited and rewritten and edited and researched and all of that. Language is all we really have to maintain our social behaviors as Americans. The public has become so used to its distortions that too many people have turned off their abilities to understand. Our local government-elected people in Sierra County who talk about critical thinking and communications. It is a typical — it is typical and leads to constructive outcomes.
My deceased friend and unusual California-bred lawyer and I spent hours arguing as law-type people argue. He knew the law, its intent, and its practices. I knew the facts and the situations of the cases we fought for. George Gilmore is his name. He reminded me that the game of law is a war of words. Both of us knew ethics of the business and the discussion and the justice we, as Americans, have earned through the deeds and sacrifices of our ancestors. Both of us deeply loved, respected, and grieved over the demise of certain aspects of the legal systems. We pledged to each other and our country to carry forth in the spirit of justice and the integrity of the judicial branch of our government. If this hearing is about the safety of miners in the Alleghany region and specifically, workers at the Sixteen to One, the primary issue is whether the Secretary’s inspectors wrote good paper.
Notes from the actual document itself of – of the law and items related to it had two very short interesting quotes. These are not my words. “The committee (Federal Congress) recognizes that effective risk management must be goal oriented and that use of the most practical and efficient means to achieve the goal should always be the guiding regulatory principle. Flexibility and practicality are valuable, provided they are directed to formulating the best available means to achieve the goal and that safety goals and basic safety standards are not compromised in their achievement. The committee also recognizes the expertise of working miners who are very familiar with the conditions of a mine. The act requires that operators allow input from miners in the development of their safety plan and that such input will be considered seriously and thoroughly. Such involvement will help to ensure that safety plans are based on a broad scope of safety information and allow for the development of the most effective and efficient safety plans.” Thank you.
THE COURT: Thank you.in reply to: Ideal Time for Facts #5520Good points below. Seems that a lot of people must have not ever heard of Bre-X, or, most likely, were greedy. Greed is the cause of many bad decisions.
in reply to: Ideal Time for Facts #5519I just read Mike’s recent post pointing out the meager $50K fine for the fraud-master of stealing millions from dummies who invested their $$$s in scheme rather than reality….the oldest gold-trick in the book. WAKE UP!
Three HUGE questions emerge:
1) Why do people fall for this crap, lose their money, watch slap-hand judication and watch the fraudsters laugh their way back to their bank-accounts while true high-grade gold-mining assets with true potential and historic record production languish with no bites?
2) Why are not the fraudsters adjudicating previous (and this one cited in the previous topic post) frauds not themselves exposed for raping private enterprise attempts with true objectives? (HINT: courts themselves don’t look in the mirror…otherwise they’d have a major problem with appointments, who would have a major problem with…..etc, etc, etc….)
3) Where are the investors with deep knowledge, those of us with backbones worthy to challenge and see through the public-sector fraud, willing to watch this amazing potential explode?
in reply to: Ideal Time for Facts #5518SOME RECENT REPORTS WITH GOLD AS THE CENTRAL TOPIC
SEC files fraud charges against California-based gold miner (January 3, 2013): The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed fraud charges against a California-based mining company and its CEO who induced hundreds of investors to pour $16 million into a fruitless gold mining venture. The SEC alleges that Nekekim Corporation and Kenneth Carlton defrauded investors with representations that a special “complex ore” found at Nekekim’s mine site in Nevada contained gold deposits worth at least $1.7 billion. Carlton highlighted test results produced by two small labs that used unconventional methods to test the ore for gold, but he withheld from investors other tests conducted by different firms that suggested the Nekekim mine site held little if any gold.
Carlton falsely represented to investors that a “physicist” who in reality had no scientific training helped develop a confidential gold extraction technique licensed by Nekekim. In one newsletter, he touted: “A NEW GOLD RECOVERY PROCESS IS SUCCESSFUL.” As each of these methods actually failed, Carlton’s reports grossly overstated Nekekim’s progress toward profitability while prompting shareholders to invest more money in the company.
Carlton, who lives in Clovis, Calif., agreed to a judgment requiring him to pay a $50,000 penalty and prohibiting him from selling securities for Nekekim or managing the company.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Doima, a small town in central Colombia to oppose a proposed AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) (JSE:ANG), gold processing plant for its 100% owned La Colosa project. Protesters were concerned that gold ore processing, which uses large amounts of water and requires chemicals, often including cyanide, would diminish and pollute local water supplies.
Australians are heavily opposed to foreign ownership of the country’s resource interests. Foreign ownership of Australia’s mining concerns is higher than they would prefer, and almost half of those surveyed were opposed to the recruitment of foreign labor by miners. The China-backed mining boom has had a disparate impact on Australia’s states.
ALLEGHANY OBSERVATIONS: $50,000 is a small price to pay for screwing investors out of $16
million. Were these investors stupid or greedy? It happens in Colombia,Indonesia,Africa,Australia and Asia where billions of start-up dollars go into the natural resources only to be confiscated by the governments or challenged by third parties. Does it happen in the USA? You bet it does: California’s water regulators, federal BLM in Nevada, frivolous environmental lawsuits. What does this mean to the economics of gold or other natural resources? Restricted supply in a rising demand business cycle.in reply to: Miscellaneous #5516Merry Christmas to all of you enjoying a White Christmas stay well and healthy, and may God be with you for the up comming year and lots of success to all.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5515We are blessed with opportunity at every moment! Miracles happen, too. When we least expect, with faith in this, our meager human existance melts away and the most amazing things happen.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5514Howdy! Another big Sierra storm comin’ on, big-time….and inside the portal will be perfect place to be.
My re-curring dream is actually reality: to be inside this Grand Mine when stuff is happening outside, is where I am. Fortunately I’ve been there in many times, underground, down to below 3000 when we could….and the dream is real.
It’ll be SO GRAND to do it again!
in reply to: Clips from Alleghany #5513Everything down at the mine portal area was cold and dark on Monday when the crew arrived …no electricity. The main PG&E transformer sizzled with heat so the problem was with PG&E. A troubleshooter assessed the situation by 2pm. The 12,000 volt to 4160 volt transformer was too dangerous for him to even open and check. We needed to get a new one installed. Going from 12,000 volts to 4160 volts is not common and PG&E began a search for a transformer. Fortunately one was found in Stockton and would arrive in Alleghany Tuesday morning. PG&E gets a lot of flak in California (justly so for power outages); but the line crews are exceptionally talented. They completed their work by mid-afternoon but would not throw the mine’s breaker lever to energize the power (company policy). This level is not normal size. It took two hands and with a little coaching, Mike raised and connected the level. Back to work on Wednesday.
This morning it was 22 degrees. The storm is over and the scene is beautiful: tall evergreen pine, cedar and fir trees, white snow and blue sky.
in reply to: Clips from Alleghany #5512What’s been going on in Alleghany, the last Sierra Nevada historical gold town still operating mines. It bewilders many that (1) Gold is still being mined in California and (2) So little gold mining is happening in California as the spot price hovers around $1700 for a measly ounce. That’s right! An ounce of gold is measly compared to the historical production of gold from California’s gold belt. Those Sixteen to One boys talked about how ho hum it was when the crew mined 100 ounces in a day. It only became newsworthy when a shift sacked 500 ounces. Today they probably get excited for any production.
Scoop doesn’t wonder about the economics of gold mining the Sixteen. It’s simple. Scoop does wonder about the interest of investors. Where does their investment capital reside with the outlook for the economy? Do any still use risk/reward evaluations in making decisions or do they let it sit? What instigated the furor over the dot com industry and how was it evaluated? Maybe investment has become age sensitive. Maybe investors today lack experiences in the business of gold mining. Maybe, maybe, maybe. For sure, few Americans have a history with gold.
Northern California got a soaking last week. The only damage Scoop saw was the gravel maintained roads. Nothing beats mine rock for road surfaces, but when rain falls at the rate it did, culverts plug and then trouble follows. The mine put a herculean effort on road maintenance last spring. Except for two places on the road from the town to the portal, it survived. Some heavy equipment showed up yesterday and the news is the mine road is quickly repaired.
Half the underground crew finished a five week job repairing the track from the portal to the 848 split (about 1800 feet). Boy did it need some TLC. What’s worse than putting a full muck car back on track is when the locomotive derails. Muscles strain lifting it back on track. Even worse is when a derailment occurs at the end of shift. Do we fix it now or see it first thing in the morning?
It’s too bad that Lucas guy couldn’t find the money to make his TV show in the Sixteen to One. Now the public is left with some yahoos in Alaska and idiots in Ghana as examples of working gold miners. What a joke! No, what an insult! If you haven’t seen the short video Glen Lucas made to promote his idea, go “NEWS” and click 16 to 1 Video Trailer.
It’s too bad the last federal hearing wasn’t filmed. Portions of it were worthy of real reality TV. Mike didn’t write much about that MSHA hearing but Scoop knows he spent serious time in preparation for a battle that never occurred. The question remains, “Did the Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. affect interstate commerce at the time of the inspectors’ inspection?” The public should become aware of this story.
The Sixteen to One miners always keep gold production quiet until the gold is safely sacked and stored. Makes sense. They used to order pizzas from Grass Valley when their sacking continued beyond shift but stopped when the pizza restaurants figured out that a big pizza order to go from the Sixteen to One means they are in gold. Ah, those good old days; maybe history will repeat. No one ever forgets seeing a pocket of gold during mining. Sigh, Scoop hopes to get an invitation for another look.
Maybe there are too many “maybes” and “it’s too bad” in today’s clip. No pessimism with Scoop or the crew in Alleghany. It’s great to watch the Sixteen to One evolve.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5510My wife’s great granpa, who came
from France in about 1850 came up to Sierra Co. and with his dad mined in two areas, Kanaka Cr.and Fosters Bar and over a 5+ year stretch did well and with the earnings went to San Francisco and into the meat packing business. To this day there are
french folks from S.F. who come to mine the creeks of Sierra Co.
and other areas.in reply to: Miscellaneous #5511“Everything comes, sooner or later” Anonymous
American’s wealth is on a downward slope with no apparent end in sight. Americans need a reliable partner during the coming suspected storm and that partner is gold and silver.
American Households Hit 43-Year Low In Net Worth
The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969.
According to a recent study by New York University economics professor Edward N. Wolff, median net worth is at the decades-low figure of $57,000 (in 2010 dollars). And as the numbers in his study reflect, the situation only appears worse when all the statistics are taken as a whole.in reply to: Miscellaneous #5509Howdy up there…
A new pond has been spotted on the hillside; we know many many inches of rain have fallen in town….has anyone seen Scoop?in reply to: Miscellaneous #5508I am looking for an authentic ore cart as a gift for my mom for christmas. She has panned for years and realy wants one. Anyone know where one can be found?
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5505Miners Win for a nice change, Judge says significant disturbance so vauge it is basically void in US v Tierney, Tierney found not guilty. Big Al
in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5507I believe Hoover has/had a prominent tower on the Stanford
campus named after him: Hoover
Tower. Also, Hoover and his wife
may have translated the “Agricola”in reply to: INTERSTATE COMMERCE AND SMALL MINES #5506I believe Hoover has/had a prominent tower on the Stanford
campus named after him: Hoover
Tower. Also, Hoover and his wife
may have translated the “Agricola”in reply to: Gold Enters Major Bull Market #5504Gold $1717.90 OFF $24.00
Silver $33.57 OFF $ 0.48For whatever concocted reasoning gold experienced weakness today and may continue to remain anemic for a short period of time. In a matter of a limited number of years ahead, looking back at today’s prices will speak loudly of a missed opportunity.
Are you ready for 2013? In January the U.S. Mint will remove the penny and nickel from circulation. The story below explains the basis for the Mint’s decision from goldsilver.com.
It seems currency debasement as a result of inflation is their justification. In the future will the dime and the quarter be eliminated as well and will transactions be rounded to the nearest dollar?
And then there’s the $100 Federal Reserve notes as the highest denominated bill in circulation. Is the day coming when the $100’s in our pockets be as common as the $1 bills currently are? It seems time will tell if the $500 bills will be reintroduced back into circulation. In the past, some of the $500 bills, all of the $1000 bills, the $10,000 bills and the $100,000 bills were connected to gold(these gold backed bills were only exchanged between the Treasury and the Fed).
In this environment there is no monkey business when it comes to holding physical gold and the reason gold will continue to keep pace with prices no matter how many dollars are floating around in as many different denominations that are printed on these paper bills. The key point is that the purchasing power of gold NEVER changes.
“According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Giethner, our U.S. Mint intends to remove the penny and nickel coins from circulation beginning early in January 2013.
The Mint currently spends about 4.8 cents per penny due to the rising costs of zinc and copper. A nickel valued at five cents now costs approximately 16.2 cents to make due to inflated nickel prices.
In comparison, the dime and the quarter are much more practical forms of coin currency. The dime only costs about 9.2 cents to mint and the quarter checks in at 21.31 cents. However, due to continued (real)inflation expected in 2013, Giethner has warned that the dime may be in jeopardy of extinction as well.”
…………..Isn’t it interesting that the Mint blames increasing costs on rising zinc and nickel prices when these prices rose as a result of the increased currency expansion mainly by the banks with the smaller increase coming from the Fed itself?
There is no mistake about it, inflation as a result of currency expansion is the greatest long term tax of all, a direct tax that very few grasp and the reason why people in general, will be financially dragged down the rabbit hole.
For the family’s long term financial survival, a certain amount of your wealth demands to be in gold.
in reply to: Miscellaneous #5503Our challenge is to stay the course of invention, discovery, wisdom, perseverence, knowledge, and keep the re-writers off our back. I’m not really happy about the level of interest these words have sparked into the hearts of remaining true spirit Americans…and elections don’t seem to reflect these attributes much anymore due to so many levels of distortion, so I’ll break it down this way:
Whether or not they get out of the way, true spirit freedom had better rise to the top soon.
Does it still come as a surprise that we’ve come so far down this dark raod that I’m actually posting a thought about being FREE?
Time to back the fire, and break down the crap said about us.
Okay. Get to it.
in reply to: Stock exchange listing #5502Brokerage firms today won’t let you sell a security unless it is already in their possession. Not like the old days when you had five days to bring in the certificate to the broker. These rules were changed so they could hold your assets for as long as possible for their own interests.
The reasons no shares have been transferred is for a couple of reasons: either the firm that acted as the sellers broker had the shares in street name and bought them for themselves or the trades were a naked short sale and there are no shares behind the sale to transfer.
What surprises me is that the pawn shop atmosphere of the grey market didn’t trade them at a fraction of a penny.
I know Mike doesn’t like this idea but if it were for the word “gold” in our corporate name the shares would probably trade higher in New York.
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