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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Lloyd who wrote (53756)	6/5/2000 6:08:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 116764

I shouldn't be surprised that people still believe that the global economy can be 'managed'. You shouldn't be. It has been going for centuries, but certainly over the history of the United States. Before the Fed was established, it was JP Morgan and other extremely powerful banking magnates. Again, gold is merely a crutch that people use in which they tie paper proxies to a certain quantity of the metal at an established rate. The Fed issues a certain amount of paper currency, physical or digital, and so long as the overall financial system maintains its faith that outstanding debt has not outpaced expected economic growth and wealth creation. All that a gold standard would accomplish is to put a further layer under the perception(deception?) of inate value of paper. But we all know that gold backed currency is worthless if the govt or Federal Reserve suddenly refuses to exchange its gold on demand for its paper currency. And we know that the inflexibility with gold is its rarity and limited availability. Gold production cannot keep pace with the potential for global economic expansion and wealth creation. And even if it could, it would require and extraordinary percentage of economic output in order to obtain sufficient quantities of the metal. Don.. basically the fundamental problem we see here is a socio-economic battle between those with wealth and those without it. Those who possess wealth would love to see prices decline in assets THEY DON'T HOLD (assuming they are holding only cash) so that they could buy these assets up cheaper later on when prices have bottomed. You would think that those who don't possess wealth would also desire lower prices. However, given that most of these people live their lives with mortgages and debt, thus owing money that must be paid back in stronger dollars, they find themselves seeing more of their purchasing power expended on repaying debts. They also find themselves with reduced market opportunities for their products and the inability to secure credit as banks tighten money supply in response to the scarcity of available gold (paper issued must be backed by specific quantities of gold, right?). Deflation clearly benefits those who hold their wealth in interest bearing CDs and bonds, relatively non-performing assets. It permitted the banks in the latter half of the 1800s to foreclose on enormous number of American farmers, selling these assets to who had cash (or credit connections) available. It sent droves of disenfranchised rural Americans to the cities to seek any form available in the urban sweat shops, while making wealthy individuals even wealthier. The gold standard didn't help those people Don. And those people (and others in Europe) went on to help form the basic foundation for socialist and Marxist ideology, all because capitalist ideology was unable to find a happy medium between business owners and the working class. The working class (those who understand what's at stake) have little desire to see the gold standard restored and the balance of power once again placed into the hands of wealthy bondholders, or those with enourmous cash reserves. Sorry for the length Don, but it is so very easy to gloss over the human impact over such radical changes in the global financial structure. Regards, Ron

To: Don Lloyd who wrote (53756)	6/5/2000 9:59:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116764

Central Bankers warn of US risk to global economy The global economy faces the risk of a hard landing with US stock markets and the dollar dropping sharply in tandem, the Bank for International Settlements, the international organisation of central banks, warned on Monday. Recent volatility in currencies and equities, and the lack of liquidity in some financial markets, meant the market reaction to such a downturn posed a further risk, the BIS said in its annual report.... news.ft.com

To: Don Lloyd who wrote (53756)	6/29/2000 12:42:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116764

Wednesday June 28, 4:26 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release Mining and Metals Online Procurement Marketplace Launches Website LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2000--The global online procurement marketplace recently formed by 14 mining, minerals, and metals companies today launched its website (http://www.mmprocurement.com). The website enables visitors to access information about the benefits of participating in the marketplace as a buyer or a supplier, provides answers to frequently asked questions, and allows interested visitors to submit comments and ask questions online. In addition to English, portions of the website can be viewed in French, Portuguese and Spanish. Tracy A. Stevenson, interim CEO of the procurement marketplace, said ``Since we announced the marketplace in May, we have received hundreds of inquiries from buyers and suppliers in the mining, minerals, and metals industry who have signaled their early interest in participating. Our website will allow visitors worldwide to learn more about the future capabilities of the marketplace and allows buyers and suppliers to easily access information about this exciting venture. This is the first of many upcoming communications to potential buyer and supplier participants.'' Announced on May 14, the venture will create a platform to bring together mining, minerals, and metals producers and suppliers in more than 100 countries and will provided unrivaled access to procurement sources worldwide. It is anticipated that the expansive, open and neutral platform will transform the procurement practices of the mining, minerals and metals industry and bring significant benefits to both suppliers and buyers through standardization, transparency, streamlined transaction processes and improved inventory management. The new virtual marketplace will utilize a common catalogue of products in multiple languages and will allow participants, regardless of size and location, to access and trade with a large pool of suppliers both locally and around the world. Participation in the marketplace is open to all buyers and suppliers and transactions are expected to commence by late 2000. The equity participants of the mining and metals procurement marketplace are Alcan Aluminium Limited, Alcoa Inc., Anglo American plc, Barrick Gold Corp, The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP), Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., Inco Ltd., Newmont Mining Corporation, Noranda Inc., Phelps Dodge Corporation, Rio Tinto, and WMC Limited. Andersen Consulting is serving as the solution provider to the marketplace during the design, build and launch phase. The mining and metals companies represent in excess of 60 percent of the market capitalization of the global mining and metals industry and are among the world's largest producers of aluminum, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, silver, zinc, industrial minerals and platinum group metals. Additional mining and metals companies are expected to participate in the marketplace. In 1999, the estimated procurement spending of the industry was approximately US$200 billion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Mining and Metals Procurement Marketplace Andrew Murray, 310/426-5729 (Los Angeles) Steve Harvey, 011-618-9-227-1417 (Australia) biz.yahoo.com