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To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (22791)	8/17/2002 9:30:23 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi KastelCo, <<Reuters Company News - Tokyo govt to deposit Y100 bln in Citibank -report>> I am more alarmed than usual. I think: (a) Something is wrong with Citi, and the Japanese are helping to prop it up, so as to hold up the USD, so as to not trash Japanese export to the US, which are financed by J6P taking down home mortgages financed by the Japanese to buy Japanese made SUVs, which holds up the Japanese economy and banking constructs. (b) No one wanted to be responsible for two alternative headlines - "Japan loans Yen 100 billion to Citi to stave off trouble" or "FED pumps Citi with USD 857 mm on emergency basis" (c) This move will have unintended consequences, and so let us watch and learn. (d) First thing Monday AM, I will buy more gold. (e) If JPM gets a similar deposit, then all wagers are on for gold. Chugs, Jay

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (22791)	8/17/2002 10:40:47 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Respond to of 74559

Hi KastelCo, Interesting, very interesting indeed! So, Tokyo goes something like 10 years in a recessionary and currently deflationary environment, and now suddenly, out of the clear blue sky, they deposit over $852M (US) with Citibank, supposedly in the name of diversification... Methinks I smell a rat somewhere... Now, everyone knows about Citibank's disproportionate exposure to foreign debt, acutely so in South America where the current economies of some countries are thought to be in imminent peril. Citibank is also rumored to be a big borrower, and subsequent seller of gold reserves borrowed from several major central banks, which in essence (if true) makes them short on gold big time, possibly to a point that they cannot cover should their short positions be called in. It has also been rumored that Citibank financed much of its foreign debt portfolio with the proceeds from short sales of gold. We look at the extremely erratic price of gold in the past few weeks, and the apparent divergence from historical precedents, where gold moves in opposition to the world's major economies, but recently does nothing but go down or vacillate, whether on good news or bad news. Perhaps I'm being a bit suspicious here, but I'm guessing that Tokyo's deposit has much more to do with something being dramatically wrong at Citibank rather than an effort on their part to diversify their investment risk. What do you other guys think? Am I being too cynical or do you also smell something wrong? Why wait until a Saturday (when all the world's markets are closed and television coverage/debate/controversy would be minimal at best) to make this announcement? Why deposit money from a currency that is rising (yen) into a currency that is declining (dollar)? Something stinks here, in my opinion. There's more to this story. KJC