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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: philv who wrote (19670)	11/23/2003 11:12:20 AM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 81145

Phil > We will give you paper dollars, you give us the goods. Good deal.....for America that is. Wish I could do that, just produce a piece of paper, put some numbers on it, declare that it is official "tender" (whatever that means), and trade it for something real. Yes, that's it, just like this: THE MONEY GOES ROUND AND ROUND With apologies to Tommy Dorsey I print some fiat there The money goes 'round and around Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho And it comes out here I push house prices up The money goes down and around Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho And it comes out here I push the stock market up The money goes down around below Below, below, deedle-dee-ho-ho-ho Listen to the boom come out I push the treasury bills up The money goes 'round and around Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho And it comes out here > It's a con game. Yes, it is, but it's the only game in town. And, either you play or you don't, but you can't be a policeman. > this Fed. Reserve governor is saying what you earlier said, but the difference is, this guy is serious and believes it That's what you think?! Don't kid yourself.

To: philv who wrote (19670)	11/23/2003 11:24:40 AM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 81145

Phil > No wonder the price of the S.A. gold shares are badly lagging, while their real costs are increasing together with all the political considerations. This can't go on forever, because at some point, some of these mines have to curtail or shut down. That's the truth --- and apparently nothing can be done about it. sundaytimes.co.za >>>The reality is harsh. The gold price is within the $400 an ounce mark, but its gains are more than offset by the rand, which on Friday touched R6.50 to the dollar - a level last seen three years ago. The problem for gold miners is that their product is priced in dollars, but they report their earnings in rands. The stronger the rand against the dollar, the lower their earnings. In addition, many of the sector's rand-based costs, such as water and electricity, have been rising at well above the official inflation rate. Wages, which account for around half a gold mine's total costs, have risen by an average 10% since July. The net effect is that profit margins are under severe pressure, posing the biggest threat in recent years to an industry that is the biggest employer outside of government, and a mainstay of the economy. With the exception of AngloGold, which has a well-managed hedge book, all the gold miners either reported losses or sharply reduced profits for the quarter ended September 30. Moreover, they warned that worse was in store if the rand remained strong against the dollar. Already, Durban Roodepoort Deep has retrenched around 3 000 workers at its North West operations, while the Chamber of Mines estimates that some 70 000 workers in the gold mining industry are employed at operations that are losing money. <<<