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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (44219)	12/22/2008 9:29:03 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 217542

we may, soon enough, cease to have anything to worry about, because, as they say in chess match, if impolitely, "check f^%#@!$I&ing mate" just in in-tray This summer the International Arctic Research Center discovered methane escaping from underwater Arctic permafrost at the highest concentrations ever measured. If more than a tiny fraction of the sub-sea methane is released, stopping catastrophic global warming would become impossible. The massive Permian-Triassic extinction is thought to have been triggered by a massive release of sub-sea methane, similar to an event now apparently beginning on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. This may be the most harrowing data on global warming ever reported. ----- gristmill.grist.org

To: carranza2 who wrote (44219)	12/22/2008 9:56:03 AM
From: TobagoJack	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217542

just in in-tray I write this at the risk (borrowing your words from past week's commentary) of being called a Gold bug, which I am not ! 1. I am puzzled and fail to understand the real reasoning of including Gold in the commodity sphere. Gold was, is & will always be MONEY ! it in my view is not the same thing as a copper or wheat or zinc or whatever. If it was, then why do central banks hold Gold and not copper or wheat or zinc ? (pardon me but I am talking very basic stuff). If Gold was not different from the rest, why was Tutankhamen's mast made of Gold and not copper ? 2. One more point which is subtly asserting Gold role as a monetary asset is Gold sales in India. As you all know jewellery sales have fallen almost every quarter in 2009 in India....in Dubai too the jewellery sales are in a slump. But in India and also in M-E, sale of Gold in bars/coins has gone through the roof. Why is it so?? Because it is MONEY ! 3. This is a fact which shall be vouched by Marc : in Switzerland physical Platinum and Silver are subject to a TVA tax. This tax is 7,6 % approximately (or 7.4% ....Marc pls confirm). This tax is in addition to the premium. Swiss has a long history in banking and know and understand it well ... therefore there is no tax on Gold ! therefore, even though Platinum & Silver are precious metals (Btw : I own both in physical form, Jay I added to Plat in the last week), it not not regarded in the same format as Gold, ie : MONEY 4. This point again can be vouched by Marc : in Switzerland, quite a few (I have seen & know of few) banks have Gold being dealt on the same counter as cash , ie: if I were to go to withdraw $5000 in cash on the counter, I could also withdraw / buy Gold Bullion from the same counter. Which again proves my point: GOLD IS MONEY 5. In HK, HSBC has the Wayfoong Gold (passbook Gold) for years (or probably decades)....why is there no passbook copper or passbook zinc ??. Another important point : Also with HSBC HK, technically you can have a zero balance of cash (ie : paper currencies) and still hold an X quantity (in HK it is in tael's ) of Gold and your closing balance would reflect your balance (as in tael's at the closing price on that day) ... why is it so? Because Gold is MONEY 6. on this group 3-4days back, I think it was Stan (or was it Graham) who posted the extract of Lyle Gramley interview with Niall Ferguson. Therein (I heard the entire interview....thx Stan or Graham) lies a very important statement from an ex-fed governer ....that at some stage fed can revalue its Gold from the current $42/oz to curent mkt price which would make its balance sheet look not all that bad. The crux of wat Gramley said (or what he did not say) is that Gold is the only asset right now with fed which it can use in times of stress. In times of stress one does not use copper or zinc or steel.... in times of stress only Gold proves its worth ! why? because it is MONEY! Whilst I agree with Mac's point in the weekly summary that Gold never has, does not presently, nor will it ever produce wealth BUT GOLD DOES PRESERVE YOUR WEALTH! In times like these, preserving wealth is paramount when everything is loosing value and as Richard Russell has said that "he who looses the least is the winner". Gold helps in that! We have had an era of excessess which were unheard of in history and when such uncertainities reign supreme, there is only one asset which has survived thousands of years of turmoil / war / aggression / what have you .... and that is Gold ! I hope I have not been too long (and probably boring .... lol !!) and shall complete my email with a quote from King Ferdinand of Spain who said "Get Gold, humanely if you can, but all hazards, get Gold” Finally, I would like to wish you all and your family a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy & Wealthy 2009.