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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (1446)	6/24/2014 10:38:35 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26514

I agree. It is really sad to see even if it benefits California as much of the innovation has moved here, literally a short bike ride from my house for Tesla and BMW.... www.facebook.com/BMWTechnology/info www.teslamotors.com/contact Tesla is in the old HP Labs building where I often worked on new technology projects back in the days I was in HP R&D.... It is a beautiful site in the hills here so I can see why Tesla would want to be there rather than Detroit... Plus they have to find smart workers to excel. As you say, how many really smart people want to live in a dying town?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (1446)	6/26/2014 9:59:54 AM
From: Kirk ©	Respond to of 26514

Interesting news about gold.... China finds $15 billion of loans tied to falsified gold deals China's national chief auditor has discovered $15.2B in falsified gold transactions that have been borrowed from banks since 2012. Chinese traders and investors are known to borrow against commodities such as gold, copper and soybeans, and most of it is valid trading. However, the Chinese audit office has found many gold processing firms which borrowed based on fake transactions in the gold market. Further investigation may result in new restrictions on commodity financing. Spot checks on 25 companies that process bullion, such as jewellers, showed they made a combined profit of more than 900 million yuan by using the bank loans to take advantage of the difference between onshore and offshore interest rates, as well the appreciation of the Chinese currency, according to a report published this week on the National Audit Office's website. Chinese firms could have locked up as much as 1,000 tonnes of gold in financing deals by the end of 2013, the World Gold Council said in April, indicating a big slice of imports has been used to raise funds due to tight credit conditions, rather than to meet consumer demand. At current prices, that would be worth about $42 billion. .. The audit office also said it found problems with the country's coal, corn and cotton reserves. A spot check of 12 emergency coal reserve sites found that average monthly stocks were about 30 percent lower than the target volume in 2011, and 18 percent lower than stipulated in 2012, the report said. The quality of these reserves was also a problem. Some 2.43 million tonnes of cotton stocks, accounting for 27 percent of the country's total reserves, were kept in open storage as of June 2013, while some 70 percent of corn imported by China Grain Reserves Corp (Sinograin) contained impurities exceeding the stipulated 3 percent, the report said.

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (1446)	6/27/2014 9:49:38 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26514

Did he give his Nobel Peace Prize back? Obama Proposes $500 Million to Aid Syrian Rebels Program to Train and Equip Moderate Opposition Would Expand U.S. Role in Civil War The Obama administration requested $500 million—a larger amount than expected—to aid the Syrian opposition, reflecting growing U.S. alarm at the expanding strength of Islamist forces in Syria, who in recent weeks have asserted control of large parts of neighboring Iraq and now pose threats to U.S. allies in the region. Coming on the heels of a decision to send 300 military advisers to Iraq, the Syrian rebel training elevates the U.S. role in the Middle East. The proposal amounts to a major U-turn by the administration, which had sought until now to limit its involvement in the war. ... The new money for the Syrian rebels was contained in the administration's request to Congress for funding for the country's military operations abroad, in a supplement to the budget request known as "overseas contingency operations." The administration requested $68.5 billion overall, including for the Afghanistan war, a new counterterrorism fund and money to shore up European allies. The money to train Syrian rebels would come out of the $5 billion counterterrorism fund that includes another $1.5 billion for Syria's neighbors—including Turkey, Jordan and Iraq—to help those countries secure borders and deal with Syrian refugees. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and one of the strongest advocates in Congress for a deeper American involvement in Syria, said the support for rebels was overdue, but predicted it would receive bipartisan support.