Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: John Hunt who wrote (34240)	5/20/1999 7:03:00 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116820

O/T(?) Thursday May 20, 12:29 am Eastern Time Senator Questions SEC's Levitt By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Richard Lindsey, the head of market regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission, was planning to leave the government for private industry. And he had a list of half a dozen Wall Street firms for whom he'd like to work. After Lindsey gave the list to his boss, SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, Levitt put in a call for him. Problem was, he phoned the chief executive of Bear Stearns Cos. -- a big securities firm being investigated by the SEC. That January phone call has shined a spotlight on Washington's revolving-door tradition of agency heads helping their subordinates find jobs in private industry. The call troubles Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on a Senate subcommittee that deals with government ethics. Levin believes the call by Levitt, the government's top securities regulator, to a firm under investigation creates the appearance of a possible ethical breach, an aide to Levin said Wednesday. ''It's a question of appearance,'' said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said Levin is looking at drafting legislation that would clear up gray areas in the rules covering the kinds of help agency heads could offer in getting people jobs at companies that have business before the agencies. An agency head responding to a query about a subordinate from a prospective employer or providing a reference is quite different from initiating a phone call to a company, the aide suggested. In a private meeting, Levin told the SEC chief he was troubled by the phone call, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in Wednesday's editions. In March, Lindsey left the market watchdog agency to become a senior managing director of New York-based Bear Stearns. He assumed the newly created No. 2 position at Bear Stearns Securities Corp., the company's clearing division that processes trades for brokerage firms. Bear Stearns' clearing operations have been under investigation by the SEC and criminal prosecutors, who have been examining whether the company ignored signs of fraudulent activity at the small firms for which it clears transactions. Levitt would have no comment on the Lindsey matter Wednesday, said a spokesman, Duncan King. SEC Deputy General Counsel David Becker, speaking on Levitt's behalf, told The Journal that there was nothing improper about the phone call. Levitt, who came to Washington from Wall Street after heading a major brokerage firm and the American Stock Exchange, often recommends his SEC colleagues to industry executives for jobs. The disclosure of his call on Lindsey's behalf comes at a time when high-level enforcement attorneys and auditors have been leaving the SEC at a worrisome pace for lucrative jobs in private practice. In the latest departure, the agency announced Wednesday that Henry Klehm, senior associate enforcement director in the SEC's Northeast regional office, was leaving to become chief regulatory officer for Prudential Insurance Co. King said Levitt did not help Klehm get the new job. Levitt heads a relatively small agency with 3,000 employees and has a management style that emphasizes personal relationships. His relations with Congress have generally been smooth, but he did get into an ethics flap nearly two years ago with Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., chairman of a House oversight subcommittee that investigated his travel for 16 months. The panel's majority Republican staff concluded that Levitt didn't break any laws but said he ''loosely'' followed federal regulations. As a result of the inquiry, the SEC told the panel it would change its travel policy to allow only first-class travel that is authorized by federal regulations and periodically audit all agency travel. biz.yahoo.com

To: John Hunt who wrote (34240)	5/20/1999 8:52:00 AM
From: Ken Benes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116820

John: It is becoming clearer that the gold companies in addition to selling gold forward, are now engaged in selling gold short thru the cb leasing program and investing the proceeds into interest bearing instruments. If this is the case, Barrick and others have a vested interest in keeping the price of gold low. Unfortunately, the earnings derived from these activities have a negative effect on the price of the stock, while at the same time improving the companies profits. Not only are the producers not representing their true owners, but they have become agents of the central banks to keep gold range. Barrick will prevail. They actively are acquiring the low cost gold properties of the world, increasing their reserves and lowering their overall cost of production to below 200.00 an ounce. By driving the smaller producers out of business, getting new reserves on the cheap, increasing production, and their hedging programs, Barrick's agenda is clear, become the largest gold company in the world. Normally, the shareholder would benefit from an agressive business model like this. Because of the havoc this is playing in the gold market, the shareholder is the loser, and the company becomes the beneficiary. Sell the companies, and buy the gold when it gets cheap enough, or get out of the market. It is one thing to fight the central banks. To fight an alliance of the banks and the producers makes for a very poor risk reward ratio. Ken