?

My first and last first.... I promise!

quite literally the glue that holds it all together!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm3VMrKqJSA

Four Years, and counting. Squeeze is on John......pleeeeeze come back. We need your help!

Been a while since the top ten!

Feels good...

Trillion Dollar coin seems to keep coming back

There has been much speculation about the possible impact of the trillion dollar coin on a number of things, including the value and/or supply of platinum. However, if my understanding is correct, the US has been doing this on a smaller scale ay least since 1964. The key is the difference between the way the US creates coins and paper money. Since the Federal Reserve act, the US must sell bonds to raise cash (dollars) to fund operations - the Treasury can NOT print paper money without this mechanism. 

On the other hand, the mint is authorized to coin money with authorization from Congress – which is open ended and can be expanded or contracted to meet the needs of the economy. When gold and silver were the only “lawful money” (has the Constitution been repealed? Well….) there was a limit on this method – since the value of the metal roughly approximated the face value of the coin. The gold “redemption” in 1930’s didn’t really change much (although then there was negative seigniorage!), but the big change came in 1965 when we went to CuNi clad coinage. The key is Seigniorage – definition from Wikipedia. 

“Seigniorage (pron.: /ˈseɪnjərɪdʒ/, also spelled seignorage or seigneurage) is the difference between the value of money and the cost to produce it. The term can be applied in the following ways:

• Seigniorage derived from specie—metal coins—is a tax, added to the total price of a coin (metal content and production costs), that a customer of the mint had to pay to the mint, and that was sent to the sovereign of the political area.^[1]”

Some time prior to 1964, the value of silver in small change exceeded the face value of the dime quarter, half and dollar coin. The change to clad significantly decreased the cost of metal versus the face value – resulting is a substantial “profit” to the mint. The mint books this as “revenue” – which a I understand it goes into the income for the government and is spent. Note that the cent and nickel now have negative seigniorage as the cost exceeds the face value. From Wikipedia:

“Ordinarily seigniorage is only an interest-free loan (for instance of gold) to the issuer of the coin or paper money. When the currency is worn out, the issuer buys it back at face value, thereby balancing exactly the revenue received when it was put into circulation, without any additional amount for the interest value of what the issuer received.”

However, since coins have a circulating life of 25+ years, and in many cases end up in piggy banks or other accumulations, the redemption rate in the US is fairly low. An example of the “profit” from Wikipedia:

“The "50 State" series of quarters (25-cent coins) was launched in the U.S. in 1999. The U.S. government planned on a large number of people collecting each new quarter as it rolled out of the U.S. Mint, thus taking the pieces out of circulation [citation needed]. Each set of quarters is worth $14.00 (a complete set includes quarters for all fifty states, the five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia). Since it costs the Mint about five cents for each 25-cent piece it produces, the government made a profit whenever someone "bought" a coin and chose not to spend it.[4] The U.S. Treasury estimates that it has earned about US$6.3 billion in seigniorage from the quarters over the course of the entire program.[5]

In some cases, national mints report the amount of seigniorage provided to their respective governments; for example, the Royal Canadian Mint reported that in 2006 it generated $C93 million in seigniorage for the Government of Canada.[6] The US government, the largest beneficiary of seignorage, earned approximately $25 billion annually as of 2000.[7]”

So the trillion dollar coin is not unprecedented in the US monetary system – it is just a (il)logical extension of the lunatic monetary policies currently in place for the paper money. The amount of platinum is irrelevant. The practical impact on platinum price is nonexistent. The government mints a proof “commemorative” one ounce platinum coin with a face value of one trillion, the Federal Reserve “buys “ the coin, and the Government books seigniorage of $1,000,000,000,000 - $1650 (the cost of one ounce of platinum). It appears to be perfectly “legal”, if Congress authorizes the “coin program”. In fact, it may already have since there is legislation for a platinum commemorative coin program. It just has a little more premium than the current torrent of commemorative coin programs that raise funds for someone or other’s favorite cause - the premium just goes to fund the Government.

Do I think this is a good idea – absolutely NOT, But at least the coin id worth $1650, which is a great deal more than the value of the electrons in the billions of dollars in $1000 bonds that the Fed “buys”. The real impact would be on the residual “credibility” the US has in world currency markets. This is such blatant manipulation of values that I can not see it passing even the most superficial laugh test?

Note that the seigniorage on the clad coins did not cause the price of Cu or Ni to rise, therefore, why would it alone cause the price of platinum to rise? The answer of course is CONFIDENCE (game). This could be “the straw that breaks the camels back” in the monetary shell game – there is no pea. And ignore the man behind the FOMC minutes

the cry confiscation just gives excuse for not doing anything ..

But if this thread gets 1000 comments, I'll still be in the top one percent.

Edit:  I have to stay optimistic.  That's the only way I can look at my mining shares and continue on with my day.  Sort of like the optimistic kid on Christmas Day.  His parents were trying to break him of his eternal optimism so they left him a bucket of horse leavings under the tree.  He spent the rest of the day looking for his new pony.

ENERGY = MONEY

jezfry... thanks for bringing up that link.   Amazing... I actually agree with Erik Townsend on this topic...LOL

The one important aspect that the world has not yet grasped... is the decline of NET ENERGY.  In the graph below, we can see the big change coming in NET ENERGY that will be available to the market:

I am still quite amazed at folks like PORTER STANSBERRY who keep regurgitated that TECHNOLOGY will save us and will allow more oil to come to market.  While this may be true for a BRIEF FRICKEN PERIOD.... it does not change the fact that this oil will be very energy intensive and expensive to produce.

Thus, there is less available for CAPITAL FORMATION.  As there is less net energy available for the market... there will be less capital for investment and growing economies. 

JUST WAIT TO YOU SEE THE CHARTS I HAVE COMING OUT on this.

Anyhow, the world is in serious trouble because it has designed a STANDARD OF LIVING based on HIGH EROI energy along with a growing energy supply.  One has been heading lower for decades, and the other will be heading south shortly.

ENERGY is what allows the formation or growth of the money supply... whether that be gold & silver or fiat.  Without the growth of energy... you can't grow your money supply and you can't PAY FRICKEN HIGH INTEREST EITHER....LOL

Matter-a-fact, compound interest is only a system that can last for a brief period of time.  It is not natural and it does not conform to finite resources.

Everything is now on the table, as the desperation to maintain "Control" is openly displayed. In the final acts even the sheep will pause. Watch as the Debt instruments fail in a much more rapid and open fashion as large holders hurriedly move to capture the remaining value in something "tangible".
I posted almost two years ago here, and several times since, that in a crowded room a deal was struck between the global players......and as things progressed and deteriorated there would come a point where someone would "Bolt" for the door, and ALL would follow.
I believe we are there.....the first sign was the move by Germany to repatriat their Gold holdings. I look next for visible signs of rolling Bonds into tangibles on a much larger scale. There will be no choice at that point. The debt ceiling will be removed (new congress/treasury head/wall of rising debt).....the "End Game" is not off in the unseen distance any longer. The specifics of the deceptions are the only unknowns......although they can (as with strict gun control attempts/realities?)be guessed. The very close default is THE ONLY reason for the gun grab!
Don't believe? Watch as CRACKS in foundation can no longer be kept from view.

You and Gerge W. Bush should go bowling.  You can explain how the markets are "mismaladjusted"  LMAO

It gained the 14 handle back again today. I wouldn't be too worried about the paper prices of these commodities, and remember, you're not going to trade these things back into dollars, you're going to be using them for barter and direct payment.

what kind of bowling?

What have you found to be the best way to get BTC.  I was going to try bitinstant but it seemed such a pain.

The cracks are growing to ENORMOUS pre portions, agNAu. Everyone should go to sgtreport and read the sandy hook report on intel hub.

I'm down in South America, and a lawyer-friend in Ecuador sent me this link. . . .  Just goes to show how world-wide our problems (and solutions?) happen to be.  [Katie Rose, you might want to read the full bio of Barbara Peterson (ABOUT menu item), and the links re: Monsanto & GMO's.]  

But first, watch the video:  

Bugger The Bankers – They Don’t Give An Arse!

Barbara H. Peterson is retired from the California Department of Corrections, where she worked as a Correctional Officer at Folsom Prison. 

Barbara lives on a small ranch in Oregon where she raises geese, chickens, goats and horses. This rural lifestyle is under attack at the most basic level. Federal regulations and the corporate takeover of our food supply with Monsanto’s invasive GMO technology is designed to make it next to impossible to raise animals and organic food.

http://farmwars.info/?p=9910 

Chart Of The Day: Chinese November Gold Imports Soar To 91 Tons; 2012 Total 720 Tons

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-10/chart-day-chinese-november-gold...