General discussion, page-5220

Thanks for editing that post last week Fitz.


Tafta settlement should place a rocket under the SP

The second stage booster rocket could be deployed when the Fed slashes rates to enhance Kamala’s chances.

And the final stage "mother of all booster rockets" will be ignited if said Kamala "Laughing Kookaburra" gets into the White House and implements her Marxist-Leninist playbook of price controls, unlimited spending and endless wars.

That should catapult gold and silver into the stratosphere.

While Au has surged Au equities have not kept pace and are still dirt cheap.
The CEO is right to be scouting for opportunities further afield in SE Asia to utilise the ginormous cash flows he sees barrelling over the horizon.
You cannot put all your eggs in one basket.
Moreover he's now got an experienced CFO who made a success of the Newcrest/Newmont merger.

From what Dan describes, Thailand is plagued by street level crime and corruption reminiscent of prohibition- era America when Lucky Luciano, Mad Dog Coll et al mobsters and corrupt cops ran amuck through the streets of Chicago & NY.

However, you’ve got to give the Thai govt credit for standing up for their taxpayers by imposing a hefty royalty regime on their mining industry including KCN.

By contrast, Aussie federal govt imposes nil royalty on offshore gas extraction, jacking up domestic gas prices 500%, shutting down local industries & starving consumers of cheap energy.

The Labor government even watered down the PRRT to further reduce the already minuscule tax recovered from the oil industry.

The quid pro quo was for the deciding ministers and bureaucrats to be awarded plum jobs post-retirement, in think tanks funded by the O&G lobby.
Mid sized Norway and tiny Qatar possess sovereign wealth funds amounting to USD 1.6 trillion and 200B respectively and offer their citizens free and world class health and education services.
Continental sized Australia has zero sovereign wealth fund, decrepit public hospitals and migration agent universities.

So there you have it:

Thai corruption - low level, brazen, criminal and petty.

Aussie corruption - elite level, insidious, sophisticated, sneaky and large scale.