It has been intriguing to almost continually read a pack of miscomprehensions and in some cases interesting lies, and see some amazing (global scale, but essentially fractal) rorts that continue with the blessing of the governments, with almost gay abandon.
Inflation is very low they (Pollies, stats, economics) say...Well if Id like to see them explain the recent article posted in the Age..
Of course this is not the only one, and anyone paying power bills, water bills, petrol would suggest inflation is alive and well.
Australian cities are now in the top 20 most expensive...wonder how that came to be. They deflated, we inflated?
They talk about taxing super, single mums etc etc, and yet the tax havens which rort extremely large chunks of money out of a country's coffers (the money of course does not even get there) are OK. Of course the gold industry in general uses these as much as possible...perhaps have a look at Mathew Benns book...Dirty Money, at the section on Mineral Deposits at Sabodala.
A lot of talk about transparency that echoes around the media and pollie circuits, and then you come to the workings of the Hedge Funds...now what really caused the gold drop? Perhaps a decimal point in an excel spread sheet/algortihm, or perhaps a few words on a twitter post.
LIBOR...
The Big Short
As pointed out by many over the last 10-20 years, the global financial system was fundamentally unstable (see Geoff Davies Economia for a more in depth tome), but now we have additional layers of instability in the system. Carefully designed to manage risk (whose risk?). The global system is so awash with e-transactions and paper IOU's it is almost bewildering. The physical backings of the paper in circulation or in the "e-sea" are almost being reduced to a "drop in the ocean".
Who would really trust the people, processes and organisations that are responsible for the mess.
Will the house of paper or electronic IOU's keep upright?
"Don't be fooled again" by Meyrick Chapman is an interesting and very insightful read.
"Money is a problem even to those who spend their entire life studying and manipulating it, such as Central Banks........Part of the difficulty lies with an apparent magic trick....to persuade every individual and every business that a core set of debts backed by the power of the state (the notes and coins and central bank reserves) can provide enough confidence to support a MUCH more extensive network of claims and liabilities....the disturbance of trust is the main cause of crises..."
and there is much more of far greater depth looking at the role of the different banks, indeed fractional banking...and of course we know about fractional gold leasing as well.
Why do people invest in physical gold again? Is it a more "trusting" media of exchange?
Anyhow I sure like to keep some physical gold (it seems to fit perfectly my definition of money) and don't mind investing in a small number of gold companies which have good quality gold (some you can buy for the cost of a long neck per JORC ounce) in the ground and good management, ....and this weekend I have had a small wager on the Mighty Hawks (about a gram).
