I am a semi-retired businessman who supplements a meagre retirement income by futures contract trading. In the wider scheme of things it is a totally useless occupation but it is in the nature of the system we live in that there are many and varied 'useless occupations' - and I don't make the rules. Neither do I have any wish to adopt a self-denying 'sustainable' lifestyle as a sort of pulpit from which to preach to the sheeple - in spite of an in-depth understanding of the gross unsustainability of our present crazy globalised political and economic orthodoxies
Having said all that I did undergo a sort of 'Red pill/blue pill' conversion process (for want of a better description) over the first few years of the current millennium, the bare bones of which (for anyone interested) are outlined on the blog referenced below. Recent (and not so recent posts) will also give a flavour of how I see the world these days. You will note that I am very familiar with many of the major preoccupations of this forum - which is part of why I am here of course.
Anyway, my daily routine means monitoring about 10 screens for countless hours every day, waiting for various trigger signals from proprietory software. The boredom is relieved by copious reading of all manner of web-sites (I currently have 80-odd RSS subscriptions, producing maybe 1,500+ articles per day, of which I read maybe a couple of dozen in depth - the vast majority are what you might call 'non-MSM').
Cutting to the chase (to use one of dozens of glorious hunting metaphors that grace the language) I have begun to zero in on GOLD as a focus for 'Deep State' shenanigans of personal interest. I trade the ZG Comex futures contract; I've been a GATA subscriber for many years and I therefore (of necessity) have a professional gut feel for the antics of the Presidents's 'Working Group on Financial Markets' (ie the Plunge Protection Team). A sine-qua-non of success for a small-time proprietory trader is to clearly understand that the term 'Free-Market' has become an oxymoron. I have also just read David Guyatt's 'The Secret Gold Treaty' and am hooked.
I hope I will have things, thoughts etc to contribute here myself. In the meantime I would be grateful for any steer from David - or anyone else - about further reasearch into what David has dubbed 'Black Gold' - AU not oil of course.
Welcome Peter.
On the subject of black AU I spent a solid 12 years investigation. It proved to be the most frustrating of all possible subjects to get to grips with; truly a "smoke and mirrors" world inhabited by thieves, princes, covert service personnel, bankers and rogues, organized crime families -- and not counting a contingent of occultists plus a few alchemists too. The list is endless.
If your interest in the subject is from the perspective of acquiring some of this black gold then I will, without hesitation or further reflection, strongly advise that you drop the subject now. A veritable multitude of people over the decades have been relieved of their money by the myriad of unscrupulous players that inhabit this shadowy region. They are experts there. You and I are dabblers at best. We have scruples. They have none.
Loss and heartache will be the only outcome I assure.
Having said that I entered that world only for the story and, odd as it may seem, had not the slightest interest in metal in terms of financial gain. That, I think, upon reflection was probably my only real protection.
I am mighty glad to have laid aside my researchers there and am now, like you, contentedly retired.
Welcome Peter. An insider, of sorts. David you just ruined my day - I was just about to take possession of a few KG bricks of Au and keep them as doorstops. I do remember how the Hunts manipulated Ag long ago - like playing a fine instrument....I guess the Big Boys can do that with any commodity they like, and they like Gold almost best. Still seems one has to have something other than paper soon, as paper will soon be only paper, as it was in Wiemar Germany, IMO. I trust you'll give us a few minutes warning when the earth trembles in the metals markets Peter. :dontknow:
David
You will be glad to know that I have no interest whatsoever in aquiring any black gold. Appart from a trivial amount of bullion kept under the bed so-to-speak, I trade the futures, that's all. Those instruments that amazingly still constitute a large component of what is officially claimed to be the 'price discovery' mechanism for the real stuff. Frankly, they are no such thing, just one of a number of paper promisory instruments that make price manipulation that much easier for those with the requisite knowledge, clout and motive - which in practice means those doing the covert bidding of Central Bankers - in the main anyway. I understand the mechanisms well enough.
No, it's the obvious fear of an exploding gold price on the part of our money masters and the dealings employed to ensure that it doesn't (until they are good and ready anyway) that interests me. I have to say I was shocked at the amount of 'black gold' you claim exists. It does explain a lot though. For example there are those who say that, since the 1954 audit, Fort Knox (as proxy for US official AU holdings) is now pretty much empty; a combination of pre-1971 shipments to France and accelerated leasing to the Banksters who simply sell the stuff etc etc - the gold 'carry-trade' as it's known. Whereas my guess is that as fast as official gold is shipped out (for whatever reason) it is simply replenished with the Black stuff, with a nod-and-a-wink (and an appropriate book entry/adjustment) to the Lessee concerning (non)return of the leased stuff - or something like that - it would explain a lot.
It's the mechanisms by which black gold might become kosher gold that I'm really interested in because I suspect there are some seriously dirty and corrupt dealings involved - with Banksters and government agencies right in the thick of it. David's book offers some compelling insights but I'm hungry for more. Also, I have to say I'm alarmed at the potential for the price to be seriously smacked back down again if David's estimates of the Black stuff are anywhere near accurate and ways are found to magic it into white stuff.
And thanks for the welcome Peter.
Peter Presland Wrote:...For example there are those who say that, since the 1954 audit, Fort Knox (as proxy for US official AU holdings) is now pretty much empty; a combination of pre-1971 shipments to France and accelerated leasing to the Banksters who simply sell the stuff etc etc - the gold 'carry-trade' as it's known. ...
"Banksters." Giggle, snort.
Good one.
Oh, and welcome Peter.
Welcome from me too Peter...
Thanks Peter. On Fort Knox it was the late Prof Antony Sutton who mentioned some years ago that that repository contained a little "coin melt" and nothing else. I have seen nothing to suggest this was, or is, inaccurate.
One of the conclusions I arrived at is that the official market, and the London "fix" is nothing other than a price fixing mechanism for black gold. The fix has been set on as little as a gram of gold and is obviously a charade.
On the exploding gold price, one Wall Street investment bank predicted as little as a few months ago that the price will hit $1500.00 per ounce sometime this year. This, I believe, was predicated on the number of their wealthy private clients moving into metal as a haven.
I used to be a member of GATA too, but frankly, I concluded that Bill was more interested in seeing the price move upwards than getting to the core of things, and allowed my interest to drift away. But through my brief association I get get to meet a number of very interesting people.
There are any number of devious ways that black can be made white and it's been happening for decades. And sometimes remaining in the black has its own virtues too. I'm thinking of the global narcotics business and the far East when I say this. But I was once told by XXX who's brother used to fly a charter cargo flight that was used to ship XXX tons of AU from Colombia to London Heathrow. The metal cleared customs without inspection and disappeared into the "Smoke" - probably the same way that some of the Russian gold disappeared from Moscow on Anatov's when Gorbachev lost power, and, so they say, ended up in Suisse and Londres for re-smelting and transformed into GLD.
You can always wash blood off gold, eh.
David
I think your assessment of the London fix has merit. It will also take account of the Comex trading session (and latterly Tokyo and the Exchange Traded Funds) which in turn are no doubt similarly affected and used for purposes other than is apparent to the casual innocent 'investor'. Comex short positions over a certain size have to be 'covered' by physical bullion deposited in Comex nominated wharehouses. Even a minow like me can trade with leverage of over 20:1 (which, as a matter of prudent risk management I don't BTW). Those with serious inside knowledge of impending bullion movements (by definition those also capable of exercising a serious measure of control by virtue of the size of the positions they are able to take) can use leverage of up to 100:1 ! Unlike OTC derivatives, exchange traded futures do have the merit of being marked to market at the end of every trading session, so small players can get some idea of what is going on from daily traded volumes and open-interest values plus the more comprehensive weekly and monthly OI reports. From GATA sources you will know something of the interplay between positions defined under exchange rules as 'speculative' and those defined as commercial. The commercials have for many years remained net short (understandable in the case of miners simply selling production forward or 'hedging' future production (though that has been a major looser these past few years) - but the size of net short positioning and the way it concentrates in the hands of just a few gigantic players makes it clear as a bell that they are just too damned cocky for words. In my humble judgement, they CLEARLY have knowledge of 'production' outside bona-fide mining and recycling, and use it to screw the longs on a basis that has been like clockwork over the past 10 years or so - in spite of the net price rise.
If your estimate of the amount of Black gold in existence is anywhere near correct, they can clearly go on doing so for as long as the Longs (and the poor bloody miners) are prepared to let their pockets be picked too. And that in spite of the present relatively elevated price. Frankly, although I do hold a bit of bullion, I am far less sanguine than I was about prospects for a price explosion now. Seems to me that TPTB are on the case. They've got it well covered and will decide, in their own good time, the price gold will be allowed to rise too - no matter what the investment demand may be. In the meantime they KNOW who is acquiring the official stuff and so will be well able to confiscate it again in the US if such a move is deemed necessary.
My real interest has less to do with the mechanics of transporting the Black stuff and rather more with how it is accounted for through the laundering process that produces hall-marked and numbered bars. Could be a dangerous area to probe deeply I know but I feel the urge to ... to specialise shall we say.
On the latter, a good place to start your inquiries would be the arrangement Marcos had with the Johnson Mathey smelting plant in Manila.
I have detailed paperwork, now gathering dust in storage, of various deliveries of "bleached" metal shipped from Marcos/JM to Drexel Burnham Lambert that - if my memory is correct - dated back to the bad days of Mike Milken who was, as I'm sure you know, Mafia. Nothing could move out of Manila in those days that was not watched, logged and followed by US intelligence, notably the ONI, although other agencies also I'm sure. That gold was not Marcos's to steal. Others had stolen it before him you see.
The "Lambert" side of DBL was the Groupe Bruxelles Lambert which used to be Bank Brusells Lambert now owned by ING. BBL was the Lambert family bank (Banque Lambert) - notably Samuel Lambert. Sam learned his trade at Rothchilds Antwerp (home of the diamond cutting trade as you know). But it wasn't until the early 1920's that Baron Henri Lambert split from Rothchilds and set up their own bank i.e., Banque Lambert. Rothschild was the London fix. Everything else was/is huff, puff, bluster and show.
ING is the bank that "rescued" London's oldest merchant banking family, Baring Bros, from certain death (not to mention certain uncomfortable revelations had Nick Leeson ever been allowed to reach LOndon and be arrested and stand trial - fortunately he was arrested in Germany and shipped back to Singapore where the woolwas easier to pull over people's eyes. Phew!). In buying Baring for the princely sum of £1.00, ING acquired all of Baring's smelly records and... that was that. The Dirty Old Lady breathed a long sigh of relief. Not to mention the government too. Poor old daft "Big Swinging Dick" Nick Leeson hadn't a clue what mallet it was that hit him.
I mention these facts because it seems to me that all these players and events are intricately connected by a long winding serpent, in all sorts of "stuff". Again let's take the Lambert's as an example of what I mean. If you've read Joel's excellent essay on the Dutroux paedophile affair (
http://www.isgp.eu/dutroux/Belgian_X_dos...affair.htm), you'll see that very same family name appear on a list of names drawn up by one Count Yann de Meeus d'Argenteuil of those who were involved in children and drug trafficking. The Count later committed suicide. As so very often happens.