31-03-2009, 06:18 PM
Peter Presland Wrote:Hi David
Lots of good points as always - and serious food for thought too. Thanks.
What I am really saying is that, to the extent that the authorities want to keep tabs on hard currency being exchanged for physical gold, they will prefer that such transactions be 'officially' logged and reported. I don't know the precise details operating in the UK right now, but when I acquired some Krugerrands 5-10 years ago, there was a legal requirement that purchases over a certain sterling value be reported by the dealer - I think it was around £7K at the time. I therefore staggered my purchases. Also I did not trade the paper stuff in those days and admit to being somewhat naive about officialdom as well.
It is probably also naive to assume that Krugerrands and a host of other newly minted coins are necessarily fabricated from LGD (or their certified-by-some-credible-authority equivalent) bars too. Maybe it is also naive to assume that a 1 oz Krugerrand that does indeed weigh in at exactly 1 oz is necessarilly 99% fine gold. Which makes any audit processes to assure said fineness a suitable subject for scrutiny to.
All your other points notwithstanding though, I still think it would be relatively straightforward for the Banksters and their henchmen to explain vast upward revisions to the claimed 'above ground inventory' - a bit of controversy about the exact amount and how upward revisions came about etc etc would all be grist to the mill. In present circumstances, the obvious benefit of moving Black to white in quantity and having to make such revisions (eventually) is the tight control of the innocent bullion investor that it affords - confiscation, per Roosevelt's 1933 US order, becomes that much easier. It also assures continuing tight control over paper prices.
Peter, the current requirement is a ceiling of £5k for coins above which it must be reported.
What's to stop wealthy people purchasing their coins/bullion from overseas suppliers, say in Switzerland or Vienna, Luxembourg, Moscow etc., and paying for the metal with offshore funds? After all the UK authorities only really care that earnings are declared for tax collection purposes, and supposing tax is paid, there is nothing to stop anyone legally exporting a big chunk of their money to wherever they like.
Supposing tax is paid, that is.
Jacking up the stats for above grounds stocks would probably cause a drop in the price, I think. And the PM London price fix is the standard price used - less a mutually agreeable negotiated percentage for size and difficulty - that has been at the core of every black bullion purchase documentation I have ever seen. Things may have changed of course. But why change something if it ain't broken.
Supposing it ain't broken, that is.
In significant purchases of bullion it is not that unusual for the bullion to be tested by the buyers representative to ensure it meets the "four nines" purity. Small buyers however, are left to either trust the metal meets those standards or pay for someone to take a small sample and test it themselves.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14