Is JP Morgan's Silver Manipulation Over?
The big news in the financial mainstream media during the past week has been JP Morgan's announcement that they will be closing their proprietary trading desks. JP Morgan is in the process of winding down their proprietary trading operations and will be laying off their 20 proprietary commodities traders, who NIA believes could be responsible for the current concentrated short position in silver. NIA has been receiving countless emails from members asking us if this means the silver manipulation is coming to an end and what this means for the price of silver.
One thing is for sure, this news from JP Morgan can't be a bad thing. NIA has long held the belief that JP Morgan's manipulation of the silver market is the sole reason for the artificially high gold/silver ratio of recent years, which currently stands at 63. Silver possesses all of the same monetary qualities as gold. There is no rational reason for gold to be 63 times more expensive than silver when only 10 times more silver has been produced in world history than gold.
The main thing Americans will need to barter for during hyperinflation is food, but gold is too expensive to be good for bartering for food. Silver is the perfect bartering currency for food. Assuming the gold/silver ratio returns to 16 during hyperinflation and food prices increase at the same rate as gold, it will be possible to feed a family of four with only 2 to 3 ounces of silver per week. However, just 1 ounce of gold will buy 6 to 7 weeks worth of food for a family of four, and most perishable food items go bad in just a week or two.
The only advantage of owning gold over silver during hyperinflation will be having the ability to pick up and leave with your entire net worth in hand. The average American currently has their entire net worth tied up in their house. There is already a 12.5 month supply of Real Estate on the market. During U.S. hyperinflation, the U.S. mortgage market will come to a complete halt and it will become nearly impossible to sell your house unless you are willing to lower the price to a level where buyers can afford it without a mortgage. With the U.S. unemployment rate likely to rise above Great Depression levels, the last thing you will want during the upcoming currency crisis and societal collapse is to have your wealth stuck in Real Estate. Americans will desire the freedom and flexibility that comes with owning precious metals.
For the whole story follow the link to their website http://www.inflation.us/jpmorgansilver.html
And from CNBC
Outlook Gloomy at Secret Billionaire Meeting
By: John Melloy
Executive Producer, Fast Money
For 25 years, legendary Wall Street strategist Byron Wien, now with The Blackstone Group, has held summer meetings with high net worth individuals to get their outlook on the global economy and investing. This year’s group, totaling fifty individuals and including more than 10 billionaires, was decidedly pessimistic on the U.S. economy, investment opportunities and the Obama administration.
“They saw the United States in a long-term slow growth environment with the near-term risk of recession quite real,” said Wien, in a commentary to Blackstone clients. “The Obama administration was viewed as hostile to business and that discouraged both hiring and investment. Companies and entrepreneurs were reluctant to add workers because they didn’t know what their healthcare costs or taxes were going to be.”
The strategist, whose “Ten Surprises” predictions for the New Year became required reading on Wall Street when he was at Morgan Stanley, declined to name the participants in this year’s two so-called benchmark lunches. However, the gatherings, which typically take place out on the eastern end of Long Island, have included in the past such investing legends as George Soros, Julian Roberson, and James Chanos, according to an account of one such lunch in 2007 by The Financial Times.
“The economic pessimism expressed by the wealthy is completely understandable,” said Jim Iuorio, a trader with TJM Institutional Services. “From the start of the campaign that led up to the ‘08 election, the wealthy have been depicted as villains by the Democratic party. Even though the political tide seems to be turning, real change is months or years away.”
Stocks are off their August lows this month and many traders, including Iuorio, attribute some of those gains to this changing political tide. Still, President Obama re-emphasized in a press conference today that extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy was not in his stimulus plans.
A massive reduction in the consumer debt load, a workforce without the right skills for the jobs of tomorrow, and too high labor costs relative to other countries “are not problems that are likely to be solved any time soon,” wrote Wien of the attitude of the people at the lunches, which took place in two groups on successive Fridays last month. “Only a few investors thought the Standard & Poor’s could reach 1200 next year.”
So what are the billionaires buying if this environment continues? Wien said “vacant office building,” “farmland” and “Africa” were some of the ideas thrown out. Not too many things for the regular investor.
“Billionaires have little in common with the retail investor in terms of investment options,” said Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital. “They don’t rely on mutual funds or stock/bond picking for return unless it is very concentrated. Their investments are generally more strategic and negotiated in businesses or other assets such as commercial real estate.”
To be sure, the folks at Wien’s lunches certainly have the most money at stake, but that hasn’t meant they were always correct. As The Financial Times chronicled in August 2007, only George Soros and one other big investor believed the economy was headed into a recession or a bear market. Now, we know those two men, not the consensus, were correct.
The scary part this time is that it seems from reading Wien’s commentary that there were not many dissenters.
“The lunches were over about three-fifteen,” wrote Wien to end the piece. “I didn’t get the feeling anyone there was rushing out to place an order before the close based on what was said.”