Daily briefing for Friday, January 13, 2012; Spiritual snobbery, misleading ads; EU Tobin Tax; advisers squirm

Posted in News January 13, 2012 - 10:57am, David Chaston

We'll lend, but ...
Spain’s banks, saddled with 329,000 foreclosed homes, are still willing to provide mortgages, as long as the borrower wants to buy one of their properties. That’s no help to homeowners and developers wanting to sell.

What would a European 'Tobin Tax' really mean?
Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are pressing forward with plans to introduce a financial transaction tax in the EU - if necessary without Britain, home to Europe's largest financial center. Critics believe it will cause an exodus of the industry from the euro zone. But a closer look at the proposal suggests the worst wouldn't necessarily come true.

Big buyer?
China holds the world's 5th largest gold reserve at a bit more than 1,000 tonnes but that is well below what you would expect compared to its peers and compared to the size of its currency reserves. In fact the figure should be expected to be closer to 4,000 tonnes - but to do this China would need to buy the entire global gold mine production for the next year or acquire gold equivalent to the success of the gold ETF. Gold bugs are salivating.

Getting real
"It's a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money."
Albert Camus

more below ...

		8 am		--- 52 week --
		Today	yesterday	high	low
		--------	--------	---------	---------
FX rates	NZ$1=US$	0.7940	0.7957	0.8822	0.7174
	NZ$1=AU$	0.7687	0.7723	0.8085	0.7276

Gold	in US$/oz	1,648	1,639	1,895	1,319
	in NZ$	2,076	2,059	2,314	1,705

Copper	in US$/t	7,689	7,641	10,147	6,785
	in NZ$	9,685	9,603	13,507	8,299

Crude oil	in US$/bl	101.15	102.94	118.70	89.69
	in NZ$	127.39	129.37	149.14	117.26

US Treasuries	30 yr bond	3.04%	3.02%	4.73%	2.88%

Dow	DJIA 30	12,435	12,426	12,919	10,402

Want to win a car?
You will need to be very patient and very lucky on SmileCity. Their ads have been ruled as misleading in New Zealand.

Empowering clients
The impending changes to Australian financial advice which includes banning commission, has their banks and other advisor groups squirming, calling for substantial revisions. Will they go ahead as planned on July 1?

What's it worth?
Our currency is pretty much sitting at a fair market value, according to the world's most famous PPP measure.

34 Comments

by snippy | 13 Jan 12, 11:59am

Have a look at this sight it

Have a look at this sight it mite be of interest to all .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2s6vzErqY

I found it very helpful !

by skudiv | 13 Jan 12, 5:19pm

Forbes said Gold isn't a safe

Forbes said Gold isn't a safe haven, buy aussie dollars, hahahaha.

by Wolly | 13 Jan 12, 5:28pm

My best advice

My best advice skudiv....research the copper gold mining companies re aus and canada, beware of any shite involvement in Africa...nail down a handful of companies with track records and proven reserves with heaps of potential ground to drill...then wait for the mighty crash to come...buy the shares at the bottom...5 times pe or less.

by skudiv | 15 Jan 12, 3:12am

Definatly worth looking at

Definatly worth looking at Wolly. I may have a look, It's hard going through a companies financials though, very slow and can be confusing, especially "intangibles" and stuff. Without going and seeing whats going on, and probably even if I went and had a look. I'll have a look, if there is another takedown, it will be easier to buy the actual metals.
I can understand lumps of metal, and their proven history as a safe haven during economic crisis.

by Wolly | 15 Jan 12, 5:45am

Agree skudiv that's why I use

Agree skudiv that's why I use the market to do the looking for me. Try the Digger...an aussie outfit you pay to get their work..they do the donkeywork...
The collapse might be short and bad or long and awful...I can't say...but it will happen. Look back at share prices on stuff like OZ in the depth of the 08 plunge...that's where thing will break to at some stage...be ready to buy and do not expect the recovery to be quick.
The worst of the debt mountains have to be taken out of the way over time or by huge losses before real recovery can start. It will bring recession /depression/war and misery on top of losses.
Beyond that there will be the electric revolution and the age of copper and exotic materials...and end to internal combustion and oil based economies...and end to the influence of OPEC.
You might want to risk the rare earths investments too. Also look to advanced medical hardware and medicines.
Avoid property, banks, old industries, creatures of fashion and anything said to be the future by politicians.

by skudiv | 15 Jan 12, 7:14am

Good calls wolly. If there

Good calls wolly. If there is a stock market crash before hyperinflation kicks in, then there will be some great buying opportunities.

by skudiv | 15 Jan 12, 3:05am

Cheers Snippy, very

Cheers Snippy, very interesting. When it becomes common knowlege that there is 5x more gold then silver, and Forbes recommends gold and silver as safe havens, use gold and silver to buy houses, stocks or farmland.

by Wolly | 13 Jan 12, 5:24pm

This article is worth a

This article is worth a read....it sorts things out....puts meat on the bones...but it does not explain how the debt trillions nightmare can be solved...indeed if anything it points to the madness having no end...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/rescuing-europe-from-debt-crisis-begins-with-men-of-mit-as-matter-of-trust.html

by skudiv | 15 Jan 12, 6:59am

It's a big club Wolly, and

It's a big club Wolly, and you aren't in it. It's the same club they use to hit you over the head with.

by Wolly | 15 Jan 12, 9:19am

They didn't even send me a

They didn't even send me a xmas card skudiv...rotten swine....

Isn't it a laugh to realise the chch CEO is paid more in US$ than Bernanke....funny as hell. A great pointer to figuring out what is so sick about this economy.

by Wolly | 13 Jan 12, 5:51pm

The following can only be

The following can only be described as a crystal clear account of the thieving farce that is the NZ economy...read it...absorb the stench if you can!

"The largest banks are in need of huge infusions of capital. Consider just Europe's banking system. We read this in Business Week. The requirement for the end of 2012 is in the range of two trillion euros, or at least $2.7 trillion.

Banks in France, the U.K., Ireland, Germany and Spain have announced plans to shrink by about 775 billion euros ($1.06 trillion) in the next two years to reduce short-term funding needs and comply with tougher regulatory capital requirements, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

This will exacerbate the looming recession. But the banks are trapped. They need massive infusions of new capital. If they do not get this, they will be forced to sell assets. To whom?

"Asset sales are impractical in the current environment," said Simon Maughan, head of sales and distribution at MF Global UK Ltd. in London. "Every bank is selling, and no bank is buying. It just won't work. Beyond that, the magnitude of the cuts the banks are talking about is nowhere near the likely required amount of deleveraging. They need to reduce hundreds of billions more to adjust to the new world order. There has to be a recapitalization."

Who would be silly enough to offer banks the hundreds of billions of dollars in capital that they need in order to decrease their vulnerability? Only politicians. But large governments are running huge deficits, except for Germany. Who would be so silly as to loan governments money? Bankers. And so it goes.

Could there be a true banking collapse? Only if the European Central bank refuses to inflate. Will the ECB inflate? Of course. It's #1 unofficial assignment is to save the largest banks.

Bank share prices indicate in what bad shape the West's banking system really is. Everywhere, bankers have promoted bubbles, made huge losses for investors, and have lived high on the hog through government bailouts. This is not going to change. The bankers are running the show. They pocket the profits, leave little for shareholders, and call for bailouts by the government whenever their bonuses are threatened. The politicians comply.

Why should anyone expect this to change? It is not in the interest of senior managers of large banks to change it. They can deal with regulation. This stifles competition. But they will not tolerate free market competition."

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article32589.html

by skudiv | 15 Jan 12, 7:07am

Politicians and bankers have

Politicians and bankers have stuffed the world economy. They are printing and will continue to do so. Before Obama finsihes his first term he will have borrowed nearly as much as all the Presidents before him combined, same with Key. Whatever way this blows, this is one of the few brief times in history where owning gold and silver is the best thing to do. If you can't hold it, you don't own it.

by snippy | 15 Jan 12, 9:43am

Is this the PLAN : 1) Central

Is this the PLAN :
1) Central Banks( FED,IMF, BIS, etc......Bilderberg's) take over Countries for DEPT ?
2) (NWO)......... NEW WORLD ORDER is introduced ?
Because Central Banks...... CONTROL .........
Goverments ,Countries and the World Population .
As my DAD said "Son follow the Money "
iS

by Iain Parker | 15 Jan 12, 9:53am

Think about it sheoples -

Think about it sheoples - just who is not in deficit to the private primary bond exchangers? even the citizenship of the so-called surplus nations are massively in debt to the private primary bond exchangers. The citizenship of the so-called deficit nations are massively indebt to the primary bond exchangers. So most every citizenship is massively indebt to the private primary bond exchangers.
So these private primary bond exchangers buy all of these bonds with their hard earned accumulated savings relent to society right? wrong, they type into a computer new money every time a loan is made which is documented by a bond as promise of repayment.
The term - printing new money - adds confusion to the reality of the issue. It should be replaced with the term the - issuance of new money - because the seeding of the capitalist system is done by issuance and allocation of money created for free by those in control of the issuance and allocation of new money.
What determines if that new money evolves into a generative boon for wider society or a negative drain is quite simply the intent of those with the control of issuance and the terms and conditions attached at origination.
If controllers of issuance and allocation of the entire money supply choose to loan it all into circuation and demand in return what they issued plus interest the system is a negative drain and not a generative gain by mathematical certainty.

by snippy | 15 Jan 12, 9:50am

Is this WHY the IMF just keep

Is this WHY the IMF just keep printing money .?
Which Countries are not in trouble WHEN we have a RESESSION..................DEPRESSION
Let us start looking WHEN this wiil play out and HOW .
NOT IF IT WILL PLAY OUT.!

by SimonP | 15 Jan 12, 10:06am

Don't worry if you can't pay

Don't worry if you can't pay the mortgage, just sue the bank: http://www.theage.com.au/business/banks-face-home-loan-suit-20120114-1q0...

by Iain Parker | 15 Jan 12, 10:53am

NZ Farmers should sue

NZ Farmers should sue banks-

Why the hell are we allowing the bankers to dictate that we must sell our productive land base out from under us to the highest bidder anywhere in the world to retrieve as much for the bankers when NZ Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard admitted in his 2010 book titled - CRISIS - the the banks acted like this;
Pg 157
Another governance worry related to the power and competence, or lack thereof, on ...the part of banks chief risk officers and risk committees. These officers assess the possible outcomes from any deal and decide whether the risks are acceptable under the banks mandated policies. We were now hearing about cases where risks had been miscalculated, procedures bypassed and officers overruled, all in the race for higher earnings.
Pg 165
Bad debts had started to emerge on their lending books. Most of these concerned small businesses or farms where borrowers had over-committed themselves at a time of high property and farm prices. There were also residential mortgage defaults followed by evictions and mortgagee sales, but these were mercifully rare. Foreclosures attracted considerable media and political criticism.

In the case of some of the agricultural defaults, we felt that certain banks had been over-optimistic and under-analytical in their lending, and we moved to tighten some of the relevant capital requirements for the future.

http://publiccreditorbust.blog.com/2011/04/10/new-zealand-reserve-bank-governors-sept-2010-book-far-more-confirms-private-central-banking-network-ponzi-pyramid-scam-than-denies-it/

Landcorp should buy the farms now in receivership due to fraudulent banking practice and landbank them for all New Zealanders only to ever be leased out or operated by Kiwi's able to earn a living wage to benefit all of New Zealand not just banksters raiders and their low life locally recruited collaborators.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 15 Jan 12, 12:05pm

What " fraudulent banking

What " fraudulent banking practice " ? ....... if farmers are too gullible & too greedy to look after their own best interest , then that is their personal problem , not the banks .....

..... next you'll be advocating for obese people to sue MacDonalds for selling them fatty food !

We all come blessed with free will . And we are free to exercise it . Don't blame others if you make poor choices , suck it up , learn from the experience , and move on ... keep on truckin' , as they say ...

by Iain Parker | 15 Jan 12, 5:31pm

GBH, ya old man of finance. I

GBH, ya old man of finance. I wager you are living the good life on money gained from unsuspecting others by financial chicanery?
As for "what fraudulent banking practice"? you asked. This as written by Alan Bollard himself in his book -Crisis- published 2010;
"Another governance worry related to the power and competence, or lack thereof, on ...the part of banks chief risk officers and risk committees. These officers assess the possible outcomes from any deal and decide whether the risks are acceptable under the banks mandated policies. We were now hearing about cases where risks had been miscalculated, procedures bypassed and officers overruled, all in the race for higher earnings."

The private banking interests claim the control of issuance and allocation of money should remain with them independent of public representative influence due to their expertise of keeping whats phantom in balance with whats real. They blast the public with messages saying business customers can trust our advice and always imply you are not capable of navigating the complexities of finance yourself.
GBH will be saying "your choice, dont use them", well GBH the sad fact is there is no choice, the private bank interests currently have a monopoly on the creation of and allocation of the money supply then there might be some validity to your blame everyone but the banks from then on in, but not now thats for sure.
They have been getting away with handing out the same fraudulent prospectus for far to long now. Lets see a full page article in every newspaper tommorrow describing just how banking actually works, that the essence of the money supply is the creation and extinguishment of loans, instead of the spin doctor bollocks we are fed about being based on the relending of deposits.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 15 Jan 12, 5:43pm

You just lost your wager ,

You just lost your wager , Iain ...... the Gummy fortune was built upon prudent investing in common stocks listed on the ASX , during my time in Australia ... and on the NZX during my Kiwi experience .....

..... and I didn't borrow a penny , absolutely no leverage , no bank money involved .... GBH doesn't believe in debt , but that's my personal choice , what others choose to do is their responsibility ........

It's kind of ironic Iain , that you're the one with a bank loan , not me ! .... keep on truckin' , friend ...

by Iain Parker | 15 Jan 12, 6:47pm

GBH, you would have us

GBH, you would have us believe you never had a personal loan contract in your entire life. You either inherited a whack, won something, benefited from union or government subsidy periods or are a rarity indeed.
As for implying you have never paid bankers debt by choice, you are deluded if thats what you really think.
Under the current system bankers debt is factored into the pricing of most every money transaction you make whether you like it or not.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 15 Jan 12, 10:59pm

.. Truth be told , I took

.. Truth be told , I took out a home loan with the ASB .......... held it for about 3 years . Thought I should test run this mortgage business that everyone was raving over ...... but it was not for me , so I cashed up some assets , and paid the loan off .....

..... isn't that the prudent thing to do ?

How long have you held your mortgage , Iain ?

[ .. bear in mind , the Gummster went bush in Australia ( oil & gas ) , and built up a sizeable asset base before getting married ... which seemed a good idea at the time , and with hindsight , still does ..

... you keep grasping at straws to denigrate me Iain , why is that ? ... I loathe unions & governments, and never gained one iota from either of them , didn't want to ... also , no inheritence , and no winnings , zippo .. ]

by Iain Parker | 16 Jan 12, 5:43am

GBH, now here is the

GBH, now here is the thing;
Your first statement..... and I didn't borrow a penny , absolutely no leverage , no bank money involved .... GBH doesn't believe in debt , but that's my personal choice , what others choose to do is their responsibility ........

Your later statement........ Truth be told , I took out a home loan with the ASB .......... held it for about 3 years . Thought I should test run this mortgage business that everyone was raving over ...... but it was not for me , so I cashed up some assets , and paid the loan off .....
As a man who has been in the oil industry carting crude from wells to production stations I ask you how much of an advantage do you think you get working in the industry then investing in stocks in the industry?
My beef is with BB's who have like sperm to the egg, have by some form of a small miracle, and in most cases having had to work harder than they ever should have, have survived the private banker pyramid scam and come out the other side, but now remain blind to the exponentially escalating impacts of the bankers pyramid scam and preach to the youngsters that now come behind that debt in the system is somehow an avoidable choice? These people in my opinion are pulling the ladder up on those coming behind them.

by skudiv | 16 Jan 12, 6:53am

And to think Gummy, if you

And to think Gummy, if you had swapped your stocks for Gold about 12 years ago, you could buy 10x more stocks today. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but now you know, when the Dow index will buy you 81oz of gold or 8000oz of silver, it's a pretty good time to swap stocks for gold or silver. The inverse when 1oz of gold will buy a share in the Dow, its a good time to swap your gold for shares.
This is a ratio I will be keeping an eye on. Forget notional value, the stock market has lost about 50% of its purchasing power against the CPI since 1999, and a lot more compared to gold, oil, houses, wheat etc.

by moa man | 15 Jan 12, 7:36pm

Iain, you worry too much

Iain, you worry too much about banks. Work hard enough, be smart enough, and you can find youself in the position of being the lender to banks, they don't like it much when you tell them you don't like their t/d or fx rates, and simply move your funds to get a better deal elsewhere. I dislike banks probably more than you do. Banks are not are a charity, never have been and never will be. Only a fool would would take advice from a bank. They are there to serve their interests, and so they should. They are a business. If more people took that onboard, instead of thinking banks are some sort of public service,then the finances of the general public would be in a better place.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 16 Jan 12, 8:14am

Exactly ! ... well said . The

Exactly ! ... well said . The banks are no more than a financial tool to use if you choose to , but it's not compulsory ...

by Kunst | 16 Jan 12, 8:23am

Roger - we are all different.

Roger - we are all different. Most people are happy with a job and work hard to make an income, but stay away of investments or dealing with commodities of many different reasons – ethical reason could be one.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 16 Jan 12, 8:40am

..... you don't need to tell

..... you don't need to tell me Walter , I fully understand ..... give the message to Iain , he lectures us long & hard about the evils of the banking industry , but has the temerity to have a loan himself ! ...... Tsk tsk ......

Commodities you say ? ....... Gummy invests in businesses , in publicly traded companies . And if they pay a divvie , we re-invests that ....... you'd be surprised how the compounding effect builds a small stash into a large pile over a quarter of a century , even in the thrall of a Hickey market .......

by scarfie | 16 Jan 12, 1:09pm

But even by lending to them

But even by lending to them you are facilitating the Ponzi scheme when they turn around and lever it by 9x. Make a bit of a joke of the spread really, when it reality it is 9x greater in their favour.

by Iain Parker | 15 Jan 12, 10:21am

Snippy, great to see another

Snippy, great to see another grasping our economic reality over the spin.
What makes the current financial system a ponzi pyramid scam is who currently has control of the issuance and allocation of the seed capital of the capitalist system and the terms and conditions under which it is issued.
Private interests that are in the main the oldest largest dynastic banking families currently control the issuance and allocation of most the entire worlds money supply. They choose to loan it into circulation and demand more back in return than they issue to mathematically ensure bankruptcy and receivership which will ensure the efforts and resources of wider society will end up owned and monopolised by the very same lenders as they use the proceeds of their pyramid scam to buy when the scam forces victims to sell.
The predatory debt peonage scam can only be broken if those in control of the issuance and allocation of money spend it directly into circulation free of interest to pay for the construction of our necessity of life public infrastructure and economic essentials of communication and transport, and provide full employment for every citizen physically able.
This honest generative money system then becomes the launch pad and fall back for private enterprise. Private enterprise has no place or no need to be anywhere near societies necessities of life.
The most comprehensive best-for-less document by the most highly credentialled financial sector insider turned whistleblower I have seen exposing our current economic reality and what needs to change;
http://neweconomyworkinggroup.org/new-economy-story/how-liberate-america-wall-street-rule

by Justice | 15 Jan 12, 10:49am

Inside the Fed in 2006:

Inside the Fed in 2006: A Coming Crisis, and Banter
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-fed-2006-coming-crisis-124207691.html

Why do these muppets still have jobs?

by marcf28 | 15 Jan 12, 1:52pm

To be fair to farmers , there

To be fair to farmers , there was a series of serious droughts during that period as well as a labour government that was on a spending spree
Didn't help banks were telling them to take on more debt
Have heard that its the smaller operations with good equity but poor cash flow during that period that are being targeted now tho

by OMG | 15 Jan 12, 10:37pm

More on the supposed coming

More on the supposed coming home based energy revolution.
http://ecatnews.com/?p=1854
Nasa video released in the last few days
http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/media/CC/lenr/lenr.html
I am sceptical but it would be wise to have an open mind on this.

by In the RED | 16 Jan 12, 8:40am

Rossi looking pretty suspect

Rossi looking pretty suspect (as in almost certainly a fraud)...
...but either NASA are getting desperate (always a possibility) or we MIGHT actually be on the brink of something truely historic
See also: http://newenergytimes.com/index.shtml

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Daily briefing for Friday, January 13, 2012; Spiritual snobbery, misleading ads; EU Tobin Tax; advisers squirm

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