Comex Gold Inventories Collapse by Largest Amount Ever on Record

This article comes from Patrick MontesDeOca on SeekingAlpha.com

For the last few months, I have been warning my subscriber base to take a serious look at the reality of the unfolding collapse in the monetary system as we know it. It's happening in front of our eyes and you need to be aware and prepare for what is coming. I've published numerous articles, particularly for the gold and silver markets, on this subject matter.

The past couple of years have been a real test and challenge to my personal convictions and my skills based on the evidence and research I have done. One of the most difficult skills to accomplish in trading is the ability to break away from the herd. It's human nature, and most of us want somebody else to take the responsibility to deal with the challenges and find the solutions to our problems.

In a previous report I commented,

U.S. debt continues to increase. In the first two months of the current fiscal year that began on October 1st, the U.S. national debt has grown $320 billion. That is $21 billion more than the same two-month period last year, which illustrates that the growth of the national debt continues to accelerate. The reason of course is the federal government's huge operating deficit, which is not getting any smaller.

That is exactly what the general consensus seems to have adjusted to. Or, I should say, addicted to - the idea that our government is going to solve our problems and find the solutions through its distribution of wealth template - which has proven to be the formula to destroy the middle class and in doing so the old American Dream. I am not a gloom and doom person or an extremist. But I have been around the block enough times, and as a student of the market for more than 30 years I personally can tell you, I have never seen this set of circumstances come together as they are currently unfolding in the world financial markets.

The Cyprus situation is the canary in the coal mine. The fact is that this action has never been taken by any central bank previously - to essentially steal money from depositors - will have serious socio-economic consequences and sets the stage for the last act of this financial crisis. The collapse of the monetary system (U.S. dollar) as we know it, and the resumption of the long-term secular bull market in gold and silver.

On a recent phone interview, I asked Eric Sprott (Sprott Asset management) if the Cyprus crisis was the "Black Swan" of the eurozone? He said, "This is a Black Swan."

This is a template that is going to be applied on a global basis. The general consensus by the central bank leaders is to unleash the most aggressive monetary policies ever. Which is to print as much fiat currency necessary to band aid the system, with severe long-term inflationary if not hyperinflation consequences globally. .

There has never been a more profound reason to shift back to real money like gold and silver in order to weather the storm or the economic tsunami that's under way. The problem is that it may not be enough of the real thing to go around (Comex Gold Inventories Collapse By Largest Amount Ever On Record).

Over the last 90 days without any announcement, stocks of gold held at Comex warehouses plunged by the largest figure ever on record during a single quarter since record keeping began in 2001 (roughly the beginning of the bull market). See chart below.



Total drainage of physical inventories reached nearly 2 million ounces of gold, which at today's prices represent roughly $3,000,000,000.

Large speculators have the biggest short position on record. Interest by speculators in silver has waned in the past few months, as reflected by Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. In the March 26 weekly commitments of traders report, the most recent data, money managers' net-long position for silver sits at a mere 632 contracts for futures and options combined in the disaggregated report.

This is a dramatic fall from this year's high of 29,580 net-long contracts reached on February 5. Since reaching that high, the net long position for silver speculators fell each week. Meanwhile, the gross short position for speculators has risen to 22,382 as of March 26, from 2,922 as of February 5.

Extreme lows for the managed money net long positions are "usually associated with important bottoms for the price of Silver," said Karl Schott, a bullion specialist with EMA. I urgently recommend you to open your eyes and see that this is a life changing opportunity to accumulate gold and silver at current levels and buy as much as you can, converting fiat currency to old and real money like gold and silver in order to protect and maintain purchasing power. Don't wait, act now before it's too late. This is an explosive set of unusual circumstances for gold and silver markets.

Additional disclosure: The information in the Market Commentaries was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but we do not guarantee its accuracy. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed therein constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of any futures or options contracts.

Disclaimer: Trading derivatives, financial instruments and precious metals involves significant risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

U.S. Mint Sales For March

This article comes from Hebba Investments on SeekingAlpha.com
US Mint Sales For March: US on pace to use all domestic mine production for Silver Eagles

Pay Attention GLD, PHYS, PSLV, and SLV investors - the U.S. Mint's full March sales numbers show the strongest March in terms of silver eagles sold. We will go inside the numbers to show this to investors, but the dichotomy between the silver price and silver sold seems to continue, with strong physical investment demand being opposed by relentless paper sales.

Analyzing the U.S. Mint Sales Numbers

When analyzing sales numbers it is important that investors go past the headlines and dig deep into the true nature of the sales. For brevity we are only showing the last few years of sales, but for doing comparisons we have used data from the beginning of the current bull market in 2001.

To start, let's take a look at the U.S. Mint sales numbers for silver and gold for March and compare them to the same month in previous years. We are doing a year-over-year comparison because coin sales are very seasonal in nature; to get a fair read we have to compare March to March.


(Click to enlarge)

The first thing that stands out about the numbers is that silver eagle sales continue to be very strong with 3,356,500 ounces sold in March. This was the second largest amount ever sold in March, and the only March that surpassed this number was in 2010 - when silver prices were 40% lower. The year-to-date numbers continue to impress with 14 million silver ounces sold through March - which is 15% higher than the second highest month (March 2011). As a reminder, 2011 was the strongest year for silver eagle sales (and for the silver price) with 39 million silver eagles selling in 2011, and if we continue matching this sales pace, 2013 will be 15% higher than 2011 and reach 45 million silver eagles sold.

Continue Reading....

Continue Reading....

Mike Maloney's 2005 Warnings

I am not a genius but i am smart enough to follow someones track record and label them accordingly.
This is a man worth listening to.

Ron Pauls Urgent Warnings

These are very serious times with very serious consequences. It is important for people to become educated about events like those transpiring around us; and they are not isolated. Simply open the pages of a history book and you can find that situations like these have played out in almost every major civilization dating back to ancient times. Most notably, because of its recency, is pre-WW2 Germany.

A nation whose currency had been inflated to the point of worthlessness in an attempt to pay off their enormous debts. Peoples lives were destroyed, their savings evaporated into thin air. Simple necessities like food and water and heat were unattainable for most. The fear of uncertainty gripped the nation; the people were desperate for help and answers. Then, during a meeting in Munich on November 8, 1923 the hall was over run by militants and a man took the stage and delivered a speech, to a literally captive audience, that would change the world. He gave the people a scapegoat for the tragedy they had suffered and promised a way out.    That man was Adolf Hitler.

 

Think about what happened.... There was an entire middle class of people who were going through hard times because their government was in debt. Jobs and incomes began to slip away. The quality of life they had grown accustomed to began to fade. They began to lean more and more on their government while trading their liberties for perceived safety. Their government inflated their currency to worthlessness. The middle class (largest portion of the population) lost everything; savings, jobs, homes, etc. They were scared and looking for help. The fingers were pointed at the Wealthiest citizens who had planned ahead (who at that time happened to be the Jews), and the new governmental leaders promised to even things out. They imprisoned the wealthy, took the remaining liberties from the population and followed their own private adjenda. The middle class was never given the opportunity to rebuild itself, all of the promises were false, the people were herded up like sheep because they were to scared to take control themselves.

 

The early stages sound strangely familiar dont they?

 

we are entrenched within the same story line unless we as a nation decide, at this pivitol point, that we would rather change for the better and retake the reins of responsibility and freedom.

 

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/putsch.htm

Whats so hard to Believe?

Why is it that the huge majority of Americans have absolutely no idea whats looming ahead, and what is actually going on? Is it because they dont know any better, or because they follow blindly what they hear on tv, or maybe because they just dont ever change the channel from sportscenter? Whatever the reason is, its hard for me to wrap my head around.....

Perhaps it has to do with what science deems the 'normalcy bias'. This title refers to a state of mind that most people naturally enter when facing disaster. It causes them to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and the possible effects of the disaster. I think it also might have to do with a sense of arrogance that tends to surround us and our nation. We have this mindset that the rest of the world needs us and depends on us so its to all of their best advantage to make sure nothing bad happens here, as it will most likely have negative effects on them as well. We have this 'it cant happen here' kind of attitude which makes us extremely vulnerable. The remainder of the delusional state can be accounted for by a serious lack of economic and financial understanding which some how the Board of Education doesnt feel is a worthy teaching, so people just absorb what they hear, from a young age, on tv and from their friends and family. This is also the reason that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles with debt.

BUT....... for those who are prepared these times of great crisis and upheaval will be also times of great opportunity. The world has seen this many times before, yet never on such a large scale. If you simply look back in history at all the times these same events have played out you can see the outcomes. In order to survive financially and physically you must be prepared, you must protect yourself. A few weeks ago the northeast was hit by Hurricane Sandy and all of the water, batteries, candles, jugs and pails, bread, and other necessities were cleaned off the shelves. So what will happen when a world-wide currency crisis occurs? do you think the stores will remain open and full of food and water? even if they did would they except your money if it were worthless? These are all scenarios that are not only possible but, at this point, almost guaranteed. What will you do when your savings accounts and retirement funds cant buy you anything? or even prior to that what if you cant withdraw them from your bank? Sounds crazy huh? well all of these events have occurred all over the world time and time again, most recently in Greece, Ireland and Spain; but also in Germany in the 1920's, Zimbabwe, twice during the French revolution, a couple times in England, Japan, Russia, Turkey, even here during the civil war, and countless other nations dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Do you not think the Romans were a high and mighty civilization? Well the downfall of the roman empire can be partly blamed on a currency collapse. If the currency of a nation, or in this case many nations, begins a freefall to worthlessness what do you think the people of that nation will all be trying to do simultaneously? Thats right, they will be trying to convert their cash and savings accounts into some sort of tangible asset, whether it be wheat, or cattle or water, or gold, or silver, etc. because at least the value of the money will remain in tact although in a different form. The cattle can then be traded for bread and water or gold and silver. But all commodities are not created equal, you see most commodities are consumables like wheat and water and beef, there are only a couple of commodities that we can see throughout 5000 years of history have fit the bill as money. The attributes that make them suitable for money are that they are a medium of exchange, a unit of account, they are portable, durable, divisible, fungible, and they are a store of value. The only two commodities that have been used consistently throughout history as money are Gold and Silver, so if you wish to protect your purchasing power you should at this time be converting your savings and retirement funds into precious metals; as the masses begin to hysterically pile into them down the road you will not only protect your purchasing power but you will magnify it, and then later you can trade accordingly for whatever you might need.

Shed a little light on Gold: The Remonetization

This video does a great job at explaining the basic structure of the worlds major banks.

The real topic of discussion in this post will be Tier 1 Capital. First and foremost, what is Tier 1 Capital and what is its purpose?

The 1st Tier of capital in the major banking industry (banks typically valued at $50Billion or more) is esentially the beating heart of the bank itself. It is composed of assets that are regarded as having a zero percent risk weight. Meaning that they are of no liability, and can be counted on no matter what the economic landscape. The purpose of these capital reserves are to protect the bank from possible collapse during times of great distress, like the large financial collapse of 2007 and 2008 where we saw many large institutions come under serious pressure do to over leveraging and inadequate capital reserves.

Now that we have defined Tier 1 capital and we understand its purpose lets ask ourselves... what should qualify as a zero risk asset?

Typically the banks own shares of common stock and retained earnings are the heavy hitters. They account for a good portion of the reserve capital. Also allowed into this select category are government guaranteed debt instruments like treasury bonds, and possibly common shares of other institutions. When you think about the term "zero risk" some of these assets simply dont seem to fit the bill, especially under current keynesian monetary policies. With governments around the world expanding their currency supplies at alarming rates it seems negligent to assume that bonds, with such small yields, would be viewed as a "safe haven" asset class as their returns are mostly below the rate of inflation. Anyone that can perform basic mathematics can see that most of these governments have very little to no chance of repaying their debts without first inflating their currency supply to make their payments bearable. So the options for these treasury holders are limited, esentially, to either being repayed with devalued currency (at a loss), or not being repayed at all; hardly what i would call a "zero risk" asset.
On the other hand you have an asset like Gold which has proven over nearly 5000 years of history that it is the ultimate in stability. It has no counterparty risk, it cannot be manipulated or reproduced and most importantly it tends to outperform all other asset classes in times of great inflation, deflation, and distress because of its "zero risk", "safe haven" properties. Gold seems to fit all of the requirements for tier 1 capital and yet it is viewed, in the banking industry, as unequal to currencies and government debt. In fact, within Basel II standards, it remains in the 3rd tier of capital which is home to the most risky assets.

So why isnt gold used, in the world wide banking system, as tier 1 capital if it is exactly what they need in times like these?

This is a great question and the answer is fairly obvious once revealed.
There has actually been talk within the banking industry about the possible shift of gold to a tier 1 asset. You see, banks would actually benefit from the change, as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is forcing them to increase their percentage of tier 1 capital starting January 1, 2013 to create more stability in wake of the 2008 crisis. Having other options would allow them to more easily fill the added requirements.
The reason that its so difficult for the committee to allow gold into the tier 1 class is that it would seriously undermine the governments ability to sell their debts. As mentioned earlier, anyone with a calculator can figure out that the bonds have negative returns while gold is only increasing in value with every dollar, euro, yen, etc printed. The banks would without doubt begin to diversify more of their holdings out of bonds and currencies and into gold, so the governments really won't take a change like that sitting down. It may be forced upon them though as gold continues to incrimentally enter the system from the peripherals.
Central Banks have become net gold buyers for the first time in years, and that really makes a bold statement. In the eastern hemisphere we're even seeing the chinese government encouraging its citizens to purchase metals. Many nations are beginning to diversify more and more of their holdings out of dollars and into commodities, as well as creating trade agreements which do not involve converting currency into dollars for purchases. We've seen the acceptance of gold to settle debts on many occasions and its becoming more obvious that people dont want to continue holding and accepting currencies that are being continually debased. So we can see that people are starting to understand the situation more fully as the problems only seem to compound and the fundamentals for precious metals continue to improve. Gold will ultimately move back towards the center of the financial system where it belongs, whether its voluntary or forced doesnt seem to matter.

John Embry: Why Gold and Silver are Important To Own

Wait for QE4, its only a matter of time

Chairman Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve announced yesterday September 13th that the FED would put into action an open-ended plan to purchase $40 Billion dollars of Mortgage Backed Securities every month. Thats about $500 Billion a year. They will also hold interest rates at near zero until at least mid 2015.
What a shock! Just like I predicted.

Between the FED and the Government they've created such a situation where there is no easy way out. Theres only two real options; either they are to incompetent to realize that their "solutions" are only increasing the underlying problems, or they know and are just trying to hide the truth for as long as possible. Either way its not good. The only way we'll see a real recovery is they stop intervening and just let markets find their equilibrium. We have a very harsh reality to face, that is true, but the sooner we face it the sooner we can begin with a fresh slate and correct the real problems. The perverbial can is just being kicked further and further down the road with the government bailouts and the banking bailouts and QE1,2,3,4; but no matter how long the road stretches, theres a cliff at the end of it.

The government is in dire straits. They have no money and continue to fall farther and farther into debt with every day. but instead of making cut backs like a normal business, they continue to borrow and grow the government with more tax programs and bailouts and stimulus and wars. Ofcourse wall street is happy because the stock markets keep floating higher on the constant wave of money coming from Ben at the FED. But what the average Joe doesnt realize is that while their mutual fund moves up a couple points and their housing prices seem to regain a foothold its only because the FED is diluting the currency with Trillions of dollars. So their savings and retirement funds are being swept away.

Analogy:

If Ford Motors produces only one of a new model vehicle its going to be worth a lot. But if Ford produces 1 Trillion of the same model, you couldnt give one away. They'd be worthless because everyone would have a hundred of them in their back yard. Well its the same thing with Dollars. Right now having $50,000 is great, but when all those fresh trillions hit the markets that $50,000 wont buy a stamp. Thats what QE is doing to the public savings.

Mike Maloney explains it all...

My 2010 position in Silver Wheaton brought gains of 100%, give or take a few dollars. I also had a small position in Premium Exploration which i thought had great potential as a gold exploration company. Their properties seemed to be extremely valuable but I sold my position at the end of the year for just a slight gain, which turned out to be a bit soon. Over the following weeks the stock did a major run up in price which would have been nice, but now it sits just about where i sold. The reason i sold my positions at the end of the year was so that i could switch from paper precious metals investments to physical metals investments. My research throughout the year taught me alot about the nature of our crisis as compared to other crisis's suffered by the US and other nations throughout history. I learned about the transfer in wealth from cash to tangible assets like gold and silver. So at the beginning of the 2011 year i purchased a 100oz bar of
.999 fine silver for $30 an ounce and paid $100 for shipping and insurance. In 2010 I started with $1600 which i doubled to just about $3200 by december. I then purchased the bar for $3100 and later two small 1oz bars for just under $100 with shipping.
Less than 3 months after my purchase silver was riding $50oz. Thats a gain of 62%.
During these summer months the price of silver has been beatin back by a combination of massive commercial shorts, in an effort to supress the price, and the natural summertime selloff which happens nearly on cue every year. Notoriously the fall and spring months are best for precious metals while the summer is usually the slowest.
I do expect that by years end we'll be back up near the $50 price range.