Chuck Butler’s: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts
July 14, 2017
- A Big Day for data here in the U.S.
- Gold gives back Wednesday’s gains…
- What the heck is Denmark thinking?
- Another hazy, lazy, crazy day of summer…
Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! With the way I’ve been feeling this week, I’m ready to attempt to make this a Fantastico Friday! Who’s with me? Baseball gets started again today, YAHOO! Some very loud storms rolled through in the middle of the night here. Our power went out just briefly, but they were so loud they woke me up… The Byrds greet me this morning with their song: Turn, Turn, Turn…
Well, today’s the day… the day that I give you the details on the Gold price suppression that I’ve been promising you… I’m not going to tell you where you can find it in the letter, so that you’ll read the whole letter… See how tricky I am? First we need to go through the normal process… So, with no further ado, here we go!
It was another hazy, lazy, crazy day of summer yesterday for the currencies, which saw little movement during the day, and only saw some minor gains in the overnight markets. I think that the markets are waiting to see the color of today’s U.S. Data prints before taking any further risks. But as of now, before the data prints here in the U.S., the dollar has a weekly loss…
And I don’t think it will find any solace in the data prints today that include the stupid CPI and Retail Sales… I can tell you that the BHI (Butler Household Index) indicates that Retail Sales will reflect the hazy, lazy, crazy, days of summer, but they won’t be negative like in May… And while I refuse to give two hoots about the stupid CPI, the markets continue to think it’s the Cat’s Meow, and therefore we have to cover it… And in my opinion, we’ll see CPI (consumer inflation) continue to reflect slowing inflation, which was a concern of Janet Yellen’s this week as she gave two prepared talks to lawmakers.
And with inflation continuing to slow down, the markets believe that the Fed will have to back off deviate from the “dots”… Don’t know that is? Ahhh, grasshopper, the Fed uses a graph with dots that are projections of where the Fed Funds interest rates will be. To me, their “dots” are ridiculous… And no one organization, such as the Fed, should be allowed to set market rates… The markets should set their own rates!
OK, enough on the Fed, before I go down a rabbit hole and don’t ever come back! I’ve got other things to get to today!
The price of Oil moved higher in the past 24 hours and now trades with a $46 handle… And the Petrol Currencies are taking that move and getting on the rally tracks this morning, led by the Russian Ruble. But the Norwegian krone and Brazilian real are far behind! I told you earlier this week what was pushing the real to higher ground, but now with the price of Oil moving higher, the real has really taken to the higher ground.
And Gold… I look at yesterday’s trading and just laugh… Not a funny-ha-ha laugh, but more of a cynical laugh, for on Wednesday, Gold gained $2.80 and yesterday it lost $2.70… But the real short selling came in Silver as the every day man’s Gold, got whacked good!
So, I wrote about this quite a few years ago, long before there was a “change” in my writing… So, are you ready? OK, here goes… Let’s say your job here in the good old USA is to be the guy who’s supposed to protect the value of the dollar. (you’ve done a horrible job, by the way!) And you’ve taken your eye off the ball a couple of times in the past 40 plus years since Gold has freely traded. But when you get you eye back on the ball, you realize that something has to be done to stop the bleeding in the dollar, and it’s all that darn Gold & Silver’s fault!
So, you devise a plan to short the metals using brokerage houses to execute the trades, and assure them that the regulators will never find their dealing illegal, wink, wink. I’m not saying that this is what actually goes on, I’m saying it’s a possibility, eh? So, please keep that scenario in mind as you read this next part…
Well… In lieu of a FWIW today, I have this for you, as promised… this is a memo regarding how the U.S. needed to suppress the price of Gold back in 1974… Well, if it was done then, who’s to say that it isn’t being done now? Read on, or hit the link at the bottom to see the office letterhead, etc. that the memo was written on… Here it is, as promised…
A long memorandum written in March 1974 by a U.S. State Department official for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and copied to future Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, then the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for monetary affairs, describes the desire of the United States and its options to prevent European countries from increasing the use of gold in the international financial system.
The memo, titled “Gold and the Monetary System: Potential U.S.-E.C. Conflict,” was recently discovered in the State Department archive by GoldMoney Vice President John Butler and brought to GATA’s attention this week by GoldMoney research chief Alasdair Macleod. It emphasizes the longstanding U.S. government policy of subverting gold as a reserve currency in favor of the Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund, an agency then and now largely controlled by the United States.
The memo’s author, Sidney Weintraub, deputy assistant secretary of state for international finance and development, wrote:
“To encourage and facilitate the eventual demonetization of gold, our position is to keep the present gold price, maintain the present Bretton Woods agreement ban against official gold purchases at above the official price, and encourage the gradual disposition of monetary gold through sales in the private market.
“An alternative route to demonetization could involve a substitution of SDRs for gold with the IMF, with the latter selling the gold gradually on the private market, and allocating the profits on such sales either to the original gold holders or by other agreement.”
Weintraub copied his memo to Volcker just a month before Secretary Kissinger met with his assistant undersecretary of state for economic and business affairs, Thomas O. Enders, to hear a similar argument. Whichever nation or group of nations controls the most gold, Enders explained to Kissinger, can control the currency markets by changing gold’s value periodically. Thus, Enders said, replacing gold as an international reserve with SDRs was in the interest of the United States.
See memo here: http://www.gata.org/files/WeintraubMemo-03-06-1974.pdf
Well, how about that? There’s another memo from Kissinger around that same time, regarding the need for Gold suppression, out on WikiLeaks, that I used to have, but have misplaced it, and when this one came across my desk, I figured it was as damaging as the other one. And did you see the mention above about the used of SDR’s? (Special Drawing Rights) A recent Economist magazine even had a cover story on how they believe that very soon, everyone in the world will be using the same currency… Brother! I shake my head in disbelief and disgust!
Before I head to the Big Finish today, minus a FWIW, Did you hear about how Denmark has predicted it’ll be the first country in the world to get rid of notes and coins altogether. They’ll be replaced by plastic and tap and go technology as soon as next year.
And Australia might not be far behind… Wanna know what will be the biggest loss of individual and financial freedom IF it ever takes place here? Moving to a cashless society… But don’t get me started on that! I’m having a good Friday morning so far, and don’t want to ruin it!
But just take a minute and think about that cashless society, sure it will be convenient, but… Imagine all the fees that everyone and their brother will now be able to charge you each month, because they have control of your bank account? Come on Chuck, move on, you said you were going to!
To recap… it was another hazy, lazy, crazy day of summer again yesterday and it was just too hot, for the currencies to move further against the dollar, but they did see some minor gains in the overnight markets… I remember when Alex was little and played baseball one game he was told to go the field, and he refused to go, saying that “it was too hot”…. I took him home, and he was not allowed to play baseball again that year..
Currencies today 7/14/17… American Style: A$ .7760, kiwi .7315, C$ .7714, euro 1.1415, sterling 1.2965, Swiss $.97, … European Style: rand 13.1889, krone 8.23, SEK 8.3436, HUF18 268.45, zloty 3.6964, koruna 22.8529, RUB 59.91, yen 113.21, sing 1.3744, HKD 7.8087, INR 64.41, China 6.7826, peso 17.65, BRL 3.2080, Dollar Index 95.68, Oil $46.36, 10-year 2.33%, Silver $15.66, Platinum $908.11, Palladium $863.59, and Gold.. $1,218.60
That’s it For today… Little d (Delaney Grace) and brother Everett were at the house last night. Little d as I call her, is so sweet to me. She always runs to give me a hug when she first gets here, and always asks me how I’m feeling, and if I’m alright. And then gives me a kiss when she leaves… Baseball gets started again tonight after the ASG break, my beloved Cardinals have two weeks to prove that they shouldn’t be broken up as a team… They have the ability get it done, I don’t know if they have the “want”… Reminds me of one of my fave comedian’s lines.. From Ron White: “I had the right to remain silent… I didn’t have the ability”… The late great Alvin Lee takes us to the finish line today with his song: Choo, Choo Mama… And with that, it’s time to get off this bus this week, and head to a place where I can have a Fantastico Friday! Please join me! And Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler