"Get ready for the Pan Asian Gold Exchange, scheduled to open in June, 2012 in Kunming City, Yunman Province...Pan Asian will allow Chinese to speculate in gold futures contracts or buy physical gold through an account with a bank or broker. All 320 million customers of the giant Agricultural Bank of China will simply be able to use their Renminbi, the Chinese currency, from their bank accounts to trade gold. Sounds bloody dangerous doesn’t it. It means the spot market in gold could be headed for China, and away from London’s Metals Exchange or the Comex in New York. I’d like to know who is going to oversee and regulate all this action. For example, when the Comex raises margin requirements to dampen speculative fervor– will China be governed by that? I doubt it very much..." Robert Lenzner, The Chinese Mean to Control the Global Gold Market, Forbes
I assume the author, who is the national editor for Forbes, is satirizing some of the silly statements about gold recently appearing in certain other financial journals, all given by Very Serious People (VSP) who say even the most patently absurd things with self important weight, if not decorum. About twenty years ago Steve Forbes explained his abiding fondness for the gold standard one evening over hors d' oeuvres during a break in a business conference about southeast Asia as I recall. He has promoted it several times since then including during a brief run for president many years ago, and this year predicted a return to a gold standard in the US within five years. As you may recall I do not recommend such a rigorous standard at this time, given the debilitated nature of the US financial system. But I do think some other countries might consider giving it at least partial consideration and serious thought in their longer term currency plans, along with silver. It is one antidote, even if imperfect, against banker manipulation and financial excess. And this is why the Anglo-American bullion bank cartel fears any discussion of gold that is not managed carefully, since certain people might get ideas. Here is a news flash for them. They already have those ideas, and you are whistling past your nearly empty vaults. A hideaway home near Lake Lucerne or vacation ranch in Paraguay may be an advisable alternative. The charts are obviously at a decision point and they may be pushed by the headlines from Europe. Have a pleasant weekend.
