MF Global trustee seizes investor's gold and silver boullion, too.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the entire world's financial system is corrupt from the inside out, and untrustworthy. Naively, I would predict some kind of "run on financial-system-X."

But, to have a "run," there has to be some place where people want to move their value. Which raises a fascinating problem: If people look around and see that every possible option is crooked and untrustworthy, where do they move their net worth?

You could possibly argue that the ultimate-hedge-of-last-resort is "buy metal and stash it under your mattress," (*) but if you're talking about millions of dollars, that starts to not seem very attractive either, since a single burglar could wipe you out.

I don't know. Property? Art? Where is it going to go? I realize that some percentage is truly going to just evaporate, since it was never anything but virtual.

(*) or if you want to go full-zombie-apocalypse, I suppose "buy food/ammo and stash it under your mattress"

They would at least be multi purpose....kill werewolves, use for self defense, or for barter......


I know Jim rogers moved to Singapore several years ago, saying "the US is done for"
and one of his recent columns he discussed his investing in farmland and food commodities.

Or is it too much to contemplate?

And, sadly, only a small % of people seem interested in financial matters.
Plus, the terms that get thrown around....this new "Rehypothecation " term, for instance, boggles the mind.

Look how many years it took for the implications of the " sub-prime mortgage crisis" to be realized for what it really was..
full bore mortgaged fraud by the banks.

But, ya know what struck me?
If "Rehypothecation " is just a big word for pledging collateral 100 times over for the same bet in the money funds

is it not pretty logical they did the same thing with mortgages in the trust/MBS funds
and THAT is why they had to come up all those robo signers to produce forged docs once the docs were needed ?

Isn't that why they will never let the lawsuits get out of hand though? It almost cries out to be papered over just to keep things functioning.

many bets in the money funds.

In other words something that would be simple outright fraud if attempted by you or me, I think I'm right in saying. But these people seem to think that "deregulation" has meant that they are not beholden to any law.

Have you seen part 2 of the Reuters rehypothecation article? It looks like you can use rehypos to get around customer accoutn regulation. http://currents.westlawbusiness.com/Article.aspx?id=3ad720bf-7caf-4086-8464-53a6ef26ca5b&cid=&src=&sp=

how can that be legal?

the only feasible response to widespread corruption in markets, corporations, banks, government, media, etc, etc,

This has mind boggling implications. People who called for physical (and have the receipt) are being paid pennies on the dollar?

What about the storage, insurance and audit protections?

My head is spinning on this one.

This ties in somehow with J.P. Morgan being desperately short on silver , then suddenly getting its hands of the MF Global storage of metals.
I am still looking for a story that explains that. Keiser was overviewing it without much detail, yesterday.

it will be him. Boy has been on JPM and their silver manipulation for a long while now.

I hope he blows the damn lid off of this one.

http://www.investmentrarities.com/ted_butler_comentary12-19-11.shtml

lots of stuff in the archives

http://www.investmentrarities.com/tbarchives.shtml

Keiser has been saying this for over a year, but without as much background info as your link.

GATA chairman Bill Murphy gave a detailed account of Maguire's allegations to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stating how "JP Morgan Chase signals to the market its intention to take down the precious metals. Traders recognize these signals and make money shorting the metals alongside JPM. explained how there are routine market manipulations at the time of option expiry, non-farm payroll data releases, and COMEX contract rollover, as well as the ad-hoc events."

According to Maguire, the precious metals markets trade "pretty much in tandem", but because the silver market is so much smaller, it is harder to disguise one's activities and therefore easier to figure out who is behind a manipulative event. After Bear Stearns and their short silver positions were acquired by JPMorgan, manipulative events in the silver market became more frequent. Maguire decided to inform the CFTC. He contacted commissioner Bart Chilton, who had Eliud Ramirez, a senior investigator from the CFTC's enforcement division, get in touch with Maguire. Maguire explained the manipulations in great detail, both over the phone in an hour-long interview and afterward, in a series of e-mails with screen shots.

Maguire then predicted a manipulative event in the silver market and gave detailed information in an e-mail to the CFTC about what to expect, sending it on February 3, 2010, two days prior to the event. The event transpired exactly as Maguire predicted. While the event was taking place, Maguire sent e-mails in real time, pointing out certain details because the CFTC enforcement seemed not to know what to look for or how to interpret the data.

...........

Maguire and his wife were injured in London in a hit-and-run accident on March 26, 2010, the day after Maguire's name came to light during a CFTC hearing on limiting gold and silver positions held by large market participants in order to prevent manipulation. Maguire believes the accident was an attempt on his life. The driver of the other vehicle was apprehended after a police chase, both on the ground and from the air in helicopters, but his name has not been released. Maguire said, "We got hit in the side at full acceleration and tried to corral the cars in a gas station, including the guy who hit us with a commercial vehicle." The assailant then sped away, hitting at least two more cars. Maguire said the police told him the assailant was known to them, but he has been unable to get further information about the case. The assailant was reportedly given a slap on the wrist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Maguire_(Whistle_Blower)

more

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/205674-Andrew-McGuire-whistle-blower-on-market-manipulation-injured-in-hit-and-run-accident

Might need to keep a folder on the folks getting into "accidents and suicides" in the foreclosure mess, such as the woman whistleblower found dead last month.

2 dead bankers...Greenhill &Co.....


Greenhill & Co., Inc. is an independent investment bank focused on providing financial advice on significant mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, financings and capital raisings to corporations, partnerships, institutions and governments. The firm made $298.6m in sales in 2009, with a $71.2m profit. The firm competes primarily against other M&A specialists like Lazard, Rothschild, Evercore Partners, and Moelis & Co. as well as financial conglomerates like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhill_%26_Co

hmmm...wunner what they knew?

edit to add...GHL share price down 55% YTD..