"Those entrapped by the herd instinct are drowned in the deluges of history. But there are always the few who observe, reason, and take precautions, and thus escape the flood. For these few gold has been the asset of last resort."
–Antony C. Sutton
Jim,
I spent most of the day burning brush and watching the leaves on the brush flare up reminded me of dollars. I got to wondering how much land the 1200 trillion dollars in at or near worthless OTC derivatives would cover. If my math is right, the answer shocked me.
- one sq foot = 12" x 12"
- one dollar = 2.61" wide x 6.14" long
- roughly 9 dollars to cover a square foot.
- one sq acre = 43,560 square feet
- 43560 sq ft x 9 dollars per sq foot =
- 392,040 dollars to cover a square acre.
- 640 acres is one square mile
- 250,905,600 dollars to cover a square mile
- 1200 Trillion dollars in at or near worthless OTC Derivatives will cover 4,782,675.24 square miles.
That made me wonder how much of America would be covered by one dollar bills? I Googled square miles of Texas and found the following: The answer is shocking:
- United States total area: 3,537,441 square miles.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/area.shtml - 1,245,234 sq miles left over
- Mexico covers an area of 758,449 square miles
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/maps/map_country_mexico_cntry.html
So 1200 trillion dollars in worthless paper would cover all of the United States and Mexico with 486,785 square miles left over to cover other lands with.
Best Regards,
CIGA Daniel
Dear CIGA Dan,
I am sure you will launch every math geek in the gang, but you worked so hard I am obligated to post this.
The point is made. These OTC derivative demons have killed us all to some degree, creating a problem for which there is NO practical solution.
They have been bailed out with our tax dollars.
Regards,
Jim
Jim,
Regarding Bernanke on 60 Minutes Sunday:
Did you watch him on the show last night? He is forecasting the end of the Recession/Depression by the end of 2009. What is he smoking? I think he needs to review Jim’s Formula!!
CIGA Ian
Dear Ian,
He may really believe himself. If so then he is in real trouble.
Regards,
Jim
Dear Jim,
China was mentioned in the Financial Times Lex column today. Part of the article is duplicated below.
“The Country (China) now boasts three of the world’s top 10 companies by market capitalization. It has the world’s biggest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the world’s largest telecoms operator, China Mobile. Petro China is second only to Exxon Mobil, while life assurer China Life is second to none."
"Chinese and US banks have switched places in other ways. Remarkably, the US has a bigger proportion of banking assets in state hands and also more red ink. ICBC, by contrast, made more net profits than any other bank in 2007, and earned nearly $14 billion in the first nine months of 2008.”
As we have often said, the Chinese think for the long term, and this attribute will serve them well as they grow to world economic dominance.
China continues to buy oil assets, base metals assets, and other mining assets worldwide to stoke the fires of their economic machine. We believe that this pattern will continue, especially while good assets can be acquired and while economic nationalism is being muted by the global economic decline.
Respectfully yours,
Monty Guild
www.GuildInvestment.com
Jim,
Like you said, where is this diplomacy in the US? Where is the outrage? How is it that these people are standing up to the banks and we aren’t? I am pissed every day that our banks are getting away with this. I’m ready to march – lets go to DC…
CIGA BJS
EU banks must disclose toxic assets for aid
By Nikki Tait in Brussels
Published: March 14 2009 12:13 | Last updated: March 14 2009 12:13
Banks must disclose their problem assets if they want to avoid lengthy wrangling with Brussels over aid schemes, Europe’s top competition watchdog warned at the weekend.
In a tough-talking speech, EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes told executives that she would not sign off on restructuring schemes under European Union state aid rules if banks continued to conceal their troubled assets.
”To protect taxpayers and maintain the level playing-field, the public purse will simply not be open to banks who do not want to open their books in return,” she told a conference, organised by Deutsche Bank.
Ms Kroes expressed frustration at the way banks had been behaving to date. ”In many recent meetings with bank chief executives, I am told their bank is fine, but the other banks have problems. They cannot all be right,” she said.¬
”So the high levels of transparency we are demanding are essential for determining the full scope of our collective problems and rebuilding trust.”
Jim,
I would bet there will be a lot of people buying these bumper stickers, well, at least a lot of taxpayers…
Your CIGA in the Mortgage Finance Industry
