Dear CIGAs,
Tomorrow I am off to Oman. For those interested, this the Sultan of Oman’s private yacht, named the "Al Said." It is said this is the largest yacht built out of Italy to date.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
I have been the recipient of some very disturbing changes in arrangements between clients and safety depositories. You will see herein that bullion and cash is being categorized with pornography.
Please note that the legal disclaimers are making this type of storage anything but safe keeping.
Be advised.
Click to enlarge
"The US dollar will make new lows"
–Jim Sinclair
The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
– V.I. Lenin
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Below is a partial list of new boards and commissions created in the Health bill.
The government continues to grow.
1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61)
2. Grant program for wellness programs to small employers (Section 112, p. 62)
3. Grant program for State health access programs (Section 114, p. 72)
4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 115, p. 76)
5. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111)
6. Health Choices Administration (Section 241, p. 131)
7. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138)
8. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155)
9. Program for technical assistance to employees of small businesses buying Exchange coverage (Section 305(h), p. 191)
10. Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Commissioner (Section 306(b), p. 194)
11. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 307, p. 195)
12. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 308, p. 197)
13. Grant program for health insurance cooperatives (Section 310, p. 206)
14. "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321, p. 211)
15. Ombudsman for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321(d), p. 213)
16. Account for receipts and disbursements for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 322(b), p. 215)
17. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191 (b), p. 589)
18. Demonstration program providing reimbursement for "culturally and linguistically appropriate services" (Section 1222, p. 617)
19. Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 648)
20. Accountable Care Organization pilot program under Medicare (Section 1301, p. 653)
21. Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 672)
22. Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 681)
23. Independence at home demonstration program (Section 1312, p. 718)
24. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734)
25. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 738)
26. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 753)
27. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 784)
28. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 786)
29. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 796)
30. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 804)
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
CIGA JB Slear keeps you informed of enforcement actions. You will never see a flag redder
Enforcement Actions
Legal actions by the Board and written agreements approved by the Federal Reserve Banks
April 8, 2010
Written agreement with Rosemount Financial Services
April 7, 2010
Written agreement with FCB Florida Bancorporation and First Commercial Bank of Florida
April 6, 2010
Written agreement with Atlantic Southern Financial Group
April 5, 2010
Written agreement with Citizens Bancshares of Woodville
John Williams correctly states:
"Signalling looming deterioration in U.S. business conditions, an intensified economic downturn or "double-dip recession" in popular terminology. The implications here remain for severely exacerbated government (federal and state) fiscal and funding crises, for exacerbated banking system problems and for eventual severe selling pressure against the U.S. dollar."
John’s work is essential reading and is available at www.shadowstats.com.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
When the devil is in charge in Wall Street, virtue is a sin.
That is not about to change in our life time.
US banks understate debt, masking risk: Report
9 Apr 2010, 2140 hrs IST,AGENCIES
WASHINGTON: Major US banks have been masking the size of their debt, and thereby their risk levels, by temporarily lowering it just before
reporting it to the public, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The newspaper, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said 18 banks have understated the debt used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42 percent at the end of each of the past five quarterly periods.
The banks included Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase and Co, Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc, the Journal said.
It said the practice was legal but gave investors a skewed impression of the level of risk that financial firms are taking the vast majority of the time.
It noted that over borrowing by banks was one of the causes of the financial crisis.
"You want your leverage to look better at quarter-end than it actually was during the quarter, to suggest that you’re taking less risk," William Tanona, a former Goldman analyst, was quoted as saying.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Try this new headline:
Yuan moves away from the US dollar towards basket of currencies indicating that China will be buying fewer US Treasury instruments to sustain rate.
Yuan rise could come by June-Oct.
China might increase interest rates as early as this month, but will probably not allow the yuan to rise until the June-Oct. period, senior government economist Zhu Baoliang said this morning. He added that another one-off revaluation was unlikely, but said the yuan peg could be shifted to a basket of currencies.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
When the devil is in charge in Wall Street sin is a virtue.
Banks back to same old tricks.
An analysis of data released by the New York Fed shows large banks are hiding their risk levels by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting periods. A group of 18 banks – including MS, GS, JPM, BAC and C – lowered the debt used to fund trading ventures by an average of 42% at the end of each of the past five quarters, refilling their tanks in subsequent months. While not illegal, the practice gives investors a false impression of banks’ leverage – one of the factors that led to the massive panic in 2008.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Total BS.
Greece bankruptcy looms.
Rates on 10-year Greek bonds spiked as high as 7.5% on Thursday, up from 6.5% just three days ago, delivering a clear message: Artfully worded communiqués aren’t enough; to avoid bankruptcy, Greece needs an EU bailout, fast. At a press conference Thursday, ECB chief Trichet insisted the joint EU/IMF aid proposal is a "very, very serious commitment," but his assurances did little to calm nerves as investors continue to withdraw funds from Greek banks.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Easter came early this year. Keep that in mind when you make these comparisons.
Retail sales rocket higher.
Sales at top retail chains rose a robust 9.1% in March, the largest monthly jump in at least 10 years, and far stronger than the +6.3% Street consensus. More than 90% of all retailers beat expectations, although executives cautioned that the March rise could foretell a weaker than usual April. Economists were upbeat, saying the data indicated consumer spending was accelerating. Department stores were the strongest performers, but discounters and teen apparel chains also exceeded projections.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Note how an early Easter is used here.
Initial jobless claims jump.
The number of U.S. workers filing for unemployment benefits shot higher, up 18K from a week ago to 460K, well above economist estimates of 435K – although the Dept. of Labor warned the data may contain statistical biases due to the Easter holiday. But the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell to the lowest level since Dec. 2008, and the insured unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, the lowest since Jan. 2009.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Pinocchio.
Goldman denies it would profit from Greece collapse.
Goldman Sachs (GS) admitted the firm "has bought some credit protection" to hedge its exposure to the Greek debt crisis, but suggested that – contrary to reports – it would lose money if Greece’s credit situation worsens. On Wednesday, Rochdale’s Dick Bove hinted that Goldman could profit handsomely if bad turns to worse in Greece, sending shares up 2%.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Go global warming. Screw the polar bears. What is an Inuit?
Get those minerals. These are governments with the mindset of OTC derivative traders.
Any questions?
Canada dismisses Russian "stunts" in the Arctic
Thu Apr 8, 2010 3:32pm EDT
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada on Thursday dismissed what it said were stunts by Russia in the resource-rich Arctic, including a reported plan to land paratroopers at the North Pole later this week.
Canada and Russia are among five nations with Arctic borders that are currently working to stake out territorial claims over what geologists say could be massive reserves of oil, gas and minerals.
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, after a visit this week with scientists in the Arctic who are working on Canada’s claims, said that he was aware of reports that Russia intended to land paratroopers at the North Pole on Saturday.
"I don’t take it seriously … the Russians are playing games as to who can plant a flag or who can send paratroopers there," he told a news conference after highlighting the work he had seen the Canadian specialists performing.
"I thought the contrast was striking. We take our job seriously and it seemed to me that the Russians were just pulling stunts," he said.
No one at the Russian embassy was immediately available for comment.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Blame the business model, not the modellers. Hold up the straw man and knock ‘em down.
This is the season of plausible denial. I did not do it. The model behind the tree did it.
Fannie Mae Was Felled by Flawed Business Model, Regulators Say
By Lorraine Woellert
April 9 (Bloomberg) — Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage company under conservatorship, was toppled by conflict between its mission to foster homeownership and profit demand it faced as a publicly traded company, former regulators said.
Political support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the biggest sources of U.S. home-loan funding, helped thwart efforts to reform the two companies before losses forced the government takeover in September 2008, Armando Falcon Jr. and James Lockhart said in remarks prepared for a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing in Washington today.
The public-private structure bred “greed, excessive risk taking and abuse,” said Falcon, who oversaw the lenders from 1999 to 2005 as director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. “The companies were not unwitting victims of an economic down cycle or flawed products and services. Their failure was deeply rooted in a culture of arrogance,” he said.
The commission, mandated by Congress to produce a report by the end of this year on the causes of the financial crisis, is holding a third day of hearings this week to examine the impact of the mortgage market’s collapse. Commission chairman Philip Angelides said today’s session will shed new light on the failures of Washington-based Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of McLean, Virginia.
“We’ve done some pretty extensive scrubbing of these institutions,” Angelides told reporters yesterday. “We’ve done a lot of research, a lot of investigation.”
