Hi Jim,
Any luck on finding a broker who will do direct registration in the name of the custodian and taxable account?
CIGA Travis
Dear CIGA Travis,
I have received emails from multiple CIGAs telling me that they have been successful with this issue. I do not save emails as a practice.
If any CIGAs pass along the brokers name to me, I will see you get it.
Sincerely,
Jim
Dear Jim,
You warned us. The foolish do nothing and deserve what they get!
Big Tatanka
Dear Big Tatanka,
I am so upset. Practically nobody is doing anything to protect themselves, yet I know people who, as of now, lost everything at MS, their life hard won and huge successful trading work in commodities and securities!
Regards,
Jim (aka Little Tatanka)
IIROC accuses Barrett of exposing customers to ‘immense risk’
John Greenwood Jan 17, 2012 – 9:41 AM ET
Canada’s investment industry watchdog is accusing a small Toronto commodities brokerage of manipulating client accounts and issuing false statements as part of what it alleges is an “elaborate trade allocation scheme” that went undetected for years and that now leaves customers “at immense risk of harm.”
Barret Capital Management has experienced “a pervasive failure of its operating procedures,” according to the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), which is seeking the immediate cancellation of its brokerage licence at a hearing in Toronto on Tuesday.
According to its website, Barret offers trading for primarily retail customers across a host of metals, minerals and agricultural products. One of its main focuses is a precious metals service where clients are able to buy physical gold or silver bars suitable for RRSPs.
Dear Eric,
Greham’s Economic Law does exist. Good money pushes out bad money.
I will add "From the smallest coin to the largest bill to bonds of the offender."
It is coming in 2012.
This is just one of the many reasons the gold market’s full valuation point is far, far away.
Jim
Currency Devaluation No Pocket Change
CIGA Eric
Kevin reminds us all that changing composition and shrinking circulations of smaller denomination coins more often than not unrecognized symptoms of rampant currency devaluation across the globe.
Composition of loonies and toonies will be switched to a steel core from nickel
Thought you might find this interesting…
Kevin
Headline: Canada to mint cheaper steel coins
OTTAWA — Canada’s mint will soon unveil one-dollar and two-dollar coins made from brass-plated steel, replacing more expensive nickel cores, the government said Friday.
An explanation in the official Canada Gazette said the traditional use in coinage of high cost alloys at volatile market rates has driven up production costs for governments around the world.
"In many countries, the intrinsic metal value of the coins are greater than their face value, leading to coin hoarding activities that reduces the efficiency of the monetary system," it said.
The new coins will be slightly lighter, Can$16 million (US$16 million) cheaper to produce and ship, and harder to counterfeit.
However, the change will cost coin-operated industries up to $40 million to recalibrate vending machines to recognize the new coinage.
The mining sector will also be hit as global nickel demand falls by about 539 metric tonnes per year, or 0.05 percent.
Source: google.com
Headline: Cent, Nickel, and $1 Coins Chart Uncertain Future
During the 2011 fiscal year, losses from producing and distributing the cent and nickel reached $116.7 million, as the unit cost for each rose to more than twice the face value. The US Mint’s Acting Chief Financial Officer David Motl indicated that demand from Federal Reserve Banks for these two denominations is expected to increase in the near future.
Meanwhile, the US Mint’s most profitable denomination was the $1 coin, which generated $382.8 million in seigniorage. On December 13, 2011, Vice President Biden and Treasury Secretary Geithner announced the suspension of production of Presidential Dollars for circulation. The coins will still be minted in limited quantities needed to fulfill demand from collectors, but undoubtedly production will experience a sharp decline.
Source: coinupdate.com
Dear Eric,
There is choice whatsoever. QE or not is pure MOPE. QE will happen to infinity, both in the USA and Euroland.
The Greeks will exit the Euro as China’s price for moderate assistance. The US would like to hold off until June, but that is politically very risky without an Iranian War.
Bernanke is reluctant but will not desert the sitting administration.
Regards,
Jim
Economic Deterioration Or Increased Debt Monetization?
CIGA Eric
The mass downgrade of European nations reminds us all that the monster called the sovereign debt crisis has not be slain. While centralized governments "drastically" slash their staff and critical office supplies such as computers and staplers in an effort to balance the budget, their actions are ignored as meaningless by global capital flows. There is no plan whatsoever to reduce or payoff existing debt. S&P’s recent downgrade of France and several other European nations only reiterates the cautionary message coming from the gold market.
As debt repayment continues to consume an increasing portion of GDP, the choice will be economic deterioration or increased debt monetization by 2013. The slow decay in the countertrend reaction in the "Jim’s formula" (see chart 1) suggests decision time is fast approaching.
Chart 1: US Federal Budget (Surplus or Deficit As A % of GDP, 12 Month Moving Average) and Gold London P.M. Fixed 
Silver recent upside breakout of its intermediate down trendline favors the increased debt monetization outcome.
Chart 2: Silver ETF 
