Jim,
I am so frustrated dealing with Schwab and Scottrade in getting my securities registered under the direct registration system. Schwab said they would look into it and haven’t got back to me yet after 4 days. Scottrade said I’d have to contact the transfer agent myself and that they didn’t do that. I have most of my IRA in bullion gold trusts (Sprott’s and Canadian Funds) and want to secure those certificates. I also have several mining shares. I’m ready to change brokerages if I can find one that will cooperate with me on this. AARGHHH! I have a feeling that we’re all going to need belts and suspenders for what’s ahead.
CIGA Jack
Jack,
It is the system trying to hold you in the system. Call the transfer agent and request help to accomplish DRS.
Keep me informed, please.
Jim
Dear Jim,
There are no leaders leading, but rulers ruling.
If you can’t find a leader you trust, lead yourself.
Thank You for all you do,
CIGA Keith
Mr Sinclair,
Last night you wrote that if Bernanke had not kicked the can down the road in March 09, we would be living a catastrophe instead of a disaster. Ok, got that.
In the past you have alluded to the fact that there was a solution to saving the Western financial world before the elites flushed Lehman Bros. I have that in my notes from the GATA conference in London last year. I don’t know if I missed reading your sight the day you said what the solution was (highly unlikely as I read your sight as though it is the financial Bible) or I am supposed to be smart enough to have figured it out myself. I will chalk it up to my ignorance. If I may be Midwestern blunt, what was that solution?
CIGA Bob the Bee Man
Dear Bob,
Before the bankruptcy of Lehman, the outstanding OTC derivatives approximated a "Daisy Chain" and that means they could have been netted to zero in say a bank called "Bad Derivative Trust." The losers would have loved it and the winners would hate it but the obligations could disappear to zero.
Lehman was flushed into bankruptcy so that the "Daisy Chain" of the OTC derivatives no longer existed and no longer could be netted to zero.
The federal rescue paid money into the losing banks to pay out to the winning banks and the Fed bought the overmuch bad derivative paper at full value when it was in some cases worthless.
That is the story, and the only real story.
Regards,
Jim
Paulson Steps Up Gold Bet to 44% of Firm’s Equity Assets
CIGA Eric
Paulson who made billions shorting sub prime credit markets in 2007 continues to add to his massive gold position in 2012.
Headline: Paulson Steps Up Gold Bet to 44% of Firm’s Equity Assets
Billionaire John Paulson raised his stake in an exchange-traded fund tracking the price of gold while selling other stocks during the second quarter, leaving his $21 billion hedge fund with more than 44 percent of its U.S. traded equities tied to bullion.
Paulson & Co. purchased an additional 4.53 million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust, the firm’s largest position, and bought more shares of NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG), according to a Form 13F filed yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gold prices posted their biggest declines since 2008 last quarter.
While Paulson trimmed his stake in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG) and Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), sales of energy, financial and auto-parts stocks boosted the relative weighting of gold-related securities in his U.S. stock portfolio to the highest in three years. That’s making the fund more vulnerable to declines in the price of bullion as the hedge-fund manager struggles to reverse record losses last year.
Paulson, 56, has lost 23 percent so far this year in his Gold Fund and 18 percent in the Advantage Plus Fund, in part because of wrong-way bets on mining companies. Advantage Plus, which seeks to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies and uses leverage to amplify returns, declined 51 percent last year.
Source: bloomberg.com
Jim,
I have been amazed and encouraged by what I have learned during conversations with Investment Relations at some of the precious metal miners that I own. First, the list on your site is not complete and I have found that many of my investments are part of DRS. Second, I have had two conversations with small Canadian junior miners where the investment relations execs were COMPLETELY UNAWARE of Direct Registration. In one conversation, the gentleman opened up a bit and expressed his frustration with the performance of mining stocks generally. His company has performed well and his shares are underwater and continue to fall. I explained that DRS is cost free to the company, how DRS can benefit the share price (by removing stock from Street name), and about the protection it provides each shareholder from systemic failure. He is taking it up internally when the CEO returns from a trip to Europe. He even expressed interest in doing it himself!
This isn’t just a matter of putting pressure on management teams, it’s a matter of educating them about the benefits!! I hope more CIGAs are making these calls as well!
CIGA Elliot
Elliot,
Extremely well done.
Jim
Jim,
I contacted Fidelity and was told they cannot transfer to DRS because my funds are in an IRA account. Is this true?
Regards,
Jerry
Jerry,
I have written this up today and yesterday and the day before in JSMineset.
You have to go about it another way which I have outlined in detail on the site.
If you cannot find it come back to me again but if I have to type this again but I am going to do a primal scream.
Jim