Ontplof dan toch!

Zoals ik hier al een tijdje zeg: de goudmarkt staat op het punt te ontploffen. Al maanden wordt er massaal en op een nooit geziene schaal fysiek goud gekocht. Toch heeft de prijs sinds maart 2008 geen nieuwe records gevestigd. Eén van de voornaamste redenen hiervoor is dat de goudprijs wordt gemanipuleerd op de grondstoffenbeurs in New York. Maar hier zal verandering plaatsvinden! Er komt een tegenaanval! Langzaam maar zeker zijn goudhandelaars fysiek goud van die beurs aan het afhalen wat het einde van de manipulatie op de grondstoffenbeurs zal betekenen. Waarom wordt de goudprijs gemanipuleerd? Omdat de machthebbenden, politici en bankiers, niet willen dat de bevolking begint te snappen hoe ernstig deze crisis wel is, dat mensen zich niet zouden beschermen door goud te kopen. Men wil de aankoop van goud ontmoedigen door de prijs te drukken. Helaas, de toekomst zal bewijzen dat de goudprijs niet eeuwig onderdrukt kan worden. Vele keren in de geschiedenis hebben machtshebbers de goudprijs proberen te manipuleren. De laatste keer dat dit op grote schaal gebeurde was in de jaren '60. In 1968 werd de manipulatie doorbroken doordat er op ongeziene schaal fysiek goud werd afgehaald van de goudbeurzen. Nu is hetzelfde aan het gebeuren. Drie jaar na 1968 werd de goudstandaard afgeschaft door de Amerikaanse president Nixon. Hij werd door zijn adviseurs ingelicht dat de goudprijs, toen 35 dollar, wel zou dalen als gevolg van zijn actie. De goudprijs dacht daar anders over en steeg tot 1980 tot 850 dollar. Nooit heeft de goudprijs nog aan 35 dollar genoteerd. En nooit zal dat nog gebeuren. (Tenzij men ooit via nanotechnologie van str*nt goud kan maken.) You mark my words: De goudprijs gaat exploderen, ik weet niet exact wanneer, maar lang kan het volgens mij niet meer duren. Het internationale monetaire systeem is aan het barsten. Wat de Amerikaanse centrale bank deze week besloot, de korte termijn rente op zo goed als nul brengen, is zéér positief voor de goud- en zilverprijs. Het wil niet meer of minder zeggen dat geld bijna gratis is. Er zal geld geprint worden als nooit tevoren. Dit zal in de toekomst voor een situatie zorgen die nog nooit in de wereldgeschiedenis werd ervaren. Hieronder volgt een artikel waarin gesteld wordt dat de vraag naar fysiek goud zo groot is momenteel, dat goudmunters de klok rond werken om aan de vraag te voldoen. Echter, hoe lang zullen de goudmunters nog bevoorraad kunnen worden met goud door de goudmijnen. Hun productie loopt al jaren achteruit. Het mag duidelijk zijn: De vraag naar fysiek goud is in dertig jaar niet zo groot geweest. Toch heeft slechts een minimaal deel van de bevolking wat papiergeld in goud omgezet. Je wordt nog steeds als een onnozelaar bekeken als je zegt dat je in goud belegt. Heerlijk. Reuters RPT-FEATURE- Nervy investors spur rush at Swiss gold refiners12.17.08, 3:04 AM ET Switzerland - By Arnd Wiegmann and Lisa Jucca MENDRISIO/ZURICH, Switzerland, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Sealed off by grey concrete walls and barbed wire, the workmen in protective glasses and steel-toed boots at this smelter cannot work fast enough to meet demand from the nervous rich for gold. This refinery near Lake Lugano in the Alps is running day and night as people worried about recession rush to switch their assets into something that may hold its value. "I have been in the gold business for 30 years and I have never experienced anything like this," said Bernhard Schnellmann, director for precious metal services at the refiner Argor-Heraeus, one of the world's three largest. "Production has dramatically increased since the middle of the year. We cannot cope with demand," said Schnellman, wearing a gold watch on his wrist. Spot gold hit a record $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17. It fell below $700 in late October, partly because investors sold their holdings to cover losses in equity and bond markets hit by the credit crisis, and is now around $830 an ounce. The trigger for the price to rise again could come from a much weaker dollar, making gold cheaper for holders of other currencies, and a renewed aversion to paper assets as governments and central banks pump large amounts of cash into the economy, stoking inflation. Smoke billows as the molten gold, like glowing butter, is poured. To cool it, the worker drops it into water. It hisses as it hits. Once hardened in moulds, the gold bars are embossed with the refinery's seal. Workers wearing white gloves stack them into boxes like domino pieces. Though Switzerland is not a gold miner, it is home to some of the world's largest refineries, which process an estimated 40 percent of all newly mined gold. Argor-Heraeus is part-owned by the Austrian Mint and a subsidiary of Germany's Commerzbank. Commercial and central banks are its chief customers and it says it processes some 350-400 tonnes of gold and 350 tonnes of silver per year. Customers buying gold bars, which can weigh more than 10 kg each, have to wait roughly a month, taking into account the year-end holiday season. For those buying coins or ingots, which can fit into the palm of a hand, the delay is six to eight weeks. A year ago, these small products could be had within a couple of days. Worries about the banking system globally have boosted worldwide demand for physical gold, the Gold Council said. "Many (people) are afraid of leaving their money in banks," said Sandra Conway, managing director at ATS Bullion in London, which sells bullion and gold coins to institutions and the retail market. "It's difficult to quantify, but I would say our turnover over the last three months has certainly doubled compared to the previous three months," she said. FULL CAPACITY Other Swiss gold refiners also say business is booming. "Since the summer we have experienced a sharp rise in demand for certain gold products. The one-kilo bar has become very popular," said Fiorenzo Arbini, in charge of health and safety at Pamp, another large Swiss refiner. "People used to buy certificates, now they want physical gold." Schnellmann said the Argor-Heraeus smelter is operating at full capacity, three eight-hour shifts a day. Conquering the backlog by hiring is difficult, because each candidate has to undergo a security check. Gold refiners were established in Switzerland to supply the watch industry and, later, jewellery-makers in Italy. Switzerland's largest banks stepped in to replace a void in gold trading while the London gold market was shut after World War Two and again during a brief closure in 1968. The former Soviet Union, another top gold producer, chose Zurich banks to handle most of its gold sales in the 1970s and 1980s. "Gold has an image of being the asset of last resort. This could be viewed as old-fashioned but this is how enough people with enough money to matter think," said Stephen Briggs, a metals strategist at RBS Global Banking & Markets. GOLD TOUCH India, China and the Middle East remain the biggest gold importers, particularly for jewellery. But demand for physical gold has exploded also in Europe, the Gold Council said. In Switzerland, home to the world's largest private banking industry, demand for gold bars and coins shot up six-fold to 21 tonnes in the third quarter of 2008, more than in any other European country. Retail investment in gold rose 121 percent in the third quarter of 2008, an important contributor to the overall increase in global demand, the Gold Council said. In that period purchases of gold bars by retail investors, who often buy through commercial banks, rose nearly 60 percent, notably in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States. There was a surge of interest among professional investors shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September. Private bank Julius Baer in October launched a fund to invest exclusively in gold bars stored in highly secured vaults in Switzerland. "The fascination with gold has been there since the beginning of civilisation," said Schnellmann. "It cannot be explained: you can't eat gold, you cannot build anything resistant with it and yet people want to hoard it." (Additional reporting by Pratima Desai in London; Editing by Catherine Bosley and Sara Ledwith) Copyright 2008 Reuters