A "Gold Tsunami" is Coming

My first offering for you today is this inflation-related piece from the Saturday edition of The Telegraph that I found posted as a GATA release. The headline pretty much says it all..."Bank of England Attempting Inflation 'Confidence Trick,' Says Former MPC Member Kate Barker". Keeping inflation under control is a "confidence trick" that the Bank of England may fail to pull off, Kate Barker, one of its former rate-setters, has warned. This is exactly the same parlor trick that Bernanke and Co. are trying to pull off as well. It's the 21st century version of selling snake oil out of the back of a covered wagon. It's worth the read...and the link is here.

The next item is one of many stories provided by reader Roy Stephens today. This piece is also from The Telegraph...this one from the Sunday edition. This is an unusual subject for Ambrose Evans-Pritchard to write about...but its importance is critical for just about all life on earth...and I've posted several stories about this issue over the years. Being a farm boy from way back...I can say that this is 100% food/commodity related...and the headline reads "Einstein was right - honey bee collapse threatens global food security". The bee crisis has been treated as a niche concern until now, but as the UN's index of food prices hits an all time-high, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our food security. This is a must read from one end to the other...and the link is here.

Roy's next reading material is a UPI posting from London that's headlined "Walker's World: Europe Fails Again". France and Germany sought to give some much-needed and sensible leadership to their European partners at Friday's summit but found themselves short of followers. This is a rather short piece for UPI Editor Emeritus Martin Walker...and if you have the time, it's worth the read...and the link is here.

First it was Algeria, then Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen...and now Serbia. Here's a story posted over at the france24.com website that Roy sent me on Sunday. The headline reads "Protesters flood the streets of Belgrade calling for early elections". Tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets of Belgrade Saturday calling for political reform and threatening further demonstrations if early elections are not held ahead of a scheduled May 2012 parliamentary vote. The link to the story is here.

My last three stories before I get into the precious metal offerings, are all about Egypt...and all from Roy Stephens. The first one is from the Sunday edition of The New York Times. The headline reads "As Mubarak Digs In, U.S. Policy in Egypt Is Complicated". Like most Arab countries, Egypt is totally under the thumb of the American Empire...and I'm sure that the U.S. is making every attempt to have this revolution turn out for their benefit. It's a longish read...but I found it to be worthwhile. The link is here.

The next story about Egypt was this Reuters piece posted over at the france24.com website. This one is headlined "Egypt's opposition wary after historic talks to solve crisis". The United States, which had bankrolled Mubarak and the army to the tune of $1.3 billion a year, has backed the talks, but said dialogue must be given time. Washington and its allies were caught by surprise by the uprising against Mubarak's government, whom they saw as a bastion against Islamic militancy and a friend, albeit a reluctant one, of Israel. In my opinion, this is also worth your time...and the link is here.

The last Egypt-related story is from the German website spiegel.de. The headline reads "The Fragile Dream: Egypt's Fight for Freedom". The Egyptian revolution is fragile, and it isn't yet clear where it will lead. Still, it does provide reason for hope: Those reaching for power are not bearded old men, but young people who yearn for democracy. They have impressed the world, inspired their neighbors and forced the West to allow an old ally to fall. This is a very long read...but all in-depth articles are that way...and the link is here.

The first gold-related story I have for you today is one that I dug out of a GATA release yesterday. It's from the Saturday edition of the Austin American-Statesman...and is headlined "Meet the rational gold investor, a rare bird". This one is named Shayne McGuire. He manages gold investments for the Texas Teacher Retirement Fund. Although the amount of money is large, he is quick to put it in perspective: It is less than 0.5 percent of the roughly $100 billion fund. Even so, it's more than most pension and endowment funds anywhere in the world have committed to the precious metal.

This is the third gold-related story involving Shayne McGuire that I've posted in this column during the last year or so. And, as usual, Shayne calls it the way it is...and the link to the story is here.

Next is a story that is a Reuters piece from Saturday that was posted over at the Indian website economictimes.com. The headline reads "China's 2010 gold output at record 340.88 tonnes". The figure confirmed an earlier forecast by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that China was on course to produce more than 340 tonnes of gold in 2010. It's a short story that's courtesy of reader Bob Fitzwilson...and the link is here.

Reader 'Jeff in Switzerland' was kind enough to forward the following Bloomberg story from yesterday that's headlined "Investors Have $102 Billion Bet on Gold, Silver Gains". After the worst January for precious metals in two decades, investors still have a $102 billion bet on higher prices, hoarding more gold than all but four central banks and more silver than the U.S. can mine in almost 12 years. The link is here.

Here's a silver-related story that courtesy of California reader Ray Wiberg. It was filed from Beijing yesterday...and posted over at the commodityonline.com website. The headline reads "China Silver imports hit record 3,500 tons in 2010". It's certainly worth the read...and the link is here.

The next story is one that was all over the Internet yesterday...and I'm posting the GATA release on it. Chris Powell's headline reads "Morgan will take gold pledged against any crappy paper"...and he continues with the comment "Good luck getting it back." They'll only take bullion in its physical form that's deposited in their vaults...not any 'paper gold'...not even GLD shares. It's a Reuters piece that they headline "JPMorgan Will Take Gold as Collateral with Inflation in Focus"...and the link is here.

If you've got about fourty minutes to spare just now, your humble scribe was interviewed on Sunday by Dr. Dave Janda over at WAAM Talk 1600 out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. We spent almost the entire show talking about silver and gold. The link to the interview is here.

Here's a blog that was sent my way by Eric King over at King World News yesterday. Although it's a fascinating read, I must warn you in advance that it's all hearsay and speculation at this point...so please read it with that firmly in mind. If it turns out to be true, then you can let your imagination run wild. The headline reads "KWN Source - Expect Massive Chinese Gold Buying Using GLD"...and the link is here.

Here's Roy Stephens last offering of the day. It's a commentary from yesterday that's posted over at Canada's Business News Network that's headlined "Sprott Warns of Physical Gold Shortage". The video clip runs 3:22...and is a must watch...and the link is here.

As the last story states, Eric Sprott said exactly that..."We believe Asian demand for physical gold and silver is akin to a tsunami. While precious metals prices have corrected on the paper exchanges, the inflation resurgence in Asia is quietly driving new, unforeseen levels of physical demand for the metals. While the world continues to float on a sea of paper, this massive wave of physical demand silently threatens to crash into the physical gold and silver market, potentially wiping out tangible supply." All of this is contained in the latest "Markets at a Glance" commentary, which is written monthly by Eric Sprott and David Franklin.

I had the good fortune to sit beside David at dinner one night when I was at the gold show a couple of weeks ago in Vancouver...and it was an education. I also spent some quality time with Eric as well. I'd love to be able to tell you all that we discussed, but I can't. However, you'll get the drift of it from their latest commentary which is headlined "Gold Tsunami". For whatever reason, it's still not posted at Sprott's website...but Australian reader Wesley Legrand sent me the posting from zerohedge.com...and that link is here. It's a must read.