Some poetic justice here. Right now,
An ounce of silver: $46.21 (kitco.com, 10:15AM PST US)
One share of JPM: $44.64
From Zero Hedge:
Silver Takes A Sizable Lead Over JPM
And in exclusively silly, but oh so symbolic news, the race track crowd bursts into a frenzy following the ultimate comeback story, as One Ounce Of Silver has now taken a full length lead over One Share Of JPM Stock into the final stretch.
About 43 minutes long. From Charles Burris at the LRC Blog (3/5/2011):
The film tells the shocking story of how U. S. Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler became the savior of our Republic by exposing a fascist coup d’etat of plutocratic militarists in the early 1930s. The plotters largely consisted of elements aligned with the J P Morgan Wall Street banking interests and the American Legion. For more detailed historical background information on this true conspiracy, go here and here.
So the choice was either a fascist coup d'etat that eventually failed, or a socialist/communist coup d'etat that succeeded (FDR). Bleak choice either way.
J.P.Morgue and Wall Street seem to have finally succeeded what they set out to do in the 30s - capture of the US government, figure-head at the top.
All thanks to Tony Blair.
I was re-reading the article on the Wall Street banks who has their hands on the Libya's sovereign wealth fund money (which I linked on my post here), and something caught my attention on the second read:
JPMorgan Chase
reportedly handles much of the LIA's cash and some of the Libyan central bank's reserves. The summer after then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Gaddafi in 2008, LIA gave "mandates to some of the international banks, including JPMorgan to manage their funds in the interbank money markets, according to Vanity Fair.
JPMorgue manages reserves of the Libyan central bank??
WTF?So I went to the Vanity Fair link in the article, and I landed on "The Lockerbie Deal", Vanity Fair exclusive on 1/26/2011 by David Rose. Note the date - one day after the large demonstration in Egypt, but Libya was still "peaceful", and I don't think the article got much attention:
In 2009 the convicted Lockerbie bomber was sent home to Libya from a Scottish prison on grounds of “compassionate release”—he had only three months to live, authorities said. A year and a half later the man is still alive—and a Vanity Fair investigation reveals new details about the business interests and private dealings that lay behind the prisoner’s release. At the heart of the matter: the cozy and “profitable relationships” between the Blair government and Qaddafi’s Libya.
It so turns out that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his officials bent over backward to accommodate Gaddafi so that their favorite businesses would get lucrative business deals with Gaddafi's Libya and they would land on a cushy job in the private sector.
And J.P.Morgan Chase purchased Tony Blair for $3 million per year.
The relevant part of the Vanity Fair article:
And then there is Blair himself, who in the three and a half years since stepping down as prime minister has reportedly earned at least $30 million from his various business dealings around the world. Like many retired politicians, Blair commands high fees for public speaking, but in terms of income these fees represent a sideshow. In January 2008, Blair accepted a position as a consultant to the American bank J.P. Morgan Chase for a reported compensation of $3 million a year.
.... But Blair’s employer, J.P. Morgan, does have commercial relationships with Libya. Three senior British officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say that Blair has made numerous trips to Libya since leaving Downing Street, at least partly on behalf of the bank. “The Blair magic still works with Qaddafi,” one of these officials observes. “Qaddafi will drop everything to see Blair.” Saif al-Islam, Qaddafi’s probable heir, said last summer that Blair was “a personal family friend” and added that Blair had visited Libya “many, many times” since leaving office.Neither Blair nor the bank will say anything about what he does to justify his salary, either in Libya or elsewhere. Executives at other banks with Libyan interests say that J.P. Morgan now handles much of the Libyan Investment Authority’s cash, and some of the Libyan central bank’s reserves. Blair joined J.P. Morgan in early 2008—just as the authority began to ask foreign banks and asset-management companies for specific proposals as to what they might do with its billions. There was no shortage of takers. A Libyan official says: “We were besieged.” A voice at the table like Blair’s would get attention.
For J.P. Morgan, there was a further factor at work. It was able to start looking for Libyan money in 2008 because the climate had improved thanks to Qaddafi’s payment of the final tranche of compensation to the families of the Lockerbie victims ($10 million per family), a rapprochement sealed by the visit by then secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to Tripoli. By the summer of that year, says a Libyan financier, “a great percentage of the L.I.A.’s funds were in the interbank money markets, channelled through the central bank. They have given mandates to some of the international banks to manage this liquidity”—including J.P. Morgan. J.P. Morgan has not indicated whether it intends to take the next logical step and apply for one of the licenses being offered to foreign banks to set up operations there. I asked J.P. Morgan’s spokesman, Brian Marchiony, about this specific matter, about the bank’s handling of Libyan assets in general, and about Tony Blair’s role in developing its business. He replied by e-mail, saying simply: “We’re going to decline to comment.”
Another interesting tidbit in the article:
Until 2009, Rothschild was an adviser to the Libyan Investment Authority.
Well, no wonder Gaddafi says "People love me." Everyone wanted to do business with him, at whatever cost - BP, J.P.Morgan Chase, Tony Blair, Rothchild.
I wonder if the Libyan central bank reserves that J.P.Morgan Chase handles include gold...
As the US Treasury Department froze $30 billion assets of the Gaddafis and the Libyan government, all I wanted to know was "Who are the bankers who have managed that assets?"
My guess was Goldman Sachs, and either Merrill Lynch or J.P.Morgan Chase. I got two right.
From Huffington Post's Marcus Baram (3/1/2011):
NEW YORK -- U.S. President Barack Obama's executive order freezing $30 billion in assets of Muammar Gaddafi, his family and the Libyan government could impact several U.S. banks and private equity firms, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and the Carlyle Group. The Obama administration described it as the largest seizure of foreign funds in U.S. history.
The oil-rich country's sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority, controls at least $70 billion in fixed assets and reserves. It has invested the bulk of its money in European banks and businesses, including Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis, Italian bank Unicredit, the Pearson publishing empire, Italian defense firm Finmeccanica SpA, an oil-production sharing agreement with BP and even a slice of the Italian soccer team Juventus.In the wake of the Bush administration's lifting of sanctions against Libya in 2004, following Gaddafi's agreement to give up weapons of mass destruction, American businesses and private equity firms also came flocking to the North African country to court government and LIA officials. As The Huffington Post reported last week, a broad coalition of U.S. oil companies, defense manufacturers and businesses lobbied the U.S. government to repair relations with the longtime international pariah and to take advantage of business opportunities in the country.
The secretive Libyan Investment Authority has reportedly invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Goldman Sachs Asset Management funds, including a loan fund designed to invest in new hedge funds set up by the Kuwait Investment Authority. Goldman Sachs already has a relationship with Libya -- in 2008, Goldman was the first U.S. bank to get a contract with the country following the removal of sanctions, when it was hired by Libya's central bank to provide information on its behalf to credit rating agencies. A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs did not return calls seeking comment.
The Libyan government, including LIA, has also banked with Citigroup, according to several sources familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for Citigroup declined to comment on the bank's interactions with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is in charge of carrying out Obama's order regarding Libyan assets.
JPMorgan Chase reportedly handles much of the LIA's cash and some of the Libyan central bank's reserves. The summer after then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Gaddafi in 2008, LIA gave "mandates to some of the international banks, including JPMorgan to manage their funds in the interbank money markets, according to Vanity Fair.
The LIA fund's general consultant has been Mercer Investment Consulting, a unit of Marsh & McClennan, the global risk consulting and advisory firm. A spokesperson for Marsh declined comment. The fund set up a $2 billion investment fund with the Qatar Investment Authority to invest in Libya, Qatar and Western markets, which could complicate the effort to freeze the LIA's assets.
Two years ago, the Carlyle Group's co-founder and managing director, David Rubenstein, and Blackstone chief executive Steven Schwarzman traveled to the Libyan capital of Tripoli to help celebrate the wedding of Mustafa Zarti, the deputy director of the LIA, in a massive tent set up on the outskirts of the city, reported the Financial Times. And when Gaddafi's son and longtime likely successor, Saif al-Islam, visited New York in November 2008, Schwarzman hosted a lunch for him at the Blackstone CEO's Park Avenue apartment. The younger Gaddafi was also honored on that trip by Carlyle's retired chairman, former defense secretary Frank Carlucci, who hosted a dinner for him in a private room at the City Club.
Thanks to the efforts of Rubenstein, who first traveled to Libya in 2006, the Carlyle Group received funds from the LIA. A spokesman for Carlyle declined comment. A spokesman for Blackstone told The Huffington Post, "We have no investments in Libya. They have no investments with us."
and $4.5 billion short on reserves to cover the litigation costs, according to the article on The Street yesterday (2/28/11).
The proceedings are the result of "faulty" (fraudulent would be the word) mortgage origination, securitization, servicing and foreclosure processes by the bank, who is the originator, securitizer, servicer, trustee of REMICs all in one, just like other TBTF Wall Street banks:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- JPMorgan Chase is a defendant in more than 10,000 legal proceedings and may be $4.5 billion short of reserves needed to cover those costs in a worst-case scenario, the firm said in a regulatory filing on Monday.
The New York-based bank's legal woes range from individual actions against JPMorgan Chase to class actions with "potentially millions" of litigants to "regulatory/government investigations." The suits include common law tort and contract claims, statutory antitrust claims, securities claims and consumer protection claims, the bank said in its 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
...In a conference call last month, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon predicted that securitization lawsuits alone will be a long, difficult battle.
"It is going to be years before this plays out and this litigation is going to be fought almost securitization by securitization," Dimon said. "There is almost no other way to do it."
No kidding, Jamie. J.P.Morgan Chase has inherited the securitization done by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, as well as their own.
The article also mentions how the other TBTF banks are faring in terms of litigation reserves:
Citigroup: $4 billion short
Bank of America: $1.5 billion short
Wells Fargo: $1.2 billion short
With J.P.Morgan Chase's $4.5 billion, the total reserve deficit for these four banks is $11.2 billion. Considering Wells Fargo got Wachovia and Bank of America got Countrywide, their reserve shortage look too small.
Particularly for Wells Fargo, as the bank is one of the 3, 4 banks that act as the trustee of REMICs that supposedly hold underlying mortgages. What are the duties and responsibilities of a REMIC trustee? Among others, it is supposed to verify and confirm that the mortgages are properly transferred to the REMIC within the time frame specified in the pooling and servicing agreement, and that the mortgages meet the standard set out in the agreement.
which, as the trustee of the REMIC, Wells Fargo should have verified when the trust was created.
Bloomberg reports:
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMC Mortgage, facing homeowner lawsuits over foreclosures, was sued by the trustee of a mortgage portfolio for refusing to turn over documents detailing the quality of loans bought by the trust.
Wells Fargo & Co., the trustee, is seeking access to files for more than 2,000 underlying mortgages in the Bear Stearns Mortgage Funding Trust 2007-AR2, according to the complaint filed today in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington.
“The trustee has repeatedly requested that EMC provide access to the subject documents,” Wells Fargo said in the complaint. “EMC has played proverbial ‘rope a dope’ and otherwise continued to drag its feet, and has produced nothing.”
Rope a dope? Now that's funny. Isn't that how Wells, J.P.Morgan Chase, Bank of America, et al has been dealing with frustrated homeowners who try to save their homes over the past 2, 3 years?
According to the article, it was one of the suckers who complained to Wells Fargo after having bought a significant chunk of the certificates issued by this particular trust, under Wells Fargo's loving care. The certificates, or mortgage-backed securities, are most likely not backed by mortgages at all, if the industry practice of the past decade is followed.
An investor in the trust, who owns 42 percent of the outstanding face amount of the portfolio’s certificates, questioned the condition of underlying loans
, Wells Fargo said in the complaint, citing an August letter it received from David Grais, the investor’s attorney.
Grais, a partner at New York-based Grais & Ellsworth LLP, represents the federal Home Loan Banks of Seattle and San Francisco and Charles Schwab Corp. in litigation seeking to force banks including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan to repurchase mortgage-backed securities because they allegedly misrepresented the quality of the loans.
42 percent. Ouch.
As to the Bear Stearns Mortgage Funding Trust 2007-AR2, here's the last 10-D filing, in January 2008. The trust issued three classes of securities, A-1, 2, 3, B-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, B-IO, XP, R, R-X (the last three did not have initial certificate balance). The underlying mortgages are Alt-A, short-reset hybrid and/or negative amortization - in other words, junk.
Just out of curiosity, I checked to see if there's any info on the securities.
Here's one, A-1 (CUSIP 07401TAA4), as of August 20, 2008, by Standard & Poor loss assessment: Projected loss = 18.84%.
Here's another A-class, A-3 (CUSIP 07401TAC0), downgraded on August 19, 2009 by S&P from B to CCC, and put on a negative watch.
The irreverent Max Keiser is calling for $500 silver (it is $27 today). How is he proposing to achieve that? Everyone go out and buy silver coins.
From Maxkeiser.com:
The Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver Manifesto or: How to Get Hedge Funds To Do Your Dirty Work For You And Drive the Price of Silver to $500
1 – JP Morgan has a huge short position in Silver – estimated to be 3.3 billion ounces – tied to an enormous, extremely precarious derivatives position.
2 – Various exchanges around the world have been caught manipulating the price of Silver using ‘naked’ short sales i.e., counterfeiting.
3 – Of all the actively traded commodities traded around the world, Silver is one of the least plentiful and its supply is shrinking, but its industrial uses are multiplying. The ‘networked’ age of global communications is built with Silver.
4 – Hedge funds are taking physical delivery of Silver – adding substantial demand as well as exposing these exchange’s naked short positions – who are already scrambling to deliver – jacking prices up to multi-decade highs – and inspiring these predatory funds to buy more Silver.
5 – There are billions of people around the world who are aware that banks have been committing fraud and embezzlement who are upset that their politicians seem only interested in helping the banks commit more fraud – who are looking for a cheap way to non-aggressively fight back and decapitalize these banks.
6 – Many of these people have the access and wherewithal to purchase 1 ounce of Silver – thus removing hundreds of millions of ounces of Silver from the ‘paper’ market – forcing additional scrambling by dealers to fill orders by buying back short positions – inspiring the funds to buy and take physical delivery of even more Silver – creating a colossal short squeeze – in which JP Morgan stands to be the biggest loser.
7 – Buying Silver is how the world is monetizing its anger at the banks who stole their wealth.
8 – Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver
Robert Barone, head of Ancora West, argues in Minyanville that $2 trillion bailout money that went to the likes of AIG, Fannie and Freddie, Citigroup, GM and Chrysler and TARP recipients should have gone to homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth ('underwater').
In his article, he cites one recent case of J.P. Morgan Chase modifying the mortgage of one of his clients (who didn't even ask for modification) by 27%, resulting in win-win situation for both the bank and the underwater homeowner client of his:
JPMorgan's GenerositySo, JPM purchased the mortgage at a discount at $562,000 (he uses 60%, but could even be less). By cutting the homeowner's mortgage by 27% to $687,000, JPM is still above cost. JPM offers the client 5% fixed rate instead of variable rate of 2.5%. The homeowner takes it, as it gives him the security of fixed rate (and low) on a significantly reduced mortgage. JPM is happy as it secures the fixed-rate interest payment which is more under the new reduced mortgage than under the old, underwater mortgage with variable rate. The homeowner now have equity in the house, which can be sold for $800,000. If the owner sells the house, he will have money in the pocket, and JPM also pockets the profit ($687K minus $562K).
In June, one of my clients was forgiven a substantial portion of the loan on his primary residence by JPMorganChase (JPM). It appears that JPMorgan is doing this for the sub-prime and Alt-A loans it inherited from its FDIC-assisted purchase of Washington Mutual (WaMu). In my client's case, a $250,000 principal reduction was given on a $937,000 principal balance (originally owed to WaMu). The mortgage holder didn't communicate with JPMorgan or ask for any consideration, and had always been current on the loan. The existing interest rate was 2.5% (variable rate loan). In exchange for the principal reduction, JPMorgan asked for a 5.0% fixed-rate 25-year amortizing loan. The client's monthly payment stayed the same.
Recall that JPMorgan received a large amount of FDIC assistance. (While FDIC insurance funds are technically not directly from the taxpayer, they are indirectly, as banks raise their fees to pay for regulatory expenses.) This action by JPMorgan appears laudable. After all, the shareholders of JPMorgan appear to have gained from FDIC assistance. So, some giveback appears appropriate. However, let's not so quickly attribute this to JPMorgan's generosity. JPMorgan "purchased" WaMu's assets at a huge discount to face value. While I don't know the exact terms, let's, for the sake of this example, assume 60% of face. So, JPMorgan was holding my client's mortgage on its books at a $562,000 value. Under accounting rules, JPMorgan could only recognize a "profit" after my client had first paid down the $562,000 carrying value. That would be 12 years away at the current payment. JPMorgan knows this homeowner is underwater, and, while it probably wouldn't lose money if a foreclosure occurred, it would have foreclosure expenses and market wait time. But, by forgiving $250,000 of the $937,000 balance (or 27%) but doubling the interest rate, JPMorgan immediately recognizes more interest income on its financial statement (2.5% of $937,000 = $23,425 while 5.0% of $687,000 = $34,350). In addition, my client can now sell that home at market (about $800,000). If the home does sell, the client ends up with some equity, and JPMorgan recognizes an additional $125,000 in income ($687,000 principal balance less $562,000 carrying value). No foreclosure. No downward pressure on the neighborhood's home prices. Everybody wins!
The way the bailouts were done, it takes this kind of circumstance to actually get an appropriate outcome. Had the $2 trillion in bailout funds been used to benefit the underwater homeowners to begin with, I doubt the housing market would be in its current funk. As a nation now committed to bailouts, the operative rule ought to be: "Any use of taxpayer money must directly benefit taxpayers."
Some will object that this favors the certain population segment that made a judgment error and took on too much debt. I argue that this segment is victimized by economic conditions in the same way as those who lose their jobs during recessions are victimized by economic conditions. This year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we're giving the unemployed $14 billion in unemployment benefit disbursements. Furthermore, "earmarks" on legislation channel taxpayer funds to the benefit of very narrow and specific groups. So, the singling out of a segment of taxpayers to receive benefits isn't something new.Well, I agree. It would have been a much better use of $2 trillion dollars if the government had to spend on something, although J.P.Morgan Chase and other big coming to the senses by their own profit motive (i.e. market solution) is much preferable to me.
from Reuters...
ATHENS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded outside the JP Morgan offices in Athens on Tuesday, causing minor damage to the building, police said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
"It was a time-bomb at JP Morgan's offices in central Athens," a police official said. "The explosion damaged the outside door and smashed some windows."
The official said police cordoned off the area after a local newspaper had received a warning call. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou)
because "that's part of the free-market system"
As the news appears of Wall Street Banks starting to donate more to Republicans, the president, who won the election with big donations from the same banks, changes tune.
Obama Doesn’t ‘Begrudge’ Bonuses for Blankfein, Dimon
(2/10/2010 Bloomberg)
"Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he doesn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay.
"The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”
"“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.” " [The article continues.]
Hahaha that's rich. Free-market system? Does he think we have a free-market system? Does he even know what a free market is? The one without his beloved government interventions and controls and greedy hands.
So what about his seemingly harsh rhetoric, since mid January, on the nation's largest banks and their excessive compensation "while Main Street suffers"? I guess it was just that: seemingly harsh rhetoric.
What caused the sudden shift? Money. And it talks loudly and effectively.
This article is from two days ago:
In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P.
(2/7/2010 New York Times)
"WASHINGTON — If the Democratic Party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase.
"Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama’s from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor. Its vice chairman, William M. Daley, a former Clinton administration cabinet official and Obama transition adviser, comes from Chicago’s Democratic dynasty.
"But this year Chase’s political action committee is sending the Democrats a pointed message. While it has contributed to some individual Democrats and state organizations, it has rebuffed solicitations from the national Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. Instead, it gave $30,000 to their Republican counterparts.
"The shift reflects the hard political edge to the industry’s campaign to thwart Mr. Obama’s proposals for tighter financial regulations.
"Just two years after Mr. Obama helped his party pull in record Wall Street contributions — $89 million from the securities and investment business, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics — some of his biggest supporters, like Mr. Dimon, have become the industry’s chief lobbyists against his regulatory agenda.
“... If the president wanted to turn every Democrat on Wall Street into a Republican,” one industry lobbyist said, “he is doing everything right.” [The article continues.]
And it's not just J.P.Morgan Chase.
"Buyers' remorse"? For that, Wall Street is not alone.
Remember those days in September 2009 when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the hell broke loose?
After nearly a year and a half, Lehman creditors are still sorting things out in a bankruptcy court.
JP Morgan to face Lehman crash probe (2/7/2010 Times UK)
"A COURT-APPOINTED investigator is this week expected to shine fresh light on the role of JP Morgan and other financial institutions in the events running up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the American investment house.
"Anton Valukas, a whitecollar crime specialist who played a leading role in the Conrad Black fraud investigation, was recruited by a New York bankruptcy court. His long-awaited report, which is understood to run to more than 1,000 pages, should be published this week.
"It will focus on whether JP Morgan, Lehman’s main short-term lender, dealt a fatal blow to the bank by increasing collateral demands on loans in the days immediately before its demise.
"Valukas’s findings will be pored over by all those who lost money in Lehman’s collapse, and by the Lehman estate, which holds the bank’s residual assets and is charged with recovering money for creditors. According to one source, the estate, which represents the interests of all the bank’s creditors, is planning to launch a $17 billion (£11 billion) claim against JP Morgan.
"That would mirror a complaint lodged with the court by the bank’s creditor committee in the immediate aftermath of the bankruptcy filing. This claim, made in October 2008, cites the $17 billion figure as the amount of Lehman cash and securities that JP Morgan “froze” in its final days, precipitating the largest collapse in corporate history." [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]
I can almost imagine the JPM's defense: the same as Goldman Sachs as it demanded a cash collateral from A.I.G. It's prudence, it's rigorous risk management.
Lehman Brothers was engaged heavily in highly complex financial assets (derivatives, CDOs, and other structured finance products). And as this blog posted in September 2009, the accountants at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London were just beginning to attempt to unravel some of those complex deals then, with hardly any major counterparties having reconciled their positions with Lehman.
Just like there is way more to the Goldman's collateral demand from A.I.G. than meets the eye (like Goldman's active destruction of A.I.G, almost), I suspect that JP Morgan's risk management may have involved more than that.
"Sell the news" event? We shall see. (The banks below will all report before the market open.)
Wednesday October 14, 2009
Nice people at Washington Mutual, which was acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase last year after FDIC shuttered the bank, auctioned off a house and kicked the owner and her family out the door with their belongings. Except it was clearly a wrong house.
My Bad! Woman's House Mistakenly Auctioned by Bank
(8/19/09 NBC Miami)
"You know times are tough when people are getting kicked out of their house when it’s not even for sale.
"That’s what happened to Anna Ramirez after she found all of her stuff out on the front lawn of her Homestead home last week and a strange man demanding she get out of his newly purchased house.
"The eviction came after Ramirez’s home was mistakenly auctioned off to the highest bidder by her bank, Washington Mutual...."
"The man who bought the house told Ramirez he paid $87,000 for it, which shocked Ramirez, who bought the house for $260,000.
"What's worse is her husband, daughter and grand children were also kicked out by Homestead and Miami-Dade police officers, said Martha Taylor, who witnessed the unexpected eviction..."
"The sale was eventually reversed by a Miami-Dade judge, allowing Ramirez to return to her old digs. Ramirez said she wants to sue for the damage to her furniture."
She should sue for more than that.
I've never seen anything like this. The chart is from Kitco.com, showing gold lease rates for various duration since May 2008 to present. 1-Month lease rate is negative. So the entity that lend gold (usually a central bank, in the case of the US it is Federal Reserve) effectively gives you money so that you borrow gold from them and sell it in the open market. Borrowers are bullion banks (including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank), large mining companies, and jewelry manufacturers. The latter two do this as a hedging operation, and the bullion banks claim they are also doing it as a hedging operation. (Gold bugs are always suspicious of their claim, though.)
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