By Bill Murphy www.LeMetropoleCafe.com March 5, 2001 To say the least, I was a bit surprised to see a letter from The White House today when I picked up my mail. The correspondence read: * * * THE WHITE HOUSE Washington February 28, 2001 Dear Mr. Murphy: Thank you for your letter. I apologize for the delay in my response. I hope you understand how tremendously busy I've been over the past several weeks. I appreciate the information you sent regarding the price of gold. I'll be sure to pass this along to the member of my economic team who specializes in this area. If there is any way my staff or I can be of assistance to you, please don't hesitate to contact our office. Thank you, once again, for your thoughts. Sincerely, Larry B. Lindsey Assistant to the President for Economic Policy * * * If that were not enough good news for one day, I just received the curriculum vitae of Eric Bamoza Molefe, who called GATA headquarters in Durban offering to lobby in South Africa on our behalf: * * * ERIC BAMOZA MOLEFE EDUCATION Boston Unitversity, 1983, Diploma in Journalism South African Newspapers Academy (1984), Diploma in Journalism University of the North (1985-1988), 4th year B. Proc Institute of Management (London) 1989 Diploma in Finance Diploma in Marketing Diploma in Economics Diploma in Business Management RAU University (1990) Diploma in Banking Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst (1991) CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) International Management College (IMC) - 1992 MBA (thesis pending) Wits Business School (1993) JSE Course University of Orange Free State (2000) Studying for LLB Institute of Tax (RAU) - 2000 Higher Diploma Tax EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 1983 Sowetan Sunday Mirror 1984 EP Herald and Financial Mail 1989 Cape Investment Bank (Banking Trainee) 1990 Prima Bank Limited 1. Money Market 2. Corporate Finance 3. Funding Department 1994 PrimeVest Structured Finance Director Board of Stocks Business Running Family Complex 1996 Wits Nigel Ltd. (now New Mining Corp.) Group Managing Director Ermeson Group Limited Executive Chairman Powerlib Group Limited Executive Chairman JCI Limited Executive Group Director Excl Petroleum Deputy Chairman Medicare Swaziland Executive Director Memberships Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst Institute of Directors Associate member of the Institute of Bankers Black Management Forum Black Economic Empowerment Commission * * * Could GATA have a finer man in all of South Africa to help us make our GATA Africa Gold Summit a success? Gold traded very quietly today in a shortened session due to the snowstorm enveloping the northeastern United States. The CNBC types keep referring to the big deflation as a reason Alan Greenspan should lower interest rates to help out an increasingly desperate Wall Street. The CRB will give them little solace. Early last week I pointed out the unusually bullish look of the CRB chart pattern. The CRB spent most of today around 226, way off recent lows, as its sharp rally continues. Looks to me like it will make new highs in the months to come. Gold is making yearly highs in yen terms. Canada sold 20,000 ounces of gold in February and is down to a pitiful 1.2 million ounces left. * * * Brief gold rally wrong-foots investors By Robin Bromby March 5, 2001 The Australian Asa rally it was short-lived -- but just long enough to show gold's potential to catch some big players on the wrong foot. Gold rose to $US268.25 last week, its highest level for seven weeks. Those holding any of the many massive short positions would have been given a fright.While the metal was back at $US262.85 by Friday night, the brief rally had shown the yawning gap between available physical gold and that sold forward by traders and speculators. After all, these people know that short positions -- gold sold on paper in the belief that the physical gold can be bought at a cheaper price to fill the contract in the future -- amount to something between five and eight years' physical production.Annual world gold production is about 2550 tonnes, but short positions total several times that, with some estimates as high as 17,000 tonnes. The tight state of gold supply was thrown into relief last week when leasing rates soared as high as 4.75 percent for one month, against a rate of less than 0.5 percent for most of 2000. Even as late as the end of January, the monthly gold lease rate was just 0.8 percent. By last Friday it was back down to 1.7 percent.The rally is being written off by some as just one large short position being covered. But even if that were so, the price and leasing rate jumps do illustrate the potential for serious dislocation if there were to be a sustained rally. * * * Slowly, but very surely, the Gold Cartel is being found out. >From James Stock in Durban, South Africa: "You might be interested to know that the market jobbers (also known as market manipulators) got killed in Johannesburg today on Harmony and Gold Fields and on the respective warrants, 2harsg and 2gfisg. They marked the Harmony shares down to 3415c at the opening, and Gold Fields down to 2970c. But Harmony closed near to 3700c and Gold Fields near 3300c! And the respective warrants jumped around 15 percent from their respective opening prices, despite the gold price doing nothing! The XAU index is slightly higher in New York at present even though the gold price is static. Food for thought." James also sent me some news stories in the local press about the South African government taking on the international drug companies. It is a long-awaited court case between pharmaceutical manufacturers and the government, which passed a law in 1997 allowing it to import or produce cheap, generic versions of patented drugs. All eyes will be on Pretoria, as the case essentially pits the oppressed, the poor, and the developing nations, along with the activists and the South African government, what may be the most profitable industry in the world -- the pharmaceutical industry. James says: "The South African government's argument is that lives mean more than money and should take precedence." "The economic imperialism being conducted by the banks has the same effect of denying medicine to the dying, and harks back to colonial exploitation so reviled in the last century. "Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! As the drug companies won't let Africa produce medicine cheaply, the banks manipulate away South Africa's legitimate wherewithall to pay for them. Meanwhile, around us, thousands of innocents, including children, die while the banks and drug companies trade bodies for money." * * * The South African government is taking on the pharmaceutical industry. After the GATA summit, the government may be taking on a few bullion bankers. One more time: Why is it so hard for the mainstream media to accept that the gold market has been manipulated? "Tokyo, March 5 (Bloomberg) -- UBS Warburg and Commerz Securities said they may compensate Japanese investors after regulators found price manipulation by the firm's traders caused 147 million yen ($1.2 million ) in losses on derivatives." -END- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
