WHEN GORDEN BROWN SOLD BRITAIN’S GOLD
In 1999, it was rumored that investment bank Goldman Sachs had a 1,000 ton gold short position in the markets. Goldman Sachs was betting that the price of gold would continue to fall and they would be amply rewarded for their apparent “risk”.
Because of central bank manipulation, the price of gold had moved inversely to the rise of stocks for almost 20 years and bankers were making easy money on the bet gold would continue its downward spiral.
However, much to the shock of Goldman Sachs and the central bankers, in 1999 gold stopped falling; and, because Goldman Sachs’ short position was so large, Goldman possibly could suffer catastrophic losses.
This is when England’s then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, on May 8, 1999 announced England would sell over 50 % of its gold reserves, 415 tons of the most precious metal on earth at the very bottom of the market.
The decision to sell England’s gold thereby saved Goldman Sachs and insured the political future of Gordon Brown. Goldman Sachs’ is still in business and Gordon Brown is now the Prime Minister of England—proving that good things come to those who do the bidding of the powerful (whether either outcome was worth 415 tons of England’s gold is questionable)
Selling a nation’s gold to save the bankers’ parasitic system is now common practice as the banker’s system continues to collapse and gold continues to rise. Since Gordon Brown sold England’s gold, gold has risen from $275 dollars per ounce to its present price of over $900 despite the thousands of tons of central bank gold sold to prevent its inexorable movement higher.
GOLD SALE ENDS SOON
The downward pressure on gold will end soon because central bank supplies of gold are running out. For the past thirty-five years, thousands of tons of central bank gold have been sold to force gold lower. When those supplies are gone, so, too, will be the gold prices we see today.
When the central bank cap on gold is finally forced off, gold will not just be off to the races, gold will bolt the barn leaving it and the racetrack far behind; so far, central bankers have been successful at preventing this. Soon, they will be unable to do so.
Each run-up in gold has forced central bankers to sell their ever dwindling stocks to keep the price of gold from going parabolic. When gold made its run in the fall of 2007 from $680 to $1,033 in spring 2008, the Swiss National Bank sold 22 tons of gold to cap gold’s rise.
One year later (after the collapse of global stock markets in the fall of 2008), gold made another run at $1,000; but this time when gold hit $1,009 on February 20th , LeMetropole reported central banks sold 220 tons of gold to force gold below $900.
In 2008, 22 tons of gold were necessary to force gold down from $1,000. In 2009, 220 tons were required to do the same. Next time, central banks may not have enough gold to turn back an even more powerful tide of paper money seeking the safety of gold.
After LeMetropole noted the sale of 220 tons of central bank gold, the Financial Times next reported that the Washington Accord capping central bank gold sales at 500 tons a year may be renegotiated to allow higher sales.
The sale of over 220 tons of central bank gold in only nine weeks leaves approximately only 250 tons left to be sold the rest of the year; and, if stock markets collapse again this year—and they will—gold will explode upwards but this time with far greater force and take out $1,000 as easily as a herd of bulls would take out a picket fence as they run for freedom—especially if central bank sales of gold are limited as they are today.
We are in the last days of paper money’s longest run. No economy built on fiat paper money has ever lasted in the history of the world; and, although governments have tried to do so for almost 1,000 years, all have failed. That the current system lasted three hundred years did not mean it would last forever.
As Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme attests, no fraud, no matter how large, i.e. $50 billion or $50 trillion, can withstand the test of time. Not even a Ponzi scheme that has enlisted the participation and cooperation of all governments and all central banks.
All frauds come to an end, even one as large and as long-lasting as the banker’s substitution of government coupons for gold and silver. The game is over except for the shouting—and not even all the King’s men, e.g. Bernanke, Geithner, Volcker, Summers, et. al., can put Humpty-Dumpty together again.
It’s been two years since I presented my analysis, How To Survive The Crisis And Prosper In The Process, to Marshall Thurber’s Positive Deviant Network. In my book, I predicted that real estate would fall 40 % – 80 % and stocks 70 % to 90 %. Today, we’re halfway there.