Euro troubles

[WD-40]

Have a look. Gold and Silver. Buy it! Silver Eagles are most affordable.

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/ ... &sn=Detail

[ZenoFergusUn]

Spoiler: show

:whistling:

[*]seriously and in my country do not really understand what is a crisis. Perhaps for this that appeared so often. And now we know we do not know the state without it

[WD-40]

Russian investors are pulling out of Cyprus. In 24 hours of stupidity, the Cyprus Prez just [m'kay] their Country in one ignorant decision. Guess we'll see where it leads. I'm sure Obama is savor ing the stupidity of it all to do the same .

[ZenoFergusUn]

Russian investors are pulling out of Cyprus. In 24 hours of stupidity, the Cyprus Prez just [m'kay] their Country in one ignorant decision. Guess we'll see where it leads. I'm sure Obama is savor ing the stupidity of it all to do the same .

[CommanderOtto]

I like the idea of buying gold and silver for investment... it will go up for many years.

or invest in oil... when people dump dollars, oil also goes up. Sometimes those silver coins are way more expensive than their real worth.

[CommanderOtto]

oh yeah, something important happened lately... a result of what happened in Cyprus for sure.

BRICs Bank To Rival World Bank and IMF and Challenge Dollar Dominance

Outgoing President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, after just three days ago dismissing the idea of a BRICs created, new global multi lateral bank, has come around and endorsed a BRICs bank in an interview with the FT.

Zoellick had initially said that a BRICs bank and potential rival to the western and U.S. dominated IMF and World Bank, would be difficult to implement given competing BRIC interests.

He acknowledged that a BRICs bank was being created and said that the World Bank supported such a bank. He said that not having Russia and China as part of "the World Bank system" would be a “mistake of historic proportions”.

Leaders of the BRICS nations meeting in India appear to have made much progress in creating a new global bank as the emerging economies seek to convert their growing economic might into collective diplomatic influence.

The five countries now account for nearly 28% of the global economy, a figure that is expected to continue to grow.

On Thursday morning, President Hu Jintao of China, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia , President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India shook hands at the start of the one day meeting in New Delhi.



BRICS leaders, from left, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma. Photo: AP

Top of the agenda was the creation of the grouping's first institution, a so-called "BRICS Bank" that would fund development projects and infrastructure in developing nations.

The initiative would allow the countries to pool resources for infrastructure improvements, and could also be used in the longer term as a vehicle for lending during global financial crises such as the one in Europe, officials said.

Less noticed and commented upon is the aspirations of the BRIC nations to become less dependent on the global reserve currency, the dollar and to position their own currencies as internationally traded currencies.

The leaders of BRIC nations and other emerging market nations have adopted the idea of conducting trade between the five nations in their own currencies. Two agreements, signed among the development banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, say that local currency loans will be made available for trade between these countries.

The five fast growing nations participating in local currency trade will allow participants to diversify their foreign exchange reserves, hedging against the growing risk of a euro or dollar crisis.

The BRICS want to have easy convertibility of currency to make it easier to use the real, ruble, rupee, renminbi and rand amongst themselves without having to always use the US dollar. Higher intra-Brics trade, conducted in their own currencies would shield their economies from economic dislocations in the west.

In the long run, if global dependence and exposure to the dollar is to be reduced, then the BRICs currencies will have to trade amongst themselves, creating an intra Brics currency market. This could lead to a special reserve BRICs currency that could rival the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and in time a regional currency could emerge. However, the EU's experience of a single currency may make this less likely.

Left unsaid so far is the possibility that one of the BRICs or the BRICs in unison might peg the value of their respective currencies to the ultimate store of value and money - gold.

Having a gold standard enforces a form of fiscal self or national control and does not allow any one nation to have an exorbitant privilege in terms of monetary affairs that can be used in order to further selfish national or national corporate or banking interests.

Having a new gold standard or even a quasi gold standard, as proposed by Zoellick himself some months ago, would lead to the end of the greenback as the sole global reserve currency.

This is likely an objective of some of the BRICs, especially China and Russia, and has obvious ramifications which should inform decisions regarding investments, savings and managing wealth in the coming years.

Global diversification and owning the hard monetary asset of gold has never been more important.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/brics-bank-rival-world-bank-and-imf-and-challenge-dollar-dominance

http://business.time.com/2010/04/16/the-brics-plotting-a-new-world-order/

The BRICs: Plotting a New World Order?

Whenever the BRICs have a powwow, as they did during their second summit this week in Brasilia, I can’t help thinking about the future of the global economy. After all, the BRICs – that’s Goldman Sachs-speak for the four great emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China – in many ways represent that future. There’s something that smells inherently revolutionary, or at least counter-culture, about these summits. Rather than meeting in a global forum such as the G20, with the developed world included, the fact that these four up-and-comers go out of their way to huddle on their own leaves the impression that they’re plotting what the world will look like when they’re in charge.

Yet in the end, nothing so radical appeared to be taking place. What made this latest BRIC summit interesting was how little they had to say about what they want the new world order to be. Instead, they just want a bigger piece of the existing world order.

In the summit communiqué, which you can read here, you’ll have to get through all the usual diplomatic niceties about forging better relations and a more peaceful world (blah, blah, blah), before finding any real meat. The strongest point concerns the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Here’s a bit of the statement:

We will strive to achieve an ambitious conclusion to the ongoing and long overdue reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions. The IMF and the World Bank urgently need to address their legitimacy deficits. Reforming these institutions’ governance structures requires first and foremost a substantial shift in voting power in favor of emerging market economies and developing countries to bring their participation in decision making in line with their relative weight in the world economy…We do also agree on the need for an open and merit based selection method, irrespective of nationality, for the heading positions of the IMF and the World Bank…The international community must deliver a result worthy of the expectations we all share for these institutions within the agreed timeframe or run the risk of seeing them fade into obsolescence.

They avoided the sticky issue of the future of the dollar as a reserve currency, but they did say they’d try to do more transactions in their own currencies:

We have asked our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to look into regional monetary arrangements and discuss modalities of cooperation between our countries in this area. In order to facilitate trade and investment, we will study feasibilities of monetary cooperation, including local currency trade settlement arrangement between our countries.

And they only produced generalities on global financial reform:

We believe that the world needs today a reformed and more stable financial architecture that will make the global economy less prone and more resilient to future crises, and that there is a greater need for a more stable, predictable and diversified international monetary system.

What makes all this especially bland is that it’s all either already in motion – such as the restructuring of the IMF and World Bank — or too vague to give us any real idea of what the BRICs envision for the world economy.

But that’s not a surprise. These burgeoning powers rightfully want (and rightfully deserve) the influence over the world economic system to match their growing economic might. Yet at the same time, they’re not really ready to take on that much responsibility in the world economy, either. All are still poor and wrapped up in the problems of their own development. Maybe one day they’ll want their own currencies to rival the U.S. dollar – China almost certainty envisions just that – but they are also aware that they don’t possess the economic clout to make that happen at this point. So even though they’ll demand their seats at the table of power, they’re not about to start changing the plates and cutlery.

Beyond the fact that they all want to flex their global muscles, it’s hard to imagine the BRICs agreeing on much of anything. The G7 always had trouble getting much done, and they have a lot more in common than these four countries. You’ve got the world’s largest democracy (India) sitting down with the world’s largest authoritarian regime (China). China and India are also clearly economic competitors (and they’ve got a border dispute brewing between them as well). Nor are they all on the same page in regard to economic policy. Brazilian officials, just like politicians in Washington, have recently been critical of China’s controversial currency regime. Nor is this a meeting of equals. China is easily the dominant force in the group, both economically and politically, and the BRICs can’t do much without Beijing on board. Perhaps international affairs expert David Rothkopf put it best:

Without China, the BRICs are just the BRI, a bland, soft cheese that is primarily known for the whine that goes with it. China is the muscle of the group and the Chinese know it. They have effective veto power over any BRIC initiatives because without them, who cares really?

Until the BRICs start taking the bold positions on world affairs to match their economic power, no one will care


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



basically.... the chinese are going to take advantage if the europeans don't put their [poo] together.

[rg3fever]

oh yeah, something important happened lately... a result of what happened in Cyprus for sure.

BRICs Bank To Rival World Bank and IMF and Challenge Dollar Dominance

Outgoing President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, after just three days ago dismissing the idea of a BRICs created, new global multi lateral bank, has come around and endorsed a BRICs bank in an interview with the FT.

Zoellick had initially said that a BRICs bank and potential rival to the western and U.S. dominated IMF and World Bank, would be difficult to implement given competing BRIC interests.

He acknowledged that a BRICs bank was being created and said that the World Bank supported such a bank. He said that not having Russia and China as part of "the World Bank system" would be a “mistake of historic proportions”.

Leaders of the BRICS nations meeting in India appear to have made much progress in creating a new global bank as the emerging economies seek to convert their growing economic might into collective diplomatic influence.

The five countries now account for nearly 28% of the global economy, a figure that is expected to continue to grow.

On Thursday morning, President Hu Jintao of China, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia , President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India shook hands at the start of the one day meeting in New Delhi.



BRICS leaders, from left, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma. Photo: AP

Top of the agenda was the creation of the grouping's first institution, a so-called "BRICS Bank" that would fund development projects and infrastructure in developing nations.

The initiative would allow the countries to pool resources for infrastructure improvements, and could also be used in the longer term as a vehicle for lending during global financial crises such as the one in Europe, officials said.

Less noticed and commented upon is the aspirations of the BRIC nations to become less dependent on the global reserve currency, the dollar and to position their own currencies as internationally traded currencies.

The leaders of BRIC nations and other emerging market nations have adopted the idea of conducting trade between the five nations in their own currencies. Two agreements, signed among the development banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, say that local currency loans will be made available for trade between these countries.

The five fast growing nations participating in local currency trade will allow participants to diversify their foreign exchange reserves, hedging against the growing risk of a euro or dollar crisis.

The BRICS want to have easy convertibility of currency to make it easier to use the real, ruble, rupee, renminbi and rand amongst themselves without having to always use the US dollar. Higher intra-Brics trade, conducted in their own currencies would shield their economies from economic dislocations in the west.

In the long run, if global dependence and exposure to the dollar is to be reduced, then the BRICs currencies will have to trade amongst themselves, creating an intra Brics currency market. This could lead to a special reserve BRICs currency that could rival the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and in time a regional currency could emerge. However, the EU's experience of a single currency may make this less likely.

Left unsaid so far is the possibility that one of the BRICs or the BRICs in unison might peg the value of their respective currencies to the ultimate store of value and money - gold.

Having a gold standard enforces a form of fiscal self or national control and does not allow any one nation to have an exorbitant privilege in terms of monetary affairs that can be used in order to further selfish national or national corporate or banking interests.

Having a new gold standard or even a quasi gold standard, as proposed by Zoellick himself some months ago, would lead to the end of the greenback as the sole global reserve currency.

This is likely an objective of some of the BRICs, especially China and Russia, and has obvious ramifications which should inform decisions regarding investments, savings and managing wealth in the coming years.

Global diversification and owning the hard monetary asset of gold has never been more important.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/brics-bank-rival-world-bank-and-imf-and-challenge-dollar-dominance

http://business.time.com/2010/04/16/the-brics-plotting-a-new-world-order/

The BRICs: Plotting a New World Order?

Whenever the BRICs have a powwow, as they did during their second summit this week in Brasilia, I can’t help thinking about the future of the global economy. After all, the BRICs – that’s Goldman Sachs-speak for the four great emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China – in many ways represent that future. There’s something that smells inherently revolutionary, or at least counter-culture, about these summits. Rather than meeting in a global forum such as the G20, with the developed world included, the fact that these four up-and-comers go out of their way to huddle on their own leaves the impression that they’re plotting what the world will look like when they’re in charge.

Yet in the end, nothing so radical appeared to be taking place. What made this latest BRIC summit interesting was how little they had to say about what they want the new world order to be. Instead, they just want a bigger piece of the existing world order.

In the summit communiqué, which you can read here, you’ll have to get through all the usual diplomatic niceties about forging better relations and a more peaceful world (blah, blah, blah), before finding any real meat. The strongest point concerns the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Here’s a bit of the statement:

We will strive to achieve an ambitious conclusion to the ongoing and long overdue reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions. The IMF and the World Bank urgently need to address their legitimacy deficits. Reforming these institutions’ governance structures requires first and foremost a substantial shift in voting power in favor of emerging market economies and developing countries to bring their participation in decision making in line with their relative weight in the world economy…We do also agree on the need for an open and merit based selection method, irrespective of nationality, for the heading positions of the IMF and the World Bank…The international community must deliver a result worthy of the expectations we all share for these institutions within the agreed timeframe or run the risk of seeing them fade into obsolescence.

They avoided the sticky issue of the future of the dollar as a reserve currency, but they did say they’d try to do more transactions in their own currencies:

We have asked our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to look into regional monetary arrangements and discuss modalities of cooperation between our countries in this area. In order to facilitate trade and investment, we will study feasibilities of monetary cooperation, including local currency trade settlement arrangement between our countries.

And they only produced generalities on global financial reform:

We believe that the world needs today a reformed and more stable financial architecture that will make the global economy less prone and more resilient to future crises, and that there is a greater need for a more stable, predictable and diversified international monetary system.

What makes all this especially bland is that it’s all either already in motion – such as the restructuring of the IMF and World Bank — or too vague to give us any real idea of what the BRICs envision for the world economy.

But that’s not a surprise. These burgeoning powers rightfully want (and rightfully deserve) the influence over the world economic system to match their growing economic might. Yet at the same time, they’re not really ready to take on that much responsibility in the world economy, either. All are still poor and wrapped up in the problems of their own development. Maybe one day they’ll want their own currencies to rival the U.S. dollar – China almost certainty envisions just that – but they are also aware that they don’t possess the economic clout to make that happen at this point. So even though they’ll demand their seats at the table of power, they’re not about to start changing the plates and cutlery.

Beyond the fact that they all want to flex their global muscles, it’s hard to imagine the BRICs agreeing on much of anything. The G7 always had trouble getting much done, and they have a lot more in common than these four countries. You’ve got the world’s largest democracy (India) sitting down with the world’s largest authoritarian regime (China). China and India are also clearly economic competitors (and they’ve got a border dispute brewing between them as well). Nor are they all on the same page in regard to economic policy. Brazilian officials, just like politicians in Washington, have recently been critical of China’s controversial currency regime. Nor is this a meeting of equals. China is easily the dominant force in the group, both economically and politically, and the BRICs can’t do much without Beijing on board. Perhaps international affairs expert David Rothkopf put it best:

Without China, the BRICs are just the BRI, a bland, soft cheese that is primarily known for the whine that goes with it. China is the muscle of the group and the Chinese know it. They have effective veto power over any BRIC initiatives because without them, who cares really?

Until the BRICs start taking the bold positions on world affairs to match their economic power, no one will care


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



basically.... the chinese are going to take advantage if the europeans don't put their [poo] together.

[Darth Crater]

Left unsaid so far is the possibility that one of the BRICs or the BRICs in unison might peg the value of their respective currencies to the ultimate store of value and money - gold.

Having a gold standard enforces a form of fiscal self or national control and does not allow any one nation to have an exorbitant privilege in terms of monetary affairs that can be used in order to further selfish national or national corporate or banking interests.

Having a new gold standard or even a quasi gold standard, as proposed by Zoellick himself some months ago, would lead to the end of the greenback as the sole global reserve currency.

This is likely an objective of some of the BRICs, especially China and Russia, and has obvious ramifications which should inform decisions regarding investments, savings and managing wealth in the coming years.

Global diversification and owning the hard monetary asset of gold has never been more important.

... Yeah, this isn't really "journalism" so much as "marketing copy from a gold investment firm."

[CommanderOtto]

Left unsaid so far is the possibility that one of the BRICs or the BRICs in unison might peg the value of their respective currencies to the ultimate store of value and money - gold.

Having a gold standard enforces a form of fiscal self or national control and does not allow any one nation to have an exorbitant privilege in terms of monetary affairs that can be used in order to further selfish national or national corporate or banking interests.

Having a new gold standard or even a quasi gold standard, as proposed by Zoellick himself some months ago, would lead to the end of the greenback as the sole global reserve currency.

This is likely an objective of some of the BRICs, especially China and Russia, and has obvious ramifications which should inform decisions regarding investments, savings and managing wealth in the coming years.

Global diversification and owning the hard monetary asset of gold has never been more important.

... Yeah, this isn't really "journalism" so much as "marketing copy from a gold investment firm."

yeah, I know it was part of a gold website, but did you read the second one I posted? Time magazine. The fact is that the "new world bank" has a lot of meaning. It is a major economic and political thing. This financial crisis has really changed things. Who would have thought that it would cause the U.S to loose it's AAA rating for the first time in almost 200 years. Then Europe goes bankrupt and now China and gang are creating a new world bank that will have major consequences in finance and in the international political arena...

[Darth Crater]

Yeah, I read the second article. It looked like they were finding as many ways as possible to say "they talked a bit and nothing much changed." Still, thanks for bringing it to our attention - I didn't really know much about world banking in the first place, so the topic was interesting.