Submitted by Matthew Ehret…
When Christina Fernandez de Kirschner was ousted from power in 2015, many thought that Argentina was lost to the international financiers which her late husband Nestor Kirschner (2003-2007) fought so valiantly against.
Submitted by Steve Brown…
Let’s first consider a typical International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to a sovereign in trouble, and then examine a typical gold carry trade transaction to support a sovereign arms deal. The intent is to demonstrate the importance of physical sovereign gold holdings in all forms of international trade.
Semi-failed and failed states can only exist by dealing in hard assets of real intrinsic value just as Syria, Venezuela, Iran, and Ukraine have done… and the most liquid of those hard assets is their physical gold.
Submitted by Steve Brown…
The largest reserve gold traders on the planet are the six bullion banks. A bullion bank is a large multi-national bank authorized to serve as a conduit through which Central Banks – and the Fed primary dealers – loan their gold out into the market. All central banks lease gold, to maintain their balance sheet and to provide sovereign collateral when a currency swap or paper trade won’t work. It’s called the gold carry trade.
People attacked and bleeding, public institutions burning. A government official hanging on the window not to die burned fell from the third floor of the Electoral Court. Carlos Mesa, President Evo Morales opponent, has been inciting violence. Shocking images all over Bolivia after Morales’ re-election, for the fourth time. The opposition across the country is promising much more. Increasing and frightful hate has taken the South American country in the last months, fueled by the mainstream media and obscure powers. Where does Bolivia go toward?
In Ecuador, the fight against IMF austerity measures is far from over. Just a few hours after my article was published on Sunday, 13 October, “Ecuador and the IMF’s Killing Spree,” President Lenin Moreno declared the infamous Decree 883 was canceled; i.e., the astronomical price increases for fuel were reversed, the (police) state of emergency and curfew were called off. He wanted to put an end to the 11 days of protests with police and military-induced violence.
In Ecuador, the recent indigenous revolt against President Lenin Moreno’s neoliberal policies was instrumental in the repealing of a law which would have terminated fuel subsidies and plunged the most vulnerable into additional deprivation. The Ecuadorean government’s announcement, however, must not be misread as victory. It is the beginning of a long struggle which the people will face as Moreno maintains his commitment to the $4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, granted as he waived Julian Assange’s right to refuge at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
