Zero Hedge – Tyler Durden – Tungsten-Filled 10 Oz Gold Bar Found In The Middle Of Manhattan’s Jewelry District – 19 September 2012

It is one thing for tungsten-filled gold bars to appear in the UK, or in Germany: after all out of sight, and across the Atlantic, certainly must mean out of mind, and out of the safe. However, when a 10 ounce 999.9 gold bar bearing the stamp of the reputable Swiss Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux (PAMP, with owner MTP) and a serial number (serial #038892, likely rehypothecated in at least 10 gold ETFs across the world but that’s a different story), mysteriously emerges in the heart of the world’s jewerly district located on 47th street in Manhattan, things get real quick. Moments ago, Myfoxny reported that a 10-ounce gold bar costing nearly $18,000 turned out to be a counterfeit.

Advertisement

Zero Hedge – Tyler Durden – Republicans Consider Returning To Gold Standard: Real Or Red Herring? – 24 August 2012

Stranger than fiction perhaps but the FT is reporting that the gold standard has returned to mainstream US politics for the first time in 30 years with a ‘gold commission’ set to become part of official Republican party policy. While this could simply be a reach for as many Ron Paul marginal voters as possible (with the view that the GOP would never really go for it); it appears drafts of the party platform from the forthcoming rain-soaked convention call for an audit of the Fed and a commission to look at restoring the link between the dollar and gold. The FT, citing a spokesperson, adds that “There is a growing recognition within the Republican party and in America more generally that we’re not going to be able to print our way to prosperity,” but “We’re not going to go from a standing start to the gold standard,” although it would provide a chance to educate politicians and the public about the merits of a return to gold. Interestingly, the Republican platform in 1980 referred to “restoration of a dependable monetary standard”, while the 1984 platform said that “the gold standard may be a useful mechanism.”

Tyler Durden – Zero Hedge – Here They Come: Ireland Demands Renegotiation Of Its Bailout Terms To Match Spain – 11 June 2012

Well that didn’t take long. The ink on the #Spailout is not dry yet (well technically there is no ink, because none of the actual details of the Spanish banking system rescue are even remotely known, and likely won’t be because when it comes to answering where the money comes from there simply is no answer) and we already have an answer to one of our questions.