Merryn Somerset Webb: On Sunday, the population of Switzerland will decide whether they want their central bank – the Swiss National Bank (SNB) – to abide by the following rules.

It would be prevented from selling any of its gold reserves. It would have to store all those gold reserves actually in Switzerland (at the moment only about 70% is there). And it would have to make sure that at least 20% of its assets are held in gold.

Right now less than 8% of the SNB’s assets are held in gold. So raising that to 20% would mean the SNB would have to either sell some of its foreign currency reserves (to increase the proportion of its reserves held on gold), or buy a large amount of gold in pretty short order.

It would be highly unlikely to go for the former option, because this would lead the Swiss franc to strengthen, and kick off a nasty deflationary crisis as a result. (One of the reasons that the percentage of the SNB’s assets held in gold has fallen as low as 8% is because Switzerland has been frantically printing francs and using them to buy other currencies in an effort to prevent the franc from rising.)

The upshot is that if Switzerland votes ‘yes’, the SNB will buy gold over a five-year period. The gold price is likely to jump as a result – by 18%, suggests the Bank of America…MORE (moneyweek.com)

Mark O’Byrne: There are just 3 days left until the“Save Our Swiss Gold” referendum this Sunday. On November 30, voters in Switzerland will head to the polls to decide whether the Swiss National Bank (SNB) should back the Swiss franc with gold by increasing its gold holdings to 20% – up from current levels of 7%.

The conservative Swiss People’s party proposed the initiative, called “Save Our Swiss Gold”, with the intention of boosting the security and financial and monetary independence of Switzerland in these  times of financial uncertainty. They believe that a 20% gold holding will protect the Swiss people from currency debasement, currency devaluation and an international monetary crisis.

In the case of a “yes” vote, gold prices are likely to surge. Analysts do not believe a yes vote is possible. However, analysts have got the mood of the people wrong in many referendums both in Switzerland and throughout Europe in recent years.

We believe that the vote will be very close – much closer than many analysts suggest. After a massive, very well funded and highly coordinated campaign by the banking and political establishment in Switzerland, the polls show that the no side is in the lead…MORE (GoldCore.com)

In a few days the Swiss people will go to the polls to decide whether the Swiss central bank is to be required to hold 20% of its reserves in the form of gold. Polls show that the gold requirement is favored by the less well off and opposed by wealthy Swiss invested in stocks. http://snbchf.com/gold/swiss-gold-referendum-latest-news/ These poll results provide new insight into the real reason for Quantitative Easing by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.

First, let’s examine the reasons for these class-based poll results. The view in Switzerland is that a gold backed Swiss franc would be more valuable, and a more valuable franc would increase the purchasing power of wage earners, thus reducing their living costs. For the wealthy stock owners, a stronger franc would reduce Swiss exports, and less exports would reduce stock prices and the wealth of the wealthy.

The vote is clearly a vote about income shares between the rich and the poor. The Swiss establishment opposes the gold-backed franc, as does Washington.

A few years ago the Swiss government, after experiencing a strong rise in the exchange value of the Swiss franc as a result of dollar and euro inflows seeking safety in the Swiss franc, decided to expand the Swiss money supply in line with the foreign currency inflows in order to stop the rise of the franc. The liquidity supplied by the central bank creating new francs has stopped the rise of the franc and supports exports and stock prices. As a vote in favor of a gold backed franc is not in the interest of the elite, it is unclear that the vote will be honest.

What does this tell us about the Federal Reserve’s policy of Quantitative Easing, which is an euphemism for printing an enormous amount of new dollars?

The official reason for QE is the Keynesian Phillips Curve claim that economic growth requires mild inflation of 2-3%…MORE (PaulCraigRoberts.org)

Barrons, 10/27/2014: Once dismissed as a “barbarous relic” by John Maynard Keynes, gold has been on the receiving end of some market barbarity in recent months.

The gold price has fallen nearly 11% from its March high of US$1,379 an ounce as expectations of gathering momentum in the US economic recovery and, more importantly, further gains in the US dollar have erased the luster from the precious metal that notched up an impressive 12 consecutive years of gains up until 2012.

The greenback has been the metal’s bête noire. Gold prices and the US dollar have historically moved in opposite directions, so it should come as no surprise that the rise in the US Dollar Index to its highest level since 2010 has been accompanied by a slide in the price of the yellow metal to a one-year low earlier this month. Analysts argue the US dollar may move higher as the world’s largest economy recovers and the US Federal Reserve begins to unwind its ultra-loose monetary policy…MORE (Barrons.com)

GE Christenson Safehaven.com Tue, Aug 19, 2014

In 1950 the US owned about 20,000 metric tons of gold – approximately 640,000,000 troy ounces. By August 15, 1971 when President Nixon “temporarily” closed the “gold window” that hoard had decreased to about 8,100 tons (Fort Knox, the NY Fed, and other locations). The US government had been overspending, exporting dollars oversees, and other governments had “cashed in” those dollars for gold. At that rate of decrease, the US gold hoard would have been entirely dissipated by now. Perhaps it is gone!

President Nixon had a choice – default on the US promise to redeem dollars with gold, or reduce spending. Like any prominent politician he chose to continue spending and to blame the problem on someone else – the “international money speculators” but it might as well have been the Russians, Democrats, the French, Communists, an ethnic group, or the weather – anyone but those responsible – The President, Congress, and the bankers.

Forty three years later (since August 15, 1971) the “temporary” policy is still in place, the US government has officially redeemed no dollars for gold, and the US economy has deteriorated…

…The Federal Reserve has “printed” well over $3,000,000,000,000 since the financial crisis of 2008 – about ten times the current market value of all the gold that the US supposedly still has in its vaults. Global annual gold production is about 2,500 tons, about 80,000,000 ounces or about $105,000,000,000. One hundred five billion dollars in global gold production is produced through the considerable efforts of the global gold mining community. But the Fed chose to “crank up the printing presses” and effortlessly created over $3 Trillion in new digital dollars since 2008. The Fed has temporarily saved the banks, the US credit rating, the bond market, the S&P 500 Index, and the upper 1%, and will continue to do so for as long as they can sell the recovery story to manage the crisis…MORE (Safehaven.com)

Keith Weiner Forbes.com August 18,2014
There is strong opposition to any proposal to end the Federal Reserve and move away from its paper dollar. The Fed has many ideological and, of course, crony supporters. So it’s interesting that there was little controversy in Oklahoma around removing one of the obstacles to the use of gold as money. Republican Mary Fallin, the governor of the Sooner State, signed into law legislation that recognizes gold and silver as money. There was bipartisan support, particularly in the state Senate.

Oklahoma doesn’t force anyone to accept gold or silver in payment. It simply exempts them from state sales tax. While sales tax on the metals was probably a minimal source of revenue for the government, it was certainly a major competitive disadvantage to bullion dealers. Price sensitive buyers simply shopped out of state.

Utah has a similar law, which also exempts the monetary metals from capital gains taxes, and Arizona has been trying to pass one. Capital gains tax on the metals is a roadblock preventing their circulation. Although the Oklahoma law is more modest, exempting only sales tax, it’s an important step towards the gold standard…MORE (Forbes.com)

Today (June 27, 2014) former US Treasury official, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, told King World News that the entire United States gold hoard, including gold supposedly held at the Fed for other countries, is now gone.  This is very bad news for Germany and other countries which have trusted the Fed to safely store their gold.  Below is what Dr. Roberts had to say in this remarkable interview.

Eric King:  “Dr. Roberts, I know you’ve seen the report on Bloomberg about Germany (all the sudden) supposedly being happy with storing their gold at the New York Fed.  It seemed to be a propaganda piece.  What was your take when you saw that?”

Dr. Roberts:  “Clearly what that means is that the United States doesn’t have the gold and cannot deliver it — and has forced Germany to come to terms with that, and to stop asking for it since it can’t be delivered….MORE (KingWorldNews.com)
Full Audio Interview .MP3
Paul Craig Roberts Wikipedia