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China’s New World Order: Gold-backed oil benchmark on the way

Cory
September 8, 2017

The video below is the basis for a discussion I have with Trader Vic on the upcoming weekend show. Details are still limited but if this new way to buy oil is implemented by China it could be a game changer for currencies, gold, and further political tensions between the US and China.

This video is courtesy of Cobertt Report, which has a ton of great information.

Discussion
38 Comments
    Sep 08, 2017 08:22 PM

    Dr. Jim Willie was right!

    Sep 08, 2017 08:24 PM

    THIRD TIME IS A CHARM……………Who needs credit anyway……
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-08/scumbags-its-easy-understand-why-bitcoin-4400

    CFS
    Sep 08, 2017 08:14 PM
    CFS
    Sep 08, 2017 08:30 PM

    Slowly we find out about Democrat theft and cronyism under obama…

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department improperly contributed tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to help California and politically powerful state water districts plan for a massive project to ship the state’s water from north to south, a new federal audit said Friday.

    Federal officials contributed $85 million to help finance the water districts’ plan, backed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, to build two giant water tunnels to re-engineer the state’s water system, according to the audit by the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Interior Department obtained by The Associated Press.

    By California law and by an agreement by the water districts, California water districts and not taxpayers are supposed to bear the costs of the $16 billion project, the audit said. Brown and the then-secretary of the Interior Department, affirmed that in a joint 2011 public statement supporting the tunnels plan.

    The proposed tunnels are part of Brown’s decades-long push for a project that would more readily carry water from green Northern California south, mainly for use by cities and farms in central and Southern California. Voters rejected an early version of the proposal in a statewide vote in the 1980s.

    California water districts are making final decisions on whether to go ahead with the controversial project.

    Federal authorities did not fully disclose to Congress or the public that it was supplying $84.8 million for the project planning, and waived reimbursement for $50 million of it, the audit said. The federal Reclamation Bureau did not disclose the arrangement in its certified financial reports, the audit said.

    “USBR could not provide us with a rationale for its decision to subsidize (California) water contractors, other than the water contractors asked USBR to pay,” the audit noted.

    The actions by the Bureau of Reclamation, which is part of the Interior Department, mean that federal taxpayers paid a third of the cost of the project’s planning up to 2016, the audit said.

    Meanwhile, Central Valley water districts that were supposed to pay 50 percent of the tunnels’ planning costs contributed only 18 percent, the audit found.

    California officials have consistently said no taxpayer money was being spent on the project.

    Asked if auditors wanted contractors to repay the money, Interior spokeswoman Nancy DiPaolo said, “We certainly hope so.”

    That decision was up to California, she said.

    Thomas Birmingham, general manager of the sprawling Central Valley rural water district Westlands, which received one of the largest shares of the federal money, said he knew of nothing about the arrangement that was “inconsistent with either state or federal law.”

    “The state was aware of it,” Birmingham said of the federal payments. “No one indicated this was somehow a violation of the letter or spirit of the agreement” guiding the costs of the project.

    Under federal law, Birmingham said, water districts would be responsible for reimbursing the federal money only if the project went forward and benefited those districts.

    Spokespeople for the Bureau of Reclamation, Brown’s office and the state Department of Water Resources either had no immediate comment Friday or did not respond to requests for comment.

    The audit’s findings were “appalling,” said Doug Obegi of the Natural Resources Defense Council environmental group, which has opposed the project on the grounds that it would speed up the extinction of endangered native species.

    “The public is paying for what a private party is supposed to pay for,” Obegi said, who argued that the audit raised questions overall whether water districts could afford to take on the costly water project. “That is taking the public’s money, and that’s not OK.”

    A former lobbyist for Westlands, David Bernhardt, has been a top official in the Interior Department under the George W. Bush administration and again under Trump. Critics long have said Westlands has benefited from its ties to the federal agency, which the water district and Interior deny.

    “I wish I were surprised to learn that the Westlands Water District colluded with the Interior Department to hide millions of dollars in unauthorized payments from Congress, but this is typical of the longstanding and incestuous relationship between the largest irrigation district in the country and its federal patrons,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat.

    Sep 08, 2017 08:39 PM
    Sep 08, 2017 08:39 PM

    Savant Exploration Corporation changes it’s name to The Blue Moon Zinc co., that is a great marketing strategy, who wouldn’t want to be a moonie, I’m sure the phone traders would all like to see the price of their zinc stock go to the moon. I like it when a company that may or may not have the goods can get the herd excited by having a stock symbol that is ‘MOON”, on the venture. It might just catch on for a while with the herd, we shall see. Are you a moonie, https://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=7478980213208255&qm_symbol=MOON

    CFS
    Sep 08, 2017 08:46 PM

    The problem with silicon valley start-ups is that they know programming ethics laws lag way behind their techno advances….

    DETROIT (AP) — The Justice Department in Manhattan is investigating whether Uber illegally used software to track drivers for Lyft, its main ride-hailing competitor, to gain an advantage in attracting and recruiting drivers, according to two people familiar with the probe.

    The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York’s Southern District want to know if use of the software, which created fake customer accounts, broke any federal laws, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

    An Uber spokeswoman said Friday it is cooperating in the probe and that use of the software has been discontinued. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would not comment on the case.

    The investigation adds to mounting legal problems for Uber, including allegations of corporate espionage involving autonomous vehicle technology and at least one other federal investigation into use of software to thwart local government efforts to monitor its operations. Earlier this year, Uber’s board ousted co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick in a move to fix cultural problems within the company. Last month it replaced him with former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who has inherited the legal troubles.

    The latest probe apparently centers on software known inside Uber as “Hell.” A federal class-action lawsuit filed by a Lyft driver in San Francisco alleges that Uber developed the “spyware” that allowed it to pose as Lyft customers and gain access to its computer systems. The software let Uber access the location of up to eight Lyft drivers at one time and get their unique Lyft identification number. Uber then used that number to track the drivers’ locations, the lawsuit alleged.

    Uber then matched the Lyft drivers’ identities with Uber internal records to find drivers working for both services, and gave those drivers incentives to work mainly for Uber “thereby reducing the supply of Lyft drivers, which resulted in increased wait times for Lyft customers and diminished earnings for Lyft drivers,” the lawsuit stated.

    The lawsuit, which Uber said was recently dismissed, alleged that the practice violated the federal Wiretap Act. No dismissal paperwork is listed in federal court records, and attorneys for the plaintiff, Michael Gonzales, could not be reached Friday.

    Uber attorneys, in a legal response to the lawsuit, said that Gonzales is alleging only that Uber used “commonly available software” to collect data that would be accessible to anyone using the Lyft app. “The communications were therefore ‘readily available to the general public’ and the Wiretap Act does not apply,” the Uber lawyers wrote.

    Sep 08, 2017 08:07 PM

    Silver just closed the week above the 233 week MA for the first time in 4.5 years.

    http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=%24SILVER&p=W&yr=5&mn=6&dy=0&id=p79478987960&a=518191349

    Sep 08, 2017 08:10 PM

    The dollar just closed the week below the 200 week MA for the first time in 3.33 years.

    http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=%24USD&p=W&yr=3&mn=9&dy=0&id=p65223289469

    Sep 08, 2017 08:16 PM
    Sep 08, 2017 08:27 PM
    Sep 08, 2017 08:33 PM

    Gold priced in yen just bullishly closed above bullish-looking Bollinger bands for the second week. The last time that happened was almost 3 years ago.

    http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=%24GOLD%3A%24XJY&p=W&yr=3&mn=11&dy=0&id=p19844766786

      Sep 08, 2017 08:37 PM

      I have a yen for gold. 🙂

      Sep 08, 2017 08:36 PM

      Doping up your greenbeans…………Monsatin…

      Or MonSatan?

        Sep 08, 2017 08:40 PM

        satin sheets for Satan…… 🙂

    Sep 08, 2017 08:34 PM

    Good Jeff Deist Mises Weekend interview on Afghan War.

    https://mises.org/library/scott-horton-endless-war-afghanistan

    Sep 08, 2017 08:42 PM

    Good video Cory! (Or Mr. Big Al?)

      Sep 08, 2017 08:45 PM

      YOu may get 401 KOed…..

        Sep 08, 2017 08:46 PM

        Ebo……they want all your money……. 🙂

          Sep 08, 2017 08:48 PM

          Yup, if the latest I’ve heard regarding tax “reform” stands I will be kicked into a higher tax bracket, will no longer be able to deduct state income tax, lose my personal exemption and lose my 401k and HSA deductions. And I am already being taxed up the ass. If what is being proposed goes through I will retire early.

            Sep 08, 2017 08:05 PM

            Or more accurately 401k deferral…