NAV Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

There has been quite a bit of silver bullion activity in imports to Turkey as noted here.

Otherwise the action at the bucket shop on the Hudson has been the same old same old.

Premiums are dampened as usual.

Turkish Silver Imports Surge to Record High In March - Of Dirhams and Drachmas

 

 

Imports of silver bullion into Turkey surged to the highest level since at least 1999 in March.

 

There was no similar surge in gold.   So this seems to be particular to silver.

I do not wish to make too much of it, unless we see this trend continue. 

And if so, then thoughts of silver dirhams or drachmas may begin to come to mind.

 

Charts are from data wrangler Nick Laird at Sharelynx.com.

 

 

 

 

Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street

 

"The U.S. went off the gold standard in August 1971. With no benchmark, central banks could print money and debase currencies. That opened the door for huge bailouts after big banks screwed up in a big way. Taxpayers—not incompetent bankers—paid the price."

Janet Tavakoli, Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street

I have just started reading a new book by Janet Tavakoli called Decisions:  Life and Death on Wall Street. 

 

There is also a paperback version of it here.  It is available in the US, UK and most of continental Europe, but oddly not Canada, Australia or India.

I have known her as a subject matter expert on derivatives to whom I have turned for knowledge now and then over the years, and always found her to be exceptionally straightforward and helpful.

 

This is a non-fiction story of her travels in the world of finance that asks the question, 'What would you be willing to do for money and power?'   Given the times, it might be more to the point to ask what people would not be willing to do.

 

As usual Janet does not pull her punches.  The description on Amazon is rather intriguing.  

In New York, the Federal Reserve Bank hides damaging information about too-big-too-fail banks from the public eye. A prominent bank CEO seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

In Washington D.C., a former Wall Street regulator checks into a hotel using the name of a hedge fund manager for an illicit meeting with a prostitute. In a D.C. suburb, the CFO of a beleaguered mortgage giant chooses a drastic personal end to "relentless pressure".

In a picturesque suburb of Zug, Switzerland, the CFO of a major insurance company decides to end his life. In London, a financier kills himself in a way he once said he never would.

In her new memoir, Janet Tavakoli shines a bright light on the money-driven culture of Wall Street and Washington, and the life and death consequences of our decisions that put profit above all.

"The U.S. went off the gold standard in August 1971. With no benchmark, central banks could print money and debase currencies. That opened the door for huge bailouts after big banks screwed up in a big way. Taxpayers—not incompetent bankers—paid the price.

By [the late 1980’s], the Federal Reserve Bank and large U.S. banks had established a pattern to control the public relations damage each time banks had a major screw-up: accountants and regulators let banks lie about the size of the problem to stall for time; the Federal Reserve blew smoke at the media; finally, the Fed would bail out the banks in a way that most taxpayers would not understand.

Banks didn’t have to get smarter or more competent. The Fed trained the banks that uninformed taxpayers would eat the losses, and fake accounting would let bank officers keep their positions and their money."

If 'rule under law' were more than just a slogan in the United States, men who occupied the senior-most positions in too-big-to-fail banks would have been disgraced, prosecuted, and jailed. But no bank executive was held accountable."