Central Perk: 6 dec. 2014

sâmbătă, 6 decembrie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Police Chokehold Ends in Death: Two Videos, Which One is Right?

Posted: 06 Dec 2014 06:37 PM PST

Here is a pair of videos on the death of Eric Garner via police chokehold.

The first video is by comedian Jon Stewart. The Second is an interview of Senator Rand Paul on Fox News.

Please play them both.

Jon Stewart Tears Into Eric Garner Reactions

Link if video does not play: Jon Stewart Tears Into Eric Garner Reactions

Eric Garner 'Didn't Need to Die'

Link if video does not play: Eric Garner 'Didn't Need to Die'

My Take

Both videos come to the same conclusion: Eric Garner 'Didn't Need to Die'. I think we can all agree on that.

And we certainly should agree that Stewart is correct in that something is truly messed up with the grand jury process.

The grand jury problem is easy to describe:

Prosecutors are in bed with the police. The grand jury is fed info the prosecutor wants the jury to hear. If the prosecutor does not want to go after after a police officer, it will not happen. But, if a prosecutor really wants to go after someone, rest assured the charges will be trumped up.

It's that simple. So on that point I side 100% with Jon Stewart.

Yet, Stewart clearly took a couple of clips of Rand Paul totally out of context to make his point. That's something he should not have done.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Gold Drain at the New York Fed: Where's It Going?

Posted: 06 Dec 2014 11:28 AM PST

Nick at Sharelynx Gold, also known as Gold Charts "R" Us emailed an interesting chart last week showing gold drain at the New York Fed.

Earmarked gold dropped 42 tonnes for the month of October as foreign countries repatriate their gold home.

Here's a link to Earmarked Gold with a second chart that shows all Fed holdings.

Gold Charts "R" Us has 1,000's of pages and over 10,000 charts on a subscription basis, but you can check out the site for free until December 14. Click on the first link at the top for a look.

Where's the Gold Going?

This was the largest monthly drawdown in 13 years and the largest series of drawdowns since 2007 (drawdowns in red on above chart).

So, where's the gold going? Three answers:

Germany

Koos Jansen at BullionStar reports German Gold Repatriation Accelerating.

That article is interesting because it takes to task extremely sloppy Bloomberg reporting regarding German golf repatriation.

Netherlands

On November 21, Jansen reported Netherlands Has Repatriated 122.5t Gold From US.

The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has repatriated in utmost secret 122.5 tonnes of gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) to its vaults in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, according to a press release from DNB published today (November 21).

DNB states it has changed allocation policy from 11 % in Amsterdam, 51 % at the FRBNY, 20 % in Canada and 18 % at the Bank Of England (BOE); to 31 % in Amsterdam, 31 % at the FRBNY, 20 % in Canada and 18 % at the BOE. According to the World Gold Council's latest data DNB has 612.5 tonnes in official gold reserves.

Belgium

Yesterday, Jansen reported Belgium Investigating To Repatriate All Gold Reserves.

Countries want their gold back. Who can blame them?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Seth's Blog : Goals, strategy and tactics for change

Goals, strategy and tactics for change

The Goal: Who are you trying to change? What observable actions will let you know you've succeeded?

The Strategy: What are the emotions you can amplify, the connections you can make that will cause someone to do something they've hesitated to do in the past (change)? The strategy isn't the point, it's the lever that helps you cause the change you seek.

The Tactics: What are the actions you take that cause the strategy to work? What are the events and interactions that, when taken together, comprise your strategy?

An example: Our goal is to change good donors to our cause into really generous donors. Our strategy is to establish a standard for big gifts, to make it something that our good donors aspire to because it feels normal for someone like them. And today's tactic is hosting an industry dinner that will pair some of our best donors with those that might be open to moving up.

If you merely ask someone to help you with a tactic in isolation, it's likely you won't get the support you need. But if you can find out if you share a goal with someone, then can explain how your strategy can make it likely that you'll achieve that goal, working together on a tactic that supports that strategy is an obvious thing to do.

And it certainly opens the door to a useful conversation about whether your goal is useful, your strategy is appropriate and your tactic is coherent and likely to cause the change you seek.

A tactic might feel fun, or the next thing to do, or a lot like what your competition is doing. But a tactic by itself is nothing much worth doing. If it supports a strategy, a longer-term plan that builds on itself and generates leverage, that's far more powerful. But a strategy without a goal is wasted.