Golden Minerals Company

How about that Jon Corzine, eh? It seems New Jersey’s finest self-bought ex-Senator bet heavily on European debt, got walloped by a cavalcade of AIG-style collateral calls streaming in from outraged creditors, and tried to stave off the inevitable by commingling client cash with his own account.

From what I gather, Corzine essentially reached into the company cash register to pay off his gambling debts. He didn’t have enough money of his own to fight off the wolves, so he took the money he had access to, in a desperate, insane hope that his bets would eventually turn around and he could replace the missing cash later on.

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi rips Jon Corzine a new one in this short blog over at the RS website. It's a must read for sure...and it's Roy Stephens first offering of the day. The link is here.

There are few people on Planet Earth more qualified to write about Jon Corzine and MF Global than the above writer. Roger is the author of the book "When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management"...and knows Corzine like few others.

Thirteen years ago, when the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management was desperately negotiating with Wall Street banks for a bailout, Jon Corzine, the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., called John Meriwether, LTCM’s founder, and read him the riot act. Wall Street would invest, Corzine said, but “JM” would have to accept more controls, including strict supervision over his firm’s trading limits.

Corzine, I wrote soon after, “understood the flaws” at LTCM better than anyone. The firm had no controls over risk limits, no accountability to anyone who wasn’t a trader.

If you had to pick only one story to read in today's column...this would be the one. This absolute must read Bloomberg item was sent to me by Washington state reader S.A...and the link is here. [By the way, if you haven't read Lowenstein's book...you owe it to you to do so! - Ed]

MF Global Holdings Ltd failed to protect customer accounts by keeping them separate from its own funds, said a top U.S. exchange regulator, another shock for commodity markets scrambling to contain fallout from the brokerage's bankruptcy.

The revelation on Tuesday by CME Group Inc suggests Jon Corzine's MF Global violated a central tenet of futures brokerages. It could erode confidence in a market that for decades has enjoyed a sterling reputation for safety.

MF Global cannot account for a large amount of customer money that was supposed to be kept separate from other funds, sources said, and regulators are scrambling to review the broker's accounts. The cause of the shortfall -- including whether the company pilfered client funds or merely cannot account for the money -- was not clear.

This Reuters piece was posted over at news.yahoo.com yesterday...and I thank reader "h c" for sharing it with us. It's on the longish side, but definitely worth the read...and the link is here.

How are the regulators going to explain this one?

MF Global, the failed firm whose chairman and CEO is Jon Corzine, has already destroyed the wealth of its investors and roiled the banking world. But now we are learning that it may have lost customer funds as well.

A major Wall Street broker in derivatives markets with $41 billion in assets, MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Monday after Mr. Corzine made disastrous bets on bonds issued by European governments. It initially appeared he was (only) gambling with his firm's own capital, but a federal official tells the Journal that MF Global has admitted diverting money out of customer accounts, which may be a violation of federal law.

May be a violation of federal law??? No kidding! The whisper number is that $1.5 billion of customer money may be missing. If that's the case, I wonder how Jon will look doing the perp walk? This is Washington state reader S.A.'s second offering in a row...and I thank GATA's Chris Powell for posting this Wall Street Journal story in the clear. The link to the GATA release is here.

Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in August, as the number of recipients hit 45.8 million.

Food stamp rolls have risen 8.1% in the past year, the Department of Agriculture reported, though the pace of growth has slowed from the depths of the recession.

Mississippi reported the largest share of its population relying on food stamps, more than 21%. One in five residents in New Mexico, Tennessee, Oregon and Louisiana also were food stamp recipients.

This story was in the Monday edition of The Wall Street Journal...and I lifted it from yesterday's King Report. It's a short read...and the interactive graph imbedded in the story makes it worthwhile. The link is here.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said unemployment is still “far too high” and the Fed may take further steps to boost growth, such as buying mortgage bonds or changing the way it communicates its policy goals to the public.

Additional stimulus “remains on the table,” Bernanke said today at a press conference in Washington, declining to specify conditions that would prompt a move. “While we still expect that economic activity and labor market conditions will improve gradually over time, the pace of progress is likely to be frustratingly slow.”

It looks like the FOMC meeting was a non-event. This Bloomberg story from yesterday was sent to me by West Virginia reader Elliot Simon...and the link is here.

Uncertainty in Greece raised fresh fears that the single currency crisis will spread. European stock markets plunged and the Italian government’s borrowing costs hit record highs as investors warned that efforts to save the euro were “unravelling”.

George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, faced calls by members of his own government to step down amid fears that Greeks will vote against the bail-out package and the deep cuts in public spending its sponsors are demanding. As Greek politics grew ever more chaotic, there were strong political protests as the government moved to replace military chiefs with officers seen as more supportive of Mr. Papandreou.

A No vote could mean Greece is forced to withdraw from the single currency, raising doubts about the euro’s value and wiping trillions off the value of shares and loans across the continent.

This story from The Telegraph yesterday is courtesy of Roy Stephens...and the link is here.

The political upheaval in Athens has suddenly made the once unspeakable — Greek debt default — a distinct possibility.

So now it is time to ponder the once unthinkable: that Greece might end its 10-year use of the euro and return to its former currency, the drachma.

Such a move is still officially anathema in Athens. But a growing body of economists argues that it would be the best course, whatever the near-term financial and economic implications. And now, with a referendum on the European-led bailout facing Greek voters, a vocal minority that has long called for a return to the drachma might find itself with a growing group of listeners.

This story was in Tuesday's edition of The New York Times...and is another Roy Stephens offering. The link is here.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have warned the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, that Greece will not receive a penny more help if the Hellenic Government does not comply strictly with the agreements reached at the summit last week.

After an emergency meeting between Merkel, Sarkozy, Papandreou and other international leaders, among whom was the director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, the chancellor and the president announced the Gallo blocking aid to 8,000 million euros in the country until it clears the uncertainties and have called on Greece to take action as soon as possible, “if you want to continue building the future of the euro” in the words of Sarkozy.

This story was posted over at the economicsnewspaper.com website...and is Roy Stephens last offering in today's column. The link is here.

The most accurate forecasters say gold will rebound from its biggest monthly plunge since 2008 and reach a record by March because economic growth is stagnating and Europe’s debt crisis is unresolved.

Futures traded in New York may rise 13 percent to $1,950 an ounce by the end of the first quarter, according to the median of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The predictions are from eight of the top 10 analysts tracked by Bloomberg over the past eight quarters. Two declined to give forecasts.

“There is a loss of trust in the entire financial system and urgent need for safe-haven investment,” said Ronald Stoeferle at Erste Group Bank AG in Vienna, the second most- accurate forecaster in the past three months. “The environment for gold is just perfect.”

Well, if the environment is that perfect, then it's probably a good bet that $1,950 is too low. But then again, maybe that's as high as 'da boyz' will let it rise. We'll find out in the fullness of time.

Several readers sent me this Bloomberg story yesterday, but the first one through the door was Phil Barlett...and the link is here.

“I continue to think that one of the bright spots in this market for investors and speculators, with a 12 to 18 month outlook, is the disparity in pricing between gold and silver equities and physical gold and silver prices, as there have only been two times in the past ten years when, from our own calculations, gold and silver equities were attractively priced relative to the metal, that being 2001 and 2008. We are back strongly in that territory."

Eric sent me this Rick Rule blog yesterday...and it's posted over at the King World News website. The link is here.

The Fed can’t ease anymore because rates are already at zero, and you can’t get any easier than that. As far as quantitative easing, when are they going to announce more of that? I don’t know, they are going to do it, they are probably already doing it quietly. But at some point they will be more vocal about it....

This is another blog posted over at King World News...and the link is here.

While we're convinced that our gold and silver investments will pay off, they don't come without risk. What do you suppose is the biggest risk we face? Another 2008-style selloff? Gold stocks never breaking out of their funk? Maybe a depression that slams our standard of living?

Though those things are possible, we at Casey Research don't see that as your greatest threat:

"Your biggest risk is not that gold or silver may fall in price. Nor is it that gold stocks could take longer to catch fire than we think. Not even the prospect of the Greater Depression. No, your biggest risk is political. As bankrupt governments get increasingly desperate for revenue, any monetary asset held domestically could be a target. It is absolutely essential that every investor diversify themselves politically. In fact, at this point, it is the one action that should be taken before anything else." – Doug Casey, September 2011

Jeff Clark, editor of Casey Research's monthly BIG GOLD newsletter, posted this excellent commentary in yesterday's edition of Casey's Daily Dispatch...and is a must read. The link is here.

Yesterday's edition of Conversations with Casey headlined this interview between John Hathaway and CR's own David Galland.

They discuss the disparity between gold stocks and bullion, as well as the general economic picture in the short term. This absolute must watch interview runs 8:32...and the link is here.