Posted on 05/07/2010 12:24:20 PM PDT by givemELL
"-- The notional value of derivatives held by U.S. commercial banks increased $8.5 trillion in the fourth quarter, or 4.2 percent, to $212.8 trillion."
"-- Derivative contracts remain concentrated in interest rate products, which comprise 84 percent of total derivative notional values. The notional value of credit derivative contracts, at $14 trillion, represents 7 percent of total notionals. Credit derivatives notional totals increased by 8 percent during the quarter."
Imagine: an increase of $8.5 trillion in notional value of derivatives in just three months."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.silverseek.com ...
"Derivatives activity in the U.S. banking system continues to be dominated by a small group of large financial institutions. Five large commercial banks represent 97 percent of the total banking industry notional amounts and 88 percent of industry net current credit exposure."
"(How much more "transparency" do you need to "see" that $206 trillion of derivatives in five banks with combined assets of a measly $5.4 trillion is a "daisy-cutter" bomb big enough to wipe out all things paper on the planet?)
You have to love those "mitigating factors" that the regulators offer as to why five banks owning 97 percent of $213 trillion of derivatives is not a problem. The increase in notional value of all derivatives in just three months is equal to 75 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Do the "sophisticated tools" that these bankers require to write derivative contracts include bongs and the strongest hallucinatory drugs on the planet?"
Finally, regarding silver:
"This increase in notional value of silver derivatives represents approximately 220 million ounces, which is 125 percent of the global production of silver during the quarter -- and that is only the increase. The entire notional value represents 106 percent of annual global production.
What possible legitimate purpose could such a monstrous derivative position be serving with a maturity of less than one year?
The only purpose I can think of is for manipulation of the silver market. I am not a regulator but I can't think of any "mitigating factors" for that."
ping
bookmark this thread. Silver remains, IMO, underpriced compared to other precious metals.
And I believe we're running out of silver.
Holy crap!
That is insane! Talk about a looming disaster.
I have always REFUSED to allow any institution to hold my silver purchases “on deposit”.
I was watching gold break $1200, and I wondered just what the hell was holding silver down below $19. Siver’s historic volatility vs gold seems to have been supressed lately.... If (when) silver breaks loose and goes on a tear, I anticipate a price near $30/oz to be probable.
Buckle up! The ride has not even begun.
Now your catching on. Most USAians don’t get the extreme evil of unequal weight and measures; creating money out of thin air. It’s really not that complicated though...
The silver supply gap has closed significantly in the past couple of years. And the metal is losing a very significant portion of its industrial use. I’d say silver is due for a drop.
I heard they don’t play the *fancy financial games* In India and that they fared much better as of late.
“What possible legitimate purpose could such a monstrous derivative position be serving with a maturity of less than one year?”
Two hypotheses:
1) These banks clearly expect someone else to be holding the bag if things go south.
2) These banks expect Obama to grow the economy so fast that $206T will seem a pittance relative to U.S. GDP, hence the risk of systemic failure trivial.
I leave it as a homework exercise for readers to decide which of these seems most probable.
Digital photography?
We seem to be in the minority, but I agree with you. Film used a significant percentage of silver in years past, but the amount is dropping fast. It is down to something like 50% of what it was over the last 10 years. It will drop more in the future. What will replace that demand?
More people need to read and understand what this report means and what implications it has. Who can be trusted? How do we break it down for reporting? Charts, simple-to-understand illustrations, and so forth. I’m seriously asking.
Would you trust a used car salesman's advise on how your Ford Taurus will gain value?
at 20:1, silver should be 60 and that is the low end of the historical range
Medical use of silver has gone down drastically. Almost all radiological images are stored and transmitted digitally rather than on silver-containing film.
And how many rolls of film do you use per year in your Instamatic?
Almost all radiological images are stored and transmitted digitally rather than on silver-containing film.
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And the film that is created is usually digitized after a year at most and sold as scrap to precious metal recyclers.
Thanks, bert. Things could get very interesting, and very quickly.
And who, at this moment, is in charge of our treasury??? Mr Propaganda himself, Big Zero. (I have grown so cynical, I trust no one, no where, no way, that's tied to government!)
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