LBMA pledges 'transparency,' so where are the gold swaps and leases?

The LBMA has been corrupted for years, prompting this call for transparency from its CEO.  It's too late--its relevance in the physical gold markets has been usurped by China.

http://www.gata.org/node/17659

Federal Reserve Task Force: Ripple Improves Speed and Transparency of Global Payments

https://ripple.com/insights/federal-reserve-task-force-ripple-improves-speed-transparency-global-payments/

Transparency

http://www.silverseek.com/commentary/transparency-6501

Ron Paul: Depression is coming

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/ron-paulobamadepression-taxes/2010/08/30/id/368750

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, says depression looms for the economy and that failure to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone would hasten the process.

“It will be devastating if the (tax) breaks aren’t renewed,” the 2008 presidential candidate told Newsmax.TV.

Even without expiration of the tax cuts, the economy is headed for depression, he predicts. “That will just make it worse much faster.”

Paul is introducing a bill next year for the nation’s gold reserves to be audited.

“It’s common sense for the country to know what it owns,” he said. The last audit was in the 1970s, and a lot of central banks have sold or loaned gold since then.

“Hopefully someday there will be a gold currency, or they will return gold to the people because it was taken from them in the 1930s at a very low rate,” Paul said.

“We should know what we own. Why should anybody oppose us counting what’s in the bank, in case we make use of it, just because too many questions are raised about what central banks have done in the last 10 to 15 years?”

And that’s the main reason the Fed successfully opposed his proposal this year for an audit of the central bank, Paul says. “They didn’t want us —as a people or Congress — to know what deals they made with other central banks.”

Transparency is the main issue for the Fed, says Paul.

Ron Paul goes after SEC transparency

The crimes in progress on Wall Street and at the SEC continue. Financial Crash 2.0 is coming to a brokerage account near you.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ron-paul-goes-after-secs-foia-exclusivity-introduces-sec-transparency-act

SEC exempt from public disclosure

Watch the video. This financial regulation "reform" enables cover ups, instead of increasing transparency.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/07/28/sec-says-new-finreg-law-exempts-public-disclosure/

So much for transparency.

Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from "surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities." Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot.

Gensler - CFTC Chairman of the people?

I've chronicled CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler's attempts to increase transparency in futures markets, specifically in derivatives. One proposal is to transfer over-the-counter trading of derivatives into an exchange, where price discovery is more transparent. He is targeting the energy complex, particularly crude oil. We'll see if he ratchets up regulation against price manipulation in the precious metals sector.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a3OkrdITAZtA&pos=10

IT infrastructure investments

Information technology (IT) infrastructure investments by Wall Street investment firms are approaching $3.6 billion annually. By contrast, the U.S. Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) has an annual IT budget of $23 million--which makes it difficult for them to monitor and regulate derivatives trading. Their servers, bandwidth pipes, storage, and overall IT infrastructures are slow, old, inadequate, and obsolete.

It's analogous to highway patrol squad cars having a top speed of 160 mph, rendering them impotent to catch speeders averaging 1000 mph. The software algorithms and quantitative analysis investment firms perform are fast enough (and getting faster) to stay ahead of the watchdogs.

Financial derivatives are useful in hedging strategies and increasing potential returns on investment, but they can also be weapons of massive financial destruction when leverage is abused. And algorithms can spin out of control when asset bubbles burst. The race to be ahead of everyone else sometimes causes the mutual destruction of algorithms gone bad, as self-fulfilling negative outcomes beget other larger losses.

The regulatory path has become increasingly futile as Wall Street computing capabilities increase geometrically with Moore's Law.

Free market proponents epouse minimum regulation, with a mantra of caveat emptor, but cases of fraud and market manipulation should be regulated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Rigged markets and lack of transparency hurt markets long-term, as investor distrust of manipulated markets cause participants to stop trading. Without investors, markets disappear.

Unmasking the Fed

We can do something about the opaqueness of the Fed.

http://www.unmaskthefed.com/

There is a bipartisan bill seeking Fed transparency and accountability being passed around Congress, written by Republican Ron Paul, and endorsed by Democrat Alan Grayson.

Why the economy still stinks

Despite proclamations of green shoots, a pending recovery (and a surging stock market), I am skeptical of any economic recovery. Here are a couple articles on two common themes: bank insolvency and lack of transparency of toxic assets, and under-reporting of unemployment:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a5BsXz90CMso

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm