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Glenwood Springs in the Rockies
https://railpictures.net/photo/798588/
Moggy said
There’s gonna be a problem with tomatoes too.
I think there’s gonna be a problem with everything.
RNO
Remembering back. They also said then the Mexicans came along and under cut them with I can imagine back then when they were taking advantage of them already low wages. So that’s the rest of the story on the lies Mexican taking up jobs no body else wanted. Perhaps they did them a favor because Calif had more job opportunities.
I also met a son of the Mexicans who came in. He wound up joining the US army later.
He said the same and had to sleep in fields as a kid.
RNO
Looks like there’s a storm coming.
I had the privilege to meet a lot of people through the years including the children of the Grapes of Wrath. As one woman said it was a hard life and with a stern breath repeated the word Hard! The children were out there in the fields too. They had no place, traveled from one place to the next.
People today cannot imagine what it was like for them. We lived through disasters but neither can I.
About the food thing
Most farmers in my area are applying less than half of the normal fertilizer rate. If the drought continues, we are looking at a disaster in the wheat market.
My brother-in-law is selling over half of his cows because he doesn’t have enough hay to get through the winter. Hay prices are skyrocketing. Herd liquidation will cause a temporary drop in beef prices but beef will be unaffordable afterwards.
One hundred years after the Grapes of Wrath, the Californians are moving back to Oklahoma. They have had enough. Housing is still tight here. When someone dies or goes into assisted living, family members are fighting to see who gets to move into the house.
Those with kids or grandkids
The food shortages already affecting us. School kids menus subject to change due to supply issues. This last month for the first time when ordering a few things for pizza that way up I ordered chicken wings and Italian bread and they said they were out of chicken.
Meanwhile talking to someone I got to know at my grandsons schools and have to let them know I’m retired they have no nurse on hand. Kids were getting sick. Putting symptoms with environment “ heat” it was heat exhaustion. They shouldn’t let the kids out in that heat esp when it could hit 105F
I’m sending them a list for a few things they can watch not just heat exhaustion or dehydration tomorrow.
This Covid clot shot is totally brain dead irresponsible to mandate is causing shortages everywhere. But pushed too far when schools have all those kids and no nurse on hand!!! Meanwhile staff at hospital probably getting burnt out.
Eeo’s
There pretty much predictable but the shares or the things going on the inside of some of them be company or market maker issues like fails to deliver are still there too,
How the US Toppled the World’s Most Powerful Gold Trader
All just stories, no real teeth. No mention of Jamie Dimon and what crooks him and Blythe are, and JP Moron in general. The comments at the bottom are far more interesting than this pacifying kids play childish article, keep it dialed back and do no real investigative reporting, basically piss-poor quality journalism.
(Bloomberg) — In December 2018, a man in his early 30s was intercepted on arrival at Fort Lauderdale airport and taken to a room where two FBI agents sat waiting.
The target was scared and already on high alert — one of his associates had recently admitted to crimes he knew he’d also committed. Christian Trunz wasn’t a terrorist or a drug trafficker, but a mid-level trader of precious metals returning from his honeymoon. Crucially: he was also a longstanding employee of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest bullion bank.
The FBI’s airport ambush described by Trunz was a crucial step in the pursuit by US prosecutors of JPMorgan’s precious metals desk, leading up to last week’s climax — the conviction on 13 counts of the man who was once the most powerful figure in the gold market, the desk’s former global head Michael Nowak.
Watched with a mixture of fascination and horror by precious metals traders around the world, the case has shone a light on how JPMorgan’s traders — including Nowak and the bank’s long-time lead gold trader Gregg Smith — for years allegedly manipulated markets by placing bogus orders designed to wrongfoot other market participants, principally algorithmic traders whose high-speed activity became a major source of frustration.
Nowak has become one of the most senior bankers to be convicted in the US since the financial crisis, and faces the prospect of decades in prison, although it could be far less.
Nowak’s lawyers contend Nowak wasn’t a “criminal mastermind” and said they will “continue to vindicate his rights in court.” A lawyer for Smith said during closing arguments last month that his client’s orders were legitimate, and there are other explanations to buy and sell futures contracts at the same time on behalf of customers.
It took three weeks in court for the government to persuade a jury of Nowak and Smith’s guilt. (Jeffrey Ruffo, a salesman who was tried with them, was acquitted.)
But whispers of spoofing had hung over JPMorgan’s trading desk for at least a decade — many years before the FBI first approached Trunz in 2018.
Alex Gerko, the head of an algorithmic trading firm, complained about Smith’s activity in the gold market as early as 2012 to CME Group Inc., which owns the futures exchanges where the US alleged thousands of spoof trades took place. But Smith and Nowak continued working at the bank until 2019, when the US unsealed charges against them.
“The wheels of justice are moving, slowly,” Gerko tweeted last month.
At the Justice Department, the road to JPMorgan began with a decision to begin hunting down traders who made bogus offers to buy and sell commodities that they never intended to execute. The criminal fraud unit hired data consultants to go through billions of lines of trades to spot patterns of market manipulators.
As the vast quantities of data was scrutinized, there were certain traders that stood out. And they worked at JPMorgan.
With the data in hand, investigators went looking for cooperators, which they found in Trunz and his former colleague John Edmonds. Both relatively junior traders pleaded guilty to their own misconduct and agreed to testify against the desk’s boss.
Nowak was arrested in September 2019, sending a shock wave through the metals world, but the Covid pandemic meant it would be another three years until the trial finally took place.
In his testimony, Edmonds, who’d started in an operations role at JPMorgan, described spoofing on the desk as a daily phenomenon and felt obliged to take part because it was part of the normal strategy.
Read: JPMorgan Gold Desk ‘Spoofing’ Cheated Market, Ex-Trader Says
The Justice Department’s move against JPMorgan’s most senior bullion bankers was celebrated in some corners of the gold and silver markets, where investors and bloggers have long accused the bank of a large-scale scheme to manipulate prices lower. Those allegations prompted multiple investigations by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the most recent of which was closed in 2013 after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.
The case against Nowak and Smith made no allegations of a systematic plot to suppress prices, instead arguing that they spoofed markets over very short periods of time, and in both directions, to benefit JPMorgan’s most important hedge fund clients.
And while the convictions are a victory for the prosecutors, the jury rejected the government’s most sweeping charges — brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO — that the men were part of a conspiracy and that JPMorgan’s precious metals desk was a criminal enterprise.
At JPMorgan, Edmonds said the practice was referred to as “clicking” rather than spoofing, and the traders never discussed it as being illegal despite the firm’s own compliance policies making it plain. Trunz even spoke of a running joke involving Smith, who would click his mouse so fast to place and cancel orders that his colleagues would urge him to put ice on his fingers.
In 2012, Gerko, who is the founder of quantitative trading firm XTX Markets Ltd., complained to the CME about Smith’s trading in gold futures by rapidly entering and canceling orders. The CME began an investigation, which dragged on for three years before concluding he’d likely been spoofing.
“It took a long time after 2010 to get consistent enforcement,” Gerko said in a tweet, referring to the Dodd-Frank act in which spoofing was defined and made illegal.
After another JPMorgan trader, Michel Simonian, was fired in 2014 for spoofing, Nowak called his traders into his office to ask if they’d been doing the same, according to Edmonds. No one said anything. The incident shocked Edmonds, he said, as Nowak knew it had been going on for years.
During the trial, Nowak appeared largely impassive, his face hidden behind a Covid mask. Industry insiders described him in 2020 as introverted and brainy, and testimony during the trial painted him as a well-liked manager, who became friendly with Trunz while the two did a stint working out of JPMorgan’s London office.
During trial, Trunz was asked whether he liked Nowak, the former trader responded: “I loved him.”
However, the relationship became more complicated after Trunz was approached by authorities. When he contemplated making a deal with the government, Nowak told him not to, according to Trunz, who became audibly choked up as he gave the testimony.
Defense lawyers painted Trunz and Edmonds as unreliable — proven liars who were testifying against their clients in order to avoid lengthy prison sentences.
Nowak and Smith won’t be sentenced until next year. For comparison, two Deutsche Bank AG traders convicted of spoofing in 2020 were each sentenced to about a year in prison.
Last week’s conviction represents the pinnacle of the US Justice Department’s crackdown on the illegal trading practice known as spoofing. So far, prosecutors have managed to convict ten traders at five different banks.
JPMorgan has already paid $920 million to settle spoofing allegations against it.
“Even though the jury rejected the conspiracy and RICO charges, they will consider this a win,” said Matthew Mazur, an attorney at Dechert LLP who defended one of the Deutsche Bank traders. “This is probably the end of the precious metals sweep that was done, but I do think there will continue to be cases.”
Even after the crackdown, some market participants say spoofing still takes place. Back when commodity futures traded in the pits, brokers had to trade face-to-face. Hiding behind a screen makes it much easier to place and pull orders at will.
“We still see spoofing on a regular basis,” said Eric Zuccarelli, an independent commodities trader who began working on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1986. “But back then if a person spoofed everybody would come over and punch you in the face and the floor committee would come over and fine you for being an asshole.”
Richard640
As of Friday you were the hero, having mentioned something about SAND calls not too long ago. However, I haven’t checked your ‘status’ today. ROFL
But I can’t imagine ever assigning Bxxxxxx status to you.
Thanks for your wise advice today. Even though i understand that technically it is definitely NOT advice.
New Poll New Poll
Vote! Vote!
drb2 @ 10:53
I don’t think there’s been sentencing for the JPM crooks yet. Probably will be no time handed out.
You Must Buy
A new ponzi scheme has arrived.. Instead of focusing on strategic planning & differentiating, some Chinese cities begin forcing its local people who work in govt bodies to buy properties to create demand https://t.co/BrCuUoxxzN
— Samson Li (@SamsonLi7) August 15, 2022
@ Buygold; Ipso; Maddog; RE: JPM Spoofing Trial
Another token arrest of small fry, while the real criminals go free.
Never any mention of restitution to the victims.
Where does the millions of $ in fines go? Certainly not to the victims.
I haven’t seen a penny of it, have you?
————————————————————————————————————-
This trial has been ignored by financial media
Posted by Buygold @ 6:38 on August 14, 2022
JPMorgan Gold Traders Found Guilty After Long Spoofing Trial | The WealthAdvisor
“The case was the biggest yet in a crackdown by the US Justice Department. Nowak, the managing director in charge of the desk, and Smith, its top trader, were convicted of fraud, spoofing, market manipulation. The government alleged the precious-metals business at JPMorgan was run as a criminal enterprise, though the jury acquitted all three men of a separate racketeering charge.
“They had the power to move the market, the power to manipulate the worldwide price of gold,” prosecutor Avi Perry said during closing arguments.”
Posted by ipso facto @ 10:23 on August 14, 2022
We’ll have to see if anyone goes to jail. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just get a fine … ridiculous as that is.
Posted by Maddog @ 3:34 on August 15, 2022
Re JPM Trial
I cannot fathom why those traders accepted that trial, without shouting from the rooftops….what about the Fed/scum…..the only reason they did not, is of course that they were told not to or etc.
the trial is also an absolute insult to the PM mkt…..and it will not stop until the two tier system is torn apart.
Typical
China stinks the joint up …everything falls apart, then the SM starts to recover, even going flat…while all commodities stay on their arses…..how very convenient.
Turquoise Hill rejects Rio Tinto’s $2.7 billion takeover offer
Canada’s Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX, NYSE: TRQ) has rejected majority shareholder Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) bid to buy the 49% stake it doesn’t already own in the company for $2.7 billion, saying it did not reflect its full and fair value.
The decision by the special committee appointed by Turquoise Hill blocks Rio Tinto’s efforts to gain greater control of the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine it’s developing in Mongolia.
Turquoise Hill rejects Rio Tinto’s $2.7 billion takeover offer
Richard
Thank for the update. Maybe they think it’s a club. Saw a pic of him on his boat thinking he’s all that. I’ll be looking forward to seeing his Titanic part deux movie.
Yep
Leonardo Addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos
http://leonardodicaprio.com/leonardo-addresses-the-world-economic-forum-in-davos/
Richard640 @ 9:15
Eff leonardo! Probably one of Klaus’s minions.
INDEPENDENT PROXY ADVISORY FIRM ISS RECOMMENDS ALEXCO SHAREHOLDERS VOTE FOR THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION WITH HECLA
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/independent-proxy-advisory-firm-iss-120000086.html
Lundin Weighs Sale of $1 Billion Copper-Zinc Mine in Portugal
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lundin-weighs-sale-1-billion-123305001.html
Liberty Gold Receives Final US$6 Million Payment for the Sale of Halilağa Copper-Gold Deposit, Turkey
Perpetua Resources Announces Second Quarter 2022 Highlights
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/perpetua-resources-announces-second-quarter-100000635.html
Teuton Reports Progress at Many of its Properties in the Golden Triangle, BC
https://www.thenewswire.com/press-releases?id=1Bb4Fz5N5
Eastern Platinum Limited Reports Results for the Second Quarter of 2022
https://ceo.ca/@newsfile/eastern-platinum-limited-reports-results-for-the-second-c0564
Finlay Minerals receives Exploration Permit for its Silver Hope Property
https://ceo.ca/@newswire/finlay-minerals-receives-exploration-permit-for-its
Eric Sprott Announces Holdings in Rio2 Limited
https://ceo.ca/@newsfile/eric-sprott-announces-holdings-in-rio2-limited-1f6dd
Sandstorm Gold Royalties Completes Acquisition of Nomad Royalty Company
https://ceo.ca/@newswire/sandstorm-gold-royalties-completes-acquisition-of-nomad
American Pacific Mining to Acquire Constantine Metal Resources
https://ceo.ca/@newsfile/american-pacific-mining-to-acquire-constantine-metal
Stinger Resources Announces Option Agreement Update and Exploration on the Silver Side Property in British Columbia
https://ceo.ca/@newsfile/stinger-resources-announces-option-agreement-update