Meeting in Canberra, Australia in November 2009
- Sunday, 1st November 2009, 09:45 – 16:45
- In the Common Room, University House, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT
- Cost: nil. Priority will be given to those who have paid to attend Prof. Fekete’s seminar, 2 to 5 November 2009.
- Cafe and bar facilities available at University House
THE VANISHING GOLD BASIS AND THE WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS
- Monday, 2nd to Thursday, 5th November 2009, 10:00 – 17:15 each day
- a seminar by Prof Antal Fekete and others
- in the Common Room, University House, the Australian National University, Canberra ACT
- cost Aus$790. Includes entry to all sessions, morning and afternoon tea, and a light lunch
- each session will comprise a 45 minute lecture followed by a 15 minute Q+A
- 160 attendees maximum
- accommodation convenient to these events (<20 minutes walk)
University House, the ANU 02.6125.5276
University Accommodation Service, the ANU 02.6125.1100
Rydges 02.6247.6244
Diamont 1800.056.659
Novotel 02.6245.5000
Medina Apartments 1300.633.462 - A limited number of private consultations with Prof Fekete are available on Friday, 6 November 2009 between 09:00 and 12:00.
Gold Investment Day
1 November 2009, Sunday
09:45-10:45 Five monetary events to watch for in the next five years Dan Denning
10:15-11:00 Carbon credits are a new form of fiat money David Evans
11:15-11:45 Break
11:45-12:30 21st century resource sector outlook Barry Dawes
12:30-13:15 GoldNerds.com, the systematic approach to the Australian gold mining sector Troy Schwensen
13:15-14:30 Break
14:30-15:15 The lessons from history: politics, economics and psychology of gold Mark Van der Sluys
15:15-16:00 London and the precious metals Physical Value Chain Bron Suckecki
16:00-16:45 The ABC of investment in bullion at BMG Nathan Narusis
The Vanishing Gold Basis and the World Financial Crisis
2 November 2009, Monday, The vanishing gold basis and the world financial crisis
10:00- 11:00 Welcome General Introduction Opening remarks on the current monetary crisis Philip Barton Rudy Frisch Antal Fekete
11:00-11:45 Morning tea
11:45-12:45 Implications of gold backwardation for the gold mining industry Antal Fekete
12:45-14:30 lunch
14:30-15:30 Hill End Gold Philip Bruce
15:30-16:15 afternoon tea
16:15-17:15 Gold mining and exploration – the coming dominance of gold Barry Dawes
3 November 2009, Tuesday, The vanishing gold basis and the world financial crisis
10:00-11:00 Gold and the nature of money Rudy Frisch
11:00-11:45 Morning tea
11:45-12:45The Gold Standard – truly out-of-date – or merely pushed aside? Antal Fekete
12:45-14:30 lunch
14:30-15:30 Why do COMEX warehouse gold holdings expand? Analysis of the components of COMEX gold Bron Suchecki
15:30-16:15 afternoon tea
16:15-17:15 Gold and the monsoon in India Sandeep Jaitly
4 November 2009, Wednesday, The vanishing gold basis and the world financial crisis
10:00-11:00 Gold versus Ponzi Capitalism Darryl Schoon
11:00-11:45 Morning tea
11:45- 12:45 Warehousing theory and what it means for gold and silver Sandeep Jaitly
12:45-14:30 lunch
14:30-15:30 How declining interest rates have destroyed capital for the last 20 years Antal Fekete
15:30-16:15 afternoon tea
16:15-17:15 The gold basis and the concept of permanent backwardation Antal Fekete Sandeep Jaitly
5 November 2009, Thursday, The vanishing gold basis and the world financial crisis
10:00-11:00 Gold backwardation: what it means for the world economy and why the world’s debt structure will break when backwardation materializes Nathan Narusis
11:00-11:45 Morning tea
11:45-12:45 The gold basis – not the price – is the guiding star for gold miners, investors, and traders Antal Fekete
12:45-14:30 lunch
14:30-15:30 Why is the Chinese Government urging its people to buy gold and silver? Antal Fekete
15:30-16:15 afternoon tea
16:15-17:15 Closing remarks Philip Barton Antal Fekete
Speakers + Expert panel
Prof Antal Fekete (Hungary), The Gold Standard Institute
Prof Fekete was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1932. He graduated from the Loránt Eötvös University of Budapest in mathematics in 1955 and left Hungary in the wake of the 1956 anti-Communist uprising, immigrating to Canada in the following year. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1958, retiring 35 years later as a full professor in 1993. During the period 1958 to 1993 he was a visiting professor at Columbia University in the City of New York (1961), Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (1964), Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia (1970), Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (1974). Since 2005 he has been Professor at Large of Intermountain Institute for Science and Applied Mathematics (IISAM), Missoula, Montana. Prof Fekete has developed the ideas of Austrian economics, in particular with respect to interest. He is an expert in the role of gold in the world monetary system and has followed the gold basis since the introduction of gold futures trading in the 1970s. Prof Fekete is a frequent contributor to the internet-based gold community and travels widely as a speaker.
Philip Barton (Australia) , The Gold Standard Institute
A longtime watcher of the gold market, Philip is an Australian businessman and founder of
The Gold Standard Institute.
Darryl Robert Schoon (USA), www.drschoon.com
In the 1990s, Darryl began studying the Great Depression and realised his preconceptions about money and the economy were just that, preconceptions, and, like most others, he did not really understand the nature of money and the economy. After much time and research, he now has some insights to offer on these critical matters. Darryl immediately recognised the importance of Prof Fekete’s thought in the current crisis and has become a passionate exponent of his work.
Dan Denning (Australia), The Daily Reckoning
Dan started his financial career founding and editing a private financial newsletter on small-capitalization stocks in 1998, leading over 35,000 subscribers to profits in dynamic new American companies during the height of the bull market. In 2000, he became the editor of Strategic Investment, the flagship publication of internationally known Agora Publishing. His high-level, macro-economic and stock market forecasts were read by more than 35,000 investors and fund managers in over 70 countries. His reporting and analysis for The Daily Reckoning is read by more than 350,000 people regularly. Denning is also a regular columnist for Money Week, a London-based financial publication. Dan received his undergraduate degree in literature from the prestigious American University in Washington, D.C. in 1995. He earned a master’s degree in the Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. He spent three years observing U.S. markets from Paris and London before relocating to Melbourne in late 2005 to become the Managing Editor and Publisher of Port Phillip Publishing.
Philip Bruce, CEO, Hill End Gold
Managing Director of Hill End Gold Limited, Philip is a highly experienced international mining executive. Former Managing Director of Triako Resources Limited, General Manager of Plutonic Resources Limited, CEO of PT BHP Indonesia, and a Director of Buka Minerals Limited and Ausmelt Limited… Philip knows gold mining inside out and will pass on many potentially profitable secrets over the four days.
Rudy Frisch (Canada) , President, Allsteel
Rudy Fritsch was born in Hungary in 1947, the son of a patriotic Hungarian. His father lived through WW2 and the subsequent Hungarian hyperinflation. In spite of an opportunity to emigrate after the War, he remained in Hungary hoping the newly liberated country would provide opportunity and freedom. Soviet Communist oppression put an end to that and, when another chance to leave the country arose in 1956 during the Hungarian revolution, he took his family and left. This backdrop to Rudy’s life in Canada was important in what came next. After engineering studies, he joined the family business making metal-forming machinery. The company was very successful and Rudy eventually became president and sole owner. To this day, the Allsteel line of metal-forming machinery is well known in the industry, although the Allsteel machines are not built in Canada today, but in China. Rudy was forced to put his manufacturing company into bankruptcy before all the family wealth was destroyed. In his efforts to understand why the previously profitable company became a loss maker, he started to study economics. These studies made him realize that mainstream economics was full of inconsistencies and plain nonsense. His research led him to Austrian economics and he undertook a comprehensive study of the field. Encountering Prof Fekete’s work on the internet, he realised he taken Austrian economics to a new level. Since then, Rudy has collaborated with Professor Fekete, using his engineering background to complement the professor’s scientific approach. Rudy is committed to preserving and disseminating the vital knowledge that Prof Fekete brings to humanity.
Barry Dawes (Australia), Managing Director, Martin Place Securities
Barry is the Managing Director of Martin Place Securities Pty Ltd, a boutique investment company specialising in investment opportunities in small-cap resource and energy companies. Martin Place Securities (MPS) has raised A$650m in the past six years as underwriter, lead manager or lead adviser for ASX, NSX and AIM listings for resources and energy companies. MPS is well known for its support of successful growth companies in these sectors and for its views on the outlook for the resources commodity sector. Barry has had over 30 years experience in the resources sector and prior to establishing MPS had worked in senior executive roles of investment management with BT Australia, equities research for Bain Deutsche Bank and equities research and corporate finance for Macquarie Bank. Barry is also Director of ASX listed Uranium Exploration Australia Ltd, of Superior Coal Ltd, of several investment companies and of a number of unlisted public operating companies and has arranged development finance for dozens of listed resource companies. Well known and well respected for his outstanding knowledge and understanding of the resources sector Barry has helped MPS to be the company that leads the way for investing in Australian growth companies. Barry is a fellow of the Aus IMM and a master of SDIA.
Bron Suchecki (Australia), Perth Mint
Born in Sydney in 1969, Bron was blissfully unaware of gold until 1994, when he joined the Perth Mint as an Administration Officer in their Sydney retail outlet. In 1998, he moved to Perth to work in the then fledgling Depository Division. He has held a number of roles since then in the treasury, risk, and governance areas of the Mint. When not hurtling through the Perth bush on his mountain bike, Bron spends his spare time sharing personal views on precious metals in his Gold Chat blog.
Nathan Narusis (Canada), Bullion Management Group
Nathan Narusis, CFA, has been a gold advocate since he entered the investment industry in 1996 and is a long-time student of Prof Fekete’s work. His particular interest in the Professor’s work lies in its application to investment strategy during the transition to a new gold monetary system. Nathan has served internationally on Prof Fekete’s expert panel since 2007, when he has addressed the question of how to determine, using fundamental analysis, the point at which equities would once again present an excellent buying opportunity, how backwardation would continue to evolve as the paper monetary system weakens, and how the system of one-legged arbitrage could provide an additional moneymarket-like return to precious metals accumulators, above and beyond the gains in the value of the metals themselves. Currently Nathan sells gold for Bullion Management Group, a Canadian-based global mutual-fund operator and bullion storage provider.
David Evans (Australia), mathematician and founder of GoldNerds
David Evans did a PhD at Stanford in a statistical area of electrical engineering that included portfolio theory. While some of his fellow students became financial rocket scientists on Wall Street, David returned to Australia to write a maths book. No one funds you to write a maths book, so David turned to the markets for a living, and has been an investor and trader since 1990. An obvious bubble developed in the 1990s, and he switched from banks to gold. Good analytic information about gold stocks is hard to come by, so out of necessity David started www.goldnerds.com in 2007, a small company which sells analysis of all the gold companies on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). David is an amateur monetary historian, and his investment interests include how money is created, banks and gold, and confidence tricks. In 2009 he had some interesting conversations with a couple of central bankers.
Sandeep Jaitly (UK), mathematician and gold basis specialist
Sandeep Jaitly read Mathematics at Imperial College, London. On graduation, he began
working in finance at Odey Asset Management in London. He is currently an analyst
concentrating on global equities, with a bias towards India and China, at Soditic CBIP.
Since encountering Prof Fekete’s work, Sandeep has been concentrating on its application
to practical investment.
Troy Schwensen (Australia), Editor, The Global Speculator; Editor, GoldNerds N
America
Troy spent seven years in the Accounting and Finance industry in positions with some of Australia’s largest food and beverage companies including The Fosters Group (As a Business Analyst for CUB – The Beer division) and Goodman Fielder (As an Accountant). This experience provided him with an excellent analytical grounding on which to draw from in his present endeavours as a Precious Metals Analyst, Editor of The Global Speculator newsletter, and as an investor/trader. Troy writes precious metals related articles for Alan Kohler’s Eurkea Report , Diggers and Drillers, and he is a Research Analyst for GoldNerds which produces a very sophisticated research spreadsheet on Australian gold mining companies. Troy is extensively involved in the ongoing development of Goldnerds products and recently became Editor of the North American version, released in June 2009. Troy has a Bachelor of Business Accountancy from the Queensland University of Technology and is currently a full member of The Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accountants.
Mark van der Sluys (Australia), Managing Director, Bullionmark
Mark van der Sluys, founder and Managing Director of Bullionmark and scholar of economic and monetary history, believes gold and silver are re establishing their 5000 year role as mainstream financial assets. “Whether it’s geopolitical tensions, economic turmoil, uncontrolled government spending, excessive debt, fragility of the financial system, population growth, resource scarcity or simply declining mine supply we have the perfect storm for gold and silver to again become the centre of the monetary universe. Despite eight consecutive years of rising prices gold still represents less than 0.2% of the worlds wealth, down from 5% in 1971 and over 30% in 1932. Given the inelasticity of supply, even a small shift in global asset allocation could result in dramatic upward movements in price. The recent announcement that the Chinese government doubled their gold reserves is extremely significant and revalidates gold as the ultimate money, that is, a medium of exchange, universally accepted AND a store or value. How many paper currencies can claim the latter?” Mark van der Sluys ( May 2009) In addition to his role at Bullionmark, Mark authors The Destruction of Money and advises professional investors and institutions on the gold and silver market. Mark has a Masters (MBA) majoring in Finance and Economics from the University of Sydney.