He means spot + $30

It seems like the nature of the game going on in the US/European market has been one of covering vast losses with paper while the, it would appear, entirety of their financial institutions plot/plan out the motion of a historically enormous M and A. It seems the little bankster fish are dying on the vine (see: 94 FDIC endings as the yesterday) with many more on the hit list. Good riddance.

With all this politically supported covering going on, and the ensuing media propaganda, I have been watching the indicators with relish and have come to believe that the best of these indicators are coming out of the BRIC. Russia and China appear to be gearing up for a tidal change from west to east. For these leaders of the SCO to “recommend” a change to a more diversified reserve currency and now your “street-level” information concerning China’s private populace lining up to acquire the available metals market it gives another piece to this puzzle.

Chinese policy makers appear to have given up on the fidelity of US paper contracts (at least overtly) and are encouraging a grass roots effort to pull as much metal and resources into their nation as will compensate them from a vast collapse of empty western promises.

It’s invaluable to get insight into how enthusiastically the Chinese people are following these savings suggestions. Has anyone found an English language site that might be monitoring the totals and/or deltas of these private Chinese purchases over the last, say, 10 months?

Again thank you very much! (Also thanks JL for the further insight- I was aware of the building of empty/nearly empty high rises in many major Chinese cities and just chalked it up to another excuse to bring resources, of any kind, into the national fold while keeping a political lid on the potential collapse of contemporary market structure- a la US propaganda. “May you live in interesting times” is becoming a strong object lesson it seems.)

Scott

My actual question is which bank does Christine recommend to get a safety deposit box and open a bank account for a rainy day. I’ve talked to locals and they don’t trust banks because it is easy to steal bank card info so I have been advised to only keep enough to pay for online purchases. To be honest I haven’t bothered because I can buy cheap enough flights with http://www.ctrip.com and http://www.elong.com (an expedia venture). I would be interested in leaving my safety net in China, Hong Kong etc… as long as it somewhat safe. Do you really trust the Chinese enough to leave a safety net here. Or do you trust the US not to piss them off and push them to do something drastic. Actually, I am Canadian working for a US company and am applying for a greencard (a process started years ago).

I’ve been following your work since WoB and really look forward to reading your daily letter.

Best regards,
JL

P.S. I work in manufacturing and I can say that in most industries automotive, aerospace, machining, etc… came to a halt a few months ago. Now things are picking up, some companies can’t keep up. It is getting common for us in manufacturing to find semi-skilled labor right now. I, and my expat friends, are have extreme difficulties finding decent engineers. Then it is even more tough to keep people, but that is another story.

P.P.S. even in the worst of this recession there was a big slump in spending at mall, restaurants, hair salons, massage etc… but it was difficult for us foreigners to see it because there are so many places that looked jam packed with people becuase of shear number of them. All the Chinese would say, “what recession, it’s not affecting us” because of Chinese pride. However, when talking to small business owners (myself, friends, and my Chinese girlfriend) we could hear the stories of business going down. But this was nothing compared to SARS!!! So most entrepreuners are still happy. Manufacturing got weak, perhaps some closed shop but many international companies weathered the storm and took furlough days- maybe a week or two. I work for conglomerate and the subsiduary companies in the US and UK were closed for at least 1 month and laid-off 20-30% of the work force. Very freghtening because I worked some of these plants before.

P.P.P.S. I lived in California, 50miles of LA from 2005-2008 years before moving out here and everybody told me to buy real-estate. I didn’t and I turned better not buying. People in Suzhou are talking the same way that the CAers did, “it’s safe”, “it won’t go down”, etc…this after a tremendous run-up. The amount of cosntruciotn is absolutely mind boggling. The buildings are half-full and they are building more. It is not like the US where they build 2-3 towers but rather 10-20 at a time.

Anyways, I’ve rambled enough.

Were getting exaclty what we wanted as a country, debt, debt, and more debt to make it easier for everyone who perfers wants the government to control their lives while those of us who bust our butts pay for it.