Flat Lining

Via FTM an analysis which purports to show that China and Japan have not purchased much of the USA's treasury notes recently. Instead, most of the purchases route through banking centers located in the Caribbean. Compared to finding new sources of oil, tracking down the originating source of these particular investments seems just as fruitless, if not more.

So who does Kitco Casey's analyst think props up our house of cards? He has no way of proving it one way or the other, but cites that cynics suggest that the U.S. government itself might have some role in working through the various "Bank of Bahamas" (i.e. BOB's). I don't think it really matters; a pyramid scheme, whether worked from the inside or outside, will collapse just as hard.

In any case, complete sell-offs by the Far East will likely not happen. I always think of what would happen (just for the heck of it) if Bill Gates sold all his stock at once. He would likely get much less than the stated paper worth because (1) most investors would treat the health of Microsoft as suspect, (2) what would Microsoft become without Mr. Bill, and (3) Sluggo would get mad .