Rapid fire

Robert Zoellick’s proposed ‘gold standard’ isn’t a gold standard at all.

China are looking to increase gold holdings.

This means they’ve already increased their positions and are now talking their book.

SA retail sales just missed the lights: +6.1% y/y in Sep.

Strong rand = low inflation = good for retail.

Crack-up boom? Nope, not yet.

More rate cuts? Yes, but the market will decide on that, the SARB will follow.

If Marcus doesn’t announce a reduction of repo on Thursday, it will happen early 2011 once CPI has cracked below 3%.

Chris Whalen says California will go bankrupt, faces $25bn budget deficit in 18 months.

There’s the nub of the Fed’s QE2 programme in the face of much criticism.

Californian economy is 7 times bigger than Ireland.

Ireland refusing the EU/IMF bailout, wants to retain sovereignty and current corporate tax rate scheme.

Irish external debt is 1300% of GDP = ~ $3.5 trillion. There’s something that can blow up the European banking system.

Irish students say no! They want greener pastures and not a life of debt repayments, estimates are that 1250 students are leaving the country every month. One in five.Could be a total of 150,000 of them.

Does the South African government realise we could easily lure those youngsters here? Just open the borders and leave the rand to strengthen.

But don’t install backscatter x-ray scanners here. There’s a shite-storm brewing in the US about it.

Yet 46% (2307 votes) of news24 poll voters at the time of writing had voted that it was “necessary.” 39% says “not bound to stop terrorists”.

Unlikely these people understand what the new US TSA pat-downs entail.  Erin Chase in the US has called it sexual assault.

This could bring US air travel to a grinding halt. Seriously.

If the Fed wasn’t printing so many fresh new $$$$, would be short American airlines.

What the hell happened to the European stress tests?  Weren’t Irish banks fine?

James Turk says to back every dollar in existence at 1:1, as it was prior to 1971, gold price would need to be just below $54,000 per ounce.

SA Gold Coin Exchange +27 11 784 8551