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Serpo
10th January 2012, 01:31 PM
By Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante

Do you own gold and silver mining stocks? Or any stocks for that matter? Even if you say, "yes", chances are you don't really own them.

It is one of the dirtiest little secrets in the brokerage business. And 99.9% of people have no idea it is even being done to them. It's called "street name registration" and it's how the brokerage where you hold your stocks "registers" your shares. To save money and time, and to allow your shares to be included as assets that THEY can use to do what they want with, your brokerage never actually registers you as an owner of the shares.

Street name registration allows your broker to lend your shares to short sellers, thereby driving down the price of your own stocks. Additionally, this method allows your broker to “re-hypothecate” your assets–meaning it allows your broker to borrow money against your shares and speculate in the derivatives market!

These hidden risks are planting the seeds of tomorrow’s ultimate collapse – In which there may be a system-wide collapse of broker dealers, taking down millions of investors, and ensuring permanent non-recoverable losses to an entire generation!

MF GLOBAL WAS JUST THE FIRST TO GO DOWN

MF Global investors found out first hand just how secure their funds were. Most don't realize it, but MF Global was a clearing house for both stocks and futures. Like many/most brokerages, they "invest" their own funds, often on a highly leveraged basis, to earn income. But, with the recent collapse of Greek Government bonds, and with MF Global's highly leveraged position in them, MF Global was bankrupted in an instant.

The problem is, they tried to cover their losses with their customer's own funds! You see, unless your shares are registered in your own name - a process that isn't that difficult nor costly - your brokerage considers it as assets they can use for their own needs.

Plus, once a brokerage goes bankrupt (which is something we expect to happen very often over the coming years), if you hadn't personally registered your shares then your shares go down as assets of the brokerage and are used to pay off their creditors.
“Several million private accounts may vanish–Brokerage accounts, Pension funds, Mutual funds, they’re all at risk. We are getting into the middle stages of implosion, where I believe the public will not wake up until at least one million private accounts are stolen, and completely vanish.” -Jim Willie, The Hat Trick Letter


THE WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS IN A STATE OF COLLAPSE

The reason for this coming broker-dealer crisis is simple. The entire western financial system is built on debt… it’s an anti-capitalist system set-up to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It started in 1913 with the founding of The Federal Reserve, it went further down the slippery slope with gold confiscation in the US in 1933 and reached the beginning of the end in 1971 with Nixon closing the gold window, turning the US dollar (officially called the Federal Reserve Note) into a completely fiat currency.

In more recent times, it was the repeal of the Glass-Steagel act that allowed Investment Banks to acquire broker-dealers, and pass the risks of 100-1 leverage downstream to all client accounts. Therefore, your stock investments are now only as safe as the speculative portfolio of your broker-dealer! Considering most Western Investment Houses are leveraged at least 40-1, this means your stocks are no safer than a 40-1 bet on European bonds! (Which most western investment banks are leveraged to the teeth with)

Some believe their stocks will be protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which insures stocks accounts from broker collapse up to $500k for securities, and account cash balances up to $250k. But what if you have more than $250k in cash and/or more than $500k of securities in your account? What if one of the largest broker dealers in the country went bust, bringing down thousands of accounts and depleting the entire reserves of the SIPC? What if the SIPC itself goes bankrupt? What few people are aware of, is that the SIPC only carries about $1 billion in funds to cover investors! This means only one or two high profile broker dealer bankruptcies will be enough to completely wipe out the SIPC.

Some may claim the U.S. government will bail out the SIPC to whatever extent needed. But what if two major broker dealers went bust while at the same time, the U.S. government suffers a major Treasury bond auction failure? This is all but a certainty in the coming years.

And the same thing applies in Canada to Canadian brokerages and Canadian stocks. The Canadian economy is intricately tied to the US. In fact, not many people are aware, but all that backs the Canadian dollar is the US dollar. The Canadian Government sold all its gold decades ago.

The entire monetary & financial system is headed for its final destination – total collapse… and 2008 was just the beginning.
“If you were lucky enough not to be a customer of MF Global … then you should view the MFG episode as a warning shot. You might not get another warning shot.” -Steven Saville, The Speculative Investor


ONE LAST BUBBLE?

But, we’ve been predicting there are still a few more years left… not 10. But maybe 2 to 3 more years... or a little more. We believe the Federal Reserve and all western central banks will print enough money to get the system through for another few years… just enough for them to get out of office and retired to their Caribbean island villas before all the western fiat currencies enter hyperinflation.

And, we believe this will create one final bubble. The tech bubble is dead. The housing bubble is dead. And the bubble in government debt is in its death throes. What will be the final bubble? It will be in gold and silver mining stocks.

But the question remains — how can we safely invest in gold and silver mining shares and avoid the collapse brought on by the coming broker dealer crisis?

There are two methods of owning stocks your broker-dealer will never tell you about. These two methods completely remove the broker dealer counter party risk attached to your shares – effectively removing them from “the system.”

These two methods deprive your broker dealer the abilities to sell your stocks short and to “re-hypothecate” them. Your broker dealer will never willingly tell you about these methods - because they make more money when your shares are in their hands - precisely where risks are greatest to you.

These methods are so safe, that even if your broker dealer collapsed tomorrow, and stole every penny from every client investment account you would be able to sleep safe and sound, knowing your stocks are far out of reach, and legally unavailable to access by your broker-dealer.

This means everyone – all brokers in the Unites States and Canada. If every broker collapsed tomorrow due to waves of bankruptcies, these ownership methods will protect you 100%. You will be able to sleep safe and sound at night, knowing your shares are carrying zero counter party risk.

That's why we’ve supported Tekoa Da Silva, a bright young man and publisher of BullMarketThinking.com in putting together a complete research paper outlining the process to register your shares and giving you all the info you need to know to do it easily, quickly and properly. He spent hundreds of hours dealing with broker dealers, transfer agents, public companies, and the SIPC in researching and finding out all the details on how to get your shares outside of the system.

We've put all his research together into a Special Report called "BulletProof Shares". You can get more information and purchase this report at tdv.bulletproofshares.com.

THE GREATEST BUYING OPPORTUNITY OF A GENERATION

There will be more opportunity in this crisis than in any other in the past century. But, in order to profit from the coming crisis you need to ensure that if/when your brokerage goes bankrupt you still retain ownership of your shares. Shares are proof of ownership of a real asset and don't depend on a stock exchange or a brokerage... as long as you make sure you register them properly.

If you are able to preserve & accumulate wealth during the collapse, you will be offered the greatest buying opportunity of our generation. Blue-chip companies may be purchased for pennies on the dollar…but the trick is to safely protect your assets until we reach that point.

We’ve been covering the ongoing collapse of the western financial system and we’ve been adamant that there are two main ways to protect yourself and profit from the collapse by owning gold and silver bullion and the miners who produce precious metals.

Owning gold and silver bullion will protect your assets… and owning shares in the miners will likely result in massive profits. However, this multi-generational profit opportunity will only present itself for those who can make it through the collapse with ownership of their shares intact.

Unless you've gone through the process outlined in BulletProof Shares then you don't really own your stocks... your broker does.

Please protect yourself now and pass this along to anyone you know who owns US or Canadian traded stocks before it is too late.

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1326206147.php

mamboni
10th January 2012, 01:51 PM
Tag for later reading

DMac
10th January 2012, 01:55 PM
I'm well aware of this and it should be required reading to all persons that trade stocks, etfs et al.

Nothing is held in your name and it is extremely difficult to get a share registered in your own name outside of paying a very expensive brokerage or buying stock directly from the issuing company through something like DRIPs.

Serpo
10th January 2012, 02:11 PM
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
This is the mechanism of the marketplace which according to eminent commentary is BROKEN.
Yet, 99% of those that read this will do absolutely nothing to protect themselves.
You must be your own Clearinghouse and your own Central Bank.
You must as a minimum use the direct registration system for your shares.
You must not use the futures market as a storehouse of physical.
If you must speculate you need to transfer excess out every day.
Keep in mind I once owned a Clearinghouse, Sinclair Global Clearing located in Chicago.
I know what I am speaking about.




http://www.jsmineset.com/

Twisted Titan
10th January 2012, 02:53 PM
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
This is the mechanism of the marketplace which according to eminent commentary is BROKEN.
Yet, 99% of those that read this will do absolutely nothing to protect themselves.
You must be your own Clearinghouse and your own Central Bank.
You must as a minimum use the direct registration system for your shares.
You must not use the futures market as a storehouse of physical.
If you must speculate you need to transfer excess out every day.
Keep in mind I once owned a Clearinghouse, Sinclair Global Clearing located in Chicago.
I know what I am speaking about.




http://www.jsmineset.com/

Quoted for Truth.

Bigjon
10th January 2012, 07:26 PM
http://www.jsmineset.com/2011/12/03/direct-registration-faq/

Direct Registration FAQ
December 3, 2011, at 3:34 pm
by Jim Sinclair in the category General Editorial | Print This Post | Email This Post


Dear CIGAs,

Below is a list of frequently asked questions relating to direct registration. It is edited to focus on the items of your interest.

Click here to read the full article here… (http://www.stocktransfer.com/index.cfm?action=shareholders.FAQ.dirRegistration)



What is the Direct Registration System?

DRS provides for electronic direct registration of securities in an investor’s name on the books of the transfer agent or issuer, and allows shares to be transferred between a transfer agent and broker electronically.

After I make my decision on how I want to hold my security, what do I do?

Direct registration is a relatively new method to hold corporate equity, and not all issuers currently offer this option. You should check with the issuer or your broker to find out if the issuer offers direct registration. If you are purchasing a security, tell your broker you want to hold your securities in direct registration. If you currently hold a certificate, you can mail or take your certificate either to the issuer or to your broker with instructions to change to direct registration. If you currently hold your security in street name registration, you can instruct your broker or the issuer to move your security position to the issuer for direct registration. In any situation, you will receive a statement of ownership from the issuer acknowledging your DRS book-entry position once the change has been made . If you want a certificate or if you want to use street name registration, tell your broker your choice at the time of purchase. If you elect a certificate, one will be sent to you. If you chose street name registration, your broker will send you a confirmation and periodic account statements acknowledging your ownership. If you currently hold a certificate, you can deliver the certificate to your broker with instructions to change your registration to street name registration. If you currently hold in street name registration, you can tell your broker to obtain a certificate for you.

How do I sell my security held in Direct Registration?

You can instruct the issuer to sell your security (many issuers can accommodate sale requests); or you can instruct your broker or the issuer to electronically move your security to your broker for your broker to sell; or you can request a physical certificate and deliver it to your broker to sell.

How do I sell my security held in my possession?

You can deliver the certificate to your broker with your instructions to sell or you can deliver the certificate to the issuer with instructions to change how you hold your security from certificate to direct registration and to sell (many issuers can accommodate sale requests). When selling a security through the issuer, the issuer will sell your security under the terms and conditions in place for that issue. For example, some sell orders will be executed on the day the issuer receives them, and some orders are aggregated for frequent, but not daily, execution. (Note: you should ask the issuer if it offers a selling service and what the terms and conditions are.) Proceeds from the sale will be mailed to you three business days after the date of sale. When selling through your broker, your instructions will be acted on immediately and in accordance with the guidelines it provides to you. Proceeds from the sale will be made available to you or credited to your account three business days after the date of sale.

What about my relationship with my broker if I use direct registration?

You can maintain your relationship with your broker regardless of your choice of registration. When you purchase a security to hold in direct registration, you can tell either your broker or the issuer to include pertinent broker information in the issuers records. If you do not have your broker information included in the issuers records at the time of purchase and later want to or if you want to change the broker information in the issuers records, you may do so. You should contact either your broker or the issuer to obtain information on the procedures and the documents required for such actions. You should note that to change or add a broker at the time you choose to sell your shares through your broker could create a delay in getting the securities to your broker in time for settlement.

Will I get a certificate for additional stock distributions if I physically hold my shares?

If the issue is eligible for direct registration, you will probably receive a statement of ownership instead of an additional certificate. You always have the right to request and receive a certificate or to electronically move your securities to your broker.

What are the fees associated with direct registration?

There are no fees charged by an issuer for direct registration. However, because brokers offer differing services and plans, you should contact your broker to learn what, if any, fees it charges.

If I opt for direct registration, what happens if I lose my statement of ownership?

If you ever need a duplicate statement of ownership, you should contact the issuer which will mail you a new statement of ownership.

What happens if my certificate is lost or stolen?

You should immediately notify the issuer of the loss or theft and request a replacement certificate. If you have an account with a broker, you can ask your broker to notify the issuer on your behalf. Other financial institutions where you have accounts, such as banks, may also notify the issuer for you at your request. The issuer may ask you to complete an affidavit explaining the circumstances of the loss or theft. You will have to pay the cost of an indemnity bond to protect the issuer against future claims on the certificate. (Indemnity bonds usually cost approximately 2% of the value of the securities.) If you find your original certificate after you have received a replacement certificate, you should immediately return it to the issuer or your broker.

Hatha Sunahara
14th January 2012, 11:57 AM
Sinclair reminds people frequently to do something about this. He is expecting a crash pretty soon, and advises people to protect themselves. I'm going to ask for direct registration of my stocks on Monday.


Hatha

Twisted Titan
14th January 2012, 01:09 PM
please give us a day to day details

especially how the brokerage house is going to try and talk you out of it and circle the wagons when it comes to fuffilling your request.


That should make for quite a thread

JDRock
14th January 2012, 01:29 PM
demand paper certs.

mightymanx
14th January 2012, 01:37 PM
I personaly hold my gold stocks, I would trust no other to do so.

palani
14th January 2012, 03:07 PM
In a communist society you will eventually discover that you own very little.

That is kind of a mild statement. Let me alter it.

In a communist society you will eventually discover that you own nothing.

Hatha Sunahara
14th January 2012, 10:22 PM
I would add that in any corrupt society the only things you can own are those nobody knows anything about. That's why it's If you don't hold it, you don't own it. But if everyone knows you own it, eventually someone will steal if from you. Most likely someone in the government or the corrupt legal system. You have to put it out of their reach.

Hatha

Neuro
15th January 2012, 07:43 AM
In a collapse, having stock certificates will not be much better than the brokerage holding them. Expect Gold and Silver mines to be nationalized or overtaken by warlords. Of course it is better to have the stock certificates in your name if the brokerage collapses. But don't trust a god damn piece of paper, an ounce of silver in your hand is better than owning a certificate representing a share of a company that digs up silver from the ground when TSHTF...

osoab
15th January 2012, 08:06 AM
I'm buying SLV! ;D

Neuro
15th January 2012, 10:05 AM
I'm buying SLV! ;D

Well with that you don't need to wonder whether you'll be screwed or not! ;D

General of Darkness
15th January 2012, 10:11 AM
I personaly hold my gold stocks, I would trust no other to do so.

But what happens if the people that gave you your gold stock certificates go bust one day?

BabushkaLady
15th January 2012, 12:39 PM
Reading this sort of thread always makes me wonder if I'm naive or just plain crazy.

I just can't image thinking I'm going to "get out" of any paper in time to make it worth the risk.

I have a friend that brags about how much he is "up" in his shorts, longs, options, euros, slv, gld or whatever. His family is sitting in a 200k mortgage and they probably only have one week of food on hand. I always say; when you cash out, pay the tax then go physical, call me with that really good news. He always says "I know, I know". Sure!!

Only speculate with the amount that you don't mind losing. (gambling 101)

Does it really matter whose name is on the certificate if the game goes Poof?

mightymanx
15th January 2012, 12:40 PM
But what happens if the people that gave you your gold stock certificates go bust one day?

I mean stock as in stockpile not paper IOU's

Sorry for the confusion.

Neuro
15th January 2012, 12:45 PM
I mean stock as in stockpile not paper IOU's

Sorry for the confusion.

Yeah those Gold Stocks are better!

Hatha Sunahara
16th January 2012, 12:32 PM
Today is Martin Luther King's Birthday a National Holiday, so my brokerage is closed. I did go online to my account and left them the following message:



I would like to have the stocks in my Accts XXXXXXXXX and YYYYYYYYY held in Direct Registration instead of as Street Name. A digital certificate would be acceptable. If that is not available, I'd like the registrars to issue paper certificates. Thank you.As long as they hold it in street name, they can 'lend' my stocks to short sellers who suppress the value of these stocks. Putting it in Direct Registration deprives them of the ability to do anything with my shares, other than buy or sell them upon my instructions.

I'll update this story as it progresses. My broker advertises with the slogan 'Talk to Chuck'. We shall see how much good it does to do that.


Hatha

osoab
16th January 2012, 12:44 PM
Today is Martin Luther King's Birthday a National Holiday, so my brokerage is closed. I did go online to my account and left them the following message:

As long as they hold it in street name, they can 'lend' my stocks to short sellers who suppress the value of these stocks. Putting it in Direct Registration deprives them of the ability to do anything with my shares, other than buy or sell them upon my instructions.

I'll update this story as it progresses. My broker advertises with the slogan 'Talk to Chuck'. We shall see how much good it does to do that.


Hatha


I thought that you could leave sell orders @ obscene levels that would prevent them from shorting with your shares.

Neuro
16th January 2012, 01:05 PM
I thought that you could leave sell orders @ obscene levels that would prevent them from shorting with your shares.

I don't think that helps. If they short sell from their customer portfolio's, they probably do it up to 90% or so of the entire customers portfolio, no matter whether they have sell orders or not on them. Fractional reserve shorting, if you wish...

Hatha Sunahara
17th January 2012, 11:09 AM
This is an update on my progress in getting direct registration for my PM Mining Company Stocks.

I own shares in a dozen different PM mining companies. Today I got a call from my broker (Chuck-whom I emailed my request to yesterday) who sounded more than willing to get me either digital or paper certificates for shares in these companies. He had to look up the specifics with the transfer agents of each of these companies. It took him a few minutes (less than 10), and came back and told me that he could get me digital certificates for all but one of these companies, and for that one, he could get paper certificates. However, five of the companies would impose a charge of $500 to issue digital certificates for their shares. So, it would cost me $2500 to make this change in how the shares are held. I asked him who wants the $500 per company--whether it was Chuck or the issuing companies. He said it was the companies themselves. One other company had a fee of $50 for a digital certificate, and the one company that didn't have digital certificates had no charge for paper certificates.

I told him that I had the option of selling all my shares and closing out my Chuck account entirely, but I was not prepared to pay 5 companies $500 each to issue me either paper of digital stock certificates. Something about the $500 fee sounds fishy to me. I told him I needed to do some more research, and to put my request on hold for the time being, but I would definitely be doing something soon.

I made it very clear to them that the reason for my request was not to deal with risk in the stocks themselves, but to deal with the risks of doing business with a broker in today's fast and loose financial regulation climate. He pointed out to me that there is very little risk in doing business with Chuck. My stocks are safe with Chuck. If I thought that, I wouldn't be asking them for Direct Registration of my stocks.

This is where it stands now between me and Chuck. I don't really want to sell my PM Mining stocks because they will go up at a faster rate than the price of the underlying metal--probably at a rate 5 times or so greater. If the underlying PM goes up 100%, these stocks will go up 500%. They are incredibly cheap now, and I believe the only good investment if it wasn't for 'systemic risk'--i. e. the risk of doing business with institutions whose guarantees could be worthless. I'm going to do a complete analysis on why I should own stocks, and whether it is safer to just hold the physical metal. The issue is whether I want a 'return ON my capital, or whether I want a return OF my capital.' I don't want to be caught in a situation like Gerald Celente found himself in.

Hatha

DMac
17th January 2012, 12:21 PM
This is an update on my progress in getting direct registration for my PM Mining Company Stocks.

I own shares in a dozen different PM mining companies. Today I got a call from my broker (Chuck-whom I emailed my request to yesterday) who sounded more than willing to get me either digital or paper certificates for shares in these companies. He had to look up the specifics with the transfer agents of each of these companies. It took him a few minutes (less than 10), and came back and told me that he could get me digital certificates for all but one of these companies, and for that one, he could get paper certificates. However, five of the companies would impose a charge of $500 to issue digital certificates for their shares. So, it would cost me $2500 to make this change in how the shares are held. I asked him who wants the $500 per company--whether it was Chuck or the issuing companies. He said it was the companies themselves. One other company had a fee of $50 for a digital certificate, and the one company that didn't have digital certificates had no charge for paper certificates.

I told him that I had the option of selling all my shares and closing out my Chuck account entirely, but I was not prepared to pay 5 companies $500 each to issue me either paper of digital stock certificates. Something about the $500 fee sounds fishy to me. I told him I needed to do some more research, and to put my request on hold for the time being, but I would definitely be doing something soon.

I made it very clear to them that the reason for my request was not to deal with risk in the stocks themselves, but to deal with the risks of doing business with a broker in today's fast and loose financial regulation climate. He pointed out to me that there is very little risk in doing business with Chuck. My stocks are safe with Chuck. If I thought that, I wouldn't be asking them for Direct Registration of my stocks.

This is where it stands now between me and Chuck. I don't really want to sell my PM Mining stocks because they will go up at a faster rate than the price of the underlying metal--probably at a rate 5 times or so greater. If the underlying PM goes up 100%, these stocks will go up 500%. They are incredibly cheap now, and I believe the only good investment if it wasn't for 'systemic risk'--i. e. the risk of doing business with institutions whose guarantees could be worthless. I'm going to do a complete analysis on why I should own stocks, and whether it is safer to just hold the physical metal. The issue is whether I want a 'return ON my capital, or whether I want a return OF my capital.' I don't want to be caught in a situation like Gerald Celente found himself in.

Hatha

Schwab rehypothecates your stock if and only if (per the documentation) you hold the stock/et al on margin. I've read into this specifically with Schwab.

Non-margin accounts are not allowed to be rehypothecated per their documentation.

That's not to say some financial chicanery couldn't cause Chuck to go BK, they are all suspect at this point IMO, but that specific threat is not one I think you need to worry about.

As mentioned above, if you have an open sell order on your shares they are also, by law, not allowed to loan them out as a part of the short selling scheme.

Shares held with no sell limit/option are allowed to be loaned out for short selling schemes.

Hatha Sunahara
17th January 2012, 12:57 PM
The broker told me I could remove the Margin feature of my account if I was worried about them lending my stocks to short sellers. I may be overreacting to the possibility of broker induced poverty--but I'm acutely sensitive to the fact that I only own a promise that I will be able to redeem my shares at their market value. Promises are only as good as the people who make them, and those people are losing credibility daily. I'm coming rapidly to the conclusion that the only safe investment is one with no counterparty risk--that is, physical PMs. Paper is riskier now than it ever has been. Ponce's solution is the best one.


Hatha