Diamond News Archives

March 13, 2019

The promises cannot be met, and so society decays into warring elites and competing constituencies.

There is a grand, majestic tragedy in the inevitable collapse of once-thriving states and empires: it all seemed so permanent at its peak, so godlike in its power, and then slowly but surely, too many grandiose, unrealistic promises were made to too many elites and constituencies, and then as growth decays to stagnation, the only way to maintain the status quo is to appear to meet all the promises by creating money out of thin air, i.e. debauching the currency.

This political expediency works most wonderfully for a time: people don't realize the silver content of their coinage is being cut to near-zero, or there's nothing holding up the value of their currency but trickery and vague allusions to past glory.

Trust in the state/empire's currency suddenly collapses in a phase shift: all seems well until the moment the avalanche sweeps it all away.

It's a simple progression: during the permanent-growth-is-our-birthright phase of self-reinforcing virtuous cycles, when everything is expanding rapidly--credit, resources, jobs, capital, profits, state tax revenues, etc.--promises are made to elites and constituencies that look easy to meet as the economy is projected to expand rapidly essentially forever.

But virtuous cycles decay to unvirtuous cycles of bureaucratic sclerosis and corruption, systemic friction, declining productivity and resource depletion, and the rise of parasitic elites who contribute nothing but skim plenty saps the surplus available for productive reinvestment.

Every elite under pressure to satisfy the demands of those who were over-promised in the good times reverts to the same two financial fixes: debt and currency debasement. First the...

For the second month in a row, the Luxury Industry Performance Index (LIPI) has been rising. The indicator gained 0.6 points. Investors' mood has been improving as the market capitalization of luxury related stocks increased by 5.6 percent. This growth outpaced the rise the S&P 500, EuroStoxx and Nikkei. The LIPI is compiled by Frank Mueller of The Bridge to Luxury, a Dresden, Germany-based consultancy.

Optimism was driven by two factors:
a) The US administration's extension of its former 1st of March deadline in Sino-American trade talks;
b) The hope that growing pressure on political decision makers with protectionist agendas will change policies as signals of a global economic slowdowns are piling up. The OECD has lowered its GDP predictions for the global economy down to 3.3 % in 2019 and 3.4 percent in 2020. Particularly, the Euro zone (Germany, Italy) and the United Kingdom, Canada and Turkey developments were reported to be less positive. The US trade deficit widened to $59,8 billion in 2018 while national unemployment numbers in January 2019 were considered disappointing.

Here is a snap shot of recent events in the luxury industry:
• Essilor Luxottica, a world leader in eye ware, has delayed the publication of its post-merger plans.
• Puma has launched a joint collection with Porsche Design.
• Toni Piech, member of the Porsche-Piech dynasty, announced the introduction of a new sports car in 2022: the Piech Mark Zero.
• In 2018, BMW remained the US biggest car exporter in value for the fifth consecutive year ($8.4 billion).
• Daimler and BMW have announced a strategic partnership to develop autonomous driving technology and to merge their respective car sharing units Car2go and DriveNow.
• Ferrari CEO rules out future large volume production...

Six foreign-controlled miners operating in Indonesia, including PT Vale Indonesia and a unit of Australia's Newcrest Mining, intend to divest some of their shares "in the near future" to meet regulations, an Indonesian official said.

According to Indonesian mining rules, foreign-controlled miners are required to gradually start reducing ownership after five years of production. Within 10 years, foreign ownership should be cut to at least 49 percent.

The six companies included nickel miner Vale Indonesia and gold miner PT Nusa Hamahera Mineral, which is 75 percent controlled by Newcrest Mining, Yunus Saefulhak, director of minerals, Energy and Mineral Resources ministry, said late Tuesday.

The others were gold mining companies PT Kasongan Bumi Kencana and PT Ensbury Kalteng Mining, as well as diamond miner PT Galuh Kencana, he added.

Saefulhak did not specify when the companies would start divesting their shares.

Chief Executive of Vale Indonesia Nico Kanter said last month that the company was in talks with the government on its divestment plan and expected to start before October this year.

Officials with Vale in Indonesia and Nusa Halmahera Mining could not immediately be reached for comment.

Brazil's Vale SA controls nearly 60 percent of Vale Indonesia, while public shareholders hold about 20 percent of the company's stake.

Gold miner PT Natarang Mining, which is 85 percent controlled by Australia's Kingrose Mining, had also conveyed its divestment plan to the government, Saefulhak said.

Natarang Mining, Kasongan Bumi Kencana, PT Ensbury Kalteng Mining and PT Galuh Kencana were not reachable by phone.

(By Wilda Asmarini and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Ed Davies and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

The post Six foreign-controlled miners to start divestments in 'near future' – Indonesia appeared first on MINING.com....

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced that it is prohibiting Tim Leissner and Ng Chong Hwa, also known as Roger Ng, from the banking industry for their participation in a scheme to illegally divert billions of dollars from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. Leissner was also fined $1.42 million and consented to the permanent ban.

Leissner and Ng, former senior investment bankers employed by foreign subsidiaries of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., coordinated bond offerings arranged by Goldman for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2012 and 2013. The funds diverted from 1MDB were then used for the conspirators' personal benefit and to bribe certain government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

In August 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty to criminal charges brought by the Department of Justice in the Eastern District of New York for conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to commit money laundering. Ng was indicted in October 2018 on similar charges.

Additional enforcement actions can be searched for here^[1].

For media inquiries, call 202-452-2955....

References

1. ^{^} here (www.federalreserve.gov)