Putradinar | Malaysia

Gaddafi Gold Dinar Story

2011-05-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

Some believe it is about protecting civilians, others say it is about oil, but some are convinced intervention in Libya is all about Gaddafi’s plan to introduce the gold dinar, a single African currency made from gold, a true sharing of the wealth.

“It’s one of these things that you have to plan almost in secret, because as soon as you say you’re going to change over from the dollar to something else, you’re going to be targeted,” says Ministry of Peace founder Dr James Thring. “There were two conferences on this, in 1986 and 2000, organized by Gaddafi. Everybody was interested, most countries in Africa were keen.”

Gaddafi did not give up. In the months leading up to the military intervention, he called on African and Muslim nations to join together to create this new currency that would rival the dollar and euro. They would sell oil and other resources around the world only for gold dinars.

It is an idea that would shift the economic balance of the world.

A country’s wealth would depend on how much gold it had and not how many dollars it traded. And Libya has 144 tons of gold. The UK, for example, has twice as much, but ten times the population.

“If Gaddafi had an intent to try to re-price his oil or whatever else the country was selling on the global market and accept something else as a currency or maybe launch a gold dinar currency, any move such as that would certainly not be welcomed by the power elite today, who are responsible for controlling the world’s central banks,” says Anthony Wile, founder and chief editor of the Daily Bell.

“So yes, that would certainly be something that would cause his immediate dismissal and the need for other reasons to be brought forward from moving him from power.”

And it has happened before.

In 2000, Saddam Hussein announced Iraqi oil would be traded in euros, not dollars. Some say sanctions and an invasion followed because the Americans were desperate to prevent OPEC from transferring oil trading in all its member countries to the euro.A gold dinar would have had serious consequences for the world financial system, but may also have empowered the people of Africa, something black activists say the US wants to avoid at all costs.“The US have denied self-determination to Africans inside the US, so we are not surprised by anything the US would do to hinder the self-determination of Africans on the continent,” says Cynthia Ann McKinney, a former US Congresswoman.

The UK’s gold is kept in a secure vault somewhere in the depths of the Bank of England. As in most developed countries, there is not enough to go around.But that is not the case in countries like Libya and many of the Gulf States. A gold dinar would have given oil-rich African and Middle Eastern countries the power to turn around to their energy-hungry customers and say: “Sorry, the price has gone up, and we want gold.”Some say the US and its NATO allies literally could not afford to let that happen.

source : http://rt.com/news/economy-oil-gold-libya/

Gold & Silver

2011-04-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Throughout the world, in primitive societies and advanced cultures alike, gold has been prized above all other metals, even at times ascending to the realms of mystical. Gold seemed to them deathless - pure gold cannot be attacked by oxygen and therefore cannot rust like iron, corrode like cooper and is impervious to most acids. As a result it was seen as the symbol of eternal life.Christopher Columbos wrote: "Gold constitutes treasure and he who possesses it has all he needs in this world".

Gold has extraordinary properties. It is extremely malleable for example, 10 grams of gold can be rolled and beaten into a translucent foil of three and a half square meters. It is also a very heavy metal, having a specific gravity of 19.32, which is heavier than lead. Not surprisingly, gold and silver emerged early in history both as metals for jewellery and somewhat later, in coin form as economies based on money evolved from economies based on barter. While gold and silver, coins date back to antiquity the the problem of valuing them in terms of paper currency emerged only over the last two centuries. The emergence of paper money brought with it the problem of relating a "promise to pay" note to gold in order to give value to a worthless piece of paper.

Throughout history, gold and gold coins, have been the more valued "money" that has been withheld from circulation in times of political unrest and "debasement of the coinage". In modern times Central Banks and Governments are the holders of substantial reserves of gold and rarely (if ever) make payments with it. At most they use the gold as collateral. This is an illustration of Gresham's Law -" BAD MONEY DRIVES GOOD MONEY OUT OF CIRCULATION". If there are two, ore more qualities money available, people will hold on the more valuable money and spend the less valuable....... hmmm.......

The cause of gold price flactuate

2011-01-25T03:31:00.000-08:00

If you ask yourself or people beside you on “what makes the price of goods and services goes up?” one might say “it is because of inflation, inflation means the rising price of goods and services” and you ask again “inflation? Inflation is only a term, how can it make the price to increase? Some of the people would definitely blurt out the word inflation when they saw there is an increase in the price of goods and services, but do they really know what the meaning of inflation. Inflation can be cause by many factors such as, increase in money supply (act of printing money), cost push inflation (decrease in aggregate supply cause by higher production cost), demand pull inflation (excess demand cause by private and government spending to stimulate investment and expansion), international lending and national debt, a deep drop in exchange rate and taxes. Most of these factors helped in the existence of inflation, where we are the sufferer. Simply to say that inflation occurred as one way to narrow the gap of government’s debt and inviting the people to share their burden in which the additional cost that they have to carry has been transferred to the people.

What causes the price of gold to be fluctuating?

Selling gold has constantly been well-known among the people during the ancient times and also a major player in the trade market. It was definitely precious metals that keep on attracting the eyes of all who came in contact, regardless of the buyers, sellers and consumers. The fluctuation of the price of gold depends on a variety of situations that revolves around the acquiring and selling of the product in which we could say that the desire for gold has remained the same up until today.

Gold can be as saving and/or investment vehicles which move up and down and it’s usually difficult to determine what causes the fluctuations. If we based on reality, the gold price directly connected to a few main factors. These factors appear simple on the surface, but are part of a complex system that can be confusing to beginners. These factors may be recognizable to each one of you; however, it can be as a reminder and a basic framework for understanding how gold prices move or it can be use in helping you to identify the best time to sell or buy your gold.

Firstly, we will take a look at currency inflation:

Inflation is often thought of as an increase in the prices of good. For example, when consumers visit the grocery store and notice the price of fruit has increased, they attribute the increase to inflation. This perspective is inaccurate. Inflation is technically an increase in the money supply. This has a direct effect on how gold prices move in relation to a country’s currency.

To explain, suppose you used every U.S. dollar to purchase every product in the world. Further suppose the money supply is then doubled. The extra dollars now floating through the system represent inflation. The value of every existing dollar declines by half. Essentially, it would now require two dollars to purchase something that was once sold for a single dollar.

Gold is used as an exchange unit of value because it cannot be arbitrarily produced. It is a near-perfect store of value against supply and demand. When the supply of dollars (or any currency) is inflated, the price of gold increases as the per-unit value of the currency declines. Conversely, during times of monetary contraction (i.e. when dollars are “soaked up”), the price of gold goes down.

Centtral Banks
The above discussion leads directly into the role of central banks in the context of how they influence gold prices. They can do so in two distinct ways. First, central banks can decide to sell a portion of their reserves or buy more on the market. The amount sold each year is limited to 400 tonnes to help avoid a glut in the market that drives prices downward. The second way central banks influence the price of gold is through loan agreements with the central banks of other nations. This area is incredibly complex and involves the International Monetary Fund.

Both levers (i.e. purchase or sale on the market and loan agreements) have a powerful influence on interest rates and thus, the sale of government bonds. For this reason, central banks usually try to keep the price of gold from climbing.

Increase in Demand
Several other factors can trigger a surge of demand for gold, which pushes its price upward. For example, during times of political unrest and war, countries often travel a path of monetary expansion. This causes the nation's citizens to lose faith in the value of their currency. As a result, they move their assets into gold.

Mining production can also play a role. While gold cannot be arbitrarily produced, it is mined each year throughout the world. Typically, only a small amount is mined, which means the world's "above surface" supply remains relatively static. Large deficits also support high gold prices. When deficits become extremely high, there is a risk of default. This drives people from the nation's currency into gold, triggering another surge in demand (and price).

Hamizah Azmi

Why save in Gold?

2011-01-10T11:54:00.000-08:00

Gold has always attracked investor and always seen as a safe heaven from the volatile markets to wreak havoc on almost every other investment instrument known to man. While other instrument have yet to recover from the loss of their values last year, gold has been climbing back up, from low of US$712 last November to US$912 on March 5.
(article from Personal Money magazine issue#92)

Why is this happening?
First you must know the gold character in the market, so we look at the past data.
The gold price can be get easily from www.kitco.com as you can see below:

Gold price from April 99 until April 09

The US$ from July 2000 until November 2006

1. The US$ graph show that the country have deficit and debts in many sector and there are negative rate of saving means that people there are borrowing to survive. For the last 35 years, the US has been able to print money at will. The act of printing money is the main cause of inflation. Increase in money supply makes people tend to spend more on good and services. Without awareness, people consumption forces US government to print more money. If history is any guide, this leads to overprint causing the currency to crash.

2. In the opinion of many of the worlds leading financial and economic experts, all of this activity leads to rise in gold price.

Spot Price of Gold July 2000 to November 2006

3. As you can see, looking at the past 6 years, gold price increase more often then they fall. The drop in gold price is parallel with the rest of commodities’ drop. Because of speculators in other commodities like oil and wheat that causes the gold price came down as people thought speculator will also inflating the gold price. However, gold price will recover quickly as people started running away from other commodities and ran back to gold.

Will Gold Reach USD5000 Per Ounce?

2010-12-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

The sound of precious metal breaking new record can be heard any where now. All kind of mass media talking about the important of Gold as inflation free medium to put your wealth in. Not to forget about the rise of silver in 2010. On May 15 we already mention about the potential of gold to reach USD1300 per ounce in 2010 and today nearly at the end of the year 2010 the price of gold has reach USD1389 (Wednesday, Dec 22). To read the article (click here).

Will gold reach USD5000 per ounce within this two years? Now this all depends on how much the supply of FIAT around the world ; ) and a few days back there's an article talking about the potential of gold reaching USD 5000 per ounce. And the article below is the summary of the article from wealthdaily.com , Friday, December 17th, 2010

Investors have been shuffling currencies around faster than a game of three-card Monte as the true value of world's paper money is being exposed. But in the end, the only real winners would have walked away from the table long ago, their pockets stuffed with the only currency that really matters: gold

GOLD AS MEDIUM OF SAVING

The consequences of decades of abuse to the system of credit in the United States are coming to a head. And the gray clouds that loom over the skies of the dollar are growing bolder by the day and darker by the minute.
The cold hard fact is I expect the U.S. dollar to ultimately collapse within 24 short months. This failure will likely push gold prices to over $5,000 an ounce. Meaning that, even at $1,400 an ounce, gold is still dirt cheap. Every investor should own gold right now as the ultimate store of wealth that will protect hard work and savings. As the world begins to learn the true nature of the world's funny money, masses of new buyers will come flooding into the gold market. And this surging demand will be the catalyst that launches the price of gold into the stratosphere. It's pretty simple... Most investors are unaware, but the gold market is incredibly small. There have only been about 175,000 tonnes of gold ever mined. That means there is only 0.9 of an ounce of gold for every person on the planet. That's why they call it precious! Simply owning a single ounce of gold puts you in a much higher global economic class. When the oceans of fiat money suddenly try to take a part in the gold market, the law of supply and demand will fundamentally force prices much higher.

But don't put all your eggs in the gold basket

While the price of gold will soar and get most of the attention, it's silver that typically outperforms gold, dollar for dollar invested. In certain instances when gold prices have doubled, the price of silver has outperformed gold by a factor of more than six-to-one!

The only problem with silver is that it's not as portable as gold. You can hold $50,000 worth of gold with your two hands cupped in front of you. You could put that gold into your coat pockets and walk down the street without anybody knowing what you are carrying... On the other hand, $50,000 worth of silver would take a hand truck to move. Investors should also consider owning silver for the potential use to buy day-to-day items such as bread and prescriptions drugs, preparing for the time the government declares a “bank holiday” as the crisis in the banking sector exacerbates. During a bank holiday, checks and credit cards will no longer be accepted as payment for goods and services. For this reason, I also recommend keeping some cash on hand at all times. I'm not recommending stuffing the mattresses; but it's probably smart to keep a few thousand dollars in 1s, 5s, 10s and 20s around the house. U.S. Silver Eagles would also be very useful in such an event, as they are considered legal tender in the United States and could be used to purchase groceries.

Why lose sleep?

Ownership of gold and silver will become one of the hottest investments on the planet.
The early adopters — those who wisely purchased their positions before the masses come — will sleep well at night while others fret as they watch the purchasing power of their savings evaporate like water in the Sahara.

This article was wrote by :

Greg McCoach
Editor, Wealth Daily
Investment Director, Mining Speculator and Insider Alert

extra info:

World Silver
Investment Demand

Investment demand for silver has skyrocketed 522% since 2007.
World governments are hoarding silver; official sales have plummeted 83% in the past three years.
Above-ground silver supplies dropped 86% last year.
Industrial demand for silver has increased over the past decade, despite a 236% increase in prices.

PS : so what are you guys waiting for???

Pasar Ukaz Berbasis Dinar & Dirham

2010-12-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

Satu lagi produk Lembaga Ekonomi Syariah muncul di tanah air, yaitu Pasar Ukaz berbasis Dinar (emas) dan Dirham (perak) secara online, bernama Pasarukaz.portalcepat.com, diluncurkan pada forum Seminar Internasional Ekonomi Syariah di Wisma Antara, Jakarta, Sabtu 03 April 2010.
Seminar bertema “Kebangkitan Ekonomi Syariah di Tengah Krisis Ekonomi Global”, Sony Sugema MBA selaku pemilik Pasar Ukaz Online mengatakan, tujuan portal tersebut adalah sebagai sarana jual beli umat melalui dunia maya. “Semua dapat menjadi penjual maupun pembeli di pasar ukaz online ini, dengan catatan menerapkan prinsip ekonomi syariah," ujar Sony yang juga Ketua Koperasi Dinarku Bandung.
Salah satu prinsip syariah yang ditetapkan adalah dalam transaksi penjualan dan pembelian, menggunakan dinar dan dirham dengan cara debit nasabah Koperasi Dinarku secara online atau via transfer antarbank syariah.
Pada kesempatan sama, Ketua Dewan Koperasi Indonnesia (Dekopin) Adi Sasono menyatakan, pasar merupakan lokomotif perjalanan produksi dan distribusi, yang selama ini kurang dikuasai umat Islam secara baik. Karenanya, umat Islam perlu memanfaatkan peluang pasar tersebut yang notabene mayoritas umat Islam.
“Kita memiliki ratusan ribu masjid yang dibangun atas dana swadaya masyarakat, menunjukkan adanya potensi ketahanan ekonomi umat, kalau dimediasi melalui pasar elektronik akan menjadi kekuatan,” ujar Adi Sasono.
Adapun dalam mengiringi perjalanan ekonomi syariah, salah satu anggota Dewan Syariah Nasional (DSN), Adiwarman Karim dalam seminar yang dihadiri 200-an peserta itu mengemukakan, perlu adanya ulama yang memahami fikih muamalat dalam mengawal perjalanan lembaga keuangan syariah agar tetap berada di jalan yang benar sesuai syariah.
Sementara, pakar ekonomi syariah negeri jiran Malaysia, DR H Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid pada seminar yang digelar bekerjasama dengan Pesantren Al-Fatah Bogor dan Aqsa Working Group (AWG) Sekretariat Internasional Jakarta menyatakan, pentingnya kekuatan aqidah berlandaskan Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah dalam menjalankan ekonomi syariah melalui aplikasi dinar dirham.
"Mengamalkan dinar dan dirham sebagai mata uang hakiki, berarti kita keluar dari lingkaran riba yang selama ini menjerat ekonomi global berbasis uang kertas," tandas dosen Fakultas Bisnis dan Hukum Universitas Multimedia Melaka, Malaysia.
Turut hadir sebagai pembicara Deputi Rektor Insaniah University Malaysia, Prof Zakaria Man, Presiden Gerai Dinar, Muhaimin Iqbal dan Pengasuh Pondok Pesantren Al-Fatah Bogor, KH Yakhsyallah Mansur MA. Bertindak sebagai moderator Rektor Universitas Mulawarman, Prof.Arifin Bratawinata dan Ketua Aqsa working Group Internasional, Agus Sudarmadji MSc.
Panitia juga menyelenggarakan Pasar Ukaz produk-produk unggulan dari berbagai daerah di Indonesia, yang dalam transaksinya menggunakan dinar dan dirham. Pasar Ukaz dilaksanakan di kompleks Pondok Pesantren Al-Fatah Pasirangin, Cileungsi Bogor sejak tanggal 2-4 April 2010. Pasar tersebut dibuka secara resmi oleh Kepala Bidang Pemerintahan Pemrov Jawa Barat, Ir HTubagus Isni yang sekaligus membacakan sambutan tertulis Gubernur Jawa Barat Ahmad Heryawan.

(Author: Agus Saefullah)

Time Value Of Money

2010-11-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

Didalam teori konvensional, time value of money boleh dijelaskan dengan seorang pemberi modal pinjaman mengharapkan bayaran yang lebih tinggi jumlahnya dari apa yang dipinjamkan untuk suatu jangka waktu. Hampir setiap orang akan mengharapkan pulangan dari pinjaman yang diberikan. Atas alasan modal itu boleh dilaburkan dalam jangka masa tertentu dan memberikan hasil tertentu. Kesannya pemilik modal akan mengharapkan pulangan yang lebih atau lebih dikenali zaman ini sebagai interest atau bunga atau faedah. Alasan lain yang akan digunakan oleh pemilik modal untuk mengenakan interest ialah risiko yang akan mereka akan tanggung jika peminjam tidak dapat membayar balik pinjaman dan risiko inflasi. Adakah ianya alasan atau hanya ingin mencari wang yang mudah dengan hanya memberi pinjam kepada mereka yang susah.?

Dari sini terciptalah rumus-rumus finance yang boleh dipelajari dari buku-buku konvensional seperti:

Present value (PV) - digunakan untuk mengira nilai wang pada period waktu sekarang dari pembayaran yang akan dietrima pada masa akan datang.
Future value (FV) - digunakan untuk mengira nilai wang pada period akan datang dari sejumlah wang yang dilaburkan pada kadar interest tertentu.

Pemodal disini mengaharapkan pulangan yang lebih kerana bimbang wang mereka akan susut nilai dimakan inflasi, bimbang kuasa membeli mereka semakin berkurang jika peminjam memulangkan kembali wang mereka tanpa interest dan mereka yang akan menanggung rugi. Bukankah lebih berkesan jika pemodal itu memberi pinjaman dalam bentuk yang kalis inflasi dan mengharapkan pembayaran semula dalam bentuk yang kalis inflasi. sebagai contoh A memberi pinjaman sebanyak 100g emas tulen kepada B selama 10 bulan. setiap bulan B akan membayar 10g emas tulen sebagai bayaran pinjaman. Pemberi pinjaman khuatir dengan nilai wang mereka yang semakin menurun kerana kuasa mebeli mereka semakin berkurang dari segi masa. harga makanan naik, harga pakaian naik, harga rumah naik, harga minyak naik dan mereka perluka wang semakin banyak dimasa depan. tetapi jika mereka memberi pinjaman dalam bentuk yang kalis inflasi seperti emas dan perak atau barang-barang yang mempunyai nilainya sendiri tanpa perlu diletakkan nilai perkara ini tidak akan terjadi. Peminjam juga disini harus peka yang mereka juga menyelamatkan wang mereka untuk membayar semula hutang dalam bentuk yang kalis dari inflasi.

Sekadar renungan bersama : )

Gold steadies as EU debt woes support

2010-11-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

Gold prices were steady on Monday, after the sharpest fall in four months in the previous session, as inflation concerns and sovereign debt issues in Europe offered support. Spot gold was little changed at $US1366.95 an ounce, after falling three percent on Friday as talks of an imminent interest rates hike in China triggered a broad sell-off across the financial markets.

Debt woes in Europe continued to brew, with Ireland on Sunday saying it did not rule out the possibility that it may have to turn to Europe for help in dealing with its debt crisis. Leadership meetings of the Group of 20 and APEC held last week largely failed to offer guidance on currency issues vexing the global economy. "G20 and APEC meetings last week didn't really give a clear direction to the market," said Peter Fung, head of the dealing department at Wing Fung Precious Metals, "The market is mixed from here on, with today's range likely to be $US1350 to $US1380 today." While some short-covering was spotted in the market, others were seen liquidating long positions, as the market takes a breather from the record-breaking rally, Fung said.

Also offering support to the market, Vietnam has abolished the import duty on gold in another effort to cool domestic prices of the metal after it has granted gold import quotas last week, a state-run newspaper reported. Spot gold is expected to fall more to $US1341 per ounce based on a bearish triangle pattern on the hourly chart, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst. "We may see some consolidation, but the overall trend is still looking up, as the Federal Reserve's second round of quantitative easing sets the tone for ample liquidity for the first half of 2011," said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures. "We have seen a quite volatile market in the past week, as investors were nervous after prices hit record highs. We could see gold pull back to $US1330 to $US1350 level." Li said a major factor in the market is China.

The world's largest gold producer and fast-growing gold consumer, saw its consumer inflation index jump to a 25-month high in October. "While people are worried about inflation and have shown a growing appetite to invest in gold, a rate hike would knock prices down," said Li. China should move to a more prudent monetary policy and guard against risks from loose money conditions used to counter the global financial crisis, a central bank researcher said. The prospects of further tightening in China, together with euro zone debt woes, kept sentiment in the financial markets fragile.

Emas Pengukur Pergerakan Mata Wang ( FIAT )

2010-11-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Sumber : Utusan Malaysia

LONDON 8 Nov. - Ketua Bank Dunia, Robert Zoellick menggesa pemimpin-pemimpin ekonomi dunia mempertimbangkan penggunaan semula emas dalam sistem monetari sebagai pengukur dalam pergerakan mata wang. Beliau membuat cadangan itu kerana bimbang berlaku 'peperangan mata wang' dalam suratnya yang diterbitkan dalam Financial Times. Zoellick berkata, sistem itu perlu terlibat dalam dolar, euro, yen, pound dan renminbi yang kini diperdagangkan di peringkat antarabangsa.

''Sistem ini juga boleh mempertimbangkan penggunaan emas sebagai rujukan antarabangsa bagi jangkaan pasaran berkaitan inflasi, deflasi dan nilai mata wang hadapan,'' tambahnya. Amerika Syarikat (AS) kini semakin konsisten mengkritik China kerana menurunkan nilai renminbi dengan tujuan untuk mengambil faedah dalam pasaran eksport. Ekoran kritikan itu, China membalas balik dengan mencetak AS$600 bilion (RM1.8 trilion) duit baru sambil mendakwa untuk memberi AS kelebihan persaingan.

''Sekiranya polisi domestik adalah polisi optimum bagi AS, tetapi pada masa sama ia bukan polisi optimum bagi dunia, ia mungkin membawa banyak kesan negatif kepada dunia,'' menurut Ketua Bank Negara China, Zhou Xiaochuan. China melahirkan kebimbangan polisi monetari Rizab Persekutuan AS akan mengurangkan nilai dolar, menyebabkan eksport negara itu merosot. Berikutan itu, China menggesa pemantauan terhadap pergerakan dolar AS semasa mesyuarat G20 di Seoul pada minggu ini.

Standard emas dipinggirkan oleh bekas Presiden AS, Richard Nixon pada 1971 kerana nilai dolar jatuh menjunam berbanding emas. Emas dipercayai boleh membantu menangani inflasi tetapi ia tidak dibenarkan bagi polisi monetari fleksibel, yang mana kebanyakan pakar ekonomi mendakwa ia perlu dalam menangani kejutan ekonomi.

Gold soared past the 1,400-dollar per ounce on 9 Nov 2010

2010-11-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

The spot price of gold rose to 1,403.88 dollars at 1720 GMT before reaching a new all-time high of 1,407.20 dollars at 1730 GMT.

Gold was driven up by the Federal Reserve's decision last week to carry out a 600-billion-dollar monetary stimulus measure aimed at reviving the US economy, a move seen in some circles as liable to aggravate inflation.

"The resurfacing of inflationary concerns in the medium term has boosted interest in the precious metals and the strength in the dollar was sidelined," said Suki Cooper, an analyst at Barclays Capital. Gold is seen as a safe haven in times of inflation. Bullion normally moves inversely to the dollar, which fell to a nine-month low versus the euro last week. Silver was also boosted, reaching a new 30-year high of 27.64 dollars an ounce.

Earlier Monday, World Bank president Robert Zoellick called on bickering G20 nations to bring gold back into the global monetary system as an anchor to guide currency movements. Ahead of a Group of 20 summit this week in Seoul, Zoellick said an updated gold standard could help retool the world economy at a time of serious tensions over currencies and US monetary policy.

He said the world needed a new regime to succeed the "Bretton Woods II" system of floating currencies, which has been in place since the fixed-rate currency system linked to gold broke down in 1971.

"The (new) system should also consider employing gold as an international reference point of market expectations about inflation, deflation and future currency values," Zoellick said in a commentary piece in the Financial Times.

Myanmar's troubled economy : Gold Solution

2010-10-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Food for your brain!! : )

Source: http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news

Rob Bryan, 4:55, Wednesday 29 September 2010

Housewives huddle over jewellery counters in Yangon's bustling Chinatown, but fashion is not foremost on their minds. This is banking in Myanmar's dysfunctional economy.

On nearby Shwe Bontha Street, the heart of the gold market since colonial times, Nyan Tun is more than just a trader: he is an unofficial banker in the military-ruled country.

"Normally, the major buyers are farmers. They will buy gold with a little bit of extra money to sell before the next harvest," he said. "Second are the housewives, who love to buy jewellery as savings."

The global economic crisis may have reignited suspicion of banks worldwide, but in isolated Myanmar such distrust has long run deep and savers have no desire to put their money into the backward banking system.

Not that people have much to spare: decades of economic mismanagement by the country's rulers, plus international boycotts and sanctions, have generated a population struggling to get by and facing soaring consumer prices. Between 2005 and 2009 the annual inflation rate in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, averaged 20 percent, according to the Asian Development Bank.

"If you want to catch up with inflation, you buy gold. If you save money in the bank you lose money," said Nyan Tun.

"People have much more trust in gold as a store of value," added the trader, whose name AFP has changed at his request. In military-ruled Myanmar, saying anything seen as critical of the junta can have serious consequences. Nyan Tun said the value of a gold "tical" -- about half a troy ounce -- had increased more than 30-fold in the local currency, the kyat, since his early days as a gold trader in the late 1980s.

Sean Turnell, a specialist in Myanmar's economy at Macquarie University in Sydney, said rampant increases in consumer prices were largely a result of the government's habit of simply printing more money to fund its spending. An abundance of natural treasures -- including gold, gas, teak, oil, jade and gems -- could make the country a rich nation as it once was before coming under military rule in 1962. But Myanmar remains one of the world's least developed countries, with nearly a third of the population living below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures, as the junta and its associates exploit these raw materials for their own benefit.

"The fiscal situation should be good," said Turnell, on the basis that earnings from gas supplies should fund government spending. "But they (the military rulers) don't bring money they get from gas properly into public accounts," he said. "These funds are not recorded."

Few believe Myanmar's controversial first election in 20 years, due on November 7, will bring about much-needed economic reform, as the polls are widely expected to simply cloak military rule with civilian clothing. "The ruling class will still be the same, so there will not be big changes," said Nyan Tun, now in his 50s. However there have been some shifts in the economic landscape ahead of the election, with the junta instigating a spate of privatisations of state firms and properties.

Along with these sell-offs of assets including ports, factories and cinemas, four conglomerates on international sanctions lists and run by junta-friendly tycoons have been given licences to start up new banks. Turnell said the cronyism apparent in these recent developments suggested the country was "drifting in a really strange direction away from a totalitarian system into one that works like a semi-criminal economy".

For the average Myanmar citizen, there is still no economic stability, or decent alternative to their trustworthy treasure. "Gold has been the ultimate reserve asset, the ultimate insurance against bad government policy. It goes back to the colonial era -- it's seen as being dependable and independent of the state," said Turnell.

With the precious metal playing such a key role, the regime keeps a close eye on its trade. Nyan Tun said plain-clothed special branch police lurk on Shwe Bontha Street and pressure traders to stop selling when prices go up. "Maybe the government thinks inflation is due to the price of gold, but actually it's the other way round," he said. "The gold price is the index of inflation to citizens," agreed a business editor in Yangon who did not want to be named. "People don't know how else to judge inflation. The government gives no explanation."

Myanmar's banking system has never really recovered from a major crisis in 2003, which saw three banks completely collapse and was exacerbated by the policies of the Central Bank (CBSU.PK - news) , such as recalling loans from borrowers. People have also been hit hard in the past when the authorities scrapped certain currency units as legal tender. A mass uprising against the military in 1988, which was brutally crushed, escalated from protests over a major episode of demonetisation by the regime.

"That wiped out the savings of a huge amount of people," said Turnell. "I have never come across a single Burmese person who saves money in the banks." For now gold remains the safest haven in Myanmar -- the reason why a fishmonger will wear her savings around her neck.

"Gold: this is the only thing people trust," said the business editor.

Start saving even if only 1 gram a month and you will never regret it : )

Free Gold???

2010-09-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

There's a new blog giving points that can be earn when you buy things there, the points can be convert in physical gold. Just shop there and points will be given. So far the section that they have are

Just click on the section and you will find a lot more :)
Start shopping and redeem your gold...........

Preview : Purchasing Power Of Gold And The Web Of Debt

2010-08-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, Malaysian is more likely to get involve in bank loan which considered as a necessity for them to have it. They tend to acquire a study loan and after they’ve graduated, entered themselves in a career world, they will definitely get a car loan,
personal loan for marriage purposes and also housing loan. From many views of Malaysian citizen, loans are mending to ease individual financial deficit. However, unfortunately, during the last quarter of Malaysian unpayable debts shows that Malaysian is having more debt than it suppose to be. The trend illustrate that, they are more willing to borrow money from banks rather than saving from their monthly income so that they can maximize their needs which means their necessities and even to obtain luxuries goods. If this trend continuously carried to the next generation of Malaysian, we might experience a country that 50% of the citizen will be blacklisted from the bank and also trying hard to pay their debt for all their life.

Furthermore, we can also take a look at the United States subprime mortgage crisis which create a major impact on their people where they are unable to pay their monthly installment and even accompanied with the prices of real estate that remain constant which cause their citizen to face a huge credit crisis and self force to live on the street at their own land. Moreover, Malaysian need to take into consideration on other alternative of saving instead of continue to borrow in order to survive where they can shift their saving strategies to precious metal in Malaysian as many banks have already long started to help Malaysian realize that they can save their money in other ways instead of depending on bank loans in order for them to maximize their needs and wants. Further more, our government should invest more on precious metal industries starting with mining, refinery and even minting as the price of precious metal such as gold are keep bullish in the international market since money is no longer back by gold in 1971. So if we want to achieve the status of high income and develop country before 2020 we should follow China that advising their people to save in gold as the metal is hedge against inflation and hedge against failing currencies. If we can advise people here to start save in gold from now, we can lead Malaysian stop keep on making credit and generate the GDP from public spending and saving or from premium earn from investing in gold.

The issues that we can point out are that, try to spend based on what you earn or save and stop depending on loans because at some point people will face difficulty to paying their installment and trap in " The Web of Debt ".

Objective:

The objective of this research is to show the disadvantage of bank loans in the long run that people always tend to miss out which starts from studies loan, personal loan, car loan and housing loan. Apart from the negative side of bank loan, it also explains and examines the effectiveness of saving in gold to maximize ones wealth rather than believe by obtaining bank loan will ease ones personal deficit and by showing people that buying necessities and luxuries using monthly saving has less risk compared to signing for loans.

Adam Sharif

Preview : Gold Price VS. Financial Instruments

2010-07-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

The obvious question that surfaced on this topic is how the position of Gold can functionally be an alternative for the present society to save their money. As we know that nowadays there is a wide range of disparity between poor society and rich society across the country regardless of developed or developing countries. Rich society will tend to become richer because they have more fiat money which means they have more savings that will generate growth through their investment activities. Poor society will be left behind due to less of savings which mean they have less fiat money, thus will generate slight growth. The existence of downturn in economic growth will lead to a fall in the value of the currency (fiat money) and furthermore there is a difference in the value of currency of yesterday and today with the presence of increase in inflation rate. Moreover, most of the society in Malaysia chooses to earn an additional income from investing or diversifying their fiat money in many types of well known financial instrument such as in Bonds, Fixed Deposit and ASB (Amanah Saham Berhad) in order for them to acquire a return on investment according to a specific duration (long term or short term) and amount. However, most of them didn’t even realize the fall in the value of fiat money and the increase in inflation rate and this is because they always experience a shortage of fiat money or their savings even though they believe that the rate of return on investment is considered high.

Financial instrument such as bonds, fixed deposit and ASB shares more or less similar characteristic and risk regardless of less risk or high risk. Bonds are mostly known that it is backed with the trust of the government, in case the governments dissolve, the money is still safe. However, it is known that bonds offer a worst return or generally very low interest (EconomyWatch), even though some says that if “you pay more, you save more”, at the end of the day, your return is still low due to its fixed rate and inconsistency and the fall in value of the currency, same goes to fixed deposit and ASB as the return will be eroded by inflation and you might obtain a negative return after taking into account tax and inflation. The problem from this is that if your returns do not match or surpass inflation and after tax, your money is losing value.

In addition, Gold can be considered as a saving alternative and also it gives advantage to the poor society to actually have an additional income because unlike other financial instruments, gold does not have a minimum deposit requirement, instead you just buy at a price based on its value in which the price of gold increase over time and has a constant fluctuation. Regardless of crisis such as political and economic uncertainty or recession, it definitely raises panic among the investors who try to find ways on different strategies to save their money or capital and it always comes back to gold which is because of its reliability, stable and liquid instrument of capital and its future saving compared to other financial instrument and also it is well known with its value in itself.

Gold is a perfect hedge for inflation which means buying power of money will falls due to inflation but the gold price rises and even surpassing inflation. We knew that the steps that the governments take to fight the downturn will lead to inflation and it will somehow cause the value of money to drop. A weakened currency is gold’s best friends (Tim Middleton, 2009). It is a common knowledge that gold is a reliable financial instrument in terms of saving and increase of income. Furthermore, China has been encouraging their citizen to consume gold for savings and also for the future consumption. Most of the society in these present days suffers from inflation which means the increase in the price of goods and that is why their fiat money will not be enough even they choose to plant it in a high rate of return financial instruments.

Hamizah Azmi

Fiat Money & Inflation ???

2010-05-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

In this article, we want to share the problem that been created by paper currency. First let’s make us clear what ‘inflation’ is?

Inflation can be define in many words and phrase, the most popular one that can be heard are increase in prices of goods and services resulting in more paper money needed to buy the same amount of thing in the past. In other words each unit of paper money can buy less goods and services. This means that your purchasing power of medium of exchange or unit of account is getting weaker over time. It is obvious that there were increase of price everywhere around you. Now you don’t get ‘roti canai’ and ‘the tarik’ for Rm1 no more. The ingredient still the same but the price differ and the economist told us it was the inflation. So if we want to survive the inflation, we have to store the paper money in something that grow more than the inflation rate which can be measure by consumer price index (CPI) or you can choose something that value on its own and not assured by third party.

Now that you know what ‘Inflation’ is, do you think its worth to store your wealth in something that decreases in value? If one year the inflation rate is 1% annually, for ten years 10% of your paper money buy less goods and services. In 1998 Asian was hit by financial crisis and result in high inflation rate among Asian countries (Malaysia:5.293, Indonesia:58.02,). We are more lucky than Indonesia manage to survive the hit but history shows that paper money can be easily speculated.

World has shown how bad paper money are, it’s not like we don’t have prove. Zimbabwe has face 'hyperinflation' in 2008 after they suspended their own currency, there’s plenty of zero on the Z$ notes until the Governor has to redenominated by removing the zeros on Z$ notes. On 2 February 2009 a final denomination was implemented by removing 12 zeroes, before the Zimbabwe dollar was officially abandoned on 12 April 2009. Picture below shows how bad Zimbabwe paper currency facing inflation with 100billion Z$ they only can buy 3 eggs:

And there was a time in 1923 at Germany where people living there burned their paper money to warm the house rather than using woods because the prices are the same. In this period, they need to use a trolley to carry the paper money only to buy a loaf of bread. Early mention in this article, if you need more paper money to buy goods you are experiencing inflation. Just to inform your thinking, the survivors of the German hyperinflation did so by purchasing gold early in the process of financial problem. Now its clear that its important to store your wealth in a form that more solid and sound medium of storage rather than paper medium of exchange or others paper asset. The best you can do is to be prepared and then hope that it doesn't happen here. This tragic moment can be shown by the picture below:

To conclude this article, your standard of living is more expensive anually is not totally because of demand and supply each goods, it’s the value of paper money dropping. And only you can decide where to put or store your wealth.

putradinar...

Dunia Sudah Tua

2010-04-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

15 April lalu, letusan gunung berapi yang diliputi ais di Iceland telah menyebabkan negara-negara Eropah diselubungi debu hitam dan aktiviti ekonomi seluruh dunia terjejas teruk kesan dari akibat Tsunami Udara ini. Dan laporan dari Kumpalan Penkaji Proses Permukaan Bumi Universiti Newcastle Berkata :'Rekod menunjukkkan setiap kali Eyjafjallajokull meletus, Katla juga turut meletus. Dan lazimnya letusan Katla lebih teruk'. Saya tertanya-tanya apakah kaitan bencana alam ini dengan kisah akhir zaman? Adakah kerana kerakusan manusia mengeksploitasi hasil bumi merosakkan struktur dan hukum alam?

Ok berbalik pada tajuk " Dunia Sudah Tua " , pada 22 April 2010 yang lepas satu forum berkaitan dengan isu semasa telah diadakan di MMU Melaka yang dikelolakan oleh Institusi Usrah IPT berkenaan. Penceramah yang dijemput ialah En Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid dan Ustaz Najib Bagi membincangkan isu berkaitan masalah isu semasa dan kaitannya dengan Umur Bumi kita. Topik yang agak luas ini dimudahkan dengan contoh serta bukti kejadian yang berlaku disekeliling kita. Ustaz Najib banyak menekankan masalah Isu Sosial seperti kes buang bayi, kes cabul kanak-kanak sehinggalah isu kahwin muda. Beliau tidak terlepas menyenaraikan tanda-tanda besar akhir zaman sebagai ingatan kepada hadirin yang hadir.

En. Abdul Halim menguatkan Topik Dunia Sudah Tua dengan isu-isu ekonomi dunia yang dipraktis sekarang ini hanya akan menjerumuskan kita ke dalam agenda Yahudi dalam tidak kita sedari seperti kata beliau tentang hadith qudsi" Fitnah akhir zaman itu akan datang kepada kamu seperti seekor semut hitam diatas batu hitam dan di malam yang gelap gelita tanpa bulan dan bintang". Cukuplah sekadar itu menerangkan kepada kita bahawa sistem ekonomi kita telah dimanipulasi oleh pihak Yahudi dengan menerapkan teori Ekonomi Moden, dan tahukah anda asal perkataan "moden" itu dari "MAUTDEEN" atau maknanya "mautkan agama". Dan semasa artikel ini ditulis 80% emas dunia sudah dimiliki oleh Yahudi. Dan kita disini masih mendombakan wang kertas yang saya pun tak tahu mana nilainya kertas yang boleh direcycle ini :).

Dibawah disertakan gambar-gambar semasa forum:

Sekitar bulan April ini, aktiviti jelajah Malaysia banyak diadakan untuk meningkatkan pemahaman rakyat tentang kepentingan emas bukan untuk alat investasi, malangnya saya tidak berkesempatan untuk berkongsi semuanya di blog ini. Anda berpeluang membacanya di blog saudara-saudara saya yang menceritakan keadaan di sekitar majlis dengan klik link-link dibawah ini:

Sekitar Acara Seminar Kebangkitan Ekonomi Syariah Di Tengah Krisis Ekonomi Global , JAKARTA, INDONESIA : tulisan The Gold Dinar

Perjalanan Jelajah Dinar & Dirham di Malaysia (April 2010): tulisan Southern Community Gold

Siri Jelajah Dinar Dirham di Surau al-Furqan Fasa 2, Puncak Alam: tulisan Wakala Jentayu Emas.

Adam...

Putradinar : Siapa Kami?

2010-03-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Putradinar ialah sekumpulan pengkaji ekonomi alternatif yang bebas. Kami berlatar belakangkan bidang pengurusan dari Faculty Business & Law (MMU Melaka). Bermula dengan hanya beberapa pelajar ekonomi yang mencari jawapan hasil dari permasalahan ekonomi yang dari dulu kita dengar seperti harga barang naik, penganguran, beza miskin dan kaya, dan berkesudahan dengan masalah sosioekonomi yang tidak perlu diperkenalkan lagi di negara kita sekarang ini. Apa kaitannya kes pecah rumah, buang bayi, rompakan dan lain-lain lagi dengan EKONOMI? Dari semester pertama hingga semester akhir kami diberi dengan maklumat dari buku-buku tokoh ekonomi barat dengan berbagai teori mereka sebagai contoh Adam Smith dengan "Invisible Hand Theory" dan "Absolute Advantage", David Ricardo dengan teori "Comparative Advantage" dan John Maynard Keynes dengan teori ekonomi moden beliau. Walau macam mana hebat teori mereka mengapa masih ada penganguran atau kenaikan harga barang?

Jawapan permasalahan diatas mula terungkai perlahan-lahan apabila kami dikenalkan dengan salah seorang pensyarah MMU Melaka "En. Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid". Beliau mengenalkan kami dengan emas dan dinar, satu ilmu yang yang tidak disertakan dalam buku-buku ekonomi konvensional. Sejak dari itu blog ini dengan nama panggilan PUTRADINAR ditubuhkan. Bermula dengan dua Putradinar ( Adam & Afham berlatarbelakangkan "International Economy"), kami terjun dalam dunia perniagaan emas Malaysia sekadar untuk memahami keadaan dan tahap pemahaman masyarakat terhadap emas dan dinar. Sepanjang setahun penglibatan kami dalam dunia emas rata-rata pemahaman masyarakat masih lemah hinggakan NILAI SEBENAR emas pun ramai yang masih samar.

Yang menariknya walaupun banyak seminar diadakan oleh pelbagai pihak seperti Pihak Universiti, Syarikat Pengeluar Emas dan penceramah-penceramah bebas tentang masalah wang FIAT, inflasi serta punca inflasi tetapi rata-rata yang hadir bagai faham emas itu bernilai untuk dijadikan hanya sebagai pelaburan. Tidak keberatan kami katakan mereka masih tidak memahami nilai sebenar emas. Kami ditemukan dengan kenapa masyarakat masih tidak jelas tentang emas dan salah satunya disebabkan oleh konsep "buy low sell high" masih diajar dalam buku-buku pelaburan dan diapdatasikan dalam blog-blog yang mengajar cara melabur dengan emas. Jika anda tahu masalah wang FIAT, adakah konsep "buy low sell high" ini masih relevan dengan emas? Tanya diri anda sendiri.....

Dan ianya juga disebabkan oleh harga emas yang semakin tinggi membuatkan mereka tidak lagi mampu membeli dalam kuantiti yang besar sehingga ada yang sanggup membuat pinjaman semata-mata untuk memiliki emas dan akhirnya terjerut dalam skim-skim emas yang banyak menipu untuk kepentingan sesetengah pihak. Dah paham emas masuk perangkap lain pulak dah….. Jika anda tahu masalah wang FIAT, adakah anda akan mudah tertipu dengan SKIM PELABURAN EMAS? Tanya diri anda sendiri.....

Dan setakat ini mereka yg datang mendengar ceramah dan seminar kami setakat ini yang diajar menyimpan emas dari hanya lebihan gaji bulanan amat berpuas hati kerana tidak perlu berhutang dengan mana-mana pihak untuk memulakan simpanan emas mereka. Rata-rata mereka dikalangan golongan berpendapatan rendah, golongan berpendapatan sederhana serta mereka yang baru mulakan alam pekerjaan yang tidak mampu membeli emas dalam kuantiti yang besar. Tak percaya? Tanya mereka :)

Terima kasih kepada pihak-pihak yang banyak membantu kami menyiapkan "research" yang mungkin akan membantu masyarakat kita dalam menyimpan harta sebenar. Tak kurang juga kepada putradinar-putradinar yang lain yang banyak membantu:

Hamizah & Fazlin ( Business Strategy & Banking System)

Syairazi & Naqib ( Marketing)

Izham, Munky & Hafizee ( Invisible Putradinar)

Abg Izwan & Mr Wantwo ( Jewelry co-ordinator)

Temui kami 3 & 4 April 2010 di Dataran Pahlawan, Melaka diatas jemputan pelajar-pelajar Islamic Banking MMU Melaka untuk program mereka “The Golden Revolution”.
link untuk atucara penuh klik sini

Dinar Emas .9999 Logam Mulia

2010-03-17T04:10:00.000-07:00

Mari mulakan simpanan Dinar Emas Logam Mulia .9999 anda...Ingin kami terangkan disini bahawa simpanan dalam bentuk Dinar Emas ialah salah satu cara yang baik kerana sifatnya yang kalis inflasi.

Mengapa kami menjual Dinar Emas .9999 Logam Mulia dalam kuantiti yang kecil?

1. Harga emas yang semakin tinggi saban hari membuatkan ramai yang tidak mampu memulakan simpanan emas, dan tidak wajar bagi kami hingga anda terpaksa membuat pinjaman bank untuk memulakan simpanan Dinar Emas .9999 anda.

2. Dengan kami anda diajar menyimpan Dinar Emas .9999 dari hanya lebihan pendapatan bulanan anda.

3. Dan yang paling penting Dinar Emas .9999 Logam Mulia (1Dinar, 1/2Dinar & 1/4Dinar) memudahkan pembayaran zakat emas anda.

4. Untuk makluman, Logam Mulia ialah penempa bertaraf LBMA(London Bullion Market Association) dari Jakarta, Indonesia. Ketulenan setiap emas yang mereka keluarkan adalah terjamin dengan sijil yang bertaraf LBMA. Pastikan setiap pemilikan Dinar Emas .9999 Logam Mulia anda disertakan dengan sijil ketulenan. Link ke web LBMA - http://www.lbma.org.uk/assocn/joiningfaq

Jika anda berminat mendapatkan Dinar Emas Logam Mulia .9999 setiap bulan bolehlah menghubungi wakil kami yang hampir dengan anda.

Category: 1/4 Dinar
Component: Emas Murni
Fineness: .9999
Weight(gram): 1.06
Dimension: 15

Category: 1/2 Dinar
Compenent: Emas Murni
Fineness: .9999
weight(gram): 2.13
Dimension: 20

Category: 1 Dinar
Compenent: Emas Murni
Fineness: .9999
weight(gram): 4.25
Dimension: 23

Buat masa ini stok untuk 1 Dinar & 1/4 Dinar sudah dibooking sepenuhnya. 1/2 Dinar masih ada beberapa keping untuk dimiliki. Berminat sila hubungi nombor-nombor telefon disebelah atau beberapa rnagkaian sahabat DINAR EMAS .9999 dibawah:

http://thegolddinar.blogspot.com/
http://scogold-jewellery.blogspot.com/
http://jentayuemastrading.blogspot.com/
http://www.gtrapezium.blogspot.com/

Social Business

2010-02-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

As define by Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, social business is a non loss and non dividend kind of businesses with the social objective. It means that, in social business, the investors and the owners can slowly earned back the money that they invested but without taking any dividend beyond that point. The major purpose of the investment is mainly to achieve the social objectives with no personal gain through the operation of the company. Other than that, by practicing the social business, the company has to cover the cost which incurred and also simultaneously achieving the social objectives such as housing for the poor, healthcare for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water in a business way. In order to measures the success of social business, is firstly to observe the impact of the business on the people or environment rather than focuses on the total profit that have been made in a given period. The company’s objective must mainly focuses to achieve social goals.

According to Muhammad Yunus, there is one kind of business that we know about as we study in the economic theory which called business of profit maximization. To him this statement is very narrowing of interpretation which presents human being as money making machine or more or less like a robot in which they have no other thoughts than maximizing money. In real life, human being is much bigger than that, they want to make money, to be good to people, to make significant differences to the world or solve the problem that they see around them. But all this are not included in the business world. What he is trying to clarify is that, in order to justify the totality of human being, somehow he needs to create one more kind of business besides the existing type of business of making money. The other business is business making good to people without any idea of benefiting yourself.

As we know that, the first type of business is profit maximizing business in which that business is all about you and you want money to come to you in other words you are the center of the business activities. The second type of business is in which you are not the feature of the business and everything is about others and to help others who somebody other than yourself. Human being is multidimensional being not single dimensional being, likes to make money and that’s all they can do. This is what missing in the theoretical framework of capitalism that cause problem such as poverty, health, environment, disease and also the nutrition of the people which all this need have been ignore because the type of business that they are using right now by its nature do not pay attention to this. So, there is the need of other type business which will address these issues. Social business has two type of business, the non loss and non dividend business which has been explained and the profit maximizing business which is similar to other regular profit maximizing business but the business is own by the poor people because it is directly benefiting the poor people which also a social business because it helps them to get out from poverty. There is one of the questions that have been directed to Muhammad Yunus which is why would someone invest in social business? he replied that if people compare by giving money to charity with investing in social business, probably they will be attracted with the features of social business because with charity, if somebody donate some amount of money, they can only use it once to achieve the goal they desire but if you can design it as social business with the same purpose, that money can be work again and again because business money recycles, it comes back to you, you recover your cost, you create an institutions, it has its own life, it continues forever and ever.

Muhammad Yunus became involved in the poverty issue not as a policymaker or a researcher. He became involved because poverty was all around him, and he could not miss it for just one second. In 1974, with the backdrop of a terrible food shortage in Bangladesh, he found it difficult to teach elegant theories of economics in the university classroom because he suddenly felt the emptiness of those theories in the face of crushing hunger and poverty. He really wanted to do something instant to help people around him even though if it was just one human being in order to make them get through another day with a little more ease. Moreover, this depressing situation had brought him face to face with the poor people’s struggle to find the smallest amounts of money to support their efforts to lengthen out a living. There is this one day, he was shocked to discover a woman in the village who borrowed less than a dollar from the money lender with one condition that the money lender would have the exclusive right to buy all she produces at the price he decides. This, to Muhammad Yunus was a way of recruiting slave labor.

Therefore, from here he decides to make a list of the victims of this money lending “business” in the village and it had the names of 42 victims who borrowed a total amount of US $27. When Muhammad Yunus offered US $27 from his own pocket to these victims, he saw an excitement from the face of all these people by this small action and got him to further involve in it. So, he said that, if he could make so many people so happy with such a tiny amount of money, why not do more of it? the first thing that he did was to persuade the bank located in the campus to lend the money to poor but sadly it doesn’t work because the bank said that the poor were not creditworthy until after failed for several months, he offered himself to become a guarantor for the loans to the poor and was shocked by result because the poor paid back their loans, on time, everytime! But still he kept facing with difficulties in expanding the program through the existing banks. That was when he decided to create a separate bank for the poor, and in 1983, he finally succeeded in doing that. He named it Grameen Bank or Village Bank.
The key features of a social business are to achieve specific social goals by solving social and environmental problems. Other than that, the organizational structure has the same basic as profit maximizing business such as employs workers, creating goods and services and the prices are consistent with objectives except that objectives are social benefits. Furthermore, it is a cause driven rather than profit driven which means that they form a business for the purpose of social benefit. Profits may be earned but it can’t be taken out of the company by the investors who support it beyond recouping an amount equivalent to the amount originally invested. Lastly, full cost recovery while achieving social and environmental benefits and it is not charity or non profit.

Hamizah Azmi

Subprime Crisis

2009-12-21T12:01:00.000-08:00

What is Subprime Crisis?

It's an ongoing financial crisis triggered by a dramatic rise in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures in the U.S, with major adverse consequences for banks and financial markets around the globe, e.g Europe, Asia and Latin America. Began with the bursting of the US housing bubble and high default rates on 'Subprime' and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM), beginning in approximately 2005-2006. Subprime Crisis affected the financial sector in Feb 2007, when HSBC, world largest(2008) bank, wrote down its holdings of subprime related MBS by $10.5 billion, the first major subprime related loss reported. In 2007, atleast 100 mortgage companies either shutdown, suspended operation or were sold.

Subprime crisis caused panic in financial markets and encouraged investor to take their money out of risky mortgage bonds and shaky equities and put it into commodities as "store of value". Financial speculation on commodity futures following the collapse of the financial derivatives markets has contributed to the world food price crisis and oil price increases due to a 'commodities super-cycle'. Financial speculators seeking quick returns have removed trillions of dollars from equities and mortgage bonds, some of which has been invested into food and raw materials. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on 15 September 2008, after the secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, citing moral hazard, refused to bail it out.

How Subprime Crisis Lead to Global Economic Crisis?

Tired of writing, I show to you in sequence....

1. High oil prices -> high food prices & global inflation.

2. Subprime Crisis -> substantial credit + liquidity crisis leading to the bankruptcy of large and well established investment banks as well as commercial banks in various nations around the world

3. Increased unemployment -> global recession 2008/2009.

Causes of Subprime Crisis

I will state the causes for now and continue explaining it later:

# Housing market bubbles

# Investment Speculation

# High-risk mortgage loans and lending practices

# Securitizations practices

# Slow central banks responses

# Financial institution debt levels incentives

# Credit default swaps

I will continue with subprime lending and the effect of money injection. This article is to make things clear why you should save in something that more sound then the fiat. :)

Emas 999.9 atau 916...?

2009-12-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Sejak kebelakangan ini saya kerap diajukan dengan soalan "Adam, saya nak beli emas... mana satu yang OK emas 916 ke 999?". Jawapan saya hanya ASALKAN EMAS. Buatlah calculation sendiri berdasarkan budget masing-masing. Sekarang pun dah banyak syarikat yang bawa produk-produk seperti gold bar, dinar, barang kemas dan arca emas. Rasanya tak perlu saya perkenalkan satu-satu sebab terlalu banyak.

Ok berbalik kepada persoalan kita tentang 916 atau 999, sudah sedia maklum 916 mengandungi 91.6% emas dan 999 pula hampir tulen sepenuhnya. Secara jujur saya sendiri menyimpan emas 999 dan saya tak kisah pun jenis apa ASALKAN 999. Masalahnya disini emas 999 susah untuk didapati dlm kuantiti yang kecil, kalau ada pun 1/4 kijang emas dari Bank Negara. Tapi baru-baru ini ada syarikat yang menawarkan gold bar 999 dalam kuantiti yang menarik (5g,10g,20g)dan harganya pun OK sebab premium yang rendah.

Untuk 916 pula, saya ada macam-macam jenis dinar..... Dinar Kelantan, Dinar Public Gold dan Dinar Nubex. tetapi semuanya hanya sebagai koleksi kerana emas 916 saya banyak dalam bentuk barang kemas sebab saya boleh beli dengan harga lebih rendah. Semakin anda menyaelam anda akan faham. :)

Saya harap tulisan ringkas ini dapat menjawab persoalan customer yang kerap ajukan soalan ini. Dan buatlah calculation sebelum membeli emas, apa-apa pun kuasa membeli di tangan anda.

"Only you can decide the best place for your money"

Adam...

The Invisible Hand in Economy

2009-11-13T14:57:00.001-08:00

Last few days I read back my old notes given by Mr. Halim and I feel like sharing it. This article is written by Omar Javaid, Sr. Editor from Critic Magazine. Please read it with an open mind..... and it is not about gold or other precious metal, its just a food for your brain.

Do you have an urge to understand Economics? If not then you better should think otherwise, as this guarantees an insight into the modern Pandora box of problems, even related to your personal life. Study of economics can help you understand and do something about the issues which leave you wondering or clueless, such as: why satisfaction is gradually being drained out of your life? Why you have started to feel more insecure for yourself and for your family? Why our lives are gradually being filled with items offering temporary pleasures, from video games, to iPods, or even sex, but are getting increasingly void of anything offering a more lasting effect? Why threat of being laid off has increased many folds today? Etc... comprehension of the problem and its actual root cause means half of it has solved; understanding the forces driving the economics engine today ensures just this.

THE INVISIBLE HAND

Think about it … present day economic practices i.e. free market philosophy more commonly known as capitalism with laissez fair characteristics, with interventions of "cooperate sponsored government" acting as a catalyst in the process; has gone too free, astray I would say, with no reins to guide or tame, rather driven by a crazy lust to have more over most of what is earned, and has made "invisible hand" (term from Adam Smith), an invisible hand of devil instead; the soul driving force behind the contemporary economic engine, indeed.

Invisible it is for those, who are frantically immersed in routines, working for corporations, earning their living and paying their debts, and spending the remaining time to release the stress accumulated, by even more distraction of glamorous facade of ever higher standard of living, a plethora of material pleasures, sex at best? Doesn’t this make almost all of us? And most marvel it openly, but also subconsciously suppress the void it leaves behind … but some don't as for them the opportunity cost of this void, this gap, this gasp, this empty feeling, makes the contemporary proposition of so called materialistic modernity, truly unfeasible.

Humans are different from Animals. A part from higher of IQs, ability to communicate, and freedom to make a choice, "Lust" (with a capital L) is another notorious differentiator. Animals, ironic it may seem, has a natural tendency to create a harmony with their surroundings, they consume only what they need, thus creates a balance with the ecosystem keeping its sustainability intact. The ecosystem encompassing the entire world has been surviving and thriving since millions of years just because all elements has kept this balance in place, by only consuming what is needed. There has been events of "Creative Destructions" (a term more related with capitalistic system) when one sub-ecosystem gets destroyed through earth quakes, storms, floods, hurricanes but this infect serves the very purpose of maintaining the balance, the equilibrium at the macro level. Humans can chose to maintain this balance with nature also, only if they consume and do what’s needed for survival and healthy growth of their body, minds and souls, however that’s seldom the case, lust to have more of what’s needed is the underline motivating factor of most human actions today, sufficient to disturb the balance maintained in the ecosystem.

Adam Smith’s theory of “Self Interest” being the driving force of lassie fare, as he called it, actually turned out to be “Lust”; when his theories were put into practice. More commonly it’s called as “Wants” by marketers, whose satisfaction has become the motto of everyone’s life today. All the efforts of higher standard of living, at least, and higher level of power, without considering the social and economic consequences, at most, prove just this.

Think about what’s causing global warming? Think about $14 cents / Kg paid to the coffee bean farmer in Uganda against $26.4 price tag in the market with a FAMOUS brand name?

Think about what has caused the world experience two world wars already? Think about Income disparity leading to a hike in crime rate?

Think about exponential increase of suicides particularly farmers who takes loan from a bank?

Think about hundreds of billions of dollars spent of cosmetics, cigarettes, health care of animal pets, alcoholic drinks, and pornographic material (totaling $350 billion) but cannot extract around $80 billion to alleviate poverty?

If it’s not Lust then what is it?

Please think about it.......

Silver Bar & Bearing...

2009-10-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

Emirates Gold DMCC

2009-10-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Lady Fortuna 1oz and 50g

2009-09-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

Only l x 1oz and 1 x 50g...
Call for price... Tq

DINARIUS & DIRHAM EVENT

2009-09-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

This is an event organize by Islamic Banking and Finance students 09/10 to promote dinar and dirham beside revealing about the truth about what are causing all the economics problems around the world nowadays. Do come to this informative events to find out the truth and you won't regret it... We are opening our booth there... So make sure you all come and visit us at MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY MALACCA, MALAYSIA.

Why should we save some Gold?

2009-09-05T02:06:00.000-07:00

In this post I like to share with you why gold is so important. First i would like to ask why are you buying gold in the first place? If this is the first time you notice about gold or you have little knowledge about gold, please further your studies and ask someone that really know what he is doing. Before you been drag away with $$$, please see this video and think:

# Why is this happening? Like what I always said, all the post here is to inform your thinking, and only you can lead yourself and your so called money.

Used Gold For Sale!!!! RM100 per gram

2009-08-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

SOLDSOLD

PawnBroking Your Gold in Malaysia

2009-07-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Pawnbroking is a useful service during financial distress and very helpful for small budget gold trader.Just bring your valuable item, normally jewelery and you will get cash.There are two ways you can pawn your gold in Malaysia. Whether going to conventional pawnbroking or Islamic pawnbroking(Ar-Rahnu). Both of it can give you financial aid immediately but what make it differ from each other?

Islamic Pawnbroking(Ar-Rahnu)

Example: Bank Rakyat ~ AgroBank ~ The Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YPEIM)

Loan Financing: 65% to 70% of the gold value(marhum)

Loan Period: 6 month but there are extension period if can't redeem on time

Pawn Product: gold wafer and jewelery

Safekeeping Fees: RM0.65 to RM0.75 for every RM100.00 of gold value per month

Eligibility: Malaysian citizens above 18 years, permanent residents and not bankrupt

Conventional Pawnbroking

Example: just go through the yellow pages and you find a lot :)

Loan Financing: normally your gold will be under-valued below 50% of its actual
value

Loan Period: 6 month with extension period not less than 3 month

Pawn Product: almost anything that valuable

Interest Rate: 2% of the loan permonth(24% peryear)

Eligibility: not sure

# I will go with Islamic Pawnbroking because these Islamic financial institutions don’t make profit from interest, but from the safe-keeping fees. You may get a better rate from banks compared to conventional pawn shop.

Gold ATM in Germany?

2009-05-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

Article below is a summary of a news article from Reuters & Marketskeptics, Tuesday May 19.

THE ATM

Early this week,private investors in Germany been told that they should hold up to 15 percent of their wealth in physical gold, according to a German asset management company which plans to set up 500 "Gold-To-Go" ATMs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria this year.

A gold-dispensing automatic teller machine (ATM) was on display at Frankfurt's main railway station for a one-day marketing test on Tuesday.

A one-gram (0.0353 ounce) piece of gold, the size of a child's little fingernail and about as thin, cost 31 euros ($42.25) - a 30 percent premium to the spot market price.

The flat rectangular piece, bearing the imprint of Belgian metals and speciality materials firm Umicore (UMI.BR), came out of the cash-only ATM in a tin box, including a certificate of authenticity.

"This is more than a marketing gimmick," said Thomas Geissler, chief executive of TG-Gold-Super-Markt.de, the company planning to set up the 500 gold ATMs at a cost of 20,000 euros apiece.

"It is an appetizer for a strategic investment in precious metals. Gold is an asset everyone should have, between 5 and 15 percent of your liquid assets in physical gold," he told Reuters in an interview.

DEMAND

Private investor demand for gold is on the rise in Germany and elsewhere as a result of the financial markets crisis, which has made many investors wary of holding traditional assets such as equities, bonds or mutual funds investing in such securities.

"In absolute numbers, the demand for physical gold is still tiny in Germany," Geissler said. "But in relative terms, the growth is explosive, inquiries have been doubling every six weeks," Geissler said of the trend in recent months.

TG-Gold-Super-Mark.de's main precious metals business idea is based on online commerce.

The gold ATMs to be set up at central locations such as airports, railway stations and shopping malls are intended to gradually accustom people to the idea of investing in physical gold, Geissler said.

The ATMs will dispense 1-gram, 5-gram and 10-gram pieces of gold as well as Krugerrand gold coins. Each ATM can hold up to 1,500 pieces, he said.

The company's internet website (www.gold-super-mark.de), through which investors can purchase units between 1 gram and 1,000 grams, is updating precious metals prices every 10 minuntes.

The ATMs will be equipped with technology ensuring that the prices charged by the ATMs keep pace with those on the website.

TG-Gold-Super-Markt.de is a subsidiary of German online investment fund company INFOS GmbH founded in 1994. INFOS now manages 170 million euros worth of assets on behalf of about 5,000 customers.

# So, why this is happening in Germany till an asset management company plans to set up 500 "Gold-To-Go" ATMs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria this year?

this is simply because these gold ATMs are to fulfill the demand for physical gold. As major currencies collapse(dollar, pound, yen & etc), gold will soar as it regains its status as 'cash', in the mind of people around the world.

Koperasi Usahawan Emas Malaysia Berhad

2009-05-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

Now there is one more way to invest your money in gold.

Koperasi Usahawan Emas Malaysia Berhad (KUEMAS) is making their ways towards establishment in Malaysia.The establishment of this co-operative society is to increase gold ownership for each member cooperatives and give dividend return / profit to all member by fund collection for investment purposes in gold.

KUEMAS promotes several products like below:

Elderly Savings Scheme

Dinars Savings Scheme

Investment Savings Scheme Dinars

Youth Savings Scheme

PasarDinar (e-trading)

PasarDinar (live trading)

KUEMAS's Membership Card

# For more info about KUEMAS you can called me at 012-6996111 or just kindly visit KUEMAS website @ http://kuemas.wordpress.com

$1,300 in 2010?

2009-05-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Article below is a summary of an article from BullionVault, Wednesday, May 13

A senior figure at JP Morgan Chase & Co claimed yesterday (May 12th) that Gold Prices could be as high as $1,300 per ounce in 12 months' time, Bloomberg reports.
The yellow metal has enjoyed a strong performance since the beginning of the credit crunch as people have bought it in their droves in an attempt to find a store of wealth.

However, Jan Loeys, global head of marketing strategy at the firm, has explained that the tide is turning and Gold Investment looks set to rise for another of its qualities - providing a hedge against inflation.
He told the news provider: "Over the next year or so, we think we are going to be crossing $1,000, probably going ultimately to $1,200, $1,300 just for inflation hedging and lack of supply.

"The buying we are seeing now in commodities is really hedging, hedging off the potential risk that we will see a spike in inflation."
Mr. Loeys' views were strongly backed up recently by Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and second-richest man in the world, according to the latest Forbes magazine data.

Speaking at the annual shareholders' meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle in Nebraska, he explained that the huge fiscal output in response to the recession will see the dollar slide in the coming months.

"What we are doing is borrowing from the rest of the world and building up government debt," he said. "The classic way of reducing the impact and cost of foreign debt is by reducing the value of the dollars you're going to repay them with.

# The highest point for today is $934.05

Look to gold, bank tells investors...

2009-05-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Article below is a summary of a news article from The Sun, Tuesday May 5.

Early this week, CIMB Private Banking gave an advice to its high net worth clients to invest in gold. Its co-head Alan Inn said gold is an effective portfolio diversifier due to its lack of correlation when held up with other assets. He said that most investment portfolio mainly focus on traditional financial asset like stocks and bonds. Below are the reason that he gave for his statement:

There is a need for diverse portfolio investment to protect the portfolio against fluctuations in the value of any single asset class.

Gold is an unique asset class on its own and has long achieved its status as a safe heaven investment in times of 'financial and geopolitical stress'.

Gold has been an excellent hedge against inflation and currency values for the last 30 years and also been stabilizes one's investment regardless of 'cyclical factors or economic conditions'.

Investment in gold can be in the form of gold bullion, Exchange Traded Funds, gold futures or stocks.

# Now, do you think that only rich people with high net worth investment portfolio should invest in gold?

Dinar & Dirham Event By MMU Melaka Students

2009-04-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

This is an event by Islamic Banking and Finance students 08/09 to promote dinar and dirham beside revealing about the truth about what are causing all the economics problems around the world nowadays. Do come to this informative events to find out the truth and you won't regret it...

Seminar And Bazaar Event 2009

Seminar Theme : "In GOD We Trust, Medium of World Unity and.
Armageddon forNovus Ordo Seclorum."

Bazaar Theme : “Renaissance of the Souk: Reviving The Market"

Venue : Dataran Pahlawan Megamall, Melaka

Date : 1 & 2 May, 2009

Organizer : Multimedia University, Islamic Banking & Invesment Student.
2008/2009

# For more info you can kindly visit :
http://www.ibf0809.com (seminar website)
http://mmubazaar09.wordpress.com (bazaar blog)

China quietly builds gold reserve

2009-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Below is the news article from BBC News on Monday, 27 April 2009.

China has reported that it has been secretly increasing its gold reserves. It was able to keep it secret by buying domestically produced metal, almost doubling the amount of gold it holds to more than 1,000 tons.

China has the biggest foreign exchange reserves in the world, totalling almost $2,000 billion (£1.373 billion). An estimated two thirds is held in US dollars, though China has been backing away from the dollar as a reserve currency for a while.

Safe Investment?

Three years ago Beijing broke the peg that linked its currency, the renminbi, and the dollar. Then, just before the London G20 summit earlier this month, China suggested that the time might have come for countries to reduce their reliance on the US dollar as a reserve currency.

The Chinese move has given a small boost to the gold price, up $5.50 (£3.77) at $913 an ounce in London and a big boost to those traditional investors who believe that gold is still the safest store of value. However, bullion market experts say China's gold holdings are still far smaller than those of the US and other developed countries, and it was still buying US dollars. But still demand from China has pushed up the price of gold.

# If all other country have the same consciousness as China and not too depending on US dollar as their reserve, this will affect the gold price and market gold rush will occur. So grab your gold now before its too late!!!

Dr Mahathir statement on Dinar Emas

2009-04-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Below is the Malay version of the article courtesy of www.chedet.com

1. Ramai juga yang bertanya berkenaan Dinar Emas termasuk juga BBC yang mengadakan wawancara dengan saya baru-baru ini.

2. Apa yang sudah jadi kenyataan yang tidak lagi dapat dinafi oleh negara-negara di dunia ialah sistem kewangan yang ada sekarang sudah gagal untuk diguna dalam ekonomi dan dagangan baik dalam negeri atau antarabangsa.

3. Keputusan Bretton-Woods selepas Perang Dunia Kedua ialah semua matawang negara di dunia ditentukan nilainya mengikut nilai tukaran dengan matawang Amerika Syarikat.

4. Tetapi di tentukan juga yang nilai Dolar Amerika ialah sebanyak 35 Dollar untuk satu ouns emas. Ini bermakna secara tidak langsung semua matawang dinilai mengikut sekian banyak emas.

5. Di masa itu semua matawang adalah kukuh. Tetapi Britain, pada tahun 1966 telah turunkan nilai Pound British. Malaysia telah rugi banyak kerana simpanan (reserve) kita adalah dalam matawang Pound. Pada satu masa Pound yang bernilai Ringgit Malaysia 8.30 telah turun kepada Ringgit Malaysia 3.60.

6. Kemudian Presiden Richard Nixon membuat keputusan bahawa Dollar Amerika tidak lagi terikat dengan emas. Amerika telah tolak apa yang dipanggil sebagai "Gold Standard". Amerika juga memutuskan bahawa pasaran akan tentukan nilai Dolar Amerika.

7. Tetapi negara-negara lain masih percaya akan kekuatan ekonomi Amerika dan meneruskan ikatan nilai matawang mereka dengan Dollar.

8. Satu lagi keputusan dunia antarabangsa ialah nilai dagangan antarabangsa ditentukan dengan nilai Dollar Amerika dan bayaran juga dibuat dengan Dollar Amerika. Ini menyebabkan permintaan bagi Dollar Amerika menjadi kuat dan sekali gus menjamin nilai Dollar Amerika tidak jatuh walaupun tidak lagi diukur dengan sekian banyak emas.

9. Pada satu masa dahulu bank besar dibenarkan mencetak dan mengeluarkan "Bank Notes" sebagai wang yang sah dipergunakan. Kemudian pemerintah mengambil alih pengeluaran matawang.

10. Bank mengeluarkan pinjaman daripada modal dan deposit oleh pelanggan. Kadang-kadang jumlah pinjaman melebihi wang yang ada dalam bank. Tetapi ini dihadkan. Walaupun demikian pinjaman yang dikeluarkan kerap kali jauh lebih banyak dari had yang ditentukan.

11. Apabila pendeposit mengeluarkan simpanan mereka beramai-ramai maka bank tidak mampu untuk membayar balik kepada pendeposit kerana semua wang telah diberi pinjam bahkan lebih daripada itu. Dalam keadaan ini bank mesti di selamatkan (bail-out) oleh Kerajaan.

12. Melihat bahawa bank boleh mengeluarkan pinjaman hampir tanpa had (unlimited) maka penyangak pun merancang untuk guna duit bank yang tidak terhad ini untuk meraih keuntungan atas angin. Maka berlakulah dagangan matawang, pinjaman kepada peminjam yang keupayaan membayar tidak terjamin, penjualan pinjaman yang dikeluarkan oleh bank kepada syarikat insurans dan syarikat gadaian (mortgage company) dan lain-lain. Jumlah semua transaksi ini amat besar, bernilai berbilion dolar. Apabila ramai peminjam tidak dapat bayar hutang atau servis hutang, maka mereka yang membeli pinjaman bank dapati mereka akan rugi berbilion dolar.

13. Dan banyak lagilah penyalahgunaan sistem bank Barat yang dilakukan. Demikian Amerika dengan kekayaannya yang besar sekalipun tidak dapat menampung berbilion dolar kerugian oleh bank, syarikat, insuran, syarikat mortgage, hedge funds, merchant dan investment bank dan lain-lain.

14. Sesungguhnya sistem bank dan matawang Barat sudah gagal. Dunia harus kaji untuk menggantinya dengan sistem lain termasuk perbankan Islam dan dagangan dengan matawang khusus seperti Dinar Emas.

15. Tidak seperti duit kertas emas tetap mempunyai nilai dimana-mana dalam dunia. Dinar Emas dicadang hanya untuk menyelesaikan bayaran dagangan antarabangsa.

16. Apakah ada cukup emas dalam dunia untuk dijadikan wang antrabangsa? Sudah tentu tidak.

17. Tetapi kita tidak perlu bayar dengan dinar emas sepenuhnya. Memadai jika kita bayar cuma lebihan antara import-eksport antara dua buah negara.

18. Jika sebuah negara mengeksport 100 juta Dinar kepada sebuah negara lain dan negara itu pula mengeksport kepada negara pertama barangan atau khidmat yang bernilai 110 juta Dinar, maka bayaran yang harus dibuat oleh Bank Negara negara yang pertama hanyalah 10 juta Dinar emas. Jika tidak ada Dinar Emas yang mencukupi maka bayaran boleh dibuat kemudian dengan eksport bernilai 10 juta Dinar.

19. Kita bukan sahaja boleh ada dagangan antara dua buah negara tetapi antara beberapa buah negara. Sebenarnya bank-bank mengguna cara ini untuk menyelesaikan bayaran cheque kepada beberapa bank yang telah terima dan mengeluarkan bayaran berasas kepada cheque lain-lain bank.

20. Sudah tentu akan ada banyak masalah pada permulaan. Tetapi pakar-pakar boleh cari jalan untuk selesaikan atau atasi kelemahan sistem Dinar Emas ini.

21. Bank Negara Malaysia pernah runding dengan sebuah negara lain dan penggunaan Dinar Emas memang boleh dilaksanakan. Tetapi entah kenapa Bank Negara Malaysia tidak dapat menjayakan sistem ini.

Reasons why wise investors always own gold?

2009-04-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Smart investors always diversify. Wise investors always include gold in their asset mix. Unlike paper investments such as stocks, bonds, and even dollars, gold is always in demand. When the Internet bubble burst, a ton of tech stocks fell to pennies, even to zero. Since 1980, an ounce of gold has never been worth less than $250.

Constant demand
About 80% of the gold bought today is used to make jewelry. Gold jewelry is in high demand not only in the world's richest and most industrialized countries, but also in India, China, and other Asian countries, as well as in Latin America and Africa. The gold jewelry market is so diverse that when demand declines in one area, it is likely to rise in another. Furthermore, demand for gold jewelry tends to decline only during periods of economic downturn. But it is precisely during such periods that investment demand for gold rises rapidly.

Constant rarity
Companies can and do issue additional shares of stock, diluting the shares already held by investors. Governments print money and inject it into the economy, diluting the cash in your pocket and bank accounts. Even many non-paper assets, such as mass produced collectibles, are, well, mass-produced. Their supply is essentially infinite.

Gold, however, is one of the scarcest substances on earth. Tons of ore must be processed to produce an ounce of gold. According to the US Bureau of Mines, all the gold ever mined throughout history and throughout the world would build a cube measuring only 60 feet on edge. Furthermore, as relatively easy-to-mine sources are depleted, new sources of gold are harder and harder to find. And it takes, on average, about seven years to bring a new source of gold into commercial production, which creates a major gap between increasing demand and increasing supply.

Universal liquidity
Many hard assets do not have the liquidity of stocks and bonds. There are times when it can take months or even years to sell real estate, art, or collectibles such as carpets or antiques. Gold, in the form of bars or bullion coins issued by the US Mint and other mints, is traded on an active global market in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is always easy to buy gold and easy to sell it.

Nor are gold sales encumbered by the paperwork and government tax filings that characterize stock and bond trades. Even if stock markets fail, banks close, and governments are in crisis - in fact, especially under those circumstances - there are eager bidders for gold in every city and country in the world.

True diversification
Our parents told us, "Don't put all your wealth in one basket." Investment advisors also preach the virtue of diversification. But by "diversification" they often mean split your assets between stocks and bonds, and between large cap, mid-cap, and small cap growth and value stocks, with some international equities thrown in. Unfortunately, when the whole stock market swoons, especially when the bond market crashes alongside it, you can find yourself holding only one basket after all. Such scenarios can and do take place in real life, as many of us have discovered from reading about the Japanese stock market or about recent events in Argentina.

Gold, however, is a true portfolio diversifier. Its "correlation coefficient" with the price of global stock has ranged within plus or minus 0.4 since 1993, averaging around zero. That means that the price of gold does not vary with the stock market, but independently from the stock market. Owning gold really is holding another basket.

Always own gold
Constant demand, constant rarity, universal liquidity, and true diversification. These are among the key reasons a wise investor always owns gold as a portion of his or her portfolio. Although more investment advisors are recommending gold now than during the 1990s, most still ignore gold and favor holding only paper assets. They have no way of profiting from recommending buying physical gold, which may have something to do with their outlook.

What is Gold?

2009-03-30T01:46:00.000-07:00

Gold is one of the precious metals that has been known by man the highly value of it. In Latin, gold is called Aurum and that’s how the gold chemical symbol (Au). From the Periodic Table Of Elements, gold is identified as a intermediary metal with the following characteristics :-

Symbol: Au

Atomic number: 79

Atomic mass: 196.96655 amu

Number of protons/electrons: 79

Number of neutrons: 118

Melting point: 1,064.43°C (1,337.58°K, 1,947.97°F)

Boiling point: 2,807.0°C (3,80.15°K, 5,084.6°F)

Density @ 293°K: 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter

Crystal structure: cubic

Today gold perhaps been alloyed with assorted other metals to give it special properties. Gold has a metallic luster and is sun yellow in its pure form. Gold purity can be expressed in parts per 1000 using fineness as its metallurgical term of indicator. Most pure gold have a fineness of 999.9 parts of 1,000. Carat is the unit that been used to measured the amount of gold in an alloy. Alloys which is called fine or pure gold is 24 carat and the lesser the carat values indicates the proportion of fine gold content as fraction of 24. For example, an 18 carat gold item contain 18/24 fine gold and 6/24 other alloy by weight.

24 carat = 99.9%

22 carat = 91.6%

20 carat = 83.5%

18 carat = 75.0%