Lotus Eterne: The Vision

Enter the Lotus Eterne, the four door super saloon from Lotus. If the Elite is elegance incarnate then the Lotus Eterne is elegance redefined.

The Lotus Eterne is a true four door, four seater sports GT. It's the ultimate expression of refined style, sophistication and grace. But wait. An elegant, graceful sports car? Surely not.

A sports car by definition can't be graceful. Powerful, exciting, aggressive yes, but not graceful. Yet here it is, the ultimate paradox - the Lotus Eterne. Power and grace, performance and elegance, beauty and strength all in one stunning package.

With a 5.0 litre pressure charged V8 engine delivering up to 620 PS the Lotus Eterne is aiming for best in class performance and efficiency.

In keeping with the rest of the new line-up, the Lotus Eterne will benefit from hybrid technology.

Dany Bahar, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus, said: "The Lotus Eterne is sensational to look and as with the rest of the range it also over delivers in all other aspects as well. Similar to the Elite, it's a car of perfect contradictions, it's compact yet spacious, high performing yet low emitting, relative lightweight yet still reassuringly solid."

"We truly believe that there is a market for the Lotus Eterne, there is nothing else like it out there both in terms of design, capacity and performance. The biggest difference between the Lotus Eterne and it's class competitors is that it's not an evolution of an existing two-door model, it's a deliberate and considered stand-alone creation. It's the ultimate four door sports car." Sometimes there are no rules to be broken, so it is time to define them instead.

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CHOPARD - L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon

It has distinctive character, undeniable power and represents a deliberate break with traditional watch design principles. This mechanical marvel is powered by an exceptional “motor”, proprietary L.U.C Calibre 1TRM. Machined like an engine block and mounted on silent-blocks, this mechanical hand-wound tourbillon movement was designed, developed and produced at Chopard Manufacture. Like the most coveted sports cars, the titanium L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon is naturally issued in a limited edition.

To celebrate Chopard's 150th anniversary as well as the decades of passion it has shared with the world of motor sports, the Geneva-based brand is introducing this new L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon model combining the finest elements of the two forms of mechanical expression. From its strong lines to the most subtle details, everything about this powerful timepiece honours the automobile spirit also admirably accentuated by a fine watch movement machined like an engine block.

This L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon model houses a proprietary mechanical hand-wound tourbillon movement, L.U.C Calibre 1TRM. In much the same way as a car engine, this movement is mounted on silent blocks – that absorb shocks – and held by three lever arms inserted into the case middle. This L.U.C Calibre 1TRM designed, developed and produced by Chopard Manufacture beats at a cadence of 28,800 vibrations per hour and boasts a 60-hour power reserve. Chronometer-certified by the COSC, a sure token of reliability and precision, this tourbillon movement drives displays of the hours, minutes, seconds and the power reserve.


In keeping with automobile traditions, the reamed engine block bears the Chopard signature; while a circular segment directly fixed to the upper face of the movement carries the power-reserve display at 12 o'clock positioned opposite the tourbillon bridge at 6 o'clock featuring a design that is a first for Chopard.

Representing a magnificent mechanical feat of engineering, the L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon is distinguished not only by its high-end motorisation, but also by its bodywork that endows it with an inimitably sophisticated style. The titanium case is water-resistant to 50 metres and features alternating polished and satin-brushed finishes; it also carries slightly curved applied lugs that enhance the overall dynamic effect. Streamlined like car wings, these lugs ensure excellent wearer comfort and a perfect fit on the wrist for the opulent 35.4 x 44.4 mm case.

The dial is also inspired by the automobile world and plays on the theme of transparency. The new Arabic numerals characteristic of the L.U.C collection and the hour-markers are engraved and black-tinted beneath the glare-resistant sapphire crystal.

The hand-sewn black alligator leather strap setting the perfect finishing touch to this model is enhanced by four reinforced inserts evoking the seats of classic racing cars.

Vividly embodying the strong ties between the automobile world and that of fine watchmaking, the L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon in titanium is produced in a limited series of 150, in honour of Chopard's 150th anniversary.

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Swiss banks running out of storage space for gold bullion

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Nigeria the next 'gold rush': Goldman Sachs

Country will overtake South Africa's as continent's largest economy; 10% annual growth rate targeted


Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, will be the next “gold rush” on the continent as investors take advantage of a booming economy, former South African central bank Governor Tito Mboweni said.

Nigeria's gross domestic product will overtake South Africa's in the next three decades, Mboweni, who is now an adviser for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in an interview in Johannesburg on Oct. 8. Its economy of $169 billion compares with South Africa's $286 billion, according to World Bank data.

“Nigeria is going to be Africa's growth story for the next 15 to 20 years,” Mboweni said after returning from a visit to Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and the commercial hub, Lagos, as part of a delegation from Goldman Sachs.

The West African nation, the continent's most populous with 140 million people, is targeting economic growth of 10 percent in the coming years as it boosts spending on power plants and attracts more investment, Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga, a former Goldman Sachs executive, said Sept. 3. The government is preparing to sell its first Eurobond of $500 million this year.

Goldman Sachs, which doesn't have an office in Nigeria, is bidding to advise on the sale of state-owned power-generation and distribution companies, the Bureau of Public Enterprises said on Aug. 31. The government hasn't said who will manage the Eurobond sale yet.

Mboweni is also chairman of Nampak Ltd., Africa's biggest packaging maker, which is benefiting from its business in Nigeria, he said. Nampak manufactures bottles for Guinness beer and cigarette packages in the country.

Nigeria has previously failed to convert its oil wealth into economic development. In its latest crisis, central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, who took office in June last year, fired the chief executive officers of eight of the 24 commercial lenders and pumped 620 billion naira ($4 billion) to bail out 10 of them as the industry risked collapse. Sanusi said on Sept. 21 that the economy will probably expand 7.8 percent this year, up from 7 percent in 2009.

Nigeria has oil production capacity of more than 3 million barrels a day, Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said on Sept. 27, making it the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' sixth-largest supplier. Oil accounts for more than 80 percent of government revenue, according to the Finance Ministry.

There are a number of good, young technocrats in Nigeria's government who will help sort out the “chaos” in the country, Mboweni said.

A former labor minister in President Nelson Mandela's first Cabinet in 1994, Mboweni, 51, left the South African Reserve Bank in November after a decade at its helm, declining President Jacob Zuma's offer to serve a third term. He was named chairman of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Africa's biggest gold producer, on Feb. 24, three weeks after he was appointed to the same position at Nampak.

Mboweni, who is a patron of the South African Ballet Theater, is currently raising $130 million for a planned specialist children's hospital in Johannesburg.

The Reserve Bank of South Africa is doing a “good job,” Mboweni said. Interest rate increases between June 2006 and June 2008 helped to curb price gains, he said.

Inflation has been inside the central bank's 3 percent to 6 percent target range since February, easing to an annual 3.5 percent in August.

Mboweni was criticized by South African labor unions for not cutting interest rates fast enough in 2009, which they said prolonged the economy's first recession in 17 years. He lowered the benchmark rate six times to 7 percent between December 2008 and August 2009. His replacement, Gill Marcus, has cut the rate by 1 percentage point since then.

In his new role at Goldman Sachs, Mboweni said he has met with foreign investors, who raised concerns about calls from the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress to nationalize the country's mines. His response to them is that the “center will hold” in the ANC, he said.

The ANC agreed at its National General Council meeting, which ended on Sept. 24, to study nationalizing mines and other key industries over the next two years. The ANC Youth League, led by Julius Malema, argued at the meeting that South Africa didn't derive enough benefit from mining, which generates 30 percent of export revenue in the country.

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Gold May Climb to Record $1,650 an Ounce on Fed Easing, Goldman Forecasts

Gold may rally more than 20 percent from this month’s record to a high of $1,650 an ounce in 12 months as the Federal Reserve takes action to stimulate the U.S. economy, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Bullion may gain to $1,400 an ounce in three months and $1,525 an ounce in six months, analysts David Greely and Damien Courvalin wrote in a note dated yesterday. Gold for immediate delivery reached an all-time high of $1,364.77 on Oct. 7.

The Fed is considering whether to add to its purchases of Treasury bonds to spur the economic recovery, an action known as quantitative easing. The central bank may next month announce purchases of about $500 billion, Goldman Sachs said in a separate e-mailed note.

“With U.S. real interest rates pushing lower off the slowdown in the pace of the U.S. economic recovery and the growing prospect of another round of quantitative easing, we expect gold prices to continue to climb,” New York-based Greely and Courvalin wrote.

Spot bullion fell 0.3 percent to $1,349.90 an ounce at 2:50 p.m. Melbourne time, declining for the first time in three days. Gold for December delivery on the Comex in New York dropped 0.3 percent to $1,350.80. The bank in August forecast that gold may rally to $1,300 an ounce in six months.

The analysts recommended buying Comex December 2011 gold futures. They also recommended investors buy Nymex January 2011 platinum, saying that “recovering global automobile demand will likely continue to put upward pressure on auto-catalyst demand and therefore on platinum and palladium prices.”

In the longer term, gold prices will come under downward pressure once the U.S. economy strengthens and the Federal Reserve begins to tighten monetary policy, Goldman Sachs said.

“The rising risk of declining gold prices once the U.S. Federal Reserve begins tightening monetary policy suggests this is a good time for gold producers to begin scaled up hedging of forward production, particularly for calendar 2012 and beyond,” the analysts wrote.

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Gold: Insurance Against Total Collapse of the Banking System

Bank of America (BAC) announced they are halting foreclosure in 50 states because of potential flaws in foreclosure documents. But its not just Bank of America that is halting foreclosures. More and more banks are joining the list to halt any foreclosure action, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Also Friday, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. said it is halting most foreclosures and evictions in 23 states for a month so it can review whether documents it submitted to courts complied with state laws. An official at the Pittsburgh-based bank confirmed the decision on Friday, which was reported earlier by the New York Times. The official requested anonymity because the decision hasn't been publicly announced.


PNC becomes the fourth major U.S. lender to halt some foreclosures amid evidence that mortgage company employees or their lawyers signed documents in foreclosure cases without verifying the information in them.


In addition to PNC and Bank of America, Ally Financial's GMAC Mortgage unit and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have announced similar moves in the past two weeks.


This means two of the largest banks in the United States are no longer foreclosing on homes.


Most people reading this news will think the real reason these banks are halting foreclosures is because of the


growing evidence that mortgage company employees or their lawyers signed documents in foreclosure cases without verifying the information in them.


In fact the article quoted above goes on to say;


A document obtained last week by the Associated Press showed a Bank of America official acknowledging in a legal proceeding that she signed thousands of foreclosure documents a month and typically didn't read them. The official, Renee Hertzler, said in a February deposition that she signed 7,000 to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month.


Did it slip by the average reader of this article that Bank of America was foreclosing 7,000 to 8,000 house a month? Anyone see a problem here? This should be the real story. And that's just one bank.


But Wait, Isn't the Recession Over?


Foreclosures were already hitting record highs in the third quarter of 2009. If foreclosures were hitting record highs in July, August and September of 2009, how is it the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said the recession ended in June of 2009? I guess the NBER just ignores the fact that foreclosures hit a record high in the 2nd quarter of 2010 and again in August, 2010.


Of course the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) said in October 2009 the recession would be over by January 2010. So much for relying on NBER and NABE for predictions.


Banks Not Foreclosing


Before getting into the real reason I believe Bank of America, J.P. Morgan and other banks are halting foreclosure, I believe it's important to point out that banks have in fact not been foreclosing on properties for quite some time.


I pointed this out February, 2010 in The Banking Crisis Is Far From Over Revisited – FDIC Troubles and Bank Shenanigans.


Banks Are Letting Non-Mortgage Paying Homeowners Live In Their House for Free


There are numerous people I know of that are living in the homes they bought and are underwater with their mortgage being worth more than their home. They haven’t paid their mortgage in some cases for over a year.


Does anyone wonder how the homeowner can get away with this? Why aren’t they being kicked to the curb by the banks foreclosure unit?


The answer based on my research is simply that the bank cannot afford to mark that depreciated asset at current market prices for they risk falling under the threshold where the FDIC draws the line of solvency resulting in a take over of operations and the search for a more solvent bank to take them over.


In that article I pointed out the problems with FDIC insolvency and how fractional reserve banking escalated these problems further.


Many folks are trying to do short sales in getting out of their property and the mortgage they took out which is now valued more than the real estate itself. Of course, with a short sale, the buyer of the property has to come to some sort of agreement with the lender (bank). The problem is, the lender is not agreeing to the lower prices offered by the buyer. Why? Because the bank would have to mark to market that asset at a lower price and this in turn would/could cause the bank to need more cash to make sure their balance sheets are in line with Federal minimum requirements.


If that 2006 $500,000 home is worth $300,000 today, a 40% decrease, the bank that has the house listed as an asset of $500,000 would all of a sudden have to be decreased by $200,000. Their balance sheets can’t afford that steep of a decline in valuation, so they don’t foreclose.


What escalates the problem for banks is they work on a fractional reserve basis where they loan out 9 times the money they take in. Multiply this $200,000 number by a few more mortgages and you can readily see the banks balance sheet would soon be in the red if they foreclosed on these homes and the FDIC would be knocking on their door soon after.


The fact that congress allowed banks to loan out at multiples above historic norms is part and parcel of why they are in so much trouble today.


Professor George Reisman explains this in an article he wrote Our Financial House of Cards;


If a mortgage lender initially had assets worth $103 and debts of his own of $100 incurred in order to finance the purchase of those assets, a mere 4 percent decline in the value of his assets would wipe out his entire capital and then some. Multiply these numbers by many billions, and the example corresponds exactly to the real-world cases.


So what's a poor banker supposed to do in keeping the FDIC from knocking on their door? First they stop foreclosing. But as can be seen by the record number of foreclosures, probably from those people who didn't know they could squat in their house and the bank would not foreclose on them, banks have had to reluctantly foreclose. And since the amount of foreclosures in 2010 is still hitting record numbers, the banks found another way out. They found a way to stop foreclosing altogether.


They not only found a way to stop foreclosing, but they also now have Senator Harry Reid leading the way to call on lenders in all 50 states to halt foreclosures. Talk about your bank holiday! Of course Reid lives in the highest foreclosure state in the country, Nevada.


Some are saying the foreclosure issues they are experiencing could last for years. How convenient would that be for the banks as they hope and pray real estate rebounds and their balance sheets improve accordingly? Keep dreaming bankers. Banks have already received a reprieve from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in April 2009 by not having to market to market their real estate at today's prices, but keep them listed on their balance sheets at the higher prices they once were. No one seems to ever mention this fact do they?


Even to this very moment, the banks are fighting modification of these rules. If banks had to revert to the old rules, the system would collapse and they know it.


The Banking Crisis Is Much Worse Than People Know


While there may be paperwork problems and fraud associated with banks, there's much more to this story than meets the public eye.


The following is chart from my book "Buy Gold and Silver Safely" where I reveal just how much trouble the top major banks are in (numbers in thousands).


Click to enlarge:




As you can see from the above chart, Bank of America leads the way with serious debt issues. At the same time, all of the top banks are experiencing deteriorating balance sheets. If the stimulus money they received from the government was used to shore up their balance sheets, it hasn't worked.


Banks Not Lending


The fact that banks aren't lending to anyone is another problem. This is how banks are supposed to make money. But if you own a bank right now, are you ready to lock in a 30 year fixed loan under 5% when you know at some point interest rates will shoot back up? The banker would be stuck with a loan that is below market rates for the majority of that 30 years.


I remember 25 years ago clients bragging to me about their 5% mortgages. In 10 years, the homeowners with a fixed rate loan today will be bragging again. Of course their home probably won't be worth more than it is today.


Bankers aren't stupid. That is, bankers who didn't take advantage of congressional nonsense in allowing them to take on a multiple above the normal fractional reserve lending limits aren't stupid. The others are the ones who have ruined it for everyone else.


The Coming Sub-investment Grade Derivative Problems For Top Banks


Add to this the problems of derivatives held by banks, as seen in the following chart and also discussed in detail in my book, and we have the makings of a perfect storm. Pay close attention to the figures in the column that says "Sub-investment grade maturity 1-5 years."


Click to enlarge:




Bank of America has 454 billion of sub-investment grade derivatives coming due in the next 1-5 years. JP Morgan over 1.5 trillion. Is it a coincidence these two banks names pop up as wanting to halt foreclosures? How will this effect the balance sheets of these banks that are already in debt if just a few of these sub-investment grade derivatives implode? What would happen if these banks were forced to mark to market their assets?


If any of these things occurred, is it too far out of line to say they'd be broke? And people expect the FDIC to come to their rescue when the FDIC is basically broke?


The data speaks for itself. There is trouble afoot. Many of the top banks in America are experiencing financial difficulties as well as the smaller ones.


Banks, Lenders, Insurers and the FDIC In a Nutshell


Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, 140 in 2009, 130 through October 8, 2010; Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie (FMCC.OB) were delisted from the NYSE and already received bailout money and will need more as PMI (PMI), the insurer of many of those mortgages, has had 12 straight quarterly losses stemming from defaults; 120 institutions, mostly small banks who missed their TARP payments; and the FDIC itself will eventually need a bailout.


But maybe the FDIC will raise the insured limit from $250,000 to $1 Million and all this will go away! I'm sorry, but I just have to laugh at that one. Might as well make it a cool $1 Billion FDIC coverage! This is the logic of our current system.


Turning Ignorance Into Enlightenment


Ignorance is simply not knowing what you don't know. If people just relied on the media for their intelligence, then they are limited to what the media tells them is the truth. One has to dig for themselves if they want to know what's really going on. I've been digging for five straight years. I feel my digging reveals what the truth really is.


There is a reason why I am trying to get the message out about buying gold and silver for one's portfolio through my book and with the articles I write. There's a reason I got into the business of selling bullion gold and silver too. To help people one person at a time understand the truth and prepare themselves for what's to come. And I'm not a chicken little gold bug either. I base everything I say on the facts as I see it.


The Facts


Yes, gold and silver are good for hedging against that portion of your portfolio that is U.S. dollar based (U.S. stocks, U.S. corporate bonds, U.S. government bonds), but its also a hedge against a total collapse of the system, including the banking system. It is insurance that I believe everyone should have.


The Federal Reserve System is at fault for giving us fractional reserve banking to begin with. Congress is at fault for being complicit in allowing banks to loan more than historic norms. And lenders are at fault for thinking real estate prices do nothing but go higher and at the same time loaning to anyone with a pulse.


The situation for banks today will not improve by any further government stimulus. I fully expect another round of bailouts coming to help the banks, even if the Republicans take back the house in November. Hey, they did it when Bush was in office! (To save the system of course.) People should realize by now it doesn't matter who's in congress. Wake up! All this talk about left vs. right vs. tea party isn't going to change congress. The system at present is unsustainable.


More bank bailouts will only delay the inevitable collapse. The Fed's balance sheet is already a mess. Does anyone really think the bright Harvard, Yale and Wharton economists who allowed all this to happen are now going to all of a sudden wave a magic wand and fix the banking system?


The bottom line is it's our labor and taxing of that labor that will pay for what our government and the banks have done to us. It is always We the People who have to atone for their abuses.


And to think we pay them to abuse us.


You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
—Tennessee Ernie Ford


Disclosure: Long Physical Gold and Silver

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Palm Mansion, the First webOS 2.0 Smartphone from HP / Palm? [New webOS Smartphone Leaked, the Palm Mansion; It Must Be a Cold Day Read: Palm Mansion, the First webOS 2.0 Smartphone from HP / Palm? [New webOS Smartphone Leaked, the Palm Mansion; It Must Be a Cold Day in Hell]

All it takes is a little rumor to get us going. First we saw the Palm Roadrunner, a device running webOS 2.0 somewhere in the wild. But we have no idea what Roadrunner is and how it looks like. Then the first webOS 2.0 screenshots and videos appeared which confirmed the fact that despite the fact Palm is really moving very slow in the mobile business, they do have some form of a plan for the near future.

Today we get another rumor, or better said, a leak, starring the Palm Mansion, which appears to be the next Palm smartphone. Dare I hope this Mansion here is going to be an outstanding device? The kind of smartphone that could bring some sort of novelty to the mobile business currently dominated by iOS and Android?
Call me a dreamer, but I still think Palm has what it takes to become a better player at this mobile game. The company had its fair share of problems and the Pre, or any of its successors (Pre Plus, Pixi and Pixi Plus), were not able to bring Palm back into the spotlights.
But now, under new supervision (read HP), Palm might have access to the resources needed to create a better smartphone. The Mansion is apparently a touchscreen-only handset that will come with a 800 x 480 resolution. Palm seems ready to dump the physical keyboard in this next model, and we imagine it will come with lots of webOS 2.0 features on board. The codename doesn’t make that much sense though although we really don’t care what they’re going to call it as long as they make it. In fact just recently we showed you two webOS devices spotted in the wild, and this Mansion thing might just be one of them.
We’ll definitely keep tabs on this rumor, even if it proves to be fake in the end. We’ll also have to congratulate Palm for at least making an effort when it comes to leaks and rumors. So, Palm, what else is there to know about the Mansion?

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Sanyo Zio Coming To Sprint With Android 2.1? [Rumors Say Sprint Will Launch Android 2.1 Powered Sanyo Zio For Budget Consumers] Read: Sanyo Zio Coming To Sprint With Android 2.1? [Rumors Say Sprint Will Launch Android 2.1 Powered Sanyo Zio For Budget Consumers]

As smart phones get more technologically advanced their price tags tend to creep upwards. Of course, with all of the features you’re getting packed into such a tiny device it’s hard to complain as a $200 smart phone of this day is arguably more capable than a $1,000 machine on the market a decade ago. However, despite some phones going for a pretty penny, it’s not uncommon for hardware manufacturers to release cheaper devices for consumers on a budget.

What’s so enticing about such phones is the fact that despite having a low price tag their hardware remains decently high. Couple some noteworthy specs with a mobile operating system like Google’s Android and you have yourself a more than capable device without breaking the bank.
Android powered phones that are targeted towards budget conscious consumers have come out from several hardware manufacturers over the years. Prime examples of such devices are the HTC Aria and Motorola Backflip for AT&T. Both of these devices feature some noteworthy specs and run Android but run just $50 with a 2-year contract.
However, what happens when even $50 is too much to spend on a handset? Normally you’d be stuck with what we commonly refer to as a featurephone but if rumors are to be believed, Sprint consumers may be getting a ray of hope. According to these rumors, Sprint will be getting the Sanyo Zio smartphone and will offer it free of charge with a 2-year contract.
The Sanyo Zio has already been made available on Cricket Wireless and features a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, a 600MHz processor, 512MB ROM/256MB RAM and a 3.2 megapixel camera. Like I said above, when you’re getting a device for free you can’t really complain about lackluster hardware. However, despite the device being quite low end it still manages to feature some decent specs making for a perfect phone for those looking to get down on Android without spending a large portion of cash.
We’ll let you know if/when the Sanyo Zio goes up for sale on Sprint and if it does, at what price point.

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