Here's something you probably don't know, and it will really tick you off.
You probably do know the biggest banks in the world have commodities businesses.
Those lines of business might include trading desks (trading everything from gold and copper to kilowatts), transportation (pipelines, railcars and tankers) and storage (warehousing) operations, mining operations, as well as production, refining, and raw and finished commodity distribution operations.
What you probably don't know is that one of the "commodities" a few of these monster banks (Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank) trade is...are you ready?
Okay, I'll tell... but you won't believe it.
The Dangerous Stockpile
I'm talking about uranium.
That's uranium, as in "yellowcake," the nuclear fuel ingredient. As in the stuff nuclear bombs are made from. Yeah... That's uranium.
Right now Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are sitting (not right on top of, though we could only wish) on some 5,511 tons of yellowcake.
It's stockpiled in approved warehouses, of course. And safe and sound, of course, because these big banks are always the trustworthy fiduciaries of every business they diabolically manipulate, that is, until they lose control of it.
What can you do with 5,500 tons of yellowcake? Why, you could fuel all of China's nuclear plants for a year, or 20 standard nuclear plants anywhere.
Or, you could build 200 nuclear bombs.
No one, least of all me, is accusing Goldman or Deutsche Bank of any wrongdoing when it comes to their nuclear ambitions.
But, I'm just going to put it out there.
And no, I'm not singling out Goldman (okay, maybe a little) because they've been caught manipulating a few things before. That list is long enough... and a study of how cloak and dagger they are when they're doing God's work (for their enormous bonuses) undermining governments and businesses, their own clients, and every other institution on Wall Street. It's nothing short of scary.
Are we supposed to believe that Goldman and Deutsche Bank are above reproach?
In the face of all they've done, are we to believe they're going to not only have their yellowcake but have us eat it too?
With their ability to manipulate governments, governments that they finance, and government officials they practically own, are we supposed to believe that Goldman Sachs isn't going to sell yellowcake to the highest bidder to make the most money it can?
Not, of course, that they'd ever sell yellowcake to Iran, or Syria, or North Korea, or Sudan.
But other people would. And since Goldman and other giant, all-powerful quasi-nation state banks own the trading channels, transportation, and warehouse facilities and can daisy-chain any commodity through any underground railroad they want, are we sure that the highest bidder trading with Goldman or Deutsche Bank isn't going to deliver their yellowcake to any of our enemies?
This has gone too, too far. The big banks are dangerous oligopolies. God help us if they aren't broken up or effectively dismantled and reduced to good old fashioned lending businesses.
Or am I just being paranoid?
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About the Author
Shah Gilani boasts a financial pedigree unlike any other. He ran his first hedge fund in 1982 from his seat on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. When options on the Standard & Poor's 100 began trading on March 11, 1983, Shah worked in "the pit" as a market maker.
The work he did laid the foundation for what would later become the VIX - to this day one of the most widely used indicators worldwide. After leaving Chicago to run the futures and options division of the British banking giant Lloyd's TSB, Shah moved up to Roosevelt & Cross Inc., an old-line New York boutique firm. There he originated and ran a packaged fixed-income trading desk, and established that company's "listed" and OTC trading desks.
Shah founded a second hedge fund in 1999, which he ran until 2003.
Shah's vast network of contacts includes the biggest players on Wall Street and in international finance. These contacts give him the real story - when others only get what the investment banks want them to see.
Today, as editor of Hyperdrive Portfolio, Shah presents his legion of subscribers with massive profit opportunities that result from paradigm shifts in the way we work, play, and live.
Shah is a frequent guest on CNBC, Forbes, and MarketWatch, and you can catch him every week on Fox Business's Varney & Co.