My day job involves following the gold and gold share market. A bright star in this firmament recently has been Tim Wood’s Resource Investor webzine. Last week he engaged in a debate with GoldMoney’s James Turk on the issue of whether the gold market is subjected to Central Bank manipulation. He maintains it is not. (My vote is with James Turk.)

In the course of this Tim said:

There is concerted effort led from all branches of government to ensure that wage prices at the lower end of the market do not rise and they do that by allowing the importation of vast quantities of illegal immigrants who suppress what would otherwise be a market price.

As precise and accurate a comment as is possible. Note to NeoCon Central: not all immigrants are desirable.

The London Spectator has just put a new piece by me online. [Mexican Wave, June 4, 2005]You don’t have to be a subscriber to read it, but you do have to sign in. [Password available here.]

Update: It’s been posted on Free Republic.[!] For the time being, that is.

We’ve said a few bad things about banks profiteering off illegals, and about First Data/Western Union whose main business is remittances, frequently from illegals, but recently I discovered another major player in the remittance industry: the United States Government. To be specific the United States Postal Service, which has a program called Sure Money (DineroSeguro®). Here’s their pitch:

It’s easy to wire money with Sure Money (DineroSeguro®). Whether you are sending it to a business or to family or friends, all you have to do is visit a participating Post Office* and send your money. It will be transferred in just 15 minutes to a participating branch in the destination country.

Participating countries include:
Argentina
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Peru

Amazing, isn’t it?