Guardian's report on Swiss Gold Initiative quotes GATA consultant Koos Jansen

Fears That 'Dangerous' Switzerland Referendum Could Spark Gold Rush

By Kate Connolly
The Guardian, London
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Swiss like referendums: there were 11 last year and there have been nine more this year, on subjects ranging from who pays for abortions to whether the state should buy a certain type of new fighter aircraft.

This Sunday there are three more, but one has attracted more attention than most – because there are fears that if it wins majority support it could trigger a worldwide gold rush.

Five million Swiss voters are to decide on a proposal that would force the central bank to triple its gold reserves. The vote is being watched closely by financial markets and governments around the world. ...

"Gold continues to trigger impetuous and irrational reactions in many people," Sergio Rossi, professor of macroeconomics and monetary economics at Fribourg University, told the Swiss news agency SDA.

Others say it has rather emphasised the flaws in the monetary system. "It has shown just how unsustainable the debt-based monetary system we have is," said Koos Jansen, an Amsterdam-based gold analyst for the Singaporean precious-metal dealer BullionStar.

"The Swiss initiative is merely part of a increasing global scramble toward gold and away from the endless printing of money. Huge movements of gold are going on right now. Recently the Dutch repatriated 122 tons, Germany is bringing home its gold from the US, while the BRIC countries are accumulating large quantities of it for their banks.

"While those behind the Swiss initiative have often been portrayed as crazy, they're merely acting out of fear that their central bank is losing control of its monetary policy, and of the Swiss franc being sucked into this currency war and losing its value," he said.

Switzerland left the gold standard only in 1999, the last country in the world to do so. "They regret what they did and want to get back to the safety of gold, especially in the current environment," Jansen added. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/25/fears-switzerland-referendu...