Thursday, April 19, 2012

Marcus Curtis Update

Many people in the dinar world are familiar with the observations of dinar blogger Marcus Curtis.  He started his blog a couple of years ago and his work was copied and pasted all over the community.  He stepped away from the dinar for awhile to reprioritize his life.  I interviewed him a couple of months ago and he presented for us a list of dinar myths that need to be busted.  Well over the past week Marcus has resurrected his dinar blog with some startling comments.  Here's an excerpt:

I began to research a little in January of 2012 because I had some extra time on my hands. I began to look at Kuwait. I did key word searches. Basically I typed things like Kuwait+news+articles+1991. As a result I began to read through countless news articles from 1991. Way back when Iraq invaded Kuwait. I used different types of keyword combinations. What I found shocked me. Kuwait never revalued their currency! The central bank did not change the rate. As people fled they grabbed all the cash they could. When they got to countries along their border they began to exchange the Kuwaiti dinar for the currency they needed. This created a flood of Kuwaiti dinar in other nations. The value dropped on the black market because foreign banks and the people lost faith in the currency.

Saddam Outlaws the Kuwaiti dinar and it falls in value. He said that people needed to trade in their Kuwaiti dinar for Iraqi dinar before Oct 6 1990. When America begins to regain Kuwait the value rose again. It is important to note that this is not a result of the bank changing the rate. It is a result of the black market interpreting the news of the day. This is the same thing stocks do. It is the same thing that happened when Saddam tried to adjust the rate of the Iraqi dinar and said it was worth more than it was towards the end of the 80’s. But outside Iraq. The Iraq dinar was trading for less.

The important thing is the central bank never adjusted the rate below 3 dollars. In fact, The Kuwaiti central bank was occupied by Iraqis and they were not open for business! When America came to the rescue of Kuwait primarily because of the petro dollar agreement they kicked Iraq out. When the people regained their country everything was up and running just 7 months later. All the oil well fires were put out, and everything was almost back to normal. Kuwait redenominated. The only reason for this was because Saddam took a bunch of Kuwaiti dinar from the Kuwaiti central bank.

This is an entirely different scenario then what happened in Iraq. Kuwait’s currency was not expanded because of sanctions and they did not have a period of hyper-inflation. This completely threw me for a loop. I always thought and was told that what happened in Kuwait was going to happen in Iraq. Kuwait never had over a trillion in circulation. You see when it comes to any denomination going through a revalue the money supply is key. This is because there is a debt liability with a revalue. They can’t just say it is worth x amount. The government itself is on the hook for that amount. Money=debt and debt=money.


You can find Marcus' blog at http://iraqcurrencywatch.wordpress.com




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23 comments:

  1. I've been watching this sideshow for almost a year and it's good to see some people finally coming to their senses. Frankly, when I read old posts or someone refers to being in the seventh year with their "investment", I cannot believe it has gone on as long as it has.

    In the line of work I have been in for the past fifteen years, web development, I keep running into potential clients and others with get rich quick/without working/small investment schemes. The anonymity of doing business online combined with the whiz-bang factor that dazzles non-savvy users seems to incubate this type of behavior. It's the ideal environment for the grifters and shills to come together.

    I met someone last summer who would talk endlessly about an "investment" that was going to pay off big in the very near future. He was banking the rest of his life on the windfall he believed he was going to receive. Through a mutual acquaintance I found out his "investment" was the Iraqi Dinar. I got curious and began to investigate it for myself. It was evident right from the first article I read that the ever-impending push-button RV was a myth. Here we are almost a year later and I read the same "gurus" spreading the same lies to the same group of believers.

    I checked out Marcus' blog but couldn't get past the comments on the first page. A reader had posted the typical line about "blessings" and such. Now, I don't claim to have "intel" on the subject, but I'm almost certain that God is not selling millionaire tickets to a select group of people. Thanks to your efforts here Sam, what I am certain of is that dinar dealers are profiting handsomely from selling Iraqi Dinar and related services to people who are easily persuaded and, ultimately, greedy. Without that basic greed to play on, the dealers would have no customers and those customers would not be fed lie after lie to satisfy the greed of the dealers.

    When greed takes over people get hurt. Unlike magical currency re-valuations, there is historic precedence to back up that statement. I hope the information provided here helps mitigate some of the damage.

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  2. I have debated Marcus in the past regarding Iraq's potential for a RV and always found him to be very fair and level headed...even though we differed on our opinions he was always very professional. His statements above are 100% accurate (I've done the same research)...and is another example of all of the lies put out by the Gurus...ie. Adam Montana saying he profited off of the Kuwaiti revalue...and many other guru's claiming Kuwait RV'ed.

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  3. Again sorry off the topic but okie/bulldog are calling another "in country RV" for the what 4th or 5th time now?

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    1. 4th or 5th?? Okie has called for a RV every week for the last few years. There is no question that this site/persona, is clear a nut, an alias persona for another site in order to make his or her other site look more realistic or legit by comparison, or simply a person who just preys on the weak minded, naive, or new investors while he/she can, until those people smarten up and the next "newbie" comes along to fall into the trap. All you can do is put the word out about that site, but rest assured, anyone visiting this site I assume pretty much already knows about Okie and Bulldog by this point ;)

      It is the other sites that try to make themselves look more realistic by comparison to Okie, such as James's site (aka. Adam Montana), Kaperoni, Enorrste, Breitling, Bondlady, just to name a few. These are the real sites that are the dangerous one's, as they are a wolf in sheep's clothing. They will call Okie crazy, but then give their own definitions to standard terminology in monetary policies, such as how each of them make up their own definition of deleting zeros, which I am sure each of them are all intelligent enough to know what this means, which tells me they are intentionally being untruthful. Meanwhile, as they are completely dishonest about the definition of such terminology, there are some of them that openly advertise for Dinar Dealers.

      One of them from what I understand will be having a well known dinar dealer on his or her chat early next week. They were making big promotions on how he will cash in for only $150.00 per million. I have a few warnings and questions that should be asked in that chat should any of you decide to be present for that discussion. For beginners, is that $150.00 per million dollars, or dinar. This old line of the $150.00 per million sounded great when you think of it in terms of $150.00 per million USD, if you were going to get back Millions of dollars, heck, I would pay 10x that if I was getting back millions when you put it into perspective. What if the fine print is actually that you are actually paying $150.00 per million Dinar, and then they redenominate (delete 3 zeros). Think about this for a minute:
      You likely paid 20% over the CBI rate to buy the Dinar from this dealer, paying roughly $1050.00 per million, maybe more after delivery, and wire transfer fees. The CBI rate is $860.00. If they were to redenominate, the rate likely would not change, and the rate would still be $860.00 per million Dinar. Now, if you exchange your Dinar at the great price of "only $150.00 per Million", guess what, you get the $860.00 MINUS the $150.00 fee, so you will only get back $710.00. For many people this would result in a net LOSS of approximately $340.00 per million dinar.

      If he is really is charging only $150.00 per million USD as he seems to make it sound like (but not sure if he ever clarified it was per million Dinar or USD), then for the 1st million dinar you sell, you still lose the same $340.00 per million dinar, but if you sold multiple million of dinar, there would be a bit of a savings as there would be no additional $150.00 fee until you get back over a million USD, which I assume most of us reading this is not what we are invested for in this. Of course, in this scenario, if you are invested by only a couple hundred thousand dinar, then essentially, if this was the case, after the $150.00 fee, you would not get anything back, so you could not even sell back to the dealer.

      I know this site was hyping up the dinar this past week, and promoting the visit of this dinar dealer to their chat room next week, but I do not think that they clearly explained what this means. Saying, Post RV the dealer will cash out for only $150.00 per Million sounds great!... until you really start to do the math that is of course...

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    2. You're counting angels on the head of a pin here. There isn't going to be an RV, so it hardly matters. And when Iraq announces the terms of exchanging the old notes for the new, the dealers are going to be hard to find. Trust me on this, go back and read what I wrote last week, in order to keep your dinar (without any increase in value) you're gonna have to go to Iraq and hope they don't restrict dinar going into Irawq from outside, or taking new ones back out.

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    3. Yes, which is another distinct possibility as well, regardless of the promises that this dealer scheduled to visit that chat room is going to make. I was just trying to explain how, even if he was to do the exchange, and he stuck to his word of "$150.00 per million", that people need to ask for some clarification regarding this, because the deal may not sound as good as it seems. This point you mentioned though is another important point that I would urge people to ask about if they were to be present for this discussion. If this was to happen as you say, then his visit, and making an offer like this would be completely pointless, and he would likely not even be able to follow through with this as he states.

      If Iraq does do it like that though, and if he is willing to still do it for only $150.00 per million dinar, at that point I would take whatever left I can get out of it and run. Point being.. in either case, if they RD, you lose based on $150.00 per million, and only the dealer gains.

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  4. Quite a few of us knew the truth about Kuwait 6 or so years ago and tried to warn dinar holders about the lies being told. We were banned.
    Welcome to the truth Marcus Curtis. Better late than never.

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    1. Yes DaveD, for as long as I have known you on these forums, you have always been consistent in your opinion of this investment. You and I certainly disagreed at a point in time when I was trying to be grounded and open to possibilities, but also tried to reserve judgement on Kap, Breitling, and others, in hopes that some of these things could possibly be true. Once enough research was done, I came to the realization that you were spot on with your opinions, and many people were clearly being lied to. Granted the sites do not want the "negativity", and I fell too fell into that trap, but also learned that not allowing what some may consider negativity at the cost of the truth, is just flat out wrong. For that I do openly apologize to you if offended you, or unjustly passed judgement on you, something that I have not openly apologized for yet, even though it was quite a while back... but as you said.. I hope you also feel better late than never in this case too.. :)

      There are some "gurus" that are clearly wrong, and it is possible that maybe one or two of them know it, they just do not want to admit where they were wrong.. I do not want to be "that" guy..

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    2. I did not get into the dinar investment until 2010 two years ago. So I was not around when you warned people. I wish I had access to your warning. I did not even hear about the dinar until August of 2009. So I was not around 6 years ago. As people figure out this is a scam and leave the investment new people come in. Most of the people who invest in the dinar are first time investors and don’t know anything about currency or how it works. They never heard of the dinar before. This was the case with me.

      Two years ago when I searched Kuwait and dinar the dinar forums came up on the first 8 pages. I did not dig any deeper and I did not find anything you posted. I am sure it was all deleted long ago. It was when I did a direct detailed search that I discovered the truth. That is what I get for taking a gurus word. We got to find some way to warn first time investors of all the lies

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  5. it's nice to see others with common sense out there.
    I have also been banned from every site out there (more than once in some cases) for simply repeating what the CBI says they are going to do and calling into question what gurus say. I am amazed at all the self made currency geniouses out there.

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  6. So does anyone feel that there is any money to be made from this investment? Obviously there will be no RV, I haven't believed that for a while. But a few of the more educated "lopsters" at DV seem to think there is a possibility of a slow gradual increase over a long to very long period of time. We're talking like 10, 15, 20 years. And that's if they don't RD somewhere along the way. We now know that they put the "delete the 3 zeros" plan on hold according to the article that came out last week right?

    Is anyone else having a hard time just selling all of their dinar and moving on? I know for a fact that there will be no overnight RV, but the "what if" keeps getting to me. What if the value increases a little and I can possibly double my money? Am I the only one struggling with this?

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    1. Listen very carefully.

      The only out for people holding dinar that doesn't involve losing pretty much every penny is to sell now on E-Bay.

      Iraq is going to restrict movement of physical dinar into Iraq during the exchange period, they have been very meticulous in maintaining the laws that make it illegal to remove Dinar from Iraq. All those dinar smuggled out illegally are costing them money, and by denying repatriation of the notes they will get some of that back (all unexchanged dinar after a reissue is free money to CBI). Do you have a valid export certificate for your dinar? If you don't, I can dead cat promise you that you won't be able to get them back into Iraq during the exchange period. And neither will the dealers, or Ali or pretty much anyone. When that anouncement comes, if you're holding Dinar you better look into wallpapering your bathroom with it, because that's all it's going to be any good for.

      No,I'm not a guru. I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night either. But I do have a PhD in International Business, have worked for both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England (foreign reserves portfolio desk) and I'm not selling anything. Just telling you how it's gonna work out.

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    2. If I am understanding you correctly. When the Dinar becomes recognizable,trade able, RD's or RV's, gains any value, that we will not be able to go to a US bank and cash in??

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  7. I struggled with selling at first...but realized that the only real opportunity would be a gradual rise in value...wouldn't matter if they RD'd or not..the best it could do was grow gradually...the down side of it is if/when they RD will you be able to exchange for the new notes and if you can will there be a fee for doing so...depending on when you got in..you would need a overall increase of 20% just to break even. For me, I felt there were better investments that offered a better and faster return without the unknown....is there money to be made?...possibly...could it continue to cost you money to stay in?...Possibly...could you lose it all?...possible....will you make a lot of money off of it?...Not a chance.

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  8. I think your all smokin something. Did you not see Ali from Dinar Trade is back? And yes, he has his Iraqi bank. Now why would a banker, buy a bank in Iraq, and promote the heck out of it in the US with investment opportunities unless his customer base (dinar holders) was able to invest? Why? because he knows. Pull your head out of the sand. This RV is coming soon losers.

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    1. more likely it because he made a bunch of money off of selling dinar...and, now he is looking to make additional money...If he has a bank in Iraq and it RV's don't you think he would have plenty of dinar to exchange?...why would he need US dinar holders?...if, as you say, the RV is coming soon, why would he need to do anything other than stockpile dinar?...how much do you think he has spent on advertising on dinar sites that have been claiming a pending RV for years and years...why does he advertise there?...because it makes him a lot of money...I'm going to guess that you are pretty new to the investment....good luck.

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    2. You are living in la la land.....the reason Ali is back is to make more money on you suckers when Iraq redenominates.....he does know something and that's when Iraq closes its boarders to issue a new currency the only way for you to exchange for new dinar is thru him with FEES. the rv is a fantasy that will never happen like you think it will. Good luck with your depression when Iraq goes thru with what the CBI has been stating for years. Your 1000 old dinar will be worth 1 new dinar. Let that marinate a bit

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    3. If you think Ali is going to provide liquidity guess again. When a new ISO number is finally released this man will be gone. He will vanish and you will not be able to find him. This time the excuse will be he has had threats to his pet dog in Vegas and he was concerned for his life, I mean after all his dog is like one of the family. What a crock!!

      The real truth is the reason Ali moved his headquarters to Vegas is because he was getting killed in California state income taxes. He does not have that problem in Vegas. His state income taxes have dropped dramatically just by being there. Nevada has no state income tax. Details of this will be discussed later.

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  9. Ali doesn't own an Iraqi Bank. And not even he claims that, he just doesn't deny it. The source for that so called fact is a caller who asked him and he was cryptic about the answer. Maybe in some dinaridgit forum that's proof, but let's see something a little more solid, eh?

    One of the things I find amusing, though sad, about this is how some vague internet rumor over a very short period of time evolves into a supposed absolute fact when it just ain't so. Like "the US Treasury owns 20 gonzongazillion dinars" or "George Bush said the Iraq war will pay for itself" ad infinitum. It's almost as if some people truly believe it has to be true, it's on the internet.

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  10. This is a complete list of all the privately held banks in Iraq. (all banks not owned and operated by the Government)

    Ashur International Bank for Investment (Mobile: +9647700224514, +971505589633)
    Kurdistan International Bank for Investment and Development
    Warka Bank
    Babylon Bank
    Bank of Baghdad
    Basrah International Bank for Investment
    Commercial Bank of Iraq
    Credit Bank of Iraq
    Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank
    http://www.dfdi-bank.com/english_index.html (Dijlah and Furat Bank)
    Economy Bank Iraq
    Gulf Commercial Bank
    Industrial Union Investment Bank
    Investment Bank of Iraq
    Iraqi Middle East Investment Bank
    Islamic Bank
    Mosul Bank
    North Bank
    Sumer Bank
    Union Bank of Iraq
    United Investment Bank
    So do tell, which one does Ali own?
    (trick question, I have the ownership info as well and he ain't on it, and none of them have changed ownership in over 6 years, so he didn't buy one, either)

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  11. I really hope that people are not that foolish to believe that Ali isn't part of the whole thing. Remember all the offices he was going to set up post RV around in 2011. Dinar Daddy was his big pumper he even was going to run one of them.

    Then Ali vanishes out of thin air about four months later. I knew then that there was something odd about the whole thing. Now he is back claiming to have bought a Bank in Iraq?

    The greedy just get greedier.

    Great info F8

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