Here we are in Greece... *1: By July 2015, EUR is still a hard currency, officially used by appx. 10m Greeks and 300m+ "Europeans" and another SEVERAL 100's OF m+ from instable "poor" countries. If a Greek was stacking silver for "SHTF"-Scenario, he or she presumably also was also "Paranoid" ("Intelligent") enough to hoard sufficient amounts of EUR for exactly this forseeable situation. *2: You are a Greek, holding plenty of Euros by July 2015: No problem, like in most "SHTF" situations (as long as its not Der Totale Krieg, Ethnic cleansing, imprisonment or de Hongerwinter etc.) there is plenty of Food/ Fuel/ Fucking/ YOU-NAME-IT around for you as long you are holding hard currency. Just ask your grand parents (Or read in Historybooks) for peri- and post WWII experiences. *3: You are a Greek in Greece in july 2015 with NO EUROS: No problem as long as you have enough USD/AUD/CHF/YEN/NZD... YOU NAME IT. *4: You are a Greek in Greece july 2015 with NO Euros/USD/CHF............ No problem, as long as you are holding valuables, E.G: PRECIOUS METALS. They are rated by the international market. Greece is THE CRADDLE OF WESTERN CULTURE, generally Greeks are educated and if you believe history they are good merchants. You will sell your PM at least at Spotprice. *5: You are a Greek with NO CASH but PM, and no Greek merchant will buy PM off you: Find a LEBANESE, INDIAN, JEWISH, YOU-NAME-IT merchant. One of them will be intelligent enough to buy PM from you. QUINTESSENCE: Greece 2015 with cash of PM: NO-PROBLEM-AT-ALL CHEERS SWISSSILVERSTAR
Greece is not an armageddon just like 2008 wasn't, just another hype story to make people with deposits waste these on bloated prices of whatever, or make them sell at bargain prices. The euro is atm a bargain. Second, barter is a total absence of a medium (or more) of exchange. People that use PM's to pay, use it as a medium of exchange. It's not barter at all. The motivation to use PM's, is when there is lack of other money. The motivation to barter, is when there is no money at all. Barter is what it is: a last resort. People in Argentina didn't use PM's as medium of exchange. Because there were other currencies (alike US dollar) around, and people try to get rid of the least trusted kinds of money first (rather obvious, what would you do?). If people in Greece have other currencies in possession, then they won't have a reason to use eventual available PM's. If they don't, then whether they like it or not, they'll have to use PM's, and those without, will have to pay with their shoes or carpet. A wet hug?
Cyprus btw, WAS an armageddon. Why: because there bank depositors actually lost 50% Detail though: during the months before that "confiscation", alot relocated their deposits there to elsewhere. Apparently, and despite the seemingly "sudden" occurrence, some knew well ahead of it. But relocation of bank deposits is of little importance to the Central Planning Parasites/governments, they only care when people withdraw deposits as cash. To outside their viewing scope. In a margin case of all bank deposits withdrawn as cash, they can only steal futher by devaluing the currency along continued creation without destruction of existing, and since it's a multinational one (eurozone), not an option in this case.
It's a sentence I forgot to delete, I initially wanted to use it as 'no cash, no PM's, nothing to barter with, leaving a wet hug as payment.
The Greek situation is more an indictment on the banking system rather than the reasons for stacking. Greeks could readily sell their PM's here and therefore have access to a world market, selling for spot or above, just as we do. Problem is getting the funds to them. Unless I pop 'hard currency' into an envelope and post it, they can't receive it. It is the Greek banking system is preventing the access of Greeks to funds, thereby limiting the ability of the Greeks to convert what they own into exchangable cash at a fair price. One reason many of us stack is to try to divorce or at least distance ourselves from a corrupt and manipulated banking system - the Greek situation shows that this is not without issues. At least for the Greeks, however, there is a 'land-bridge' for the import of hard-currency, even if that is undoubtedly called smuggling.
I think the tension between Chip and House lately is far more interesting than whats happening in Greece!
Look at it from the perspective of the EU governments / central bank / IMF / etc. It's just some months ago that they decided what media calls "a bazooka" (in reality just a prolongation of 2 existing loans from the ECB to EU banks (indirectly ofc everybody they wanna sponsor). These loans, when they started, involved hundreds of banks. Why would they not "help" their Greek buddy-government? It's what they did from the start, years ahead of the 2008-2011 crises. I say it's all just soap to drive concerned speculators into wrong decisions that costs them (part of) their savings. State tv channel here promoted yesterday in a weekly tourism series a Greek vacation. It was almost a positivism-spreading propaganda show. Clearly to make people here accepting another payback cut. The show will just go on, like always, the euro currency will be driven back up, just like nothing happened. Once again.
The gold is a straight U.S. Dollar hedge. Selling the gold is for the purpose of converting to a currency. The rate of exchange is a function of the gold price and the U.S. Dollar.
a hedge that is inverted (read: undone) by central banks purchasing high and selling low isn't exactly "straight". In 2008 the U.S. Dollar had the same figure as now http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=DX&p=m1 Gold has a 30% higher figure now http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=GC&p=m1 The logical expectation for the near future then is U.S. Dollar seeing just another red trend post a green one, with gold hanging or even dropping instead of increasing. Being not precisely how a hedge should be.
Well the sources i am looking at are giving 60/40 on the NO vote. You may NOT see this as an armageddon for Greeks , BUT I BET YOUR ARSE THEY DO. In 10 hours when the banks do not open and the shops begin to ration food and petrol i bet you they will feel like they are in hell. I could be wrong, but id give you 10/1 odds I AM RIGHT.
I don't think Greeks are a bunch of morons, I'm pretty sure they must have some alternative options ready. Don't forget that Italy, Spain, etc. are watching closely to see what happens; the Troika has a huge problem in its hands now.
This is true, and i do not believe them to be idiots EITHER. However it is almost certain that the man and woman on the street is going to suffer immensely in the coming days and riots and shortages are looking to be 80% certainty. Sure the boys and girls in charge may have a plan , but that will not help the people when they goto get fuel or food and find there is NOTHING THERE. Long term i am sure it will work out , but short term it looks bleak
They can't have felt like it was Armageddon that strongly if much more than half of them voted for it. I really didn't think they were going to do this, I really really didn't.
Have a co-worker off on a once-in-a-lifetime month-long holiday in Greece now. Haven't heard how that is going. Hopefully he was smart enough to carry a good wad of cash with him, else eating and such might be a little inconvenient and he'll come back even skinnier than when he left.
What if what is happening in Greece now was happening across the whole Euro zone? Would that be enough to effect PMs in an upward spiral? 10 million people in Greece, 500 million in Europe.
This may cause some movement yet. DOW is down a little over 220points at the moment , just wait half an hour and we will see what happens. And in answer to your earlier question about my 10/1 , it was spot on
The smart money moved long before this, and the paper ponzi isn't really blunted by Greece. So who's meant to buy PM's in this situation then? The dirt-poor greek middle and lower classes who can't even get the little money they have out of the banks to buy it with? Still time to move your chess pieces the world will be asleep for a time yet.
