hi all, i will put this in the PM forum as it related to both gold and silver! http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2010/12/kicking-hornets-nest.html i find these 2 paragraphs interesting because how else can the world escape from overwhelming debt (mathematically currencies are ensured collapse due to exponential interest repayments) and recapitalise, if not through a (potentially overnight) massive increase in the gold price? You see, the international monetary and financial system (the IMFS) is in transition today. It is transitioning from the old $IMFS into the new IMFS. And through this transition gold is going to replace dollar assets as the monetary reserve asset, and in so doing, will recapitalize the failing system of today. This is the esoteric part, where you need to put in a little effort to understand why I say this with such confidence. Without that effort you will most likely dismiss my words when I say that gold's value will soar during this transition and deliver a one-time gain to physical gold holders in a sort of "punctuated equilibrium." This means that one day gold is cruising along with its known relationship/ratio to things like silver, oil and bread, and then the next day (or over a brief, one-time period) it gaps up ~40x and then reestablishes a new equilibrium with the aforementioned commodities. And the gain of this transition is only afforded to the physical quantities of gold in the world, which is why the chain of paper promises (of gold) floating throughout the financial system is so dangerous. and he ends with wise words for anyone like me who has spent thousands of hours thinking about the possibilities and how to best prepare.... But in light of the current crisis and some of the policy efforts underway to restore calm to the commercial markets, it looks to me that the new timeline for significant transitions is mid-2013 consistent with the current policy talks driving the permanent European Stability Mechanism to that timeframe, but with that said, it could be set into motion at any given moment between now and then, and between your breakfast one day and breakfast the next. Hence, it is best that you work to actively establish your desired gold position without undue delay, and then with peace of mind you can turn your full attention to the business of living your life as it was meant to be. Spending significantly further time obsessing over currencies and investments is a fool's errand. this one time gain would eliminate all premiums on coins too, because who could afford to buy them from you? only government, perth mint, a bullion dealer.. you'd sacrifice the premium. and from there it goes to say your gain will be fully taxable too. so i might take that year off work for those people who lost their bullion in a boating accident, you may have put yourself in a corner should prices go that high above reporting thresholds, where there are no private buyers. anyone interested in reading more click on the 2 links at the start of the article, which takes you to writings from 1997 and 2000. ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!) FOA's The Gold Trail he is not so bullish on silver.. thoughts?
He (FOFOA) certainly knows how to draw the crabs! P.S. There'll always be private buyers...gambling, drugs, prostitution, you name it you can get it. There's a whole black and grey market out there for anything you want, and it runs on cash.
There's no escaping the debt or "recapitalize the failing system of today" with gold as such. Gold may be used to back money again possibly but that would just be to restore confidence in currencies. It's not a magic bullet to fix the issues at hand. For us, gold and silver would be a store of wealth through what has been happening. There is a point about silver though in that the stockpiles been used up make it unlikely to be used again as coinage for day to day purchases.
If its a government lead into metals, gold will be chosen as the standard. If its a citizen lead move then silver is more likely. The lack of central stockpiles of silver means it represents a much more privatised form of money. The powers that be have fewer levers of control on silver. A gold standard imo hands them more, not less power.
It seems to me that the big miners are gearing up for the years to come - i do wonder about silver mine projects that have been mothballed and if they will come online in the future...
That is why the US Government demonetized silver in 1873. The people had too much silver and therefor, could not be properly controlled. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873
Also if there was a one-time large increase in gold, the gold miners would benefit even more than physical holders. Can you imagine if the selling price of your product increases 300% and your costs haven't changed? Not only would the miners be reporting huge profits, everyone would want to own gold mining stocks. And the dividends would be tremendous.
And then, by proxy, TPTB would benefit greatly from the massively increased tax revenue being siphoned off these miners.
I think FreeCommodity is more likely than Freegold, which would include Freesilver. That is to say, paper market/fiat incinerated, hard assets find value Even with much of the world's gold locked away, Freegold destroys the mechanics of banks power. So a bank that wants a Gold standard, ( or a genuine freefloating standard ), is like a farmer that slaughters all his herd. He'd have to have a pretty big freezer. But no more harvests. Just enjoy the bounty of a great harvest. I don't know many farmers who would want to stop being a farmer, and becoming a freezer warehouse storeperson, from their own choice. (Unless a plague is about to sweep through your herd.) The emotional attachment and personal identity is too great. So too is it for these pretend master's of the universe. Bankers who might "want" a gold standard are only going into hibernation for the next generational harvest in forty or so years. 1931, 1971, 2011 The Bretton Woods system ended on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended trading of gold at the fixed price of $35/ounce All this talk on bullion bull phases phase? #24 hawkeye you are correct. re #87 "To me these people are no different from the housing bulls who basically say the same thing just change the name of the asset." Those I know who know, are not sharing what they know; no wonder why