I would not get hung up on how societies in general look at PM's and their inherent (or lack thereof) value. In reality gold AND silver are no longer considered "money" by the masses. Now that does not mean gold and silver are no longer "money", it's just that the sheep have been slowly programmed to eschew PM's and instead embrace paper and "unbacked" assets like fiat, stocks, crypto currencies, etc. Everyone has been lulled into complacency and nobody could ever imagine a world where they wake up and all their paper assets' values have plummeted due to some "world-wide" financial calamity. Some sheep got a glimpse of that wolf prowling around the other day when the stocks got hit here. When some of the old retired guys at the gym asked me if I saw what happened to stocks and I told them I hoped they go to zero, I got some agitated responses. These folks just expect stocks to always rise, no matter what. These same types don't even own any gold or silver except jewelry. These poor souls fell for the "plan" hook, line and sinker. When the fed made rates ZERO for years where else would the masses go to get a return- stocks. After a few years of unrelenting gains, the idea of a crash seems like a fantasy. I consider gold and silver to be "assets" and don't worry about nomenclature pertaining to "money", "currency", etc. You can't undue thousands of years of recognizing PM's as valuable- that is burned into our DNA. The masses will realize that again when they hear about PM prices rising fast and see their favorite TV personalities, etc, talking PM's, but that won't be till the prices are much higher. Right now silver is pulled from the Earth at about 9 to 10X the rate of gold, yet the current ratio is 77X or so. Further, the medical, industrial uses of silver keep growing, and in most instances such a small amount of silver is used, it is not economically feasible to recycle the product to extract the silver, so it goes to a landfill, etc. As long as we keep getting more technological advances and such, silver's uses will continue to grow over time. Just my opinion. Jim
Hi Jim, Interesting what you write but I don't believe it's quite like that in reality ("is burned into our DNA"). I do think sheople perception and nomenclature is very, very important. Sheople no longer see colorful sea shells, tulip bulbs, and salt as money (even though many might have at one time) and even though someone who still perceives them as money, would. As for nomenclature, whether cowry shells or silver is the thing that is detached from functioning as "money" for long enough there will almost certainly never be a time again when either functions like money again I believe. The elite more or less dictate what the sheople will do. The elite won't, I believe, return to silver backed currency and therefore there's no good reason to believe that silver will ever function as money. Because of that, sheople today have no use for silver...to a large extent. Silver no longer functioning as money will not have a positive affect on the value of silver....just the opposite I think. Hence we see a GSR that has been going generally in the up direction for decades (since around 1970). Just because something was valued highly and functioned like money or backed currencies, doesn't mean it always will be that. Times change people...people change what they value. Would I like silver to be greatly valued by the masses once again? Sure. But what I like and what is are two different things. That said, there is enough money by a small exclusive group of people that will be invested into buying silver for the foreseeable future so that silver will be seen as a precious metal for at least a couple of generations to come ...I'm convinced of that. As for technology, there's no reason to believe that silver is indispensable. Industry looks for what is most cost effective...there is no silver permabull clause in the manufacturing contracts of businesses. If silver becomes too costly, copper may be used in solar cell wiring...it's already been done in the recent past. If graphene is developed to a point where it can be produced commercially, industry would readily swap silver for graphene if it does the job cheaper. Silver has some cool characteristics but it's not indispensable to industry that cares about one thing above all....minimizing costs. I'm invested in silver and I have no regrets for my recent purchases since I believe silver is a bargain (actually a steal) right now and the Silver Phoenix will again rise from the ashes. I like polished silver....it's shiny. .
Copper cannot be used like silver in the medicinal and clothing applications (anti-bacterial), nor can it be used in solar (reflectivity, etc) instead of silver applications. If what you said was true, copper would already be used instead of silver since it is much cheaper and was especially so a few years ago. Can they find a new metal that arrives on an asteroid that can replace silver, maybe? For new alternatives to be developed, silver would have to be much much higher. By the time silver is that expensive I will be selling so I don't worry about it. People's opinions can be changed quickly via media, etc. Look around the world today and see how much different it is from just a few years ago. Just look at how society views certain events now vs. in the past. Ever think you would see society (here in the US) consider a man a hero (and given an award) for donning a wig, getting breast implants and changing his name to that of a woman (not that there's anything wrong with that)? The sheep can be led to accept anything, and we are seeing that now before our eyes (for those with eyes opened). I believe silver's great gains will come quickly (and maybe end quickly too) based on FEAR of what is happening in the financial world, or going to happen, not because it is a rare commodity. Just my opinion. Jim
Hi Jim, I appreciate your thoughts. I agree with you that sheople are easily led but the leading is being done by people in positions of power who clearly seem to not want silver to function as money (nor back a currency). That's why my argument makes more sense because it seems clear that you believe that the people doing the leading are people like you and I. I've got some breaking news for you....we are not that important to most of the world's sheople. They are led by those who want the sheople, as you correctly point out, to revere high name recognition sheople who largely have nothing important to say. It's the dynamic Chomsky refers to in Manufacturing Consent - feed the sheople meaningless distractions and they will have little to no interest in much more important concerns. You are right that fear can cause things to happen at an accelerated rate....including spikes in commodities prices. But I believe there's a danger in counting on fear to move the precious metals prices higher because fear can also have the opposite effect on those prices. I would much prefer to see a slow but steady rise in metals prices. Now on the other hand, you seem to have misunderstood what I'd stated about copper. I never stated copper will replace silver in all applications but in terms of solar cells, it's not at all the reflective property of silver that is useful, but rather silver's conductivity. So copper can be used (particularly in circuits / wiring) in spite of the fact that it is not as reflective as silver....though admittedly, copper is not as efficient a conductor as silver. Here's a diagram of a typical solar cell with types of metal indicated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Silicon_Solar_cell_structure_and_mechanism.svg As you can see, the fact that silver can be reflective plays no part in why it is used. A very thin silver paste is also used in many solar cells, not to reflect sunlight, but to transfer captured energy. Silver is not indispensable and yes it does have a history of functioning as money and being adored almost as much as gold....but time can change lots of things....and has. I will probably be addicted to my very strong liking of silver for the rest of my life.....and I'm okay with that! .
I'm sorry to say Mr. Stoctor this may have already happened. What percentage of the time do we really use silver as money? You can even look at one of the earlier posts in this thread and see that silver is listed in the "other industrial metals" category. (The VisualCapitalist post from Mr SilverPete.) Here's one way to look at it: If your employer offered to pay you in physical silver would you say yes?
Silver at USD14.59oz is dirt cheap. I heard this recently whaf IF silver drops all the way to say USD8oz. I would be getting more storage and fill it up. Employer pays in SILVER? That would be great
Yes, according to W J Rankin from the CSIRO, the "Life of the Reserve Base" for silver in 2007 was 28 years Hardcopy reference - 2011 Rankin: Minerals, Metals and Sustainability, CSIRO, table 6.4 p 102
Yes Mr RichardAL, it does seem that this is reasonably in agreement with Mr SilverPete's post. But per the definition of "reserves" (specifically the economically viable part) if silver prices go up or down all bets are off. Though this is sure nice to keep this in mind when buying silver as prices will have to go up at some point.
Really Mr silverbait? Would you be able to buy things and pay bills with physical silver in Sidney? Silver may in fact be money but it's undervalued money as mentioned in Gresham's law. It will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Per that authority of everything (LOL) Wikipedia: Gresham's law is an economic principle that states: "When a government overvalues one type of money and undervalues another, the undervalued money will leave the country or disappear from circulation into hoards, while the overvalued money will flood into circulation." And what's the foundation of why money can be overvalued or undervalued? Of course, people's belief in it. Which is the original topic of this thread.
