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Things That Make You Go Hmmm - Such As Gold...
Grant Williams shares: "I had been reading about gold as an investment but more importantly as a hedge against money-printing for some time and had dabbled in ETFs while I told myself that I would DEFINITELY buy some gold – real gold. Physical gold. Shiny, yellow, heavy gold. But of course, I didn’t. It was all too hard, frankly. Why go to all the trouble of researching, finding a bullion dealer, choosing between bars and coins and then plunking down your cash in return for a lump of gold when you could sit at home in front of your computer, click your mouse a few times and be the proud owner of some unallocated claim on a pool of gold that may or may not be there but that gives you exposure to any move in the gold price? You can buy exposure to gold during the commercial break of Grey’s Anatomy. Easy. The trouble with doing that, is that you then end up with a position. It becomes a number that you trade into and out of based on extraneous factors that may or may not have an effect on the underlying price. There aren’t many people who have taken a position in GLD (or SLV for that matter) who haven’t either been chased out of their position in a big down-move, or failed to pull the trigger on a buy-order because they felt the price had run too far."
All this and much more in the latest edition of Things That Make You Go Hmmm (pdf)
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Tyler,
I think you should cover the Royal Wedding. We might get some hot babes on site and then we can ask them what they think about S&P Downgrade and the FED Reserves Monetary Policy.
I wonder if there will be a bombing or shooting :)
GOOD TV! GOOD TV INDEED!
BAM!
Slightly OT, but I just noticed the MIT billion price project site is down. "For maintenance". Might be totally legit, but I have never seen it down before. Any clue?
Those MIT guys aren't good with technology. They'll have some harvard business grads come over and power point it back up.
They use Magic Server Pixie Dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nbEeU2dRBg
http://bpp.mit.edu/ is up again, but daily price indexes per country are vanished... to much maintenance costs... Now BPP has Japan and World indexes only.
Hope they will outsource some maintenance in order to keep the indexes updated AND collect more & more data (China? Would be so amazing)
Colored Charts Bitchez!!!
I wish I could hit the forward 3X button and cut to the collapse and/or nukular false flag/the day after scenery! Can't see the dollar surviving a true correction which exposes the rotten remains of the AmeriKKKan economy, the debt orogenesis on overdrive and the printers on full speed at the banksters' local HQ. While at the same time Trumped up threatens to extract tribute from all client states and China.
May you live in interesting times and remember: only the paranoid survive, slaves.
be careful what you wish for
True...
I once wished for my dick to be 20 inches longer, and now every time I fuck my wife she nearly always chokes. It's like putting a pig on a spit...
"...only the paranoid survive, slaves."
If you are not too paranoid to consider something new, consider how much energy it takes to be paranoid. You literally have to defend against a littany of irrational threats. It's just wasteful, destructive and for lack of a better word, wrong.
Show me a paranoid person and I'll show you a slave that believes they are free.
I wish I could hit the forward 3X button and cut to the collapse and/or nukular false flag/the day after scenery! Can't see the dollar surviving a true correction which exposes the rotten remains of the AmeriKKKan economy, the debt orogenesis on overdrive and the printers on full speed at the banksters' local HQ. While at the same time Trumped up threatens to extract tribute from all client states and China.
May you live in interesting times and remember: only the paranoid survive, slaves.
I rather die on my feet then live on my knees. Bitchez.
and
I rather die with gold/silver then live with fiat confetti.
"you can have my gold after you pry it from its curious setting with your tongues bitches-Chuck Heston
I'd rather die having sex
I'd rather die post-coital.
I had a uncle who died like that :)
NOW IT'S THE FAMILY CREDE THAT WE DIE FUCKING!
he's my hero :)
never been sick and poof during his daily situps above his wife.
I just doesn't get better than that.
I'd rather live on my feet than die on my knees.
With the IMF sitting on such a large stash of gold. I wouldn't be surprised if the SDRs will someday add gold, silver, and oil to their basket. I believe the banksters think the IMF's SDRs are the global currency of the future after the dollars demise. Not surprising that godless geithner and the bernank are on the board of governors.
orly, what is their current said stash?
You cant add gold to the basket.
If gold is 20 percent (or whatever percent it.doesnt matter) then the sdr is a fractional reserve gold standard.
Each quantity of gold allows only the creation of five total currency units. The supply of sdr's would be completely dictated by the supply of gold. It would then become a de facto gold standard.
so another bretton woods system wouldn't be possible for them to implement? I feel as though they would try the same de facto gold standard again. If the set gold price valued "correctly" and as long as no country could print - money supply would stay the same, with newly mined reserves providing the necessary few % annual growth in money supply. With that said- no more fractional reserve banking. IMO this would be a good system- unfornuately I don't like the idea of a global currency under the control of those slimey snakes. Hope this makes sense- im half asleep.
They seem to want a metacurrency that floats based on the weightings and values of the underlying national currencies.
More flexible than gold, but less flexible than the.individual currencies that make up the sdr.
That way it is reasonably good store of value, but not a harsh inflexible mistress.
Can't quibble with that comment from the paper. I carry a silver eagle in my pocket at all times and it is a formidable warrior when my mind wanders. Others who have never seen one, let alone don't even know that they come from the U. S. Mint, are visibly impressed by its heft. If you don't have any real gold, at least get a Morgan dollar for your stash. It makes a nice "carry" item along with the other one that is close at hand.
Rocky. You are always a bastion of common sense.
I too carry both of which you speak upon. It is true, once you get a real feel for gold or silver, it infiltrates your mind as to what real money is. Certainly not paper, that's something you write on, or put over your head in bag form. Metal you dig out the ground.
Silver Eagles make great ball markers.
The one I carry has started some fascinating conversations on the golf course...
I like to imagine what it was like to throw down a gold double eagle for the goods being bought. Sorta like throwing down a $1,000 bill -- you gonna get lots of change! And the change you got back in the 19th century was gold or silver as well.
Greshams law must be genetically hardwired.
I did some experiments
My kids will not part with their silver eagles to buy things. They will spend cash but not silver, even for fair offers at spot.
I carried a 1 ounce copper "Amero" to demonstrate the power of metal. Even had a banker offer me $50 for it. Finally gave it to one of my grand-nephews.
Silver stays at home, hidden.
Captcha question went easy on me, finally....
(-23) times one equals ?
LOL! +23 Divided By Zero
That would be NaN
;)
Mine was a bit harder:
If 1/2x +1/2(1/2x + 1/2(1/2x +1/2(1/2x + ... = y, then x = ?
1/2x +1/2(1/2x + 1/2(1/2x +1/2(1/2x + ... = y
If x = 1
then the equation likes this:
1/2 +1/2(1/2 + 1/2(1/2 +1/2(1/2 + ... = y
1/2 +1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + ... = y
y = 1 = x y = x
So the answer was 1.
It took me like 2 minutes to figure that one out....
I think Tyler is trying to tell me something here....
If a hen and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how long will it take a rooster sitting on a brass doorknob to hatch an alarm clock?
Blue
Me too! Always one in my jean's lighter pocket...Feels good...radiating a feeling of sanity amidst all the unrealness...
And an excellent antiseptic as well... :-)
Rocky, you magnificent bastard! I have been carrying and ASE for a couple of years now. I take it out as a conversation piece. Last Christmass I gave ASEs as stocking stuffers and the other night I pulled my ASE from my pocket in a restaurant and my son tried to pocket it after the conversation ;-)
I originally carried them to give as tips, but lately haven't met a waiter worth that much!
.
Damn tyler dont you ever go to sleep?
I respect gold in the same way I respect an antique. It is relatively liquid, semi-rare, has a discernable quality to it and seems to hold value to many people for these reasons. Enough to serve as an investment.
<.5 sarc> But if it turns into any type of currency in the western world, either as the backing to a currency or outright, its rarity dictates that the "dead will rise" cause people will dig up bodies looking for gold fillings. < / sarc>
Junk away. But don't laugh when it happens and the MSM is running stories about grave robberies instead of missing person cases and the latest health controversy involving foodstuff _________.
But it only costs $5 to dig it from the ground!
Oh, wait, that's that other damned metal.
Never mind.
If people only knew how easy it is to purchase physical. More and more are starting to wake up.
http://silverliberationarmy.blogspot.com/
Anything worth having is worth working for. Once you have bought physical and hold it in your hand you won't even consider paper metal.(oxymoron) DYOD, find a source you are comfortable with and start holding.
$6 per gallon for gas in the US?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42683030
The Ben Bernank = Insane?
$6 per gallon for gas in the US?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42683030
The Ben Bernank = Insane?
I like the idea of carrying a piece of silver with me.
Mine will be a Canadian Silver Dollar (British Columbia 1858 - 1958).
It might make people go 'hmmm'.
the same goes for pussy. The type you find on a computer is not anything close to the the physical.
Unreal, silver just hit 46. Things are really escalating out of control. Wish I knew what this price movement is telling us (i.e. - is a full blown crisis much closer than we realized?)
.... it's telling u to get the f**k off your laptop and get down to your nearest dealer to b u y MORE !
when they asked the utexas fund manager about why they bought bullion , he answered that the cost of rolling over the futures was too expensive. this is precisely it, futures are for speculation and hedging not for investing. as more large funds INVEST in gold, they will buy the bullion. simple. trading futures to track gold is too expensive for long term investors.
Buy bars. Stack in cellar. Sleep.
Here's a question. Let's say there was a government breakdown and the dollar disappeared and that physical gold/silver was traded in its place on a day-to-day basis.
What is the cheapest/easiest way for a merchant to ensure the gold/silver is real and not a knockoff (for example, gold filled with Tungsten)?
Well, there are those Fitch thingamabobs, which will detect most counterfeit gold coins, although if it were a skillfully made gold-plated tungsten copy, it would pass that test. Tungsten, from what I understand, is however a VERY difficult metal to work with, and is so hard and brittle that it cannot be stamped or minted into a coin like most metals, so there is that safeguard. That would NOT necessarily be the case for bars, however.
As for silver, I don't really know. If the value of silver rises high enough, then I can imagine fake bars and coins entering the market, but the density of silver (around 10 g/cc, I believe) is not different enough from many other metals to prevent copies being made from alloys of that density.
Good question! Perhaps the best defense, as always in the world of coins, would be to get familiar with the coins, and learn to recognize them at a glance; convincing copies of coins are generally VERY hard to produce, and have always been rather rare.
Thanks for your comments. While I wanted to buy physical gold/silver in case of government meltdown (as opposed to a hedge against the dollar), I don't see how I'd be able to use it if nobody on the other side of my trade could easily trust its purity.
I can understand your concerns in that regard --- to an extent, I share them myself, as indeed should anyone holding physical metals, whether bars or coins.
It must be noted, though, that gold and silver coins have been used for millenia quite successfully, even though counterfeiting has existed probably for just about as long. Perhaps our hard-money ancestors knew a few tricks that we have generally forgotten today?
There is plenty of fake paper too. This problem is no worse with the metals.
I disagree. There is a central authority actively trying to prevent the spread of fake paper, and the recipient of the counterfeit might have some recourse. In a government breakdown, each individual would be self-responsible. So, short of biting the gold, there would have to be some previously-established trust between the parties before the barter could take place.
In that case, there would probably be a lot of better items for trade, such as corn, ammunition, and other directly-usable goods. In fact, if the US government broke down but Canada or Mexico were still alive and well, it would probably be better to use the Loonie or Pesos than gold or silver (depending on where in the US you lived).
i'm curious as to opinions of ZH'ers on the best/most 'riskless' way to accumulate physical silver ... i hear alot about Eagles/Maples but don't hear much about junk silver (pre-'65 dimes/quarters) . my only physical silver purchase to date was a couple bags of junk , about a year ago. however i plan to trade some long GLD and/or SLV for physical Ag next week and trying to decide what form(s) of physical .
Very good re-cap. I'd liked to add that True Finns party are more on the left side of the spectrum despite having conservative values as opposed to being "right-wing" ie leftist income/state welfare/taxation policies coupled with r small business support and religion (Lutheran Evangelical, although Mr Soini is one of the few Catholics in the country).
That's why it's called "Hard" Money.
gold
Aye gold,
let us not forget gold-fever, people have had it for thousands of years. People die for it still and always will.
Many is the night i will say to the family as i lock myself in the office
'Don't disturb me i will polishing my gold.'
But seriously its nice to count through it now and again...
The Fed Pharaoh entombed the salves that built his golden coffin, then the plagues came. Does your door have the mark of the beast upon it? ...or have you accepted the fact that the time for the sustaining mercy of the blood of the Lamb is now upon this generation? The consumer pays the price in the end, when they realize they lost the laborer of the harvest. What fool on Earth would ever imagine to escape correction after dipping their brush in the cup that holds no mercy and is filled with the red color of the Fez? The short term gain offered in this Golden BTFD Cup is well represented by the Eagle of Lagash http://conspiracyclothes.com/nowheretorun/symbol.html and the double minded fool. Death will not pass over those that accept the mark of the beast. Who's faith is seal in agreement with the strong delusion of the Fed's Golden Pyramid, if not the wicked and the fool?
There was a time when the wisdom of 666 measures worth of gold in reserve held mercy, that time of that King has long passed away. There is no mercy in gold bitchez, there is judgment. Now you must be as wise as the serpent. Chairsatan knows the time of his short term gains was at the expense of QEternity. You heard his laughter rise over the houses. Why don't we just end the this New Age of the Federal Reserve's New Secular World Order, rise up, stand fast and do no harm? Are we not just suicidal maniacs in possession? How are we ever going to divest from the black hole when the gold seal of the bottomless pit is upon our door, and the Federal Eagle is risen above our home with no intention beyond just passing the worthless Buck like a deadly global plague in Egypt? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rI0kOrgcMU
Fuuny, it LOOKS like English .....
lol ...what Captain Obvious? the Eagle of Lagash? the ''moral hazard''? or the images as a whole hole, hee hee, haa haa haaaaa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0NVxohHfRU
The closest to an English Major I ever got was his daughter? Lovely and a bit posh but, not overly spicey. Quite a sweet person actually. What da yuh want fer nuthin honey? Enjoy the rubber biscuit while yuh can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14MZ8eiwcNE P.S. When flying the Fire Fox http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVNaajyWqwY&feature=related don't think in English, you will never make it to Mother One. akak akak akak, akak akak ''boom!'', down you go chap. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/04/coming-soon-from-the-air-force-mind-reading-drones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))&utm_content=Google+Reader
.... but now increasingly less so.
Morningstar writes: “If central banks decide to resume selling their gold reserves, such a move could be extremely detrimental for gold prices, given that current total central bank holdings (at about 30,000 tons) amount to roughly 12 years of current mine supply."
As the saying goes, what goes up...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/gold/8465642/The-gold-price-may-soon-suffer-vertigo.html
And an article in the same paper...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/commodities/8465734/Gold-price-could-...
Fair play to you Nozza.
What struck me, hence my post, was the bit about central banks having a 12 year supply of gold output from mines. I hadn't seen it put that way in a while, and it is striking in a logical, down to earth sort of way.
Anyway, gold's too rich for my blood. Hell, to make any real money on it one needs to risk hundreds of thousands on it. No thanks.
"Goldman Sachs recently advised investors to sell its profitable “CCCP” basket of commodities – crude oil, copper, cotton, platinum and soybeans. If the bank has called the market correctly, gold and silver are unlikely to be immune from a wider fall among commodities."
LOL and kiss my ass!
NPR just did a story about how FDR took us off the gold standard despite every advisor counseling him against it. Except for one "crank" agricultural economist, who he knew personally. They concluded by saying he was right, because look how well we've done without it. lol
Funny how even NPR has joined the MSM shills in their hypnosis of the masses. They didn't bother to mention that the Great Depression lasted over a decade, while the 1920 depression lasted only 1 year on the gold standard.