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What Chinese Consumers Are Rushing To Buy This Christmas
While the US consumer is rushing to spend what little savings they have left and grab that last for 2013 "X% off" deal from the local inventory-clearance bin on plastic Made in China trinkets or marked-down clothing, Chinese consumers are likewise scrambling to buy products. Only, unlike in the US, the object of China's affection is not some gizmo that will end up in the local landfill within 3-6 months. China News Network shows what it is.
Google Translated from Chinanews:
Gold price lower and lower end of the Christmas rush of people buying
Taiyuan a gold shop gold prices as low as 287 yuan / gram, people flocked buying gold jewelry. Western Christmas in China has gradually become the "Consumer Day", much of the gold market on this day after discounts, plus the price of gold hovering cheap Christmas discounts, and more gold has broken 300 yuan / gram mark.
With the recent stumble endlessly international gold prices, gold investment income in 2013 or will be achieved for the first time in 13 years is negative. As for 2014, the price of gold, most institutions are still bearish.
Publicly available data show that this year, gold prices fell more than 25%. The picture shows a gold shop in Taiyuan people flocked to buy.
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I would think that MIC needs lots of support. Many leaders has forgot the importance of solid support lines. How much the US can produce safely in its land for what that said MIC needs? There might be few of those persons even in the US, who would try to make it hard for MIC to operate in case of SHTF.
I say, "Bully for the Chinese." You go, Chinese. One can only approve of individuals using common sense and making smart decisions. For us Americans, get what you can while you can, no matter how small the amount (of silver and gold).
Until the 'Score' gets settled one day, the Fed (and its owners and benefactors) are doing EXACTLY what YOU would do, if you too could write massive checks (that were backed by nothing), but could force others to accept.
Why, you'd "shop till you drop", buying up real assets, goods and services, guns & ammo. And not just for yourself. To maintain your lifestyle in perpetuity, you'd be buying it for your family, friends, their friends, etc., to attain "strength in numbers" for your 'Tribe'.
The Chinese were not the first sovereign power to get wise to the Fed's game. They are merely the first to be able to resist the Fed's "Borg-like" invasion. They will succeed, where many others have failed.
it's pretty amazing to watch the action in a gold stores. folks of all wealth levels are catered to. my aunt watched one guy come in with duffels of cash and told the gold jewelry salesperson "give me 5 kg of gold jewelry. i like that display case over there. if there's not enough in there, this case looks pretty good too." i've seen parents/grandparents buying wedding gifts, teenage girls buying little pinkie/toe rings, and middle-aged men and women buying bracelets and necklace chains.
visiting the pboc gold panda distributor in HK, some middle-aged guy with 3 bodyguards came in and cleaned them out of all but 2 coins. the salesperson couldn't carry it all of; she had to put them on a rolling chair and rolled them out. meanwhile, i felt lucky that the guy left 2 there, though i only had the cash to buy one of them.
300/gm for jewelry is a key level (note that it's actually over $1500 USD/oz, but it includes ~10% markup for profit, ~10% for refining/metalworks/certification, and ~5% negotiable sales commission). most folks here don't spend all day staring at screens to follow the price of gold, but when i chat with family and friends and tell them, they all say "wow, at under 300/gm i'd better hurry to buy some gold." unlike americans, chinese actually save a lot of money. on a trip to the gold shop they'd spend max a couple percent of their cash savings. point being, if the price drops they have dry powder.
it's a an accurate generalization that any gold that enters a chinese family will never exit the family except in the most dire of needs. it is often given as a gift for weddings or relatives or handed down to the next generation, but it won't be sold except as a last resort.
Sorry I don't think it's accurate. I have family in SE Asia and visit often, and visit gold shops etc. a fair amount of gold shop revenues comes from gold lending schemes. That is, a lady might own some gold chain. She gives it it the shop and gets cash, but promises to come buy the gold back or make a payment by a certain date. Constant occurrence. No dire emergencies, just a real money transaction.
China is not Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, or any other SE Asian country. If SE Asians like to take out gold pawn shop loans, then they sound about as smart as American consumers who like to take out 30%/yr credit card debt as a normal part of their superconsuming lifestyles.
A Chinese family would never pawn the family jewels for a few bucks unless they were really in dire circumstances.
How much time have you spent in a gold shop in China?
As for all of the above comments, I was in a gold shop before Christmas buying gifts and all the shops were mobbed. Many mainlanders, many youngsters buying. The lunar New year is early so I should expect this to be a record year considering the discount. The lunar NY is also known as one of the 'Golden Week' (Huang jin zhou--and yes 'golden' is the characters for yellow gold) holidays allowed the Chinese since the late 90's. Pawn shops still exist in HK (but now rare) and pawn shops on the mainland were outlawed during the GPCR (capitalist exploitation of the masses) but made legal again in 1987. Gold (and silver) is a favoured item as security on a loan for small transactions. Real estate is another for larger loans. Families do not part willingly with their gold and the character for 'gold' is always auspicious in naming anything from fish to rice.
I'm Chinese, and I live in HK right now. I spend my time in China, HK, and Taiwan. ANd how much time have you spent reading about Chinese people on the internet?
I have spent some time actually inside gold shops and some years living in Asia, and while in gold shops there are quite a lot of people bringing gold to give the shop, in order to get cash, and then bring cash back when it's due in order to secure the gold until it can be bought back. NOT a very difficult concept to grasp, and I am quite sure your description of every single Chinese person never ever using their gold except in only dire emergency, it's bunk. Go to a gold shop and see some transactions. Certainly sellers come, along with buyers. zzzzzz.
You keep referring to SE Asia and generic Asia, whereas I'm referring to China and ethnic/culturally Chinese. There is a difference; NOT a very difficult concept to grasp.
I'd guess conservatively that I've visited gold shops 600-700 times over the years, including about a dozen trips to pawn shops and 30-50 trips to smaller vendors (those not listed on stock exchanges or sanctioned by the government).
Legitimate gold jewelry shops and PBOC bullion vendors do not offer loans. Jewelry shops have a gold buyback price, and some banks will buy back bullion coins. In all my time in gold shops, I've never seen anyone sell their gold to the vendor outright. Jewelry shops say that some customers will bring back their used jewelry as trade-in credit for bigger items... i.e. still net purchasing more gold. Bank tellers have told methere are really a few folks who trade gold... they buy dips and sell rallies, preferring physical metal to internet brokerage accounts. However, they never sell back family gold; only newly purchased gold specifically dedicated to trading and bought on dips.
There is a small number of pawn shops that accept gold as loan collateral, but CHINESE people never go unless in dire need. Having no cash is the definition of being in dire need, for Chinese. It's not like the USA where being in debt is fashionable.
This has been my good deed of the day... hopefully this dialogue educates you a bit. I suggest you tell your "family in SE Asia" from your "years living in Asia" to stop buying gold if they're just going to pawn it immediately for a cash loan either for a fraction of the value or paying an exorbitant interest rate (or both). Tell them to pay their bills first and buy gold with excess cash savings and not with leverage.
Very interesting. It seems like too broad of a generalization (and my half Chinese wife makes vast broad unimaginably accurate generalizations on a regular basis) but I will say that you are probably right. No loan sharks offering to take gold for fiat in China. Thanks.
This does not happen in China. I am sure about it.
This might be an awkward question, but didn't these same photos get posted here last Christmas? Just saying.
Or are you trying to say all these Asians people look alike? That's not very nice.
Bitcoin: Last: $766.30
Its a Holly Jolly Christmas
And it was meant for you and me.
Oh by golly its a holly jolly Christmas to Me.
Lies... bitcoin is dead, didn't you get the memo? Everyone here knows there is no value in digital medium of anything. Everyone here knows only gold and silver have any real value. Everyone knows the world is going to end and the internet won't work and you can't eat bitcoin. Everyone here knows the ponzi scheme of bitCON is going to sucker all the sheeple in and then the computer network will become self-aware and abscond off to Tijuana to enjoy buying drugs and child sex slaves.
I disagree. It will not 'obscond off to Tijuana'.
The Chinese can afford to buy gold?
I thought they were receiving substandard wages, living in a smog-ridden hell on earth, and were all inclined to self-immolate at any time.
Here it is all a bunch of bull. All lies, all propaganda. They've got money to buy gold, money to burn, looks like to me.
Their bottom 90% do live a pretty shitty existence. That, however, still leaves approx. 100 mln people, of which there is a non-trivial portion that note the obvious ponzi that is their banking system, and act accordingly.
Uhh China has a larger middle class than the U.S. currently. Middle class as defined by money to spend on shit they don't really need. You are thinking of China like 30 years ago.
Probably about 30% of China right now live a shitty existence.
You're correct. People who haven't visited China lately have no idea. However, note that poverty-class Chinese will definitely buy gold. They may have to save years for a gram or 2 and the store profit margins is ridiculous, but I've chatted with some migrant workers who have done so.
A typical middle class keeps ~10% of their net worth in gold, but it's not so much defined as a % of wealth as how much one can carry either concealed or on the run. That's also the reason why jewelry is one of the most-preferred forms of gold in China... easy to conceal on the body and with you at all times, even if you need to run. My grandma told me to always wear some gold jewelry just in case... I'm pretty sure many other Chinese grandmas tell their grandkids the same.
That's why gold owned as a % of net wealth is actually quite low for the super wealthy in China, at least at the moment. If you're a billionaire, you still can't practically carry much more than 10kg of gold... though that would be a tiny fraction of your net worth.
China's reserves allow them to buy at these prices all the gold that exists in the world, twice.
Primitive culture.
Obama Swats Fly during CNBC Interview
Later states, “you should see me with a pair of chopsticks. I learned my technic while watching Kung Fu movies”.
"With the recent stumble endlessly international gold prices, gold investment income in 2013 or will be achieved for the first time in 13 years is negative."
Huh??? Google translations from Chinanews must be done by someone/something unfamiliar with English sentence construction. The text on this article was close to gibberish. Still, the photos make the essential point that the Chinese are buying something of lasting value, at after-Christmas clearance prices as a bonus.
Chinese New Year , not Christmas, that is when gold demand Really escalates in China.
Chinese buy gold for every occasion. Chinese New Year is the peak.
Yes, I agree about NY's being peak...
I speculated elsewhere that the Chinese may be buying more this year because prices are much lower this year than last.
Many don't understand just how many people live in Asia. Yes, many are poor but many are not.
A billion+ "modest" income people buying gold gram at a time adds up.
Pretty soon you're talkin' "real money". :)
I don't think most Chinese celebrate Christmas, do they? I think they're buying phyzz gold (and silver) because the price in paper value has been so criminally devalued, so they're doing what any other informed and intelligent person is doing and buying phyzz now while it's still available to get.
Yes, there is a great probability that the "paper" values may still be decreased even further. In theory, the ciminal powers that be could drive it all the way to zero.
But that's paper, not phyzz. What the people who are waiting for further drastic declines are failing to recognize is that while paper price drops there's this little thing called real supply and demand that is going to take over in a flash at some point, and then it's game over for paper.
Just because the paper price may get to 500 for gold or 10 for silver (theoretically speaking...I don't really think it will get that low) doesn't mean anybody is going to be selling it for that price. Most likely at that point (or something close to it) the phyzz price will break free of the paper price and premiums will skyrocket in dollar terms.
We are very close to a thin red line in phyzz supply, folks. Don't get greedy or think you can time the bottom price...it's not worth it. Get your phyzz now while you still can...especially in silver.
The phyzz market can't take too much further pressure downward...maybe another buck or two in silver, but at that point the premiums are going to push actual dollar value close to 30/oz. Get it now at 21 to 25 (while the premiums are still low) depending on what you're getting...but get it now. Don't wait. Get what you can and stack it away safe somewhere.
The Chinese could give a frick about Christmas...they're stackers and they're stacking now while they can get it because it's available at low paper prices. American don't have much more time as supplies of gold and silver are being drained here at a massive rate. And it's almost gone.
Probably less than 5% of Americans own even 1 single ounce of physical silver. Can you imagine that? And only around 10% of any pension or other retirement funds hold stock in gold or silver.
Mining stocks are at all time lows and phyzz prices have been driven by paper naked shorting to below cost of production levels.
At the same time the value of the U.S. dollar is being monkey hammered by trillions in over printing. Not to mention the fact that very soon, the dollar is going to be re-valued lower by quite a lot when the great currency reset is triggered. We may lose up to 50% dollar value just from where we are right now. At the same time pension retirement funds, both public and private, are going to be stolen to "pay" for the massive government debt.
My God, people...this isn't the time to frack around waiting for a few bucks more to drop in the "paper" market. The Chinese aren't buying "Christmas" presents made of gold...they're just buying the frack out of gold as fast as they can and so is the Chinese government if ya haven't been paying attention lately!
I have a theory that the Chi-Comm government allowed their billions of people to start buying gold because at some point down the road in the future they're going to pull a 1933 on those people and try to confiscate it. Not only will the Chi-Comm government hold all the gold they are buying now from the West, but they will back their currency in gold (maybe silver as well) and they will follow the same system as America did by confiscating their people's gold and then backing the currency with it at some price point.
History will repeat itself in some way shape or form, folks...don't bet against it. And all Americans as well as people all over the world who don't have any physical silver or gold are going to absolutely crushed when the devaluation along with stagflation, deflation, or even hyperinflation hits in ways of varying degrees across the global economy. Absolutely crushed.
So although owning phyzz silver and gold is the only smart thing to do RIGHT NOW, I also have to state that every single one of you should do everything you can to hide it and protect it as well as protect yourselves. You will not last long when these events begin to transpire if you aren't able to protect yourself, your phyzz, or your food supply.
Think about it. As being less than 10% of the population owning such valuable, life-saving commodities, we are going to be drastically outnumbered by those who will kill us for it.
If you aren't splitting your phyzz purchases of gold or silver along with ammunition and guns at this point then you better take a big think about what you're doing real quick and wake the frack up.
The problem with people like me who have wanted to help so many others over the past 5 or 6 years now (after I woke the hell up!) is that we have told so many people about what they need to do to survive. That's a double-edged sword, so to speak, because I'm sure all of you will agree that most people you have tried to "wake up" do not listen very well and probably 99% of them haven't done one damn thing you've recommended to help themselves.
I can't tell you how many people I've tried to talk to just say stupid shit to me like, "Well when things collapse I'll just come to your house because you'll have food, water...blah, blah, blah...".
Well, frack that! Everyone who tells me that finds out right away that all they're going to hear on the other side of my front door after the shit hits the fan is the loud racking sound of my 12 gauge shot gun! Yeah, everyone thinks that's funny now, but wait until reality sets in...not gonna be too funny then for anybody...it's going to be very fracking serious.
So nice people like us are going to be few and far between after all hell breaks loose. And we're going to be outnumbered big time by the sheeple who didn't take our warnings seriously. It's going to be quite perilous to say the least. And that's not even considering what the fracking government, and certain parts of law enforcement and military are going to try to do to the rest of us.
Anyways...shoot...I didn't mean to go on a rant, it just kinda happened that way, lol. I'm sure it's kinda preaching to the choir here and all, but that's how it goes sometime.
Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year to all ZH'ers! Come on over to Turdville and visit with us sometime...the weather's always great and the people are nice too! :)
Cheers!
Why specifically, silver over gold?
I was thinking of paying off a ~50K business loan by YE 2013, but I've been leaning lately more toward letting it ride, and directing the funds instead toward Gold.
One reason right now is the current silver / gold ratio being over 60:1. Historically speaking, there is a 16:1 ratio in the earth's crust and many speculate that so much silver has been consumed that the ratio could be as low as 9:1 now. Besides, a little diversification never hurt anyone! Enjoy your holidays.
Edit: In summary, the value of silver is not being accurately reflected relative to gold.
Yes. That is what I kind of figured.
I sure like the portability of Au over Ag, particularly in a SHTF scenario. I'm still trying to figure how I'm going to haul around my bags of "junk" silver.
Thanks.
I think if we reach the point where staying in your home is not safe, you're probably not going to give too much of a shit about your PM holdings above and beyond a few oz. to cover your ass in the event of a barter scenario. The reason to go with Au has entirely to do with it being the primary monetary metal of choice for the global movers, that may experience a significant revaluation in the event of a fiat currency rebalancing scenario, which is looking inevitable at this point.
"there is a 16:1 ratio in the earth's crust"
That may be so, but it doesn't come out of the earth in that ratio. Silver is a by-product of base metal mining. Gold, not so much. I don't know what the current production ratio is, but I'm pretty sure it's greater than 16:1.
According to the production widget for 2013 on SRS Rocco's blog it's being mined at a rate of 9.373:1 as calculated my me, just now. I could have probably gone to Kitco and not had to calculate it I suppose... It would be interesting to see which way that ratio has been trending on a longer timeline, though.
"In summary, the value of silver is not being accurately reflected relative to gold.
Which, if true, can be resolved in one of two ways. Silver rises in price, or gold comes down. Of course there could be other factors involved that haven't been considered, such as increased production of siver vs gold due to advances in mining techniques in the last 100 years.
One thing I've learned in my (regretably) short life is that just about everything is in flux (except maybe protons - not sure about that yet) so to expect anything to remain constant over time is a tad unrealistic. True, things tend to revert to the mean if you're patient enough. As they say, on a long enough time line....
Not only the P / E ratio, but fact is, barter is a bitch when no one has change for an ounce of gold.
Silver, however, comes in enough minted denominations to ensure easy trading.
Plus, dimes fit down the muzzle of most 54 caliber black powder rifles.
For killing the financial vampires and zombies, y'know......................
Ha!
ditto what Cobra said...for me, I go with the cheapest silver I can get which in my area are the Sunshine Mint silver Buffaloes. Or 1 to 10oz bars which can be as little as .79 over the paper spot price.
I don't have tons of fiat, and I have to split it up each month between a few bills, plus ammo, food, and other supplies. So I usually get 10 to 20 ounces of silver when I can and double up on the dips!
My sterategy is that with the silver/gold ratio being so high right now at around 60:1, it's just kinda more sensical for me to grab 60 ounces of silver instead of just 1 ounce of gold for about the same amount of fiat. Plus, buying fractional gold has such a higher premium on it that I'd rather just stick with silver right now.
I like playing the silver/gold swap game and have traded in gold for silver a couple times to scoop up a lot of cheap silver. I hope one day when we have true price discovery and the paper market is smashed we will finally see a lower ratio of under 30:1...hopefully a heck of lot lower than that and closer to 10:1.
At that point, hopefully I'll be able to swap like 20 ounces of silver for an ounce of gold. It'll be so cool to get an ounce of gold for only the 400 or so bucks I gave for 20 ounces of silver...especially if gold is like 5000/ounce or higher!
Maybe at that point most sellers won't have gold or they might not really go by the silver/gold ratio. They may double it, who knows? It will be a very dangerous world at that point...much more dangerous than it is now, and it's pretty damn dangerous now as a matter of fact! lol
And silver may even come into closer price parity to gold than we ever imagined. Silver is used and destroyed by the many tons industrially while gold is not destroyed at all. Silver also is not usually specifically mined. It is mostly a by-product of gold and copper mining. It's mostly particles and is costly to extract and refine. With the cost of energy going up and not much easy silver in the ground to get, along with the cost of production, industrial use, monetary use, etc., I can't understand why silver won't be worth as much as gold or even more expensive than gold one day.
It is so heavily manipulated by the criminal cartels to be at these cheap prices that it's hard to imagine what the true valuation could be once the paper market collapses and people start trying to buy silver hand over fist. There just won't be anymore supply out there for less than hundreds of dollars per ounce or maybe even over 1000 dollars an ounce.
The stampede to get silver is going to be abolutely amazing...it will become almost priceless for a while and that should be the time for swapping silver for gold or for land acquisition as well.
A little pre-1965 Constitutional silver dime might be worth 100 bucks...but why would any of us want dollars for our silver at that point, right? Maybe we'll want Yuan/Renminbi which could at that point be the new reserve currency and backed by gold and/or silver. But if not then I'm hoping to swap it for some nice land hopefully in the mountains and away from the chaos...off the grid and gooooooone fishin' ;-)
Great Rant!!!
Silver is a good metal to have on hand as it has so many uses other than as a PM/coin collection.
I must admit though, I have collected some great coins over the years. Lately I have been favoring the Canadian Mint.
thanks man, I appreciate it! The new Maples are very nice...cheaper than ASE's too, are .9999 instead of just .999, and the new security features do it well. The 25th anniversary ones are very good looking...check them out if you haven't seen them yet. Provident Metals has them.
http://www.providentmetals.com/2013-25th-anniversary-canadian-silver-map...
Hey, Save America - all great points, but a FAIL for the lack of fuck. 1 out of 10. Not enough fuck in your well reasoned rant.
Apart from that, outstanding piece of factual prose.
Muzzle loaders are good, too. 54 caliber multi purpose tools that can be loaded with just about anything.
Bullish on percussion caps, lead, and black powder.
haha...thanks man. I know, I know...I was trying to keep it "clean" bein' the holidays and all. But believe me, it wasn't easy! lol
I'm definitely looking into a muzzle loader...I do have many other calibers of hand guns and long guns though so I haven't put a lot of time into researching the muzzle loader.
But thank you for the reply and the .54 caliber idear!!!
I don't think most Chinese celebrate Christmas, do they?
No, they celebrate MaoMas.
The end of the dollar is near! Why would they manipulate pm's so ferociously ?
Chopsticks. So they can pluck the bling from dealers in a millisecond.
/sarc
This article is bullshit. Those are all bitcoins those folks are viewing.
/sarc
At least the Chinese call Christmas what it is: consumer day.
These folks need to invest in some ASIC server and trade the dirt farm for the data farm. Barbarous relic it is. This is so third world. They should be more like us Westerners with our profound stewardship of all things economic.
Why would the central banksters allow China and the east in general to buy buy buy all the phyz if it was going to skyrocket? History shows that the banksters are NVR wrong, and when it appears they are they start a war or manipulate markets in some way.
Are all you people the same ones behind BitCon right now? Yea 5 years ago it would have been great to throw in $1000 and let it ride, but at this day with $500 price swings, IN A DAY, how can you even think that its legit?
What if tommorow a solar flare hit and killed most of the internet for a few hours? You would be Fkd, no?
What about when the NSA or whoever turns on a set of quantum computers and destroys the legitamacy of the blockchain?
Yes gold has always been used for trade, but may I remind everyone it was once worth its weight in salt. And if a global econmic collapse does happen you will need your salt.
Why is China being permitted to buy all of the phys? Perhaps it's their price for continued "willingness" to purchase western debt.
China seems to be putting itself in a position to replace the dollar reserve status with its own currency AND gold as part of the new basket. Of course the hubris of the US policymakers make them blind to this eventuality. This game of financial chicken can only end one way. War.
"Willingness".. more like a gun to the head, if they could have gold backed $$ then I think they would have done it already. I mean how much gold do they need to make it happen? If London and JPM and Ft.Knox are empty then what are they waiting for?
I forget why but some intelligent ZH's have pointed out why the world will never again see a gold backed currency.
Not to mention China's politicians make ours look like angels.. What makes anyone think that THEY will solve the worlds fiat problems?
Didn't mean to infer a gold-backed Yuan. I meant a currency basket (to settle non-US international trade) comprised of Yuan AND Gold... others as well. And I don't for one second think China's dynastic mission has anything to do with solving currency problems. These "currency problems" (gold manipulation included) are merely a tool to exploit - which they are very adept.
Never say "never."
Currency based on the gold, can be used by China or BRICS, only for a while - for the overthrow of the U.S. dollar.
For example 10 or 30 years, why not?
Many naively believe that China will not destroy the U.S. economy, because the U.S. - is a major consumer of goods from China.
But they are wrong. Once China will be faced with a choice between destroying its own economy or economy U.S., they will destroy the U.S. economy did not hesitate.
"This game of financial chicken can only end one way. War."
I'm not really convinced of this. You are assuming that this is actually a competitive scenario, and not a cooperative scenario. Remember who the owners are.
there is no christmas in china you dolts.
commies!
tis the season to be jarry, far ra ra ra ra ra ra ra
Wow. The places are packed. Gotta love it. If that ever happened here in the states the market price would SOAR.....
Keep stackin....
True, but gold shops in USA are few and far between, and never packed with buyers. When the prices were going up up up and there were "WE BUY GOLD" shops reeling in fools bringing in scrap gold to sell, there may have been some lines but none that I ever saw.
Obviously in order to keep the dollar afloat, TPTB have to suppress true price discovery of Au and all PMs.
These Chinese are obviously aware of this to some degree and are investing in Au since they know eventually the global economic structure will have to begin to reveal true price.
When? Who knows. I imagine these Chinese citizens are buying with strong hands and a strong grip.
Very few Americans seem to be aware of the long-term nature of holding PMs. This was not the case 100 years ago. I pay no attention to the current media and continue to acquire (mostly numismatic) Au as time and resources permit.
Regular ZH denizens are probably much like myself. Building a stack of some sort is just common sense! A good solid collection gives one a sense of security and a preservation of History.
Keep Stackin!
PS: Iridium, get a copy of Ferfal's book
http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/be-prepared-wall-street-advisor-recommen...
A top financial advisor, worried that Obamacare, the NSA spying scandal and spiraling national debt is increasing the chances for a fiscal and social disaster, is recommending that Americans prepare a “bug-out bag” that includes food, a gun and ammo to help them stay alive.
David John Marotta, a Wall Street expert and financial advisor and Forbes contributor, said in a note to investors, “Firearms are the last item on the list, but they are on the list. There are some terrible people in this world. And you are safer when your trusted neighbors have firearms.”
His memo is part of a series addressing the potential for a “financial apocalypse.” His view, however, is that the problems plaguing the country won't result in armageddon. “There is the possibility of a precipitous decline, although a long and drawn out malaise is much more likely,” said the Charlottesville, Va.-based president of Marotta Wealth Management.
Marotta said that many clients fear an end-of-the-world scenario. He doesn’t agree with that outcome, but does with much of what has people worried.
“I, along with many other economists, agree with many of the concerns expressed in these dire warnings. The growing debt and deficit spending is a tax on those holding dollars. The devaluation in the U.S. dollar risks the dollar's status as the reserve currency of the world. Obamacare was the worst legislation in the past 75 years. Socialism is on the rise and the NSA really is abrogating vast portions of the Constitution. I don't disagree with their concerns,” he wrote.
In his latest note, he said that Americans should have a survival kit to take in case of a financial or natural disaster. It should be filled with items that will help them stay alive for the first 72-hours of a crisis, including firearms.
“A bug-out bag is a good idea depending on where you live even if the emergency is just power outages, earthquakes and hurricanes. And with your preparedness you will be equipped to help others who might be in need,” he wrote. “Be prepared. Especially because it keeps you from being scared.”
With said, bug out bag, a person needs a place to bug out TO.
Did this financial adviser address that?
And this is why I read the comments more than the articles. Good find.
"
What Chinese Consumers Are Rushing To Buy This Christmas "
Detroit
I was flying out of Seattle a week ago and in the gate next to me was a Flight going to Detroit. It was an Alaska Air flight codeshared with Delta and wait for it.... South China Air.
I shit you not, it was the first time I had seen any South China Air flight codesharing in the US, and it was to Detroit.
If the Chinese are coming to buy Detroit we should sugest to them to hire a few black brothers not on drugs to act as bodyguards. Also let them know that the muslem's already bought Dearborn.
I have it on good authority that gold and silver prices will double and triple next year and that the Senate will have a special hearing on the volatility of precious metal prices and how the government should deal with transactions in gold and silver. /sarc
On a more serious note. The world is buying precious metals hands over fist. Not just India and China are buyers. The metals are being bought and stored in Europe and North America as well.
Of course our propaganda networks will not report just how much gold and silver was handed out during Christmas. Instead they will report on Amazon's hit list of crap merchandise being ordered and gifted among friends and family in America.
Amazon doesn't sell gold or silver. Maybe that would be #1 on the list if they sold?
Here's a listing of what "gold" items the savvy Amazon shopper can find
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2/189-8207960-2594425?url=search-...
The story of Christmas doesn't begin or end with Amazon or China. Gold and silver are on sale and at prices where producers are hurting. At the same time, the crypto currencies which may have been hot in China are tanking.
It's going to be one helluva year for gold and silver is my prediction. That rubber band the Fed allowed to be strung all the way from low $1900s down to $1200s for THE storage of wealth with a 5,000 year universally accepted history has been way over done.
Could make SNAP any day next year and catapult prices into orbit. Make no mistake, when that happens the propaganda networks will direct all your attention on the next release of the latest smart phone "miracle grow" edition that also grows herbs if you place it under the cheese dome overnight.
Back to the Christmas tree 2013 at our house. There were coins and convenient bars for kids and grandkids to add to their collection among other items. Tradition has it that we go for a celebratory boat ride on the first weekend after the holidays and use the shiny coins as lures and bars as weights. Oh well!
Why do people believe China will operate Gold any different than US FED does?
Once China has enough Gold to be included as a world currency, why do people expect that they will act differently than the US and Europe Feds?
The chinese have been printing as much if not lots more than the US, yet people expect them to not act in Bankster ways.
Please expand on your thinking. I just don't get it.
I take it a step further. The Chinese have a 5,000 year history and culture where fraud had time to cultivate. Like you're suggesting, their CB has printed more phoney ponzi money than any other CB. Not just the CBs. I keep wondering how much paper has been printed in the basements of Beijing and Shanghai. Wouldn't trust anyone with Chinese paper and I'm not even Chinese. Now imagine the people who know their own kind better than any outsider.
Chinese (and Indians) are buying gold as status but also to protect their wealth. Very rich Chinese are buying real estate trophy properties all over the world because they have to convert their paper into something tangible. They probably think that as long as the rest of the world is willing to accept Chinese "miracle" economy of ghost towns and Ptomkin Villages based on Mao's handbook, then let's burn that paper as quickly as it comes in.
300/g is $1500 /oz
American buyers are actually subsidized when you look at $1200 /oz spot price.
Are you saying $300/g is the same as 1500/oz? So, do you think that there are 5 grams of gold in a troy oz? Dude, I what to sell you some gold.
well, it's too late to edit your remark, but I'm pretty sure that was a yuan quote.
"Why do people believe China will operate Gold any different than US FED does?"
- Because China knows that the share of the U.S. contribution to the global GDP - 23%, while the share of U.S. consumption of global GDP - 42%.
- Because China knows that the main export item in the structure of U.S. exports - is export dollars.
- Because China understands that the United States - is a country-parasite, which lives at the expense of labor and resources of other countries.
- Because China does not want the U.S. to live at his expense.
I guess the basic part of my point is this:
Having a currency backed by Gold, introduces a downside to printing. It introduces fiscal discipline.
China has not shown itself to want either. I am not sayiing the US wants it either. I am saying on an article here on ZH, china's printing was shown to be a MULTIPLE of US's printing.
Why would you expect that to stop? Why is it in China's interest to stop that?
Currency - is not the goal of China, is only a means to an end. China's goal - world domination.
China will use all possible ways to achieve this goal. Including undermining the role of the U.S. dollar, via binding the yuan and gold.
A bunch of funny words linked together saying nothing.
Yes, English - it's not my native language. But I share your opinion that all these English words seem very funny.
Do you want to continue our conversation in Greek, Russian or Chinese?
Your English is fine, probably better than most, and far better than my use of any of the other languages your proposed as alternatives.
Perhaps you could use it to explain to me how China achieves world domination while binding gold to the yuan at the same time while printing up a storm of paper three times what the US is doing?
Or if you think that China will suddenly introduce a balanced budget without money printing, please explain how they do that based on their history and their present path.
The economy of the world falls apart, there is chaos, maybe war, nobody trusts anybody's currency, the currencies backed by gold win. The stuff has to hit the fan first. There will not be a smooth transition. China will have alot of gold and will rise up out of the ashes higher than the rest of them. The Evangelicals are praying for the stuff hits the fan part.
I understand what you mean. But why you do not want consider the option of pegging the Yuan to gold only for a while?
China and Russia does not need a world in which all processes run by the United States.
The entire U.S. economy is based on the U.S. dollar - as on the the global reserve currency. More precisely on the exclusive right of the U.S., to print the world's reserve currency for their own selfish interests.
If the U.S. dollar will be stripped of its role as a global reserve currency, the export-oriented U.S. economy will collapse.
Together with the U.S. economy will collapse military and political influence of the U.S. in the world.
After that, China will receive a prize - world domination.
To achieve this goal, China will be forced to discredit the U.S. dollar compared to the Yuan.
How? Through partial binding yuan to gold for a while.
(This is just my guess, I am no prophet, I am an ordinary person and I could be wrong.)
Because their paper is internal and not exported as our dollars are. China is building itself to a verticaly integrated economy - much as we were doing in the 50-60s. If they become too democratic, they will piss it away as we have through entitlements. If they don't, they'll own the next 100 years.
China is establishing entitlements right now as we speak. It has nothing to do with democracy. The CCP is way, way more responsive to people's pleas than the democratic US Congress.
Bully-are you equating democracy with facist socialism? I think you lost these: "".
I can only guess. Might be part of the currency wars going on. Perhaps the people of China realize their currency is heading to zero and that is why they are investing all they can in gold and silver. Perhaps there is a "plan" by China's government. A plan to issue a gold back currency once the US dollar goes up in smoke. I do know that the gold is going from west to east.
Greg Hunter has a good interview relating to the subject with Rob Kirby today at USAwatchdog.
Word Bitchez!
Just about the worst mistake a person could make is to think the powers behind the Fed as "stupid". Therefore...
What are those boys "cooking up", whereby they don't give a damn about Gold? THAT, I think, is the real puzzle to be solved, worth to front-run. And I don't see this site trying to address that. Maybe it's time that the Tylers or another Contributor finally did. Or tried to.
This has me worried as well. I have much in Silver and am worried with fractional lending and Fed printing and derivatives they can manage it to their needs, regardless of the marketplace. Plus I believe that it may be in China's interests to act exactly as the FED has acted so that means the end of the fiats are still a long way out...
Exactly! The real idiots are the ones not asking these questions...
Our government is a puppet of the FED and central banks, the central banks, ECB, and IMF are controlled by the Rothchild family and a few friends. One can only guess their motivations, but they do think long term and they are not unintelligent and they do have more money than the Pope, queen Elizibeth, and Bill Gates combined.
They DO give a damn about gold, rest assured. Don't listen to what they say, to what MSM say, this is all MOPE. They know gold will be the last man standing, and they quietly accumulate, right here, right now. Push it down (with fraudulent paper non-gold, of which there is evermore) to get the real thing (metal) which is scarce. Big Banks (esp. JPM) going quitely long. They know what's coming, and quitely position themselves accordingly for when all hell breaks loose.
They gotta do something with the $263B trade surplus.
You will see a gold backed currency when all other alternatives have beenn exhausted.....which they will be..... and halt total chaos in its tracks at the last minute.....gold backed currency......though gold may be revalued at $50,000/oz to achieve this.
It wont be choice it will be neccessity.
Why will we see a gold backed currency?
because less gold needs to be shipped than oil & less storage space for it with easier security, otherwise it would be oil.
Deficits don't matter so they truly believed, especially with the global reserve currency.
The TPTB do care about gold....else why the heck they spend so much effort internationally for such a long time to nuke it, remove it from the montary system.... but as soon as things go wrong gold became the go to asset for the rest of the world. So they had to keep continually nuking it after letting it run for a while.
The USA TPTB living an old paradigm - pre GBush II where the USA's word was law....lost respect and support of allies re war on terror....and nations learned they could tell the US to FO. You are with us or against...pretty much broke the paradigm...by going just that little too far. They took arrogance to the edge...and peaked there.
But like all powerful empires the masters too in love with their own power over estimated their capabilities and under estimated the risks, and remained blind to the real changes taking place. Their belief was the USD would be their eternal power over all things globally.
The US can ban gold as much as they like in the US, it won't make any difference to the rest of the world, when nations of trillion dollar deficits/currency dilutions.....
The U.S. economy is export-oriented. If China refuses to accept dollars in exchange for their goods, how the U.S. will pay for these goods? China in fact has already refused to sell their goods for U.S. dollars. China now accepts U.S. dollars only for exchange them for gold at current artificially low prices.
.....and they are civilized about crowding the counter unlike the american consumer who is willing to fight a death match for a fn crap toy.
goldstacking is just a penalty for those unable to calculate ROI
last 13 years says you're wrong. It takes time to buy a decent amount of gold & any workdown in the price to permit this is great. Rising prices is not the time to buy unless you have none.
Once gold was 260. Once it was even 35. The day will come when gold is 5000 and your statement above will look the most foolhardy - except the next day. The next day dollars won't be legal currency & gold will be and that will be your shining moment.
*Shrug*
I see photos of people elbowing eachother to buy jewelry. And yeah, they better be buying with both hands. Half of the people in those photos own empty apartments that are going to lose 70% of their value within the next 5 years. Pawning the 14K gold rings they bought won't even make a dent in the loss they're going to eat when those empty apartments reset to market value.
History teaches one thing consistently. The masses never get it right.
"...the object of China's affection is not some gizmo that will end up in the local landfill within 3-6 months..."
I don't differ with you on many things Tyler, and I understand the point you're trying to get across, but this is prima facie simply not the case. Go into any froufrou brandname store in Ocean Terminal on the waterfront in TST and its jam packed with mainland peasants buying crap with well worn French names.
Aside from the stellar GDP numbers... there's plenty for the Chinese to be worried about. The Shanghai Index has been dragging major ass; capital flight is increasing hand-over-fist and no matter how much the BOC keep printing they can't seem to return the economy to the glory days of 2005.
But that's just on paper. Out in the streets China is a toxic sewer with corruption and cronyism running rampant, severe demographic imbalances and staggering environmental problems they haven't even begun to address. Then I read some jughead opining that China has no reason to get into some spat with their neighbors over shitdump islands. Yeah, right.
So... whose distopian totalitarian wetdream get the cold shower first... ours... or theirs?
All the gold is going to China. Their dystopian world will melt away faster than ours if the majority of the gold is in the hands of private individuals. If their gov't has all the gold it could be a different story. At any rate I sure would like to know what the hell is really in Ft. Knox.
By Law, you don't have that Right. What ever is there could have multiple claims against it.
Tungsten-core beanie-babies.
I know.
Whowooduftaut
Compare the numbers of trade balance between China and the U.S.. These are real figures and facts. Everything else - it's only words and opinions.
There's an Air Jordan joke in there somewhere (perhaps there's even a video).
I'd be buying shares in the face mask air filter manufacturers. The bigger the China boom, the more expensive to get a breath of fresh air there.
hey, did anyone else have trouble with logging in.......
It seems zero hedge lost my password
When it *really* counts, gold will be next to worthless. Let them buy up all the gold. And let us insure/ensure crop yields.
The only investment worth a damn is going to be contingencies for climate change and the (yet to happen) attempt to reduce carbon emissions.
You go ahead and bet on Gore's carbon-credit-ponzi-fascist-dream and I will buy gold and silver.
It is soooo easy to see GW was picked up by politicians in order to raise revenue!
Back in Joe College days, the same scientists were claiming "Global Cooling," but that is harder to figure out how to tax.
would be the first time in history ever that gold ever attained such a negative state.
I think you'll have a hard time convincing the rest of the world of this fairy tale.
You want to ensure good crop yields you need Mittleider gardening techniques for the soil & to do what polyfacefarms does (Joel Salatin) for mobile farming.
You want to ensure you have real money you need silver & gold coin in hand.
Climate change: too late, it's here. Some of us will adapt, some of us won't. We'll lose entire biospheres but being able to move to the survival zones will be aided by gold.
Fukushima: um... sort of the same... except the entire planet is generally fucked and the Southern Hemisphere will last out longer. That's just how it is.
The chain reaction for melting permafrost, heavy in methane, is too late. The Earth got too warm, there's no way to contain the change at the Northern climes and now it's done. Get ready for a wild ride. Not long from now it will be +20C in December in Canada.
dup
Indeed when I got married (Hong Kong wife) everybody gave my wife 24ct gold rings, necklaces and bracelets.
Then I keep buying her silver Rabbit coins to add.
Never thought about it before but she probably has 20oz 24ct gold sitting in her top drawer.
Suddenly feel richer.
Gold exists...just like inscribed clay envelopes out of Ur before its use, as a means of transfering wealth without dragging a dozen cows with you everywhere you go.
A grain of gold out from the river bank gets you a loaf of bread in Zimbabwe.
I backup my password on NSA Cloud. Cuts out the middle men.
My best guess is that the U.S. is going to need a second Dollar backed by gold just to trade with other countries because none of them want to be indirectly controlled or manipulated any longer by the U.S. Dollar system.Maybe this is part of the reason that everybody wants their gold back.The U.S. holds gold for a lot of others too and wants to keep it as long as possible.That's if it's all there in storage.
Anyone having delay and premium problems buying PM gold?
"China Rejects 2,000 Tons of U.S. Corn Byproduct After Detecting GMO Strain
SHANGHAI--China is stepping up scrutiny of corn and related products at ports to cut off imports of unapproved genetically modified grain, with a shipment of a corn byproduct being the latest cargo to be turned back. The Shanghai branch of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine rejected some DDGS shipments from the U.S. this week because they were found to contain MIR162, the agency said in a notice on its website, without indicating how big the shipment was."
Not buying other US junk either
If >1/3 of the global human population buys physical gold hand over fist (China+Inda, Russia, Turkey, etc) then the gold bull isdoing well and is alive, and all we have here is a deep and long paper price correction. Case closed.
Good Lord, what is with this obsession with the Chinese and the notion that they are smarter than Americans? The photos are of Chinese people in a jewelry store, ffs. They aren't exactly "stacking." Show me a picture of any Zales in America during the last two weeks, and it will look the same.
Yes.
Bad choice of photos.
BUT...
Chinese "regular folks" also do buy a lot of gold bars.
HOWEVER...
Also note that a lot of gold bullion shops have a "jewelry" section which contains what we would call "bullion jewelry".
What is "bullion jewelry"? It is 99.99% pure gold made into the shape of necklaces, bracelets and other items (even belts). They typically cost about 5% more than 99.99% pure gold bars or coins...
... BUT ...
Guess what? You can load yourself up with several pounds of gold necklaces, gold bracelets, belts with gold buckles and other gold "jewelry", walk right through security at any airport in the world, get on a flight to anywhere in the world, and the government hired predators don't bat an eyelash.
In other words, paying that extra 5% means you can take your gold with you wherever you go. You can take your gold to another country where you have a home with a safe. You can take your gold to your safe-deposit box in a safe haven you can trust (if any still exist... maybe Singapore and Panama). Or you can take your gold with you when you leave permanently.
So... paying 5% extra isn't so stupid... is it.
If you think you can haul several pounds of gold through TSA and out of the USSA in the form of bars or coins... good luck with that. They'll steal them. But wear 10 pounds of gold jewelry and you'll sail right through... same as everywhere.
Not so dumb, huh?
But the photos are dumb, because many folks don't understand.
The point is that they rush to buy gold, not air jordan shoes. I call them smart for that one thing anyway.