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‘The Economist’ Anti-Gold Article – Case Study in Disinformation

GoldCore's picture




 
  • 'The Economist' publishes unbalanced and misleading anti gold article
  • Leading magazine tries to convince readers that gold is a poor and unethical investment
  • Writes gold’s obituary and echoes of Businessweek “Death of Equities” front page
  • Attempts to steer investors into shares and bitcoin?
  • Economist quotes Dent and Turner -- ignores their views on gold as diversification
  • Article completely ignores facts and history of gold as store of value
  • Ignores academic research showing gold as diversification is safe haven

goldcore_1_08-05-2015
‘Gold prices - Buried’ - The Economist

In a remarkably unbalanced and lazy article on gold this month the Economist magazine attempts to dismantle the case for investors and others to own gold. Both from an investment point of view and also from an ethical point of view.

Besides attempting to paint gold as an unethical investment, it also attempts to portray those who diversify into gold as crazed, irrational investors and the stock pejorative name calling of gold “bugs.”

The overall tenure of the piece is that everything that “gold bugs” have predicted would unfold in the past number of years has come to nought and therefore gold is the preserve of irrational, gullible fools.

It comes complete with a picture of a presumably impoverished young African man panning for gold in an artisanal gold mine and the subtitle “An ever more marginal existence.”

The article is so laughably one sided that it resembles propaganda rather than journalism. Therefore, we take pleasure in dissecting the article misleading sentence by misleading sentence.

What follows is italicised excerpts in red from the article followed by our comment.

The article’s headline is “Gold prices - Buried”

The barbaric relic of gold is dead and buried and the Economist appears to be heralding the death of gold here.

Alas, for the poor Economist, it has been writing gold’s obituary for many years now. It has been proven badly wrong as during and after the financial crisis, gold acted as a hedging instrument and a safe haven asset and outperformed all assets.

goldcore_2_08-05-2015
BusinessWeek Front Page - August 1979 and DJIA 1976 to 1994

From an investment perspective and a contrarian perspective this is bullish as it confirms that sentiment towards gold and “gold prices” remains very poor. This suggests that weak hands and momentum buyers have been washed out of the gold market.

In fact it brings to mind the famous Business Week front page article and headline “The Death of Equities.” Thereafter, stocks embarked on one of their greatest bull runs ever.

“Russia is buying gold, but few others are”

This subtitle is factually inaccurate. The largest buyer of gold in the world today is China. The second largest buyer is India.

goldcore_3_08-05-2015

Barely acknowledging the massive demand from these two vast and increasingly economically powerful nations and the two billion people in both countries is poor journalism.

As is the failure to acknowledge that the largest buyers of gold today are the Economist magazine’s beloved central banks including the significant clandestine gold buying of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Something the Economist has failed to cover to date.

Never let important facts get in the way of a good argument.

“An ever more marginal existence”

This photo title is designed to associate gold with the “marginal existence” and poverty of Africans.

Thus, before even getting to the text of their argument, the Economist makes the strongly negative association between gold and the desperate working conditions suffered by miners for gold in sub-Saharan Africa and between gold and poverty in Africa.

This image and caption is both deeply hypocritical and, in the case of gold, not representative of the actual facts.

Firstly, gold has not created poverty in Africa. Nor has water, land, food, oil or any natural resource or commodity.

What has created poverty in Africa are complex socioeconomic factors, including colonialism - past and present, the corruption of African politicians and developing nations by corporations, banks and supranational institutions (IMF, World Bank etc.) so beloved of the Economist.

What has created poverty is how man has interacted and exploited these natural resources, not the commodities themselves.

Certainly, people are exploited by some local and international precious metals mining companies across Africa and South America. As are those who work for companies who mine copper, iron ore, and other metals and natural resources that western corporations want. So too are those who work for companies who decimate rainforests for lumber and other raw materials.

Does that mean that investing in forestry is unethical?

The fact that workers and the environment are ravaged by some artisan mines and mining companies is a function of the poverty, system of government and corruption in those countries and internationally.

Many corporations seek to access the raw materials they want, sometimes at great human cost. But we are rarely reminded of such desperation when media such as the Economist discuss oil, iron ore, copper and countless other commodities.

This is especially the case with oil -- the commodity the western world is most dependent on. Oil arguably has the most unethical practices associated with it -- in terms of exploitation, environmental devastation, war and local populations not getting the benefits of their natural resource.

Many commodities internationally are sourced in an unethical manner. Many commodity exporting nations have atrocious human and workers right records. The Economist rarely if ever sees the need to associate these abuses with the commodities that corporations need and consumers use on a daily basis, such as oil.

Secondly, the image of the exploited African artisanal miner or child labourer barely relates to the realities of the gold mining industry today.

China is the largest gold producing country in the world. Followed by Australia, the U.S. and Russia.

Together these countries make up over 40% of global mine production. Furthermore, when Canada and South Africa -- where mine workers have strong unions -- are added to the mix these countries make up over 50% of global production.

The other countries who make up the list of the top 14 gold producers include only one African country -- Ghana.

Indeed sub-Saharan Africa produces a tiny amount of annual global gold production. A fact never pointed out by the Economist in their effort to paint gold as an unethical investment.

Any thinking person realises that the problem is not gold itself per se but with man and today large corporations’ interaction and exploitation of gold and other natural resources.

Ironically, it is important to note that a sharply rising gold price and much higher prices for Africa’s commodities and natural resources in general would benefit impoverished people and communities in Africa -- particularly if they can root out the corruption. With higher prices for their exports comes extra income for industry and indeed pay for workers.

“UNCERTAINTY is supposed to lift the gold price. But neither upheaval in the Middle East, nor the travails of the euro zone, nor startlingly loose monetary policy in the rich world is brightening the spirits of those who swear by bullion.”

The Economist is subtly suggesting that those who invest in gold are mean-minded individuals who wish to see upheaval, suffering and war -- presumably in order to profit from it.

Firstly, it should be pointed out that none of our clients or community ever express glee at the financial, economic, geopolitical turmoil which seems to be spinning out of control across the globe.

The truth is that gold buyers are concerned about developments in the world in the same way that others are. They simply view gold as hedge against macroeconomic, geopolitical, systemic and monetary risks in the world today.

Gold buyers have hearts. They have wives, husbands, children, family, relations, friends and people they care about. The vast, vast majority would care as much about suffering, impoverished Africans as non-gold investors.

Shylock’s famous utterance is apposite -- “If you prick us, do we not bleed.”

“After a big rally during the financial crisis, the price has sagged to about $1,200 an ounce, a third below its peak in 2011. Little seems likely to turn it round. “We’ve seen everything gold bugs could hope for: endless money printing, 0% interest rates (both short-term and long-term adjusted for inflation), rising debt and debt ratios in the public and private sectors…So where’s the damn hyperinflation?” asks Harry Dent, a newsletter publisher, in a recent blog post.”

Mr. Dent is correct,  apart from the assertion that these are factors that any rational observer would desire or “hope for” such trends.

Since 2001, central banks have engaged in increasingly reckless, irresponsible and desperate money creation to preserve their unstable debt-based monetary system. They have not succeeded in restoring any kind of equilibrium to the system; indeed, greater imbalances have been achieved.

Data out of the U.S., Europe and China show the world is teetering on the brink of depression.

When will the debt levee break? No one knows but it will and it is clear that the system is spiralling out of control.

It is worth pointing out that while Harry Dent views gold as a bad investment, his latest website clearly advises having an allocation to gold:

“Investors might want to keep a little “insurance” gold for diversification.”

It might be worth considering the strong possibility that gold prices may turn around and have not rallied higher  … yet.

“The biggest pressure on the gold price comes from the expectation that interest rates in America will rise later this year. Matthew Turner of Macquarie, a bank, says that low interest rates cut the opportunity cost of owning gold. Higher interest rates, by contrast, raise the cost of holding non-interest-bearing assets. Mr Turner thinks expectations of rising rates are already built into the gold price; if they do not materialise as quickly as expected, there could even be a rally.”

We believe the effect of an anticipated rise in interest rates has been overstated. Indeed, interest rates rising from near record lows will be bullish for gold as was seen in the late 1970s and again in the October 2003 and October 2006 period.

The prospect of rising rates has not had an impact on the very frothy stock, bond and property markets nor do most analysts hint that it will. If market history and common sense is any guide, they will.

goldcore_4_08-05-2015

Our clients generally view gold as a form of financial insurance. Physical gold is an asset that is independent of the banking system and all paper currencies. Should a major monetary or systemic crisis arise, they are confident that a portion of their wealth is securely stored outside today’s unstable financial system.

Furthermore, should the Fed or other central banks decide to actually raise rates as opposed to only talking about it, it would almost certainly lead to a major crisis as government and public debt becomes unserviceable.

I know Matthew Turner, having met him at an LBMA conference some years ago in Montreal. If the journalist had ascertained his views on gold, I am confident Matthew would acknowledge, like Harry, that gold has value as a diversification.

"One reason may be that investors have so many more options nowadays. Humble citizens who distrust their own currencies can buy assets ranging from shares to bitcoins."

Is the Economist attempting to steer “humble citizens” into bitcoin and shares? It certainly looks that way.

Despite the fact that stocks look overvalued and have all the hallmarks of another bubble and bitcoin remains untested as a store of value in a major financial crisis.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins have their place in a diversified portfolio but ultimately, like paper currency, they have no intrinsic value.

Gold is firmly rooted in the psyche of all peoples throughout the world and especially in Asia and countries that have experienced hyperinflation such as Germany.

It is argued that gold cannot be eaten. This is true -- but neither can property, paper or digital currency. Gold is finite whereas today paper currency is infinite in practical terms and digital currency is by its nature infinite.

If and when faith is lost in fiat currencies, people will not be engaging in philosophical debate over the logic or otherwise of owning gold as money. In a panic situation they will rush to own the one asset that has been regarded as money for all of recorded history -- gold.

“Laurence Fink, the chairman of BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset-management firm, said in March that gold had ‘lost its lustre’, thanks to the wider availability of property and even contemporary art. ’it’s become much more accessible for global families worldwide to store wealth outside their country.’ ”

We would dispute that gold has lost its lustre. It has suffered a temporary setback. The notion that art or property are viable substitutes is spurious.

Carefully selected works of art and property have their place in a diversified portfolio but both have been selling at record high prices and are clearly in bubble territory. Property in particular is vulnerable to the interest rate cycle.

“The Kremlin’s growing stockpile does not so much reflect a belief in gold’s prospects, however, as a distaste for the American dollar. Whatever Vladimir Putin’s other qualities, most investors would hesitate to take him on as a financial adviser.”

More than distaste for the dollar is Moscow’s ambition to supplant the dollar as global reserve currency -- with a gold-backed Chinese yuan or pan-Asian currency bloc possibly backed by gold.

goldcore_5_08-05-2015

As for Putin's economic credentials we would point out that under his stewardship living standards in Russia have consistently improved whereas in the same period living standards for the bulk of people in the West have been in decline.

Conclusion
The completely one-sided, ill-informed and anonymous article - “Gold prices - Buried” - is a case study in selective information and disinformation about gold. In the annals of shoddy and unbalanced articles on gold this is one of the best yet.

It is a crude, tabloid style attempt to portray gold and those who invest in gold as unethical.  This is clearly seen in the peculiar decision to use a photograph of a desperately poor African scrambling in the dirt -- as we know a picture paints a thousand words - and the tabloid style headline.

It would be unfortunate if an article about gold -- one of a very few in recent years -- in the Economist led to people not diversifying into and having an allocation to gold, especially if gold again outperforms other assets in the coming years, which is very likely.

Whatever the Economists’ other qualities, investors should be cautious of using it as a financial adviser.

Breaking News and Research Here 

 

MARKET UPDATE

Today’s AM LBMA Gold Price was USD 1,185.25, EUR 1,054.26 and GBP 767.46 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM LBMA Gold Price was USD 1,183.00, EUR 1,039.84 and GBP 776.94 per ounce.

goldcore_6_08-05-2015
Gold in USD - 1 Week

Gold and silver saw small price drops yesterday of 0.74 and 1.15% per cent, closing at $1,185.90 and $16.31 respectively.

In Asia overnight, Singapore gold prices ticked marginally higher and were flat in London trading this morning.

Gold jumped to session high just above $1,190 per ounce, furthering gains for the week, after the jobs number was flat and largely as expected but not a great report overall.

In the light of recent poor data, participants may be concerned that the U.S. economy is weakening.

goldcore_7_08-05-2015
Gold in GBP - 1 Week

World bond and stock markets rose on today after a week of falls.  Sterling surged to a two-month high against the dollar after the business-friendly Conservative party won Britain's parliamentary election.

Sterling jumped 1.3 percent against the dollar but was flat against gold after gold recovered from initial losses.

London's FTSE led equity markets with a 1.9 percent move higher to help European shares rebound from two-month lows and wipe out what had looked like being a second week of losses.

goldcore_8_08-05-2015
Gold in EUR - 1 Week

German imports climbed more sharply than exports in March and industrial output dipped, suggesting that Europe's largest economy might have grown less than economists expected in the first quarter. The figures contrasted with with news yesterday that demand for goods made in Germany had climbed by nearly 1 percent in March.

The Greek debt saga is supporting gold in euro terms and gold is higher in euro terms this week. 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras again forecast a happy end soon to difficult negotiations with creditors on a cash-for-reform deal, and the chairman of euro zone finance ministers said talks were making progress, though not enough for a deal next Monday.

However, with Greece fast running out money, sources close to the talks with the IMF, the European Commission and the ECB said there was still no breakthrough on important sticking points over pension and labour market reforms and budget targets.

Download:  7 KEY GOLD  MUST HAVES

 

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Sat, 05/09/2015 - 11:00 | 6075705 adonisdemilo
adonisdemilo's picture

Those poor sods panning for gold would be able to make a decent living if TPTTTA ( THE POWERS THAT THINK THEY ARE) hadn't been determined to smash the price with naked shorting these many years.

If you connect some dots, by keeping the price unattractive and citing poverty they can cause revolutions and install their puppet President of the day and "invite" the IMF to save the peasants by loaning oodles of dollars thereby enslaving another nation that will never be able to pay its debts.

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 10:26 | 6075639 Shitgum Suicide
Shitgum Suicide's picture

I like this guy. His quote about this piece could've been said by me about the writings of GW.

"The article is so laughably one sided that it resembles propaganda rather than journalism. Therefore, we take pleasure in dissecting the article misleading sentence by misleading sentence."

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 08:31 | 6075491 dogismycopilot
dogismycopilot's picture

fuck. that's the secret signal to start buying.

take a USD out of your pocket. Read it. It says "Federal Reserve Note" as in "Promissory Note". It is even signed by the Secretary of the Treasury. A dollar bill is only valuable because of one word: confidence. 

as in confidence the US will do a good job and keep it all together. 

"So the dollar is money, money is value, value is trust, trust is a contract, and the contract is debt. By application of the transitive law of arithmitic, the dollar is debt owed by the Fed to the people in the contractual form. This vew may be called the contract theory of money, or contractism. As applied to the dollar, one way to understand the theory is to substitute the word 'debt' everytime one sees the world money. Then the world looks like a different place; it is a world of debt" - James Rickards, The Death of Money

Otherwise a USD is simply an unsecured promissory note that gains no interest, has no assets pledged against it and is a liability on someone else's books.

I think the smarter (and more fun) thing to do is for all finance types to become their own central bank and have at least 10-30% of their networth in physical gold. I prefer coins becaues it is fun collecting them as well.

 

 

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 08:54 | 6075515 GuusjA
GuusjA's picture

Bundesfinanzminister Wolfgang Schäuble (netwerk Juncker): „Erfahrungen anderswo auf der Welt haben gezeigt: Ein Land kann plötzlich in die Zahlungsunfähigkeit rutschen“ & „Es gibt Fragen, die ein vernünftiger Politiker nicht beantworten darf. Sonst gibt es Missverständnisse. Jean Claude Juncker hat mal gesagt, man muss es dann manchmal mit der Wahrheit nicht immer so genau nehmen. Ich sehe diese Dinge komplizierter. Deshalb sage ich dazu lieber gar nichts.“

 

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/eurokrise/griechenland/schaeuble-w...

 

Alleen het personeel van hotel GradjA weet dat de verklaring 'ebola-vrij' de code voor netwerk WitteGejT is dat de '3e SpinozaGolf' weer onder controle is.  

 

http://nos.nl/artikel/2034775-ebola-gevaar-nog-lang-niet-geweken.html

 

Sinds de uitbraak van de 3e SpinozaGolf op 23 september 2003 zijn veel TopBestuurders afgetreden, omdat ze 'de waarheid niet meer konden liegen'. 

 

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/05/09/drie-voor-voormalige-egyptische-pres...

 

De voormalige president Hosni Mubarak van Egypte leeft nog steeds en is in staat om ...

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 07:49 | 6075447 GreatUncle
GreatUncle's picture

Misnomer QE causing hyperinflation.

The QE was not given to the 99% of the population to spend so the hyperinflation did not occur although the intrinsic value of the wealthiest went up.

This hyperinflation / inflation is what the central banks may need in the end to keep debt serviceable through an ever increasing value of income.

Well lets put it this way the economic mechanism without hyperinflation is not working because the needed rate of inflation = their growth is not enough.

Growth, inflation, hyperinflation all measures of the same an increasing value.

 

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 00:12 | 6075129 CuriousPasserby
CuriousPasserby's picture

Colonialism didn't cause poverty, it kept the savages from killing each other. Look what's happening not that colonial leaders aren't around.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 21:53 | 6074867 Vendetta
Vendetta's picture

Indeed impoverished africans did pan for gold ...  in zimbabwe, it was common to pan for a fleck of gold to buy a loaf of bread.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 20:32 | 6074674 zebrakid
zebrakid's picture

Harry Dent has been predicting gold to $500 and stocks to crash for the last 5 years. Past accuracy does not guarantee future success. I predict the drought in California will break. One day I will be right and say I told you so

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 20:13 | 6074620 Caleb Abell
Caleb Abell's picture

The US thinks gold is a worthless barbaric relic, largely due to the fact that the metal is unstable and tends to evaporate into thin air.  For example, when the US destroyed Iraq, Libya, and The Ukraine, their gold evaporated overnight, never to be seen again.  Obviously, material as unstable and easily disappearable as gold has no value as an asset.

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 07:56 | 6075453 Hope Copy
Hope Copy's picture

maybe they should mix a bit of that Fuki Plutonium (Chernobyl can do) in with the gold.. Ha, ha, ha

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 18:26 | 6074361 cheech_wizard
cheech_wizard's picture

On a long enough timeline, paper is good for one thing. In a pinch you can use it to wipe your ass. The problem today is you can't even get the stock certificates to do so, as they are held by your brokerage firm in "street name"...

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 18:12 | 6074319 aqualech
aqualech's picture

I wonder why they didn't mention naked shorting and other price suppression activities going on in recent years.....and by the very same folks who are buying, probably.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 18:10 | 6074313 general ripper
general ripper's picture

Most Zero's know that the entire system is being held together with duct tape, bailing wire and bubble gum. No one knows how or if it will ever unravel. Fiat is a belief system that has been working since 1971 (thanks Dick). Gold is a logical diversification....most say 5 to 10% of portfolio. Sounds ok, that's about where I'm at. But.....one day....... it could be genius!.

Think of it as a daily lottery ticket.....with much better odds!

 

 

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:47 | 6074237 Comte d'herblay
Comte d'herblay's picture

You can't have your hyperinflation until the wages and salaries for great unwashed begin to head for the arctic circle. Or at least above Miami.

The likelihood of that happening in a global environment---- that is automating everything from screwing plastic blow up dolls instead of real women, to creating massively complex but errorless machinery that simply places Jerrold Nadler's pommes frites in hot oil, without a human hand touching them----is less than my chances of a hookup tonight with Sofia Vergara, or a one night stand with Doutzen Croes. 

Unless gold bugs know of a global pandemic that wipes out a third or more of us producers (taking out hillary and bill doesn't count) where's the hyperinflation coming  from?

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:38 | 6074207 Ban KKiller
Ban KKiller's picture

Well....looking at HISTORY it seems those with the gold in a time of crisis did better than those without. How much gold left Vietnam in the 70's? If you held gold in Mexico when the peso went to shit, how did those with gold manage? Very well, actually. So I have no idea of the monetary future....but the past is very clear. Hold on to your guns and gold. 

No, I never took English lit. 

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 16:22 | 6073986 Lord Koos
Lord Koos's picture

"The overall tenure of the piece is that everything that “gold bugs” have predicted would unfold in the past number of years has come to nought..."

 

Well, they were right on that point.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:26 | 6074168 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

"were" being the crucial, operative, word.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 16:22 | 6073982 Ethical_Money
Ethical_Money's picture

Please understand this, especially you who claim to be libertarians: You should be free to use whatever you want, including gold, for private debts ONLY but as for government debts, INEXPENSIVE fiat is the ONLY ethical choice else the taxation authority and power of government is misused for private interests such as gold owners/miners.

The question then is whether gold could sucessfully compete in a genuine free market of private money creation.  For quite a few reasons, I doubt it but to each his own.  Live and learn.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 21:45 | 6074819 essence
essence's picture

"You should be free to use whatever you want, including gold, for private debts
The question then is whether gold could successfully compete in a genuine free market of private money creation
."

-------

The logical inference from your words above is that you support free markets.

Thus:

You support abolition of Legal Tender Laws
You support the removal of the monopoly given to the Fed to act as sole steward to banks and credit creation.
You support private money free to complete with government issued money without any government laws,regulations & (bought off) regulators hobbling it such that it never has a fair chance.

Why not just come out as a Ron Paul supporter because whether you realize it or not, you just stated his signature platform.

 

 

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 08:15 | 6075474 Ethical_Money
Ethical_Money's picture

Why not just come out as a Ron Paul supporter because whether you realize it or not, you just stated his signature platform. essence

A genuine free market in private money creation would require:

1)  the abolition of debt to the current government-backed private credit cartel else the banks would retain an unjust advantage over other potential private money issuers.  Yet non-debtors have been cheated by the cartel too so the abolition of that debt should not disadvantage them.  What does Ron Paul say about this?  Does he support Professor Steve Keen's plan, "A Modern Jubilee"* (or similar) to accomplish said abolition?

2) the establishment of a Postal Savings Service (that makes no loans and pays no interest) or equivalent for the risk-free storage of and transactions with fiat for all fiat users else the population is forced to use the private sector for what is none of the private sector's proper business; ie. banks should be 100% private with 100% VOLUNTARY depositers. What does Ron Paul say about this?

3) the abolition of borrowing at interest by the monetary sovereign (eg. US Treasury) since this is welfare for the banks.  What does Ron Paul say about this?

4) the allowance of all decent potential private money forms, such as common stock, to compete equally for the payment of private debts, not just precious metal based ones.

* At  http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/manifesto/ (scroll down past Figure 11).

 

 

 

 

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:49 | 6073882 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

I wonder if the authors will be around to apologize when the SHTF and so many, who could have been saved, are lost in hyperinflation.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 16:56 | 6074092 SubjectivObject
SubjectivObject's picture

The human analog for a celestial black hole is memory.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:40 | 6073845 BoredRoom
BoredRoom's picture

Gold's too expensive for me, so I've been stacking silver, but how many pounds of silver are too much?

 

More than you can carry?

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:30 | 6074180 Bopper09
Bopper09's picture

I prefer silver over gold right now simply because I think it will outperform gold.  I'll trade in some of my silver for gold when the ratio comes down, hopefully to a 20 or 30 to 1 someday.  But if not, I'm fine holding silver.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:28 | 6074174 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

If you have as much silver as you can carry then it is time to switch to buying Palladium.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:23 | 6074161 KingFiat
KingFiat's picture

More physical precious metals in your possession than you can carry does not make sense to me. But I have to admit if I had to leave fast today I would have to leave a bit of silver. More PMs than that is IMHO best placed in vaults outside the banking system.

History shows us that excessive money printing ends badly. And overvalued equities ends with bad crashes. So I am mostly out of the equities, and do not trust paper cash in the current situation. Fortunately precious metals act like cash, and don't crash the same way.

I may miss a lot on the equity markets, as nobody knows how big the current bubble can get before it blows up. But I take the safe route.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:29 | 6073796 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

"In a remarkably unbalanced and lazy article on gold this month the Economist magazine..."

 

Not 'lazy' at all when one considers the target audience is the mainstream.

 


  

 

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:17 | 6073734 Fukushima Fricassee
Fukushima Fricassee's picture

Siver the anti corrupt government anti corrupt banker chioice of the rightous intellegent. Silver feared by wearwolves, vampires and evil bankers in whatever dark shadow they try to hide.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:52 | 6073659 g'kar
g'kar's picture

The wise continue to purchase. Over and out.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:47 | 6073642 Model T
Model T's picture

Right now you can either have a long-term savings account in "dollars"; whatever they are; which can be declared to be worth zero, at the whim of the Authority; or you can own Silver Bullion as a savings account; which cannot be declared to be worth zero. Not much of a choice, is it ?

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 22:20 | 6074927 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

You are wise.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:40 | 6073610 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Translation of Economist article: "All the gold is Zion's."

http://uploads.neatorama.com/images/posts/512/54/54512/1352056697-0.jpg

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:38 | 6073607 Pancho de Villa
Pancho de Villa's picture

I'd have to say they are being rather disingenous! Let them try selling that line of Bullshit to the people in Zimbabwe. 

 

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubJp6rmUYM

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:30 | 6073580 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

Maybe the US Federal Reserve will take their advice and start selling off its physical metal.

Let's hope so.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:44 | 6073626 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

They already have. Look up "gold leasing."

They have a lot of gold on the books, but it is "gone." It was "leased," which means the gold was essentially given to cronies and then sold on the market.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:38 | 6073606 Jonas Parker
Jonas Parker's picture

It's hard to sell off what you haven't got!

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:29 | 6073574 d4pwnage
d4pwnage's picture

I'd rather be a gold bug than a stockroach.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:42 | 6073851 BoredRoom
BoredRoom's picture

I'm happy to be a silverfish

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:08 | 6073721 knukles
knukles's picture

The Economist is an Official Organ of the NWO

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:45 | 6073867 BoredRoom
BoredRoom's picture

heh heh heh....he said Organ ...

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:46 | 6073775 Dame Ednas Possum
Dame Ednas Possum's picture

It is part-owned and actively run by the Rothschilds.

Nuf' said.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 15:50 | 6073885 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

"Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins have their place in a diversified portfolio..."

Yes, as long as said portfolio has equally important items in it such as bat manure, paper mache dragons, and Cheetos.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 18:20 | 6074341 cheech_wizard
cheech_wizard's picture

Unicorns, you left out unicorns...

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 17:50 | 6074252 d4pwnage
d4pwnage's picture

In fairness, you might actually want some Cheetos when the SHTF,

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 18:52 | 6074435 Manthong
Manthong's picture

Gee, I guess I had better rotate out of the rat manure, play doh ogres and Doritos.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 16:20 | 6073976 crazytechnician
crazytechnician's picture

Bitcoin,  BTChezzzzz.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 18:31 | 6074373 Manthong
Manthong's picture

Lousy Investment.

Citizens should demand that all Central Banks dis-hoard every last gram immediately in order to save the nominal-hypothetical monetary regime..

That should be done with torches and pitchforks if necessary.

And..no banker, financier or Economist employee should be allowed to ever personally own even a penny weight.

And.. and.. if any of those charlatans have any in their teeth.. it needs to be extracted immediately (without anesthesia).

 

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 20:21 | 6074651 Clint Liquor
Clint Liquor's picture

I'd rather be a gold bug than a stockroach.

It's STOCKSUCKERS! I mis-spent a lot of time coming up with STOCKSUCKERS. Please use it.

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 20:55 | 6074719 Captain Debtcrash
Captain Debtcrash's picture

Don't stoop to their level, high quality equities are always the core of a wealth building portfolio. They just are overpriced right now but there will be better buying opportunities.

Hey if anyone is acquiring gold or silver this is a program that I use that helps me buy dips:

http://debtcrash.report/entry/debtcrash-metal-purchase-program

Sat, 05/09/2015 - 06:15 | 6075372 bigkahuna
bigkahuna's picture

stopped reading "the economist" years ago. no real reporting, no reading.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!