Gold bugs around the world are discussing the rumors that the Republican party in the US will make a return to the gold standard a part of its platform. Whether or not this is a good thing, though, depends on the details: if it is not properly implemented, it could make things worse. Personally, I'm deeply skeptical any of this will come true, but I think the matter is worth exploring for those interested in the gold market.

First is the question of price: if the US dollar returns to the gold standard, at what price? The good news for those who hold gold and perhaps gold stocks is that the price would be astronomically high. Jim Sinclair's blog on "The Mathematics of Gold" is highly instructive here; the price needs to be a function of US international debt, and the gold the US has will need

Goldcorp (GG) tanked this past Wednesday, having fallen nearly 10% on news that the company's production for 2012 would be lower than expected, while its costs would be higher. Its costs could be as high $340 per ounce - a 23.6% increase from the previously expected maximum of $275 per ounce - and its 2012 production estimate was revised to be as low as 2.35 million ounces, a 10% decline from its previous estimate of 2.6 million.

So should investors be concerned? In a word: no. This should be seen as a gift, an outstanding buying opportunity - provided investors who can afford to have their capital tied up until 2016. The only real difference this makes is that Goldcorp may simply take more time to live up to its promise. Its fundamental promise of being a major with outstanding projects in the pipeline and low

The case for a mania in gold-related assets has been made numerous times by myself and many other gold bugs who have been focused on this sector for years. As I noted in a recent article, the more meaningful question is not whether or not a substantial move to the upside remains, but rather which sector within the gold universe is likely to benefit the most: gold bullion, shares of gold producers, or startups still in gold exploration.

While I regard bullion as the most important part of any gold portfolio, and while it currently is the largest part of my gold portfolio and will remain so for the duration of the bull market, I think mining stocks are due for an immense rally and thus offer the most upside potential. However the business of mining is complex, and one of the key factors that will affect a company's

In the energy markets, the month of June offered three major developments:

1. Natural gas prices continued to rise in the US; they are now at a six month high. I don't consider this to be a short-term rally, but rather that the market had overshot to the downside due to an unusually mild winter. I suspect the world to continue its march towards liquefied natural gas, which I think will ultimately have natural gas prices settle above $4.
2. WTI Crude and Brent Crude have both risen sharply since the end of June, and I believe the bottom is in. Thanks to monetary inflation and the fact that the easy to find and refine oil is already gone -- as evidenced by the fact that oil production has essentially been flat since 2005.
3. Japan restarts a nuclear reactor, which suggests that finally, the world may be ready to

For many of us gold bugs on Seeking Alpha, a forthcoming mania in gold and gold stocks, reminiscent of what occurred in the '70s (but likely bigger), is all but a foregone conclusion. While there are no certainties in the market as few if any of us can honestly claim to know the future, a higher gold price based on supply demand factors and the psychology of markets seems like a high probability. Gold is underowned by institutions - demand is strong due to negative real interest rates in the world's foremost currency, the US dollar, and the gold discoveries are increasingly difficult to come by.

Of course a forthcoming mania does not guarantee profits. To ensure the profit opportunity is maximized, there are a number of issues that need to be considered. One of the most pressing one is whether the mania will strike all

Gregor MacDonald recently shared a very interesting chart showing that solar usage is going parabolic.

(click to enlarge)

So, this should be a great investment opportunity, right?

Perhaps not so much, if one considers how solar stocks have fared. Two ETFs that follow the solar energy space are Market Vectors Solar Energy (KWT) and the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index (TAN). They are down 26.12% and 23.2% respectively year-to-date.

The situation is similar in ways to what is going on with natural gas, in that falling costs have contributed to much greater usage of the energy source in question, but have deteriorated profit margins of many of the businesses in the sector. In such scenarios, it is not so much that there is no opportunity, but rather making sure you are positioned in the right value chain surrounding that opportunity.

For solar, here is my take on how the

A big story in the uranium market is Obama's declaration of a national emergency regarding "the risk of nuclear proliferation created by the accumulation of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the Russian Federation." Translated into investor-speak, this is a statement pertaining to the Megatons to Megawatts agreement in which Russia sends downblended uranium from its stockpile of nuclear warheads to the US, which in turn can use the uranium received as an energy source.

The first thing that should be noted about this national emergency is that it is a continuation of an existing policy. If Obama did not issue this executive order to continue a national emergency that was already in place, it simply would have lapsed. The executive order basically states that the material received from Russia can only be used for peaceful purposes, and that Obama will use all of

I should begin by noting that I own silver, silver stocks, and remain bullish on silver in the long run. As I have maintained for several years now, I consider a triple-digit silver price to be a reasonable expectation. This belief guides much of my strategy towards managing my silver positions.

With that said, silver has tumbled since Wednesday's announcement that the Fed would not engage in QE3 but rather would engage in Twist II. Personally, I'm not so interested in monitoring these terms as I am in observing the money supply, which continues to reach new all-time highs. So long as new highs are being reached, the inflationary outcome my portfolio is predicated upon remains very likely (although price inflation can occur even without expansion of the money supply, as it can be the result of a loss of confidence in a currency). Still, though, no QE will

A big development in the gold market this week was the acquisition of Extorre (XG) by Yamana (AUY). Yamana paid $414 million for Extorre, and Yamana CEO Peter Marrone called Extorre's Cerro Moro project "one of the best undeveloped, high-grade opportunities in the Americas." Extorre's share price jumped from $2.66 to its current price of $4.18, representing an increase of over 57%.

This deal is important for those investing in gold stocks for a number of reasons:

1. First and most importantly is that Yamana decided to do this deal in spite of concerns that Argentina would not allow miners to repatriate profits (see my previous article on this issue). This acquisition may help warm sentiment up to the idea of investing Argentina. Personally, I think it increases the odds that the bottom is in on Argentine miners, which have been hit even harder than the rest of

The big news out of Microsoft (MSFT) is that the firm will be entering the tablet wars later this year. At the same time, Amazon (AMZN) is rumored to be cutting the price even further on its Kindle Fire to $149.

What are the implications of these events for the tablet space? A few thoughts:

1. The first and most important implication is that when evaluating the tablet wars, one should not compare the mere product itself, for that is not what is actually being sold; rather, it is the entire ecosystem the tablet is designed to work with that is being sold. For instance, Amazon's products are natively designed to work with the Kindle bookstore, Amazon Instant Video, apps hosted on Amazon Web Services, and so on; likewise, Apple (AAPL) brings its ecosystem -- not only just its iTunes media store but device synchronization as well --

With the Greek elections today (June 17) and the global sovereign debt crisis reaching a major point of maturity in the second half of this year, the smell of panic is in the air. As I've noted in previous articles (like this one), I believe the forthcoming panic will be out of fixed income assets -- namely government debt like Treasury bonds (TLT) -- and into equities. I believe this panic will be fueled by global QE, as I consider it increasingly likely that the European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, and the US Federal Reserve will print money and publicly signal that they are doing so. From this perspective, the question is not whether or not stocks will rise, but rather which sector will be home to the next bubble.

I don't favor tech stocks; I think there's lots of value to be created in

Over the past month, there's been an increase in bank runs and deposit freezes to stop bank runs occur throughout Europe. See the links below:

• Major Italian Bank Freezes All Customer Accounts
• Greek Lenders See Bank Run
• Run on Nationalized Bank in Spain Begins

I consider it well within the realm of possibility that these stories will continue. The banking system in Europe, like the banking system almost everywhere else in the world, is unstable; this is the inevitable by-product of a world in which all money is loaned into existence, thus creating a debt burden that is greater than the entire existing money supply. There are thus only two possible solutions for the global debt crisis:

1. Cancel debt and reform monetary policy.
2. Keep printing money, although this adds to the debt burden (since new money will enter the supply via the issuance of new loans), so in a way

In terms of the macro picture for the global economy, one thing is clear: the levels of sovereign debt are unsustainable, and the banking system around the world is under severe stress as a result. Bank runs are already occurring in Greece, and I consider it a reasonable expectation for a contagion effect to emerge in which this problem spreads throughout the eurozone. I agree with Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel in his view that the eurozone must ultimately insure bank deposits in order to prevent a run on banks and an ensuing run on the euro itself. I suspect that this is exactly what will occur; that the ECB will expand the money supply and socialize the losses of banks so as to ensure banks have deposits on hand for their customers.

Of course, as money and debt are inextricably linked under our current monetary system, in which

This Sunday, June 17th, Greece is holding elections. The elections will determine how the country chooses to relate to the European Union. In this post I'll provide a brief overview of the situation as well as share my opinion on how it all ends -- and the opportunities it presents for investors.

First, it should be noted that the markets may be especially volatile. Some large forex brokers are even stating that they will halt trading. As such, if you have trading positions open and are trading on margin, be very careful. The market could gap significantly this weekend and put you in some trouble.

Now, here's what's going on in Greece:

1. There are a number of parties competing in the election, but the battle is expected to boil down to two of them: Syriza and New Democracy. Syriza is the "no austerity" party; here is a rundown

A common strategy in investing, and one I myself prefer to employ, is to invest in the top executives. Indeed, one of the first things I'll look at before making an investment is a review of the management team, and assess whether or not they are the kind of people that can create real value. While part of this is a review of their resume, a larger part of such analysis, in my opinion, is rooted in intuition: executives that exude the right mix of charisma, trustworthiness, street smarts, and combine it with visionary thinking is what I am really looking for. Nothing beats meeting the executive and having a face to face conversation with them, although in instances where that is not feasible - which is the usual scenario for individual investors like myself will face - watching executives on YouTube and interacting with them via social media is

Regardless of where one stands in terms of their political philosophy, it is clear that government spending is having a bigger and bigger impact on the global economy as a whole. As the world still operates from the Keynesian perspective -- in which any business failure is seen as an irrational fear requiring government stimulus to restore confidence and socialize losses via price inflation/currency debasement -- it has become especially prudent, if not imperative, to see where government is directing capital. Where government and its cronies -- i.e. JP Morgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), etc. -- is directing capital dictates where capital flow and where corresponding speculative investment opportunities will emerge.

From that perspective, one area that looks especially promising is infrastructure investing. The Washington Post reports that according to projections by CIBC World Markets, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank

I should begin by noting that I'm not particularly interested in investing in natural gas. I think the rise in natural gas prices, coupled with natural gas' role in other, non-energy endeavors - namely fertilizer production - make it a sub-par source of energy relative to nuclear power in the long run. I realize this may not be apparent now and the market may not reflect it now, but I'm convinced it will - and my job as an investor is to find where value will flow in the future, and position myself accordingly.

However, with that said, hydraulic fracking is a textbook example of a low-cost disruptive innovation - a new way of doing things that lowers cost significantly, thus opening up new customer bases and allowing firms that leverage this new technology to disrupt incumbents. Disruptive innovations are always valuable opportunities, and so from this perspective, the whole

I've written about Eurasian Minerals (EMXX) about four months prior -- see my previous coverage. In light of the recent sell-off in mining stocks, I think it is worth re-visiting the story behind Eurasian, which I feel has only gotten better. Here's the basic story on why I'm so bullish, and why it's been one of the stocks I've spent more of my capital on in this recent decline:

1. Management. We can spend all day discussing financials, business models, geology, and other such stuff, but at the end of the day, one factor trumps all: management. Eurasian has one of the most impressive teams I've found, doubly so if we limit our focus to stocks with a market capitalization below $500 million (EMXX is currently coming in at around 106 million, making this a small opportunity with very high growth potential). The company is thoroughly stacked

Billionaire and hard money advocate Hugo Salinas-Price was recently on the Keiser Report advocating Greece to return to a silver standard, laying forth a five step plan for how this could be accomplished. Here is the video clip; fast forward to 13 minute mark to get to the discussion about returning to the silver standard.

Here are the basic points Salinas-Price makes:

1. The optimal time to introduce significant monetary reform is when a collapse is under way.
2. Greece should exit the Euro and issue return to the drachma as a fiat currency.
3. Greece should also issue silver coins with no listed monetary value; rather only the weight is inscribed on it. Salinas-Price offered an example of a coin that was simply 1/3rd ounce of silver.
4. Greece's treasury then determines the exchange rate between these coins and paper drachma. This exchange rate can fluctuate, and can do so independently of

Nautilus Minerals (NUSMF.PK) is a company I used to have very high hopes for (see my previous coverage). The short story is that they appeared to be on a path to becoming the first company to really mine the ocean floor in an economically viable fashion. As doing so involves developing competences completely alien to most mining firms - like working marine biologists and developing underwater robotics systems - Nautilus had the makings of what is often referred to as a disruptive innovator.

Disruptive innovators develop new processes and technologies that incumbents simply cannot compete with. In the mining sector, the Barrick's (ABX) of the world specialize in yellow trucks and building mines on the continents. If a company like Nautilus developed a way of getting serious amounts of minerals from the ocean at economically viable rates, big players wouldn't know how to compete. Moreover, as is often