123

Railroads Are Getting Cheaper (vs. Gold and Silver, at Any Rate)

Go to Apmex. They buy silver AT SPOT and sell it ABOVE SPOT.

www.apmex.com/APMEXTop...

(Buy price column, sell price column).

Railroads Are Getting Cheaper (vs. Gold and Silver, at Any Rate)

I disagree with one aspect of your comment (copied and pasted below). The spot is the spot, anywhere in the world, for anyone. I think what is happening is these dealers, even Apmex, are taking advantage of buyers. For example at Apmex THEY buy silver for $13.60 and turn around and sell it for $15.7. How can they do that? They are taking 15%...not a bad business to be in, probably. They are taking a page from the brokerage houses and Wall Street. Adding shipping that is close to 20% sucked up of potential returns just because of transactional costs...this is quite bad.

"I agree; getting physical metal in your hand carries quite a premium. Those who follow the market know the 'real' and 'paper' metal prices have been bifurcating for months now. I wrote an article about it months ago in October..."

Railroads Are Getting Cheaper (vs. Gold and Silver, at Any Rate)

The other thing I was wondering:

You say "real estate" is attractively priced at 500-1000 ounces of silver. What sort of real estate are you referring to, say a house that currently costs $400,000 around the suburbs of New York, or what? I didn't read ther real estate article but "real estate" is not very descriptive.

The second thing is, this website: www.zealllc.com/2008/c..., the third chart from the top, gives the nominal and real prices of silver from 1970 to 2006. The prices in today's dollars are in blue, and the author notes 7 silver price "peaks": $30, 130, 60, 31, 19, 10, and 15. Absent some extraordinary years in the 1970's, silver has rarely traded at or even twice as much as its current price. What are your thoughts on this. I have heard the inflation argument, but purely based on supply and demand where do you think silver stands, and what numbers/facts/data do you use as the basis for this?

Last are you at all concerned about the metals' liquidity - ie will there always be someone to buy that silver bullion or whatever form it is in which you hold your metals.

I checked out those sites, thanks for that, unfortunately they do take a nice hefty premium to spot since ie 10 oz of silver they want around $160 after including the price of shipping. But it's something to consider anyway.

Thanks either way.

Railroads Are Getting Cheaper (vs. Gold and Silver, at Any Rate)

I don't know if this is on your website, but

How do you recommend buying commodities, especially the metals?

I don't trust the ETF/N's, I was thinking Ebay might be good for example where there are people selling 10 oz of silver bullion for around $155.

What sources do you trust for quality and also a price close to the spot price (not big premium in excess of spot)?

Railroads Are Getting Cheaper (vs. Gold and Silver, at Any Rate)

To Trace:

I've been thinking about this and would appreciate your opinion:

How does one know what the intrinsic value of an ounce (or whatever mass) of gold is? Isn't gold just as prone to a bubble as any other asset?

For example, say gold goes to $2,000 an ounce. How does one know whether that is the proper price for the metal, or whether it is the result of lots of money pushing up the price? If asset inflation that pushes prices past reality (i.e. real estate, stocks), why can't this happen to gold or metals as well?

I mean, two hundred years ago, or whatever, tulips were considered a good store of value for a short period of time. That's an extreme example, but still.