Long Silver John

U.S. Dollar Strength and Implications for Gold

Won't there be a stampede toward gold in non-US countries as their currencies fail? If US bonds are paying almost nothing in interest, the choice seems obvious...

Five New Forces to Drive Gold Higher

BTW, on the gold standard: I was for it originally, but have lost hope that our government leaders would ever actually reinstate the gold standard. Instead, I look to digital gold currency from the private sector as the more likely de facto gold standard for currency. Check out sites like goldmoney.com. It's a pretty cool concept. Of course, you need to trust the company and also trust the auditors. Sort of getting back to American Eagles as the best solution...

Five New Forces to Drive Gold Higher

In the early 1600's, King Phillip of Spain wiped out his war debts by debasing copper coinage by 2/3rds, fueling rapid inflation. In the 1930's the US government confiscated gold, devalued the paper currency by 41% and the Supreme Court then refused to honor the promise written on every Gold Certificate that the bearer could redeem it for "gold coin" on deposit with the Treasury. Trust is indeed the word, and it's rapidly running out.... you can't trust government, you can't trust investment advisers, you can't trust public companies, you can't trust their auditors. But you can trust an American Gold Eagle in your hand. It is the only asset without counterparty risk and the need to trust someone.

Peter Schiff: Outlook for the Gold Market

If you have the time, read Murray Rothbard's "America's Great Depression" (free in PDF). It's uncanny, but most of the things that are now happening also happened during Hoover's term. The bailouts, the propping up of unsound banks and businesses, the inflationary policies of the 20s, and the final devaluation of the dollar. All these interventions, according to the Austrian theory, prolonged and worsened the depression by preventing the shake-out of misallocated resources caused by the loose monetary policy of the 1920s. As for me, I wouldn't even consider buying ETFs. If the government reneged on Gold Certificates in 1934, what makes you think the ETFs will deliver physical gold? So I'm buying physical gold and silver.