Endo

Commodity Hoarding by Funds Exposed

Hording, as described here, is not investment but speculation. It is time we learn the difference. It can also be a store of wealth (savings) or a hedge (against future shortage by one who uses or supplies the commodity). A hoard does not create wealth by adding value as a mine, mill, or factory does and therefore cannot be depended on to appreciate reliably.

What makes hording so odious is not speculating in the marketplace to make a profit. It is using the Fed's nearly free and inexhaustible credit to do it--using the Fed's inexhaustible supply of "capital" to bid up the world's finite resources--ultimately extracting their profits from us, the consumers, by further debasing our medium of exchange and setting the world up for another crash. For this, the Fed should be fully audited and the investment banks taxed into submission or oblivion.

Eldorado Gold: A Cost-Effective Way to Move into Gold

Beach Bubba is right. Remember Bre-X? I followed it in The Northern Miner all the way up to over one hundred, and then all the way down to zero after their geologist, Michael de Guzman, jumped to his death from a helocopter flying him and Freeport McMoRan geologists to the site. Nova Gold is now involved in a class action lawsuit for misrepresenting cost estimates. News of the heigher estimates cut its price in half, and it has since been halved again (only after rising from a penny stock after the general crash). Things can take a 180 very quickly.

3 Ways to Play A Falling Dollar

A commodity position can never be considered a true investment since it does not create value. It can be, depending on the circumstances and instrument, a store of wealth (savings), a speculation (gamble), or a hedge.

The Curious Problem of Gold and Silver Coins as Legal U.S. Tender

If the workers only realize the face value of the coins, then that would be one thing, but if they get more by selling them, all that is taxable too. Also, Mr. Kahre obviously paid more than face value for the coins; how does he explain the discrepancy to the IRS? Somehow, I see Uncle getting the last laugh on this one.

No contract stipulating payment in legal tender gold coin is enforceable. All paper money is legal tender for all debts and must be taken if offered for payment.

The legal tender status of US Mint Gold, Silver, and Platinum coins just provides the excuse to mint them, which is (ironically) a side business not directly serving the public. It also provides an absolute minimum value for the coins, which does not seem to be much of a problem. Anyone can mint a coin if they wish. It is just a formed piece of metal.

Preview from Europe: Too Big to Fail? Not GM

America has no stomach for manufacturing anymore. Part of this is on account of the ridiculous idea that we are evolving from an industrial to a service economy. Education is supposed to be the cure for those who are not equipped to service. We need a BALLANCED economy, one that creates wealth by harvesting, mining, milling, manufacturing, constructing, transporting, engineering, financing, teaching, researching... one that uses all our talents, not one that rewards a handfull of PhDs and other special experts and sends the rest of us to languish in a big box store selling products made overseas.

If a war of attrition ever comes, America is in for a rude awakening; the America of 1940 no longer exists on North America. We sent it across the Pacific. Get used to living in a second-rate nation under the shadow of the Asians. That is the future left for your children.

Commercial Banking: What Went Wrong?

Very very interesting. Enlightening.

It seems the error lies in mistaking money (as we now know it) for wealth when claimless credit, as Ms. Delay calls it, makes the value of money arbitrary. The price of stocks and real estate rise, and people feel rich, which they are if they sell, but there are not enough goods and services in existance to meet the need of all that "wealth". The inevitable result is either general inflation or a crash. Either way, the 'wealth' evaporates because it was never there to begin with. For an earner a crash is better. I may be unemployed, but at least I'm not running as hard as I can just to stay in one place.

Fast Money Recap - 6 Companies That Make Real Things (3/6/09)

Nova Gold is not yet a producer except for a token project in Nome. Beware. I have not failed to loose with NG. Just look at their chart. Also, their management is determinedly resistant to buyouts, to the detriment of stockholders. Obviously someone is lately working hard to promote the company, which may be good until they move on. NG stock price has made some large and inexplicable (according to the comapny) moves.