An interesting thing about the uptick in gold prices over the last couple of days is the number of people asking me if I think gold has bottomed. This is somewhat amusing since we all know that no one can time a market, and the questions are coming from my peers—professionals who should know better.
Timing the Bottom of Gold Read More »
In today’s article John Mauldin describes Japan’s economy as “a bug in search of a windshield” and when you look at their monetary situation you wonder how they could possibly have gone this long with the inevitable smash-up. John believes that 2013 is “the year of the windshield” for Japan. ~Tim McMahon, editor Thoughts from
The Japanese Monetary Crisis Read More »
Do you really want the bulk of your life savings sitting with one company? What if they go belly-up? Can you afford to have a major portion of your nest egg tied up for months while the FDIC and/or the SIPC tries to sort things out? FDIC and SIPC insurance tends to lull us into a sense of complacency… no worries… the Government will protect us. Or will they? What about Cyprus? We know they will protect the big banksters… but will they actually protect the little guy like you and me? In today’s article Dennis Miller of Casey Research looks at the steps that every investor needs to take now to protect themselves.
Bank Safety: How to Protect Your Cash in Times of Crisis Read More »
The first, and possibly most surprising, thing about life in Cafayate has been how social it is. The Argentines are very warm and welcoming people, and we have made a surprising number of local friends. In addition, there are generally like-minded and almost entirely agreeable owners at La Estancia de Cafayate, complemented by a steady stream of visitors.
Interacting with only one of those groups would be more than enough social life for me, by temperament something of a recluse (my wife always laughs when I say that, but it’s true). When taking all three groups into consideration, however, the amount of socializing gets positively over the top.
The last time Vladimir Putin was president, he laid the foundation to pull Mother Russia from the wreck of economic chaos to a world power once again. This time, he’s ready to extend that influence to counter the West. His tools: Russia’s abundant resources of energy, including uranium. There’s a new war developing on the continent, and the weapons this time will be oil wells, gas fields, and uranium mines, pipelines and ports, processing facilities, and supply deals.
The New Cold War: The “Putinization” of Uranium Part 2 Read More »
Although we don’t like to admit it, Uranium is a big part of the energy picture with roughly 16% of the world’s electricity coming from nuclear power. In the U.S. it is almost the same at 19%, with 37% coming from coal, 30% from Natural Gas, 7% from hydro-power, and only 5% from other renewable sources including 3.46% from Wind, 1.42% from biomass, 0.41% from geothermal and only 0.11% from Solar. So Solar power would have to increase by 2000% to replace Uranium. This is not from some perverse desire by the electric companies but simply because the economics of nuclear power has been favorable with cheap Uranium and expensive solar panels. But with the advent of fracking Natural Gas is becoming cheaper in the U.S. while as we will see in this article Uranium will become more expensive shortly. Another factor playing against Solar power is the ability for decentralization as each homeowner could produce their own power but this would involve homeowners taking the responsibility for their own future and naturally this is not in the power company’s best interest, so it has been downplayed as an option.
The New Cold War: The “Putinization” of Uranium Read More »
You’ve undoubtedly read about the dramatic increase in demand for gold and silver bullion products since the big correction. Supply has gotten tight, premiums are rising, and inventory is hard to come by, especially for certain silver products. But it’s worse than you may know. Many of these reports come from the retail side of the business, including those from sovereign mints. This information is indicative but more important is the activity among the wholesalers. It’s possible the retail trade is just experiencing a giant bottleneck, which would come with a different set of conclusions than if behind the scenes the wholesale industry is seeing net sales.
Buy Gold and Silver NOW Read More »
If Cyprus is the bellwether, then Canada is the red flag, showing that Cyprus is not an isolated situation. The damage wreaked by monumental debt is systemic, and it has taken place throughout the First World and beyond.
This latter statement will very likely be the most difficult to accept as reality. If so, here is something to consider: Canada has approved its bail-in on a national level just one week after a final decision was made in Cyprus. As we all know, the wheels of governments worldwide move slowly. The reader might ask himself whether he believes that the Canadian government has, in short order, approved its own bail-in, in reaction to the events in Cyprus. If this possibility is simply too far-fetched, he must accept that the plan for Cyprus has been known to the Canadian government for some time and that a similar bail-in for Canada has been in the works for a while. It was simply agreed that Cyprus would go first – to act as the litmus test.
If Cyprus Is the Bellwether, Canada Is the Red Flag Read More »
For a new shale discovery – however large it maybe – it would take years just to prove up its commercial viability, another few years to get the infrastructure running, and even more years before it produces enough to matter. This means there are tremendous opportunities to profit – for those who are in the know – while we wait for the rest of the world to catch up.
Bits and Pieces from Casey Research Read More »
Looking at the factors forcing the price of gold down last week caused me to scratch my head a bit. Even though the price of gold was falling on the futures market anecdotal evidence showed that physical gold dealers were doing a booming business as sales volume was actually up by 50% last week as buyers of the physical metal were jumping on the opportunity to buy gold at a discount. So I wondered how could demand for physical gold be up while prices continued to fall? The answer it appears is that there is a major disconnect between physical gold vs. “paper gold”. In today’s article, Bud Conrad looks at the factors in this disconnect.
Physical Gold vs. Paper Gold Read More »
