The volatile ups and downs in the market prices of precious metals read like a soap opera. It begins with the Federal Reserve—they confirmed they had every intention of continuing quantitative easing for the foreseeable future (to the point that those of us in the financial sector now refer to it as QE infinity, as
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The market has proven that gold is not the ideal investment that some people thought it was. The precious metal lost around $230 in value in the April 12 and 15 trading sessions. It rallied slightly on April 16, but its price of $1,386.50 a troy ounce was still a far cry from the $1,787 an ounce the metal was trading at in September. So what’s going on here? Is it a complete collapse of the gold bubble or simply the market correcting to a more realistic price? That question will be difficult to answer
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Since the inception of money, many items have been used as currency, from salt to animal hides, as well as assorted other things such as precious gems. No matter what though, gold and silver have been accepted as legal tender throughout the ages. Even Judas Iscariot received his thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus,
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Precious metals such as gold and silver have been in high demand ever since the real estate bubble began to negatively affect the stock market in October 2007. The metals offer investors something tangible and real that ordinary folks feel they can quantify. Ever since the gold standard was eliminated in 1971, precious metals are thought to be more of an investment and not directly linked to a currency. When the real estate bubbled popped, it resulted in a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the global financial markets, as many believed the system was going
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Republicans got the financial analysts of the world all worked up over one of their platform proposals – a return to the gold standard. It’s a proposal that has been championed by Ron Paul for decades, but the last time there was major action on it was during Reagan’s gold commission in 1981. Now, House
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This summer, a quiet change was made to the accounting rules for gold in bank vaults. It made headlines almost nowhere, but it has the potential to dramatically change how gold is viewed relative to cash in the broader economy. For informed and prepared minds, it’s also the chance to stock up up on gold at an attractive price before the mainstream masses really process the change. Basically, for banks, gold is now 100 percent money. How is that different than it was before? Previously, banks could only count gold as 50 percent money. Confused?
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There has always been a symbiotic relationship between investment and economic growth. Investors supply the capital that businesses need to expand and improve their operations, while businesses provide an opportunity for individual and institutional investors to increase their wealth. This mutually beneficial relationship has been the source of capitalism’s great resiliency and strength, allowing the system to bounce back time and time again from the depths of recession and depression. But greed, hubris, and just plain stupidity have now taken the world economy to the brink of disaster, and this time there may be no
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A stash of junk silver can be your best friend in a time of crisis. These small, circulated silver coins contain just enough silver to buy bread or pay bills without being valuable enough to attract attention from regulators or Big Brother busybodies. Junk silver flies under the radar, making it perfect for quietly shoring up your financial position in preparation for a currency crisis. Still, many people don’t have any junk silver because they’re confused about what it is, which coins are best, and how to easily get junk silver coins. Fortunately, it’s not
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One rising concern around the world is whether or not governments will allow gold and silver to continue to compete with paper currencies. Fiat money has been steadily declining in value, while the precious metals markets have been heating up. There’s no way the control freaks in government haven’t noticed. The question is, what can they really do about it? From the past, we know that one tactic is to make it illegal for private citizens to own gold and silver. This happened in the U.S. in 1933. While modern writers like to remember this
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Silver and gold are well-known choices for building up a safety net in times of economic crisis. However, one concern that many people have is the usefulness of gold coins or silver bars with high values. After all, you’re not really going to want to use an ounce of gold to pay for a few loaves of bread. You want something smaller and easier to use as a unit of trade, like junk silver. Junk silver is a catchall term that doesn’t actually refer to “junk” in the traditional sense. This isn’t silver scrap or
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