Adam Taggart
Ready or not, if you live along the US east coast, Mother Nature has just announced a pop quiz. Subject: personal and community resiliency.
By all accounts, Hurricane Irene is a big storm. The latest projections have it making landfall at North Carolina tomorrow around mid-day. From there it's expected to march northward up the east coast, impacting a long stretch of the country inhabited by 65 million – 1 in 5 of the people in the country. Mandatory evacuations in several states have already been announced, including the lower-lying boroughs of Manhattan.
Our thoughts are with our with our readers, staff, and family living in Irene's path. We hope you're all able to take appropriate steps to ensure your safety as the storm passes over (and if you haven't, we certainly recommend doing so before Irene arrives).
And we're setting up this thread for folks to use – for sharing preparation guidance, reporting developments, asking advice, and providing emotional support – in advance of and during the storm.
Irene: Pop Quiz in Preparedness
Ready or not, if you live along the US east coast, Mother Nature has just announced a pop quiz. Subject: personal and community resiliency.
By all accounts, Hurricane Irene is a big storm. The latest projections have it making landfall at North Carolina tomorrow around mid-day. From there it's expected to march northward up the east coast, impacting a long stretch of the country inhabited by 65 million – 1 in 5 of the people in the country. Mandatory evacuations in several states have already been announced, including the lower-lying boroughs of Manhattan.
Our thoughts are with our with our readers, staff, and family living in Irene's path. We hope you're all able to take appropriate steps to ensure your safety as the storm passes over (and if you haven't, we certainly recommend doing so before Irene arrives).
And we're setting up this thread for folks to use – for sharing preparation guidance, reporting developments, asking advice, and providing emotional support – in advance of and during the storm.
Gold: with today’s sharp pullback after an amazing run upwards in the previous two weeks, how concerned should precious metal investors be? Are its fundamentals still strong? 
A growing number of individuals believe our economic and societal status quo is defined by unsustainable addiction to cheap oil and ever increasing debt. With that viewpoint, it's hard not to see a hard takedown of our national standard of living in the future. Even harder to answer is: what do you do about it?
Charles Hugh Smith, proprietor of the esteemed weblog OfTwoMinds.com, sees the path to future prosperity in removing capital from the Wall Street machine and investing it into local enterprise within the community in which you live.
"Enterprise is completely possible in an era of declining resource consumption. In other words, just because we have to use less, doesn’t mean that there is no opportunity for investing in enterprise. I think enterprise and investing in fact, are the solution. And if we withdraw our money from Wall Street and put it to use in our own communities, to the benefit of our own income streams, then I think that things happen."
Charles Hugh Smith: Why Local Enterprise Is The Solution
A growing number of individuals believe our economic and societal status quo is defined by unsustainable addiction to cheap oil and ever increasing debt. With that viewpoint, it's hard not to see a hard takedown of our national standard of living in the future. Even harder to answer is: what do you do about it?
Charles Hugh Smith, proprietor of the esteemed weblog OfTwoMinds.com, sees the path to future prosperity in removing capital from the Wall Street machine and investing it into local enterprise within the community in which you live.
"Enterprise is completely possible in an era of declining resource consumption. In other words, just because we have to use less, doesn’t mean that there is no opportunity for investing in enterprise. I think enterprise and investing in fact, are the solution. And if we withdraw our money from Wall Street and put it to use in our own communities, to the benefit of our own income streams, then I think that things happen."
This week's interview is one of the most important discussions we've had to date on energy, its supply/demand dynamics, and the tremendous impact it has on our economic and social identity. It is clear now that we are staring at a future of declining output at a time when the world is demanding an ever-increasing amount.
Nate Hagens, former editor of the respected energy blog, The Oil Drum, gives a fact-packed update on where we are on the Peak Oil timeline. But interestingly, he explains how he sees the core issue as less about the actual amount of energy available to the world and more about our assumptions about how much we really need:
"We’re not really facing a shortage of energy; we’re facing a longage of expectations. And the sooner that we as individuals or a nation recognize that the future is going to see much lower consumption than today and prepare for that, psychological resilience is going to be really important, because if no one is psychologically prepared, people are going to freak out when some of these freedoms start to go away.
Nate Hagens: We’re Not Facing a Shortage of Energy, But a Longage of Expectations
This week's interview is one of the most important discussions we've had to date on energy, its supply/demand dynamics, and the tremendous impact it has on our economic and social identity. It is clear now that we are staring at a future of declining output at a time when the world is demanding an ever-increasing amount.
Nate Hagens, former editor of the respected energy blog, The Oil Drum, gives a fact-packed update on where we are on the Peak Oil timeline. But interestingly, he explains how he sees the core issue as less about the actual amount of energy available to the world and more about our assumptions about how much we really need:
"We’re not really facing a shortage of energy; we’re facing a longage of expectations. And the sooner that we as individuals or a nation recognize that the future is going to see much lower consumption than today and prepare for that, psychological resilience is going to be really important, because if no one is psychologically prepared, people are going to freak out when some of these freedoms start to go away.
“I have little doubt that most of the silver that is on the SLV’s web site with a bar number is there somewhere. But what I am really concerned about is if it is hypothecated or not, meaning is there more than one owner on that same bar. And I can almost guarantee that there are multiple owners for almost every bar that they report. It does not mean that that bar does not exist.
It takes ten contracts to be a market maker.* (*See retraction and clarification in the comments below.) So I have got ten contracts, I have got fifty thousand ounces, and I ship it to my buddy who is a hedge fund manager over in Idaho. That is my silver. I have just sent it over to him on a lease. I have leased it to him. Now he has taken that silver and he has swapped it with somebody at the SLV, so they have got bars there. And he swapped for those and now those are on the exchange showing as part of the deal. So you can have a lease and a swap, so you could have two or three claims on those same bars. And that happens over and over again.
So the reason I used “purportedly” is that is the correct word. There are very few bars that are actually one-to-one correspondence that are sitting on the SLV and that is their only purpose. That is not the way banks operate. That is not the way the whole system operates. So I am not against the SLV, but I also state very clearly that if you follow what I teach, you would not want that to be considered a primary silver investment. That is a paper investment. That is not silver. That is paper. It only settles in paper. People ask whether I think there is going to be a default on the SLV. I say, how could there be? I mean, read the prospectus, they settle in cash. Think they have any trouble printing that stuff up? I haven't seen any problem with that lately.”
So cautions David Morgan, publisher of The Morgan Report on precious metals and proprietor of Silver-Investor.com. More so than perhaps any other, the silver market has been loudly and visibly accused of rampant price manipulation. And more recently, suspicion is growing that the exchanges and ETFs dedicated to trading the metal do not hold sufficient volume of it to meet their obligations. Is the silver market free and fair? Chris delves deeply into these important questions with one of the best-known silver experts.
In this interview, David explains why:
- The silver market is definitely manipulated, though likely not as rampantly as some believe. And despite this manipulation, he believes the overall upward trend in silver (and gold) cannot be suppressed in the long run.
- Holding physical bullion as a core part of one's precious metal portfolio is absolutely critical. Many of the bars pledged to tradable securites (ETFs, futures, etc) are assigned to multiple owners – meaning there is much less actual bullion underlying these securities than the market thinks.
- Why his long-term outlook for silver is so bullish. Annual industrial demand for silver continues to outstrip supply from new mining, while increasing investment demand for silver as a monetary vehicle only takes more tonnage out of the market. At some point, the market will wake up to the fact that silver is in much shorter supply than currently appreciated. At that point, the price will go much, much higher.
Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with David Morgan (runtime 35m:58s):
[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/david-morgan-2011-07-20.mp3"]
Download/Play the Podcast
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Or start reading the transcript below:
David Morgan on Silver Price Manipulation, Delivery Default & Supply Shortage Risks
“I have little doubt that most of the silver that is on the SLV’s web site with a bar number is there somewhere. But what I am really concerned about is if it is hypothecated or not, meaning is there more than one owner on that same bar. And I can almost guarantee that there are multiple owners for almost every bar that they report. It does not mean that that bar does not exist.
It takes ten contracts to be a market maker.* (*See retraction and clarification in the comments below.) So I have got ten contracts, I have got fifty thousand ounces, and I ship it to my buddy who is a hedge fund manager over in Idaho. That is my silver. I have just sent it over to him on a lease. I have leased it to him. Now he has taken that silver and he has swapped it with somebody at the SLV, so they have got bars there. And he swapped for those and now those are on the exchange showing as part of the deal. So you can have a lease and a swap, so you could have two or three claims on those same bars. And that happens over and over again.
So the reason I used “purportedly” is that is the correct word. There are very few bars that are actually one-to-one correspondence that are sitting on the SLV and that is their only purpose. That is not the way banks operate. That is not the way the whole system operates. So I am not against the SLV, but I also state very clearly that if you follow what I teach, you would not want that to be considered a primary silver investment. That is a paper investment. That is not silver. That is paper. It only settles in paper. People ask whether I think there is going to be a default on the SLV. I say, how could there be? I mean, read the prospectus, they settle in cash. Think they have any trouble printing that stuff up? I haven't seen any problem with that lately.”
So cautions David Morgan, publisher of The Morgan Report on precious metals and proprietor of Silver-Investor.com. More so than perhaps any other, the silver market has been loudly and visibly accused of rampant price manipulation. And more recently, suspicion is growing that the exchanges and ETFs dedicated to trading the metal do not hold sufficient volume of it to meet their obligations. Is the silver market free and fair? Chris delves deeply into these important questions with one of the best-known silver experts.
In this interview, David explains why:
- The silver market is definitely manipulated, though likely not as rampantly as some believe. And despite this manipulation, he believes the overall upward trend in silver (and gold) cannot be suppressed in the long run.
- Holding physical bullion as a core part of one's precious metal portfolio is absolutely critical. Many of the bars pledged to tradable securites (ETFs, futures, etc) are assigned to multiple owners – meaning there is much less actual bullion underlying these securities than the market thinks.
- Why his long-term outlook for silver is so bullish. Annual industrial demand for silver continues to outstrip supply from new mining, while increasing investment demand for silver as a monetary vehicle only takes more tonnage out of the market. At some point, the market will wake up to the fact that silver is in much shorter supply than currently appreciated. At that point, the price will go much, much higher.
Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with David Morgan (runtime 35m:58s):
[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/david-morgan-2011-07-20.mp3"]
Download/Play the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast
Or start reading the transcript below:
“The rule of law has basically been thrown out the window. Money printing is the order of the day. And when politicians take control of central banks, which they have done in the United States and they are also doing in Europe, that basically destroys the currency. It puts the currency on the road to what I call the Fiat Currency Graveyard, so I expect there are going to be massive currency problems as we go forward. The financial crisis that we have been dealing with for the last several years has not been solved.”
So cautions James Turk, widely-respected precious metals expert and founder/chairman of GoldMoney. In this detailed interview (recorded in June), Chris and James explore the probable outcome of the current US debt-ceiling operatics, the likelihood of future Fed money printing, and strategies for preserving wealth. In short, James believes we are witnessing the decline of the world's major fiat currencies, and expects gold to be remonetized in the aftermath.
James explains why he expects:
- The US Government to raise the debt ceiling in August, which will require the Federal Reserve to print more money in order to soak up the new debt, sending gold and silver prices much higher this summer.
- Holders of fiat currencies to experience increasing losses in the purchasing power of their wealth; contrary to those who hold precious metals, who will see the reverse.
- This pattern of currency devaluation to be similar to the many other examples seen throughout monetary history. In short, the “unthinkable” event of a dollar collapse is a much more probable event than most consider.
- Precious metals to be an excellent vehicle for preserving purchasing power through this next transition, and whatever future currency emerges, their historic role as money to be restored.
- The end of the bull market in precious metals is years away. We’ll know its ending when holders of PMs begin trading them for other assets (e.g. property, securities) that have become overly undervalued.
Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with James Turk (runtime 49m:11s):
[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/james-turk-2011-07-12.mp3"]
Download/Play the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast
Or start reading the transcript below:
James Turk: Gold Is Our Defense Against the Fiat Currency Graveyard
“The rule of law has basically been thrown out the window. Money printing is the order of the day. And when politicians take control of central banks, which they have done in the United States and they are also doing in Europe, that basically destroys the currency. It puts the currency on the road to what I call the Fiat Currency Graveyard, so I expect there are going to be massive currency problems as we go forward. The financial crisis that we have been dealing with for the last several years has not been solved.”
So cautions James Turk, widely-respected precious metals expert and founder/chairman of GoldMoney. In this detailed interview (recorded in June), Chris and James explore the probable outcome of the current US debt-ceiling operatics, the likelihood of future Fed money printing, and strategies for preserving wealth. In short, James believes we are witnessing the decline of the world's major fiat currencies, and expects gold to be remonetized in the aftermath.
James explains why he expects:
- The US Government to raise the debt ceiling in August, which will require the Federal Reserve to print more money in order to soak up the new debt, sending gold and silver prices much higher this summer.
- Holders of fiat currencies to experience increasing losses in the purchasing power of their wealth; contrary to those who hold precious metals, who will see the reverse.
- This pattern of currency devaluation to be similar to the many other examples seen throughout monetary history. In short, the “unthinkable” event of a dollar collapse is a much more probable event than most consider.
- Precious metals to be an excellent vehicle for preserving purchasing power through this next transition, and whatever future currency emerges, their historic role as money to be restored.
- The end of the bull market in precious metals is years away. We’ll know its ending when holders of PMs begin trading them for other assets (e.g. property, securities) that have become overly undervalued.
Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with James Turk (runtime 49m:11s):
[swf file="http://media.PeakProsperity.com/audio/james-turk-2011-07-12.mp3"]
Download/Play the Podcast
Report a Problem Playing the Podcast
Or start reading the transcript below:
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by blaggers