Category: Economics & Investing

We’ll start with a bit of levity, to temper all the recent bad news: The Monster Crash. (Kudos to Richard at KT Ordnance for sending the link.) I’ve added 90-Day and 5-Year price charts for silver and gold to the bottom of my Investing page. Reader M.H. sent a reminder that anyone in the US that is expecting a tax refund on their state income tax should file their tax returns as early as possible this year. As states increasingly run into budget crises, some taxpayers that wait until April 15th to send in their tax forms may end up …

Brett forwarded this item: Depositors turned away from Stanford banks Garth S. sent this New York Times news story link: Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down. Garth’s comment: “At least [in America] we don’t have debtors prison.” From Todd S.: Swift, steep downturn crisscrosses globe G.G. flagged this: Publishers See Red, Magazine Ad Pages Down 21.5% in Q1 Thanks to Robert B. for sending this: Sales Tax Time Bomb Explodes as Consumption in Freefall The Drifter sent us a link to this piece by Mish Shedlock: The Nationalization Train Has Left The Station FloridaGuy flagged this: Gold hits record …

In a recent edition of his Reality Check e-newsletter, my mentor Dr. Gary North mentioned this alarming piece posted in the Not A Sheep blog: The Disappearing £16.3-trillion. In the age of the Internet, it has become difficult for the Powers That Be to spike a news story! Laura and Garth were the first of a dozen readers to send this link: Kansas suspends income tax refunds, may miss payroll Ben H, sent this link to an interesting (and frightening) article at the Von Mises Institute: Printing Like Mad I noticed that spot silver and gold prices are solidly back …

The Old Yooper mentioned this FSU piece: Signposts Towards the Inevitable. The graph showing the upcoming second wave of ARM is particularly alarming. There will be some real ARM-twisting then! Thanks to G.G. for this piece: Irish government faces growing fears of debt default Steve S. recommended a video of a lecture on the history and nature of debt-based modern currencies, and their implications on freedom. DS spotted this: As U.S. Borrowings Rise, Treasurys Begin to Pop. As I’ve mentioned before, look for a big jump in Treasury yields as a key indicator that stagflation is ahead. Items from The …

Howdy James, I hope you and yours are doing well. I recently came across the Preparedness Podcast and in Episode 5 – Gold, Silver, and a look at what’s coming in 2009 is an excellent primer on investing in gold & silver. Basically silver is your ‘checking account’ and gold is your ‘savings account’. A 20% silver and 80% gold ratio is suggested as good mix of spending power and portability. A few gold coins take up a little space when you have to bug out, but the same dollar amount in silver will weigh you down when you need …

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s planned “Son of TARP“, also dubbed “TARP 2.0” bank bailout is rumored to be more than twice as expensive as the first round that was enacted in late Aught Eight. This is more evidence that the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB) has no limits, and will not end until the the taxpayers are on the hook for decades of substantially higher taxes and not before the value of the Dollar is reduced to near fire-kindling status. Thanks to Brandon S. for these two items that he spotted in the Alabama media: “Here is what happens when …

G.G. sent this: Rogers Renews Bets U.S. Stocks Will Slump on Rescue. From Brian F.: 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis: Bill N. set a link to a speech transcript where a US Senator has the guts to point out the pork in the Stimulus Bill. OBTW, it is no wonder that the omnibus spending package is now widely referred to as The Porkulus Bill. Items from The Economatrix: FDIC Shutters Four Banks in One Day Home Prices in Record Plunge in Q4 Economic and Financial Systems Deliberately Destabilized. A key quote: “There probably won’t be bank runs …

JWR: Christopher W. asks a very good question, “should you buy gold and silver coins as an investment?” I think this brings up the point that there are really two uses for gold and silver, as an investment and store of value and as a barter/trade item to facilitate commerce. Unless you want to overpay for an item, you will need change, which for every day purchases is provided by smaller silver coin. A friend on Wall Street put it this way “what are you going to do, chip a piece off a gold brick to buy some food?” Smaller …

It is noteworthy that spot silver and gold prices have remained fairly solid near their six-month highs, despite the IMF’s saber rattling move of announcing 403 metric ton sale of gold.: This is evidence that wise investors have not been fooled by all the governmental and bankster blustering and that they will continue to shelter more of their assets in tangibles. “The Other Jim R.”: flagged this must see: video link: ‘Worst economic collapse ever’. (Don’t hold back, Mr. Celente, tell us how you reallllly feel!) For those readers that don’t have a fast Internet connection, Matt B. mentioned that …

James Wesley, I’d like your input regarding the purchase of gold and silver coins from third party vendors. Instead of paying $1,000+ for a single gold coin of one troy ounce. I’d like to buy ten 1/10th troy ounce gold (or silver) coins. I feel smaller denominations of “hard” currency promote better trade/purchase power. I have noticed in a multitude of Gun/Survival forums/magazines various companies that offer coins that are not directly from the U.S. mint but are [in smaller fractional sizes] than what you normally purchase from the US Mint. I can foresee having a handful of one troy …