John Embry: Why gold will keep going up for years
Monday, the 1st of February 2010
Good afternoon. It is once again a great pleasure for me to address a knowledgeable gathering at Joe Martin's always excellent Cambridge Conference.
When I was here last year gold was around $850 and there was the usual angst among mainstream commentators fearing a drop to $600 per ounce or worse. Today the price is roughly $300 higher and the same individuals continue to try to frighten the public with prophesies of vertiginous falls in the gold price. Despite this ongoing aggravation, I am even more bullish on the prospects for gold than I was a year ago.
However, despite my consistent enthusiasm for the yellow metal once termed a "barbarous relic" by Lord Keynes, I still have …
Some Problems with Nationalizing Businesses
Tuesday, the 26th of January 2010
Whether governments nationalize their country’s farms (Zimbabwe), oil industry (Venezuela), or mortgage industry (U.S. -- Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and Federal National Mortgage Association), they all have several things in common.
Timothy Geithner Meets Vladimir Lenin
Wednesday, the 6th of January 2010
“The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.”
Vladimir Lenin, leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution
Last week, while Congress and the nation were preoccupied with the holidays, the Treasury made a Christmas eve announcement that it would be providing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unlimited financial support for the next three years.
Is it all just a Ponzi scheme?
Monday, the 28th of December 2009
In our May/June Markets at a Glance, "The solution…is the Problem", we discussed how much debt the US government would need to issue in order to balance the budget for fiscal 2009. We calculated they would need to sell $2.041 trillion in new debt - or almost three times the new debt that was issued in fiscal ...
Gold bull has many years, thousands of dollars to go
Monday, the 28th of December 2009
The gold market powered its way to a succession of new all-time highs in the wake of India's stunning purchase of 200 tonnes of IMF gold and mounting concern about the fate of the U.S. dollar. There is little doubt that India's actions drew widespread attention to a historic shift in the attitude of central banks towards gold.
Inflation: The War Against Money
Wednesday, the 23rd of December 2009
It's a two-pronged attack: people are forced to accept a money-substitute instead of money; and propaganda is used to convince them that the money-substitutes (paper money) are OK—confusion reigns.
Will Sovereign Debt Defaults Bring the End of Socialism?
Tuesday, the 22nd of December 2009
Socialism has come to mean many different things to many people, but regardless how it is defined, in the months immediately ahead it will be put to a rigorous test. The test will be visible to everyone as countries around the globe run out of money and confront overwhelming debts that cannot be repaid as well as other wide-ranging financial promises that can no longer be met. In short, the ideological bankruptcy of socialism will be laid bare by…
Viva la Restoration: Remarks of Robert K. Landis
Tuesday, the 24th of November 2009
It is an honor and a pleasure to be here among so many good friends and great minds.
I feel a special affinity for Zurich. It was the home of my friend and inspiration Ferdi Lips. It is the home of other friends like Tony Deden.
It was also the ancestral home of the Landis family.
In fact, this ancestral tie makes me a little nervous at the prospect of a question and answer session. The last time a Landis preaching a dissident message was questioned in Zurich, it was while he was stretched out on the rack. His answers irritated his questioners. So they cut off his head.
…
Hyperinflation
Friday, the 6th of November 2009
Ever wonder why the German hyper-inflation of the early 1920s was limited to Germany? Ever wonder why the Hungarian hyper-inflation of 1946 was limited to
Jawboning: So What's New?
Friday, the 9th of October 2009
An article in the Monday, October 5, 2009 issue of The Wall Street Journal was entitled "Jawboning Starts to Complicate Currency Markets." It started out by
Doug Casey on Gold
Monday, the 5th of October 2009
Historically, many things have been used as money. Cattle have been used as money in many societies, including Roman society. That’s where we get the word “pecuniary” from: the Latin word for a single head of cattle is pecus. Salt has been used as money, also including in ancient Rome, and that’s where the word “salary” comes from; the Latin for salt was sal (or salis). The North American Indians used seashells. Cigarettes were used during WWII. So, money is simply a medium of exchange and a store of value.
Cash for Everyone
Tuesday, the 22nd of September 2009
Everyone has heard of Cash-for-Clunkers - i.e., the U.S. government's program of giving money to someone who trades a junk vehicle in to purchase a new vehicle.
Cracks in the Dollar Dam
Monday, the 31st of August 2009
As confidence in the U.S. dollar wanes, gold's popularity rises. More and more people are realizing that gold (and silver) are safer (as a store of value) than are paper dollars.
Healthcare Meltdown
Wednesday, the 29th of July 2009
Back in the 1950s, it was the American dream to own one's own home. And in time, it became a way to garner more votes for politicians to promise "affordable" housing, and every effort was made during the next 50 years to make that dream come true for as many people as possible. Eventually, "affordable" housing was made possible through "government sponsored
When to Buy Gold
Thursday, the 25th of June 2009
I bet you don’t own enough gold. Before you tell me I’m wrong, let me ask it this way…
Taxing the Competition
Monday, the 22nd of June 2009
When a U.S. corporation does business in most parts of Europe, it necessarily holds Euros. And when the Euro rises, relative to the U.S. dollar (or the dollar falls relative to the Euro!), those Euro-holding U.S. corporations are required to recognize a gain on their Euro holdings, and pay tax on that gain. The same is true for all non-U.S.-dollar currency held in U.S. corporations around the world.
R.I.P. - The London Gold Pool, 1961-1968
Tuesday, the 16th of June 2009
Most of the public is still unaware of that the gold price is currently suppressed by governments and central banks in collusion with bullion dealers. Even fewer realize that suppression of the price of gold has plenty of historical precedence. The following is the story of the London Gold Pool.
Why Healthcare is Killing America
Monday, the 15th of June 2009
Healthcare is the biggest segment of our economy. In the debate over who should pay for what or, increasingly, for whom, most people don't stop to understand just how large a portion of our society's money is dedicated to …
Derivatives Explained
Thursday, the 4th of June 2009
Thousands of people who have prepared for the Series 3 exam (commodity futures broker license exam) in the United States know that the futures markets developed in the United States during the 1840s as an answer to the gluts and shortages associated with the harvest cycle that naturally occurs with the seasons of
Where to Find the Best Deals in Physical Gold
Friday, the 22nd of May 2009
When gold breached the $1,000/oz mark this February, the mass media were full of reports of unprecedented coin demand and long wait times for bullion buyers. You couldn't open the paper without seeing a piece about the gold rush.
When Government Money Monopolies Fail
Monday, the 13th of April 2009
It is true that governments try to establish money monopolies to the exclusion of gold and silver because gold and silver impose a discipline (limit) on government spending. However, if governments don't act responsibly with their currencies, their currencies will be shunned in the long run, and
Widening Deficits
Thursday, the 9th of April 2009
On March 20, 2009, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest forecast in an effort to take into account the impact of the recently released Obama budget. The verdict? A whopping $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, approximately four times larger than the all-time record established in 2008 ($455 billion).