Junk Silver for the Apocalypse?

In the preparedness world there is a very vocal segment that believes that TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) or SHTF (**it hits the fan) will happen any day now. Some see pandemics and plagues, others see Earth Axis Shifts, Mega Tsunamis, Super Volcano Eruptions, Giant Asteroid Impacts, Nuclear War, and even an avenging God as the key players in the extinction of human society. They hold these apocalyptic beliefs so fervently that all prepping actions they take are with the absolute worst case scenario in mind. As such, they talk endlessly about food, water, self defense, medicine and seeds, sarcastically dismissing precious metals like silver and gold as valueless shiny things that you "can't eat".

Now, I'm not saying that big disasters can't happen. The recent earthquake in Japan is just one reminder that we humans live at the mercy of our very geologically active planet, and not the reverse. However, in the last 6000 years of recorded human history mankind has suffered some pretty big kicks to the chops, but has always recovered eventually. We're not immortal, but we're pretty darned resilient. History has proven that much. As such, I always feel a little insulted when TEOTWAWKI extremists assume a human extinction event is not only inevitable, but likely to happen tomorrow or the following day at the latest! They further point out the absurdly obvious conclusion that silver and gold money while pretty handy and valued ever since man started building the first cities in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley millennia ago, will most certainly be useless when billions are dead and starvation is universal. No kidding, really?!

As far as gold and silver being worthless in a complete and total apocalyptic "gotterdamerung" case, what knowledgeable person could disagree? In a true "Road Warrior" lawless state, food, water, seeds, guns and medicine will most certainly be king, not silver or gold pocket change. However, I like to examine all the percentages before I commit my scarce funds.

Historically, we've had numerous cases of rampant inflation and hyperinflation in the last 100 years of civilization. On the other hand, we've had zero mega tsunamis, a few widespread plagues since Ancient Rome fell, one dinosaur level asteroid extinction strike in the last 65 million years, one super volcano eruption 75,000 years ago, and zero axis shifts and nuclear wars. Statistically speaking, therefore, we should be a lot more worried about inflation and hyperinflation than any of the other known human-impacting events. Junk silver coins (pre-1965 USA dimes, quarters, halves) plainly won't help you if a Mount Everest-sized rock traveling 10 times faster than a speeding bullet splashes next to your oceanview villa, but during hyperinflationary times these shiny coins have saved many thousands in Weimar Germany, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Iceland, and Zimbabwe, etc., when their paper fiat money crumbled to dust.

Conclusion: Most definitely have emergency food, water, seeds, guns and meds. In my mind, that all goes without saying. However, trust in gold and silver as the American dollar is openly and systematically undergoing devaluation leading to ultimate destruction by our so-called leaders. Inflation is already here, and hyperinflation is a vicious beast whose hot breath can already be felt breathing down our collective necks! First things first, I say!

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies (below):

Rick

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6000 Years of Gold Fever!

4600 B.C. Ancient civilizations begin to use gold as jewelry because of its beauty.

1500 B.C. The gold-bearing regions of ancient Nubia make Egypt a wealthy nation.

1323 B.C. Egyptians create Tutankhamun's funeral mask, a triumph of gold craftsmanship.

1200 B.C. Egyptians master the art of beating gold into leaf and develop the lost-wax jewelry casting technique, still used today.

1091 B.C. Squares of gold, about the size of postage stamps, become a form of money in China.

560 B.C. The first gold coins are minted in Lydia, now a region in Turkey, after a refining breakthrough ensures consistent purity.

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Funeral mask of Tutankhamun (14th century B.C.)

334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross the Hellespont into the Persian Empire, sezing gold now valued at up to $980 million.334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross hHellespnt into the Persian Empire, seizing gold now valued at up to $980 million. 334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross the Hellespont into the Persian Empire, seizing gold now valued at up to $980 million.

334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross the Hellespont into the Persian Empire, seizing gold now valued at up to $980 million.

218 B.C.–202 B.C. The Romans gain access to Spain's gold-mining region during the Second Punic War.

58 B.C. Julius Caesar conquers ancient Gaul, acquiring enough gold to repay all of Rome's debts.

50 B.C. The Romans issue a gold coin, the aureus, which circulates for almost 400 years.

309 A.D. Roman Emperor Constantine launches the gold solidus. It circulates for nearly 1,000 years in various forms..

696 An Islamic gold coin, the dinar, is minted in Damascus.

1284 Venice introduces the gold ducat, whose weight and purity remain unchanged for 500 years.

Money Museum

Aureus (Rome, 128 A.D.)

1492 Christopher Columbus discovers the new world, leading to the Spanish Conquest. By 1510, Inca gold from Colombia and Peru pours into Spain.

1663 The Guinea, named after Africa's "Gold Coast," is first minted in Britain and becomes its main circulating coin.

1694 The Bank of England, the first central bank to have gold reserves, is established.

1700 Gold is discovered in Brazil, which becomes the world's largest gold producer by 1720, tripling the world's output.

Money Museum

Solidus (Byzantine Empire, 705-711 A.D.)

1717 Sir Isaac Newton, master of the Royal Mint, fixes the price of gold at £3.17s.10d, essentially putting Britain on a gold standard until 1931.

1787 Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith, strikes the first U.S. gold coin.

1792 The Coinage Act places the U.S. on a bimetallic silver-gold standard.

1817 Britain introduces the sovereign, a gold coin valued at one pound sterling. It becomes the dominant coin in international trade for the next 100 years.

1837 Gold weight in the U.S. dollar is lessened so that an ounce is valued at $20.67.

Money Museum

Dinar (Gupta Empire, 375-414 A.D.)

1848 John Marshall finds gold flakes while building a sawmill near Sacramento, triggering the California gold rush. The discovery transforms world gold production, which escalates tenfold during the next decade.

1852-1853 Britain and France mint substantial quantities of gold coins from California and Australia. Gold begins to take over from silver as the most widely circulating currency.

1862 The Latin Monetary Union is established, setting standards for silver and gold coins in France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and, later, Greece. The countries accept each other's coins as legal tender.

Money Museum

Ducat (Venice, 13th century)

1871 Germany issues the mark, a new currency based on gold. Ten more European countries join the gold standard during the 1870s, leading to a collapse in the silver price, as nations disposed of silver coins.

1873 The U.S. adopts an unofficial gold standard after silver is eliminated.

1887 John Steward MacArthur patents the MacArthur-Forrest process for using cyanide to extract gold from ore, leading to the extraction of gold in South Africa.

1896 William Jennings Bryan urges a return to a bimetallic system in his "Cross of Gold" speech at the Democratic national convention.

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Gold Washing in California, an 1896 engraving

1898 Prospectors discover gold in Klondike, Alaska, prompting the century's final gold rush.

1898 Prospectors discover gold in Klondike, Alaska, prompting the century's final gold rush.

1900 The U.S. adopts the gold standard through passage of the Gold Standard Act.

1913 The Federal Reserve Act requires backing Federal Reserve Notes 40% in gold.

1931 Britain abandons the gold standard.

1933 President Roosevelt prohibits private holdings of gold coins, bullion and certificates to alleviate a banking panic.

1934 The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 gives the government permanent title to all monetary gold and halts minting of gold coins. Only Federal Reserve Banks may hold certificates, putting the U.S. on a limited gold bullion standard. President Roosevelt reduces the dollar by increasing the gold price to $35 per ounce.

Money Museum

Stater (Tribe of the Parisii, 120-100 B.C.)

1935 Construction begins on the bullion depository at Fort Knox, Ky.

1944 The Bretton Woods agreement establishes the basis of the post-war monetary system. The U.S. dollar is set to maintain a conversion rate of $35 to one ounce of gold.

1961 Central banks of the U.S., U.K., and six European countries form the London Gold Pool and agree to buy and sell at $35.09 per ounce.

1968 The London Gold Pool collapses, leaving the U.S., Britain and other European nations unable to maintain the gold price at $35. The gold price begins to float freely for the first time.

1971 President Nixon closes the "gold window," stopping all gold sales and purchases and ending conversion of foreign-held dollars into gold.

1973 U.S. devalues the dollar and raises the official selling price of gold to $42.22 ounce. Dollar selling continues, which leads to currencies being allowed to float freely.

1975 Americans are allowed to hold gold other than jewelry for first time since l933. Krugerrand sales and gold-futures trading begin in the U.S.

1976–1980 The International Monetary Fund abolishes its official gold price, freeing governments to trade gold in private markets.

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Bloomberg News

Gold futures are traded on the Comex floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

1980 Gold reaches an intraday high of $875 on Jan. 21 but falls to $591 by year-end.

1981 The U.S. forms a Gold Commission to make recommendations on government policies about the role of gold in domestic and world-wide monetary systems.

1999 The euro is introduced, backed by a new European Central Bank holding 15% of reserves in gold. The Bank of England sells half of the U.K.'s gold stocks, pushing down prices to $250 an ounce.

1999 Europe's central banks enter the Central Bank Gold Agreement, which limits their annual sales of gold into the market. This action stimulates a rise in the gold price during the next decade.

2009 Central banks return to buying gold for the first time in two decades.

2011 Gold hits an intraday high of $1,445 on March 7.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

CLICK ADS BELOW FOR FREE DISCOUNT!

New FDA Approved Charlie Sheen Drug!

Fryzer Pharmaceutical announced today an exclusive licensing agreement with actor Charlie Sheen to market a custom-distilled formula called "Winning or W" (hypersheenazole narcissitane). The new drug is currently undergoing somewhat less than rigorous FDA testing in Hollywood. However, this reporter has been given exclusive access to the proposed marketing campaign and TV spots being prepared once Federal approval is "won" for the new controversial drug.

(TV commercial)
(scene: thoughtful man at work in neat shirt & tie)

Remember when life was a never ending party? Have you lost the manic "umph" you once had? Do you long for those days in college when you didn't need sleep for days on end? Do your family, friends, and co-workers describe you as stable, reliable, and just plain old boring? If so, then "W" may be for you!

Warning: Winning should NEVER be taken under a doctor's are. Some people taking W have reported over one million voyeuristic Tweets. Minor side effects include: battered porn stars, destroyed hotel rooms, loss of child custody and at least one goddess, loss of employment, and references to friends, family, and co-workers as trolls. Other side effects have included the drinking of tiger blood and the waiving about of machetes. In certain rare cases people taking W have suffered death, and their children have cried all over their exploded bodies.

Yes, W may be just what you need to get the stifling and predictable train that is your life well on the way to derailment!
(Camera pans back from man in shirt and tie to reveal he's not wearing pants or underwear!)

If you cannot afford your medication, Fryzer Pharmaceutical will in NO WAY help...loser!

Rick

Should You Hoard Nickels?

As precious metals like silver, gold, and platinum continue to increase in price as the US Fiat Money Paper Dollar is overprinted into financial oblivion, base metals are attracting some side glances as well. In particular copper pre-1982 pennies and nickel coins (75% copper & 25% nickel). Indeed, due to the rise in the commodity price of both copper and nickel, coinflation.com lists the metallic value of the current US nickel at close to $0.07 cents! If it wasn't for a pesky law passed in December of 2006 forbidding the exportation and / or melting of US nickels, enterprising speculators might be lighting up the cauldrons already for profit!

However, given the assumption that most US citizens who've chosen to start hoarding nickels are lawful people, what could possibly be their motive for stacking the 5-cent pieces in their garages, sheds, basements etc? Well, it can't be for ease of storage and portability (always great in survival situations). For example: $20,000 worth of gold coins could be easily carried by your 85 year old grandmother in her purse. $20,000 worth of American Silver Eagles weighs 40 pounds, and can be carried by an average man some distance. However, $20,000 worth of nickels (face value) weigh 4,410 pounds, and isn't going anywhere without a forklift and a light truck or heavy duty pickup! As far as ease of storage gold and silver win hands down as well. My wife hardly even notices my hiding spots for my gold and silver coins. On the other hand, how is any married man (who presumably wishes to stay that way) going to schmooze his significant other into letting him store a mere 400,000 nickels or $20,000 worth around the house! I suppose you could form the nickel bricks into coffee tables and other furniture, but I just can't see my wife sitting down quietly while a truck is backing up to the house to unload the massive cargo.

I don't want people to get me wrong. I am very sympathetic to any person whose goal is to diversify out of the US(less) Dollar into more valuable commodities. I imagine the typical nickel hoarder may have missed the gold and /or silver trains, and is hoping to catch the more modest nickel and copper rockets before takeoff. However, I just see the logistics mentioned above to be major stumbling blocks to realizing an eventual profit from hoarding nickels, to say nothing of the thorn in the nickel-guys paw that is the US Law also detailed above.

Finally, I'd like to offer my advice. Forgo the nickels with the numerous logistical and legal roadblocks, and buy American Silver Eagles and Junk Silver (pre-1965 dimes, quarters, halves) on every dip in silver prices. Silver is headed to $50 and beyond. You may have missed the first quarter of the game, but there is still another three to go with a nice half-time show in the middle (NO CHRISTINA AGUILERA I PROMISE - I LOVE AMERICA TOO MUCH)!

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies (below):

Rick

CLICK ADS BELOW FOR FREE DISCOUNT!

A Return to the Gold / Silver Standard?

The State of Utah has passed legislation that would allow gold and silver coins to be used as a legal tender in the State. This fiscal move is widely viewed as a hedge against the value erosion that the US Dollar is currently undergoing.

The new wave is not restricted to Utah, as a dozen states have proposed such a bill.

In Virginia, the legislature there has passed a bill (which is yet to be signed by the governor) that would allow the state to mint gold, silver and platinum coins. This is expected to protect the state from the scourge of high inflation.

In fact, a Virginia delegate tried to initiate a resolution that would allow the state to have its own currency, but the effort fell through. Recently, there were unconfirmed reports that China is on a move to opt for a gold standard.

The US had been on gold standard for a major part of the 20th century, but Richard Nixon decoupled gold from currency in 1971.

In November last year, World Bank President, Robert Zoellick called for considering by nations a return to gold standard to better accommodate currency fluctuations.

The Utah bill is yet to be signed by the State Governor. Once this is through, there are arguments that the legislation may spur the US Congress to consider adopting gold standard.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

CLICK ADS BELOW FOR FREE DISCOUNT!

What is the Gold / Silver Ratio?

CLICK CHART TO ENLARGE

The chart (above) shows the gold / silver ratio for the last few years. The ratio simply put describes how many ounces of silver will buy one ounce of gold. Historically, the ratio was pegged at 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold. Indeed, this value relationship of the two precious metals actually mirrors their relative abundance in the Earth's crust.

In more recent times the ratio has swung heavily in favor of gold as silver was demonetized, averaging around 55. Currently the ratio is about 40x and thus above the median of 55x. This means that silver is attractively valued relative to gold. A low was hit in 1920, when 15 ounces of silver would buy 1 ounce of gold. 1940 saw a row of historical highs, when one ounce of gold bought 100 ounces of silver. We experienced similar values in 1990.

Looking back over the centuries, we find that gold has been substantially more expensive since the beginning of the 20th century than in the previous three centuries. The long-term median (since 1687) is 15.7x. This also reflected the actual ratio of physical supplies: gold is about 16 times more scarce than silver. According to USGS, the measured and assumed silver resources are about 6 times as high as the ones of gold. Therefore silver is at the moment clearly undervalued at a ratio of 40x relative to gold.

Note: 3/25/11 - GOLD/SILVER RATIO touched more new lows this week. Closed today at 38.486. Shhhh -- Listen. Come close and I'll tell y'all something you won't hear anywhere else, but don't tell anybody. At 38.486 the ratio stands below its 10 year, below its 20 year, below its 30 year, below its 50 year, below its 60 year, and below its 110 year average. In fact, it's nearer the 220 year average than the 110 year. Put that into perspective: the 10 year average is 60.53, 22 points higher.

[Using a gold:silver ratio of 16:1 equates to a price of $90 per ounce for silver based on the current ballpark price of $1430 per ounce for gold and suggests a price of $650 if gold were to reach a parabolic top of $10,400!]

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies (below):

Rick

CLICK ADS BELOW FOR FREE DISCOUNT!

The Rise & Fall of American Coinage!

The power and wealth of a country and its trajectory in history can be viewed through the study of the changes that occur to their monetary system and coinage. A particularly interesting parallel can be drawn between the history of the Ancient Romans and the present-day USA. Although separated by several millenia, the USA seems intent on following the identical path that Ancient Rome walked from rise to ruin as mirrored in the gradual debasement of their silver coinage.

Ancient Rome: Silver Content of Denarius coin (about size of USA nickel coin)

Republican Period

269 BCE 6.8 grams

211 BCE 4.5 grams

Imperial Period

Emperor Augustus (Early Empire) 27 BCE - AD 14 3.9 grams

Emperor Nero (Early Empire) 54 AD - AD 68 3.4 grams

Mid - Late Empire Mid Third Century 3.0 grams (varied during period)

Emperor Gallienus (Late Empire) 260-268 AD (alone) Copper coin with thin silver wash


USA (Early Republic - Mid-Late Imperial Period)

American Republic Various Presidents 1792 - 1964 90% silver 10, 25, 50 cents, $1.00

Early Empire 1965 - 1969 40% silver halves - all others made from base metals

Mid - Late Empire 1970 - 2011 All circulating coins cupro-nickel base metals

Ancient Rome began to decrease the silver content of its coins as the economy suffered, and Emperors looked for new ways to gain revenue without raising taxes. Where once the denarius was widely accepted in commerce throughout the Western World and Asia, it eventually became worthless and shunned as useful coinage due to the gradual debasement. Although my not-so-subtle political commentary re the USA is subject to discussion, the pattern of the systemic devaluation of the American coinage is not. The USA is clearly following the same destructive path that Ancient Rome followed to its doom.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

CLICK ADS BELOW FOR FREE DISCOUNT!