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Image | Off The Cuff: All Things Silver
Off The Cuff: All Things Silver
 PREVIEW
by Adam Taggart

In this week's Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and Ted Butler discuss:

  • How Precious Metals Spot Prices Get Set In This Market
    • The big banks operating in the paper markets have oversized influence
  • Silver's Moonshot Potential
    • An "accident waiting to happen" in terms of upside
  • Likely Triggers Of A Silver Supply Squeeze
    • A number of candidates abound
  • JP Morgan Is Amassing The World's Largest Silver Horde
    • Positioning itself for higher prices ahead?

Ted Butler returns to provide an extremely in-depth explanation of how the precious metals futures markets work (very important to understand this, as that's where PM prices are determined). Yes, it's an unlevel playing field; and yes, the big banks are at the heart of the unfairness. But — as he explains in this hour-long exposition — Ted is confident the fundamentals of supply and demand in the silver market will one day trump all, and why silver is "an accident waiting to happen" in terms of price upside:

What I am saying is: there is such an incredibly small amount of new silver that is available from current production (I’m including recycling because that is where it basically comes from) that it can be gobbled up in a second.

How can the price be so cheap with these kinds of facts and circumstances? The answer is we go back to the managed money, technical funds and the commercial banks. The price is being set in paper trading; it's not being set by the actual acquisition or disposal of real metal. It has nothing to do with that at all. And that can’t last forever.

We've already experienced expressions of this fact. I think we started talking with each other years ago when silver was in the single digits — $4, $5, $6 an ounce — then it ran to close to $50 in the beginning of 2011. The reason it can have these breathtaking price advances is because there is so little of it that when anybody goes to buy it, it just has a pronounced and disproportionate impact on price.

As Bunker Hunt, the late famous silver speculator and investor from years ago said, and it is more true today than it has ever been: Silver is an accident waiting to happen. And that accident is in terms of price to the upside. 

Click to listen to a sample of this Off the Cuff Podcast or Enroll today to access the full audio and other premium content today.

Off The Cuff: All Things Silver
 PREVIEW by Adam Taggart

In this week's Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and Ted Butler discuss:

  • How Precious Metals Spot Prices Get Set In This Market
    • The big banks operating in the paper markets have oversized influence
  • Silver's Moonshot Potential
    • An "accident waiting to happen" in terms of upside
  • Likely Triggers Of A Silver Supply Squeeze
    • A number of candidates abound
  • JP Morgan Is Amassing The World's Largest Silver Horde
    • Positioning itself for higher prices ahead?

Ted Butler returns to provide an extremely in-depth explanation of how the precious metals futures markets work (very important to understand this, as that's where PM prices are determined). Yes, it's an unlevel playing field; and yes, the big banks are at the heart of the unfairness. But — as he explains in this hour-long exposition — Ted is confident the fundamentals of supply and demand in the silver market will one day trump all, and why silver is "an accident waiting to happen" in terms of price upside:

What I am saying is: there is such an incredibly small amount of new silver that is available from current production (I’m including recycling because that is where it basically comes from) that it can be gobbled up in a second.

How can the price be so cheap with these kinds of facts and circumstances? The answer is we go back to the managed money, technical funds and the commercial banks. The price is being set in paper trading; it's not being set by the actual acquisition or disposal of real metal. It has nothing to do with that at all. And that can’t last forever.

We've already experienced expressions of this fact. I think we started talking with each other years ago when silver was in the single digits — $4, $5, $6 an ounce — then it ran to close to $50 in the beginning of 2011. The reason it can have these breathtaking price advances is because there is so little of it that when anybody goes to buy it, it just has a pronounced and disproportionate impact on price.

As Bunker Hunt, the late famous silver speculator and investor from years ago said, and it is more true today than it has ever been: Silver is an accident waiting to happen. And that accident is in terms of price to the upside. 

Click to listen to a sample of this Off the Cuff Podcast or Enroll today to access the full audio and other premium content today.

Image | Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold
Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold
by Adam Taggart

Monetary expert Jim Rickards returns this week to share the insights from his latest work The New Case For Gold, a detailed and highly-researched study of the fundamentals likely to drive the price of gold bullion in the years to come.

Rickards is quite confident that the price is going higher — much higher in fact — as the current world fit currency regimes falter, to be replaced by ones backed (at least in part) by bullion.

On the way to that outcome, expect the price to be subject to the geopolitical interests and aims of the largest players on the chessboard.

Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold
 by Adam Taggart

Monetary expert Jim Rickards returns this week to share the insights from his latest work The New Case For Gold, a detailed and highly-researched study of the fundamentals likely to drive the price of gold bullion in the years to come.

Rickards is quite confident that the price is going higher — much higher in fact — as the current world fit currency regimes falter, to be replaced by ones backed (at least in part) by bullion.

On the way to that outcome, expect the price to be subject to the geopolitical interests and aims of the largest players on the chessboard.

Image | Commissioner Bart Chilton: Price Discovery In The Commodities Markets
Commissioner Bart Chilton: Price Discovery In The Commodities Markets
by Adam Taggart

In theory, regulation is supposed to set and enforce the rules of the game that market participants play by, in order to ensure that price discovery remains efficient, effective — and most important — fair.

In practice, there's plenty of debate to be had on how successful our regulators are in effecting their mission. And one investment class in particular, commodities, frequently comes under criticism for questionable price action.

So, this week we talk with Bart Chilton, former Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), about price discovery within the commodity markets, and whether investors can have confidence in the "fairness" of the current system.
Commissioner Bart Chilton: Price Discovery In The Commodities Markets
 by Adam Taggart

In theory, regulation is supposed to set and enforce the rules of the game that market participants play by, in order to ensure that price discovery remains efficient, effective — and most important — fair.

In practice, there's plenty of debate to be had on how successful our regulators are in effecting their mission. And one investment class in particular, commodities, frequently comes under criticism for questionable price action.

So, this week we talk with Bart Chilton, former Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), about price discovery within the commodity markets, and whether investors can have confidence in the "fairness" of the current system.
Image | How Markets Are Rigged Against You
How Markets Are Rigged Against You
by Chris Martenson

Well, the idea of markets being rigged is pretty much coming out of the woodwork now, and the fact that it is indicative of too much power being concentrated into the hands of too few people, especially moral people, is gaining acceptance.

You know, historically we've seen this over and over again, and many times it has not ended all that well for the 'money changers.'

Here's the 'meme' being presented in Canada by CBC.
How Markets Are Rigged Against You
 by Chris Martenson

Well, the idea of markets being rigged is pretty much coming out of the woodwork now, and the fact that it is indicative of too much power being concentrated into the hands of too few people, especially moral people, is gaining acceptance.

You know, historically we've seen this over and over again, and many times it has not ended all that well for the 'money changers.'

Here's the 'meme' being presented in Canada by CBC.
Image | Is Gold at a Turning Point?
Is Gold at a Turning Point?
by Adam Taggart

There's no way to sugarcoat the dismal performance of the precious metals in recent months. But a revisitation of the reasons for owning them reveals no cracks in the underlying thesis for doing so.

In fact, there are a number of new compelling developments arguing that the long heartbreak for gold and silver holders will soon be over.
Is Gold at a Turning Point?
 by Adam Taggart

There's no way to sugarcoat the dismal performance of the precious metals in recent months. But a revisitation of the reasons for owning them reveals no cracks in the underlying thesis for doing so.

In fact, there are a number of new compelling developments arguing that the long heartbreak for gold and silver holders will soon be over.
Image | This Gold Slam is a Massive Wealth Transfer from Our Pockets to the Banks
This Gold Slam is a Massive Wealth Transfer from Our Pockets to the Banks
by Chris Martenson

I am very disappointed by, but not surprised at, the latest transfer of wealth to the bankers from everyone else.  The most recent gold bear raid has vastly enriched the bullion bankers, once again, at the expense of everyone trying to protect their wealth from global central bank money printing.

The central plank of Bernanke's magic recovery plan has been to get everybody back borrowing, spending, and "investing" in stocks, bonds, and other financial assets.  But not equally so, as he has been instrumental in distorting the landscape towards risk assets and away from safe harbors.
This Gold Slam is a Massive Wealth Transfer from Our Pockets to the Banks
 by Chris Martenson

I am very disappointed by, but not surprised at, the latest transfer of wealth to the bankers from everyone else.  The most recent gold bear raid has vastly enriched the bullion bankers, once again, at the expense of everyone trying to protect their wealth from global central bank money printing.

The central plank of Bernanke's magic recovery plan has been to get everybody back borrowing, spending, and "investing" in stocks, bonds, and other financial assets.  But not equally so, as he has been instrumental in distorting the landscape towards risk assets and away from safe harbors.
Image | 2012 Year in Review
2012 Year in Review
by David Collum

Background

I was just trying to figure it all out.

~ Michael Burry, hedge fund manager

Every December, I write a Year in Review that has now found a home at Chris Martenson’s website PeakProsperity.com.1,2,3 What started as a simple summary intended for a couple dozen people morphed over time into a much more detailed account that accrued over 25,000 clicks last year.4 'Year in Review' is a bit of a misnomer in that it is both a collage of what happened, plus a smattering of issues that are on my radar right now. As to why people care what an organic chemist thinks about investing, economics, monetary policy, and societal moods I can only offer a few thoughts.

For starters, in 33 years of investing with a decidedly undiversified portfolio, I had only one year in which my total wealth decreased in nominal dollars. For the 13 years beginning 01/01/00—the 13 toughest investing years of the new millennium!—I have been able to compound my personal wealth at an 11% annualized rate. This holds up well against the pros. I am also fairly good at distilling complexity down to simplicity and seem to be a congenital contrarian. I also have been a devout follower of Austrian business cycle theory—i.e., free market economics—since the late 1990s.4

Each review begins with a highly personalized analysis of my efforts to get through another year of investing followed by a more holistic overview of what is now a 33-year quest for a ramen-soup-free retirement. These details may be instructive for those interested in my approach to investing. The bulk of the review, however, describes thoughts and observations—the year’s events told as a narrative. The links are copious, albeit not comprehensive. Some are flagged with enthusiasm. Everything can be found here.5

2012 Year in Review
 by David Collum

Background

I was just trying to figure it all out.

~ Michael Burry, hedge fund manager

Every December, I write a Year in Review that has now found a home at Chris Martenson’s website PeakProsperity.com.1,2,3 What started as a simple summary intended for a couple dozen people morphed over time into a much more detailed account that accrued over 25,000 clicks last year.4 'Year in Review' is a bit of a misnomer in that it is both a collage of what happened, plus a smattering of issues that are on my radar right now. As to why people care what an organic chemist thinks about investing, economics, monetary policy, and societal moods I can only offer a few thoughts.

For starters, in 33 years of investing with a decidedly undiversified portfolio, I had only one year in which my total wealth decreased in nominal dollars. For the 13 years beginning 01/01/00—the 13 toughest investing years of the new millennium!—I have been able to compound my personal wealth at an 11% annualized rate. This holds up well against the pros. I am also fairly good at distilling complexity down to simplicity and seem to be a congenital contrarian. I also have been a devout follower of Austrian business cycle theory—i.e., free market economics—since the late 1990s.4

Each review begins with a highly personalized analysis of my efforts to get through another year of investing followed by a more holistic overview of what is now a 33-year quest for a ramen-soup-free retirement. These details may be instructive for those interested in my approach to investing. The bulk of the review, however, describes thoughts and observations—the year’s events told as a narrative. The links are copious, albeit not comprehensive. Some are flagged with enthusiasm. Everything can be found here.5

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