Metals, a Hedge or Investment Depending on Your Views... or a Sucker's Bet?

[Don Alaska]

I was surprised to find out how scummy the Royal Canadian Mint is.

They are not allowed by charter to produce coinage that isn't sold in Canada, but they use the loophole of putting a few on the market there and listing small mintages on their web site.

The "scam coins" are private mintages of "premium" coins for U.S. based "Gold IRA" custodians. These guys use celebrities and such to advertise converting IRAs to their gold-holding IRAs. If you pressure them hard and resist their high-pressure sales tactics most of them will invest your funds into solid investments like U.S. Mint Eagles, but they upsell you hard into these RCM private "premium" coins that often have enormous markups on them. AS much as 175% in at least one documented case!

All perfectly legal under current lax regulations. Sadly, your IRA immediately loses a huge whack of value, and that's before they start assessing custodial fees, Even if you take delivery of the coins down the road they are very hard to sell on the retail market as unknowns. They fetch far back of spot, and go right into the scrap pot for melting if you can get a coin dealer to buy them.

Many of these companies have been sued and put out of business, but the principals walk away scot free and soon pop another one up. Even the endorsing celebs (Glen Beck, Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, and many many more on the left as well) play dumb about it all and take the fat checks.

While what is sold to Canadians is often of good quality no matter what it is--food, drugs, etc.--what is marketed outside the country often isn't. It is sad that we cannot trust our closest (in culture) neighbor.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

In the wake of the Fed cut and announcement of "not QE" (wink, wink) gold and silver have made some moves. Gold in particular seems to have broken out of the recent pattern again.

 

[Don Alaska]

In the wake of the Fed cut and announcement of "not QE" (wink, wink) gold and silver have made some moves. Gold in particular seems to have broken out of the recent pattern again.

They are definitely doing something shady. Word is they are buying up any large bond dumps to keep stocks and bonds from collapsing. We may be in for a bumpy ride. I hear projections of $120 silver by the end of the year. We'll see....

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Today I looked over some of the 70s Eisenhower Dollar coins. While most of them in circulation were metal-clad coins (like dimes and quarters today, with no silver) some were produced in 40% silver like post-84 Kennedy Halves. Many were proof strikes, and originally released in proof coin sets sold by the US Mint. A lot of those proof sets have long ago been broken up with each different coin going its own way. Many were spent at face value!

The coins I looked at were all 1971s. These have the eagle landing on the Moon on the reverse side, which you might remember. Some were still-shiny proof coins, a few were probably BU (Brilliant Uncirculated) when released but have aged a bit to AU (Almost Uncirculated) condition. The proofs I looked at were a bit nicer than this coin:



I didn't see any of the Bicentennial Year examples though. These have a different reverse-side image and are still more collectable today.

They were on sale for $20.50 each.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Dealers are really beginning to vacillate between exhilaration and alarm.

Gold, silver, platinum are all up and appear to be on another tear. Lots of people are coming out of the woodwork and dumping large quantities of silver on them, but quite a few people are also buying a lot and refineries are loosening up to take more and pay better.

The issue doesn't seem to be the rise as much as its pace that causes concern. This hasn't been a normal December pattern for retail metals. Not even close.

Platinum in particular is a mystery. Rarer than gold, for a long time it was worth more than gold. But in the last decade it has loafed around at about half the price of gold per ounce. Now it is on the rise again, and while there isn't a lot of retail-minted platinum in the market dealers sell it out almost as fast as they obtain some.

Most of the precious metals "gurus" out of Europe and the UK I'm listening to are almost completely focused on tales of U.S. historical policy on monetary metals and their application to the current situation. This seems strange to me, since there is just as much Euro-history and maybe even more
Euro-fingerprints on all of it for the last several centuries.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I check online dealers to see what kinds of stuff is out there on the market. Sometimes I get a good laugh. Here's a sale item:



It just hit me funny. Made me think of small cans of tomato paste or something on sale.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

Metals rise on fake news.

A phony AI video tells people the EU decided to seize frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine. This has created a panic over the security of Western currencies. This guy explains briefly that the news is fake.

 

[Don Alaska]

Metals rise on fake news.

A phony AI video tells people the EU decided to seize frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine. This has created a panic over the security of Western currencies. This guy explains briefly that the news is fake.

I know nothing of the video, but I do know about the threat from Europe to seize Russian assets. I think Trump is one of those trying to stop that seizure from happening, and that is being said to show that Trump is pro-Putin, when that is certainly not the case now after Putin's reneging on his promises to Trump after the Alaska meeting. Seizing the assets would be an act of war and might make all of Europe a Russian target. The fact that there WAS a vote makes the threat a real one. Oil purchase from Russia in Rubles was somewhat forced into the system when Biden removed Russia from the SWIFT system, making the Dollar unavailable to Russia. That move also stimulated an attack on the Dollar internationally which continues to this day.

As far as the Fed buying Treasuries, it is trying to stabilize the bond market as nations world wide have begun liquidating their U.S. bonds as part of (but not exclusively due to) the aforementioned attack on the Dollar as a reserve currency. Some nations, like Japan, are selling as part of an effort to stabilize their own economies. Gold is often being purchased with the funds resulting from the sales of U.S. bonds, and that is pushing the price of gold upward.

 

[Marie Mallory]

While what is sold to Canadians is often of good quality no matter what it is--food, drugs, etc.--what is marketed outside the country often isn't. It is sad that we cannot trust our closest (in culture) neighbor.

Don I'm going to try to stay out of politics again , lol.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

People are getting weird.

Friday, post-Christmas, precious metals Futures ad even spot price shot up dramatically. People went nuts, in some places lots of selling, other places lots of buying, and some evened out but with a lot of both.

Today very early on there was a steep plunge in prices. Yet the very same mania seems to have taken place.

And now there seems to be a weird "Asian Guy" AI video machine running creating a large number of videos that mostly recycle material from videos by real people but also sprinkle in fake news and weird advice. This is quite a topic of discussion now, especially among those being quoted by the bot.

Is this sleazing its way into a position of some trust before it really starts the propaganda? Somebody testing out new AI software? Who can tell?

But there are also a number of "higher-tier" long time observers and economic watchdogs unaffiliated with banks or bullion dealers saying weird things. Things like prognostications of the rapid approach of a world banking system breakdown. The core of this being the U.S. Dollar, though not precisely the same one we have in our bank accounts and wallets but the closely-related world reserve currency.

 

[Don Alaska]

People are getting weird.

Friday, post-Christmas, precious metals Futures ad even spot price shot up dramatically. People went nuts, in some places lots of selling, other places lots of buying, and some evened out but with a lot of both.

Today very early on there was a steep plunge in prices. Yet the very same mania seems to have taken place.

And now there seems to be a weird "Asian Guy" AI video machine running creating a large number of videos that mostly recycle material from videos by real people but also sprinkle in fake news and weird advice. This is quite a topic of discussion now, especially among those being quoted by the bot.

Is this sleazing its way into a position of some trust before it really starts the propaganda? Somebody testing out new AI software? Who can tell?

But there are also a number of "higher-tier" long time observers and economic watchdogs unaffiliated with banks or bullion dealers saying weird things. Things like prognostications of the rapid approach of a world banking system breakdown. The core of this being the U.S. Dollar, though not precisely the same one we have in our bank accounts and wallets but the closely-related world reserve currency.

I know you don't believe me @Jacob Petersheim but it appears that China is actively attacking the Western banking system, mostly using silver and gold and it is causing great instability. Reportedly China is overpricing silver and that is causing a draw on both London and New York.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

It is beginning to look like the coming digital replacement currencies around the world will further kneecap what remains of the upper-working and lower-middle classes. Not only can everything be tracked, they can limit how much of your savings transfer into the new system and also implement purchase rationing and income caps.

At the low end of the economy nothing really changes. They just trundle along, perhaps with increased government subsidies. Those much further up would have tangible assets from tools and vehicles to property including truck farms, orchards, vineyards, or fishing waters if not mines and manufacturing.


Clive here has been in finance in Switzerland for most of his career. His wife is from China, I assume Chinese. But their son (who appears to me about 9 maybe 10 years old) is as sharp as they come. He probably speaks Chinese as well as English, German, and French.

The Global Currency Reset is almost here. What it means for your wealth. The winners and losers.

 

[Don Alaska]

It is beginning to look like the coming digital replacement currencies around the world will further kneecap what remains of the upper-working and lower-middle classes. Not only can everything be tracked, they can limit how much of your savings transfer into the new system and also implement purchase rationing and income caps.

At the low end of the economy nothing really changes. They just trundle along, perhaps with increased government subsidies. Those much further up would have tangible assets from tools and vehicles to property including truck farms, orchards, vineyards, or fishing waters if not mines and manufacturing.


Clive here has been in finance in Switzerland for most of his career. His wife is from China, I assume Chinese. But their son (who appears to me about 9 maybe 10 years old) is as sharp as they come. He probably speaks Chinese as well as English, German, and French.

The Global Currency Reset is almost here. What it means for your wealth. The winners and losers.

Lots of holes in his theory. He is saying Apple will still exist but essentially will be valued in existing currency, so it will be worth nothing, and the millionaires will have nothing. They simply won't allow that to happen. Those people own the financial system and the politicians, so the shares of those companies will be like equity in your house. The Western governments may all default, but those not in the Western system like China , and, since Biden, Russia will become very wealthy if they dump their Western assets in time. Russia has been forced to do so, and China is trying to do so as quickly as it can. I even think Switzerland itself is outside the Western currencies. although I am not certain of that. Silver and gold can be outlawed as FDR did during the Depression. If they follow that pattern, Gold for example will be redeemable for whatever the government says it is worth (NOT the $4000 or so it is said to be worth at the moment), and further use of the metals will be illegal. Equity in your house or stocks will be converted to whatever currency is made up, Bonds, especially government bonds likely may be worth nothing, or much less than the current value. Currency collapses have happened many times in the past, and the next one will follow a similar path but may be much larger.

 

[Don Alaska]

I don't know if this video is factual, but if it is, there will soon be a lot of commotion in the metals market.