The gold standard and the Great Depression

Econbrowser ^ | 12/12/2005 | James Hamilton

[djf]

I am not wrong. If the price of gold was 1,000,000 dollars an ounce, there would be enough gold.

That's the whole reason they went off the gold standard. Because you cannot "manufacture" gold. But you can print all the paper you want.

Paper is only a promise. And since we went off the gold standard, it is only a promise - of more paper.

[chronic_loser]

While initially scanning, I thought the guy might be saying something intelligent before this gem The U.S. abandoned gold in 1933, after which its dramatic recovery immediately began.

Someone please send this guy a history book.

[chronic_loser]

Government is the only entity that can render perfectly good commodities like paper and ink to be worthless.

[shaggy eel]

Damn, I got a couple of pounds of illegal metal in my safe. :)

,,, well, that's a couple of pounds that didn't find their way to Europe.

[metesky]

The U.S. abandoned gold in 1933, after which its dramatic recovery immediately began.

Arguably untrue. Lend-Lease and WWII led to recovery.

[beaver fever]

Ok so go to Fort Knox and ask for a tour.

The Fed won't even publish figures on M3 money, let alone give you a tour of Fort Knox.

You would stand a better chance of physically examining US Treasury gold reserves as you would have an Aurora land in your back yard.

8000 tons? That physical gold was sold forward year's ago.

For all we know it's in Switzerland.

[djf]

I'm not sure if it's totally worthless, but one thing is for sure.

The chickens are gonna come home to roost. And when the banks and creditors get into a squeeze, you could see chaos like never before.

So the government HAS to keep printing money and getting it into circulation... somehow. Because if the banks fail, the government goes under too.

[djf]

I know it was sold forward.

And that's part of the problem, with gold leasing, etc. They loan the gold, and still keep it on the books as physical.

From what I hear, there are naked contracts for something like ten times the actual amount of physical silver in the world. If the holders decide they want physical, instead of a cash premium, silver prices would go to the moon.

A few are actually predicting that silver may become higher valued than gold.

[beaver fever]

That's true. Two years ago an executive if a major mining company decided to buy physical gold as an asset and was told by the broker he would have to wait three months for delivery.

This is when gold was sitting at under $300 and was supposedly the market was oversupplied.

He did some investigating an realized that the gold was in a physical deficit and the market was being manipulated through speculative forward sales contracts.

In other words the majors were underwater on forward sales and selling contracts into the market to protect their positions.

When gold started to rise the new mantra was retire forward sales commitments.

That's why there's a flurry of gold exploration and the price is rising. Derivatives are pushing the gold bull.

[djf]

Bump. A bunch of us have been making the calls for the PM train for awhile. It's not too late to get on board!

PS: If you're a youngster, and think you might get married someday, buy the ring now! Before it costs half as much as your next car!

[Old Professer]

Gold is mesmerizing, most malleable and prized for its durability but any man will trade his own weight in it when desperate for a single drop of water.

[djf]

I am hoping that the whole world learned something from Katrina.

If a person spent ten minutes a day for the next month, they could easily be prepared to live the next month and not ever leave their front yard.

Doesn't take much at all - and it's only common sense.

[Old Professer]

It's odd you should bring that up, I almost never leave the property especially at this time of the year.

My water heater holds fifty gallons of potable water, the two toilets another 6 gallons total and the normal canned goods another three gallons easy.

We have flour, cornstarch, potatoes, rice and a small amount of bread on hand at all times.

I have at least five gallons of propane and two grills; about two gallons of gasoline and a few bricks, a shovel and lots of dirt, pots, pans and a dresser drawer full of flashlights and batteries.

I have blankets, sheets, towels, shop rags and three dogs for warmth, four bookcases of thrice-read books and incipient Alzheimers (selective), and the comfort of knowing that nothing will go to waste before my dogs starve to death.

[djf]

I got a couple real obnoxious grey squirrels that live in my backyard, they love to tease my dog.

They don't know it, but they're on the menu!

I have alot of stuff stored in plastic containers, I should look at some of the older stuff and see how good it is. Wonder how long Velveeta lasts as long as you don't open it?

[Sic Luceat Lux]

buy the ring now! Before it costs half as much as your next car!

lol - -- -however:
("...many a truth is said in jest")

and btw, thanks for pinging me to this article

[djf]

And my taters is comin up gangbusters! 2 plots, one with reds and purples, and the other one with russets! Last year, I had about 8 lettuce plants, and they went to seed, now I got more lettuce than you can shake a stick at. And lots of cabbage, last years is already flowering, it always weirds people out when they see me rip a cluster of flowers off a cabbage plant and eat them. But they're good!

[djf]

Asia trading now, silver up .35, expect more on the up leg when Europe opens.

I don't know how they do it, but anytime we get near option expiration, if the price is high, they manage to bring it down. Maybe they rewrite the options and average out the strike price with the current price.

[Sic Luceat Lux]

I don't know how they do it

For as long as I can remember (back to 1973) there has always been a lot of manipulation in the gold and silver markets. But I still believe the trend for silver, gold and the other precious metals is up.
Btw, did you see all the various posts in the silver thread, more info added there.