Free Republic

The short version of the story is that a 1970s deal cemented the US dollar as the only currency to buy and sell crude oil, and from that monopoly on the all-important oil trade the US dollar slowly but surely became the reserve currency for global trades in most commodities and goods. Massive demand for US dollars ensued, pushing the dollar's value up, up, and away. In addition, countries stored their excess US dollars savings in US Treasuries, giving the US government a vast pool of credit from which to draw.

Berkshire Hathaway chairman and famous investor Warren Buffett has dismissed gold as a "valueless asset". Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has dismissed gold as a valueless asset saying that it has no inherent value. In an article for Fortune magazine, Buffett said that gold investors were pinning their hopes on future demand. He warned that gold was a self-inflating bubble, created by investors desperate for a viable alternative to property and shares. The infamous investor warned that investors in gold would be left with egg on their face when the price eventually crashed. "Bubbles blown large enough inevitably pop," he said....

He's been publishing The Ruff Times for thirty-four years, in bull and bear markets in stocks and the precious metals. As he says, "I've been around a long time, unlike most of the hot financial advisors and brokers today who weren't even born when I was already accurately predicting the markets. These big shots were the Invincible Optimists at the peak of the last bull market on Wall Street in the spring of 2000, and I was yelling at them (they didn't listen) to get out of the stock market. I think I am one of a handful of real...

Ty Andros joins us today for an economic update covering the latest hotspots around the globe. Ty is not just an Austrian Economics admirer, he’s put the philosophy to excellent use. Armed with his projections he’s able to make common sense calls about the behavior and direction of markets that can lead to good profits. It’s really not a matter of what you know, but how you use it. QE3 is written all over the markets. You see its fingerprints in decreased volatility, the absence of individual activity and a sense that market signals are no longer functioning properly. Sell...

Brother John F of BrotherJohnF.com is an amazingly popular blogger who's site regularly attracts many thousands of visitors. Through his YouTube Channel and his site, he's become a go to source of information about what's really going on in the economy. And we both agree, it ain't pretty. Declining employment rates, declining standards of living, and political instability are all indications of where the state of our nation and our economic prospects are headed. However, John believes that you can avoid much of the economic deluge that is currently hitting our shores by the judicious purchase of silver. While the...

Gary Gibson of www.WhiskeyandGunPowder.com and Jeff Berwick of www.DollarVigilante.com join your humble host for a no holds barred discussion of why they believe that anarchy is the best course for humanity. While one can question the practicality of a world without government, Gary and Jeff have really thought things through and believe that we are all grown-up enough to live without the guiding hand of all knowing government. And while that may or may not be the case, governments today are teetering on the edge and we may have no choice but to prepare for life without them. Certainly government...

Let's think about the kind of mess that we're in. Federal 2010 Medicare and Medicaid expenditures totaled $800 billion. The projected annual growth of both programs is about 7 percent. Social Security expenditures are more than $700 billion a year. According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare trustees reports, by 2030, 49 percent of federal revenues will go for Social Security and Medicare payments. The unfunded liability of both programs is already $106 trillion.But not to worry. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it's possible to sustain today's level of federal spending and even achieve a balanced budget. All...

"Ranting" Andy Hoffman and I revel in the New York Giant's well earned Super Bowl victory. And of course we couldn't be happier with the Patriots' resounding and well deserved defeat. But while we are extremely happy on the sports' front, the economic arena continues to disappoint. While the Feds continue to release stupendous employment numbers, a closer look "under the hood," reveals a lot of statistical "hocus pocus" taking place. The economy actually lost 2.9 million jobs in January, but through the convenient magic of seasonal adjustments and the much maligned "birth-death" index, the reality is not so encouraging,...

A new first for the Financial Survival Network--a virtual round table. Gary Wagner and David A. Banister joined me for a discussion about the current price direction of the precious metals and how best to maximize your profits. Strategy is everything. From personal experience, I can attest to the fact there's no stronger intoxicant than a rapidly rising investment portfolio. Quick returns have been known to do in even the most experienced investors. Therefore, controlling your emotions and being open to advice from others can help. After all, learning from another's expensive mistake can help insure you don't do the...

When Mark Skousen started Freedom Fest in 2002 he didn't think he was giving birth to a movement. Now, it's a decade later and thousands of people around the world are aware of Freedom Fest and routinely attend its events. I caught up with Mark at the Global Financial Summit in the Bahamas last week. As a freedom loving person, Mark was anxious to create a place where fellow freedom lovers could gather and start fighting the ever increases governmental encroachments. Far from being a US phenomena, governments across the globe have had an ongoing undeclared war on individual freedom...

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will use a part of its current deposit insurance fund for foreign currencies and gold after starting to mobilize gold bullion from the citizens, said a SBV official. The fund will only be used in case of mass gold withdrawal when gold prices hike, the official who wants to remain anonymous told Tien Phong newspaper. "The central bank will raise gold through credit institutions," he said. It is expected that the SBV will submit the scheme for mobilizing gold from the citizens to the Government in the middle of Q2/2012, according to Tien Phong....

A US trade adviser appointed by Barack Obama orchestrated a deal to buy gold worth millions of dollars from a wanted Congolese warlord, according to a UN report. Kase Lawal, a Nigerian-born US oil tycoon, transferred millions of dollars to the notorious rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda between December 2010 and February 2011 as part of the deal, the report by the UN's Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) states.If true, this would be a contravention of UN resolutions banning individuals or organisations from financing illegal armed groups in the wartorn eastern DRC.

Ty Andros of www.Traderview.com, a speaker at FreedomFest's Global Financial Summit, believes the economic system and the Dollar, as it presently exists, are facing an extinction event. Currency shifts have taken place many times before and will continue to occur; they simply are part of human existence. No matter how hard we try, we cannot change this reality. The solution is to understand where you are in the cycle and invest your resources accordingly. Precious metals are certainly an insurance policy against the resulting chaos, and Ty believes Silver is your greatest ally in protecting and building wealth. As a...

Washington State Representative Matt Shea believes that paper money printed by the Federal Reserve amounts to confiscation of property without compensation. And, the bill that he is co-sponsoring would authorize gold and silver use as legal tender in his state says as much. He believes that the Fed’s printing of paper money is unconstitutional. The Bill’s basis is under Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution which gives the states the power to enact gold and silver based legal tender laws, "no state shall . . .; make any thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in...

Jim Grant’s rise to power may be delayed. The legendary Wall Street writer, publisher of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, has been mentioned by two of the rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. Newt Gingrich said if elected president, he’d name Grant to help run a commission looking at a possible return to the gold standard. And Ron Paul said, if elected president, he’d go all-in and name Grant — one of Wall Street’s best-known gold bugs — as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve. As Paul wants to abolish the Fed, it would doubtless be a temporary post. But...

Nick Santiago joins us today to discuss technical trading. His exceptional trading site, InTheMoneyStocks.com has been providing investment advice to help the average trader for the last five years. Santiago believes that at best, we're in a short-term pull back mode. But soon, in the next two months or so, the dow will probably top out. Then, we'll get a pretty sharp correction that could last a while. Ultimately, the central banks are going to deflate the banks again. If your looking at the Euro, it's on a one-way train to the downside. The Euro's going lower and that means...

[Background History on...] James G. Rickards is a writer, lawyer and economist with over 30 years experience in global capital markets. He is Senior Managing Director at Omnis, Inc., a consulting firm in McLean, VA and is the leading practitioner at the intersection of global capital markets and national security. His advice to clients from 2002 to 2006 included early warning of impending financial collapse, the rise of sovereign wealth funds, the decline of the dollar and the sharp rise in gold prices years in advance of these events. He has held senior executive positions at Citibank, Long-Term Capital Management...

Back for his weekly rant, we check in with Andy Hoffman to discuss gold breaking through its 200 day moving average. As per our expectations, gold's on the up side yet again. Andy however, warns you not to get caught up with short term movements. Consider the manipulation of the markets and the fast pace of the media-- always remember to look at the bigger picture! Don't watch the markets day to day, keep your expectations in the long-term. Gold has only traded below its 200 day moving average about 10% of the time over the last 11 years. The...

David A. Banister is among a small select group of technical traders who saw the current breakout in gold before it occurred and was well positioned to cash in on it. David doesn't blindly follow technical indicators off the cliff, but rather follows them while keeping the fundamental picture in view. Using his proprietary indicators, he's discovered a number of resource plays that have led him and his subscribers to profits. In the 4th quarter of 2011, he felt gold was being overbought due to its parabolic rise and called for a correction, that proved uncannily correct. Now he believes...

Jamie Oliver is a one man healthy food crusader, but he has met his match. He actually expected LA public school students to give up the flavor of a real beef cheeseburger for a wheat bread burger. After all, it's so much better for you. And like a liberal statist, he knows what's better for you and your kids than you do. However, when forced substitution of healthy foods was attempted, guess what happened? Kids voted with their knives and forks and dumped the healthy gruel into the garbage. Hopefully the same thing will happen with the forced consumption of...

The machine guns roared, pouring tens of thousands of bullets into the night's blackness. Suddenly: Ka-WHOOOMP! WAAHHHMP! WHA-OOOOMP!! Enormous fireballs flashed into yellow-white existence, mutating into billows of orange flame 100 feet high. The pulse of shock and heat hit my skin. As the explosions faded, the night air was lit by an endless fusillade of red and green tracer rounds, the incandescent muzzle blast of automatic weapons, and flames from burning vehicles… Just a typical evening in the green autumn hills of north-central Kentucky. Typical twice a year, I should say. Every April and October, the Knob Creek Gun...

teen Jakobsen, chief economist for Saxo Bank in Denmark has some interesting thoughts to share on gold and metals in an email update that just came in. Steen writes ... Interesting session with Fed yesterday! Both the ECB and the FED have now clearly showed that the changed board of directors is far more willing to print money and keep rates low forever than ever before in central banking history – which is probably not a good thing or is it? It’s a wait and see game now – the FOMC action left plenty on the table for both the...

Chris is selling his living and dining room furniture, and he's buying silver. He started buying years ago, but now he's arbitraging the furniture; selling the old stuff for cash, using the cash to invest in silver, and buying new stuff on interest-free credit with small payments. While we can't, in good faith, recommend this move to investors, it does open up limitless possibilities. Perhaps stripping the copper out of your home's walls, selling it for scrap and putting it into gold and silver makes sense. Or, stripping your auto for parts--most cars are worth more dead than alive--and selling...

Jason Burack is a very savvy economic analyst who's got his hand on the market's pulse. He's been following the markets for years, and he knows when a breakout is ready to occur. Jason has dedicated his life to helping you avoid getting taken by the Street. He created his company, Wall Street For Main Street, to empower the individuals and families of Main Street. He won't hand your money over to Wall Streeters and other money managers; Burack is dedicated to teaching you how Wall Street manages money through research, risk management, and fundamental as well as technical analysis....

Yesterday was a watershed event. The Fed capitulated and acknowledged that the economy will require zero percent interest rates into the indefinite future. Just six months ago they were saying the policy would only continue through to the end of 2012. What happened to change their view of the economy? Perhaps, for once, they decided that honesty is the policy. But, that would be too much to hope for. No, they are hell-bent on making things look as good as they possibly can for the upcoming election. They had to acknowledge the obvious: the economy is weak and looking even...

Greg McCoach is a frequent guest on the show. As I've stated before, he is one of the most canny mining stock investors around. His MiningSpeculator is invaluable when it comes to the number of stocks it covers and the depth of analysis it provides. Greg is not one to sugar coat poor performance or less than stellar management. As you'll hear now, "he has a bone to pick" with several companies. But there's a number of other companies that he's extremely bullish about. Greg is brutally honest and never boring. The Financial Survival Network's thesis for 2012 is this...

Bob, "The International Forecaster" and I sat down for a brief chat about the economy, gold, silver and the mining shares. Bob explains that frugal management, especially in the early years, is extremely important. Management should be involved to make profits from the eventual success of the project, rather than cashing in on high salaries and other compensations; share structure is also quite important. When companies have hundreds of millions of shares outstanding, before producing one ounce, this will greatly lessen the potential future share appreciation. Focus is also extremely important; concentration on a few or even just one project...

"Ranting" Andy Hoffman and I sat down again; fortunately, we did it a few days later than usual. We got to discuss the opening parabolic warm-up shot that gold and silver took today. If you've been listening to Andy and the Financial Survival Network, this should have been just another day at the office. We knew it was coming, it was always a matter of when not if. And today, we got our answer. Because the metals have been artificially depressed, there is still time for some real profits, meaning profits over and above the actual inflation rate. The key...

If you are long gold, remember pigs get slaughtered. I know all the reasons to be long gold. Fear. Countries are debasing their currencies. But does your local grocery store have a scale and an up to the minute $GLD ticker so that you can actually use it? You can convert gold holdings to cash, but the transaction costs need to be added in to see your real return on investment. You also won’t want to convert to cash in a hyperinflation environment which seems to be one of the strongest reasons I get for buying gold. If you are...

Ron Hera and I are live on the floor at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. There were over 500 companies exhibiting and Ron says that in 5 years, half of them won't exist. Ron explains that for a mining venture to be successful you need three things, experienced management with a track record, a property with decent ore grade and proximity to good infrastructure. Of course capital is required, but without these three important elements, you won't have to worry about raising money because there won't be any. Ron talks about several companies he thinks have good prospects. They are...

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile's intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively. Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets. By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank's assets and the oil embargo which the European Union's foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan....

The market is off to a scintillating start in 2012 and many of last year's worst performers are leading the charge. Europe debt worries seem to be dissipating a bit, helping the the euro bounce back. And investors are dumping stodgy Treasury bonds, pushing yields higher in the process. Risk is back. So why is gold, the quintessential safe haven/fear trade, up about 7% in 2012 too? That's about the same as the Nasdaq. You can probably thank the world's central bankers for helping fuel a gold rush. The funny thing about gold is that it often rallies when investors...

At the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, I caught up with an old friend of the show Kirsty Hogg. Kirsty's a gold bull and well known blogger about precious metals and protecting your wealth against the coming economic tsunami. Together we reviewed hundreds of different mining companies and went to a number of well informed company and market presentations. While we may not agree on every company's prospects, we both agree that a gold/silver/natural resource boom is underway. Metals prices are poised to take off once again and the share prices of many miners will go along for the ride. The...

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile's intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively. Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets. By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank's assets and the oil embargo which the European Union's foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan....

Hoping for an education from some Freepers on history and future of silver and gold prices. When I look at the historical price of silver, it looks like we've seen this trend before in the late 70's and early 80's. Prior to this, it was under $10 an ounce, then spiked to about $50 an ounce, then back down to $10 for a couple of decades. My question is, why should we not expect it to drop back down to a historically baseline price of around $10 an ounce within the next couple of years? If you can answer that,...

Greg McCoach believes that the Junior Gold and Silver Mining Stocks are ready to resume their upward path. He believes that gold and silver are poised for major breakouts. During the summer months and on vacations, it is not unusual to see him flying off to remote mines around the world, searching for great opportunities. He is very close with many of the mining company managers and has an excellent track record of picking winners and avoiding losers. He took unscripted questions from the audience and showed a near encyclopedic knowledge of dozens of obscure miners, who are staking claims...

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Newt Gingrich has moved to capture some Republican voters who lean toward Ron Paul and other Republicans who were Jack Kemp followers by naming two gold bugs to the Gingrich future team of advisers. The former House speaker says he intends to appoint investment banker Lewis E. Lehrman, famous in the Reagan era for his red suspenders and gold-standard advocacy, and Jim Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, as President Gingrich’s Gold Commission - if and when of course Mr. Gingrich wins both the Republican nomination and the general election in November. Mr. Paul, a Texas...

Less than a week ago, we questioned Ron Paul's real impact upon the issues being discussed in the never ending series of debates that have left every American shaking his/her head. If the candidates were celebrities, their PR staff would have warned them against getting over exposed to their market. And as politics is often referred to as, Hollywood for the Ugly, you really have to wonder. Now, there is clear evidence that Ron Paul has raised the bar. Candidate Newt Gingrich, who has more skeletons in his closet than a Roman Catacomb addressed a group several days ago imploring...

VietNamNet Bridge – It is quite normal to see elderly people and married people, who have to feed dependent children to “save up for the rainy day” by keeping gold at their coffers. However, hoarding gold has become “in fashion” among young people as well. Nguyen Ngoc Huyen, an officer of a medical equipment distribution company, said she began hoarding gold eight years ago, when she was the fourth year student of the university and began working to get the money of her own. Huyen did not spend the money she earned but bought gold to keep in her coffer....

Mike "Mish" Shedlock finally made it on to FSN's distinguished guest list. While Mish is often controversial and frequently derided by other members of the prognostication class, he has a unique perspective, which is entitled to some respect. As he explains it, the massive destruction of assets, such as real estate and debt backed securities has actually led to a shrinking of the money in circulation. Even though the Monetary Base M0 has greatly expanded in recent years, none of these newly created dollars have found their way in to the money supply. The reason is simple, banks aren't lending...

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is calling for the United States to think about returning to the gold standard. Speaking at a foreign policy forum in South Carolina on Tuesday, Gingrich advocated a "commission on gold to look at the whole concept of how do we get back to hard money." Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House, has spoken in favor of a "hard money" policy in the past, but these were his strongest comments to support reinstating the gold standard. Gingrich would model his "gold commission" after one put in place after Ronald Reagan was elected, when the...

Newt on sound money and going back to gold: “We need to get our house in order. And we need to vaccinate ourselves against foreign contagion. The correct answer to the Euro is not to spend more American money propping up the Germans who prop up Southern Europe. The correct answer is to figure how we seal our banks off; how we make sure we protect ourselves and then say to the Europeans: you have a problem and you need to solve it. “Part of our approach ought to be to reestablish something Ronald Reagan did in 1981 and that...

John Butler's upcoming book, The Golden Revolution could be a blockbuster. Unlike many of today's commentators and newsletter writers, John goes the extra mile and dares to see a world where fiat currencies have gone the way of the phonograph record. He's certain that plans are currently afoot to implement a new metallic money standard. It's clear that US monetary policy, besides being an abject failure, is destabilizing the world economic system. Many countries have come to this conclusion and understand that it is in their interest to come up with an alternative system, which will act as a store...

Peter Grandich joins us for the first time today to discuss what's going on with oil & gas, precious metals, and the stock market. Peter has been writing his newsletter for many years, and his biggest present concern is US debt. He describes the US as being in an eye of the storm--we've had the first wave and the back end, which is always worse, is rapidly approaching. Peter refers to the financial professional community as the dont worry be happy crowd. He describes the constant industry refrain that, "Stocks and bonds are always a buy," is just mainstream media...

Miles Franklin’s reigning precious metals guru Ranting Andy Hoffman told us today that Europe’s economic system is toast. There’s no way for the weaker economies to make a comeback and pay down all the debt they’ve accumulated over the past several decades. More importantly to us New Yorkers, however, is that the NY Giants defied conventional wisdom and the prognostications of the clueless mainstream media and defeated the Green Bay Packers. While I know that this is a disappointment to many of my Wisconsin friends, family and fans, nonetheless it made it easier to wake up this morning and come...

We sat down with Andrew Schiff of EuroPacific Capital. Andrew and his brother Peter have built an alternative investment powerhouse. Together, they have written books and predicted much of the current worldwide economic depression. Andrew believes that around 30 percent of your portfolio should be held in cash, not the paper variety, but rather gold and silver. He's encouraging investors to protect themselves against the inevitable collapse of the dollar and fiat currencies around the globe. In addition, he really likes foreign high yield dividend stocks. This gives you the ability to participate in a growing company that is sharing...

If you follow the discussions in the financial world, you might have heard talking heads going on about the death of the gold bull. Don’t believe it. First off, I maintain that it’s a false premise that there are gold bull or bear markets at all because very few people buy gold as a speculative investment. Gold doesn’t split, gold doesn’t pay a dividend or report earnings every quarter and gold doesn’t buy back its own shares. If you want a growth investment, there are better options. What gold has going for it is that it’s a finite resource with...

Gary Wagner stopped by the show today to explain why technical analysis along with a fundamental grasp of the underlying economic trends and issues gives us the best understanding of where gold and silver are heading. He is quite sure that the vicious precious metals correction has run its course and that we are now witnessing a new upward leg in the precious metals/commodities super-bull market. This means returns for those who are in already will abound, and buying now will be extremely positive. It always seems hardest to jump into a market that appears to be bottoming out in...

The International Forecaster joins us again, this week for our bi-weekly chat. Bob and I discuss the gold and silver New Year's take-off. We touch upon the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's review and investigation of the CME group. The C.F.T.C.'s has been tasked with looking into the leading causes of the MF Global failure. Check out a great interview Bob posted about this at www.theinternationalforecaster.com. Most of us thought Jon Corzine was finished, we were all sure he would never work on Wall Street again. However, Corzine is rumored to be going back into business and is even looking for...

Matthew 13:44 – “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”Gold! Treasure! History records a great number of “gold rushes” throughout the world. Americans experienced gold rushes in no less than Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Washington, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Carolina, Georgia, Idaho, and California. A number of people consider the gold rush to be something of the past. However, a recent report on the Madre de Dios region of Peru shows...