January, 2017

Silver Speculators Gone Wild, Report 29 Jan, 2017

This week, the prices of the metals had been up Sunday night but were slowly sliding all week—until Friday at 7:00am Arizona time (14:00 in London). Then the price of silver took off like a silver-speculator-fueled-rocket. It went from $16.68 to $17.25, or 3.4% in two hours. What does it mean? We don’t know. We […]

The Trump Weak Dollar Report, 22 Jan, 2017

The action favored bettors this holiday-shortened week (Monday was Martin Luther King day in the US), with the price of gold up 13 bucks and silver up 26 cents. We noticed a worrisome remark by newly inaugurated President Trump. The strong dollar of the past 20 years, he said, is not good for American competitiveness. […]

Yield Purchasing Power

Last Update: August 2021 Most people think in terms of purchasing power. How much can one’s cash buy? I reject this view on two grounds. One, it encourages a liquidation mindset. If your life savings consists of 100,000 dollars in the bank, plus a house and some shares of AAPL and INTC, how many years’ […]

The Theory of Interest and Prices in Paper Currency

The behavior of the dollar system is nonlinear and counterintuitive. In my reading, I have rarely encountered understanding of even the mechanics, much less the dynamics that drive it. Most debate is stuck on level zero: money printing as panacea vs. imminent hyperinflation. This is a tragedy, because the monetary system is in the final […]

A Hint of Gold Backwardation, Report 15 Jan, 2017

Last month, we noted that there could be a trend change in progress. Not only are the prices of the metals rising (which is just a mirror-image of the dollar falling, from 27.6 milligrams of gold just before Christmas to currently under 26mg). But the scarcity of gold as we measure it, using the spread […]

The Unadulterated Gold Standard

In this five part series, we discuss why the world needs an Unadulterated Gold Standard: In Part I, we look at the period prior to and during the time of what we now call the Classical Gold Standard.  It should be underscored that it worked pretty darned well.  Under this standard, the United States produced […]

Silver’s Got Fundamentals, Report 8 Jan, 2017

This week was another short week, due to the New Year holiday. We look forward to getting back to our regularly scheduled market action. The prices of both metals moved up again this week. Something very noticeable is occurring in the supply and demand fundamentals. We will give an update on that, but first, here’s […]

Happy New Year, Report 2 January, 2017

This weeks is also a short Report, and also a day later than normal, due to the New Year’s holiday. We hope everyone has a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2017! The prices of the metals moved up last week, except for Friday which was a bump in the road, especially for silver. Below, we will […]