The Fiat Money Mistake is Being Repeated Again

"The history of fiat money is little more than a register of monetary follies and inflations. Our present age merely affords another entry in this dismal register."

Hans F. Sennholz

Criminal Bankers Threaten Entire World Economy

Attorney Helen Chaitman, who represents victims of the Bernie Madoff $65 billion fraud, contends the big banks are like mobsters. Chaitman says, “There is no question about it. They operate illegally because they can generate huge profits by doing so. They go from one crime to another, and when they get caught committing one crime, nobody gets fired. Nobody disgorges bonuses. They just take those people and put them in a new area where they haven’t yet been prosecuted.”

What will happen to the customers of the big banks in the next financial meltdown? Chaitman warns, “The customers will be destroyed, and if the banks still have enough money to buy Washington, the government will protect them just like it has since 2008.”

Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Helen Chaitman, author of the new book “JP Madoff.”

- Source, USA Watchdog

When the System Breaks Down, We Will Return to Gold

"Whenever an overall breakdown of a monetary or financial system occurs, return to gold restores order, revives confidence, and brings back prosperity."

Donald J. Hoppe

Where Is Jim Rogers Investing His Money Now?

Jim Rogers tell us what he is investing in now and gives his reasons, says what he thinks about the Russian market and what a Trump Presidency could mean.

- Source

Gold Fund Buying Frenzy Spurs Demand to Second-Highest Ever

There's A 'Very Dangerous Situation' Taking Place In The Comex's Gold Vault

Something big is happening with gold. Over the past few years, if you bought and owned gold and gold mining shares, it’s been frustrating with gold prices in the doldrums of 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012. That’s four years of downside correction. But, that was then, and this is now. Let’s discuss what’s happening and nail down some serious opportunity…

Follow the money and right now money is moving into gold and select miners. In fact, there’s so much interest in “paper” gold that physical supply has utterly broken down. As in… crashed and about to burn in a roaring fireball!

This is critical. The amount of physical gold in storage in Comex versus the number of registered “owners” against each ounce is nuts.

From a few owners per ounce, it jumped to 542 by this March!

Just check out this remarkable chart:

Look at what’s happening. From the early 2000s to not long ago, the number of “owners” per ounce — people who bought a “paper” gold contract, supposedly backed by real metal at Comex — was basically flat, just a handful of claimants for each ounce.

Plus, there were literally millions of ounces of gold on deposit in Comex. There was gold in the vault, in other words. If you showed up with a contract, you could walk away with gold. That’s how markets ought to work.

Then starting in 2014 and trending to mid-2015, the number of registered “owners” moved strongly up, to about 100 per ounce, and then 300 per ounce. Note that this was also a period when Comex sold down significant amounts of physical inventory, from several million ounces in vaults to well under 1 million ounces.

Most of this gold moved out of the West (London, Zurich, New York) to the East (China, Russia, India, Middle East). It’s gone forever … certainly from the West. It was nice while it lasted.

By late 2015 and now into 2016, registered “owners” against Comex gold spiked to a nosebleed level of 542-to-1. Thus if even one claimant shows up for an ounce of yellow metal, the cupboard will be bare — and there are 541 other claimants as well!

By comparison, your child has about 30 times better odds of applying and getting admitted to Harvard, Yale AND Stanford than does a Comex contract holder have of walking away with one ounce of gold. Good luck with that!

“Uncovered” speculation has gone exponential. There’s lots of “paper” gold and almost no “real” gold, which makes for a high-risk scenario — certainly if you don’t hold gold. Its higher return if you do hold gold. (Feel free to smile if you do.)

In essence, all hell has broken loose in gold trading pits. Naturally, the mainstream media (MSM) have not discussed it. No, MSM is too busy telling you how great things are again with Amazon, Tesla, Facebook, etc. That, and how inflation and unemployment are super-duper under control. The economy is growing nicely, thank you… Relax. Go shopping at the mall. Take a cruise. Buy something else you don’t need, with money you don’t have.

MSM would never bother you with the fact that there’s almost no gold in trading vaults. Nor never mind that it would take years’ worth of new mine and mill production to refill Comex to anything approaching old levels. Face it, they're “ain’t” no gold! It’s gone!

Any working, functioning “futures” market requires physical supply to backstop against calls for delivery. Makes sense, right? That’s how it works for corn, wheat, orange juice, cattle, hog bellies, everything else. You can trade cattle futures until the proverbial cows come home; at some point though, cows wind up as hamburger on supermarket shelves.

Yet with gold, there are almost no ounces of Comex gold available for the paper market. Thus is risk exploding for paper gold traders. A collapse may not happen literally overnight … but we’re looking at a very dangerous situation.

By comparison, look at oil markets. With oil, there’s ample supply from six continents. I’ve read of tankers from Middle East nations literally slow-sailing the long route around Africa, to buy time for cargo owners to find a buyer at refineries in Europe or North America. Oil prices may be low by recent standards, but at least paper barrels are aligned with physical reality at wellheads and loading terminals.

The cupboard is so bare for gold that Comex could collapse into the equivalent of a “run” on vaults. If that happens — rather, “when” that happens — watch gold prices spike. On that golden day of reckoning, you’ll see more than a buying frenzy or even a panic. It’ll be utter pandemonium.

When this bomb explodes, gold prices will melt upward in ways we can scarcely imagine. Instead of a few dollars up or down on the ticker, you’ll see hundred-dollar moves in a matter of minutes. Of course, it’ll be a good day for investors who own physical metal and a strong hand of mining shares.

Here’s what to do now…

Own physical gold. If you don’t have some, get some. Go for basic bullion coins. Don’t worry about numismatic coins. Don’t pay big premiums. Just get U.S. Gold Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, South African Krugerrands, etc. Build your stash while you can, because some day, you won’t be able to get gold, period.

Second, you should strongly consider quality mining stocks. Right now, my stock-buying focus is on well-capitalized miners in production with a solid reserve base. Some of these companies have been beaten up so badly over these past few years, their upside is practically unlimited when gold really takes off. It’s been so bad that it’s actually getting good. It’s called a “buyer’s market.”

My view is that we’re in a sweet spot. Any rebound (short or long term) can vault you high and far when the turnaround hits. And it will hit.

Sooner or later, it will hit.

- Source, The Daily Reckoning

Should You Start Hoarding Gold? Some Say China's Gold Ambitions Mean You Should Keep Some Stashed At Home

China’s decision to buy its second gold storage vault in London last week was another step towards total dominance of the market.

The vault is in a secret location and was bought by Chinese state-owned bank ICBC Standard Bank from Barclays. It could store $90bn of gold at today’s prices, and follows the purchase of a lease on another vault in the capital earlier this year from Deutsche Bank.

London has been a hub for metals investment for hundreds of years, but times have changed and the big banks are pulling back from trading them.

Now China is pushing into the gold market in a big way. The reasons why are unclear, and gold continues to spawn more conspiracy theories than the moon landing, but what is known is that China has been amassing the yellow metal at a rapid pace over the last decade. Its official reserves are 1,658 tonnes as of July 2015, a small part of its overall currency reserves and far below the US’s hoard of 8,000 tonnes. Germany and the IMF have 3,000 tonnes apiece.

But China’s actual stocks could be closer to 4,000 tonnes, according to estimates based on how much it mines, imports, and stores. That would put it in second place behind the US. Given the opacity of statistics from China, it’s plausible the country has more.

Why would China keep it secret? Because openly accumulating in a relatively small market would drive the gold price up. And China is not the only buyer either. Russia and a number of other nations have been expanding their reserves too.

One possible reason for amassing a stockpile is that China recognises the world’s monetary system is effectively based on gold – a shadow gold standard if you will. That’s the argument put forward by author James Rickards in his book The New Case for Gold.

Simply put, he says the IMF is a lender of last resort for troubled states, and its source of strength ultimately rests on its masses of gold, and that of its members.

If the monetary system collapses, “gold functions like a pile of poker chips” when the world’s powerful (most gold laden) countries sit around the table and formulate a new system. “China is trying to acquire enough gold so that when the international monetary collapse comes and the world has to recut the deal, China will have a prime seat at the table,” he adds.

Even more, gold is so important the US government is deliberately talking down its true worth, Rickards says.

There hasn’t been an audit of the gold held in Fort Knox, Kentucky for 50 years and some say that means the gold isn’t really there. But Rickards says that’s what they want you to think. “Audits are reserved for important assets, not trivial ones. By refusing to do an audit, the government maintains a pretence that gold is trivial. The US government has a powerful interest in downplaying gold’s importance. The government wants its citizens to forget their gold even exists.”

Incidentally, gold has been one of the best performing investments so far this year. It’s at a 21-month high, having risen from $1,060 on 1 January to $1,285 currently.

There are lots of reasons why, but most analysts talk of fear. Stock markets have been rocky and there’s talk of a global recession coming. This is particularly since monetary policy appears to be becoming ineffective at stimulating economies, and central banks around the world have resorted to unusual methods including negative interest rates to fire them up.

If there is another collapse of the global money system coming, Rickards says gold will be the safest store of wealth and means of exchange for private citizens. He also suggests buying silver coins, currently priced around £15 each, as a practical alternative to bullion. “For around £150 you could buy 10 ounces of silver. Even people with modest means could have silver to perform the same function.”

- Source

Gold & Silver Conspiracy Theory Now A Proven Fact

The secrets are being forced out into the open! Bill Murphy, co-founder of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA.org) a renowned crusader for investigating, exposing and prosecuting gold price manipulation, returns to ReluctantPreppers to give specific evidence that proves the fact that Western banks have been illegally conspiring to suppress the price of precious metals. Murphy also weighs in on whether or not the recent move in precious metals signals a confirmed breakout in the gold and silver markets, and gives his most-likely scenario for where metals prices are going in the coming year. Don't miss it!

- Source