100-oz silver bar shortage developing in US
A shortage of 100-oz silver bars is developing in the US, and presently buying, while strong, is not what I would call robust. When buying picks up, the shortage will be on us.
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A shortage of 100-oz silver bars is developing in the US, and presently buying, while strong, is not what I would call robust. When buying picks up, the shortage will be on us.
It is scary to see the ideas and programs promulgated in Washington as solutions to today’s economic problems, primarily the recession (America’s Second Great Depression?) Unfortunately, as Ronald Reagan noted, “The government is the problem.”
Fortunately, one of the great thinkers of the 21st century revealed long ago that such programs are not solutions but, in fact, set us on “The Road to Serfdom.” We can get off that road simply by listening to F.A. Hayek, whose ideas now are available via the Internet and in a republished edition of his “The Road to Serfdom.”
Premiums on gold bars in Hong Kong are up, with concerns about Portugal’s sovereign debt seemingly the driver behind heavy buying. If Portugal is not successful later this week when it goes to the debt market, EU and IMF funds may be required. If Portugal is forced to accept EU and IMF assistance, it will be the third PIIGS nation forced to do so. While these concerns may be putting upward pressure on premiums in Hong Kong, premiums on gold bars and other forms of physical gold in the US are normal.
One US Mint Authorized Purchaser has put up a website where, hopefully, the sets can be ordered online mid-January. The site is www.buyamericathebeautifulnow.com. It is not yet functioning, and the exact date of it becoming functional is not known at this time. I encourage potential buyers to bookmark the site and to check back frequently.
The issue of gold confiscation has long been the primary scare tactic behind the sale of overpriced collectible and numismatic coins. So pervasive has the fear become that even asset managers who control billions of dollars fear confiscation—according to mineweb.com’s top story for 2010.
The story, posted June 10, 2010 on Mineweb.com’s site became the site’s “top story,” which probably means the article received the most hits of all the articles posted on the site in 2010. The question remains: Is the fear valid or has the story been told so many times that it has taken on a life of its own?
In the United States we currently have a stated policy by the Federal Reserve to create higher levels of inflation while artificially lowering interest rates. This is a policy devastating to savers and those attempting to live off of the proceeds of their capital. How did we arrive at the point where a government created