Gold Editorials & Commentary

This week's letter is abbreviated since most things were mentioned in the update to subscribers, and quite frankly that long update burnt me out.

GLD - on buy signal.

I know a lot of funny jokes. They are so funny that one of my friends has confessed that he has nightmares of ending up in the same old people's home as me, listening to me tell those jokes over and over again.

I know a lot of funny jokes. They are so funny that one of my friends has confessed that he has nightmares of ending up in the same old people's home as me, listening to me tell those jokes over and over again.

At the end of the day the economy is driven by the sum total of all businesses and investing is/should be about finding good companies which are well managed by professional managers who understand that they are employed by - and accountable to - shareholders.

Over the last few months, the behavior of the US stock markets has been rather vexing. Usually when they grow overbought, when greed and complacency wax extreme after a powerful rally, a healthy pullback soon rebalances sentiment.

The purpose in owning commodities like gold, silver and oil is to protect oneself from the effect of inflation that I believe will begin to assert itself in the coming months.

I always try to keep things simple. Any highly educated dummy can use big words and double speak, like Allan Greenspan (who was the master at it), but when you walked away you wondered what it was that he actually said.

It's nice to be back to work after a hectic and unfortunately stressful holiday season. The general complacency regarding markets in general continues on into the new year and the metals are back on track to their wining ways, but more on that next week.

GLD - buy signal this week.

In Part One I discussed the clear and present danger to pension rights: deflation as manifested by the interest rates structure that has been falling for almost thirty years, while most observers still think that the real danger is inflation.

Copper has enjoyed a spectacular run higher. In calendar 2009 as it emerged out of the stock-panic-induced commodities-price crash, it rocketed 153.2% higher! Such performance is just staggeringly good, even by the high post-panic standards.

The year 2008 bore my mark as the year the system broke. A public article addressed the issues, laid out before the breakdown occurred in September of that year.

It is not the size of the national and international problems but the size of the governing brains that preclude any meaningful solution to the ongoing dangers and mess faced by the United States.

On February 23, 1950, The Commercial and Financial Chronicle published an article from Ludwig von Mises with the above title. In it the author concentrated on the threat of inflation as the greatest danger to pension rights.

The year ended with a typical light volume"Santa Claus" rally.

"The more laws, the more corrupt the Republic"

Corruptimus republica plurimae leges-- Tacitus 118-123 A.D.

GLD - on sell signal.

"I consider it to be a reasonable demand that the economic burden placed on the current and future generations of Icelanders, in the form of a state guarantee for Icesave payments to the UK and Dutch governments, be subject to a national referendum,

Well, here we are with only hours left before the year is over. Virtually every investment is up other than the US dollar.

The gold market has become, despite little recognition by the financial press, the battlefield for global control of the financial world. To the winner go the spoils and access to the helm.

The background noise has been considerable. The USCongress, the august body, evaluates a new initiative to reinstitute the Glass Steagall Act. Great idea!

One of the great things about living in a democracy is that citizens have the freedom of speech. It is a freedom that is exercised without the fear of bodily harm, but always with the possibility of disagreement, correction and sometimes a little ridicule.

Without any doubt the fastest growing country in the world is also the largest in many ways. CHINA rightfully claims that title.

The technical picture for gold has brightened considerably over the past week, despite the price having continued to drop and the apparent failure of an uptrend.

"We're not going to have.... a second wave of financial crisis..... We'll do what is necessary to prevent that.......and that is completely within our capacity to prevent."

GLD - on sell signal.

Year-end is always a time of reflection, a rare opportunity where the usual psychological boundaries of time crumble. For a couple weeks, the tyranny of the present yields to a heightened consideration of the past and the future.