Current Gold Price

[UndercoverElephant]

The trouble is that I don't think it actually makes any difference to the grand scheme of things if we have a gold standard or not. People will still want stuff. More stuff than the Earth can safely provide. It's going to take more than a change in the mechanism of banking to alter that.

I agree that this would not stop people from wanting more stuff. What it would stop is the unquestioned assumption that it is possible for more and more people to actually have more and more stuff continually.

[biffvernon]

Yes but it's the post peak oil collapse of the economy that will stop people having more stuff, not whether their money is backed by gold or not. Gold is not an energy source.

[UndercoverElephant]

Yes but it's the post peak oil collapse of the economy that will stop people having more stuff, not whether their money is backed by gold or not. Gold is not an energy source.

The monetary crisis that currently exists is already stopping people from buying stuff at the rate they were before. "Consumer confidence" is at an all-time low so people are holding onto their money because they are fearful of what is around the corner.

There are many sides to this story.

[biffvernon]

The monetary crisis that currently exists is already stopping people from buying stuff at the rate they were before.

Is that actually true? Western economies mostly still have positive growth and BRICs are nearer 10%. Oil production, probably a good proxy for how much stuff is bought, if not rising has not dropped off yet.

We've not seen nuffin yet.

[emordnilap]

What is this 'growth'? Nothing but the last bubble, I reckon. More paper money is being pumped into the economy than ever and that's probably the reason for upward figures.

Meanwhile, unemployment, particularly amongst the young, is rising and ordinary people with a job are having their pips squeezed.

[UndercoverElephant]

The monetary crisis that currently exists is already stopping people from buying stuff at the rate they were before.

Is that actually true?

Try typing "consumer confidence" into google news. Future historians of The Great Crash are going to have fun with terms like that one.

Western economies mostly still have positive growth and BRICs are nearer 10%. Oil production, probably a good proxy for how much stuff is bought, if not rising has not dropped off yet.

The "growth" in western economies is (a) feeble and (b) largely illusory, because it is associated with money-printing and will stop soon after the money-printing stops.

A lot of people don't feel secure in their jobs, or are expecting pay freezes while prices go up in the future. These people have stopped spending as much money and started paying down their debts or putting money away for the expected harder times. This is being felt on the High Street. It's being felt by me and my mushroom outings too - there is a lot less interest this year and I can't think of any other reason why this would happen.

We've not seen nuffin yet.

I didn't say it wasn't going to get a lot worse. I'm just saying that for a lot of people, fear of what is going to happen is influencing what they do with their money today.

[biffvernon]

Yes but none of that shows that people aren't buying stuff. The best measure we have is energy use - and globally that isn't declining (yet) and that will be an underestimate in as much as we are gradually getting more utility out of energy used as we learn to do things and make stuff more energy-efficiently.

Of course people in Greece are buying less stuff, but I'm thinking globally.

(This ought to go to the global economics thread as we're rather straying from gold prices.)

[Lord Beria3]

http://www.arabianmoney.net/gold-silver ... re-silver/

There was a definite sense of schadenfreude, that is taking pleasure in the pain of others last week when the gold price underwent its biggest correction in years, with financial pundits queuing up to declare that the decade-long bull market in the precious metal is over.

Gold soon gave its response with a $100 rally within days. Silver prices also fell back but then rallied even more strongly. Rumors of the death of gold were greatly exaggerated.

Not good advice

Why is it that financial advisers who have completely missed recommending the best decade of the past decade – and that was silver and not gold – are still so negative about the king of metals?

Perhaps it is simply a totally human reaction to being so wrong for so long. Nobody likes to be wrong, especially if their profession is supposed to be getting financial judgments right.

However, it is more than that. Gold is the antithesis of the financial establishment. It pays then no commissions. It makes their judgments look foolish for not correctly accounting for inflation.

Good article on why you should ignore the financial bubble talk.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44031717/Faber_B ... _and_a_War

However, temporary upturns and the artificial boost to markets given by printing money only disguise the coming threat to the world economy, Faber warned.

"You have a computer. Occasionally the computer will crash and you have to reboot it. That will happen to the global economy. Before this happens there will be much more money printing because basically the central banks are willing to do that," he said. "By printing money, problems are not solved, but they can be postponed, and they become larger. It's like the recession in 2001. Had there not been massive money printing, it would have been steeper than what we had, but equally, we would have avoided probably the financial crash in 2008."

The next crisis will be far bigger, according to Faber.

"The next time we have a global economic crisis, it will be much worse than 2008. Before this happens there will be money printing and there will be war. The whole system will collapse," he said. "That's why I'm advising people that they have to think it through. In a total collapse you don't want to own government bonds and cash."

He added: "Equities—they don't perform well, but at least you have the ownership of companies. Precious metals in that environment do relatively well. And of course, oil would do well if there was a war."

Good advice from the originial Dr Doom.

[UndercoverElephant]

Good advice from the originial Dr Doom.

We must remind ourselves that this in on CNBC.

The next crisis will be far bigger, according to Faber.

"The next time we have a global economic crisis, it will be much worse than 2008. Before this happens there will be money printing and there will be war. The whole system will collapse," he said. "That's why I'm advising people that they have to think it through. In a total collapse you don't want to own government bonds and cash."

Consumer News and Business Channel

[UndercoverElephant]

http://www.gata.org/node/10364

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the primary regulator of the gold market in the United States, does not appear to want to act. The agency is following form, as it also refused to act forcefully when oil jumped to more than $145 a barrel in 2008. It seems hesitant to quash speculation. The commodities regulator, though, could force American exchanges to further raise margin requirements, reducing leverage and the ability of investors to buy more gold. The agency would also have to act to limit the gold acquired individually and by the ETFs. All of these measures would have to be coordinated and put into effect on a global basis.

Smell the fear. The parasites are terrified now. This **n* is actually suggesting there is co-ordinated global action to limit the amount of gold that can be acquired, both individually and through the ETFs. It is the last desperate attempt to keep the banking conspiracy going. Gold is their enemy, and it is eventually going to kill the bastards.

The monetary endgame is starting, I think.

[Lord Beria3]

And whose side is Biff on? The bankers, parasites and criminals! Couldn't make it up eh?!

[Ludwig]

And whose side is Biff on? The bankers, parasites and criminals! Couldn't make it up eh?!

No idea what you're on about, but it's a bit rich for you to assume the moral high ground. At least Biff cares about something other than himself.

[UndercoverElephant]

And whose side is Biff on? The bankers, parasites and criminals! Couldn't make it up eh?!

No idea what you're on about, but it's a bit rich for you to assume the moral high ground. At least Biff cares about something other than himself.

I don't think LB is trying to take the moral high ground. LB doesn't waste much effort trying to pretend he cares much about anything other than himself. I don't think he is a hypocrite. I think he is talking about situational irony. People who buy gold obviously do so because they believe it is in their own best interest to do so, but it doesn't follow that it's not also in everybody's long-term interest that they do so. Everybody who buys gold is helping to kill Capitalism As We Know It, and as far as I'm concerned that can only be a good thing. Biff's attitude to gold actually ends up unwittingly defending a status quo that Biff doesn't like one bit.

[biffvernon]

It's so nice to know that so many people know what I think and are willing to tell me.

I'm not so sure they always get it quite right.

[UndercoverElephant]

It's so nice to know that so many people know what I think and are willing to tell me.

I'm not so sure they always get it quite right.

Please elaborate.