MoneyNews.Newsmax.com had the interesting headline "Mints Rush to Meet Gold
Coin Demand". It starts off with a blockbuster statement, namely that the world
is in "crisis mode". In fact, a report by The Independent in the United Kingdom
notes, "With the world economy now in crisis mode, gold coin production is
rising" all over the place, with the result that, "As investor appetite for
gold increases worldwide, nations which mint coins of the precious metal have
hiked production to satisfy the growing demand."
In fact, demand for gold is so high that "Sales in the United States of the
one-ounce gold American Eagle coin, minted from gold bullion, soared more than
400 percent in 2008 over previous sales to 710,000 ounces" which seems like a
lot until you remember that the gold mines of the world produce about 80
million ounces of new gold per year, and so 710,000 ounces ain’t really squat,
in the Big Scheme Of Things (BSOT).
Even so, a spokesperson for the US Mint said, "Demand for gold and silver has
been unprecedented", although you would hardly know it from my field research,
where I randomly accost people on the street and ask them, "Hey! You! Are you
buying and/or holding large quantities of gold as a defense against the ruinous
inflation in prices that your own stupid government is causing by
deficit-spending almost $2 trillion this year alone, when the GDP of the Whole
Freaking Country (WFC) is only about $14 trillion, or are you some kind of
moron that can’t even answer a simple question?"
The results of my research are pretty dismal, which explains why there are over
300 million people in the USA and, although demand for gold is up 400% in the
last year to 710,000 ounces, this is still only accumulating 0.00237 ounces
each! A fifth of one percent of an ounce of gold per capita! Hahaha!
An interesting sidelight is that when people write and ask me, "Dear Mogambo,
Probably because I am gullible and I take a lot of medications, I believe you
when you say that I should buy gold in some kind of tangible form that I can
hold in my hand, instead of being suckered into that whole 'paper gold' scam,
but tell me; which specific gold should I buy? (signed) Listening in New York".
My impulse is to reply "Dear Listening in New York, Why in the hell are you
asking me? How the hell should I know? By actually doing some more work and
finding out? Ha! Don’t make me laugh! I work plenty hard around here already,
regardless of what a bunch of backstabbing coworkers say behind my back and
write on the wall in the bathroom! And anyway, 24 karat gold is 24 karat gold,
you moron! (signed) Mogambo."
Now, instead, I can quote this newsmax.com article, and save a lot of time by
just telling them that the best-selling gold coin in the world is the Austrian
Philharmonic (which is named after the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) 24K coin.
And in fact, sales of "the world’s best-selling gold coin climbed 544 percent
this year to the end of February", which means that its sales growth is higher
than the American Eagle!
And speaking of gold, Bill Bonner here at The Daily Reckoning quotes Stewart
Dougherty, of "Theft of a Nation", as saying, "The United States of America,
or, more precisely, the American people, are said to own 261 million ounces of
gold, supposedly stored in the same Fort Knox vault that Goldfinger found so
appealing. At $1,000 per ounce, the people’s gold has a value of $261 billion.
TARP 1 alone has cost 270% of the entire value of that singular, tangible
American asset. The total $13 trillion bailout cost thus far is 4,980% of the
value of America’s gold asset. Fort Knox has been robbed."
Bill Bonner himself does some quick figuring and finds that, put another way,
"They're squandering $13 trillion ... or nearly 49 times the US gold supply"!
Astonishing!
This is where I stand up, look around, and make crude and rude farting sounds
to express my complete disbelief that people are not buying gold, silver and
oil against this kind of monstrous expansion of the money supply; a behavior
which I have promised to do no longer at the dinner table, either at home or
someplace else, ever again.
But the good news is that you can buy gold, silver and oil and save yourself
that kind of embarrassment! Whee! This investing stuff is easy!
Richard Daughty is general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group,
serving the financial and medical communities, and the editor of The Mogambo
Guru economic newsletter - an avocational exercise to heap disrespect on those
who desperately deserve it.
(Republished with permission from
The Daily Reckoning. Copyright 2009, The Daily Reckoning.)
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