I'm not sure what I'm missing from your point but how do you propose lowering the price of gold to $100?
The thing is though, silver is undervalued relative to gold. Which in my mind adds the weight of natural market forces to boost the price movement further and therefore put more pressure on the banks who are holding short positions.
Of course I could be wrong, this is just how I see it.
'Geologists estimate that there are approximately 19 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold in the earth’s crust, with a ratio of approximately 11.2 ounces of silver to each ounce of gold that has ever been mined. Interestingly, the silver-gold ratio in ancient Egypt was 1:1.' schiffgold.com
Does anyone happen to have more evidence of nefarious activities that Warren Buffet has been involved in? I only ask because in my opinion he's always seemed like a fairly nice guy and I'm just curious to know if anyone has any sources to suggest he's not exactly as he appears.
Thanks for the heads up!
I'm not arguing with you just adding my thoughts.
Burma doesn't have the whole world relying on them getting it at least 99% right, the USA does. I'm sure they could have proven the election fraud and secured a justified victory for DJT if that was their only goal but this is so much more deeply entangled than that.
They need to pull the whole weed up roots and all in one go and it requires a precision plan to accomplish that, the obvious result being that it takes longer to orchestrate.
And aside from some minor premiums you're basically putting away savings which has some nice benefits (undervalued and potential for price appreciation even in addition to the still decent gains we've been seeing recently, you're less likely to sell it and buy something stupid which you'll regret).
'Proudly for your dad!
I got hairy legs that turn (gibberish) blonde in the sun and the kids used to come up and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and then watch the hair come back up again.
So I learned about roaches. (Racist slur).
And I learned about kids jumping on my lap--and I've loved kids jumping on my lap.'
Well if you already own it then you aren't really making much of a difference to this silver short scenario--I'm not saying that's a bad thing but it's not going to add any extra pressure to them.
If your goal is to store value in the form of the bit of silver that you currently own then it's better than nothing, although it's probably sterling silver which is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, the silver that most people buy is .999 parts out of 1000 pure silver like for example the 'American Silver Eagle' 1oz bullion coin (usually bought more than one at a time). I only mention this because people prefer .999 silver that is recognisable like the American Silver Eagle for instance.
Paper silver is some form of trading mechanism that they use on the commodities exchange (COMEX) and as far as I understand it they manipulate the price of silver and gold using the paper silver/gold by trading it back and forth between themselves without actually having to move the metals. While doing this they somehow take profit based on their knowledge of the price moves (I believe the market reacting to their activity).
The thing with the paper silver is if everyone who owned it asked for delivery they wouldn't have enough silver to cover it by a long shot, there are provisions that they can settle the trade in cash based on the value of the silver they own but the reality is if people all of a sudden wanted to take delivery of their silver it would cause a bit of a furor because they just can't satisfy the potential demand and expectations would be challenged. I believe that the expectation is that they would get silver and not realise it's within the exchange's right to settle in cash.
This is a really rough (possibly misguided) explanation as I'm not all that interested in the specifics of this stuff but it might give you a starting point to look into.
Someone recommended this earlier if you can be bothered to watch it, there is some good info there: https://youtu.be/CjBR0iGDmZA
Thanks for the sources, I appreciate these nuggets as not many people even have a reason to consider certain elements to any particular debate--it's great when people who have had an intimate connection to these things come out and share their opinions.
Sorry in advance for the wall of text, I'm kinda bored and got carried away.
Silver and Gold are typically used to protect your current purchasing power as the fiat currency that you use loses value. That is the basic starting point for most people interested in the precious metals. Beyond being an innocent 'inflation hedge' many people are of the view that silver and gold are manipulated to service some agenda by the elites. Some say to hide the true levels of inflation, some think that they are manipulating metals to make profit and siphon wealth from the masses, another theory is they want to distance society from assets that inherently keep the system accountable. It could be all of these and more.
Beyond protecting your purchasing power against inflation, many precious metals enthusiasts also expect the current manipulation to come to an end at some point based on the tendency for civilisations to either collapse or reinvent themselves. If people start losing faith in the system they start looking for other assets to protect themselves like precious metals, crypto etc--more people getting interested in silver means less to go around and pushes the price up.
When it comes to the value of a given thing, as far as I can tell it's not something we can absolutely know, it's something we deduce based on certain factors over time and everyone comes to a level of consensus like how much effort it takes to produce, how much is available, historical data etc. So yes, your metals will always have value and assuming society doesn't completely collapse into a SHTF situation you'll be able to trade them based on the cost to produce them (+/- people's current sentiment surrounding them). For something to be able to be considered money it needs to meet these criteria (silver and gold do which is a substantial bonus when you consider our current institutions potentially failing):
Divisible: Can be divided into smaller units of value. Fungible: One unit is viewed as interchangeable with another. Portable: Individuals can carry money with them and transfer it to others. Durable: An item must be able to withstand being used repeatedly. Acceptable: Everyone must be able to use the money for transactions. Uniform: All versions of the same denomination must have the same purchasing power. Limited in Supply: The supply of money in circulation ensures values remain relatively constant.
Properties of Money
Most people either put it in a safe at home, bury it somewhere they have reliable access to or store in some kind of facility (bank, vault etc.). Each have their own potential risks whether that be theft, fire, if buried you could forget where it was or lose access, if stored at a bank or vault you're relying on someone else and could also lose access in that scenario.
As far as time frame for investment goes, many people have been suckered into buying due to some short lived hype and price movement and unfortunately buying at a higher price only to see the price succumb to manipulation or selling pressure again (think global financial crisis--price rose and some who bought then are still holding silver at prices above today's value). I think I can safely assume that if you're on this website you have a fairly large amount of confidence that the system we currently have will be dismantled or restored which I think will lead to people's attitude to silver/gold dramatically shifting (purchasing power goes up relative to other things) and in that case you may not even want to get rid of all your precious metals.
You might want to look at shadow stats to get a bit of an alternative perspective on inflation numbers.
I would also suggest not forgetting about gold, personally I think silver is the more undervalued and better buy but I am wary of the fact that gold is better suited to fill the role of money (and possibly a gold standard) as it doesn't have as much of an industrial use case. My personal preference is to focus on silver but not neglect gold altogether.