Swiss Parliament to discuss gold franc
CIGA Eric
Move over Idaho, the Swiss don’t fool around with money.
The Swiss Parliament is expected later this year to discuss the creation of a gold franc — a parallel currency to the official Swiss franc, with the fringe initiative likely triggering a broader debate about the role of the precious metal in the Alpine nation.
The initiative is part of “Healthy Currency,” a campaign sponsored by politicians from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) — the country’s biggest — that is seeking to capitalize on popular fears about global financial turmoil and inflation to reverse the government’s current policy on gold.
“I can imagine that this will spark some sort of debate about gold and there may be some pressure to accept the parallel currency,” said Dr. Gebhard Kirchgaessner, an economics professor at St. Gallen University. “But it won’t have any real effect on the economy. It seems incredible to imagine that there are people out there willing to buy millions of these things.”
Source: marketwatch.com
The Message From the Markets Leads All
CIGA Eric
Surging stock prices for pawn shops speaks volumes about the state of affairs in American households.
While the performance of pawn shops has been good, they have not kept pace with gold.
Cash America
Cash America to Gold Ratio
Headline: How bad is it? Pawn shops, payday lenders are hot
As the jobless rate inches up and the economic recovery sputters, investors looking for a few good stocks may want to follow the money — or rather the TV, the beloved Fender guitar, the baubles from grandma, the wedding ring.
Profits at pawn shop operator Ezcorp Inc. have jumped by an average 46 percent annually for five years. The stock has doubled from a year ago, to about $38. And the Wall Street pros who analyze the company think it will go higher yet. All seven of them are telling investors to buy the Austin, Texas, company.
Is the economy still just in a soft patch? A hard patch? Will the market rise or drop? Even experts are just guessing. In investing, it’s often better to focus on what you can safely predict, even if that safety is found in companies that thrive on hard times. One good bet: The jobless aren’t likely to find work anytime soon. And companies profiting from their bad fortune will continue to do so.
Source: google.com
Dear Jim,
As you well know this sale of oil from strategic reserves, like the ill timed sales of gold by governments in the past, is doomed to failure. It seems very reasonable to assume that all future sales of government commodities, food, oil or gold, will be met with bids far in excess of the quantity for sale. If they are dumb enough to sell some gold we will see buyers appear and send gold much higher. In the mean time JP Morgan and other speculators will make money on the government’s ignorance of how the markets work.
Respectfully yours,
Monty Guild
High quality gold deposits becoming more precious
CIGA Eric
Investors riddled with doubts will be relieved of their high quality gold shares by those that understand gold and the dynamics behind it.
Headline: High quality gold deposits becoming more precious
Global gold production may have hit a record last year, but that doesn’t mean the stuff is getting easier to find. Clarus Securities analyst Laurie Curtis wrote that the growing difficulties in finding gold suggest that high-grade deposits will command a stronger premium over time.
Citing data from the Society of Economic Geologists, Ms. Curtis noted that the number of deposits and total ounces found peaked in the 1980s “and have been steadily declining ever since.”
Additionally, the cost of discovery has increased from US$10 per ounce in the 1980s to more than US$47 an ounce in 2009, and there has been a decline in the average gold mining grade from 10 grams per tonne (in 1965-1975) to less than one gram in 2008, according to the data.
Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2011/07/07/high-quality-gold-discoveries-becoming-more-precious/
