STHF Prep: The Race for Physical Gold and Silver

From the article: The Global Physical Gold & Silver Reserves Race is the New Nuclear Arms Race. If the ownership of physical Gold and Silver is not important, then why are people, institutions and countries racing toward stockpiling it? Again, the complete Survival Plan must have some Gold and/or Silver. This is the same as having as Bug Out Bag,...having extra magazines for your rifle,....essentially the same as any contingency. Most preppers did not stock 6 months of food overnight, not did they accumulate a SHTF - Prepare for the Collapse Survival firearms battery overnight. This is a continuous process. I would rather have 6 ounces of silver than none; I would rather than 100 ounces when the collapse commenced than just 50 ounces. The purchase of Gold and/or Silver scares people sometimes because it's value can go down,...what about the value of food that you have bought and has spoiled? Or the AR-10 rifle you bought and will (hopefully) never have to use for the purpose you bought it for?

Add JS Kim and the above website to your financial indicators research and tracking list to be prepared for when SHTF otherwise known as the Collapse or Financial Armageddon.

The old Cold War USA-USSR nuclear arms race has been replaced by the East-West Central Bank battle to accumulate physical gold and physical silver reserves. While Western Central Banks and their puppet bullion banks have distracted and goaded private citizens with the invention of fraudulent bogus paper gold and paper silver derivative products, including ETFs more recently, and paper futures contracts for a much longer period of time, they themselves have been making sure to avoid the very fraudulent paper products they have invented and have been diving headfirst into real physical precious metals.

As Central Banks continue to significantly devalue all major global currencies through excessive creation of new supply out of thin air in a digital world where “new money” is never even printed into paper/cotton form but only is created as digital bytes that are sent across international borders, the private families that are the majority shareholders in the world’s most powerful Central Banks have engaged in heavy buying of physical gold in particular, and to a lesser degree, physical silver. In 2010, Central Banks as a group, became net buyers of physical gold after two decades as net sellers. EU Central Bankers became net buyers of physical gold for the first time during the 1st Quarter 2011 since their introduction of the heavily flawed Euro into circulation in January of 2002.

As of April 2011, China was, according to “officially reported” statistics, the sixth-largest official holder of gold, with 1,054.1 tonness, according to World Gold Council estimates. The U.S. was still reported to possess the largest gold reserves at 8,133.5 tonnes. However, all of you know by now that I believe all “officially reported” statistics, whether the statistic is GDP, unemployment, inflation, or gold reserves, to be a charade and mockery of the truth. To this day I am highly skeptical of the US reported reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes, especially since these reserves have neither been independently audited nor independently tested to ensure that they meet good-for-delivery bar status since Dwight D. Eisenhower was the US President in the 1950s. As for China ’s “officially reported” holdings of only 1,054.1 tons, anyone that takes these reported stats at face value as the truth is a fool for any number of logical reasons. One , China reported that its “official” gold holdings were a constant 600 tons from 2003 to 2009 and then reported that it had increased its holdings to more than 1,000 tons overnight in 2009. Since China lied about its gold reserve holdings for more than 6 years, one cannot and should not assume that their “officially” announced 1,054.1 ton level was truthful. Since China made that announcement in 2009, their “official” gold reserve level has not increased at all.

Anyone that believes that China has not accumulated more gold, and lots of it, since that time, does not understand the Chinese government and Chinese bankers. Chinese bankers have been studying the best ways to invest in gold and silver for many years now in preparation for this global monetary war and they realize that one of the best ways to invest in PMs is to own the real thing. Furthermore, there are multiple mechanisms by which China could be secretly increasing their gold reserves out of the scrutiny of the public eye. In 2008, China replaced South Africa as the largest gold producer in the world, but nobody really knows exactly how much gold China produces or how many proven/ probable reserves or how much measured/indicated resources they own. Thus, China could be increasing gold reserves significantly on in-house production alone. Certainly we know that China is increasing its silver reserves through a policy of decreasing its domestic silver exports and increasing its foreign silver imports.

For example, last month, China ’s General Administration of Customs reported that its net imports of silver nearly quadrupled year-over-year in 2010 to more than 3,500 metric tons. Also of important note is the fact that in 2010, China exported 1,575 metric tons of silver, 58% less than in 2009, and imported 5,159 metric tons of the metal, 15% more than in 2009. This is a huge change if one realizes that from 2005 to 2010 China transitioned from a net exporter of 2,900 metric tonnes of silver to a net importer of 3,500 metric tonnes.

From 2005 to 2010, China increased its gold holdings in its State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) more than tenfold from a very small starting point of USD $4.2 billion to USD $48.1 billion. However, China could be increasing gold (and silver) reserves significantly through purchases in its Sovereign Wealth Fund – purchases that are not made available for public inspection or consumption. For China to publicly announce their buildup of gold and silver reserves that would drive up the price of the very commodity they wished to accumulate more of would be akin to then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown’s foolish decision to pre-announce in 1999 that the UK would be selling half of its gold reserves.

Also of important note are the following facts. China only recently deregulated gold in 2003 to allow gold prices in China to mirror international prices. The Shanghai Gold Exchange only opened in October of 2002. In late 2009, the Chinese started making gold and silver bullion easily accessible to its citizens through introducing physical sales of multiple size bars at its banks and China finally legalized ownership of 99.999% pure silver bullion. The Chinese typically have a tendency to buy PHYSICAL gold and PHYSICAL silver, not the fraudulent paper gold and paper silver derivatives invented by bankers to suppress the price of gold and silver. For the first time ever, Chinese citizens will be able to buy silver futures in Hong Kong this week and later in Shanghai ; however, since the Chinese are fond of owning Physical metals, perhaps even the majority of Chinese may settle these futures contracts with physical delivery. Furthermore, even when the option to buy gold and silver ETFs in China becomes a reality, the average Chinese citizen may shy away from these products due to his or her propensity for owning real gold and real silver.

For Asians in general, gold and silver have always been money. In Thailand , the word for money “ngen” is also the word for silver. In China , the word for bank combines the characters for “silver” and “movement”. In China not only is private demand strong AND relatively young, but even in India , private ownership of gold bullion bars was not legalized until 1990. Thus, the war between East and West over gold and silver will intensify in coming months and coming years. The objective of the East will be to release the gold and silver price from the clutches of Western price suppression schemes while the objective of the West will be to hoard gold in an attempt to prevent citizens of Western nations from owning the asset that will protect them the most from their currency devaluation schemes.

The current talk in the mainstream financial media about gold being a bubble at $1,600 an ounce and of silver having already reached its top of its long-term peak at $50 an ounce is simply rubbish. A bubble is never defined by high prices, the perception of high prices or even a decade long rise in prices. What defines a bubble is a meteoric rise in price that is not supported by fundamental reasons. For example, the US NASDAQ dot.com stock market was a bubble because dot.com stocks that had zero earnings were trading at impossible valuations and sometimes double and triple digit dollar values per share. However, the fundamental reasons that have driven gold from $250 to $1,600 and silver from $4 to its current $39 – $40 range are even stronger today than they were at the beginning of this precious metals bull. Therefore, it is impossible for a bubble in gold and silver to exist at their current prices and at this current time.
And for this reason, this is precisely why the global nuclear arms race has been replaced by a global physical gold race. Welcome to the new global war in precious metals.

J.S. Kim
SmartKnowledgeU

JS Kim is the Managing Director and Founder of SmartKnowledgeU, a fiercely independent investment consulting and research firm that devises investment strategies to protect Main Street from the fraud of Wall Street.

SHTF - Financial Armageddon with the Collapsing Economy

Very bad times we are living in now. The collapse of the whole financial system may be just a short few weeks or a couple of months ahead. Consider the National Debt,...a political football and economic anvil all the same. If the Government doesn’t work a miracle and come to an agreement on how to proceed, then the inaction will bankrupt this country, driving the value of the dollar down, driving fuel and commodities prices up and very possibility lead to riots in the streets. Yes, we are facing financial SHTF and the question is how are we going to Survive the Collapse.

Even if the Government comes to some sort of arrangement in any case increasing the Debt limit, the Country is screwed. The Fed, acting separate from the government will print more money.....this would be QE 3 – more paper fiat currency to flood the market and deflating the value of the dollar.

If the Government cuts spending,..imagine that concept,....the cuts will have to come at least partially from entitlements which would place more people in the have not column.

Just look at Gold and Silver: Gold has recently hit record highs, probably staying above $ 1,580 an ounce for the short term before going up,....and up. Two years ago, the silver/gold ratio was above 83, with gold selling at $804.60 and silver at $9.64. Last month it was 43.04!

The bailout of Greece will reduce the availability of European Nations to buy U.S. Debt. We'll soon see a distressed and broke Federal Government trying to bail out a couple of our failed States,...California and Illinois comes to mind as both drive up taxes in a pathetic attempt to generate revenue only to drive an average of 5 businesses a week out of their respective state.

Experts in the Economy are saying that housing prices are going to decline another 20%!! And that we are, for the very least, in for a 4 to 5 year recession which are going to make times very tough for at least 100 million Americans.

Have you wondered why the last International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was removed and attacked so vicious and swiftly? Wondering why Timothy Geithner is about to leave his position shortly?

In the past week, Cisco, Lockheed Martin and Borders announced a combined 23,000 in job cuts. Meanwhile, state and local governments have cut 142,000 jobs this year. Whats going to happen when the Federal Government cannot pay for the massive amount of employees they have hired? Another 30,000 to 60,000 people on the street at once!

The common folk know the deal and it is bad. Here are just a few quotes I have from people who have been contacting me:

“The SHTF is coming. I'm have been taking money out of my 401K and buying something real and useful with it, rather than leave it there and have to load it in a wheel-barrow to buy a loaf of bread after the dollar collapses. Government causes inflation and uses it to reduce their debt in terms of buying power."

"Bernanke's agenda is that the dollar MUST be destroyed. Everything he does is toward that end."

"There has never been in a situation in my lifetime where a guy (President Obama) increases the debt by 40%, and GDP growth is on the way down, use of Food Stamps are up exponentially, millions more are unemployed -- and to accomplish this we spent $4 trillion of money we had to borrow. Way past time to prepare. Should have did it by now. The time now is to seek cover."

”I quit my job; took what I could out my 401K plan and moved the family to my in-laws farm. I am currently waiting it out. I’d like nothing more than to be here a year from now and have to move back to the city to get a job, but if not, then so be it, we’re ready.”

”Thanks for your site. Good interesting look at survival needs against the coming collapse. I took all of my savings out of the bank, bought a little silver, a bunch of food, sold my luxury sedan (eliminating a payment and bought a used truck). Now learning to grow my food. The question is not if the Shit Will Hit The Fan, it is when.”

Well, looks to me like many people thinking we are not going to have a successful conclusion to our country’s economic woes.

Food Prices Up, Shortage to Follow

Why Are Food Prices Rising So Fast?

If you do much grocery shopping, you have probably noticed that the cost of food has been rising at a very brisk pace over the past year. So why are food prices rising so fast? According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, inflation is still very low and the economy is improving. So what is going on here? When I go to the grocery store these days, there are very few things that I will buy unless they are on sale. In fact, I have noticed that many of the new "sale prices" are the old regular prices. Other items have had their packages reduced in size in order to hide the price increases. But with millions of American families just barely scraping by as it is, what is going to happen if food prices keep rising this rapidly?

The food prices are especially painful if you are trying to eat healthy. Most of the low price stuff in the grocery stores is garbage. Eating the "typical American diet" is a highway to cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

But if you try to stick to food that is "healthy" or "organic" you can blow through hundreds of dollars in a heartbeat. In fact, the reality is that tens of millions of American families have now essentially been priced out of a healthy diet.

Soon there will be millions more American families that will not even be able to afford an unhealthy diet.

Some recent statistics compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are absolutely staggering. According to a recent CNBC article, over the past year many of the most popular foods in America have absolutely soared in price....

Coffee, for instance, is up 40 percent. Celery is 28 percent higher while butter prices rose 26.4 percent. Rounding out the top five are bacon, at 23.5 percent, and cabbage, at 23.3 percent.

Unfortunately, it looks like the trend of rising food prices is accelerating. Just look at what the CNBC article says happened in the month of April alone....
Just in April—the most recent month for which data is available—grapes went up nearly 30 percent, cabbage jumped about 17 percent and orange juice surged more than 5 percent. Meat is becoming more expensive as well. Since March 2009, livestock prices have risen by 138%.

So when Ben Bernanke tells us that inflation is very low, that really is a lie. On the stuff that people spend money on every day (like food and gas), prices have gone up dramatically. Sadly, this is not just a phenomenon that is happening in the United States. The truth is that the entire planet is rapidly approaching a horrific global food crisis.

Over the past year, the global price of food has risen by 37 percent and this has pushed approximately 44 million more people around the world into poverty.

When food prices rise in the U.S. it may be painful for millions of American families, but around the world a rise in food prices can mean the difference between surviving and not surviving.

That is why it has been so alarming that the global price of wheat has approximately doubled over the past year.

But it is not just wheat that has been soaring. Check out what a recent Bloomberg article had to say about what has been happening to many key agricultural commodities over the past year....

Corn futures advanced 77 percent in the past 12 months in Chicago trading, a global benchmark, rice gained 39 percent and sugar jumped 64 percent. There will be shortages in corn, wheat, soybeans, coffee and cocoa this year or next, according to Utrecht, Netherlands-based Rabobank Groep. Prices also rose after droughts and floods from Australia to Canada ruined crops last year. European farmers are now contending with their driest growing season in more than three decades.

Even before this recent spike in food prices the world was struggling to get enough food to everybody. It has been estimated that somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds, and 75 percent of those are children under the age of five.

So what is going to happen if food prices keep on rising at the current pace? That is a very good question. We really are starting to move into unprecedented territory. Nobody is quite sure what is going to happen next.

So why is all of this happening?

Well, a lot of people are blaming the Federal Reserve. All of the "quantitative easing" that the Fed has done has flooded the financial markets with money. All of that money had to go somewhere. Much of it has pumped up the prices of hard assets such as oil, gold and agricultural commodities.

But it is not just the Fed that is to blame. The truth is that central banks all over the world have been recklessly printing money.

When the amount of money in an economy goes up, the purchasing value of all existing money goes down. In the United States , that means that your dollars will not go as far as they did before.

But it is not just monetary policy that is affecting food prices. In 2010 and 2011 we have seen an unprecedented wave of natural disasters and crazy weather. This has caused problems with crops all over the globe.

In addition, U.S. economic policies are also playing a role. At this point, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is used for fuel. This is putting a lot of stress on the price of corn.

Also, there are some long-term trends that are not in our favor. For example, the systematic depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer could eventually turn " America 's Breadbasket" back into the "Dust Bowl". If you have not heard of this problem I would encourage you to do some research on it.

Things are going to get a lot worse, but already America is having a really hard time feeding itself. According to Feeding America's 2010 hunger study, more than 37 million Americans are now being served by food pantries and soup kitchens.

So is that number unusual?

Yes, it sure is. The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006. That is not a good trend. Another stat that I talk a lot about in this column is the number of Americans on food stamps. Right now, there are 44 million Americans on food stamps. Nearly half of them are children.

How did we ever get to the point as a nation where more than 20 million children end up on food stamps? It is estimated that one out of every four American children is currently on food stamps, and it is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps at some point in their lives before they reach the age of 18.

So what is going to happen if the economy gets even worse?

What is going to happen if there really is a major food crisis in this country someday? Food prices have been going up for decades and they are going to continue to go up. But the frightening thing is how fast they are increasing now.

As the U.S. middle class continues to be destroyed, the number of Americans that can't afford to buy enough food is going to continue to rise. Food prices are rising much faster than wages are, and that is not likely to change any time soon.

Food is rapidly becoming one of the most important global economic issues of this decade. The farther one looks down the road, the bleaker things look for the global food situation.

I hope you are prepared for that. So what are you going to do? Watch for deals. Stock food when you can. Be prepared, and start now, to grow your own.

Urban Survival - Bugging In Reader Comment

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment on Bugging In from Jonathan: “(Bugging In) That's my plan-A. To dig in. Since I have no secondary property or location in which to bug out. I have the home field advantage in that I know the area and the people. Have established good relations with neighbors. Have the reputation of 'being there' for everyone when they need help fixing something or borrowing a tool. Which could be a good or bad thing. Only time will tell. My Plan-B is head for the woods (public land) for a limited time if we had to leave our
home for a limited time.Civil unrest, natural/man made disaster etc. Maybe not the best plan. However if we HAD to leave the house, that's my current plan.”

UrbanMan comments: Jonathan, you sound like a confident person with a plan. I don’t know how many times I have written that Survival is a Team Sport,…dripping survival prep to your friends and relatives,….developing your team to survive Armageddon,….developing relationships with your neighbors,…..being prepared for strap hangers to show up to your location asking for help, whether you know them or not.

In the worst case of a collapse, people are going to be looking for leadership. The person they hold in high esteem will be able to make a huge difference in keeping a team or community together, leveraging everyone’s contributions and capabilities. The worse the collapse and the situations we find ourselves in, the more difference leadership will make.

In order for the team or community to survive, organization of effort, security and basic sustainment needs to be addressed,…in other words, the best team in the world will turn on each other once the food or water runs out.

You also have a good idea with a Bug Out plan. Can’t stress that enough – to have a Bug Out plan just in case your Bug In location is untenable and if staying there, death would be certain. Hopefully your public land destination has a full time water source and defensible terrain. It gets out living in tents or lean to’s, so a fixed site may be better but it also draws attention. Think about cache some supplies either enroute to, or close to your Bug Out location.