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Anonymous
22nd December 2006, 22:00
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Better than Gold
Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:41:16 GMT
by Yiannis Mostrous
By Ivan Martchev

Gold may be prettier, but silver is a more important metal with a host of critical industrial uses. Silver users have to keep buying, even when prices rise.

Silver inventories are critically low right now, and silver has more than doubled in the past 12 months. The last time it started a run-up in conditions like this, it soared 1,435%.

To capitalize on shrinking silver supplies, I’m urging my subscribers to buy a low-cost South American silver operation. We’re already up 49% and I think it will go much higher yet. The stock is still severely undervalued compared to other silver producers.

I cover this stock in my just-released report “Precious Metals: Where to Stake Your Claim Now for the Coming Boom!”

At the core of The Silk Road To Riches is an economic change premise: Global economic leadership changes during critical periods, and the world is now entering such a period. In coming years, Asia will emerge as the leader in global economic growth, whereas the West will enter a more-subdued growth cycle.

Many in the investment community dismiss this argument as nonsense. Few contemplate imminent change at a time when America's economic and military powers seem boundless. Yet history reveals that these are the times when change begins, when expectations are low. Embracing any of the myriad “the status quo will persist” arguments will leave investors off guard.

Skeptics may demand more concrete data in support of our conclusions and the underlying assumption upon which they’re based. We don’t contest the rationality of this expectation, but the reality of structural change is that its evolution begins before hard data become available. Far-sighted investors must be ready to explore opportunities before indisputable proof emerges.

When it does become obvious, the masses will join the first-movers, making it a more difficult, less profitable game--the old axiom, and I paraphrase, “Whatever everyone knows is not necessarily worth knowing,” is another underpinning of our book.

The Silk Road To Riches is best characterized as a guide for the long-term investor. If our ideas and arguments have merit, those who heed them will realize great financial gains. Fear and hype, booms and busts, and creation and destruction of wealth will mark what will be an explosive transformation altering the global economy, our investments and our lives--forever.

Integration Into The Global Economy
For Asia to take advantage of the current global economic situation, governments must find ways to create the environment to foster sustainable domestic demand. Asian countries need--among other things--to take advantage of their particular indigenous characteristics while focusing their efforts toward domestic investments.

This is particularly true for the economies of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. These countries must be prepared in the event China takes on an even bigger role as a low-cost producer of goods. India’s rise as the preferred destination for services outsourced by multinationals could also be at the expense of Southeast Asia (although to a lesser degree).

These countries have held their own in manufacturing, but need to move up the chain from low value-added mass manufacturing products to a higher pricing-power export industry. They must also take advantage of domestic natural resources and spend money on domestic-related investments. The ultimate goal is to create the necessary conditions for domestically driven economic growth.

It remains to be seen whether the respective governments have the capacity, first, to develop this strategy and, second, to execute it. Thailand, under the guidance of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has shown its ability in these respects, and though the final outcome of his efforts is still to be determined, Thailand has a substantial head start. If successful, Thailand will join the global economy on terms that will benefit its citizens as well as multinational corporations. The same is true for other Southeast Asian economies that follow a similar strategy.

Wealth distribution is improving in Asia, but financial security remains a privilege of the few. If the improving wealth distribution trends discussed in the previous chapter stop, it will be almost impossible for our scenario to unfold. But it will also be impossible for governments to continue ignoring their people, given the easy access to mass media the majority now enjoys. In other words, the people--knowing exactly what is going on in other places--will demand governments devote more attention to them.

Domestic investment in infrastructure is of paramount importance. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines haven't done enough to improve their aging infrastructure, not only in the agricultural sector but also in the service sectors of their economies. This is the only avenue by which these economies will achieve sustainable economic growth.

The status of agriculture provides a case in point. Development has been ignored for the past 30 years. Governments must shift attention from urban centers to developing the rural areas of their countries. Rural areas are not only home to the largest portion of their respective populations--they are also best positioned to exploit natural resources, providing a new, sustainable growth alternative to the countries of Southeast Asia.

The conditions under which these people operate are absurd. In Thailand, for example, many farmers have de facto but incomplete de jure rights over their land. Under a distribution program in place for decades, they are given state land without land title deeds, and they aren't allowed to sell it, pledge it to the bank or use it for purposes other than farming. Until these people and others like them are given access to capital, credit and allowed real property rights, the economies of Southeast Asia will remain prisoners to the whims of multinational corporations.

It is beyond comprehension how a farmer in Thailand can do little better than subsist when the biggest economies on earth do what they can to help their farmers (in the form of subsidies). To understand how important agriculture is for developed and developing economies alike, consider the following. The World Bank and the IMF estimate that removal of US subsidies in cotton could lead to a fall in production, a subsequent rise in global price and a revenue increase of $250 million annually for the countries of West and Central Africa (this is one of the few sectors of world trade in which Africa is internationally competitive). But subsidies for US cotton farmers are likely to increase by 16 percent--this for a total of 25,000 farmers whose net household worth averages about $800,000. This is only one minor example of the manner in which governments in developed economies aid their farmers.

Absurd as it is that developing countries can be penalized for the benefit of a handful (relatively speaking) of high-end farmers, it is also quite naïve to expect that these farmers or their governments would do otherwise. This is why it's extremely important for developing economies to create the foundation for a system that is responsible for facilitating economic and social growth. The difference between rich and poor states is the result of differences in the quality of their economic institutions.

Agricultural subsidies remain an issue where developed economies still dictate the rules of the game and how new members (e.g., China) are joining the system. Although developing economies are currently under pressure to reduce subsidies, Western economies--the US and the EU--subsidize at extremely high rates. Most of their subsidies take the form of direct payments to farmers rather than price subsidies.

According to the latest rules promulgated by the World Trade Organization (WTO), these payments aren't subject to limitations. These rules were written by the developed economies during the “Uruguay Round” of WTO negotiations. China can't adopt such an approach--it still has 240 million farm families and lacks sufficient government staff at the village level to determine the direct subsidy to each household.

The field will level as new members familiarize themselves with WTO procedures. Such members will then demand changes to establish ever more equal footing. Global trade has already provided developing economies the opportunity to create groups in an effort to promote their interests. One of these is the G-20, whose sole purpose is to unite the developing nations and enhance their negotiating power in global trade issues. The G-20 has been urging the US and the EU to cut farm subsidies, which “tend to depress world markets.”

Returning to the cotton example, in July 2005 the US agreed to change a cotton subsidy scheme in order to comply with a WTO ruling, which followed a legal challenge by Brazil. At issue was an export-credit guarantee program for cotton farmers worth $4 billion a year. Although the US promised to change the subsidy, its representative neglected to reveal the administration’s “Step 2” program to compensate US cotton millers for using more expensive US cotton.

Institutions like the WTO, though limited in authority because of national sovereignty, provide developing economies a platform to more easily operate on a global scale. Although the WTO is still dominated--with regard to many issues--by developed economies, negotiations have led to better results for developing economies. Globalization has also furthered this process, as the level of global economic interdependence has increased dramatically, allowing smaller players to demand and receive more than they would otherwise.

Ardent Listener
8th January 2007, 14:41
I must be a hard core silver bug because I just don't get as excited about gold as I do silver. Maybe it's silver's industrial metal value that is a big part of it.

7nomads
8th January 2007, 15:58
Don't get me wrong, gold is good. It is one constant thing regardless of age or shape, but silver is just sweet.

100's of uses
kills germs, etc

Less of it above ground than gold. The unloved underdog will have its day.

Bill
8th January 2007, 17:22
I must be a hard core silver bug because I just don't get as excited about gold as I do silver. Maybe it's silver's industrial metal value that is a big part of it.


I think the only reason I own a little gold is becase of some basic human instinct imbedded deep within my brain which tells me to do so. Once I started to accumulate a little silver, I just didn't feel quite right by not owning any gold. Lately I've been buying small amounts when I can. But I will soon go back to purchasing silver in bulk. I hope the price will remain "cheap" for a while yet, as I'd like to have the strongest position I possibly can when it finally breaks out.

richiedoc
8th January 2007, 18:15
I couldn't agree more with you guys. Silver has some kind of magic to it. It's the philosopher stone of metals:

Not so rare (yet) or expensive that someone would want to conficscate or steal it from you.

One electron in the outer ring.

Gold is the currency of kings. Silver is the currency of the masses.

Great chart action with predictable set ups

Ignored by most investors

Did I mention it was CHEAP?

It's the preferred metal investment of Peak Oilers and Bug Outters

What's in store for us over the next few months? I'm waiting for the 15th of Jan to see if Sinclair's predictions start coming true. He says 2007 and 2008 belong to us. Silver seems to defy going into any prolonged downward correction. Intense selling lasts perhaps a few hours at a pop...in NY mostly...and then it never fails to continue back up. Today London took silver up to 12.30 then NY took it down sharply to 12.06 and then NY took it right back up in the usual slower pace to 12.30. Can't get this kind of excitement from a stock...

Silver has me by the balls and won't let go. It is that kind of power that can reawaken at any time in the masses. In a panic, choosing between a silver eagle and a paper $100 bill will be a no brainer. That panic is just one headline away.

DaleFromCalgary
13th March 2010, 19:15
"Silver has some kind of magic to it. ... It's the preferred metal investment of Peak Oilers and Bug Outters"

If you check us Peak Oilers over at www.theoildrum.com, I think you'll find our preferred metal investment is drill pipe. The only reason I'm not more heavily invested in conventional oil is because the good deals are private equity and sell out before I hear of them. That's why I began investing in gold and silver with my royalties, because it is easier to find gold and silver coins than freehold mineral rights.