Depression-part 2

We talked about the housing bubble and the Cost of Living (COL) last time. This time let us look at the stock market, the dollar and silver and gold. First the stock market is so volatile that many people are very glad that they are not part of it. The buying and selling reaches a fever pitch and no one knows why. One day it is oil prices, the next day it is retail sales and yet another day it is interest rates. No one really know what causes an up or down swing. One time, the price of oil goes up and the market takes a major hit, with investors selling like crazy. The next time the price of oil goes up the stock market takes off like a rocket, going straight up. If anyone knows the why of this, I wish they would let me in on the secret.

We all know that the interest rates and the housing bubble are the main culprits of these market swings. The bubble has burst and the effects are spreading. Now the mortgage companies that made sub-prime loans are starting to file bankruptcy. The people who invested in these mortgage companies are losing their proverbial shirts. There is a glut of foreclosed houses on the market and no one to purchase them. Why can no one purchase these homes? First of all, most of them are grossly overpriced and secondly, due to illegal immigrants taking jobs away from Americans, all wages are falling. Thus the people who would normally purchase these houses are not able to due to their falling wages. One thing that bothers me is that is see this as a planned bringing America down to third world status. This is why the illegal aliens are being welcomed by so many of our politicians and mega-business owners. These people have no option but to work for sub-minimum wages. This in turn brings down all wages. The illegals also bring with them terrorists who if the politicians choose they can let create another 9/11. These invaders continue to rape, rob and murder American citizens. Big cities give the sanctuary because the mega-businesses want cheap labor. If this continues and gets worse, (as I believe it will) it could have grave circumstances. Things like this could cause rioting or even a civil war.

What is a citizen to do? The best investments in today's volatile world of finance are silver and gold, especially silver. I wrote a book in the mid 90's titled "Sensible Survival Investing". Already then I could see where things were headed. I do not know how many people followed my advice, but I hope some did. My suggestions for investments then were and now are: first a safe place to live, second invest in storable food, third is ammunition, (both for yourself and for barter) and last but definitely not least, silver. Gold is okay but is very expensive to purchase in small quantities and it will be harder to use in a depression situation. The reason is that people will not have change for something that may be worth $500.

Once you have your land, food and ammo; silver is and always has been the best investment in my opinion. While gold is outperforming silver at this moment, this has to change. Silver, besides being a precious metal finds much more use in industry than does gold. This greater use of silver will soon begin to push the price up and it will out-do gold. When I talk about buying silver I am talking about bulk, pre-1964 coins and one ounce rounds and ingots. Stay away from collectors coin as that market will also become volatile. When people have to sell their coins to eat, the price will come down a lot. I have been taking my advice and for about the past ten years have been buying silver. I use any investment money to purchase as much as I can. If you own stock, I would sell it and re-invest your money in silver. Stay away from silver futures and even silver mining stocks. Take delivery of your silver and find a way to store it yourself. When the ship hits the sand, you do no know what you will be able to retain.

The dollar is falling, the stock market is a mess and I believe a major depression is inevitable. I hope I am wrong, but even if I am, you will never lose by investing in silver.