The Last thing anyone should do, is invest in a failing institution or in a company denominated in failing currency.  The media is full of the ‘fact’ that China’s exports are down by 20%, but that their economy is still booming at a 6.5% a year increase.  This is while ours in the last calendar […]

The ‘penny’ originated in AD 790 in Britain, called the ‘Pence” and were a hundredth of a pound, like today’s pennies are a hundredth of a dollar.  “A penny saved is a penny earned,” was a phrase invented by Benjamin Franklin, and he published it in his Almanac.  Franklin also designed a penny called the […]

“…Investors Buy Up Gold” is the remainder of the headline in Friday’s (2/22) Wall Street Journal.  The following are direct quotes from the six column piece, with no words of mind added. “Investors are buying gold again as concerns about a slowing global economy are putting a premium on safer investments.  Gold prices are up […]

My birthday was yesterday 2/17.  I’m now 85 and in virtually perfect health.  I still don’t know why I retired, but I did. __________________________________________________________ The so called “Civil War,” or more correctly called, “The War of Northern Aggression,” began on April 12, 1861, with the North shelling Ft. Sumpter, after being warned not to do […]

The first recorded use of paper for money, rather than gold, silver, bronze, copper, iron, and other metals, occurred in China in the thirteenth century.  The then Chinese ruler, Kubla Khan, manufactured paper money from the bark of the Chinese mulberry tree.  On every piece, officials who been appointed to make the paper ‘valuable,’ wrote […]

It’s really nice to see silver and gold prices going up steadily of late.  Will they continue?  No one knows, but an article in Bloomberg might give us a hint.  Remember, silver is used in a variety of items currently popular, such as solar cells, computer touch screens, medicine, and of course jewelry.  Industry is […]

It’s kind of scary, but the top corporate pension plans are underfunded by over $225 billion.  That’s the private sector, and how about various State plans?  Illinois pensions for retired workers is only funded by 43%, and it owes $82.9 billion to make it whole.  Other states are similar.  So here a man or woman […]

First of all, there already is a wall separating Mexico from the U.S.  It is hundreds of miles long, and currently is being repaired where needed.  It may not be high enough to prohibit ladders being raised to cross into the U.S., but there is a wall in place already, even though it is grossly […]

It wasn’t until 1986 that the U.S. Mint in West Point New York, was placed into operation, and began producing both Silver and Gold Eagles.  Before that, beginning in 1980, I had gold Maple leafs, but no silver ones.  By 1986, it became almost common knowledge that the U.S. dollar was steadily losing value or […]

I started brokering precious metals in 1977.  At that time, silver was about $1.50 an ounce, and about all I had to sell, were ‘bags’ of U.S. silver coins, which then, and still do, contain $1,000 face value of the coins.  10,000 silver dimes, 4,000 silver quarters, or 2,000 silver half dollars.  A ‘bag’ is […]