Posted on 01/09/2012 4:01:53 PM PST by appeal2
Ranting Andy is back, relaxed and a little calmer after the new year. We got right down to business. Bob, a listener wanted to know why there’s no apparent shortage of silver in the marketplace now. Andy explained that while the paper prices were certainly depressed, the current premium on Eric Sprott’s Physical Silver ETF has hit a new historic high of over 30 percent. Sprott’s ETF is unique in that holders are permitted to convert their shares into physical silver. This means that investors are willing to pay higher premiums than are charged by metals dealers in the physical market. And those physical premiums have been on the rise as well. So when it comes to price and supply of silver, there’s a lot more to the story than meets the eye.
And then of course, there’s the fact that no publicly traded markets are functioning properly at the present time. They may have been mortally injured by governmental and large bank manipulation as well as an undermining of confidence by the MF Global collapse. No matter how you figure it, zero percent interest rates, off balance sheet gimmicks by the government and the large financial groups and collapsing asset values, there is no longer a means of determining objective values. The markets are now a ponzi scheme that are used to separate unsuspecting marks from their cash.
What I know about silver is tarnished.
The only thing that I know about it is that every cloud has a silver lining. This I learned from my grandmother.
I know that:
a) Physical silver may save my bacon in the coming collapse
or
b) It may not save me
But I do know this for certain. If I didn't hold silver, it is a 100% guarantee that it won't save my butt.
None of us knows what will protect us in the crash. But you can be damn sure that doing nothing will *not* protect you.
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