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Friday, 10/4, Market WrapUp (Silver is Undervalued in a Major Way)
Financial Sense Online ^ | 10/4/2002 | James J. Puplava

Posted on 10/04/2002 5:41:11 PM PDT by rohry

 
Weekday Commentary from Jim Puplava
Home

Dow Crosses The Rubicon
One-Day Miracle Ahead?


click for larger view

S & P 500
Neckline & Rubicon


click for larger view

Charts: Bloomberg.com


STORM WATCH UPDATE
Bubble Troubles Part I
Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.

by Jim Puplava 9/13/2002

Bubble Troubles Part II

Yes, Virginia, There IS
a Housing Bubble
by Jim Puplava 9/20/2002

Bubble Troubles Part III
It Ain't Over Yet
for the Stock Market
by Jim Puplava 9/27/2002


Nyquist Column 10/01

The Party of Obstruction

 Friday Market Scoreboard
 October 4, 2002

 Dow Industrials 188.79 7528.40
 Dow Utilities 9.77 200.81
 Dow Transports 46.10 2137.68
 S & P 500 18.37 800.58
 NASDAQ 21.74 1165.56
 US Dollar to Yen 123.255
 US Dollar to Euro

.9786

 Gold .90 323.3
 Silver .01 4.49
 Oil .67 29.62
 CRB Index .67 223.97
 Natural Gas

.01 3.739
10/04 10/03

Change

  HUI (Amex Gold Bugs Index)

Close
YTD
119.43 119.55 0.12
83.17%
52week High 147.82

06/03/02

52week Low 59.86

11/26/01

  XAU (Philadelphia Gold & Silver)

Close
YTD
67.05 66.67 0.38
23.18%
52week High 88.65

05/28/02

52week Low 49.23

11/19/01

All market indexes


 Market WrapUp for the Week 
Monday  l  Tuesday  l  Wednesday  l  Thursday  l  Friday

The Week in Graphs Storm Watch Geopolitical News Energy Resource Page Precious Metals Raw Materials


Friday, October 4, 2002

Geared and Engineered
Webster’s Dictionary defines manipulate as follows, ”to manage or control artfully or by shrewd use of influence, often in an unfair or fraudulent way, or to falsify for one’s own purposes or profit, to cause (prices of stocks, etc.) to fall or rise by wash sales, matched orders, etc.” Webster’s definition of “manipulate” certainly might apply to today’s financial markets. The seemly strange gyrations in the major stock indexes and the large short paper positions in commodities appear contrived and unnatural. A euphemism often bandied about Wall Street these days is “managed.” Certainly, market days, like today or Tuesday of this week or Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, appear out of sort with the financial markets. As viewed from the graphs of the S&P 500 and of the Dow above, the major averages have come close to key support levels, which have now become the July lows of 775 for the S&P 500. Another key support figure is 815, which is a key Fibonacci number and a key support number that held before the July lows on the S&P were reached. Each time the index gets to these levels, we tend to experience one-day miracles such as we had this week on Tuesday. These key support levels have become the new Rubicon for the financial markets. Once crossed, "Look out below!," seems to be the thinking.

The S&P 500 formed a “Head & Shoulder “ pattern and every effort has been made to keep prices above the neckline as shown in the graph above. Tuesday and Friday of this week experienced miraculous upsurges as Rubicon points were crossed on the charts. Usually some lame excuse or reason is given for the upsurge. Last week's mini rally was attributed to GE meeting earnings estimates. Then the downturn gathered momentum a few days later as GE announced that meeting profit targets for next year were going to be rough. The big surge on Tuesday was attributed to good news on Fannie Mae, Verizon, and Forrest Labs that their earnings wouldn’t be as bad as expected. The Dow rallied 347 points, the S&P 500 33 points, and the NASDAQ gained 42 points. I don’t know of any rational-thinking human being who would rush in to buy stocks just because a company’s earnings wouldn’t be as bad as originally forecasted. The repeated mantra was that stocks have fallen down enough to make them cheap again. P/E multiples of 20 on the Dow, 30 on the S&P 500 and 37 on the NASDAQ aren't cheap in my book. Stocks are still grossly overvalued -- more so when you look at real earnings according to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and not the CRAP (Cloudy Reporting Accounting Principles) numbers that are so widely used today.

Today's Investors Are NOT Lame Brains ... They're Getting Smarter
The problem that Wall Street has is how to keep investors fully invested and avert attention away from the exit gates. The second-half recovery isn’t going to take place. Pro forma forecasts for miracle earnings for the third and fourth quarter were a mirage and have been thoroughly discredited. So what line of balderdash is next? The recent drop in the major indexes reflects an adjustment process. The mirage of a second half recovery isn’t going to take place and stock prices are adjusting for this reality. Fourth quarter estimates still remain too high from forecasted earnings. Another adjustment process is needed. It remains a question on whether it is allowed. As already mentioned, every time stock prices fall below key support levels, a miracle one-day recovery appears along with some lame excuse to justify it. Apparently Wall Street assumes that most investors are idiots and uninformed. However, they are playing a dangerous game. This year is already shaping up to be another year of double digit losses for investors. Most funds have consistently lost money for their shareholders. What do you do when stock prices are heading back to levels that we haven’t seen since 1995 or 1990? And what do you keep telling investors as a reason to hold on to what they own? The CEOs and corporate insiders have already sold off their shares years ago. Wall Street trades and shorts the market; while they tell investors to buy and hold.

Judging by money flows out of mutual funds, investors may not need much more than a shove to head for the exit gates. That is why the line in the Rubicon has been drawn in the charts and every effort will be used to maintain it. It remains to be seen whether the laws of gravity can be repealed. In the end, history teaches us that the markets will have their way. What I suspect will happen is that some 10-sigma event, not programmed into the computer models, will suddenly appear and it will overwhelm the markets despite the best efforts to thwart it.

When you squeeze lemons, you get lemonade
When you squeeze the shorts, you get a bull market.

Silver Producers Held Hostage
Just as there has been an effort to maintain and put a hold on stock prices, there appears to be another unnatural effort to keep bullion prices and the share prices of precious metals companies down. I covered a portion of this yesterday when I talked about the huge short positions in five key silver stocks. There are less than 10 key producers of silver in the world. These companies are primary silver producers as opposed to base metals producers or gold companies that mine silver as a by-product. Silver stocks have fallen precipitously in July, and then again, after their rally from their July lows. The drop in prices corresponds with large short positions that have been taken in each and every one of these stocks. Like the large silver short position in the COMEX, they remain vulnerable to the efforts of any hedge fund looking to affect a squeeze.

Shorting Silver

Silver Producer Short Position Friday's Volume Days
to Cover
APEX Silver 792,000 79,100 10
Coeur d'Alene Mines 3,881,000 526,400 7.4
Hecla Mining 2,405,000 391,000 6.2
Pan American Silver 1,00,200 201,525 5.0
Silver Standard Resources 874,000 190,960 4.6

A similar position now exists for the silver shorts. As the table above shows, short interest in most stocks would take between 5-10 days to cover. Since most computer screens would pick up on any change in volume, the shorts have to be careful of when and how they cover. They will have to use stealth to cover their tracks by buying back in slowly so as not to alert program trading monitors to any abrupt change in volume. If they tried to cover at once, the price would take off as it did in May and in June.

This buying may already be taking place as this chart of money flow indicates in Coeur d’Alene Mines. Volume has been slowly edging back up since the August bottom. Based on Friday’s trading, it would take the shorts more than 7 days to fully cover.

Something's Gotta Give For Silver

In addition, these stocks are at key technical support levels presenting a good buying opportunity to add to positions or to enter the market. As this long-term Kitco chart of silver indicates, the price of the meal is at rock bottom having fallen over 90 percent from its peak back in the last bull market of the 1970’s. Silver is scarce today and it is getting harder to find. The metal has been running a supply deficit for well over a decade and the government's own stockpiles of the metal have been exhausted. I recently had a long conversation with two geologists who have supported this view. There is one large silver mine potential in Latin America that may be difficult and expensive to mine. However, for the most part, very few new and large silver deposits have been discovered. Additionally, most silver is a by-product of base metal mining. As more base metal producers shut down mines, silver deficits should increase in the years ahead. At current prices of $4.49 silver is uneconomical to mine. Would your mining company explore for silver at these prices if you couldn’t mine the metal profitably?

Despite its historical role as money for over 5,000 years, the uses of silver as a key industrial metal keep expanding from batteries to water purification to non-pollutant marine paint. It may surprise most Americans, but around the globe in India, Asia, and the Middle East, silver is viewed as money. In many languages the word for money is silver! Most of the demand for precious metals is coming from emerging markets where precious metals are used as a form of savings and investments. In cultures much more ancient than ours, and who view and distrust paper money, silver and gold = money. It has been that way for over 5,000 years, despite the best efforts of statists to discredit it.

Click on the image to view the larger chart.

Hecla Mining
Pan American Silver
APEX Mining
Silver Standard

Silver is Undervalued in a Major Way
I have recently received numerous e-mails regarding silver's role in a deflationary environment such as we experienced during the Great Depression. We need a few facts first. During the Great Depression, there was surplus of silver in the country. Congress actually passed a law requiring the Treasury to buy silver. This was a period when the government’s great stockpiles were accumulated. After its nadir in 1933, silver actually performed much better than gold. Gold prices were capped at $35 an ounce. Charts and other fundamental aspects will be covered in next week's Wrap Up as supply dynamics begin to unfold in the months ahead. Simply put, silver is undervalued in a major way. Prices have been kept down through short selling since there are no large deposits of silver that can be loaned out to bullion banks from the vaults of central bankers. The only way to keep silver prices down is through the use of derivatives or paper contracts. Large supplies of the metal simply don’t exist. Mainly consuming above-ground stockpiles accumulated over decades has made up silver deficits. Those stockpiles will be running short over the next 18 months. The Treasury will have to go into the market to buy the metal for its silver eagle program. The Treasury purchase of 10 million may not sound like much until you add it to a 100 million plus existing supply deficit. One can only speculate as to how high it will go when gold and the metals take off as confidence in paper evaporates with each new oncoming financial crisis -- not to mention potential geopolitical rogue waves.

The smart money already owns silver. Buffett bought his stake in 1997. He took delivery and then shipped it to safe keeping overseas. Others such as Soros, Gates, and Tish have bought because they apparently recognize silver’s gross undervaluation. Gates already owns 11.8 percent of Pan American Silver, a position he has held and has added to over time. I also know of five other fund managers who own significant positions in some of the companies listed above. In fairness and part of full disclosure I also own some of these companies in my own account or for my clients.

This Week's Market - Crossing the Rubicon
In looking at this week's market, the S&P 500 lost 3.2%, bringing its losses up to 30.27% for the year. The Dow lost 2.3% with losses YTD of 24.88%. The NASDAQ seems to see no end to its hemorrhaging, losing another 4.9% this week bringing its 2001 losses up to 41.56%. The S&P 500 now sits at only 2 points above its five-year low reached in July. That is why there was a rally push late in the day to keep it above the Rubicon. The NASDAQ is now at levels not seen since September 6, 1996; while the Dow has fallen to its lowest close since November 13, 1997.

The real key for these indexes will come during the third week of this month when companies start reporting actual results for the third quarter. By then estimates will be lowered to such an extent that companies could actually lose money and beat estimates, as many of them will do. More than three out of four companies have already lowered their third-quarter profit estimates. Earnings estimates keep getting lowered by the day. We are now down to 5.9% from 6.3% earlier this week and 17.1% in July, and over 30% in January.

The markets were hit with a plethora of warnings today covering a wide swath of industries ranging from aerospace, banking, base metals, communications, drugs, to technology. The earnings disappointments are no longer concentrated in technology, but seem to cut across all segments of the economy. 

Looking Forward
What the markets will have to face in October and November is not only disappointments for this quarter, but additional warnings for the next quarter and all of next year. GE has already alerted the markets to the fact that the company will have a difficult time maintaining double-digit earnings growth next year. More companies will follow GE’s lead. Better to get the bad news out early so that analysts can take their rose colored glasses off and lower their expectations. No CEO wants to cook the books anymore in this environment when long vacations at Rykers Island are now a distinct possibility. Indeed, the unrelenting flows of warnings all week long are revealing an ugly profit picture. They are making Wall Street projections for a third year second half recovery look ridiculous.

Upbeat Report on Fund Managers Positioned in Gold
The one bright spot this week was gold. In fact Investors Business Daily did a story about some of this year's most successful fund managers. The leading managers have been accumulating gold. The average gold fund is up 45 percent for the year compared to almost equal losses for the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. Precious metals have held the center stage since the bear market began in March of 2000. The top funds in performance this year are either short funds or gold and precious metals funds. This is a trend that has continued from last year. Wall Street doesn’t like to talk about the metals because they present competition for the markets. However, the smart fund managers have been buying and are outperforming the herd. Managers have been accumulating Gold Fields, Gold Corp, Glamis, Harmony, Meridian, and Agnico-Eagle. The common thread of all of these companies is that they are unhedged gold producers. They have consistently out-performed hedged producers. The difference in performance is shown in the producers such as Barrick and Placer Dome. Barrick is losing big money in its hedges as the price of gold rises.

The difference between hedged and unhedged companies is reflected in the performance of the HUI, which is up 83.17 percent in comparison to the hedged XAU, which is up 23 percent. This still compares favorably to the major indexes, which have lost 25-41 percent this year. At some point, heaven only knows when, the general public is going to get the message stocks are in a bear market and gold, silver and “things” such commodities are in a new bull market. This is a message that is constantly obfuscated by all of the noise over beating estimates, pro forma earnings and whether the economy is in great shape. The markets know better which is why they are down. Only John Q still believes the fairy tales. The smart money has left the markets and is buying the metals. Some day soon John Q is going to wake up to the fact that there isn’t a Santa Claus.

The VIX ended up the week at 46.28 and the VXN finished at 60.28. Volume picked up all week long on the sell side.

© Copyright Jim Puplava, October 4, 2002

MAR



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial
KEYWORDS: economics; investing; stockmarket
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To: UnBlinkingEye
If a strike does come, maybe Bush will see it and cancel it for 80 days.
21 posted on 10/04/2002 6:53:33 PM PDT by B4Ranch
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To: UnBlinkingEye
It is a lockout, not a strike.

I stand corrected. It is a lockout.

Richard W.

22 posted on 10/04/2002 6:58:36 PM PDT by arete
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To: arete; rohry; Wyatt's Torch; LS; meyer; DarkWaters; STONEWALLS; TigerLikesRooster; Ken H; ...
By Bob Chapman - October 4
We hear many stories and suppositions and this is one of the latest regarding Barrick Gold. Supposedly they have hedged part of their production through a spot deferred forward sale contract. Barrick makes a forward contract with a bank to deliver gold at a certain price at a certain date. But what makes these contracts different and also dangerous for counter-parties is that Barrick has the right to defer the delivery of gold for periods ranging from five to ten years. More recently, they may have entered into contracts that allow them to defer delivery for 15 years. Rather than give you the details, these kinds of contracts would be beneficial for Barrick and if Barrick decides to defer the sale there would be trouble. One bank, probably JP Morgan Chase, has $41 billion in gold derivatives, a portion of which is with Barrick. If gold goes up and Barrick defers, which we are sure they would, Morgan would have to find $5 billion in gold. If Morgan buys in the market it would force prices considerably higher, either that or the US government, which we believe is guaranteeing Morgan’s action, would deliver the gold, which we doubt because they may not have it or they may not want to face the public’s wrath for selling it or Morgan reneges and goes into liquidation. If Morgan goes down the entire derivative structure goes with it. It could be that the Congress could take Morgan into receivership and allow the American taxpayer to pay the debt, but that would cause a number of Senators and Representatives to lose their jobs. Whatever the outcome in a situation like this we believe all derivative positions would be cancelled or zeroed out. That means all hedgers would no longer be hedged and they world have to return to a receiver part of the funds they received, which would put them all in a precarious financial position. The ensuing financial chaos would send gold prices considerably higher. It could be that in cutting such a sharp deal for itself that Barrick may have laid the groundwork for the destruction of the derivative market and the financial system. It won’t now take much to create a crisis. Full Story

http://www.goldseek.com/cgi-bin/news/InternationalForecaster/1033767700.php
23 posted on 10/04/2002 7:40:10 PM PDT by razorback-bert
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To: rohry
For what it's worth, I think silver and gold are both in long-term bull markets now, but that they are both likely to go down a bit over the next few weeks, before they test the resistance levels again.
24 posted on 10/04/2002 7:53:31 PM PDT by Cicero
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To: razorback-bert; rohry; Wyatt's Torch; arete; LS; meyer; DarkWaters; STONEWALLS; ...
http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/deriv/dq202.pdf

I highly recommend that you read this PDF file. It isn't a difficult read.

See page #18 in the table titled "NOTIONAL AMOUNT OF DERIVATIVES CONTRACTS OF THE 25
COMMERCIAL BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES WITH THE MOST DERIVATIVE CONTRACTS
JUNE 30, 2002, $ MILLIONS
NOTE: DATA ARE PRELIMINARY"

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NY
Assets 581,407 (million dollars)
Derivatives 25,910,300 (million dollars)

Here is the first couple paragraphs of this GOVERNMENT report.

The OCC quarterly report on bank derivatives activities and trading revenues is based on call
report information provided by U.S. commercial banks. The notional amount of derivatives in
insured commercial bank portfolios increased by $3.8 trillion in the second quarter, to $50.1
trillion. Generally, changes in notional volumes are reasonable reflections of business activity
but do not provide useful measures of risk. During the second quarter, the notional amount of
interest rate contracts increased by $3.4 trillion, to $42.7 trillion. Foreign exchange contracts
increased by $183 billion to $5.8 trillion. This figure excludes spot foreign exchange contracts,
which increased by $332 billion to $504 billion. Equity, commodity and other contracts
increased by $85 billion, to $1.1 trillion. Credit derivatives increased by $54 billion, to $492
billion. The number of commercial banks holding derivatives increased by 12, to 391. [See
Tables 1, 2, and 3, Graphs 1 and 3.]
Eighty-five percent of the notional amount of derivative positions was comprised of interest rate
contracts with foreign exchange accounting for an additional 12 percent. Equity, commodity and
credit derivatives accounted for only 3 percent of the total notional amount. [See Table 3 and
Graph 3.]
Holdings of derivatives continue to be concentrated in the largest banks. Seven commercial
banks account for almost 96 percent of the total notional amount of derivatives in the
commercial banking system, with more than 99 percent held by the top 25 banks. [See Tables 3,
5 and Graph 4.]
Over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded contracts comprised 90.1 percent and 9.9 percent,
respectively, of the notional holdings as of the second quarter of 2002. [See Table 3.] OTC
contracts tend to be more popular with banks and bank customers because they can be tailored to
meet firm-specific risk management needs. However, OTC contracts expose participants to
greater credit risk and tend to be less liquid than exchange-traded contracts, which are
standardized and fungible.

See also:
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/aarontaskfree/10043321.html
25 posted on 10/04/2002 8:06:37 PM PDT by razorback-bert
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To: rohry; Wyatt's Torch; arete; LS; meyer; DarkWaters; STONEWALLS; TigerLikesRooster; Ken H; ...
Brazil's Lula, the name the former metals worker goes by, says those who have short-sold his country's currency to all-time lows will pay the price once he is elected and the currency rebounds.

Alas, Team Brazil's real has lost more than a third of its value since Jan. 2, making Lula's warning to currency speculators take the shape of a promissory note. "Watch the Sunday night news," says McAvity, editor of newsletter Deliberations on World Markets.

Brazilians, beset by their battered currency and the soaring prices a cheap currency inflicts on a nation such as Brazil, will be watching their cash flow, and so will the big banks in New York and London.

That cash flow next week could be the swirl down the loo of big banks' Brazil loans and International Monetary Fund-sponsored debt. The IMF in September approved a $30 billion Brazil loan and insists Brazil has no need to restructure its debts.

The IMF would allow Brazil's central bank to spend as much as $16 billion to defend the real. Currency speculators, it is fair to say, are licking their chops.
26 posted on 10/04/2002 8:20:45 PM PDT by razorback-bert
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To: meyer
sitting on this $4.65 silver for so long

The death of emulsion photography would explain part of that. But hang on to the silver. They say it is effective against werewolves.

27 posted on 10/04/2002 9:03:31 PM PDT by RightWhale
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To: JRandomFreeper; billhilly
Here's my take on silver. As you can see, silver was
about $4 and ounce in the seventies. It recently
got to and held at $4.50 after years at $5.00. None
of these numbers is inflation adjusted. Hint: how
much is a 1972 dollar (before Carter's inflation
malaise) worth now?

One of the largest, if not the largest, users of
silver is the photographic industry. For environmental
as well has financial reasons, electrolytic and other
means of silver recovery have become de rigeur. I would
estimate that 85% of all photo silver is reclaimed and
reused. That's silver that doesn't need to be mined.

Digital cameras have broken the $500 barrier and the
price continues to head down. The silver based
photofinishing industry will be gone in less than
twenty years.

Silver should be classified for what it is, an industrial
metal. There is nothing precious about it anymore. Put
your money in something else.
28 posted on 10/04/2002 10:47:53 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: RightWhale
The death of emulsion photography would explain part of that. But hang on to the silver. They say it is effective against werewolves

It's also good for turning political wannbe's blue. >>Stan Jones

Blueboy Libertarian Senate candidate from Montana

;-)

29 posted on 10/04/2002 11:18:51 PM PDT by HP8753
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To: RightWhale
But hang on to the silver. They say it is effective against werewolves.

har har! Good one.

Here's another reason for silver to be in the doldrums:

Lots of "silver" sold in stores is actually steel.

I have a personal grudge against the metals flacksters- my grandfather, God rest his soul, got caught up in the Hunt Brothers chaos years ago and lost much of my inheritance by speculating in silver. I'd sooner put my money in Brazilian stock options than in so-called "precious" metals.

-ccm

30 posted on 10/05/2002 4:34:04 AM PDT by ccmay
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To: gcruse
"One of the largest, if not the largest, users of silver is the photographic industry. For environmental as well has financial reasons, electrolytic and other means of silver recovery have become de rigeur. I would estimate that 85% of all photo silver is reclaimed and reused. That's silver that doesn't need to be mined."

.....back in the late 70s I knew a guy that had a wrecking company.....he intentionally low-bid a job to tear down an old hospital that had been built in the 20s...he didn't give a damn about making money on the demolition... what he wanted was the cast iron drain pipe that ran from the x-ray developing room in the basement all the way out to the street.....and sure enough, the pipe was choked with silver from all those years of x-rays...

...a lot of crazy stuff happened back then....including folks who sold their family heirloom sterling for scrap prices.....

Good luck to everybody...

Stonewalls

31 posted on 10/05/2002 5:52:38 AM PDT by STONEWALLS
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To: STONEWALLS
I think it would be appropriate here to give that famous piece of advice from Lazamatz...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!

32 posted on 10/05/2002 6:11:49 AM PDT by cibco
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To: rohry
These equity markets are breaking down fast.

Politically, this is a landmine for Bush and the GOP this year because their demise is so easy to demogogue by the Dems and their Media suck-ups. If they can just change the subject away from Iraq in time for the Elections....

33 posted on 10/05/2002 7:49:14 AM PDT by Gritty
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To: RightWhale
"The death of emulsion photography would explain part of that."

Use of silver in photography is expanding at an annual rate of 4% per year. You can look it up.
34 posted on 10/05/2002 9:10:47 AM PDT by rohry
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To: rohry
Wouldn't you say that most of the people in the world still consider silver coin money? Viewed in a different prospective from the citizens in the US.
35 posted on 10/05/2002 9:43:00 AM PDT by cibco
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To: cibco
"Wouldn't you say that most of the people in the world still consider silver coin money?"

I don't know, but I do know that in all these countries that are experiencing currency crashes (Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, etc.), the people would be cashing their paper money in for silver coins if they could.
36 posted on 10/05/2002 9:57:59 AM PDT by rohry
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To: billhilly
Sorry, billhilly, the wife says I can't buy anymore silver. I guess have to withdraw my offer to buy your twenty year old ingot.
37 posted on 10/05/2002 10:01:10 AM PDT by rohry
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To: rohry
Yes. I remember during the crash in Indonesia (98?) seeing reports of people converting to gold & silver on the chance they would have to flee the country. A good insurance to have on hand.
38 posted on 10/05/2002 10:04:03 AM PDT by cibco
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To: rohry
Well, okay, it's not quite dead yet. Just because everybody I know has a digital camera doesn't mean the rest of the world is there already. I understand a few people still aren't connected to the Internet as well.
39 posted on 10/05/2002 1:27:49 PM PDT by RightWhale
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To: RightWhale
"Just because everybody I know has a digital camera doesn't mean the rest of the world is there already."

I don't have a digital camera despite that I am usually one of the "early adopters." I like using my trusty 35 MM and don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for lower quality pictures.

In fairness, the growth in film sales is due to the sale of disposable cameras and other cheap cameras in the third world.
40 posted on 10/05/2002 2:07:26 PM PDT by rohry
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