Another excellent post Coach, lets just get to the heart of the matter... we're here for one thing only, metal. Why are we here... well other than the fact that it is awfully pretty (As a kid, I for one was always curious as to why the medal count at Olympics was Gold, Silver, Bronze when silver was obviously much nicer to look at)... we're here because we know that the current financial system based on interest, borrowing, debt and 'growth/expansion' just won't work in the end.

What has real 'value', is portable and looks awesome with a maple leaf or panda bear on it? It isn't Fiat currency (although the 5 dollar note in Canada with the kids playing hockey does play on nostalgia... would look even better on a coin!). The recently released correspondences on wikileaks illustrates that our worlds leaders, politicians and diplomats are actually a group of big kids playing in the worlds sandbox. Do you have faith that they know what they're doing? I don't. Personally that's why I also shy away from most conspiracy theories... people just aren't that secretive or smart most of the time. (Overheard at the Pentagon, Credit Suisse and in Liechtenstein: Hey John, why don't we just store ALL the top secret stuff on a single hard drive, no one would copy it onto a disc...)

As for 2012 / Armageddon / end-of-the-world / our-time-is-neigh / bird-flu / SARS / Palin-as-President / world-wide-terror / New World Order / another-Home-Alone-movie... well it's all a bit pessimistic and some rightfully point out, the end of the world has been called for since the beginning of the world. However, tough times... oh yah I think they be a coming.

Depletion of oil, devaluation of currencies, shifting of wealth from west to east (just as it shifted from east to west prior to this), disproportionate power in the hands of banks and corporations, democracy slowly eroded... it's not just possible, to ignore it is to ignore what is actually happening around us and to ignore all of human history.

Is it the end of the world? Nah. Probably not, but it may be the end of our kids graduating and moving to New York... more likely Beijing, New Delhi or Rio. Just as America rose, it shall eventually fall. All those who believe in 1,000 year reich's are usually sorely disappointed (or end up dead in a bunker). Seasons fade and recover. Empires blossom through hunger and die due to overeating. Anyone who believes in a big economic recovery in the West, well... um... sorry chum, we did gone and gosh darn spend it all on plastic trinkets at Walmart! Usury correctly identified as the erosion of wealth (actually the transition).

Looks like ECU is perking up. It should, this is its time to shine. Lets buy in, eventually cash out and get some of that cheap land in rural India before it's too late! Your grandkids may thank you for it. (But they will REALLY thank you if you hand down a room full of shiny 'second place' metal coins, a couple of Lemieux rookie cards and a 1967 Mercury Cougar)

Soul.