Silver Is The New Gold

My first story today is a GATA release of an article out of yesterday's Financial Times. Long seen as a place of safety in times of turmoil, the dollar may be losing its haven appeal. This time, though, while the traditional havens of the Swiss franc and the yen have benefited, the US currency has suffered. "It seems the dollar's haven status has vanished," says Steve Barrow at Standard Bank. "And even for long-term dollar bears like ourselves, this is a worry." Link here.

Today's next story is courtesy of Roy Stephens and was posted over at the German website spiegel.de yesterday. Ireland's future prime minister has a tough job ahead of him: Voters who backed Enda Kenny expect him to take a tough line and renegotiate the terms of the country's EU bailout. Some are hoping that his ties with German Chancellor Angela Merkel will lend a helping hand. Link here.

Reader Steve Pierce sent me the following AP story that was posted over at msbnc.com a week ago.They blockade highway toll booths to give drivers free passage. They cover subway ticket machines with plastic bags so commuters can't pay. Even doctors are joining in, preventing patients from paying fees at state hospitals. Many see the "I Won't Pay" movement as something much simpler: the people's refusal to pay for the mistakes of a series of governments accused of squandering the nation's future through corruption and cronyism. Link here.

Roy Stephens sent me the following UPI story that was filed from Paris yesterday. It took a while, but it's becoming ever more clear that the North African revolutions are unlikely to unfold like a morality play in which good defeats evil, not like a fairy tale in which all live happily ever after. Those concerned that the "Arab Spring" isn't turning out quite as happily as hoped should brace themselves. It can get a great deal worse. This is well worth the read...and the link is here.

I've mentioned John's book on many occasions in this column over the years. It's how the American Empire subverts entire nations and bends them to her will. This longish interview was originally posted over at The Daily Bell...but has been reprinted at the lewrockwell.com website...and I thank reader U.D. for sharing it with us. This is a must read...and so is his book. The link is here.

The rest of my stories today are all precious metals related in one form or another. Today's first item is from Washington state reader S.A...and is a posting over at zerohedge.com. As you can tell from Monday's silver chart, the silver price got hit once again in the thinly-traded electronic market after the Comex close...and T.D. wants to know "who is banging the close in your silver?" It's a short read, with a neat graph...and it's linked here.

This next story showed up in a GATA release yesterday...and Chris Powell's headline is much better than the one that the story actually carries. It reads "Gold Refineries' Operating Capacity Declines"....and is posted over at the Indian website business-standard.com. It's not overly long, but definitely worth your time...and the link is here.

Reader Tariq Khan kindly provided our next reading material today. It's another posting over at zerohedge.com. According to Reuters..."Egypt has issued a ministerial decree immediately banning the export of gold in all its forms, including jewellery and ornaments, until June 30, the official news agency MENA said on Sunday. "This decision, which comes in light of the exceptional circumstances the country is passing through ..., is to preserve the country's wealth until the situation stabilizes,". Not too many shades of grey in that...and the link is here.

Here's a story that was sent to me by reader Ray Wiberg...and posted over at the emirates247.com website on Sunday. Silver is now up 16.77 per cent in the past 30 days and according to traders, has more than doubled in the last one year, trading as it was at $16.24/oz on February 27, 2010. This is now leading precious metal analysts to argue that silver will see much more appreciation in the months to come, especially since the extent of global silver reserves are debatable. Ted Butler's work is getting around...even over in the Middle East. The link is here.

This gold story was posted in The Telegraph very early on Monday morning...and is courtesy of reader Nick Laird of sharelynx.com fame. "Gold is a form of crisis insurance, one that just keeps paying," Bullion Vault's Adrian Ash said. "If you bought when Northern Rock started to crumble you would have doubled your money by now. It has kept paying out as crisis insurance for the past four years." And it's got many more years to go. The link is here.

The gold chart is coiled tightly and continued dollar debasement can only push the price up and raise the prospect of hyperinflation, Hinde Capital CEO Ben Davies told King World News yesterday. It's a short blog...and the link is here.

This next story was in yesterday's edition of the Financial Times out of London...and is posted in the clear in this GATA release. The FT headline reads "Vietnamese Weight Impact of Bar on Gold Trade". Buffeted by persistent inflation and weakness in their currency, many Vietnamese prefer to save in gold and dollars. Their fondness for gold, which is often used to settle property deals and other large transactions, and for dollars puts further downward pressure on their currency, the dong, in a negative feedback loop from which it is hard to escape. This story is an absolute must read...as is Chris Powell's preamble...and the link is here.

Next is this essay by my good friend David Bond over at silverminers.com in Wallace, Idaho. What, exactly, is the price of a miner's penance? We have a working number and you should be sitting down for this. The United Snakes government's shame price, the price which an American miner must pay to ensure that he will not be further persecuted for producing metals that for millennia have been used as honest money, and additionally metals which enable cell-phones, Volvos and Prius cars, refrigerators, is: Seven hundred and thirty-one thousand and 667 dollars and some change - $731,666.66 to be precise...per miner. Per Lucky Friday miner at Hecla's operations in northern Idaho. All in, $263.4 million: two-hundred sixty-three point four million dollars. Dave takes no prisoners...and the link is here.

Lastly today, is this longish interview [probably 30 minutes or so] with silver analyst Ted Butler by Dr. Dave Janda over at WAAM 1600 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Anything that Ted has to say, is worth listening to. He hardly ever publishes anything in the public domain anymore...so this is your chance to hear it from the horse's mouth. It's a must listen...and the link is here.