continued !30 Jan 2011 23:12
for those promises. On a global basis, governments are left with a choice between breaking promises by openly reneging on their legal commitments on a massive scale, possibly having to actually declare bankruptcy in many cases (effectively) - or they can follow the time-honored route that almost every nation which has found itself in the situation and has had the ability do so has done: they can pay their promises in form, but not in substance. They can inflate away the value of their national currency, and pay everything in full, but that currency will only be worth a fraction of what it is right now”.
 Since 2005, the January through March period has seen China’s private household gold demand average a rise of 22% from the previous nine months, according to a BullionVault analysis, based on GFMS data courtesy of the World Gold Council.
 “Long term, that has meant Chinese households have put an ever-greater proportion of their fast-growing annual savings into gold,” said Ash, with that portion growing from 0.8% of retained income in 2001 to a forecast of more than 1.7% in 2010.
 Until a major fiat currency becomes trustworthy, there is no alternative store of value that compares with gold and silver.
 Premiums for gold bars in China jumped to their highest level in two years.
 Precious metals dealers in China report very strong demand for gold from China. Refiners cannot meet the demand.
 The World Gold Council preliminary report shows gold sales into India will be the highest in its history.
 Eric Sprott, chief investment officer of Sprott Asset Management, after having difficulty locating enough bullion for their new silver fund was quoted : "Frankly, we are concerned about the illiquidity in the physical silver market. We believe the delays involved in the delivery of physical silver to the Trust highlight the disconnect that exists between the paper and physical markets for silver."
 Sales of silver Eagles set a new record in January, by the 19th of the month. Already, 4.6 million coins have been sold, an all-time monthly high since the coin's release in 1986.
 Gold and gold mining stocks represented 26% of all global assets in 1981 (high inflation), and 20% in 1932 (high deflation). Today, gold and gold mining shares represent about 1% of global assets
 John Embry of Sprott Investments, in a recent article for Investors Digest expressed doubts that all of the gold in the gold ETFs is physical, (suspecting that some of it consists of Comex contracts).
 Mr. Embry further observes that gold is re-establishing itself in its historical role as money.
Happy trading!