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SILVER(gold) REPORT
If you would like to see where to invest money, and how to hold silver, you can look at a portfolio:
You can look at a silver stock portfolio. Once a month, at the end/beginning of the month, around the 31st or 1st, for paying subscribers and those visiting MentalGrowth.com, updated stocks owned and the percent of a portfolio.
It's very simple. Very revealing. Very useful. It's not trading advice. It's not a model portfolio. It's a typical portfolio.
04/15/08
Terbolizard's Congressional Race Heats Up
(It's going well, but please donate)
Silver Stock Report
by Jason Hommel, April 13, 2008
My elder brother, Theodore Terbolizard (who changed his last name from Hommel over a decade ago), is running for the Republican nomination to run for Congress in California's 4th District, and the vote is about 6 weeks away on June 3rd. Since the district is overwhelmingly Republican and Libertarian, the primary is the real race.
Terbo Ted, as we call him, understands and supports free market capitalism. On every issue, his view is for more freedom for the people, and less freedom for the government.
This is the same end result of buying silver, of course; it takes back illegitimate power from the government, and puts it back into the hands of those who buy silver. I think buying silver is more effective at driving political change than voting, and Ted thinks we need to be more active in direct politics. Who am I to say which path is wiser? Tough call.
Charles Savoie, writer at Silver-Investor.com, has long advocated more political involvement that I have, to protect our freedom to buy silver and avoid confiscation or further economic disruptions, but I've always maintained that we don't need to do much politically until later. Has the time now come?
The campaign is one of the most highly watched campaigns in the nation right now as the Republican incumbant is plagued by scandals, and is not running, which removes a huge barrier, since incumbants have such a large advantage.
One other contender, Doug Ose, another Republican, is loaning his own campaign $849,000, which has raised the spending cap on individual donations to $6,900 per individual U.S. resident (corporations cannot donate).
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8799202?nclick_check=1
If I've helped you make a substantial amount of money in silver, I would like you to consider making a donation up to the maximum of $6,900 to Ted's campaign, or anything less that you feel is appropriate for you.
You can find out more about Ted and his views, and can make a donation, here:
http://terbocongress.org/
So far, Ted's campaign has raised only about $10,000, despite my repeated requests for your help. I've spent several times more than the maximum on a TV campaign that nearly everyone in the district seems to have seen, and the TV AD can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_3Js1k2ufk
(While direct contributions to Ted's campaign are limited, anyone can spend their own money however they wish to promote a candidate.)
We feel that Ted has a real shot at winning, since Ted's views are right, and popular in the district. Other free market candidates have earned up to 40% of the vote by spending a mere $100,000, but Ted has already been recognized on a national scale as one of the leading new free market Republican contenders. Like other free market candidates, it seems that Ted can win by spending much less money than the other Republicans who are pro-war, pro-big government, and have records of wasteful spending, raising taxes, and taking away the rights of the people.
Already, Ted's campaign has the best web site, the best print pieces, the best TV commercials, and Ted is the dominant and most likable and lively public speaker at the candidate forums.
On April 15th, Ted will be going to Washington for a Freedom Rally, where there will be a gathering of many freedom groups that will call for an end to excessive and unjust taxation, and increased faith in free market economics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaL1N8I36QA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs98n_9uagg&feature=related
To follow the April 15th event, see
http://grannywarriors.com/
http://taxday08.com/
http://hauling.ronpaulroadshow.org/
While many of my readers think of me as brave, saying that I'm literally laying my life on the line to get the message out about the benefits of silver and the evils of paper money and usury, Ted is more brave, directly taking on tax issues I'd rather not mention.
We were both ski racers growing up. We were very competitive, and we still are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIECm4i9Crs
Terbo Ted's not scared of this battle; for both of us, we do this for fun, because otherwise, we'd be bored to tears with our lives.
But also, how can we truly enjoy the freedoms we do, without fighting for freedom for others? We could waste our lives on personal pleasures such as skiing all winter, as we have a family cabin right on the ski hill, but since Ted is running for Congress, and since I study the stocks and write, we only skied 2 days together this season. It's a real sacrifice we make to transform the world around us, and it is well worth it, and we are still trying to out-do each other while helping each other. We understand the benefits of competition, it brings out the best in us.
To get the freedom message out does cost money, but not nearly as much as the other guys will spend. Don't overlook the effectiveness of your contributions. I've spent an average of $5 per email on this list, about $400,000, just to get my messages to you, but I have been able to do that only by spending the money that comes in for the "look at my portfolio"; they are the true sponsors of this message.
This is part of my long term plan. I thought, if I can help people make money, then maybe they can help me effectively advocate positive political change. Perhaps it's too early, perhaps the silver price is too low, and it's not yet worth it to spend some silver to to reach out to people with the freedom message, but perhaps not. According to the free market way, everything is entirely up to you.
To donate:
http://terbocongress.org/
Everyone is encouraged to promote the campaign in any way they choose, in accordance with free market principles.
Yes, I know this is the Silver Stock Report. And yes, politics has everything to do with silver. Please re-read my article on the "True Reflections of Silver" that I wrote nearly two years ago in 2006. It's modeled after the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.silverstockreport.com/email/truths.html
If you want info on stocks, please use the tool for that: www.miningpedia.com. To reward those who read this full message, here's a tip: my newest and largest free market acquisition is Silver Eagle. Ticker: SEG.TO. It's the top silver company at miningpedia.com, you'll see it's a great stock.
04/12/08
The Stumblingblock of their Iniquity
Wrongheaded People see Silver as Evil
Silver Stock Report
by Jason Hommel, April 9, 2008
Some Christians just don't know any better and have not yet done the study (which means they are spiritually immature), while others have been lied to (which means they are deceived). But thankfully, those who continually seek truth ought to be able to change their minds (which is what repent means) when presented with what the scriptures really say; and this article is for those who seek to understand some of the more perplexing Bible verses which seem to be against silver and gold. I present this article as a means for Husbands and Wives to go over together, so that they can come to an agreement with regards to family finances, and to help understand the great spiritual blessings of taking dominion over God's creation and provision of honest weights and measures of silver and gold. My wife has also had to come to grips with my job that I do in the "monetary world", and has had difficulty understanding how what I do lines up with the Bible.
This article addresses the following scriptures.
Ezekiel 7:19 (The Stumblingblock of their Iniquity)
1 Timothy 6:10 (The "love" of money)
Matthew 6:19-21 (Lay up not for yourselves treasures upon earth)
Matthew 6:24 (No man can serve two masters)
Matthew 25:14-28 (The Parable of the Talents; and evil servant who buried gold.)
Mark 10:17-29 (The Young Rich Man told to sell everything)
James 5:1-6 (Woe you rich people, your gold is rusted; you withhold the wages.)
I will start with one of the most difficult verses that people often ask me about:
Ezekiel 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
After my wife heard my explanation once, she had a joyful burst of insight, and wisely summarized, "Their misunderstanding of what gold and silver are supposed to be used for has led them to be slaves to our current monetary system!"
For the longest time, I had difficulty understanding the last part of this verse, where it says "because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity". I wrongly thought it was saying that silver and gold were somehow evil, because it seems to describe the metals as a "stumblingblock" of their sin, like it caused people to sin. I knew it was not saying this, because it does not say that anywhere else in the Bible, and the Bible wants us to use honest weights and measures in commerce, and so on. But I was simply at a loss to explain it, and I put it off until later. I'm excited that I finally figured out that perplexing verse, after nearly ten years of seeking.
First of all, a stumblingblock is not evil, it's only mis-perceived as evil. Here's an example: Jesus dying for our sins is described as a stumblingblock.
1 Corinthians 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
To the Jews, Jesus is like a boogyman, or an evil or misguided false prophet that they don't understand, maybe because they were never taught by their Rabbis that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies from the Hebrew Bible, and here are two links if you would like to investigate that.
http://www.messiahrevealed.org/
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/messiah.htm
The stumblingblock cannot be blamed. But people do tend to blame the rock upon which they trip. In Psychology, they call this the "fundamental attribution error", whereby people who trip on a rock, blame the rock. But when people see another person trip on a rock, they say the other person is clumsy.
So, the verse in Ezekiel is saying that some people will blame silver and gold for their own troubles; but their own sinful perspective, their own iniquity, is what makes silver and gold into evil things for them, because they are blind to the truth. The ultimate expression and final fulfillment of this wongful view that is held by the majority of the world will come in the form of the prophecy of Revelation 13, about the mark of the beast, the 666.
But God's created provision of .999 fine silver and gold, which are the opposite of the 666 system, cannot be evil. Inanimate objects cannot sin, nor do anything wrong; they don't do anything.
Only people can sin, or make mistakes, or "miss the mark", or go into debt. (Those are other definitions of "sin".) Interestingly, people who are in debt are the least capable of appreciating silver, because they cannot see how they can afford to hold onto a "useless" luxury item when there is debt that needs to be repaid!
According to world experts, there is about $50 trillion of debt in the world, and only $5 trillion of gold, and probably only about $0.1 trillion worth of silver. Therefore, it would be foolish to try to sell gold and silver today to pay down debt, or other people's debts. If you have gold and silver, do not spend them to give money to people who are in financial trouble and who are in debt; because there is not enough gold in the world to pay down debts today.
I finally understood this verse in Ezekiel due to seeing the overall wrongheaded perspective of the occasional person who emails me with their claim that silver and gold are evil, or that owning silver and gold are evil actions. Almost everything they have to say about silver and economics is totally wrong, and they also misunderstand other verses that I will cover, below.
I finally also realized that Ezekiel's prophecy is not only applicable for the future 7 year tribulation, or "Day of the Lord". Many prophetic events happen recurringly, partially, throughout man's history. For example, in the book of Judges, the people went from freedom, to being put under tribute and paying taxes to foreign powers, about every 40 years.
For me, while I had trouble understanding that part about how silver could be a "stumblingblock", it was much easier to put a time and a place to this prophecy, which I long ago was able to place during the coming and future 7 year tribulation, after the rapture, during this time will come the 666 mark of the beast of Revelation 13. I wrote about my view of that in 2001:
Gold and Silver in Bible Prophecy 12-01
http://bibleprophesy.org/goldsilver.htm
There is a recurring theme that happens to men as described in this verse from Ezekiel. After men reject gold and silver and all the basic economic laws of honesty and freedom that they embody and teach, poverty tends to follow. We saw that in the U.S. during the great depression of the 1930's, when gold was outlawed in the U.S. in 1934, and taxes were high, and trade was restricted. We saw it recently this year in Zimbabwe, when private property was confiscated, and when merchants were not allowed to charge free market prices for their goods.
People who have memorized all the institutional lies about silver and gold, and made them a part of their own belief system, have the worst trouble. They who accept without questioning what they are taught in business and economics classes in college believe all the lies told to justify the current system of paper money, and therefore may feel that silver is evil, that silver leads to poverty, that silver is the embodiment of all that could be wrong and primitive with an economic system, because everything they think about silver is wrong.
They wrongly think:
that silver is the easiest of all forms of property to steal (instead of the hardest),
that it is the most expensive form of wealth to ship (instead of the cheapest),
that it is the least convenient form of wealth (instead of the most convenient),
that it is the least liquid form of wealth (instead of the most liquid),
that it is the easiest to counterfeit (instead of the hardest).
And the wrong views continue, such that they ultimately think there is no way we could ever return to using silver as money, despite the fact that the fundamental nature of silver is money, and despite the fact that money is at least three things:
1. a store of value
2. a unit of account
3. a medium of exchange.
We are using silver as money when we use it as a store of value; simply by putting into a safe, and not doing anything at all with it. That's using silver as money; as a store of value. It is much more important to use silver as a store of value than anything else right now. Why spend it, when others will not appreciate it? Sure it's great if you offer silver to others, but don't feel guilty if others won't accept it, we have no command by the Lord to put this stumbling block into the way of sinners who can't appreciate it.
I'm also coming to realize more and more that money and debt are two entirely different things; only one is property, the other is a promise.
But there are a group of people who think that because silver is money, it can be borrowed and lent, just like regular money, with nothing wrong about that; but they are woefully wrong, and their folly will be exposed. This includes Jeff Christian, President of the CPM group, who claims he helped pioneer futures contracts in silver. This includes Jon Nadler, who worked hard to develop and market products for Kitco and the Perth Mint.
While I'm clarifying Ezekiel, I feel I should clarify several other common verses that are bought up by Christians who have wrong views about silver and gold, and who forget that our commission is to set the captives free and to proclaim liberty throughout the land so that we may be fruitful and multiply and to take dominion over God's creation.
The only Biblical way to store wealth is in some form of property, such as silver, gold, land, food, or other goods, or investments with other people, and we are not called to invest in and support frauds such as paper money.
The following are scriptures that Christians often mis-interpret, as if saving gold and silver are bad. (What follows is my clarification.)
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Some think that money is the root of all evil, and if gold is money, then gold must be evil. But the verse does not say that, it says the "love" of money is the root of all evil. And that is translated wrong, it does not say "love", it's really speaking of the "lust/greed/averice" of money. It is the lust, or covetousness, of money that is the root of all evil. It is when men are willing to break all of God's other laws to get money because of unchecked greed, that the greed for money is the root of all evil. After all, greed, or coveteousness is a violation of the last commandment:
Exodus 20:17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Furthermore, I have outlined how the use of paper money has led to the violation of each one of the ten commandments.
The Use of Paper Money Violates All of the Ten Commandments July 2, 2006
But the appreciation of money, the use of money, is not evil, if it is used to create fruitfulness; but can be evil if you are paying other people to violate the commandments.
Here is another often misunderstood verse:
Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Some think Matt 6:19 means that we, as Christians, can't store money for the future, despite other clear verses that show that to be a virtue, such as Matthew 25, Dueteronomy 28:8, Proverbs 21:20, Proverbs 6:6-8, and Proverbs 30:24-45.
It is good to store up money to further the gospel kingdom; as ministry and service costs money.
Jesus also warns against storing money in a location where thieves are known to break in and steal--this would include banks, which are institutions of theft. Banks are the modern day "money lenders" in the Temple whose tables Jesus overturned, the modern thieves, because they only keep a fraction of deposits on hand. The Federal Reserve is stealing value from people who hold paper money or bonds in banks through inflation. (Hint: Do not store your precious metals in a safety deposit box in a bank. Why store it in the viper's den, where theives are known to break in and steal, or where laws can change and they can assess or tax or steal the contents of such a box in the future?)
Buying gold or silver is a way to store up treasures in heaven, since buying gold is an act of righteousness and obedience and dominion, and is a rejection of false weights and measures, and is a rejection of usury. Neither moth nor rust affect silver and gold.
Here is another often misunderstood verse:
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Some think this means that Christians should live in poverty. Not so. There were rich disciples.
Matthew 27:57 When the evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:
Christians are called to be able to relieve the poverty of others, and that takes wealth. How can you have extra to give to others, unless you have extra to give, or more than enough for yourself? (2 Corinthians 8 speaks on this, the giving of one's abundance, or surplus.)
The whole point of free trade and capitalism is to be able to trade away the surplus of your production. Matt 6:1-4 is about giving alms for the poor. I believe that to "serve mammon, or money" means making money your master instead of making God your master. We are called to master our money, to make our money serve us, instead, and take dominion, once again.
I believe Matt 6:24 is warning about how you must have a right view of money; that the wrong view puts money in front of God, the right view puts God first, us second, and money third.
Furthermore, consider those who are in debt. All who are in debt are serving a different master, they are serving their present and past selves as they seek to repay the money they borrowed and spent in the past, rather than serve the God of the past, present and future, and they enslave their future selves as they go into debt.
And how can you give to others while you are in debt? To do so means that you take away from what is due to your lender.
Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
1 Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Next, the parable of the Talents is often also misunderstood as being "against owning gold" since the evil servant burried a gold bar; but, in fact, it is the clearest example of how we are to take dominion and be fruitful and multiply while the master is away.
The Parable of the Talents
Matthew 25
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22 "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24 "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26 "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Some just think it's wrong to store wealth in the form of gold. However, gold and silver are the only things you can use as money that you can weigh out and measure. An unjust weight and measure, such as the dollar, remains an abomination.
Why is the evil servant evil? First of all, the talent was not his money, it was his master's money! His master was sowing with him, giving him money to be wisely invested. A "talant" was 66-90 pounds of precious metal. It was a large amount of money. The master, representing Jesus, acted as a capitalist, who was investing his money in the man's ability to invest money. (Like an investor who buys a silver stock fund, that in turn, invests in stocks.) But the evil servant did not respect his master's capitalist ways; and he made a false accusation, he said the master reaped where he did not sow. But the master was sowing into the man, rather than into the ground! So, in a sense, the evil servant valued himself as less than dust, because his false accusation implied that it would be better to sow into the ground than into himself!
The silver or gold became a stumbling block to him, because his heart thinking wrong things.
The capitalist who invests with men is not doing an evil thing as the evil servant accused. The evil servant represents a man who despises capitalism, the foundation of which is private property. He despised his master's ways, and he was covetous of his master's potential gain. But meanwhile, as one of his master's servants, he was consuming some of his master's wealth, just to live! He was lazy and didn't want to work for anyone else's benefit, but felt no guilt about taking benefits from others.
But all work, to be profitable, must be to the benefit of other men!
So, the story does not condemn storing gold, the story is an overwhelming support of all the many principles of Biblical Capitalism, which is different than the so-called capitalism we have today that is dominated by moneylending and fraudulent weights and measures!
Some people wrongly think that Matthew 25:14-28 justifies usury, because the master says to the evil servant: "you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest."
But this is not a justification of usury, it is a condemnation. Clearly, the master could have deposited his money with the usurers himself; he didn't need a servant to do that for him. But the master clearly wanted to try to get a better return than with the usurers, and expected that to be possible, which is why he trusted his servant, instead. Also, that would teach and test his servant about the nature of productivity. He even expected his most lazy servant, to whom he entrusted the least money, to do better than the local usurers.
The comparison of the evil servant to the usurers does not justify usury. It is a way to highlight the comparable evil of the evil servant. For example, if a man had a wife who cheated on him by sleeping with someone else for free, and then, to highlight the evil of that, her husband bitingly remarked that she should at least have charged the man like an honest harlot would, that's no justification of the practice of harlotry, and the man is clearly not saying he simply wanted his wife to get paid! But rather, it is assumed that harlotry is bad in such an example, otherwise, the comparison and excoriation makes no sense.
It would make no sense to say to the evil servant that he "should have at least put the money into a stock that went up ten times," because that's very hard to do. To show the evil servant his own evil, the comparison has to be to something that is actually evil, such as depositing money with the usurers.
Some ask about Mark 10:17-29; Jesus told a man to give away all his money to the poor.
Mark 10:17-29
New International Version (NIV)
The Rich Young Man
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.
19 You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"
20 "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"
27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Mark 10:17-27 leads many people to think that if you are rich, then you can't get into heaven. But Jesus never said that. Note the last part in the next verse:
28 Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!"
29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
It seems to me that Peter was looking for a pat on the back. Peter was saying that he and all the disciples had done exactly what Jesus was asking the rich man to do. Peter was probably expecting Jesus to say something like, "Yes, Peter, and that's exactly why I will give you eternal life, well done."
But Jesus didn't say that, either. Jesus' response is rather a correction, not a confirmation that Peter understood anything significant. Jesus says plainly that real, tangible, physical wealth will come to all who leave it all behind to follow Jesus, and that the real wealth comes now, in this world, a hundreds times as much!
It is far harder to believe Jesus's last statement, that you will get 100 times more than you leave behind if you follow him. It is much easier to "condemn the wealthy for being wealthy," which is not the lesson at all, and is a misunderstanding.
Jesus's concluding remarks prove that having money does not exclude one from heaven, since it is a result of pursuing the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
In fact, in Matthew 25:14-30, the earlier parable of the talents, echoed in Luke 19:12-26, Jesus makes it clear that having money and managing it well is to be rewarded with authority over cities.
We are to be faithful and wise with money, to be rewarded with both worldly and spiritual blessings as Luke says in Chapter 16.
Luke 16:10 Anyone who can be trusted in little matters can also be trusted in important matters. But anyone who is dishonest in little matters will be dishonest in important matters.
11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
So, perhaps the real question is, "Why did Jesus tell that particular man in Mark 10 to give up his money?" And perhaps another question is, "Why didn't Jesus tell all other rich men to give up their money, such as Joseph of Arametheia, who burried the body of Jesus after his death?" And why didn't the disciples, once they became apostles, teach that people who wanted to become Christians had to give all their wealth to the poor?
Here is a possible explanation for why that particular man had to give away his wealth. It looks to me like it was conditional for that one man. According to the law, theives had to pay back stolen money:
Exodus 22:7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.
We do not know the source of the man's money in Mark 10. As others have noted, the man was "self-righteous", boastful, probably a liar, claiming to follow all the commandments. I claim I'm responsible for breaking all 10 of them daily, merely in using paper money, as I did here:
http://www.silverstockreport.com/email/commandments.html
But if the man's money was tainted money, earned unjustly from the poor, then Jesus was telling the man to obey the law, and to get rid of it by giving it back to the poor. I think it was probably a situational case, and the further details of the case are revealed in how the man presented himself to Jesus, as a righteous man.
Here are more condemnations of the "self-righteous man". Matthew 9:9-13 "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners".
Luke 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The man who said he followed all the commandments was defintely a liar, since the Bible testifies that all men are sinners. Even Psychologits add a specific question to their tests to determine if people are liars. They simply ask, "Have you ever lied?" If the person says, "No", then they know that the person is a liar.
So if that particular man in Mark 10 accumulated his money dishonestly, and he probably did because he was a pathological liar by falsely claiming to have always followed all of the commandments, then he had to give it all away in order to follow Jesus, as Jesus said in Luke 16:11, as we saw above, "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?"
There is another verse that condemns the great moneylenders of the earth, that people ask me about, people who are unsure about the righteousness of getting physical gold or silver.
James 5 (NIV)
1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
In the KJV, James 5:4
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Gold and silver do not rust, they do not "canker". How then can such rust be a witness, and against whom? This is a witness against the moneylenders, who lend out gold in our day, to depress the price and control the market, to prop up the false value of their currencies. The current economic system, which is so far away from true Biblical Capitalism, is filled with ways that the "hire of the laborors" is "kept back by fraud", including the following:
1. Paying wages every 2 weeks, instead of the "daily wage" of Lev 19:13.
2. Holding back "worker's compensation" insurance.
3. Holding back "tax withholding".
4. Holding back "social security withholdings".
5. Holding back "pension contributions" into 401k plans which are often either raided (and the money stolen), or invested into the company stock which can go bankrupt as did Enron and Bear Stearns.
6. Dollars themselves, as they go down in value, steal from the laboror in two other ways, first as their set negotiated wages constantly go down in value, and second, as any savings that they manage to save are also taken from them.
For James 5 to actually be a condemnation there has to be a way to pay wages righteously. Wages are supposed to be paid in full, with payment in full, and not promises to pay, and the only things that can be used for payment in full are an honest weight and measure of silver and gold. So, once again, upon full examination, we see that it is impossible for James to be condemning gold and silver; he is supporting the honesty of using silver and gold in commerce, and James is condeming usury and wage withholding.
The paper dollar itself today is a defaulted and broken promise to pay a distorted measure of silver or gold.
Thus, the advice to "buy gold refined in the fire" is a very appropriate, literal and spiritual message for Jesus to give to the Church of our age that is "rich" with so many things, but has so little real silver and gold, and is so lukewarm. Buying literal physical gold is a spiritual action, that carries with it the full embodiment of so much of Bible Prophecy, and Biblical Law about the importance of honest weights and measures.
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Revelation 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
So, what are the rich called to do? Are the rich called to give all their money away? No.
When preaching, the disciples were told to not bring any money with them when preaching. This assumes they have money to take, and it would make it impossible for them to give money away.
Luke 9:3 And He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece.
4 "Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city.
So, what are the rich men, who are righteous, called to do? Communicate. Preach. Help people.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share (communicate-KJV). In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
We are called to communicate, to share the good news, to do good deeds; to preach, to inspire, to help. I hope I just have.
For further information about what the Bible has to say about money, please see www.bibleprophesy.org and www.silverstockreport.com.
Due to the controversial nature of Bible interpretation, I would be interested in hearing from you, and also perhaps publishing such responses in the future.
04/06/08
Hyperinflation is making Gold Soar!
(And silver's going up even more!)
Silver Stock Report
by Jason Hommel, April 5, 2008
Life is unfair. We are all being tested, all the time, on things that "are not on the curriculum" that nobody may have taught us. How unfair! Often we are tested on things that we have no way of knowing! Scary, but true. But the sooner we realize those facts of life, the better off we will be!
The results of the tests in life are not merely whether you get an A, B or C in school. In life, the tests will have far more significant consequences, and may determine if you become wealthy enough to effectively help others, or go bankrupt and have to start all over again, or worse.
Today, everyone in the world who has any money or wealth is being tested on their own knowledge of the nature and value of paper money, and on how much paper money there might be; and on the nature and value of silver and gold as money, and on how much silver and gold there might be.
We are being tested on things that nobody teaches, and on things that are, frankly, impossible to know, although estimates exist, and I do try to share some of the professionally compiled estimates on those subjects.
Here's a bit of the curriculum on money:
Archive: http://silverstockreport.com/ssrarchive.htm
The Money Chart: The Fundamentals of Gold & Silver Feb 25, 2006
Speech given at the Silver Summit September 26, 2006
Why Silver Will Soar May 23, 2007
Today, I'd like to talk a little bit about the facts of hyperinflation. Everyone will be tested on this in this market, so pay attention, because these facts are not widely taught. If you understand this, you can get a serious advantage over other people.
Back in 2003, I wrote:
Inflation & Deflation During Hyperinflation Nov 6, 2003
Back when I was selling individual essays, that was a best seller.
I identified a monumental sea change situation that changed in 2001. In 2001, an amazing thing happened. Hyperinflation started in the U.S., and has continued ever since, and gotten worse.
In 2001, the purchasing power of money in the banks (the gold value) peaked, and then started going down faster than the rate of increase of new dollars. Whereas before 2001, both the number and the value of dollars increased at the same time.
June 1998: M3 5,711 billion / gold price $296/oz. = 19.3 (billion oz. gold value)
June 1999: M3 6,221 billion / gold price $260/oz. = 23.9 (billion oz. gold value)
June 2000: M3 6,809 billion / gold price $288/oz. = 23.6 (billion oz. gold value)
June 2001: M3 7,628 billion / gold price $270/oz. = 28.2 (billion oz. gold value)
June 2002: M3 8,178 billion / gold price $318/oz. = 25.7 (billion oz. gold value)
June 2003: M3 8,761 billion / gold price $345/oz. = 25.4 (billion oz. gold value)
Sept 2003: M3 8,909 billion / gold price $390/oz. = 22.8 (billion oz. gold value)
Money value peaked in 2001, with M3 being worth 28.2 billion ounces of gold. That's a fact that "paper money value" peaked in terms of the amount of gold it could theoretically buy.
But hey, you know what? Experts claim there are only about 5 billion ounces of gold ever mined in the history of humanity! This shows that there are probably a few too many fraudulent dollars out there.
Today, the value of M3 is still bloated and terribly over valued, and M3 is still increasing in number, while shrinking in value.
Nowandfutures shows that M3 is $14 trillion. What a vast increase over $7.6 trillion in 2001! Nearly double in 7 years!
http://www.nowandfutures.com/key_stats.html
The gold price today is $912/oz.
So, for April, 2008: M3 14,000 billion / gold price $912/oz. = 15.3 (billion oz. gold value)!
That's 15.3 billion oz. of gold, in theory, that all U.S. money in the banks can buy.
U.S. dollars (Fed notes) are very over valued still, and going down in value, still!
And hyperinflation continues, as inflation of the money supply is now 19%!
INFLATION IS 19.5%! (Inflation of the money supply!)
What's inflation? The U.S. is diluting the value of the dollar by making too many.
It's like adding an extra can of water to the juice.
It's like adding a bunch of cold water to the hot bath.
It's like trying to make Jello with too much water.
The inflation rate is the amount of extra dollars that they are adding each year, that are destroying the value of the dollar.
But since 2001, the value of the dollar is being destroyed FASTER than the inflation rate--that's the hyperinflation that started in 2001.
You are being tested on your knowledge of that, right now.
To pass the test, you need to own physical silver or physical gold.
If you fail the test, you are happy to own paper money, paper bonds, or paper silver and gold certificates.
The Consumer Price Index, (CPI) inflation rate is said to be 4%.
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/
The CPI is under counting, as it uses hedonic adjustments, and excludes "unimportant" things like gold, silver, food, housing, and energy (what else is there?!), and the true inflation rate must be higher. Experts seem to suggest that the true consumer inflation rate is between 8-12%, but a housewife who pays attention to grocery prices might know more. This is another unknowable part we all get tested on.
Now, the difference between what bonds pay you (2-4%?), and what inflation takes from you (12-19-22%?), is the cost of owning bonds, and while I don't know exact numbers, as nobody can, what I do know, and I guarantee you, is that this is a negative number. What the number is, who knows. Let's say it's negative 15% or so. That's the price you pay, the money you lose each year, for owning bonds, now days, and this has been the penalty since about 2001.
Don't pay attention to people who claim there is deflation, or worry about deflation. There is inflation, a lot of inflation, so much inflation that we have hyperinflation. The thing that is deflating is the value of money, because there is hyperinflation.
Why is there hyperinflation? Because there is "never enough money" to avoid bankruptcy of the major institutions, because they are printing money for the war in Iraq, and for too much government. The money printers are fearing deflation because other people might be taking money out of the banks (which is said to be deflationary) to hold it in the mattress, spend it overseas, or use it to buy silver and gold. But that's not deflation, it's the result of hyperinflation.
Hyperinflation makes people take their money out of the banks, and spend it as fast as possible.
The point is that there is no monetary incentive for people to hold cash or bonds right now; as they are losing money because of the high money creation rate, and the gold rate increases.
Another main point that follows is that gold will continue to go up as long as current conditions exist, as they have, since 2001. Since 2001, gold has been going up by about 22% per year. That's from $250 to a high of $1000, over 7 years.
Now then. Where are the economic incentives today when owning gold pays 22% per year, and owning bonds costs 15% per year?
The incentive is to sell bonds and buy gold. The world economic conditions are paying people to move into gold.
There is no reason to think that anything will change, until it does.
The required change is for bonds to pay more than the annual gold value increases.
Until bonds pay more than owning gold, then gold will continue to rise.
How far will this process be likely to go? How long? Until when?
Until bonds pay more than owning gold, then gold will continue to rise.
That's not a misprint; it's a repeat of the main point.
Here's another clue:
The size of the U.S. Bond market might be about $25 trillion, and the world bond market might be $50 trillion.
The size of the world gold market might be about $5 trillion.
Right now, an extremely tiny portion of the $50 trillion market is trying to buy into the $5 trillion market.
I think about $0.115 trillion is going into gold annually right about now. (4000 tonnes x $900/oz.)
That's about 1/5th of 1% of the money is going into gold. And yet 91% of the people are now concerned about inflation. Selling gold to people should be the easiest job in the world right now, the easiest pitch ever. Everyone should want it, yet virtually nobody is buying it, the demand has barely started, and the demand for silver is like 100 times less.
This might be another clue as to how long the gold market will go, but is no guarantee:
Jan. 1980: M3 1,822 billion / gold price $850/oz. = 2.1 (billion oz. gold value)
Gold will go up at least until the gold value of paper money is 2 billion gold ounces, or significantly less, as that was the condition in 1980, and it should probably continue further than that. After all, the U.S. government does not have 2 billion ounces of gold; it only has 0.261 billion ounces of gold.
Be prepared for gold prices to continue to rise about 22% per year or more, at least until bond interest payments rise to over 22% per year, or whatever the gold price increases might be at the time.
Now, I want to address people who will inevitably ask me, "What will happen if there is deflation". I will respond, "There isn't any deflation". They will respond, "But so-and-so thinks there is deflation." I will respond, "Well, so-and-so is wrong." They will respond, "But what if things change, and we actually have deflation?" OK, there's a real question. I will respond, first of all, there is no deflation, the money supply is soaring. Before the money supply can actually shrink, it has to slow down growing, and we'd see that first. Then, the money supply would have to be stable. Then, the money supply would have to actually stop. Bankruptcies would vastly increase. Bankruptices are one of the only things that can actually cause deflation, as that destroys credit and money in the banks when banks go belly up. When banks start going bankrupt, how confident will people be to let their money sit in bonds in the banks? Not very. They will start to buy gold even faster than they do today, since gold is not anyone's liability. If that happens, gold will go up until bonds start paying more than gold is going up each year, AND until banks stop going bankrupt. So, if there is deflation, gold will go up more, and for longer, until people trust banks again, which could be a very long time.
This is why the Fed is doomed. Printing more will not work. Printing less will not work. Printing nothing will not work. All the inflation of all the years from 1913 until now is beginning to crash down on our heads, and it will keep crashing until it stops. And when will that be? Until bonds start paying more each year than gold is going up each year.
As always, silver trumps gold, in my opinion, since so much silver has been consumed in jewelry and flatware and industry. If the silver to gold ratio returns to the historic 15:1, we will make 3 times as much money in silver, than in gold. But due to the rarity of silver, because it has been used up, because it is hard to find, and because only about 8 times as much silver is mined than gold each year, silver will probably exceed the value of the historic 15:1.
To get an A+ on one of the tests of life today is real simple. You don't need to know any of what I just said, but it might help. All you need to do is buy silver.
A Brief Guide to Buying Silver:
What kind of silver, and where to get it.
http://find-your-local-coin-shop.com/
04/01/08
Silver Shortage Drives Men Nuts
(Nadler & O'Byrne Squirm like Worms)
Silver Stock Report
My email list could be the cause of the silver shortage we are seeing worldwide. After all, let's reference this market structure once again.
http://www.silverstockreport.com/2008/structure.html
There was only 50 million ounces of silver demanded by investors in 2006, when my email list was only 20,000. Today, my list is 74,000.
50 million ounces of silver demanded in a year could clean out all the coin shops in the U.S., as I've written previously. Or stated another way, 1 million ounces of silver, demanded in a week, could do the same. One million ounces divided by the 74,000 emails on this list = 13 ounces! That means that if everybody reading me takes action, there is only enough silver for each person on my email list to get about 13 ounces of silver, each week.
Since many people want to buy more than that, and since many people are capable of buying more than that, and since many people do buy more than that, I hear many reports of silver shortages. Sources of silver can be found here: http://find-your-local-coin-shop.com/
A large source of 90% silver bags of $1000 face value 1964 coins, reportedly, is at http://fidelitrade.com/
The bags are great because you will rarely find counterfeits. You might find collector coins. The silver is in standard, recognizable form, and is convenient to break into smaller amounts. 90% silver is also cheaper now that it ever has been. Also, 90% silver has a small spread if you want to sell it back, less than 5%.
You can also try looking up silver refiners, or industrial silver suppliers.
This weekend, the Silver COT's came out, and showed that it was the spec longs that sold 1/5th of their positions, and Commercial shorts covered less than 1/10th of their positions, which explains the major price dip from $20/oz starting on Wednesday, March 19th.
http://www.cftc.gov/dea/options/deacmxsof.htm
It was thought by Howard Ruff that this was related to margin increases, and "deleveraging" of positions.
http://www.cyrusfirst.com/guests/rufftimes3/
Jon Nadler today acknowledged the shortage of some silver products, in his article, "Squeeze THIS", but floats his foolish opinion that there is no shortage at all, as he writes:
"Aside from short-term, spot shortages of certain small fabricated items, there appears to be no problem. The real holdup is simply a matter of less than adequate supplies of coin blanks from which to mint one-ounce product. Call it poor planning. It has been seen before. Some mints did not figure that buyers would rush out to get their hands on small, high-premium coins at $20 per ounce silver (another sign that prices are possibly topping out). So, where is the squeeze? Only in the arteries of the brains of some very ill-informed casual market observers. Depositories are practically choking on 1,000 ounce silver bars crowding their floor space. It's amazing what tales some bored people will spin when it comes to markets they do not comprehend."
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Nadler/mar312008B.html
Jon Nadler is a blathering fool, and not even a tinfoil hat could help him tune out kitco's bearish bias and overpriced silver, and tune into reality.
The reality is that a shortage of water is called a drought. Droughts can happen on earth, even though the earth's surface is two thirds water. There can be a shortage of water for a person on a lifeboat at sea, when there is water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. Same with silver, because 1000 ounce bars are not what the public wants, and are as inconvenient for people as sea water.
The reality is that the Western public turned into buyers of silver when gold hit $1000/oz., and thus many investment products of silver at many places ran out; there was a shortage of the kind of silver that normal people buy, not just Maples and Eagles, but 100 oz. bars, 10 oz. bars, 1 ounce rounds, and in many places 90% junk silver was sold out too! That is called, and is, a silver shortage.
It does not mean, and I never said, that there is no silver left on earth. That silver shortage of investment coins and bars has about as much bearing on 1000 oz. bars as droughts have on the ocean. The ocean cannot be used to "disprove" a drought, any more than 1000 oz. bars can be used to disprove a shortage of silver available for investment.
Speaking of reports of abundant silver, I hear there is plenty of silver available in India, but "plenty" is a rather nebulous and relative term, and I don't know what to make of it unless there are reputable offers of silver specifying the amount, size, product, place, etc. If people in India feel they have plenty of silver and want paper money instead, then let them ship it to U.S. coin shops; there are over 4000 places of business here to choose from, and can be found here: http://find-your-local-coin-shop.com/
Let buyers of Indian silver beware; I've heard it's often smelted into 40% silver or less in various places, and it might not be standardized. The Bible gives good advice, to buy gold "refined in the fire", (Revelation 3:18) so you know the purity.
Furthermore, depositories are definitely not choking on their 1000 oz. bars! They used to have over ten times as many of them about 20 years ago; as there was about 1500 million ounces in the COMEX depositories, today they are down to about 134,000 thousand ounce bars. They have less than 1/10th what they used to have! They are not choking on 1000 oz. bars, they are running out!
So if the 1000 oz. bars are like the ocean, then the ocean is running dry, too!
We call that "short supply" of silver in monetary terms, given that the Fed can create $350 billion in a week, which is enough to buy 50 million ounces of silver at $20/oz., 350 times over, and is especially concerning to me, given that 91% of the population now thinks that inflation is a problem.
Furthermore, the silver market structure says that about 200 million ounces of silver is recycled. A good portion of that comes from investors selling silver to coin shops, which, in turn, sell to refiners, to make 1000 oz. bars. Now, given that the public stopped selling, and turned buying, and that many coin shops ran out of silver, which we call a shortage, that means there is less supply to the refiners to make 1000 oz. bars, and that there will be fewer of them, too!
Furthermore, this shortage has never been seen before in the last 7 years, not in this bull market, not like this.
Finally, for Jon Nadler to infer that I'm lying, and telling "tales" because I'm bored, just goes to show how lazy and bored he must be; utterly incapable of doing any sort of investigative research, or making phone calls, and not even capable of making a few mouse clicks on links and read web pages of coin dealers that list that they are sold out!
I quoted many sources that showed their inventory levels as "sold out", ranging from Tulving.com, to CNI numismatics, to APMEX.com, all verifiable on the web, all major dealers, and up to 19 others, as well as quoting people who scoured all the coin shops in entire major cities around the globe and could find nothing. Are all of those web sites and people lying as well? Ridiculous. Jon Nadler, you are a foolish raving lunatic who is selling hot air; you are a perfect match for kitco, who is a seller of Perth Mint certificates and "kitco pool accounts".
I know many Chrisitans have trouble understanding that kind of talk coming from a me, a Christian man, but they need to read their Bibles more; every book in the New Testament was written because some people in some Church somewhere were acting foolish and needed to be rebuked and corrected, as we are commanded to rebuke those who are wrong.
1 Timothy 5:20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
Since some people don't even know what the word "rebuke" means, here it is:
REBUKE
2008 epitimao
from 1909 and 5091; TDNT - 2:623,249; v
AV - rebuke 24, charge 4, straightly charge 1; 29
1) to show honour to, to honour 2) to raise the price of 3) to adjudge, award, in the sense of merited penalty 4) to tax with fault, rate, chide, rebuke, reprove, censure severely 4a) to admonish or charge sharply
And since others don't know what "reprove" means, here it is:
REPROVE 1651 elegcho
of uncertain affinity; TDNT - 2:473,221; v
AV - reprove 6, rebuke 5, convince 4, tell (one's) fault 1, convict 1; 17
1) to convict, refute, confute 1a) generally with a suggestion of shame of the person convicted 1b) by conviction to bring to the light, to expose 2) to find fault with, correct 2a) by word 2a1) to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove 2a2) to call to account, show one his fault, demand an explanation 2b) by deed 2b1) to chasten, to punish
So I hope I have shamed Jon into issuing an apology, or at least into silence, but I don't think we will be so fortunate, which is why I'm not being nice about it. I sincerely think Jon is not merely foolish, but is rather disingeniuis on purpose, writing with a specific anti-silver agenda, because his employers and their employers are probably the ones with brain arteries popping from the silver squeeze. Furthermore, this is not the first time that the pro gold communnity of GATA followers has tried to get Jon's attention with the facts; so he clearly has an agenda, and his bias is no mistake.
But Jon's not the only one; there is another that needs to be rebuked.
Late last week, Mark O'Byrne published an article that Kitco did not publish, as it was written by a kitco competitor who is also selling Perth certificates:
Unfounded Allegations Regarding Perth Mint Certificate Program
http://www.safehaven.com/article-9813.htm
Since this article was not published by Perth Mint, but only a re-seller, it hardly bears worth commenting on at all, except to poke fun at his lack of refutation of my philosophy and reports that I've been bringing to light.
O'Byrne may have faith in government, but I don't have faith in politicians' ability to conjure 100 oz. silver bars out of thin air in the current climate of today's silver shortage.
O'Byrne may have faith in auditors such as "Price Waterhouse Coopers", but aren't those the same type of mainline financial auditors who audit such firms as Enron & K-Mart who went bankrupt? Bear Stearns was recently independently audited, too, and it did not save them.
http://www.bearstearns.com/includes/pdfs/investor_relations/proxy/bssc_sfc_1106.pdf
O'Byrne may have faith in AAA ratings, but AAA ratings did not save the AAA rated subprime debt that went bust.
O'Byrne may have faith in a company that has been around since 1899, but that did not stop Barings Bank, which was founded in 1792, from going bankrupt in 1995 due to one rogue trader. See the 1999 movie "Rogue Trader" starring Ewan McGregor.
O'Byrne may have faith in that fact that Western Australia is one of the "wealthiest states", but that again has no bearing on whether Perth Mint is currently out of silver.
O'Byrne may have faith in the insurance of Lloyds of London, but that has no bearing on whether Perth Mint is currently out of silver.
O'Byrne may have faith in Perth Mint's relationship with AGR Matthey, Australia's only major gold refiner, but that has no bearing on whether Perth Mint is currently out of silver. Gold is gold, and silver is silver.
O'Byrne may rightly point out that the Perth Mint has no exposure to the housing crisis, but nobody ever thought or alleged that they might, and that has no bearing on whether Perth Mint is currently out of silver.
Thus, O'Byrne fully makes the case that when someone else holds your silver for you, it must be a matter of faith, like a religion.
No wonder they feel so threatened by somebody like me, who preaches a different faith, a different religion. My religion tells me that I ought to be the responsible wise steward. My religion tells me to tell you to become a wise steward, and take delivery of your silver. My religion tells me to trust in and have faith in God's provision, more than man's promises.
My issue with the Perth Mint is one of a philosophical nature. Even if the Perth had 100% or more of all the silver that they need to fully back up everyone's certificates, and unallocated accounts, and allocated accounts, I simply have a religious and philosophical problem with concentrating wealth in places where it can be more easily stolen by thieves or rogue national governments who may issue confiscation orders in the future. I believe that silver ought to be in the hands of the owners.
As one of my readers put it, "Don't let anyone hold your money for you, nor let them hold your wife."
Or as another reader puts it: "If you don't hold it, you don't own it."
Philosophically speaking, if the NorthWest Territorial Mint is engaging in bad business practices by taking 2-5 months (on occasion) to deliver orders, then compared to the Perth Mint that holds your silver indefinitely, the NorthWest Territorial Mint is a saint.
What I have difficulty in understanding is how the Perth Mint, that uses unallocated silver to manufacture silver products that the market needs and requests, can ever run out of silver for their own clients. After all, a Mint ought to be able to turn those "abundant" 1000 oz. bars into whatever their clients need or want, as that's the entire purpose of the unallocated silver, and the entire purpose of the Mint, so how then can they run out of product, and why would there be multiple reports of people not being able to get what they want? After all, if a Mint begins to run low on 100 oz. bars, they should be able to detect such an impending shortage, and have the ability to make more, long before they run out, I would think, or make them within 24 hours. And if there is a delay to manufacture, I can understand a few day's delay, but I can't understand multiple complaints of delivery taking longer than 6 months.
What I do know is that if other customers are complaining, then there is a problem greater than one of philosophy, but maybe a real world problem. The Bible has the solution to how to deal with untrustworthy men; let every matter be established by two or three witnesses.
Here are a few other reports on the Perth Mint that I received last week.
====================
Hi Jason
I live in Perth by the way and I visit the mint often.
I rang the mint two days ago regarding the
Certificate programme.
I asked how much silver they had and the reply was
that they had 60-80 tonnes in the vault with access to
another 475 tonnes elsewhere. Take this as you read
it.
Third regarding the 100oz bars. The chap I was talking
to said that to manufacture 100oz bars was expensive
and time consuming. So the mint had opted for the
larger 1000oz and smaller kilo bars.
Again take this as you read it but that is the info
that was passed on to me.
God bless Jason
====================
While some may find it comforting that Perth has at least 60 tonnes, I say, "Holy Shortage Batman", because I have 6 tonnes in my own safes, and so 60 tonnes does not sound like a lot to me. It's only about 2 million ounces. But if they do have 60 tonnes, I find it difficult to imagine that none of that is in the form of 100 oz. bars, although that could be possible.
Furthermore, the expense of making 100 oz. bars cannot be used as an excuse, since that expense is passed on, with profit added, to the customer who buys them and is requesting them, so I really don't understand that excuse.
As for the "time" excuse, it's ridiculous, because the silver only needs to be melted once, and the stuff cools within a few hours because silver is a wonderful conductor of heat. Making bars is not a slow cooling process that takes a week or anything crazy like that. The reason silver is money is because it is fungible, and divisible; you can turn bars into coins, or coins into bars. There's nothing inherantly that difficult about making bars; it's a multi 1000 year old process that basically involves the application of heat to melt the stuff, which can then be poured into molds.
====================
3/26/2008 10:29 PM
Jason
As I live just a short stroll from Perth mint I decided to call them to see if I could drop by later this morning and pick up some silver bullion. The only reason I decided to call first is because I received your email in my inbox first thing this morning explaining that there is a waiting period. I have been going down to the Perth mint randomly over the past three years and each time I could literally turn up unannounced and back up the truck with an over the counter purchase of all the bullion I needed.
Today they told me that they had no silver bullion in stock and that they may be getting some next week. I will call back next week to see if I can get my bullion then.
They encouraged me to come down today anyway, pay for my bullion and then come back and get it whenever it arrives. - Chancers!! I never have and never will be left with just a paper promise of delivery.
Regards
Michael
====================
Dear Jason,
Please feel free to use this material as you think fit.
John. Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Dear Mr Ivens
If you would like to purchase silver from us, we have material available for allocation within 10 days, depending on the volume you require. We have had an unusually high level of allocated silver purchases in the past week or so and this has depleted our available silver stocks. I have augmented our refinery allocations with overseas shipments of 1000 oz London Good Delivery bars which will be arriving in due course. Our present level of activity is that high that whilst I will be pleased to transact business with you, I do not have sufficient time to devote to defending unsubstantiated allegations made on the web.
Yours sincerely
====================
I note there is no need for me to make any allegations, when they confirm it, "purchases in the past week or so - - has depleted our available silver stocks".
====================
Here is a very interesting story that may go to show the anti-silver bias of the people working at the Perth Mint.
Hi Jason,
I live in Perth, WA and have dealt with the Perth Mint for approx. 3 years now. Started off in the certificate program but very early on converted to the real thing. They didn't like it then either!
I had a residual small holding of 2000 oz in the certificate program up until early March 08 and rang up to get it converted to 100 oz bars. Told not possible, but expecting LOTS (my emphasis) in a few weeks if I wanted to wait. They did however have 1000oz bars (as many as I wanted). I was given the exact weight to choose from so I secured one and was given the bar number. I was going away for a week so couldn't immediately pick it up. Contacted the broker after I got back which was two days before Good Friday. I was told that it would take at least two business days to get somebody to go to the vault and bring it out!?!?
I therefore indicated I would pick it up two days after the Easter break but received a confirming e-mail with the date of April 1. I didn't notice the date and went in yesterday to pick up the bar. Didn't get it becauses of the date mix up but while waiting with the broker he ranted and raved about how it was (not said but implied) people like me who were causing the shortage and that there was PLENTY (his emphasis) of silver available. He said that it was the individuals like you who are manipulating the market (didn't use your name specifically but said some people on the WWW who are clients of the Mint and are not as well informed as they should be before printing the stuff for everyone to read). Now that is an unusual view of the market isn't it!!!!!
I didn't bother saying anything during his rant because he clearly had a 'funny money' bias and I suspect from where he sits and the amount of silver that comes and goes through their warehouse, they do have a lot of silver.
I tried to buy silver over the counter as well while I was there. Not one single ounce available!!!!!
Given a six week delivery time. I bought some.
Interestingly, the broker during his rant said they had plenty of silver and when I said I just tried to buy some over the counter and there wasn't any he was surprised.
Two other things. He divulged that they had just sent a large shipment of 1000oz bars to the LBMA. Hmmmmmmm.
Also during his rant he said they were considering stopping the holding or trading of silver in any form!!! Wow, what a drastic move. The heat seemed to be turned up very high. In the same breath he was saying they love to hold silver in the allocated account because they get to charge storage. I bet they do. I would love to charge somebody for holding something that they think I have but I don't really too! It amazed me how much he said which probably shouldn't have been said to somebody who is clearly on the other side of the fence.
Any way, sorry to bore you with all the detail but in essesence I have lost all trust and faith that I may have had in the Mint. I never beleived their 'Government secured' claim from the start because how can a Government create metal out of thin air.
Love your input to the market and all the best with your personal trading.
David
===================
This last report is very interesting. A person merely asks the question whether the Perth Mint really has all the physical metal that they need, and reportedly, they are threatened with a lawsuit. The person didn't even allege anything! Neither have I alleged anything. I'm also just asking questions, stating philosophy, and sharing reports, and this one is interesting.
Hello Jason
Back in 2003 James Turk wrote something on the link between GoldCorp and Perth Mint.
I wrote to him to tell a story of my own 'clash' with them at an earlier time.
My e-mail to James appears below. Unfortunately I no longer have the original correspondence -
on an old computer.
But this also points to a possible problem with the gold storage.
Best regards
daan
=============
Hello James
Hope you are keeping well.
I enjoyed your Q&A on the Perth Mint and have a bit of a story to tell.
A local friend here in SA asked me whether places like the Perth mint
would also lend out their gold as he he had heard a rumour their vaults
were empty. I wrote Bill Murphy and asked whether he had heard anything or
whether any of his Aussie readers would know anything.
Typically Bill, he simply placed my e-mail to him in his Midas letter.
First reaction was from two Aussies, most upset and loaded with
invective that I would even hint at something like that. I replied that
I was simply asking a question after having heard a rumour. Then I
received an e-mail from a guy who threatened me with prosecution for
libel - we have the more strict British libel system here in SA , as also in Aussie
- if I did not publicly retract my 'slander'. He was from GoldCorp - the
secretary, according to the e-mail footer - (and I now better understand
the link, after your piece) and said;
a. 27 or so other websites had taken up my question at Bill's and he had to threaten them with legal action to get retractions and apologies posted
b. The Perth Mint is guaranteed by Western Aussie government
c. All the investor's gold is in place in the vaults
I replied that I had simply asked a question and that Bill M would never
place a retraction or apology. Also that I would defend any legal action.
The next e-mail I receved from him in reply to this came from his home
computer on a Sunday. He stated i.a. " - that he was informed by PM
management that all the investor gold is intact and can be audited at
any time. etc etc " He became even more threatening and demanded
immediate apology and ' a statement that the slander was completely
unfounded' or they would see me in court.
While working on a reply, I noticed suddenly that the footer this time
stated that the guy - can't remember his name - was the Company
Secretary of both GoldCorp and the Perth Mint. So I asked him what was
the reason he did not speak up on behalf of the Mint in his personal
capacity as Secretary, but only quoted "PM management" as if he himself
was a third unrelated party. I can't remember my exact words, but the
implication I strongly hinted at was that he was trying to retain 'deniability' in
his own person in case something blew up in future.
I did not hear from him again.
Which, I think, could be saying much about his certainty that the
quantity of gold in the PM vaults is what it ought to be.
Best regards
daan
=========
In conclusion, while I can understand the global shortage of coins and 100 ounce bars, I cannot understand the Perth Mint running out of 100 ounce bars or any investable silver products for people when they are supposed to maintain a pool of unallocated silver for the express purpose of being able to convert 1000 ounce bars into investable products on demand.
The Perth Mint ought to come clean, and indicate with a press release two simple facts.
1. How many 100 ounce bars did their customers demand in the last week?
2. How many 100 ounce bars can, and did, the Perth Mint manufacture last week?
Very simple. It should be revealing. It's possible the Perth Mint's manufacturing capacity was overwhelmed. It's also possible that they are out of silver, and don't have an unallocated pool of metal, but rather, a pool of paper obligations.
03/27/08
Perth Mint and Kitco Scheme Exposed
(What's going on here?!)
Silver Stock Report
by Jason Hommel, March 26, 2008
Yesterday, I got into a bit of trouble by writing that the NorthWest Territorial mint was bankrupt, which they are not (consider this a second retraction). The NorthWest Territorial mint only has a risk of bankruptcy since they have so much silver owed to them by their suppliers, and those risks concern me in light of shortages of silver reported everywhere, and their long delivery times.
What is going on with Perth and Kitco is very unfortunate, since the Perth Mint is reportedly one of the largest bullion dealers in all of Asia, and Kitco has the largest presence on the internet, ranking number two in the search terms for silver and gold, just behind wikipedia.
So I have to choose my words carefully regarding the Perth Mint & Kitco. Perhaps the words of Jesus and Andrew Jackson are appropriate to quote in this context:
"You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning." --Andrew Jackson, 1828
Matthew 23:33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
You know who Jesus and Andrew Jackson were addressing? The moneylenders who offer to hold your money for you!
Since I advocate that you hold your own bullion yourself, I've wondered if the business practices of Kitco gave them a bias to rarely ever publish my articles, even though I was an advertiser for years, and my articles appeared far more regularly at gold-eagle.com and goldseek.com. I think I finally figured it out, and it's time for me to finally burn my bridge to kitco; as I don't need them anyway, and stopped advertising with them a while ago.
Kitco is a partner in a bullion certificate scheme with the Perth Mint, and also offers a pool account like Perth Mint does.
https://online.kitco.com/pmcp/
I believe, but cannnot prove, that Kitco is short of bullion owed to their own customers in their pool account, and this would explain why they publish the anti-gold articles that they do. If you own precious metal in a pool account or certificate form with anyone, Kitco, Perth, Monex, Goldline, any Major Bank or Brokerage, or anyone else, I think you would be wise to cash out, and get real silver somewhere else, even if you have to pay extra fees to do so.
Here are my five witnesses in my case against the Perth Mint (Kitco is implicated only by association, as they advertise the Perth certificates.)
The testimony of the people below go to show that you cannot trust silver certificates, nor can you trust allocated silver storage, nor can you trust government guarantees. (Trusting government guarantees for bullion is the most absurd thing I can think of, since governments are the ones who are printing money which competes with the demand for silver as money!)
=============
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:52:05
Subject: Re: Silver Stock Report: How to Get Into Silver, for Billionaires
S Tabikh wrote:
Jason,
Ive just ordered $20k worth of Silver 100oz bullion from the Perth Mint and have to wait upto 6 months for delivery for such a small order. Goes to show the lack of Silver avaliable.
Regards,
Shafic
=============
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:07:40
Subject: Re: How to get into Silver for Billionaires
peter wrote:
Hi Jason,
Thanks for sending me your latest email, I'm always interested in hearing your opinion of the current state of the Silver market.
I was rather alarmed, however, to read the story of the gentleman you mentioned who had 10,000 ozs of allocated Silver stored on his behalf by a "AAA rated,... guaranteed " mint which "services the Asian market" ...I assume you are unable to publicly identify the mint concerned for legal and other reasons, but I would greatly appreciate it if you could inform me privately of same. IE: Is it the Perth Mint?
The reason I ask, as you can probably guess, is that my own situation is almost identical to the one mentioned in your article (which listed difficulty getting allocated silver which took 6 months) and you have now further aroused my suspicions about the alleged security of allocated storage of precious metals. In addition, I have also met with an un co-operative attitude when making enquiries about taking delivery of my Silver, so again there are further parallels with your story.
I hope you can take a moment from your busy schedule to share this information with me as obviously, its vitally important to my future financial security -just a simple 'yes' or 'no' in answer to my query above would suffice, no need to elaborate.
Thanks again for your time and I wish you every success in spreading the Story of Silver to the world.
Regards,
Peter
Jason: YES! I was alluding to the Perth Mint, but I didn't have enough testomony at the time to name them publically, but now the truth comes out! Get your silver. Travel to their location, and get it, and haul it away, as soon as possible. (They might not have it!)
=============
3/19/2008 9:20 PM
Jason,
Just placed another order with Perth Mint, they are out of stock on everything, however there waiting period is no longer 6 months (Im guessing they received alot of complaints) its now 6-8 weeks.
Just got off the phone with them, they have no bullion in stock, its all on backorder, the official excuse is that it takes along time to make the bars and everyone wants them, could be viiewed as a good thing knowing demand is high, but I personaly dont like waiting 6-8 weeks for delivery.
I contacted several other dealers in Sydney, only 1 out of 5 has stock...... Everyone has back orders with PM which is the distributor.
Regards,
S
=============
In the March 26th Midas report, from lemetropolecafe.com (a site I subscribe to, and highly recommend):
G'day Bill
The shortage of silver is becoming acute in Australia. I phoned my supplier (THE major in my state) this morning, to confirm the developing situation re supply and he has confirmed that he cant get silver until May. He has always had ample stocks on hand, with my son or myself able to walk in and transact on a cash and carry basis.
NOT ANY MORE!!! He can't get a price from his supplier whom I assume is the Perth Mint or the Australian Bullion Co, as these are the bars that I have received from him. He only does Open Book orders where he will take your order but will not be able to price the metal until he is assured of a delivery price from his suppliers. Mid April is when he expects to be able to price an order. He said he has knowledge of a Perth Mint customer who has his money tied up in their Unallocated Pool Account, using Silver Certificates. Taking the advice of various "hold it in your hot little hands" advocates (such as yourself, Ted Butler and Jason Hommel etc,) he tried to redeem his certificates and have his holdings transferred into an Allocated Account.
The Perth Mint has advised him that they WILL NOT buy his certificates from him and WILL NOT allocate physical silver to him. They will however ALLOW him to swap them for gold. They will only do this by slugging him on the spreads. They slug him on their buy back price for silver and then whack him for their mark up on gold. He apparently is a man on the edge as my dealer feels that he is close to topping himself over the issue. Must be on Margin. I wonder if the Perth Mint is so broke that they can't pay him. Apparently they are backed by the full faith and credit of the Western Australian Govt. Yeah Right!
Stow it or blow it is the right call from you et al, and I thank you dearly for the advice, as I was once a Perth Mint PAPER silver certificate holder.
=============
5:24 AM, March 26th
Hi Jason,
just wanted to let you know about recent dealing with Perth Mint.
As I have been following your emails now for some time I recently decided to buy silver at Perth Mint in the form of the PMCP (Perth Mint Certificate Program).
Talking with a person in their Treasury Department I opted for Unallocated silver with the view of changing that to Allocated or pick up at a later stage.
After your email "If you don't hold it, you don't own it" I sent an email saying when I wished to pick it up, giving about 4 weeks notice that I was told I needed to give.
Still have had no reply after a phone call and another email.
Wondering if you have had any similar emails from anyone else regarding Perth Mint?
God bless,
Graeme.
=============
=============
I've been thinking more about how people who are afraid of risks, and who don't want to pay the costs of storing their own silver, tend to trust promises of men rather than the provision of God. The Great Harlot of Revelation 17-18, I believe, refers to moneylenders who lend to the kings of the earth to control them; and this is harlotry because the Harlot will trust the kings of the earth for security rather than the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
So, now, I wonder how much different it is to trust having someone else hold your silver for you; is that an act of spiritual harlotry as well? Do these people who put their trust in the Perth Mint, guaranteed by a "king", the government of Australia, get what they deserve? The kings are said to turn on the harlot to destroy her, and I wonder if the Perth Mint not giving out silver that was paid for is like a preview of that prophecy. You judge.
As for me, I've long decided to choose to be responsible for taking dominion over God's provision of silver that He has entrusted to me to care for, and I'll accept and take the risks of holding it myself, and I'll trust in God that things will work out ok without man's insurance.
I know that if I have wealth, then I must also have the wealth to guard it, as that is a basic undeniable truth.
If you have a small amount of silver, get a lock box. If you have more, get a floor safe. If more, get a large gun safe. If more, get several gun safes. If more, build a vault. If more, build a warehouse.
According to God, if you are Christians, you are Kings and Priests, and so, I try to act like it; taking possession and guarding my silver with my own safes, and preaching that others do the same.
Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
The united States is supposed to be a nation of sovereigns, kings, the people are the kings.
Act like a King. Get your silver.
Act like a Priest. Tell other people to get their silver.
03/26/07
NorthWest Territorial Mint Says They Have Silver
(Despite others saying they are out!)
Silver Stock Report
by Jason Hommel, March 25th, 2008
I spoke on the phone with Ross Hansen for about 45 minutes today. Apparently, I've slandered his business because I don't know what I'm talking about with regard to his total silver inventories, because he said he does have more ounces of silver that he's paid for that is at other locations, such as Johnson Matthey holding about 70,000 ounces for him, that he simply needs to go and pick up with a rented armored truck for about $3000. (As you all know, I advise against having other people hold your silver for you.) Here are my slanderous comments from earlier today that need retracting:
It appears to me that Northwest Territorial Mint is bankrupt. Based on Ross Hansen's letter to me last week, a reader did some calculations based on the admissions in that letter. Ross sells 20,000 oz. of silver per day. And Ross has 300,000 oz. of silver "in the pipeline", and deliveries are about 60 days, at best. There are about 43 business days in 60 days. (5/7). 43 days worth of silver, for Ross, at 20,000 oz./day, should be about 860,000 ounces, creating a deficit of about 560,000 ounces of silver that they are short, and have taken orders for, and have not yet bought that silver in this rising market from $13 to $20/oz.
Therefore, I must and do retract that guesswork math and numbers, as I have not looked at their books, and don't know how their business is run, nor do I have any idea how much silver is owed to the mint, nor by whom.
I asked him to include such details of silver being owed to them in a letter to me. While full details are lacking such as the amounts and by whom and whether the silver is in transit or at other locations, the gist is there. Here is the letter.
Dear Jason:
Your attack on my company is beyond the pale, a disservice to your readers and the clients of Northwest Territorial Mint, and shows a complete lack of understanding of our business.
In my letter last week, I explained that we manufacture approximately 20,000 ounces of silver at our mint every day, and that we had approximately 300,000 ounces of silver in our production pipeline. Somehow from these two numbers you wildly leapt to assumptions about Northwest Territorial Mint that are totally incorrect.
In addition to our own silver production, what you fail to know is that we have tens of thousands of ounces of silver that have been purchased from our vendors and, while not on the production floor, are on the way. We receive silver from vendors such as Johnson Matthey, Pan American Mining Corp., and others on a daily basis. You also fail to understand that we mint silver products for many other companies under different brands, some of which do not pay us until they are ready to ship.
As I noted in my letter, the unprecedented volume of business over the past several months has put extraordinary demands on our hard-working workforce of more than 140 people. As a result, our delivery dates have averaged 30-40 days after our fund-clearance period and, on some products, at different times, they have been even longer.
We strive for excellent customer service every day. Acknowledging that some customers have gotten their products later than anticipated, we are doing four things to better serve our customers:
? First, we are working to communicate more clearly with our customers to give them a more realistic expectation on delivery.
? Second, we are continually expanding our inventory.
? Third, we are expanding our shipping operation, and
? Fourth, we are working to increase our production.
As I said in my previous letter, last year Northwest Territorial Mint shipped over 69,000 individual orders, encompassing more than 2,000 different products. Other than some complaints about delivery, we never had a complaint about the quality of our products or failure to deliver them.
For 27 years Northwest Territorial Mint has been there for our clients, and we look forward to serving them for many, many years to come.
Sincerely,
Ross Hansen
Owner & President
Northwest Territorial Mint
P.O. Box 2148
Auburn, WA 98071-2148
Direct: (253) 833-7780 | Toll-Free: (800) 344-6468
Fax: (253) 735-2210 | www.nwtmint.com
I, too, have 28 hundred ounce silver bars that are "on the way" from another dealer, I expect it to arrive on Monday, the 31st, about 1 week and one day after I ordered on the dip on the 20th. This other dealer is drop shipping the silver to me, from another dealer. Perhaps my other experiences I have with other dealers makes it difficult for me to understand Ross's bussiness pracitices of longer shipping times.
Ross was kind and patient with me on the phone and went over a lot of the details of his business with me, that he gave me permission to share with you. He says he mints about 400 different silver items, and up to 2000 different items. Each one requires its own production run. For example, they mint 5 ounce silver bars once a month. Therefore, things like that can require longer shipping times, depending on how the time of the order relates to the time they do a production run, and they won't do an entire production run for a small 12 bar order. Their last run making 10 oz. bars, for example, they made 2300 of them, and made a small mistake as they realized they needed to make 1100 more.
So, small orders sometimes get caught in the mix, and generally speaking, people who order small amounts are the most likely to complain.
Further, I later emailed Ross that I liked his company because it provides two services that a lot of other dealers don't provide. First, they ship small orders, and second, they ship overseas, and many of my readers could benefit from that kind of service. The only thing holding back my recommendation of his company was the large number of customer complaints about long shipping times.
Ross sent me a letter about their benefits and drawbacks, first.
Thank you, we strive to provide good customer service and the best products in the industry.
The advantages of dealing with Northwest Territorial Mint:
1. Clear, concise up-to-the-minute pricing on our web site of our bullion products
2. Highly competitive pricing
3. Factory-fresh newly-minted products
4. We accept small orders
5. Free shipping and insurance
6. Can lock in a trade without a pre-existing account or having money on account
7. We accept personal checks
8. A wide assortment of products
9. We ship to other countries
The disadvantages of dealing with Northwest Territorial Mint:
1. Longer lead times
I will be sending you a letter addressing our silver production issues in a moment.
Ross also stated that he does operate out of a personal "pool" of silver that helps his overall business liquidity.
However, if that is the case, it seems to me that small orders should be able to be shipped almost immediately out of such a pool of inventory, and don't need to be "made to order", but can be shipped out of the existing pool, but then again, I have a "complete lack of understanding" of how they do business.
Ross also buys silver futures contracts, when necessary, to offset risks on large orders, such as orders for 200,000 ounces of silver, so they really don't get caught when customers place orders for silver in a rising market. Then, when he can actually place the order from a larger refiner, such as Johnson Matthey, he'll sell the contracts at the time the real order is placed.
However, I will note that if you want to buy more than 50,000 ounces of silver, you can call Johnson Matthey directly, in Utah, and order direct, even though they don't "deal with public orders". I will also note that I do not trust the solvency of futures contracts, which is why I buy and advocate the buying of physical silver.
Ross also said that Pan American Silver, who they deal with, did their own audit/investigation prior to doing business with him.
However, I will note that Pan American Silver lost a lot of silver when Handy and Harmon went bankrupt about 10 years ago. I also note that if Johnson Matthey goes bankrupt, then Ross could take a financial hit to the bottom line.
Ross said that they do sell more silver than the silver that they mint on a daily basis, as they sell Maples and Eagles from other mints, and they have no choice but to delay deliveries of those products as they are delayed in being shipped to him.
However, others have noted that the delays from the NWT Mint on Maples and Eagles are significantly longer than from other dealers, but then again, I have a "complete lack of understanding" of how they do business.
.
=============
I'm very glad that Ross appears to be taking my advice, and will advise clients of his longer shipping times, so as to avoid further customer misunderstandings, frusterations, and complaints.
I look forward to seeing customer complaints about the NorthWest Territorial Mint decreasing in the months ahead. And I also look forward to being able to recommend their company enthusiastically and without reservation, as I see that happen.
Perhaps the best thing about the NWTMint is the extremely high quality of their new products. They have teams of artists that help put art into metal, starting from making the sculptures for the dies that are used to stamp the metal.
That's as solid of a retraction that I can give without giving a full recommendation, which is what I'd really like to do. After all, the NWT Mint is a key link between the investing public, and the "user unfriendly" form of the 1000 oz. bars at NYMEX, and I'd like more than anything to help get that silver into the hands of more people, whether through NWT mint or any other mint.
Another way to do business with the NWT Mint is to walk in with cash, and carry away your silver the same day, and that's a policy that I always recommend. Ross said he would not mind filling orders that way, because it generates "instant profit".
However, I've heard from others that they have been turned away at the Auburn location. From three weeks ago, someone posted, "They don't do cash and carry at their Auburn location. I've asked them several times and was told they don't keep any bullion in stock."
All that being said, one way to discern the truth of any matter is to examine the testimony of several witnesses. Here then, are a few customer complaints, some of the latest 20 out of 40 that I've received over the last week. So as to avoid publishing them all, here are the ones that are current, and still have not received silver, and it's been over 2 months. Every one of these complaints was sent to Ross Hansen via email, so he can either fill the orders, or question his accusers.
====================
Last winter (07) I placed 2 orders and it took 3 months to recieve them.
Last November 07 I ordered gold and silver, I got the gold in late January, still waiting for the silver.
Why did I re-order? because they had the best prices I could find. Not such a good idea now I guess.
====================
Jason
I'm another very unhappy; no-longer NWT customer. 1st order: Aug 2007, $250 face silver halves, received Nov 2007. Last order: Oct 2007 $250 face silver halves, NEVER received! I contacted them in Feb 2008, 70 days after they cashed my check in Dec 2007; the price of silver increased approx $4/oz. They told me that they cancelled my order. I asked WHY they did NOT contact me to let me know; NO RESPONSE! I contacted them again, telling them that by cashing my check they agreed to the order. I told them they should either give the Silver, or my $2500 plus $4/oz, which is the amount of the price increase. I also asked them to explain why they believed that it was ok for them to keep my money " interest free" after they claimed to have cancelled my order? "Clerical error" was their response. With the first order they claimed: "shipping oversight"!
They sent my check back w/ 6% interest, with a note telling me that I should be grateful: "because 6% is more than I would have received from the bank".
NWT takes NO RESPONSIBILITY for how they do business!!!
Thank you for your efforts.
Sincerely,
john
Matt: 5:16
====================
Jason,
I bought a monster box from Nwmint,In Jan,2007 they said the certified check I sent never
got to them, a month later, they said the post office put the check in the wrong po box. A month later they sent me an email saying the check was in their hands. I do not believe the check was lost. For whatever reasons I had the monster box locked in at $ 7084.00 that is what it cost me. So they lost a bunch of money even at todays prices. I dont know why
the delay in sending the silver has anything to do with timing in receiving the box??
====================
====================
====================
Furthermore, I do have copies of 40+ complaints against NWT Mint now in my member's forum, and I will be logging additional complaints as I receive them, both to protect myself from a libel lawsuit, and to possibly refer to the Attorney General.
====================
Here is a thread of complaints against NWT Mint on an independent internet forum with 61 posts in just over a year. There is a poll at the top of the forum, with NWT Mint receiving a very low rating from most users, 57%, or 28 people, rated the company with 1 star, the worst rating.
http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=106087
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NWT Mint is being sued by the State Attorney General, as I mentioned last week.
State sues Auburn gold investment company, Northwest Territorial MintInvestors didn't get products on time, state says
http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/02/04/daily21.html?jst=cn_cn_lk
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/276620.html
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And Ross responded publically to that, too, here:
Response to Attorney General Lawsuit Filed Against Northwest Territorial Mint
http://www.coinlink.com/News/press-releases/response-to-attorney-general-lawsuit-filed-against-northwest-territorial-mint/
I sincerely hope that Ross wins his lawsuit, fills customer orders earlier than most expect, and that he fills the needs of the marketplace in a professional manner.
As always, I remain optimistic about everything, that silver will keep going up in the long term, and that that will be great for the entire economy.
03/25/08
Silver Market Structure: Shortages And Sources
(Shortages can make people crazy!)
Silver Stock Report
by Jason Hommel, March 25, 2008
My recent reports on the Silver Shortages at Coin Shops and major dealers have been popular, and widely re-posted. Misunderstandings and questions are more abundant than my ability to answer them all individually; but most could be answered if only people and coin shop owners only understood the basic market structure of silver, and did a little bit of thinking for about 5 minutes, and then a bit of math on the numbers, so let's start with the numbers, as reported by the CPM Group and Silverinstitute. New reports for 2007 are expected this Spring, and I'd be surprised to see any category change by more than 5%, except maybe investor buying, which might be up. For 2008 reports, we'll have to wait a year. I tend to average the figures from both groups, and then average again to the nearest 50 million oz. or 5%.
So, for 2006:
On the supply side, there is 900 million ounces:
About 650 million ounces of silver is mined each year, and growing slightly.
About 200 million ounces of silver is recycled each year.
About 50 million ounces of silver is sold by governments each year, and declining.
On the demand side, of the 900 million ounces:
About 45% is consumed in industry including mostly electronics, and growing slightly.
About 35% is consumed in jewelry and flatware.
About 15% is consumed in photography, and declining slightly.
About 5% is purchased by investors in the form of bars and coins, and growing slightly.
Investor buying is the hardest category to track, and is generally assumed as either "implied net investment or net divestment" to make the total numbers match on both the supply and demand side. The major change 2 years ago was a switch from "implied net divestment" to "implied net investment".
More silver than the "net" is traded between investors, during a year, perhaps another several hundred million ounces, it's hard to say. The investment numbers are simply "net" figures, that factor in that there must be more total investor buying or more total investor selling, and by how much.
The numbers are from surveys, and are rough estimates, and nobody fully agrees 100%, but the numbers from those top two surveys are very close, and I don't have enough knowledge or reason to dispute them. They make sense with what I know and see and hear in the real world, and they can explain a lot about the silver market, especially the great investment opportunity that exists.
In the entire history of the world, about 45 billion ounces of silver have been mined. Of that, nearly all of it, probably between 90-95% has been consumed, and ended up in landfills, as the silver has been changed into forms that are less economic to recover than new mining. So there might be about 5 billion ounces of silver remaining in the world that has been mined, and still exists, held by people in the form of bars & coins, jewelry & flatware, and scrap.
While known silver reserves in the ground are at about 14 years, more silver will be found and mined for the next 5000+ years or more, like always. (This proves that peak oil is bunk. All mines, like oilfields, are depleting assets, but the earth is a very big place.)
Very little silver is at the 4 NYMEX approved warehouses, only about 140 million oz.
Very little silver backs up the silver ETF, SLV, about 179 million oz.
Very little silver is purchased by investors each year, about 50 million oz.
The U.S. Mint makes about 10 million ounces of silver Eagles each year.
Silver Eagles thus represent about 1/100th of the annual silver market. The current Shortage of Silver Eagles is not technically a shortage of silver, you see. Ted Butler, who writes for Investment Rarities, suggests that their endorsement of Eagles has helped to cause a run on them, and I believe it.
I would personally estimate that about half of silver recycling, about 100 million ounces, moves through coin shops and has to be sold to larger dealers and refiners. More silver than that moves through U.S. coin shops back to the public, however, in addition to the "net" flows, but the "net" flows explain a lot.
1. It explains why most coin shops don't feel there is a shortage of silver, and don't feel the need to carry silver inventory.
2. It explains how and why coin shops can run out of silver so quickly.
3. It explains why coin shops cannot say when they will get more silver, since their source of silver is the public (they don't order much from refiners, they sell to refiners).
Let's assume that U.S. coin shops are 50% of the world market in silver. So, they buy about 50 million oz. of silver more than they can sell to the public. There are about 4000 coin shops tracked by http://coininfo.com/ which I advertise to help you find your local coin shop.
If we divide 50 million oz. of silver by the 4000 shops, that comes to 12,500 oz. per shop, on average that they have to buy, more than they can sell, in a year. Times $20/oz., that's $250,000 more silver per shop, per year, than they can sell to the public (usually, but not this week!).
Like any industry, there is a range that differs from the average, where some shops do a lot more business than others.
The market structure explains the relatively insane comments by coin shop owners that my readers tell me about, these conversations confuse my readers, and often sound like this:
Customer: I'd like to get a quote on silver.
Shop: If you are selling, the price is . . .
Customer: No, I'm buying, because there's a shortage.
Shop: There's a shortage of silver? But there's plenty of silver.
Customer: How many 100 oz. bars do you have?
Shop: We are sold out right now, but if you come back later, I'd be happy to sell you some silver.
Customer: Eagles?
Shop: Sold out.
Customer: Any silver at all?
Shop: Not right now, gotta go, phone is ringing. "Hello, are you selling silver? No?"
Coin shops would love for you to come back later, because they can sell silver to you at about 5% over the spot price, but refiners and other dealers will only give them about 1% under spot, at best.
Here's another estimated calculation to determine how much silver buying is needed to "clean out" the coin shops in a week: 50 million oz. of silver / 52 weeks x $20/oz.
= $19.2 million in a week.
This is what we saw these last few days. The public bought about $19 million more worth of silver than they usually buy, and cleaned out most coin shops around North America, and the world.
See how tiny the silver market is? That's why it's such a great investment. There's way too much paper money, and so little silver available!
At the same time, the rumors I've heard are that the large banks that are bankrupt and getting help from the Fed, were told to sell some of their gold and silver, because it makes little sense for them to be getting loans while carrying so much of those "useless barbaric relics" on the books.
But investment bank silver is not typically in the same form as silver demanded by the public, and it is not sold to coin shops, but at the NYMEX, or maybe sold to refineries and mints who might be taking delivery of contracts to make 100 oz. bars or 1 oz. coin blanks.
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It appears to me that Northwest Territorial Mint is bankrupt. Based on Ross Hansen's letter to me last week, a reader did some calculations based on the admissions in that letter. Ross sells 20,000 oz. of silver per day. And Ross has 300,000 oz. of silver "in the pipeline", and deliveries are about 60 days, at best. There are about 43 business days in 60 days. (5/7). 43 days worth of silver, for Ross, at 20,000 oz./day, should be about 860,000 ounces, creating a deficit of about 560,000 ounces of silver that they are short, and have taken orders for, and have not yet bought that silver in this rising market from $13 to $20/oz.
I received 20 more compaints about the Northwest Territorial Mint since Friday, some readers waited 5 months to get silver, others have orderd silver in November 2007, and have not received it yet.
On Friday, one man reported to me that he walked in to the Northwest Territorial Mint and tried to get 100 oz. bars, and could only get 6 bars.
Here's an interesting story about a mint that went bankrupt in 1980.
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/634/634.F2d.1285.79-1555.79-1554.79-1553.html
"the corporation was selling silver and other products which it did not have in its inventory and did not have sufficient cash to obtain. The period of delay in delivery increased as replacements were not full and complete in terms of maintaining an inventory which allowed prompt delivery after the sale. First there was a seven or eight week delay in delivery of orders to retail customers and a shortage of about 80,000 ounces of silver which became apparent in December 1973 and early January 1974.
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I've continued to get reports from my readers that coin shops are out of silver; 19 reports of shortages since last Friday, here's a few more specific ones, from people who really canvased the areas to discover shortages:
International: China, Dubai, Sydney, Vancouver,
Domestic: Houston, Chicago, Seattle, San Diego.
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I can confirm from my recent email exchanges with the Bank of China (BOC) that BOC has now ceased selling physical products of silver but undertakes to buy the same from her customers. No explanation was given.
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I just became aware of this silver bullion shortage through your site, and phoned up my regular silver bullion dealer in Dubai. I have bought from them many times in the past, and can ALWAYS buy as many 1Kg Emirates Gold "silver" bars as I like. So it has been heaven for me to have unlimited bars to buy...
However when I phoned just now, they DO NOT have any in stock, and they cannot say when they will!
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From a dealer in Sydney, "Yes, silver is pretty scarce here too. I went around to five dealers and I could only get one bar out of them. Gold, however, appears to be more available."
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I can confirm that several coin dealers in the Houston area are sold out. They said things like, "I'm flat sold out. I can't buy any from my suppliers. I won't be getting any in for a while."
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I called my brother who lives in the Chicago area to canvass his local coin dealers that he knows to see whats up with inventory of silver and he reports back they are all out of stock...
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Dealers hear in the Seattle,Wa area are out of silver, I did manage to get about 56 oz of silver from Northgate coins, but that was 3 days ago. Called around today and everyone is out. I called around in San Diego (where my father lives) and everyone is out there also.
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When you start reporting that businesses are out of silver, they tend to lose customers, and to prevent that, they say odd things. Here's one reader comment:
Perth Mint today and they said that the supply of silver was fine but the production was the problem and I had to wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery!
Here's another odd story told by Don Stott. I love the man, as he's provided me a wonderful education about silver over the years.
http://www.coloradogold.com/archive/Silver_Shortage-390.html
Don said I was WRONG about Amark, but Don can't know the full story about what one of his suppliers said 100% of the time, so it's just disappointing to see a man of his very high integrity say that.
I guess shortages can make people go a bit crazy, even me. This is very exciting for me, I admit.
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Droughts are funny. Some areas are less affected, and do have rain.
Here are reports of dealers who have silver. I expect these sources could sell out next week, if things continue as they are.
Please be careful. Don't buy more silver in one deal than you can afford to lose, in case these guys are scammers, or bankrupt. I'm listing who I feel are the more reliable sources first.
List of refiners (refiners don't usually sell to the public)
http://www.lbma.org.uk/good_delivery_silver.html
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European precious metal dealers:
www.mp-edelmetalle.de in Germany