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Confessions of a Monetary Primitivist
(December 15, 2001)
The precious metals were once money itself, yet today many think of gold and silver as mere commodities. In their place, the unbacked “dollar” is considered a foundation sufficiently stable to support the world's economy, never mind that it is created out of thin air by the Fed, as free-floating and ephemeral as a ghost. A former twelve-year-old non-believer, now pushing 50, still doesn’t buy it.
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Internet Sales Tax Moratorium Prevails, At Least For Now
(Dec 1, 2001)
President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a 2-year moratorium blocking any new taxes on e-commerce, but revenue-hungry states are working hard to come up with a scheme to impose a simplified national sales tax on interstate commerce. For the immediate future, we’re off the hook, but Internet taxation is a bad idea on principle, and would cost you dearly if ever passed.
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Gold is STILL a Safe haven (November 20,
2001)
Knee-jerk analysis of gold declares the metal dead to the world. Tim
Wood of The Miningweb.com begs to differ, and we present his graphic
evidence. Here is all the proof you need that gold's safe-haven status
is not only intact, but firmly entrenched.
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SELLING GOLD ON THE INTERNET (November 10,
2001)
This week we celebrate the first full year of Onlygold.com’s presence on the Internet’s search engines. Here we explain how we first came to believe that people would send substantial sums of real money to some address on an Internet site. It didn't hurt that our debut coincided with a shaky stock market, sinking interest rates, and some of the cheapest inflation-adjusted gold prices that have been seen in decades.
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Gold Producers to Push Baubles While the World Burns (October 27, 2001)
The Denver Mining Investment Forum, a high-level annual confab of gold mining companies, analysts, investors, and camp followers, was held with the usual fanfare within the rather insular gold community. The forum convened in early October, when gold prices spiked after the terror attacks, but the big news was an industry initiative to sell jewelry. What is gold for, anyway? Accountants and poets disagree.
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What's The Right Amount of Gold for You?
(October 13, 2001)
Gold provides stability and cuts risk in an investment portfolio. Gold is useful as an inflation hedge and store of value. Gold insures against various disasters. Gold is the world's simplest estate-planning tool. Yet gold’s role over the past two decades has faded during an unprecedented economic boom. How much gold should you own in today's world?
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The World Comes to Gold (September 29,
2001)
Gold, the ultimate hedge against uncertainty, is gaining new respect today as a natural asset choice for the times we live in. For thousands of years, the commodity gold was money itself. Yet late in the 20th century, it was decided that "this time it's different," and gold was no longer needed. Today, with the world turned upside down, stocks swooning, and interest rates tumbling to 30-year lows, gold very much looks like a prudent bet.
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What Can You Say About A Week Like This One?
(September 22, 2001)
As bombers and warships head to the Middle East, President Bush talked war before Congress, America, and the world. This week, U. S. stocks lost 13% of their value as markets suffered through five of the heaviest trading days in history. And the question is no longer ‘are we in a recession?’ but rather ‘how long will this recession last?’ A sigh of relief as this week finally ends…
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Comex Gold Trading Resumes in New York
(September 18, 2001)
Some semblance of normality returned to the U.S. commodities markets as trading resumed in shortened sessions this week on the Comex exchange. Gold prices remain firm, and demand for physical gold strong, at slightly higher prices than before the mass murder in New York. Many things we can now assume have changed forever, the gold market included.
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So Whose Gold is it at Fort Knox? (September
1, 2001)
The U.S. gold manipulation issue now has the look of a full-blown scandal. When the debate was simply how much did the Fed and Treasury influence gold prices over the past few years, the answer was always: "plenty – and so what?" Today, the real question is: Who owns the U.S. gold reserves? John Hathaway of Tocqueville Asset Management brings us his essay, "Gold As Theatre."
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The “Gold-gate” Case - Curiouser and Curiouser
(August 25, 2001)
More evidence emerges about federal manipulation in the gold markets over the past few years. The Treasury publishes a denial on their website that the ESF deals in gold, but fails to mention their dwindling stock of SDRs, each representing 1/35th of an ounce of Treasury gold. Although for 30 years it’s been the avowed policy goal of the U.S. to render gold obsolete, the durable yellow stuff refuses to go away…
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“The Greatest Financial and Political Scandal in U.S. History”? What’s Up With Our National Gold Reserve?
(August 8, 2001)
U.S. citizens have always enjoyed the security of knowing that thousands of tons of gold, stored in Fort Knox and elsewhere, are ready and available to defend the dollar or our nation. Gold reserves have for centuries provided the internationally accepted currency when all else fails. But what if we found reason to doubt that U.S. gold reserves are safe and sound? We start a long story here…
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Okay, we admit that we don't answer ALL the
emails we receive - here's why: ( July 15, 2001)
Strictly for the entertainment value, we wanted to share with you some
of the more imaginative proposals that we have received in the course of
publishing a gold bullion site on the World Wide Web. Once you read
them, you'll understand why we never got around to answering these
particular e-mails.
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Bank of England Sells 20 Tonnes of Gold at
$267.25 (July 11, 2001) Today’s bi-monthly gold auction found bids for 4.1 times
the 20 tonnes being offered, and at a price higher than the London AM
gold fix. These controversial sales soon will have cut British gold
reserves in half, and have done much to keep gold prices low. As this
2-year fire sale winds down, we wonder: Does a gold bear eat in the
woods?
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Barrick Bid to Buy Homestake – Threat or
Menace? (June 29, 2001)
The big news in gold this week was Barrick Gold Corp’s (NYSE symbol ABX)
bid to acquire via stock swap the assets of Homestake (HM), the 125 year
old U.S. gold mining firm. If the deal goes through, the Canadian firm
Barrick will be second in size only to South African producer AngloGold.
The reactions to this merger show us that gold is a funny business.
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Eye of the Blackbird, A Story of Gold in
the American West (June 25, 2001)
Holly Skinner, survival instructor, wrangler, forest fire fighter, rough
rider, and gold prospector, writes about gold and the lives of the
prospectors whose lust for gold opened Anglo settlement of California
and the Rockies. Skinner combines history, geology, biography, and
personal experience to come up with a unique book - a poem to gold and
those who seek it.
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Exploring the World of Virtual Gold (June
21, 2001)
The latest incarnations of the world's oldest money are virtual payment systems denominated, not in dollars, yen, euros, etc., but in gold by weight. Quite a few websites now compete, allowing you to buy (and sell) stuff over the Internet, with payment in the form of electronic dollops of gold. Chewing through Bananas, Coconuts, and Estonian Popsicles, we find the germ of a real idea here.
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GOLD PRICES ON A ROLL (May 25, 2001)
Spot prices ran as high as $294 Monday May 21st, after Friday’s $14 rally. The rest of this week was spent in retrenchment, but overall the price action is convincingly positive. With demand for gold up again in first quarter 2001, and rising energy prices pushing up mining costs, how much longer can gold prices remain immune to inflation?
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20 Tons of Gold Sold at $268 (May 15, 2001)
(May 15, 2001)
Today’s Bank of England gold auction was 3.7 times oversubscribed, and priced within a few cents of the active trading markets. Gold has now closed at higher prices for six weeks running, as increasing numbers of investors are starting to see the wisdom of owning this traditional value holding. Our noted friend Leonard Kaplan checks in with his (mildly) bullish gold outlook.
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Why Numismatic Investments are Always Horrible Mistakes, Part 2
(April 24, 2001)
Remember coin collecting? We look at the 20-year and 10-year track records for U.S. rare coins, remind ourselves of the miracle of compound interest, and learn how your $410,000 investment in rare coins could prevent you from becoming a millionaire twenty years later.
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Where Does Gold Come From? Neutron Stars, Treasures of the Andes, and Big Bug Creek
(April 13, 2001)
Only recently have scientists gotten a handle on the actual cosmological origin of gold. And since its formation billions of years ago, gold has been gathered and extracted by humans for thousands of years. Gold is the original recyclable, and your jewelry may have quite a history...
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Why Numismatic Investments Are Always Horrible Mistakes, Part 1
(April 5, 2001)
People seeking the safety of gold are often waylaid by promoters who tout investing in rare coins as a 'prudent' alternative to gold bullion. This week we explore why numismatic coins are a favorite of commissioned salespeople, and some of the awful truths that they won’t tell you about the rare coin market. - Promoting a $20,000 coin as 'disaster insurance.'
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GOLD IS DEAD! THIS SPACE FOR RENT (April
1, 2001)
The element gold, once-revered for its beauty and monetary function, has
lately lost its luster, its value, and its self-respect. If the current
trend of falling prices continues, gold should trade for $0.00 by
October, 2002. Gold is, after all, only gold. We sadly report its
demise.
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SUPREME COURT NIXES "FINDERS KEEPERS"(March 15, 2001)
The Supreme Court threw 300 year old maritime law to the wind when it upheld a lower court ruling that essentially scuttles the concept of "Finders Keepers" in the recovery of abandoned sunken ships. This and an upcoming UNESCO treaty threaten to end treasure hunting as we know it. Will Cuba become the last stronghold of free-market salvage?
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Big Fun Lies Ahead" - Gold Market Comes to
Life (March 10, 2001)
Things were hopping in gold this week as gold lease rates went from 1%
to over 6%, and gold spot prices turned up sharply. Backwardation came
to the gold market, short-traders began to feel a squeeze, and all the
gloom of last month blew away like a morning fog.
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February Gold Notes from All Over:
Covering Keynes, California, and Clawar (Feb 6, 2001)
While gold markets flounder, fidget, and fizzle, we find: Keynes'
true definition of a 'barbarous relic;' a document from the upcoming war
of gold miners vs.environmentalists; and a reason to sell London and buy
New York.
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Gold Falls To $255, Bounces Back Sharply
(February 28, 2001)
Gold has bounced back sharply in price since February 14th, when gold prices went below the $260 level for the first time in 16 months. Gold found out that "nobody loves you when you're down and out," as the old song goes - the financial press had a field day kicking gold when it was down. The question is: Is this latest move the long-awaited 'double bottom' on the gold price charts that finally signals that the worst is over?
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Baby Boomers Rest Uneasy - What's Retirement Like When Their Favorite Stocks Are Blown to Bits?
(Jan. 23, 2001)
The year 2000 saw trillions of dollars of market value disappear in stocks such as Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Amazon, Dell, Home Depot, Qualcomm, IBM, AT&T, etc., and in most tech and growth mutual funds. Not to mention the dot-com stocks that simply fell off the edge of the earth. It seems that everyone's favorite 'great story' stocks have been cut to ribbons. Now what?
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Gold Opens 2001 at Lowest Price in Twenty
Years (Jan 11, 2001)
Gold began this Millennium at $271.10, the lowest opening price seen since 1979, a year in which it went from $226.80 January 2nd to $512 by December’s end. With equities markets uncertain, and the “R” word in the air, what’s the lowdown on gold?
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