Sierra Madre Precious Metals

Everything great in the world is done by neurotics; they alone founded our religions and created our masterpieces. ~ Marcel Proust

I had a professor in college who always said, “It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.“

My father died thinking that the worst thing in the world were socialist democrats like FDR and Obama.

He was distracted into thinking that way, much the same way that our nation was led to believe Oswald killed Kennedy. That way you see, whether it’s socialist democrats or crazed gunman, we all have a villain. Someone to pin all of our troubles on. In the meantime, the real bad guys escape responsibility and thus the plan works. Continue reading →

“It’s Madness… MADNESS!”

Although the repo market is little known to most people, it is a $1-trillion-a-day credit machine, in which not just banks but hedge funds and other “shadow banks” borrow to finance their trades. Under the Federal Reserve Act, the central bank’s lending window is open only to licensed depository banks; but the Fed is now pouring billions of dollars into the repo (repurchase agreements) market, in effect making risk-free loans to speculators at less than 2%.

This does not serve the real economy, in which products, services and jobs are created. However, the Fed is trapped into this speculative monetary expansion to avoid a cascade of defaults of the sort it was facing with the long-term capital management crisis in 1998 and the Lehman crisis in 2008. The repo market is a fragile house of cards waiting for a strong wind to blow it down, propped up by misguided monetary policies that have forced central banks to underwrite its highly risky ventures. Continue reading →

NOTE: Recently we published a column which lay out the historical reality of own precious metals – chiefly gold and silver. Said column stated quite pointedly that, “The dollar has lost 98.2% of its purchasing power since 1900, while gold has become almost 54 times more valuable.” …and yet – the brokerage house STILL (eight years since the publication of the following) avoid YOUR safety and welfare like the plague. I guess that there is not enough commission it it for their benefit. ~ Ed.

Clients want alternatives in their IRAs — but advisers’ hands are tied … The firm polled 1,000 people nationwide, along with 365 financial advisers with at least $10 million in assets under management. Two out of three advisers polled said that investing in alternative assets can help build wealth for investors, and 80% them said that their clients have expressed interest in using alternative assets. Meanwhile, about three out of four Americans familiar with retirement accounts are interested in adding these investments to their individual retirement accounts. Continue reading →

…and most of us don’t even have close to enough money saved

We’re in a state of low savings. Depending on what state you choose to retire in, you could need anywhere from $666,000 to upward of $2 million saved. And that’s outside of what you get from your Social Security checks. Continue reading →