By way of NFTRH subscriber MetalAugmentor, a reputable and hard working mining stock fundamental research service to which I also subscribe, comes this thread talking about an entity called Turd Ferguson.
Turd is an offshoot of Zero Hedge, is apparently a really popular blogger among gold bugs and is cooking up plans to do battle with the 'cartel'. 'Silverax' also highlights Jim Sinclair and his own Golden Idea on how to break the cartel. When I read something like "what we need is Maximus, the financial gladiator" I just cringe.
Gold is going where it is going, and it is anchoring value in a time of devaluation. There is no need for war mentality. There is only a need to keep perspective through ongoing events and the dynamic cycles in which they play out (I sound like an old fart, I know).
Why do people need to join clubs, be part of armies and do battle? There will be no such talk of financial gladiators during gold's next up cycle. There will be talk of gold going to $5,000 an oz. and beyond. Get on board the golden express elevator while you can still save yourself! There will be talk of the death of the dollar, euro and various other debt paper. There will be fear and greed in the air all at once.
In short, there will be triumphant crowing from the gold 'community' right up until the next top and into an impending cycle of whining, crying and writhing in pain at which point what, the financial gladiator saves them all again? Or maybe Turd and his hedge fund adviser buddy slay the cartel for good?
Why not save the emotional ups and downs, put that energy into day to day life and understand that we are going to get where we are going despite pathetic attempts at manipulation of the macro by the 'cartel'?
Gold is a tool that Central Banks, big financial institutions and various authorities use to temporarily manipulate the macro. Most recently, the actual manipulation was performed on Treasury yield relationships, which in turn hurt gold, which in turn helped alter the macro ("And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be it would. You see?" --Alice). It's just business, perverted and way out on a limb though it is.
Don't personalize it, or you risk becoming angry and biased. Anger and bias promote wrong decisions. The gold 'community', with its various leaders and caricatures is more like a cult than anything, and this hurts the 'community's' supposed effort to bring the monetary metal into the mainstream.
By Gary Tanashian
The PROBLEM with gold is NOT gold, it’s MENTALITY, i.e. "Buffett says", ”Bernanky says”, “Draghi says”, “The Holy Ghost says”, they run around in circles mindlessly trading gold.. Gold does NOT care about those things. It does not care what “The Cartel” or Central Bankers do. It knows it is FOOLISH people floundering. Gold knows very well EXACTLY where it belongs. It knows very well its place of GLOBAL VALUE relative to the debased paper currencies of the world in which it trades. PEOPLE, by contrast, DO NOT KNOW! So, they spike it up and they spike down relative to its ABSOLUTE VALUE. Sooner or later though, it adjusts itself to the MEAN, which ALWAYS increases, as my simpleton chart shows me for my life time line. It only has TWO points: YEAR 1927, $20.36 and YEAR 2012, $1651.70 at the moment. So, let them do whatever, IT DOES NOT MATTER!
No one can see into the future or forecast with accuracy how things will play out. But it is very apparent
that major forces are on the move and disasters have happened many times in the past so why not in the future (even the near future). The record of gold suggests that it would come through any turmoil relatively unscathed so my modest savings are 100% in gold - I hate it when the price goes down.
Forgive the spelling errors above, ...I just typed fast and hit enter...
The author wrote; "The gold ‘community’, with its various leaders and caricatures is more like a cult than anything..."
There are some of us in the gold community who understand gold's place in a diversified portoflio (insurance), have been recommending dollar cost averaging into a position for their clients rather than "all in" like most others who fear the U.S. dollar collapse, and have actually been dollar bullish (because of the Euro/Yen issues which represent 67% of the index) and bullish on Treasuries.
Inflation will come. Any Fed stimulus so far has just been swallowed up by the greater credit contraction that is still occurring. The Fed will continue QE as Bernanke only knows this as his possible solution. He can't see that he is adding fuel to the fire.
The economy is not rebounding. Banks aren't lending and still don't mark to market their assets. The FASB still allows them to cheat. The FDIC is still underwater. Banks still hold more sub-investment grade derivatives today than they did at the height of the 2008 crisis. People who buy gold and silver today, aren't selling. Central Banks have been net buyers. Supply will become an issue (Econ 101). The Fed will continue to implement QE or somethign similar. Same with the ECB. The Debt to GDP ratio's of all countries will continue to rise. The reason gold and sivler is not in the mainstream is because even the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) course that addresses investmetns doesn't explain the industry well. In addition, the entire industry relies on the Prudent Man Rule and Modern Portfolio Theory that rely on the "risk free asset" that isn't risk free at all.
It all comes down to faith in the Fed and/or our government to do the right thing. They don't have a good track record in doing the right thing. Histroy has shown where this leads. Throw in the bank's issues (companies like MF Global can also be added to the mix) and while many gold bugs may not understand the short term mechanics, they aren't too far fetched with their long term results for gold. "When to sell" and what to do with the proceeds will be the hardest decision buyers of gold will have to make.