This, while not surprising to the eternally cynical gloom-and-doom crowd, will make it even harder for the poor CNBC boys to put a cheery twist on the news come morning. Anyone have any bets on how long Ron Insana can last in that crowd, still occasionally speaking truth? He'll end up on the internet, I suppose, the last bastion of free speech in America.

Strad Master, don't do it! You don't want to be the guy who used to be the Strad Master, under any circumstances. Uh uh. Nope. Nada. Nicht. Nyet. Money, even gold and silver money, just ain't worth it!

Keep ( at least some of ) your powder dry. There may be some even better buying opportunities in the next couple of months. It's hard not to nibble at commodities, oil, and the beautiful precious at these levels, yes? Little nibbler, I am. You can't sell high unless you ___ ___ first, yes?

See ya! Promey

What are you complaining about?

I saw you personally ship that technology eastward.

Barely fit in the trunk, as I recall.

Got Milk?

No

Tricky question, answering a negative

So, to clarify:

I believe gold will rise at least 50% in the next five to ten years.

You sound well, I'm glad.

Yes

Selby -

Maybe a couple minutes interest on the National Debt?

Maybe

It will be published tomorrow afternoon at:

http://www.MONEX.com/mt.html

OK

Now that the yen is heating up ( but will it last? ) It is time to price platinum in yen. Some of the old timers hereabouts will remember my platinum yen charts of last year that looked like a rorschach test. When the yen goes up, PGMs go up.

I think the chart is still at ( http://www.golden-eagle.com/analysis/RJ01.html ) though it is woefully out of date. The important thing to see is the clearcut relationship. I will try to pass on platinum yen pricing as often as possible or try to include it in my Weekly Review. I think you have to take out the en in

golden for the link to work.

Platinum $358.00 ( $2.70 )

Palladium $287.00 ( $3.80 )

Gold $294.60 ( $0.30 )

Pt:Gold Spread $63.40

Yen 138

Platinum: Yen/g* 1662

* The Japanese are the world's largest consumers of platinum, the yen / gram price ratio is the retail price less the 5% tax charge, as quoted by Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo KK.

OK

I actually wrote something positive about gold today

Wow

FED UP, DOCTORS ACROSS CANADA GO ON STRIKE

Canada's universal health-care system -- which features price

controls and health care rationing by waiting --- is generating a

wave of strikes. Physicians complain they are overworked and

underpaid.

o Doctors in British Columbia staged a Friday through Sunday

work stoppage this past week to protest a $90 million gap

between the government's cap on their income and the

actual value of the services they say they provide.

o Last week, doctors in 60 rural Alberta communities --

almost 80 percent of the province's 500 rural doctors --

closed their offices for one day to pressure the

government for more money, since they are only being

offered $6 an hour for being on call after normal working

hours.

o In Quebec, many health-care practices were closed last

Thursday and Friday, and the province's nurses have

announced they will refuse to work overtime this summer --

complaining that due to shortages, they are burned out.

o According to British Columbia's medical association, the

wait for coronary bypass surgery is now 30 weeks -- and

patients are dying because of the delay.

Canada's physicians are leaving for the U.S., where doctors make

an average of two to three times more than those in Canada. The

country lost 513 doctors in 1996 -- but that was only one-quarter

of all the health-care workers who leave for the U.S. every year.

Source: Editorial, Doctors Who Go On Strike, Wall Street

Journal, June 17, 1998.

For more on Health issues

http://www.ncpa.org/pi/health/hedex1.html

LIVING LONG IS THE BEST REVENGE

Economists Richard McKenzie and Dwight Lee have calculated that

Americans would have to live a very, very long time for Social

Security to pay off for them -- meaning the point at which

collected retirement benefits exceed taxes paid, plus interest.

Using 1997 income and assuming the worker has received or will

receive a 2 percent real raise every year during his career until

the retirement age at which full Social Security benefits can be

received, a single worker would fare as follows:

o Those born in 1935, who made $40,000 in 1997 would have to

continue breathing until age 105 to get back what they had

put into the system.

o A person born in 1948, making $30,000 in 1997, would break

even at 110.

o Someone born in 1948, making $68,400, would begin

collecting more than he put into the system on his 209th

birthday.

o And someone born in 1960, making $68,400 in 1997, would

virtually have to live forever to collect more than his

share.

Source: Richard B. McKenzie ( University of California, Irvine )

and Dwight R. Lee ( University of Georgia, Athens ) , Security in

Old Age -- and We Mean Old Age, Wall Street Journal, June 17,

1998.

For more on Social Security's Rate of Return

http://www.ncpa.org/pi/congress/cong5a.html

Squirrel, I'm working on it.

Kiwi and James. Thanks.

TYoung, I, too, am walking in the paw prints of a short person - nice view down here. Seeing the squirrels taking over the neighborhood while those tall guys don't even notice. BTW, it would be helpful if you would head your future posts with your momentary religious preference/race/gender, to better help us position you for flaming.

Mike Sheller - you bring us back to center. Thank you for the balance.

Namasté

kiwi - From that picture ( angle ) I just can't tell if RR looks Jewish or not.... ( how can ya look Jewish? ) ........Al sure does.........{;-^ ) .......... ( big jokes and smiles to all my Hebrew Brethren ) .........REALLY.......... ( tongue in cheek or foot in mouth I can't take it back now ) .........GO METALS!!

away...to the corner w/o supper

EBashuckin'&Jivin'Rastafarian....... ( puff-puff ) ....One love..... ( Jah ) .....One Supreme Creator...... ( maybe ) .

http://quote.yahoo.com/intlmarkets

http://www.dbc.com/cgi-bin/htx.exe/dbcfiles/curcommt.html?SOURCE=core/dbc

Sept ¥en:

bought 7700 call

sold 7900 call

at 40pts = 500 + commish.......

now trading at 39pts.....doh!

Tick-Tock....Tick-Tock....that mouse will run up the clock..... ( ? )

away.....to chase this thingy....... ( ohno! )

Éßgonnafoldat20ticks......allaboard!!

go sugar ( ! )

away...to purchase a neckbrace..........

Éßwhipsawfree

I agree with most of what you say.

Yes

( the only one 'dressed' in black ) .....besides the buck ;- )

http://www.cme.com/cgi-bin/flash.cgi

away...to watch it rip through 16800 before it's done

Éߣheavy

go metals ( ? )

Donald -

The math is disingenuous. The inflated dollar you speak of has been countered by more of them. How much money did you make when coffee was a nickel? I am willing to bet the percentage of income spent on this coffee is actually less now, than when it was five cents a cup. Actually, I read an article recently that spoke of things like coffee, milk, gas, etc are cheaper now, as a percentage of income, than they were in the fifties. Even housing is cheaper per square foot than it was in the fifties.

One could have bought a cup of coffee for a nickel in the Fifties, but yearly wages may have only been 5 or 6K per year. Now these same folks make 60 - 70K per year? So coffee is .75 a cup now. It is cheaper than it was.

The ounce is an ounce in true, but I have already posted the numbers on that. Were I to offer you and ounce of gold in 1977, you would be barely breaking even ( in adjusted dollars ) after 20 years. Any other investment would have performed better.

OK

http://www.globalfindata.com/tbgold.htm

http://www.globalfindata.com/tbsilver.htm

If our leaders were really honest with themselves, and with the public, they would require that the US dollar standard be defined at the National Bureau of Standards. It is possible to do this -- even factor in an allowance for a small component of inflation to 'grease the wheels'. Or a definitiion of money 'velocity'. And -- one would need to define the machinery necessary to keep the US dollar stable.

But -- I'm afraid we are stuck with the gold standard for at least another generation, given human nature.

http://www.stocksite.com/features/contrarian/rap/

But -- on the other hand Donald is right that this number is very useful, as it is an indicator of the fundamental forces that are present. I think the best analogy is looking at a dam -- such as the Hoover dam. Imagine a 200 foot wall of water that is only one molecule thick -- there would be little danger if the dam broke. On the other hand what if the water behind the dam was backed up 100 miles? That would be a different story altogether. Neither of these scenarios will tell you if the dam will fail -- the water head is the same. Another source of information, such as 'technical' information is needed to determine the 'when'.

Thus -- Donald's DOW gold ratio tells us how much water is behind the dam, but it does not tell us when the dam will break. So -- Donald's indicator is very useful in its own way.

RJ -- Perhaps you can tell us when the dam will break. Donald can watch the size of the dam.

And after that -- I hope we begin our journey to the stars.

In the meanwhile, this gold/precious metals site, and others like it, carry the seeds to jumpstart our world economic system. Lets hope that we do not need to do this. But -- there is no harm in being prepared.

I'll tell you why I am upset about the ChinaMissleSatGate episode. I realize that the current world political situation is unlikely to accept world nuclear disarmament, although the US could have a major impact in this area if we had an effective president.

My point is this -- we have our problems -- our leaders often do not do things that are in the best interests of the American people, and certainly often not in the best interests of world peace. But -- this is no excuse in promoting world destruction by the indiscriminant dissemination of nuclear weapons technology, missle technology or encryptation technology. You may not be upset by what happened if you are not an American, but consider this: It may be your country that is downwind of a nuclear event -- either accidental or intentional. Not a pleasant thought. That is why you should be upset also.

In fact, the only way to stop what appears to be our ( human ) lemming like progress to oblivion will be world disarmament. At least nuclear.

My guess is that our ultimate test as a intelligent civilized species will be whether we can survive the next 50-100 years. If we can, the stars will be ours. If not -- perhaps some other species on this planet will evolve and reach the stars. I wonder -- just how many species like us have had our ultimate test -- and survived?

What do I foresee if we do survive the next 50-100 years? Hopefully some small scale nuclear events only. If we are lucky, the world's human population will rise up and control nuclear weapons proliferation just as the Japanese did after WWII. It may take a major event to galvanize public opinion. Lets hope I am right. I firmly believe that our human destiny is in the exploration of the limitless universe around us, rather than be cooped up on this little ( ecologically ) fragile planet.

http://bsd.mojones.com/news_wire/index.html

What I find interesting is that the current FBI director also seems to be at odds with the Clinton camp. And -- I hope it is fair to say that the FBI crime lab evidence tampering has been stopped.

http://www.abcnews.com/sections/us/DailyNews/Willey980617.html

There are numerous other suspicious events which point to a shadowy group of individuals who protect or enhance the political image of the president, apparently for reasons of their own. If I were BC, I would be worried about the day I became a liability, given what this group appears to be capable of doing.

That I have nothing to do with this argument?

Matter of fact, I'm too sleepy in any case.

Goodnght

OK

Some thoughts from Victoria B.C.

Went to the Legion this evening & noticed that many people were eating chicken wings. After a few beers I ordered a plate of chicken wings. At .10 each, that works out to around .06 ea U.S. or .72 per dozen. I noticed a particularly porcine women next to me that ate chicken wings non-stop for the 1 1/2 hrs that I was there. It struck me that at the rate she was consuming chicken wings that she could keep a village of 1000 souls in Biafra going indefinetly.

How long can this inequity continue?

I am probing the depths of this market, after it probed the depths of its price range. I am curious about this new guy. He has posted on gold, silver, and platinum. I wonder what HE knows. I am trying to learn, yes?

OK

away.....to sit back and enjoy the show......... ( ? )

Éßgonnasuckthisinfoupliketheseasponge

If you are looking at the JM 1998 Platinum Review

It has been discussed at some length here.

And many here have their own copies.

Do you have any new information?

Would you like to buy some platinum?

I can help you with that.

Feel free to call.

OK

away...to the charts.....hmmmmmmmmmm

Éß$$ ( ! )

Dave@goldfever ......thank you for the COT chart analysis. I will put this in my quiver with the other arrows......I think my ammo is ready and my bow is strung ( VERY ) tight.......and my undies are perfectly in place..........thwock! thwock! thwock! Cha-Ching$ ( ! )

Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

hey Gilligan....... ( cabin-boy ) - give us a little 'feel' from Irvine........eh!

Can you explain the capacity for South African mines to increase production?

Will palladium demand fall due to substitution in Auto catalysts?

Can you quantify the increase in demand you expect?

Can you explain JM's assertion that the Japanese may have a 15 month supply on hand?

How much do the Russians have?

When will they ship?

From what source ( s ) is this information gleaned?

$400 seems a bit timid, yes?

This is my favorite subject

Let's talk

OK

DDB3 -

What can you tell us about platinum?

I am curious.

When the 'tent' collapses

it will not be the 'center-post'

that goes first;

it will be the 'side-posts',

and even the 'stakes'.

For, as 'Asian Tigers'

shake, shudder, & quake:

shedding their fur...

while they still feign to demure.

Just when a cold wind,

begins to blow in;

as 'indian-summer' - too long

holding on;

with wishful thinking, all a-long.

The markets can no longer avoid nor hide,

the Yuppie-Kingdom's crumbling, & cry;

as winter's clearing cold and rain,

clean us all, and clear-out, even -

all our grains !

And some day in the future,

all will be clear;

while now, every stock market around

will 'tear', and give ground.

And gold and silver too

will NOW move on,

and move up;

at least for a year. ( fini, 9/27/97 )

6/17/98:

When this TENT of our global economy collapses and unwinds,

most of us will not have seen it in 9/97, nor will most of us, especiallly our leaders ....even admit it ....even now.

For denial affords an Indian-summmer-like, economic-world ...

of false-comfort, -complacency, and -security ....

... offered to & clung to, by:

the weary, and the fearful, and the desperate, and the misled,

and the corrupted.

And so it will not start at The Center Post --

the most powerful points -- :

the U.S., & W. Europe

It will unravel and collapse, before that....

at the Side-Posts.....

such as Japan, China-HongKong, Middle-East, So. America, etc.,

And even before them, the collapse will start, and first -- now,

as it has -- At the Stakes :

Southeast Asia, Russia, the Balkans ........

This world-wide economic crisis did not happen by accident or surprise. It was born in the seed of a mis-guided and corrupt

currency-spawned &credit-mushroomed international money system built on the false premise of fractional-reserve-banking and a world-wide monetary unit neither backed by, nor convertible to gold, the only universal, international medium of exchange and standard of value that has stood the test of enduring time.

In the place of sound money, and currencies of convertibility and integrity, has been structured and erected a towering international economic edific - an enormous billowing tent

.... of political expediency and exploitation.

Today, this careening, collapsing tent is seething with the symptoms of the unbacked, un-convertible U.S. dollar.

This global economy is defined in terms of - & dominated by -

the U.S. dollar -- which today is backed by nothing but the

soundness of the largest debtor nation in the world.

A few generations ago, this U.S. dollar, the reserve currency

for international commmerce & trade, was denominated in weights

of gold, and with its backing, and convertibility to it, could

thus be trusted and accepted, by nations of all creeds & colors.

But now, with decades of a paer-reserve-dollar, and floating currency the world-over....all our sinking....in a sea of debt, and depression.

One by one, the stakes are disintegrating/collapsing, then the side-posts, and finally the center-posts, and the entire tent.

Thus, we are now reaping the currency harvest & political

holocaust of this follly of U.S paper dollar domination,

manipulation and exploitation. The seeds that have been sown are now reaping ...and raping... with a vengance.

If you think these words are too strong, investigate the circumstances of, or interview, the jobless & homeless of Indonesia,

Thailand, Malaysia, So. Korea ....the ones who had jobs & homes....a year ago.

Eventually, this spreading misery upon the fabric of human-kind,

will blanket the world, and drag down....bring down ....

collapse....the entire tent....of the global economy.

And all of civilization will convulse, over its past folly.

The trillions of U.S. dolllars, exported all over the world,

will come careening home .....

collapsing the final center-post, of the tent....