alexreeve

Really because it looks horrendous: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Can the US government keep refinancing their debt, and finance their deficit with interest rates at 5%? What about 10%? What about 20%? What is the point at which elevated interest rates become politically unacceptable? What happens to the Fed's balance sheet if the US government defaults on its debt obligations? I don't know the answer to these questions. I think you have rather misunderstood the primary obligation of the central bank if you think they can completely ignore government funding needs to deal with inflation.

It's a fair point. I certainly thought the banking crisis would eviscerate both USD and GBP in short order. What I failed to appreciate was the ubiquitous nature of the problem. It did not occur to me that every significant central bank in the world could/would co-ordinate so effectively to prevent catastrophic exchange rate fluctuations. However I still don't see any liquidation of the bad debt (and corresponding credit) that cannot be repaid. I do not see any progress towards a resolution to the financial crisis, just still growing imbalances. Do you feel that the financial crisis is over, and we are seeing the green shoots of healthy recovery?

First bitcoins then gold coins. It's like someone is playing whackamole.

I genuinely suspect we are in for a long period of extraordinary wealth disparity. However, oligarchs don't generally buy at the top of the market, do they? I can't help thinking there'll be a wash out first.

I was speaking to someone recently who has been looking to buy a family home in London. She earns £200,000+pa, and her husband maybe £50,000. Having eventually come to the conclusion that they could barely afford a slum-clearance terraced house of yesteryear, in a second rate location, they have elected to sell their small flat and rent for a couple of years to "see what happens". They are not big believers in an inevitable HPC or anything, they just acknowledge that they are priced out of anything they would want to own and are just hoping circumstances change, maybe get posted elsewhere or something. I don't see how property continues to go up from here, even in London.

A chance to do it all again today.

Proud in the context of that axiom just means sticking out enough to snag things moving past, not as in prideful. I'm not a fan of JS messianic imagery and rather culty language like CIGA. Still it is obviously popular with plenty of people. However he is just one of many gold based websites/newsletters that have a similar MO.

Quite nice - http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/gu-ford.htm

This one, which I thought your comment referred to:

According to the graph in the link the detached properties have gone from over £800,000 to under £500,000. Far, far more of a drop than I have observed living pretty close to Guidford.

This is shaping up nicely, and profitably (so far).

So is giving your money to a pension fund to invest in mortgage debt and government debt etc No. For one thing, I don't think pension funds will be paying out money (sufficient that you can live on), in 10-20 years time. Not that I think buy to let is a slum dunk, but anything that allows you to retain control is better than easily broken promises for the future.

Gold Sovereigns and Britannias are already not subject to VAT or CGT in the UK. How do you propose they are set more free to be a store of value?

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Given similar circumstances to 2008 it seems quite possible this correction is the first shoulder in a large inverse head and shoulders correction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u5FtriA8tA

I quite like some of these kinds of youtube videos. I think there are enough verifiable ancient oddities present around the world that are not easy to reconcile with the orthodox view of mankinds societal and technological development. Some can be very interesting as ideas, but far too many try to cloak themselves in the "respectability" of science by claiming scientific proof that simply does not exist. That video earlier about RH- genes??? It kicked off with the caption "If man evolved from apes, how come there are still apes around today?" Really, how can you take anything from that point seriously? The conventional theory is that man shares a closer common ancestor with apes than with other living creatures, not that humans are descended from modern Chimapnzees !

Assumptions like that caused the whole sorry mess in the first place.

I remember when a $20 move up in an hour elicited pictures of rockets, now not even a comment...

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/kitco-charged-massive-tax-fraud-scheme-business-viability-question I'm sure there will be plenty of interest in aquiring the company's talent; Jon Nadler for example...

Housing is a lot more relevant to peoples' needs though. Everyone needs a house (whether to buy or rent), so house prices are important to everyone. Gold is only relevant to those with savings, which is shockingly rare amongst the people I know. Maybe the reaction on MSE simply reflects that.

Not just HPC http://www.moneyweek.com/investments/property/gold-price-and-uk-house-prices-04909

I like the way Zero Hedge refer to gold simply as "the inedible metal".

I'm in Woking (right next to Guildford). I get a similar feel but with more variance by type, so flats are down more like 20%, low end housing 10%, better houses unchanged. But Woking has a huge supply of flats recently built and under development.