请你耐心的看完这片段

If Silver Goes Down All Hell Will Break Loose In The Physical Market: Silver Investment Update

There simply isn't enough physical silver to deal with the demand of a fiat currency crisis. As the paper silver market pushes prices down, all hell will break loose in the physical market.

Chris Martenson's presentation at the Gold & Silver Meeting in Madrid

Chris Martenson of answers questions regarding electricity, shale gas, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and uranium and the race for global resources.

Gold & Silver Game Changer - Central Bank Buying - Mike Maloney

2012 PAMP SUISSE 1oz 999 Silver Bar

The Country GREATEST Song - The Bernanke Blues

The Bernanke Blues
Lyrics, music, vocals & production by Walter Callahan

I can't afford to put no more gas in my tank!
And I thank the Bernanke!!!

I'm missing my sweet 16 oz. caffeine
Roast the Bernanke!

You're stealing my savings, Ben, while you're giving them to those who spend!

This inflation is so damn cruel that Juan Valdez can't afford to feed his mule.
You're a fool, Bernanke!

Well our mortgage is under water now, baby...
Oh, and I blame the Bernanke...

Low interest rates created a real estate bubble that burst! And it's getting worse...
Thank the Bernanke!

All the extra liquidity came from excess stupidity...

The Fed creates them Booms and busts and now the dollar is turning to dust.
Don't trust the Bernanke...

Well there's bond bubble trouble brewing now baby...
Thank the Bernanke...

So I got to roll the dice on the DOW oh how when it comes crashing down? Blame the Bernanke...

I'll die a pauper when laid to rest because inflation forced me to invest!

Ben's killing the dollar you see, Lord have mercy QE 1, 2, 3 !!!???

If you want to die rich and old, son, go and buy that SILVER and GOLD to beat the Bernanke!!!

Every Silver Pullback Is A Gift - Mike Maloney

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Listen to Mike Maloney's thoughts on the current price action in silver.

Learn why he sees this as short term noise, and that we are ultimately headed for far higher prices for precious metals.

BEWARE FAKE SILVER BULLION!

Silver & Gold: What To Buy? - Mike Maloney Bonus Feature

SILVER UPDATE with Bradford Cooke CEO of Endeavour Silver Corp

Why Gold & Silver? FULL MOVIE - Mike Maloney Tells All

Debt Collapse - Mike Maloney (FULL PRESENTATION)

Mike Maloney is the author of the world's best selling book on precious metals investing. Since 2003 he has been advocating gold and silver as the ultimate means of protecting wealth from the games played by our governments and banking sector. In this 90 minute presentation he lays down his 'most likely' scenario for the global economy over the next deacde...short term deflation, followed by big or even hyperinflation. Here you will learn the true definitions of inflation/deflation, the difference between currency and money, price vs value, 'Wealth Cycles', gold and silver accounting for the expansion of fiat currency, gold and silver supply and demand, the differences between the today's bull market and that of the 1970s, The Debt Collapse, and more.

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David Tice : Silver has more potential than Gold

 2012 Australia Lunar Dragon 999 Silver

MAKE SURE YOU GET PHYSICAL SILVER IN YOUR OWN POSSESSION. Don't Buy SLV, or Futures or Pooled Accounts or any other BS paper silver product .Remember anything on paper is worth the paper it is written on. Go Long Stay long the bull market have even started yet.

David Tice : "Well, I think people should own gold and silver bullion. I am a shareholder of GoldMoney.com. I'm also a big customer of GoldMoney.com. I think that's a great place to hold your bullion. I also own a number of junior gold mining companies. I've typically not owned the seniors, but I'm now starting to invest in seniors. I'd say probably a third. I'm more invested in silver today than gold. I'm a believer in what Eric Sprott talks about, as far as silver having even more extraordinary potential than gold does. I'd say it's kind of an individual preference, as far as how much bullion versus how much metals equities, but a nice blend would be appropriate." 

High physical demand levels will push silver to $100 forecasts Eric Sprott

Eric Sprott is one of the biggest names in the Canadian resources sector. In this video he points to a fundamental disconnection between the very high demand for physical silver at the moment in comparision with the very limited supply situation. 

He predicts $100-plus an ounce coming soon for silver. His fundamental view contradicts the chartists who contend that we are about to see a repeat of the 2008 collapse in the silver price as the stock market tanks. 

Interestingly silver rebounded almost five per cent this morning in response to the S&P downgrade of US debt, the reverse of the chartist’s expectations.

Silver Manipulation........!

Watch this 2-part interview with Adrian Douglas, propriator of Market Force Analysis, where he explains the silver market manipulation scheme. Based on his analysis of fundamentals, he opinines that one day silver may trade close to or higher than gold. Adrian also argues against investing in SLVand GLD ETFs.

March 4, 2011. Interview of Adrian Douglas Part 1 of 2. 

By Future Money Trends

The mentioned article containing cross plots showing past correlation between Comex price of gold and silver and how that has been recently broken can be found here: “Silver breaks its golden shakles“.

In part 2, Adrian talks about how and possibly when silver manipulation could end. Other topics covered include Silver backwardation in Comex silver contracts, PMs junior mining stocks, deflation, inflation & hyperinflation. A self-explanatory chart showing silver backwardation as at Feb 25, 2011 can be found below the video.

March 4, 2011. Interview of Adrian Douglas Part 2 of 2. 

By Future Money Trends 

MUST WATCH: THE CHINESE SILVER BULLET

The short concentration in silver futures contracts is unprecedented. Most of you find out early on that the futures market is a mutation of free markets.


Given the well-documented lack of silver supply in relation to silver futures and growing public awareness, there is danger of implosion if short-covering begins. This type of activity could shut down the paper market for silver, causing a panic throughout the system.


It is the disconnect in price between futures and physical silver that is perhaps the most significant reason that you should at least buy a small number of silver coins.
Silver Short Position


For a more comprehensive overview, I will refer you to Ted Butler: View Ted Butler’s archives here.


Butler may be more responsible than anyone else for why we are discussing investing in silver to begin with. His commentary on the justification for silver investment is down to earth, easy to read, and yet challenges the newcomer to learn. In short, Butler tells us this:


Silver traders illegally buy rights to own silver (5000 ounces per contract) without actual metal backing. A very few entities put large amounts of money into short contracts.


This has the effect of lowering the thresholds set-up by outside investors. The price stays low and the shorts continue their hedge. By the way, this description happens to summarize the greater fiat monetary system.


Silver has the largest short concentration of any other commodity. This has been created in large part by a dwindling supply, and also perhaps, in small part, by a reaction to the Hunt Brothers debacle.


When growing interest in silver investing forces shorts to buy back positions, the change in silver prices will be chaotic. 


The Silver Futures Separation


When you compare the price of silver futures to buying some unit of silver in the real world, you find a significant disconnect. This growing percentage will likely spread, rendering the paper market meaningless.


(Recent developments at the CFTC threaten to impact current silver prices even further).


A collapse of the paper market, though, may be the only hope for an orderly return to normal silver prices—those that are based on supply and demand and the monetary significance of silver. Some have thought of this point as where the inevitable reversion back to metal-backed currency begins. We could be now experiencing the calm before the storm.


I began this quest committed to investing in silver coins only, for their safety, liquidity (both ways), and storage advantage. But silver coins are becoming harder to find.


We may have reached the point where some silver coins, eagles mostly, are becoming scarce. The price rise has begun and, as in all bull market scenarios, the race commences long before the herd catches on.


Find a local coin dealer, and convert some dollars into silver rounds or 90% junk silver. It doesn't matter how much. It should be what you can afford and can buy outright.

富爸爸-擺脫過時的金錢觀：存錢

Buy Silver - The 1.3 billion Chinese Factor

我对投资白银原则：

●只買實物白银，其他的都不买，特別是ETF！
●不要買古董黃金及白銀產品，不要買高溢價的紀念性產品！(少量應該可以)
●白銀有機會升到$1000美元一安士！(超級大膽的預測) --》源自Michael Maloney

●如果將來白銀缺貨，要像巴菲特那样死了都不卖掉所有的COCA-COLA股票！（出售一部分就好）
●如果信用貨幣真出問題，政府發行的金銀幣會得到較高的認受性及價值！

題外話：做大马人真幸福，完全不需理會美國1099(b)那些買金買銀的法案！那些法案只為控限民間持有白銀與黃金，好為信用貨幣謢航！

是谁干的好事？一分钟100亿美元的交易?

Desperate maneuvers are being taken to keep precious metal prices down..!

Yesterday someone dumped 50,000 silver contracts in 1 minute of trading. That's $10 billion which comes out to 250 million ounces of silver sold in 1 minute on the COMEX. Remember, these are paper contracts that are sold a 100 times verses actual physical silver--》也就是实体白银

白銀價值如此被低估的原因值得深究。同時，財富的祕密也隱含於內。如果你认为白银还是不值钱的金属品，欢迎你观赏此片段！

JP Morgan操控銀價內幕大揭秘Part 6

白銀價值如此被低估的原因值得深究。同時，財富的祕密也隱含於內。如果你认为白银还是不值钱的金属品，欢迎你观赏此片段！

重新发现白银

就当前世界上的存量而言，黄金可能有51.3 亿盎司，而白银只有10 亿盎司——相比之下，1940 年的黄金存量约10 亿盎司，而当时白银存量则是100 亿盎司。为什么在不到半年的时间里，白银价格暴涨1 倍左右，固然不排除有一部分投机因素在里面，但更深层次的原因，或许正是白银正在变得越来越少这个事实。

如果有人问，最近这半年来，什么商品涨价最快？答案可能既不是大蒜，也不是绿豆，更不是黄金，而是白银。
 
从“月亮的眼泪”到普通商品

白银有着和黄金一样久远的历史，并且长期在世界范围内充当货币材料。作为中国人的你，买东西买贵了，或者丢了一笔钱，通常会喊一句：“我的银子啊！”
这说明，银子，也就是白银，曾经在中国充当过货币的角色。

实际上，不仅仅在中国，在整个世界的历史中，白银一开始就充当了货币的角色，时至今日，在50多种语言中，白银依然与“钱”是同义词。

当然，历史上也有些民族不把白银当钱看，不过，并不是他们轻视白银，而是他们把白银看得更加贵重。比如拉丁美洲的印加人，对他们来说，黄金和白银实在太高贵 了，它们只能被铸造成器物、镶嵌珠宝的饰品或装饰墓穴、寺庙，只有神殿的梁柱和帝王的胸前才有资格点缀上这些光辉夺目的圣物——在印加文明中，白银象征着月亮神帕查妈妈，被称为“月亮的眼泪”。

在西方，白银一开始就是最重要的货币材料。

在古希腊文明中，由于希腊北方马其顿（Macedonia）及色雷斯（Thrace）等殖民地蕴藏有丰富银矿，所以古希腊铸造了大量的银币，希腊人当时铸造的银币以“德拉克马（Drachma）”作为单位，其中最著名的是在雅典铸造的4德拉克马银币，正面是雅典城的守护女神雅典娜，背面为其守护鸟猫头鹰图 案，因此也被称为“猫头鹰银币”。古希腊的银币大量流传到地中海周边地区，促进了商业贸易活动，铸就了古希腊文明的辉煌。

随后，亚历山大大帝的马其顿帝国、罗马共和国以及后来的罗马帝国，都先后铸造了大量的银币——虽然后来古罗马帝国崩溃，但西方世界使用白银充当货币的历史却延续下来，从长达上千年的欧洲中世纪时期一直到文艺复兴，到地理大发现，到工业革命……

一直到公元1800年以前，钱就是金银币，金银币就是钱，没什么好说的。

白银从货币的宝座上跌落始于1816年英国开始实施《金本位法》（如果一张纸币能够兑换到确定数量的黄金，这种纸币体系被称为金本位；如果能够兑换到确定数量的白银，就称为银本位制；如果政府规定了白银和黄金之间确定的兑换比率，这张纸币代表着确定数量的黄金或者白银，就被称为复本位制——当前我们的货币体系是“不兑现纸币，Fiat money，即法定货币”体系，政府不保证兑换确定数量的任何东西，所以什么本位也不是），在这部法案中，英国议会确定英镑纸币只盯住黄金，这标志着英国 在世界上第一个从国家层面废除了白银的货币地位——从那时开始，无论在法律中，还是实际生活中，白银在英国都变成了一种“普通的商品”。

从 19世纪下半叶开始，西方各国经过好一阵的忙乎，在货币方面基本都走上了和英国一样的道路，无论最初的银本位制还是复本位制，最后都演化成了金本位制，这些国家包括葡萄牙、德国、丹麦、芬兰、瑞典、瑞士、海地、加拿大、阿根廷、埃及、日本、俄国以及美国等，印度虽然使用卢比银币，但其价值还要盯着英镑走， 其实是一种间接的金本位。

到20世纪初，全世界的主要国家之中，只有中国还是完全的“银本位制”，而1935年国民政府实施“法币改革”，彻底放弃了用银元做货币，这意味着世界上最后一个重要的国家放弃了银本位，其价格随后跌到历史最低。

很多人不知道，当今世界上最常用的两种钞票——美元和英镑，其名称的得来都来源于白银。
比方说，英镑的英文是Pound，但其缩写却是“ ”（罗马字母“L” ），为什么这么写呢？原来，英镑名称来源于古罗马的货币单位Libra，这个词表示一磅重的白银，所以直到今日，英文单词中无论是重量单位的磅还是货币单位的英镑，其拼写都是“Pound”。

至于美元，其来源是标准的1盎司重的白银，最初被称为“塔勒thaler”，传入到英国的时候，由于发音原因，变成了“道勒dollor”，北美殖民地的人 们沿用了这一名称。美国人在经过“独立战争”之后，脱离了大英帝国的统治，为了显示自己“新人新气象”的特点，宣布自己的法定货币就叫做“道勒”——这就是如今大名鼎鼎的“美元”。

摩根和汇丰的“白银游戏”

2010年10月29日，国内几家主流媒体报道了一则不起眼的新闻：“摩根大通和汇丰控股被控蓄意操纵白银期货和期权市场”。

摩根大通是当今世界上数一数二的大银行，2000年由大通曼哈顿银行及J.P.摩根公司合并而成，并于2008年收购了美国著名投资银行贝尔斯登和华盛顿互惠银行，身上带着美国乃至世界上最强大的两个金融家族——洛克菲勒家族和J.P.摩根家族的高贵血统（大通曼哈顿银行一直是洛克菲勒财团的金融中心，J.P.摩根公司则是摩根财团的金融中心），它为什么被指责为“蓄意操纵白银期货和期权市场”？

早在2008年9月，针对有人的指控，美国商品期货交易委员会（CFTC）曾开展过一项期货市场上是否存在操纵黄金期货价格的调查，调查由CFTC负责人巴特·奇尔顿负责，最后以“证据不足”告终。

但需要注意的是，“证据不足”并非“没有证据”，恰恰就有人看出来了其中的猫腻。众所周知，如果一两个合伙人控制了一种商品期货50%以上的交易量，就拥有 了操纵市场的能力，更不必说控制了80%、90%乃至100%的时候。然而，很不幸地，就在CFTC从2006年到2008年的12份季度报告里，人们赫 然发现，在所有的贵金属（主要是黄金和白银）衍生物交易份额里，有两家银行，在任何一个季度都控制着50%以上的交易量，最高时甚至接近100%。

这两家银行，一家是摩根大通银行，另外一家就是汇丰银行，他们两个所占比例较低的时候，偶尔还有另外一个成员出现，这就是德意志银行。

这几个银行最主要的任务似乎就是以卖空黄金和白银——据统计，摩根大通和汇丰银行在黄金衍生物上的交易额一直保持在70%以上，绝大部分时间都超过90%。 更糟糕的是，当前全球最大的黄金ETF基金（目前，其黄金储量差不多有中国的1.2倍）的黄金保管人，恰恰就是汇丰银行。

也就是说，我一边在使劲卖空黄金，另外我也是全球最大的黄金保管人，我让市场上所有人出钱来打压黄金价格，然后损失由那些购买黄金ETF的人承担，卖空所赚到的钱却都是我自己的……

更绝妙的是，世界上拥有最大额黄金储备的中央银行们，似乎还在配合这两家银行这样的行为——例如在2008年8月，黄金价格暴跌到800美元的低点之时，世界上中央银行借出黄金白银的租借利率（Lease Rate）居然都是负值！

这意味着我借给你黄金白银，规定过多少天之后还我，然后我还要送给你钱——想想看，我从银行借出100吨黄金，利率是-1％，期满后我不仅不用上缴利息，而且只用还99吨，剩下1吨是自己的。

为什么会有这样的好事？因为根据众多金融专家的说法，黄金放在中央银行的仓库里，没有任何利息收入，除了落满灰尘之外，保存还需要另外一笔开支，不如“出 租”给信誉好的“国际储金银行（Bullion Bank）”，利息再低，好歹也是一笔收入啊！而所谓的“国际储金银行”恰恰就是J.P.摩根公司（后来的摩根大通）、汇丰银行和德意志银行这几家银行。
在打压白银价格方面，做得最得心应手的其实是那个已经倒闭的投资银行贝尔斯登。每次银价上涨势头正旺之际，贝尔斯登就将高达数亿盎司的白银看跌期权抛出，打压银价。2008年3月，贝尔斯登被摩根大通银行收购，摩根大通就继承了贝尔斯登原来的“事业”，与汇丰银行继续联手，一起影响白银价格。

就这样，从上世纪90年代以来，摩根大通银行和汇丰银行作为白银市场的“大玩家”，一直玩得得心应手，反正有中央银行的支持，谁也奈何他们不得。
 
2010 年7月15日，美国参众两院通过了《多德弗—兰克法案》，其中规定禁止金融市场裸卖空（投资者没有借入股票而直接在市场上卖出根本不存在的股票，这个“股 票”也可以是其他大宗商品，如白银、黄金、石油、铜等），摩根大通银行以及汇丰银行对白银市场的裸卖空行为已经属于违法事件。

有鉴于此，2 0 1 0 年9 月，美国国家通货膨胀协会National Inflation Association，NIA) 就已经开展了针对摩根大通非法操纵白银市场的控告，控告摩根大通人为将金银比价从正常的1:16压低到1:60以下，造成白银价格的极度低估。

摩根大通发现势头不对，在9月已将其白银市场的特别项目组解散，20多名操盘手全部裁员。
至于开头说的那次起诉，其发生时间是在美国当地时间10月27日，这两份诉讼案件的原告名字分别叫做彼得·拉斯卡里斯(Peter Laskaris)和布赖恩·比蒂（Brian Beatty），指控内容都是摩根大通和汇丰控股通过“积聚数量庞大的空头头寸”来操纵白银的价格，指控的时间段正好是本文前面所提到的，在白银租借利率 最低的那段时间——2008年8月。

相关数据显示，两家银行在2008年8月共持有85%的白银净空头仓位，其中一位原告声称，“被告如果没有从中获得数十亿美元的收益，至少也捞取了上亿美元”。

两位原告都认为，摩根大通和汇丰都曾发布虚假交易指令操纵白银期货以及期权价格，安排所谓的模拟交易命令，即“提交未被执行的大订单，但对价格会产生影响，之后在要被执行之前撤销相关订单”——这违反了美国反托拉斯法。

这一次，那位CFTC负责人巴特·奇尔顿（Bart Chilton）在10月26日就提前一天指出，市场的确存在操纵白银期货价格的行为，但未指明具体涉嫌机构，只是说，一些市场参与者“重复”采取欺诈手段来“影响和操纵”白银价格。

如果留心观察2010年以来白银的价格变化，恰恰是从2010年9月份，白银价格开始了暴涨之路，截至2011年2月22日，不到5个月，上涨100%！

搬掉了“操纵银价”的这两座大山，白银开始起飞了！

以后的以后，白银会很牛?

绝大多数人认为，世界上的黄金比白银少，所以黄金价格应该要远比白银高。实际上，如果纯粹考虑稀少程度的话，现在白银可能更稀少。

毫无疑问，地壳中白银的含量要比黄金多，而无论是历史上的产量，还是现在每年的产量，白银都远比黄金产量高。但黄金属于一种惰性金属，人类只要把它生产出 来，工业应用极少，除非葬身大海或者被隐匿起来，黄金永不消失，所以自从人类出现以来所生产出的黄金，绝大部分都依然留存于世。也正是因为黄金的永恒、稳定和永不消失，寄托了人类永远不想让财富消失这样的美好期望，所以黄金就成了人类财富的最好代表。截至2008年底，全世界的黄金存量估算约为16.52 万吨，除去其中工业消耗掉的约12%之外，其余的黄金仍然在地球的某个地方闪耀着光芒。

白银就大不相同了。尽管人类有史以来生产的白银总量相加可能达到了143万吨（约合459亿盎司）这样的惊人数目，但进入近现代以来，由于白银的用途十分广泛，其消耗量一直非常大。

比方说“曝光”这个词儿，每次胶片的“曝光”都离不开白银，从照片到电影，从工业胶片到医用胶片，在20世纪90年代的高峰时期，世界照相业每年消耗的白银大约在6000～6500吨。
由于白银的导热性和导电性在金属中比铜要好得多，在电器行业中，白银被用来制作灵敏度极高的物理仪器、镀层和点接触材料。我们今天无所不在的无线电系统，其中重要的元件在焊接时要用银作焊料，各种自动化装置、火箭、潜水艇、计算机、核装置以及通讯系统，所有这些设备中都有大量的接触点，接触点一般也要用白银 制造。

电池、太阳能板等新兴行业，也必须用白银，最近几年，各类电器产业中每年消耗掉的白银约有3000吨，而且还在持续扩大，银还广泛应用于化学工业、医学等行业。

除此之外，白银还被广泛用作首饰、装饰品、银器、餐具、敬贺礼品、奖章和纪念币等，白银没有黄金那么稳定，纯度高的白银在空气中很容易氧化，无数的白银曾葬 身大海，铸造银币的时候又有大量的白银流失和散落——根据美国铸币局的报告，从1493到1954年，人类所生产的白银，至少有1/3已经从世界上消失。

在白银的供需平衡分析上，有一个“产业消耗”的说法，从2000年到2009年，人类几乎每年的白银净消耗都在8亿盎司以上，而人类每年的矿产银不过6亿 7亿盎司，每年的“白银赤字”有1亿 2亿盎司。

根据长期的年度矿业报告的消耗计算（1900年以来），截至目前，仅人类产业消耗掉的白银就有409亿盎司，所生产白银留存于世的最多不会超过50亿盎司！

进一步考虑到白银很容易氧化、考虑曾有大量白银葬身大海、考虑到广泛存在的白银隐匿，这些所有损失按照世界上已有白银的1/10来折算（45亿盎司），到2010年为止，包括人们用于投资的白银在内，目前人类所能够拿出的所有白银，很可能不超过10亿盎司。

也就是，就当前世界上的存量而言，黄金可能有51.3亿盎司，而白银只有10亿盎司——相比之下，在1940年，黄金存量约10亿盎司，而当时白银存量则是100亿盎司。

有人可能认为，白银产量正在增加，以后多生产点白银就是了，但实际上，白银资源是有限的。根据世界矿业协会的报道，2005年世界白银储量和储量基础分别为 27万吨和57万吨，按照2009年的矿产银产量7.09亿盎司（2.2万吨）计算，经过过去几年的开采，世界白银的静态储量再有不到10年就将开采完毕 ——世界2009年的白银产量已经达到现有技术条件下的极限。

也就是说，现在的世界，白银其实比黄金更稀少。未来的世界呢，白银依然还是比黄金更稀少。

为什么白银在不到半年的时间里，价格暴涨1倍左右，固然不排除有一部分投机因素在里面，但更深层次的，或许正是白银正在变得越来越少这个事实……

JP Morgan操控銀價內幕大揭秘Part 5

白銀價值如此被低估的原因值得深究。同時，財富的祕密也隱含於內。如果你认为白银还是不值钱的金属品，欢迎你观赏此片段！

Sprotts on precious metals - Gold good, silver better! 

 
Sprott Inc. chairman Eric Sprott and Sprott Money President Larisa Sprott say the fundamentals that drive the price of silver are as strong now as before the spring selloff-maybe even stronger. Gold Report interview.

Author: Karen Roche and Sally Lowder

KENWOOD, CA -

The Gold Report: The Greek economy is making headlines again, with the Greek Parliament recently voting in extreme austerity measures that include budget cuts of $40B plus a selloff of $72B in assets. When we spoke in March, Eric, you were quite worried about collapses in Greece, Ireland and Iceland. Do you see these new austerity measures as another step toward collapse, or do they signal a reprieve?


Eric Sprott: It's the European troika advancing the money that's really preventing the collapse, from the financial market point of view. The austerity program will create a collapse in Greece economically, but it at least gives them the opportunity to get the troika bailout. I refer to the troika as the ECB (European Central Bank), the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and maybe the BIS (Bank for International Settlements).

I think Greece is not much different from others that have gone before, whether Iceland or Ireland. Most governments in the world have taken on added monetary and fiscal responsibilities because of the financial collapse. For example, the U.S. wouldn't be running a $1.5T deficit had there not been the collapse in 2008 because we wouldn't have had the programs that we now have, trying to support the banking system that everyone thinks is too big to fail.

For quite a long time, my view has been that the banking system has been over-levered. The assets on the books aren't worth what they would be in a normal monetary environment, and if they had to sell the assets, most banks in that situation would become insolvent. Who would you sell those assets to?

Imagine a Greek bank knocking on the door of any other bank in the world saying that they have Greek mortgages, loans to Greek companies and Greek bonds they'd like to sell. There's no buyer, so the government basically has to step in, as happened in Ireland, Iceland, the U.K., the U.S. and Japan. It's happened in almost every country, where the governments have come in to bail out the financial system.

This country with all of 11M people-as many people as live in Ontario-has almost taken down the whole system, as Lehman Brothers almost took down the whole system. What was Lehman? It was like a pimple, and on a relative scale, Greece is not a big situation either. But they want to prevent the falling of the first domino, because if the first one goes down, I can assure you what will happen. That's what everyone's guarding against. It would just spread amongst various banking systems.

TGR: Is there a possibility that Greece and other countries with debt issues could negotiate for pennies on the dollar to reduce their debts by 20%, 40%, or whatever? It would have an impact, of course, but not as bad as a default.

ES: That would be defined as a default for all intents and purposes. Some rating agencies have suggested that the voluntary rollover they're talking about might still be officially a default because everyone knows that what they're getting for what they're giving up isn't worth 100 cents on the dollar.

If a new party comes to power in Greece, they might say they're going to rip up that agreement and take the default because Greece might be better off defaulting. Of course, the powers-that-be don't want that. It's as much the troika that doesn't want it as the government in Greece. They're all trying to prevent this contagion from starting.

TGR: But you're suggesting that eventually the contagion will take hold.

ES: It's kind of taken hold already, right? The weakest-Iceland and Ireland-have been knocked off already. Greece was the third weakest. Who knows where we go from here?

TGR: When we had our conversation in March, you said that sooner or later people will realize that it's better to have real assets in physical metals than bank accounts.

ES: I've always believed that, and it's even truer today. Would you rather have your money in a Greek bank or in gold? Would you rather have your money in an Egyptian, Irish or Icelandic bank or gold? Iceland took a devaluation; if the people in Iceland had their money in gold, they wouldn't have lost a damn thing.

You also take a currency risk when you own a bank deposit. Even a U.S. resident who owns gold instead of a bank deposit would be better off, because the purchasing power of the dollar is going down on an international basis.

TGR: That's why you called gold the investment of the last decade.

ES: Right.

TGR: And you've called this the decade of silver, saying that on the basis of the historical gold-to-silver ratio, silver may even triple the performance of gold. Do you still believe there's the potential for outperformance at that level? And, if so, over what timeframe?

ES: It's very difficult to pick timeframes, because so many events can transpire, but I really believe that silver will trade at a 16:1 ratio to gold. I certainly believe that gold can get to $1,600/oz. this year, and while I'm not suggesting that silver will make it to $100/oz. this year, it'll certainly trade at a 16:1 ratio to gold within three to five years. By then, who knows? Gold could be at $2,500/oz.

TGR: The gold price has been climbing neatly along the 200-day moving average, while the silver price has been all over the place. Do you foresee a time where metals just go hyperbolic?

ES: Yes, I think that will happen. When people ask when I'd get off the gold train, I say that it would cause me to reconsider things if governments and central banks appeared to be getting responsible. I'd say if it evolved into a mania ala NASDAQ 2000, you might decide to exit the investment. Of course, if they made gold the official reserve currency, I wouldn't need to own it anymore because I could convert my currency to gold or silver at any time.

So, it's hard to define when it's going to happen. Earlier this year, I was totally convinced that silver would easily make $50/oz., and for all intents and purposes, it has. I think silver will rally pretty powerfully from this little selloff we've had, and hit a new high this year.

TGR: Larisa, has Sprott Money seen a corresponding increase in silver to gold this year?

Larisa Sprott: When we last spoke in March, in terms of dollars, silver was outselling gold by a ratio of about 5:1-we were selling five times more dollars of silver than dollars of gold. The silver market has had a price correction and it's been a volatile commodity over the last month or so. I've seen a rather dramatic shift in sales toward gold. In terms of dollars, gold is now outselling silver on a 3:1 ratio.

It's not that people have lost their taste for silver, but they're holding back on purchasing silver because of the increased volatility in the market. I think that once the silver price demonstrates less volatility, our sales will return to the aforementioned ratios.

TGR: Do people still tend to take possession of their purchases, or are more keeping it in your storage depository?

LS: They're taking possession simply because at this time we only offer storage in the United States. Some of our U.S. clients fear that a 1933-type confiscation scenario will happen again, so they would prefer to store in Canada or internationally. I've even seen people drive from places such as Florida and Washington to take possession of their bullion so that they may store it in a safety deposit box in Canada.

We're opening a storage depository in Canada, but that's still three to six months out. I've had a lot of interest from clients who say that as soon as that facility opens they'll be moving their bullion up here.

TGR: What else is new at Sprott Money?

LS: We are working on increasing our U.S. presence. We anticipate opening our New York office by October of this year. We are also minting a Sprott silver bar and coin set to be ready for sale in early 2012. And as a proud supporter of GATA (Gold Anti-Trust Action), I am pleased to announce that we will be selling the GATA gold coin at their upcoming conference in London this August.

TGR: We've seen that Sprott Money is the major sponsor of the GATA Gold Rush 2011 conference coming up in London in August. How did your organization get interested in GATA and what it has to say?

ES: When I started investigating an investment in gold and silver in 2000, among the most outspoken-to whom I'm ever so thankful-were the GATA people, who suggested that central banks, in a somewhat coordinated fashion, were suppressing the gold price. There seemed to be some compelling evidence for that because central bankers were huge sellers of gold, which retrospectively looks like the dumbest thing they could ever have done. With 20/20 hindsight, that decision looks like one of the greatest knucklehead moves of all time. Here we are 10 years later and where they were sellers of 400 tons of gold a year, now they're buyers of 400 tons of gold.

GATA was prepared to challenge the system and to explore the data behind various government moves, why they did it and why they always advertised that they were selling gold, which almost necessitated getting the worst price possible instead of the best price. The whole attitude they were taking to gold seemed ridiculous.

The GATA people have been a big influence on the increasing interest in gold. They've been incredibly helpful in terms of keeping people focused on what's going on in the precious metals markets. They had a wonderful conference in Dawson City in 2005.

The people who spoke there-and who will speak at this GATA conference in London-are all independent thinkers who aren't swayed by the conventional. They're typically contrarian. You have to work hard to be a contrarian, because you have to win what would seem to be very difficult arguments. They're just top-notch people. When I look back over the last decade, I think those who were skeptical and outspoken are the true heroes.

If more people had listened to them, they wouldn't have suffered the kind of financial damage that has transpired in the last decade. Certainly, if they owned gold and silver in lieu of any other investment, they would've been better off.

TGR: You noted that when the central banks started selling gold about a decade ago, they pretty much locked in the worst possible price by announcing their intentions ahead of time. Is it the same now that they're announcing in advance their buying intentions?

ES: They only announce after they've bought. For example, in either 2008 or 2009, the Chinese Central Bank revealed that it had purchased 400 tons of gold over about four years, but that was well after the fact. Obviously those purchases were an active force in the market. China hasn't announced anything in the last three or four years, but I suspect it's been a buyer all this time. The Central Bank of Mexico recently announced buying 93 tons, which undoubtedly concluded its purchasing program.

There probably should be transparency in these transactions anyway. The central banks should be telling the populations they represent where they are investing their money.

TGR: You've indicated that GATA was founded on evidence of collusion among financial institutions that resulted in suppressing the gold price. We also hear about market manipulation through derivatives. Tell us a little bit about this.

ES: First, understand that commodity markets rarely settle in physical commodities; they're really paper markets. Let me give you an example.

We produce 900 Moz. (million ounces) of silver in a year. When silver was up around $48/oz., between the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), the COMEX, the SLV Silver Trust and some vehicles in China, we were trading 1 Boz. (billion ounces)/day silver in the paper market. We produce just a little over 1 Moz./day for consumption as an investment. So we trade 1 Boz. of paper silver and yet there's only 1 Moz. of physical quantity available for investment. That makes you wonder.

They get after the silver speculators who are long. I can understand being long silver, because maybe those speculators think they'd like to own it. What are those who are selling the billion ounces thinking when there's no physical silver to settle with?

TGR: What might change to slow this down?

ES: There should be position limits, and trading limits per day. What's the net effect of trading 1 Boz. when the stuff doesn't even exist on the face of the earth? The short position in the silver market was so concentrated amongst the four largest bank-owned firms that it was shocking. Why they should be short that much silver is beyond me.

TGR: Let's talk a little about options for the individual investors.

ES: I'm very comfortable having a very large weighting in precious metals, which are way more likely to hold their value than paper assets. And I feel so involved in trying to get people to own more precious metals because I think it's the one thing that will save them in a very difficult financial time. But most won't take the steps of getting a little bit of insurance by owning precious metals.

TGR: If another financial trauma is coming, should investors be more weighted with the actual physical metals or should they continue with the equities too?

ES: People worry about the banking system, and I think ultimately they'll put their money into gold and silver. If the prices of gold and silver go up because of that, notwithstanding a short-term decline in the market, ultimately people also will realize that gold and silver stocks are good things to invest in. But you may have to go through a six-month swoon.

We went through a swoon like that in 2008. Gold was probably $900 at the time. Owning gold and silver would've been very propitious. Today it's $1,500. I think this next time around, as we see gold and silver gaining more recognition as to their intrinsic merits, that will get transmitted into the gold and silver shares.

TGR: As you look forward, are you holding or considering some equities that you feel will swoon less than the market?

ES: Let's face it-if you use the HUI Index, precious metal stocks have gone up by a factor of about 12 to 13 times from the 2000 bottom. On a long-run basis, there aren't many losers in those stocks, and certainly on a relative basis, they're all winners.

Until a few months ago, any silver stock on the board had such a massive run that everybody could sell at a profit. It's important to know that most people like to sell their winners. At the first sign of problems, you sell the stock that's got the biggest profit for you. And, it's very easy to sell it. Maybe it's not so easy to sell some bank stock that's still 60% from its high, but it's not too tough to sell a gold and silver stock that's 5% from its high because it has had a good run.

We get more volatility in this group because of that. Any stock that has gone up a lot will be more volatile than one that hasn't. That's just the way it is. The high flyers always get knocked down the most, because they're easy to sell. That's the situation we find ourselves in. Most of these stocks have been the best performers of the last decade.

Every time there's a little hiccup in the market, people sell them. It doesn't mean that the fundamentals have changed. That's just the way people react in a market selloff. Give it time. People will get calm again about where they should have their money.

TGR: We were talking with Rick Rule and Brent Cook a couple of weeks ago about the fact that most juniors are off 10%-20% since April and May. They suggested it might be a good time to own some mid-caps and seniors. Considering the profit-taking you just described, do you agree?

ES: I've been investing in small-cap stocks for roughly 40 years, and the opportunities in small caps are far superior to those in big-cap stocks on a sustainable basis. It's always been the case because they're under-owned, under-followed and under-capitalized. You can do a lot in the small- to mid-cap area that you can't do in the large-cap area. You can buy a junior gold stock on a relative valuation of probably a third of any major stock just because they're seasoned and that's where the big money goes. Opportunities abound in the small- to mid-cap area, so that's where I'm going to stay. In a sustainable rally, I guarantee you they'll outperform the large caps.

TGR: Peru is one of the best mining addresses on the planet, but we've seen a lot of decrease in share prices in some of the Peruvian mining equities. Could you comment on that?

ES: You take those risks with any country. People always ask if I think the U.S. government will confiscate gold. You hear chatter about the U.S. government nationalizing the gold mines someday. If you want egregiousness, that's almost as bad as Ollanta Humala (Peru's new president) declaring that one property is not going to continue to be owned by somebody. It could happen anywhere. That's one of the problems you face when you're an investor; you don't know exactly what the political flavor is.

TGR: Do you feel just as bullish on small caps in gold as you do in silver?

ES: Because I think the price of silver probably will outperform gold by maybe 2.5 times, I have to look much harder for silver equities than gold equities. That's what we've done in the last 18 months. So I prefer silver junior equities to gold for sure.

When I look at the demand and supply fundamentals, it's all in place as far as I'm concerned. Lots of times the market doesn't corroborate your view for a while, but the important thing is the market corroborates your view along the way. Yes, we had to deal with that gut-wrenching selloff in the gold stocks in 2008, but when you look back at it now you wonder what the hell the market was thinking.

TGR: So clearly, you still do see this as silver's time to shine.

ES: I do. And I'd refer readers who'd like to know about why I believe the robust fundamentals for silver are only getting stronger to the Caveat Venditor! article we've just posted to Markets at a Glance on our website.

TGR: We'll be sure to check that out, too. Thank you both for your time.

Eric Sprott is chairman of Sprott Inc., CEO, CIO and senior portfolio manager of Sprott Asset Management LP and chairman of Sprott Money Ltd. He has more than 40 years' experience in the investment industry. After earning his designation as a chartered accountant, he entered the investment industry as a research analyst at Merrill Lynch. In 1981, he founded Sprott Securities. After establishing Sprott Asset Management Inc. as a separate entity in December 2001, Eric divested his entire ownership of Sprott Securities to its employees. Eric has been stunningly accurate in his predictions, including foreseeing the current financial crisis. He chronicled the dangers of excessive leverage and the bubbles the Fed was creating, while also correctly forecasting the tragic collapse of the housing and financial markets in 2008. Eric's predictions on the state of the North American financial markets, as well as macroeconomic analyses have been presented in Markets at a Glance, a monthly investment strategy newsletter.

Larisa Sprott joined Sprott Money Ltd.(www.sprottmoney.com) in the role of President in December 2009. As one of Canada's largest owners of gold and silver bullion, the company's goal is to facilitate ownership of precious metals to the general public. Larisa has more than 15 years experience in the financial industry, having worked at Sprott Securities Inc. (now Cormark Securities), first as an office administrator in the Vancouver office, and later in roles in research and corporate finance Toronto headquarters. Larisa then spent five years with Sprott Asset Management in the capacity of client services, sales and marketing. In November 2007, she became an investment advisor responsible for servicing and managing high net worth clients.