Eat Gold

Submitted by BullionStar.com

A popular phrase in segments of the mainstream financial media is that “You Can’t Eat Gold”. We don’t know who first uttered this comment, but it was more than likely a talking-head or Wall Street analyst on CNBC or Bloomberg.

The disparaging claim seems to be based on concluding that in a financial or monetary crisis, if you own gold, that “You Can’t Eat It”. And so, according to the logic of whoever came up with the phrase, this would make gold useless during a financial crisis.

In addition to the misleading and irrelevant nature of the comment, which we will discuss below, the claim that “you can’t eat gold” is actually factually wrong. And that is because you can eat gold. And also drink it.

Eating and Drinking Gold

While gold can be eaten, it cannot be digested. But it is non-toxic to the human body. And it does not react chemically in the human body. That is why gold can and does appear safely in a number of foods and drinks, not surprisingly foods and drinks which are predominantly at the luxury end of the market.

Some readers will have heard of Goldschläger, a Swiss/Italian liquor which has flakes gold suspended within it. On a similar note, a Swiss gin called ‘Studer Swiss Gold Gin’ also contains flakes of gold. Staying within Switzerland, you can also buy edible gold products including “Swiss chocolate truffles with gold flakes”. Not to be outdone by the Swiss, the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) offers a ‘Palace Cappucino” which is sprinkled with gold flakes.

In Selfridges department store in London, you can buy a “billionaires soft serve” ice cream cone topped with both sprinklings of gold leaf and a gold leaf covered flake. While in New York, in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a high-end restaurant offers a "Golden Opulence Sundae” topped with gold leaf, for US$ 1000 a glass. Back in England, a specialist cheese producer in Leicestershire created Britain"s most expensive cheese - "Clawson Stilton Gold", a stilton cheese interwoven with edible gold leaf and shot-through with gold liqueur. These uses of gold in food and beverages illustrate that gold is a sought after and prestigious substance, but also that gold is real, that gold is tangible and that gold is of value.

Wall Street"s Selective Focus

The logic of the “you can’t eat gold” comment, as well as being wrong, is also flawed. Because by extension, you can’t eat any of Wall Street"s favorite investment assets. Imagine chewing on financial securities or fiat currencies. But whoever coined the phrase “you can’t eat gold” conveniently failed to mention this on CNBC. We would challenge anyone, especially CNBC and MSNBC, to eat share certificates or bond certificates or the electronic equivalent thereof.

Nor can you eat the electronic coins of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum’s Ether or Litecoin. Real assets such as art, antiques, real estate, agricultural land, or vintage cars are also off the menu. A possible exception is that can drink an expensive investment wine collection, but would you really want to do this, as then you would be consuming your principal investment?

Wall Street analysts fail to mention that you can"t eat stocks and ETFs

Gold"s Many and Varied Benefits

But beyond the fact that you can in fact eat gold, and that Wall Street never points out the non-edibility of stocks and bonds, there are many beneficial reasons to buy and own investment grade physical gold of which we recently pointed out in 28 reasons to buy and own physical gold. What we are talking about is real physical gold in the form of gold bars and gold coins. This is true both during times of financial crisis, and also over the long-term as a form of investment and savings.

Gold is without doubt the ultimate safe haven asset. In times of financial crisis and turmoil, investors and savers flock to gold as a wealth preservation strategy. The reason for investing in gold during times of crisis is based on the fact that investors instinctively know that the gold price behaves differently to the prices of other assets, particularly during crises. This is because the gold price moves independently of economic and business cycles.

In times of war and social upheaval, physical gold"s benefits also come to the fore. Since gold has a high value to weight ratio, significant personal wealth can discreetly be carried in the form of gold across borders and frontiers and within areas of conflict.

Since gold is a universal money supported by a highly liquid global market, it will always be accepted everywhere at the going gold price. Gold can easily be sold. Gold can easily be traded or even bartered with, especially in non-functioning economies where the local paper currency has collapsed or has become worthless. The fact that gold coins are regularly issued to elite military personnel in areas of conflict attests to gold"s critical benefits in times of monetary crisis and localized economic collapse.

Gold as Store of Value

But gold is not just of use during financial crises. It is also an essential asset to own over the long-term as a strategic form of saving and investment. Physical gold retains its purchasing power over long periods of time. This is in contrast to fiat currencies issued by the world"s central banks, which generally lose most of their purchasing power over time. In other words, gold is a great hedge against inflation, as the gold price adjusts upwards to offset inflation. The gold price even adjusts to inflation expectations, hence it is sometimes called an inflation barometer and is watched like a hawk by central bankers because the gold price signals future inflation.

Physical gold is also an asset without counterparty risk. This is because when you own physical gold in the form of gold bars or gold coins, there are no counterparties. In other words, the physical gold that you own outright is no one else"s liability. Nor are there any governments or central banks involved in issuing gold, or in trying to increase and debase its supply. Gold also lacks default risk, because it cannot default.

Physical gold is also inherently valuable because it is a scarce precious metal that is difficult and costly to mine and refine. Gold"s price will never go to zero because it has a finite and significant production cost. Physical gold is difficult to counterfeit, impossible to create artificially, and cannot be debased.

These are just some of the reasons for buying and owning physical gold. Please see BullionStar"s recent article "28 Reasons to Buy Physical Gold" for a  list of reasons why you should consider buying physical gold.

Gold in Zimbabwe & Venezuela & South Korea

In the real world, owning physical gold can be of critical importance in scenarios where trust in a nation"s money supply has evaporated, such as is currently the case in Venezuela or Zimbabwe.

Gold can also be of critical importance when entire nations suffer economic shocks.  A case in point is the interesting experience of South Korea during the Asian financial crisis that swept the region in the late 1990s. This crisis left the South Korean economy severely impaired, with it’s currency, the Won, collapsing against the US dollar.

In addition to a bailout by the International Monetary Fund, the South Korean government also launched a patriotic campaign in early 1998 to actually collect physical gold from the South Korean citizens which was then sold on the international market to raise much-needed foreign currency. This collective campaign was pursued precisely because the South Korean government understood that gold is a high-quality liquid asset that has substantial value.

National Mobilization of Gold

By mid-March 1998, the South Korean citizenry had donated more than 220 tonnes of gold, worth over US$2 billion, in the form of investment gold coins and bars, and other gold in the form of rings, jewelry, and gold medals. More than 3 million households were said to have contributed. This collective mobilization of gold to overcome a nation"s economic adversity and raise financing is a great illustration of how gold comes to the fore in a time of crisis, due to its store of value, safe haven, and high liquidity characteristics.

In conclusion, knowing the many compelling reasons to buy and hold gold, and how gold can sometimes be a lifeline in a time of crisis, the claim that "you can"t eat gold" is exposed for what it is, misguided and disingenuous, and shows either ignorance on the part of the people who use it, or more likely, a deliberate intention to mislead and deceive.

This article originally appeared under the same title on the BullionStar.com website.

Can Germany Be Made Great Again?

Authored by Antonius Aquinas, annotated by Acting-Man.com,

When Germany Was Great!

Ever since the start of the deliberately conceived “migrant crisis,” orchestrated by NWO elites, the news out of Germany has been, to say the least, horrific. Right before the eyes of the world, a country is being demographically destroyed through a coercive plan of mass migration.  The intended consequences of this – financial strain, widespread crime and property destruction, the breakdown of German culture – will continue to worsen if things are not turned around.

 

The Holy Roman Empire in 1789 AD. At the time, Germany was a patchwork of countless independent principalities, duchies, city states, bishoprics and other statelets. This was a glorious time, as citizens could very easily vote with their feet if they were unhappy with their rulers. Keep in mind, there were no such things as “passports” or “border controls” at the time. No-one even thought about such things – it would have been considered an inane notion. And although almost every statelet minted its own coins (displaying its own coat of arms and a portrait of its ruler), money was actually standardized across the entire region since the Middle Ages. Most of Germany used silver coins, which were minted according to standardized weights and sizes (gold coins were also used, but silver was more prevalent in day-to-day commerce). Thus all coins were accepted across the region, regardless of which principality or duchy had issued them. There were no tariffs either and no restrictions on cross-border investment. There was even a mechanism for reining in fiscally highly incompetent or plain crazy rulers through a supra-national arbitration body that only sprang into action upon special request (when such requests were deemed reasonable). Taxes as a rule didn’t exceed a level of 10%, as any attempt to impose higher taxes would lead to an exodus of people from the territory concerned. Not everything was perfect of course, but let us just note that despite a lack of democracy, there was no lack of freedom. Check out some of our previous articles on this topic for additional color: “Secession – An Alternative View” and “Are Nation States Beginning to Splinter?” [PT] – click to enlarge.

Those in opposition to the societal destruction within Germany have been harassed and persecuted by the authorities and labeled with the usual epithets by the mass media: “far right,” “neo-Nazis”, “haters,” and heaven forbid, “separatists”. Because of this and other factors, no mass movement has coalesced as of yet to truly challenge the German political establishment.

Indications of a possible reversal of German fortunes, however, have come from a recent poll of Bavarians. A survey conducted by YouGov, a market research company, found that 32% of Bavarians agreed with the statement that Bavaria “should be independent from Germany.”  The percentage of secession-minded Bavarians has increased from 25% in a poll conducted in 2011. Of the around 2000 people surveyed between June 24 and July 5, most supporters of  independence come from the southern portions of the country.

Whether Bavarians or their fellow German separatists realize it or not, the only “political” solution to the migrant crisis is secession.  This is not only true for Germany, but for all Western nation states swamped with unwanted migrants.  Once free from the domination of the national government (and just as important the EU), each jurisdiction could make its own immigration policy and would be better able to control population influx at the local level.

Civilization and Prosperity Flourish in Small Political Territories 

Historically, Germany’s past has much more in common with a decentralized political landscape than with a unitary state.  From the disintegration of the Roman Empire until Napoleon wantonly abolished the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Germany was an amalgam of different political units – kingdoms, duchies, confederacies, free cities, etc.  With no grand central state, there was considerable freedom and economic growth as each sovereign entity was largely able to conduct its affairs on its own terms.

Decentralized political power is also conducive for the advancement of culture.  Music, the highest art form, found some of its greatest expression from the German peoples.  Monumental figures of Western music were financed in large measure by German princes, kings and emperors.  Johann Sebastian Bach’s sublime Brandenburg concertos were underwritten, so to speak, by Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, while Beethoven received support from Archduke Rudolph.  Mozart was funded by no lesser figure than the Austrian emperor himself, Joseph II.

Famous composers and their patrons – from left to right: Johann Sebastian Bach and his financier Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg; Ludwig van Beethoven and his patron Archduke Rudolph of Austria, the Archbishop of Olomouc (who died in 1831 at age 43 just one year after Beethoven passed away – not to be confused with the later Archduke Rudolf, the crown prince who killed himself and his lover Baroness Vetsera at the Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his biggest fan and supporter Emperor Joseph II of Austria. Great artists, outstanding intellectuals and scientists were as a rule supported by members of the elites at the time, who either paid them stipends or commissioned specific works. It is worth noting that the achievements of these artists and intellectuals have generally stood the test of time, which seems highly unlikely to happen with most of the dreck funded by the State in modern times. [PT]

Political decentralization provides an important mechanism as a check on state power.  A multitude of governments prevents individual state aggrandizement as oppressed populations can “vote with their feet” and move to safer and less repressive regimes.  A unitary state, or just a few, throughout the world would negate such an advantage.

Naturally, if nation states are a constant threat to the liberties and economic well being of their citizens, global organizations and states are that much more of a danger and should always and everywhere be opposed.  The European Union, largely based on the principles of the US Constitution, has pressured nations under its sway, such as Germany, to accept the migrants and has threatened members such as Hungary and Poland with penalties if they refuse to contribute their fair share.

The empirical evidence with regard to political decentralization and economic growth is overwhelming.  Since the level of taxation and government regulation are crucial factors in an economy’s ability to produce, the limits on taxation and government oversight tend to be significantly lower if there are numerous states, since there would be ample opportunities for producers to set up shop in areas more conducive to their efforts.

A truly depressing record: today only five countries in the world are considered economically free according to the Heritage Economic Freedom Index (another 28 are in the “mostly free” category). Not even one country has a perfect score of 100. You will notice that the top five include only one large territory, namely Australia – which just about makes the cut with a score of 81 points; moreover, it is a sparsely populated place with a population of only ~24 million people. The two territories considered most free are city states, and the next two are tiny countries. For some reason Heritage didn’t rank a number of smaller countries and city states such as Andorra, Liechtenstein or Monaco. If it had, they would be in the top five, replacing the countries currently ranked 3 to 5. The countries with high economic freedom scores are the most prosperous places on the planet, which is of course no coincidence. Citizens of other countries who are not part of the political elites and their politically well-connected cronies must of course wonder why these success stories are not emulated everywhere in the world. They should also ask themselves what is worth more to them: that their rulers are able to “throw their weight around on the international stage” (one of the reasons for which people in Europe are supposed to support the socialist superstate wet dreams of the EU’s political and bureaucratic elites), or their personal freedom. It is worth noting that several of the countries with high economic freedom scores are not considered sufficiently democratic; in other words, the ability of citizens to choose which gang of criminals waving a flag should boss them around and rob them for the next several years is limited. We happen to think it’s more important that those in power do as little bossing around as possible. In fact, people should not even worry about who is going to sit on the throne, they should focus on simply abolishing the throne instead. Unfortunately it is quite difficult to deprogram the serfs, but one can always hope. We are actually convinced that Statism will wither away at some point in the future and be replaced by societies based on voluntarism. [PT]

This can be seen in the US as thousands of oppressed businesses and firms have left California to lower tax and less restrictive climes such as Texas and Nevada.

If Germany is ever to get a handle on the migrant crisis before the country is completely dismembered demographically, its only hope is to return to its decentralized political roots.  Let Bavaria lead the way!

Offshore Gold Storage - A Look Inside The Cayman Vault

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via SWPCayman.com,

"If your gold is outside the US, it gives you another degree of insulation should the United States decide that you shouldn’t own it — it"s not a reportable asset." - Doug Casey, May 2017

I’ve been a holder of gold since the 1970’s. At that time, I was purchasing gold and silver for business reasons and found that, as the price was steadily increasing, I would be wise to buy more than I needed immediately, as I would most certainly profit from it in the near future.

At that time, I was buying most of my precious metals in Hatton Garden, the centre for metals in London and, in talking with my more experienced associates, I learned that gold doesn’t just make pretty jewellery, it has, for over 5000 years, served as man’s best economic insurance policy.

Since the creation of the first fiat currency in China, ca. 600 AD, governments have had the annoying habit of creating fiat currencies. It has taken many forms, including tobacco, shells, cattle, even tulips in 17^th Century Holland.

Over the centuries there have been countless fiat currencies. Most of them have been paper currencies and, with the exception of the present-day fiat currencies, all have eventually become worth exactly zero.

Not a very good track record. But whenever this has happened, gold has regained its lustre and saved the day, providing a solid means to store wealth. Although governments and bankers have done all they can to discredit gold and discourage its use, gold invariably outlives them all. Whenever history has seen periods of dramatic overreach by banks and/or governments, gold once again re-establishes the very definition of money.

Today, we’re passing through one of these eras of overreach and, not surprisingly, those who are farsighted are quietly building up their store of gold, to protect them when the latest form of fiat currency joins the rest that have collapsed over the centuries.

But, having realized the need to own gold and then beginning to build up a portfolio, the holder asks himself, “Where should I keep it?” The obvious answer is at home, or somewhere very close, so that he may get to it if need be. During good economic times, this may well mean in a safe deposit box in a bank, but in times like the present, when governments (the EU, US and Canada, amongst others) have recently passed laws allowing banks to confiscate deposits and raid safe deposit boxes, the last choice for safe storage would be a bank.

This leads us to the “at home” option. This is actually a good one. If you have a yard where neither dogs nor gardeners tend to dig holes, “midnight gardening” can indeed be a good solution for small amounts of gold storage. Or, for a neater and more easily accessible solution, a home safe might work well. (You would, of course, want it to be well-concealed and you’d need to install it yourself, or the installers might get ideas.)

But, when turbulent times come, as they have recently, this only works well if you own a small amount of gold, say 10 ounces or less. If you hold more at home, you run into the problem of governments. In 1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt demanded that all gold be turned in to the government. He subsequently revalued it and, in doing so, robbed its rightful owners of a 69% increase in their wealth.

Unfortunately, since we know that the EU, US and Canada have all passed confiscation laws, those jurisdictions are no longer safe places to store wealth. Ten ounces of gold may be regarded as an emergency stash but, beyond that, another jurisdiction is needed – one that’s not threatened by confiscation laws.

What I recommend to investors is to first choose the best jurisdiction that’s relatively near to you, then pick the safest storage facility within that jurisdiction. In Europe, Austria is a good choice and Das Safe is an excellent depository. In Asia, Singapore is an excellent jurisdiction and The Safe House is an exceptional choice.

However, the Western Hemisphere is a different story. There are quite a few excellent depositories in the US and Canada, but, as stated above, these jurisdictions are no longer safe. In my travels elsewhere in the hemisphere, I’ve been disappointed to find that, whilst there are jurisdictions that are safer than North America, the depositories there leave a great deal to be desired. (On one occasion, in Uruguay, I looked at the outside of the building and never even went in. Although it was considered the premier facility there, it didn’t come close to my expectations.) Others, such as those in Panama, have been equally disappointing.

What the depositor should be after is a facility that’s heavily reinforced on all six sides (meaning that ceiling and foundation must be just as impenetrable as the walls). In addition, it would need a Class III bullion vault – the equal of the best bank vaults. Furthermore, it should have multiple security doors and man-traps, assuring that no one who enters can make a dash for the door, eliminating the temptation for theft.

Unfortunately, to my present knowledge, there’s only one depository in the Western Hemisphere that ticks all the boxes. Or perhaps I should put that another way: Fortunately, there is a depository in the Western Hemisphere that ticks all the boxes.

That depository is Strategic Wealth Preservation (SWP) in the Cayman Islands. Most importantly, it’s located in and exceptional jurisdiction as regards wealth safety. And, by this I mean:

• The is no direct taxation in the Cayman Islands. No taxes or duties that apply to the purchase, ownership, storage or sales of precious metals. No capital gains tax; no inheritance tax.


• World-class financial system to provide auxiliary services.


• Stable government with consistent history for economic stability that caters to international investors.


• Minimal wealth legislation and regulation, to assure a minimum of red tape in processing purchases, sales, transfers and shipment of metals.

Secondly, SWP ticks all the boxes as to being a top bullion storage facility. Further, the SWP storage contracts were designed to take the best from each of the world’s other depositories, having been vetted by one of the world’s most respected gold analysts (who, possibly not coincidentally, became the first depositor). Also, it’s only an hour by air from the US.

It’s also essential that your deposit is fully insured and that the storage be fully documented, allocated and segregated, as in the photo below of an incoming deposit:

For Americans, an offshore gold IRA is becoming an essential and SWP has an excellent relationship with US-based IRA administrator New Direction IRA allowing American citizens to hold gold in their self-directed IRAs and LLCs offshore in SWP’s vault.

Over the past decades that I’ve been advising people on geographical economic diversification, I’ve often said that the coming events themselves are relatively easy to predict, but the timing is not. To me, the one clearest indicator of timeframe is that, the closer a crash gets, the more events will increase in both frequency and magnitude. Based upon that premise, we’re drawing quite close to the first of the crashes, as we’re now seeing significant events almost daily.

This tells us that our time is limited and that our long-term plans for wealth preservation need to be in place now. Whatever choice the reader makes to safeguard his wealth, he will need to do it very soon. Time is very clearly running out. SWP’s Cayman Islands vault represents a very good option for offshore wealth preservation in the Western Hemisphere.

Sweden Inches Closer To Cashless Society As Churches And Homeless Now Accept Plastic

The citizens of Sweden are perhaps closer to completely giving up a component of their individual sovereignty than any other country on earth.  In a world where government"s abuse of power and intrusion into the personal lives of its blissfully ignorant enablers grows more disturbing by the day, at least for now, cash offers the one opportunity to transact in a truly anonymous way.

That said, Swedes are ditching their physical currency at a breakneck pace with notes and coins in circulation dropping consistently for the past 6 years and down over 15% in 2016 alone. 

According to the following chart from Bloomberg, notes and coins in public circulation dropped to an average of 56.8 billion kronor, just $6.4 billion, in the first quarter of this year, the lowest level since 1990 and more than 40% below its 2007 peak with the pace of the decline accelerating to its fastest ever in 2016.

As Bloomberg notes, the avoidance of cash has become so prevalent in Sweden that churches, and even the homeless, now accept plastic and/or digital payments.

A growing number of Swedish parishes have started taking donations via mobile apps. Uppsala’s 13th-century cathedral also accepts credit cards.

The churches’ drive to keep up with the times is the latest sign of Sweden’s rapid shift to a world without notes and coins. Most of the country’s bank branches have stopped handling cash; some shops and museums now only accept plastic; and even Stockholm’s homeless have started accepting cards as payment for their magazine. Go to a flea market, and the seller is more likely to ask to be paid via Sweden’s popular Swish app than with cash.

“Fifteen years ago I would withdraw my entire salary and put it in my wallet, so I knew how much I had left, but these days I never really carry cash,” said Lasse Svard, the acting vicar at the parish of Jarna-Vardinge, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Stockholm.

"A drive for innovation has been created in Sweden to come up with cost-effective and user-friendly alternatives to cash,” Skingsley said. Cash is likely to “more or less disappear” as a means of payment in the private sector, she said.

Of course, we should all promptly ignore the negative, unintended consequences of a cashless society in the name of "innovation."  Forget about the ultimate power and control it gives to governments to track your every move and to Central Banks to ram their reckless policies down your throat. 

And you shouldn"t t worry too much about those cyber attacks either...because those things rarely happen these days..."Worst-Ever Recorded" Ransomware Attack Strikes Over 57,000 Users Worldwide, Using NSA-Leaked Tools".