Today’s the 2nd-Greatest Opportunity to Buy Gold Since 2002! Here’s Why (+2K Views)

Last year…saw gold’s greatest decline in 32 years…but I’m still confident that gold’s bullish fundamentals are still intact [and that what I said in my recently published book, $10,000 Gold*, still holds true. Here’s why].

So said Nick Barisheff, President & CEO of Bullion Management Group (www.bmgbullion.com), in his opening remarks of a speech** entitled Second Greatest Opportunity to Buy Gold that he made at this week’s prestigous 20th Annual Empire Club Investment Outlook luncheon in Toronto, Canada.

[The following is presented by Lorimer Wilson, editor of munKNEE.com and may have been edited ([ ]), abridged (…) and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.]

Barisheff went on to say as follows:

“Last year the COMEX futures exchange distorted gold prices, and provided investors with the second-greatest opportunity to buy gold since 2002. On April 12 the gold price declined by $150 per ounce, and on June 20 by $80 per ounce, because of the naked short selling of futures contracts. These precipitous drops triggered sell stops and margin calls, and the Western media jumped in to declare that the bull market in gold was over. In sharp contrast to the falling price of paper gold, the demand for physical gold soared. Many retail coin stores ran out of stock, and premiums rose as much as 20% for gold and 40% for silver.

The lower gold price presents a problem for miners. Because average mine production costs exceed $1,200 per ounce, many high-cost producers will be forced to shut down, causing supply and demand pressure. Clearly, the physical price of gold cannot decline further for any length of time, and the correction is close to a bottom. In addition, the days of COMEX dominance in gold price setting are numbered, since monthly deliveries on the Shanghai Exchange already surpass mine supply.

The main driver of the gold price is, and always has been, increasing money supply.

‘An increase in the money supply’ is the very definition of inflation, as it devalues currency and destroys purchasing power.  If increasing money supply led to prosperity, Zimbabwe would be the richest country in the world.

Gold Price & U.S. Debt Ceiling

Ever since President Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, the world has been in a global fiat currency experiment where every dollar in existence has been created through the issuance of new debt. Without the stability of gold backing, this has encouraged unbridled currency creation and reckless credit expansion at an exponentially increasing rate, taking fewer and fewer years to double.Since President Obama took office in 2008, U.S. cash debt has increased from about $10 trillion to over $17 trillion today. This figure does not take into consideration the very real $127 trillion in unfunded liabilities such as Medicare, the Prescription Drug Plan and Social Security, for which taxpayers will ultimately be responsible. Today, this works out to $1.1 million for each U.S. taxpayer.The debt build up is not limited to the U.S. but includes most western economies. The systemic risks that caused the financial meltdown in 2008 have gotten worse. The world’s financial system was almost destroyed because of $1.2 trillion in mortgage derivatives. Today interest rate derivatives alone are 450 times higher at $561trillion or 7 times global GDP.

What could possibly go wrong?

Long-term Treasuries ended 2013 pushing 3%, and will likely rise if the Fed’s tapering measures increase. In the U.S., a one 1% rise in interest rates translates to an additional $170 billion in additional annual interest costs, and increases both the debt and the deficit. All other Western central banks face similar situations. Interest rates at 3% in Japan will consume all the country’s tax revenues just to service interest payments. The bigger problem will be the decline in bond portfolios.  In Europe, most banks hold significant amounts of sovereign debt as part of their capital. As interest rates increase, the value of their holdings will decrease incrementally.  Due to high leverage ratios, some banks may need either bail-outs or bail-ins to shore up those capital ratios, and those same banks may find their interest rate derivatives have unexpected counterparty risks.

The debilitating effect of the growing debt is clearly illustrated by the next chart.  It shows that in the 1950s, for every dollar of debt increase, the economy grew by about $4.  In 2013, for every dollar of debt increase, the economy has only grown by fifty cents. In real GDP over the last decade it has only grown by $0.08. You don’t need to be a mathematician to understand that this trend is not a recovery, and is unsustainable over the long term.

GDP increase for every $1.00 Increase in Debt

The movement away from the U.S. dollar is intensifying.  China has signed as many as 25 trade agreements that circumvent the U.S. dollar, and settle trade imbalances with the participants’ own currencies. This will continue to place downward pressure on demand for U.S. dollars. If the dollar loses its reserve currency status, America’s ability to print unlimited amounts of dollars without consequences will be over.

Lifespan of Reserve Currencies

While there may still be price declines, I feel today’s situation is similar to that of the 1970s, and that we have the second-greatest opportunity to buy gold since 2002…”

[Editor’s Note: The author’s views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.]

*About The Book: $10,000 Gold: Why Gold’s Inevitable Rise Is the Investor’s Safe Haven

** The Speech in its entirety: http://www.bmgbullion.com/document/5685/Second_Greatest_Opportunity_to_Buy_Gold.html

Related Articles: [Editor’s Note: The author’s views and conclusions in the above article are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original post. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.]

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