Hmmmm ...this ***could*** be big, Silver up 14 cents today, Gates/Soros, new fuel cells, new lead-free solder standard...

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

This from www.Gat.com

Today's action: silver shot up 14 cents. Is that long awaited silver rocket ride upon us?

Perhaps of interest:

*Warren Buffet bought silver

*Buffet owns Gillette stock

*Gillette is researching fuel cell technology that will use silver

*Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are friends

*Gates bought Pan Am Silver

*Gates has invested in a utility company that is doing research on fuel cell technology

*Comex silver stocks are dwindling and near decade lows

*A big, big buyer has shown up in the silver pits

[check out the stock action recently with fuel cell tech. companies... - Andy]

And then this sent in today:

SOURCE: National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative NEMI Group Recommends Tin/Silver/Copper Alloy as Industry Standard for Lead- Free Solder Reflow in Board Assemblies

HERNDON, Va., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) today announced the alloy its Lead-Free Assembly Project is recommending for use by industry as a ``standardized' lead- free solder alternative.

For reflow applications (which represent at least 70% of all board assembly production), the NEMI group is recommending Sn3.9Ag0.6Cu -- a predominantly tin-rich alloy with 3.9% silver and 0.6% copper. For wave solder production (which requires larger amounts of solder), the group is recommending either Sn0.7Cu, a less expensive tin/copper alloy (0.7% copper), or Sn3.5Ag (tin with 3.5% silver).

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 27, 2000

Answers

OTOH, if Andy recommends silver, probably time to sell it!!

BTW Andy, how is it we only hear from you when something is going the way you predict (as rare as that is)......Why are you silent the other 90% of the time when your God, GOLD, is going down.

Oil dropped a couple of bucks the last few days......strange silence from you on that one too........

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), January 27, 2000.


Hello Craig.

The usual suspects pop out again ... :o)

OTOH, if Andy recommends silver, probably time to sell it!!

####### Laugh, I could have.

[I've been recommending it for about 2 years - just gotta hang on to it, KISS]

#######

BTW Andy, how is it we only hear from you when something is going the way you predict (as rare as that is)......Why are you silent the other 90% of the time when your God, GOLD, is going down.

####### I take an interest in Silver Craig becuase it is ***the*** most undervalued commodity out there. That's why i have 30,000 ounces of physical... think about it, silver was at $50 back in the 80's Hunt period... since then it has not kept pace at all with inflation... and these rumours of cell technology are based on fact - Buffet, Gates and Soros are all up to something - you've just had another free heads-up from uncle Andy... ya ungrateful bastard... :o) #######

Oil dropped a couple of bucks the last few days......strange silence from you on that one too........

####### You'll notice that I have been silent on everything the last few days Sherlock - been outta town.

You don't get it at all Craig... keep on reading and lurking and you might learn something.

One more thing - gold/silver just have to blow once to set me up for life... I'll be patient, and if oil does what I think it might that will be the icing on the cake.

Yep y2k was not a 10 - thank God - but there is ongoing fallout. The jury is still out on oil, come back in a few months and we'll talk - I have oil options out 'till marc/apr/jun...time will tell #######

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 28, 2000.


Thanks Andy,

I enjoy your tips, opinions, article links, and humor. This one is a major deal, those asterisk points you list, cool connect-the-dots job!

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), January 28, 2000.

Thanks PI!

Craig, even though you are a Canadian heathen, this applies to you too... :o)

Idiot Americans (I can criticize my own people)

Here's a little editorial, choose to believe it or not.

"Productivity is up." Now, no one, and I mean no one can dispute this fact. Be it technological advances or other, there is more output per worker than ever before. The expansion rate is mind boggling. How fast we've learned to produce things is growing exponentially. Picture this as a steep straight line, starting at the vertex of a graph, going up and to the right (better yet, draw it).

"Workers' earnings are up only a tiny bit and employment is extremely low." Now, no one, and I mean no one can dispute this fact. Greenspan always talks about worrying that our economic expansion will drive up wages, but so far it hasn't happened. Now draw this line on the graph as a straight line also starting at the vertex but much more shallow.

What you're looking at is a big wedge between Productivity (the steep line) and Earnings (the flatter line).

Now when you take a global look, realize that the very same people earning a little more have to purchase MUCH more in order for there be a reason for the economy (GDP) to grow. This is because supply has to equal demand (SUPPLY = DEMAND) in order to keep the terms "Inflation and Deflation" in check. More on that later. These terms are grossly misused.

"The USA's trade deficit is at an all time high." Now, no one, and I mean no one can dispute this fact. Rather than exporting the productivity in order to take the buying pressure off our workers, we BUY MORE than just what we make...we buy other countries stuff too! Now draw an even steeper (dashed line) above the Productivity line.

Lastly, fill in the Productivity/Earnings wedge with a marker (use either of the steeper lines as you wish).

Now what are we looking at here? The answer is CREDIT! You have to give the workers credit to buy the wedge. As this government is built mostly on self-serving politicians and non-elected officials put into office by the same self-serving politicians, how do you make the idiot American population borrow money and buy things they don't need to survive?

This question has already been answered and its solution firmly put in place: sell the American idiots on "Instant gratification" and then "Expand the money supply." This is the true definition of inflation. Contracting the money supply is deflation. The government has been successful to date, but if you look at your graph, the credit wedge looks like it will expand forever. Guess what, IT CAN'T!

In order to put this all in perspective, you have only to go back to the basics. How much "Purchasing power" does that average worker have? How much can he/she buy with one day's salary? If the answer is less, because the price of milk has gone up to $4/gal, so be it - that's inflation in people's eyes. However, statisticians can manipulate these numbers very easily (the two most commonly used are the CPI (consumer price index) and PPI (the producer price index)). Much more subliminal and less evident to the common folk is that their money's purchasing power has been diluted due to adding much more money into the system (expanding the money supply).

Well folks, I have bad news. For one, we just turned into a nation of debtors. A few months ago, the average USA citizen's savings crossed the zero line and went into the negative territory (-2%). Instantaneously, they reformulated the equation of "Savings" to include 401K (tax deferred) investments (mostly invested in the paper stock market) which took us back into the positive territory (+2%). GET THEM CREDIT CARDS OUT BOYS! BORROW MORE ON THEM EARNINGS YOU EXPECT TO GET OUT OF THE STOCK MARKET!

Now folks, more bad news. The USA finances it's national debt by issuing bonds (among the most important is the benchmark 30 year bond). The government must and will do anything to keep the bond market from tanking (i.e., bond prices falling too fast and/or out of control). Well, the bad news is that the government is buying back their own bonds as a last ditch effort to keep the bond market from tanking (ignore the spin on why this is happening...it's to save the bond market). The fact is, foreigners that have had their money in the bond market for a long time are beginning to sell their bonds and convert the dollars to yen, euro, their own currency, etc. YEEEEEHAAAAWW! MORE DOLLARS COMING IN BOYS! ...WISH THEM CREDIT CARD MACHINES COULD TAKE TWO AT A TIME!

Sorry folks, more bad news. The stock market is not as important as the bond market in the government's eyes. So guess what's going to happen? Interest rates are going up. Oh, they'll do it as painlessly as possible...maybe even able to have very little impact on the stock market...but I think not, and here's why. When interest rates go up, it's harder for corporations to make a profit since they're paying more on their own debt. The stock market is very sensitive to this. In the present market conditions, investors have almost completely forgotten the P/E (price/earnings) ratio. They are willing to pay 40 times what a company can earn in a year (per share) for a share of the stock. My parents were only willing to pay about 6 times the earnings a company could muster for a year. If average "Joe" investor ever gets re-focused on the P/E ratio (which I believe will happen...when, I can say not), the stock market party will be over.

WAIT A MINUTE BOYS! WHERE DID MY SAVINGS GO?! MY 401K WAS LOOKING SO GOOD YESTERDAY! BETTER CUT UP THOSE CREDIT CARDS AND HAVE A GARAGE SALE!

Now folks, the (SUPPLY=DEMAND) equilibrium will be broken at that moment. No longer will CREDIT sustain the wedge you filled in with that marker a minute ago.

Phase 1. Supply greatly outpaces demand. People can't, or won't buy anymore non-essential stuff. Prices go down (deflation in people's eyes), corporate profits go down, companies go away, people get laid off, stock market crashes (if it hasn't already hit bottom). If you are in the position to buy some worthy assets such as ...well, whatever you want to trade your dollars for, you'd better do it. IN ORDER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS POSITION, GET OUT OF DEBT NOW. AS A CLOSE SECOND, MAKE SURE ANY DEBT YOU HAVE IS AT A FIXED RATE!

Phase 2. Stagflation, defined as high prices (inflation in people's eyes) accompanied by high unemployment. What would turn prices higher? The answer is the enormous amounts of dollars that are in the US economy as well as the influx of dollars from foreigners that don't want them anymore. Remember, the dollar is the official reserve currency of the world. This means, "Everybody's got some," at least at a country's central bank.

Taken to an extreme, if planes continuously flew over the USA and dropped $100 dollar bills, what would happen. At first, the smart folks would go straight to the store and buy at today's prices. But as time went on and the planes kept dropping those $100 dollar bills, pretty soon they would just raise the prices in the store in order to reach equilibrium again. The problem is that the average person's income isn't going up at the same rate. WHAT? HOW CAN I LIVE ON MY MEASLY INCOME INCREASES? AT LEAST I HAVE A JOB. BETTER LET MY SPOUSE KNOW THAT HE/SHE IS GOING TO HAVE TO FIND A JOB - ANYWHERE - DOING ANYTHING.

Now some of you are already saying to yourselves, "Wait a minute, my spouse already works!" Folks, this is an indication that we have exhausted all means to get any more resources to buy stuff. We're maxed out on our credit cards, our spouses are working. What's next, our kids?

I think I'll just leave it at that and hope you can use this story to benefit yourself and your family.

Remember, God is in ultimate control and His will, will come to pass. However, He does expect us to be good stewards of what He has blessed us with.

For me, my trade is going to be dollars for gold and land. Dollars are so dirty (my mom always told me to wash my hands AFTER handling money). Gold is so pretty (I make sure my hands are clean BEFORE I touch a beautiful piece of gold, be it jewelry or coin). Land is so majestic. It's a great feeling to look out over a piece of land and wonder at its beauty and majesty. Sometimes I think that's where we share the closest natural bond with God...without even thinking about it, He comes to mind.

Donald A. Smith

8 January 2000



-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 28, 2000.


Thanks for the articles Andy...

Craig....why not offer something of substance? Are you sure you're not from central Canada?

Speaking of silver Andy, my family has a silver and gold property (hard rock mine) that has had mining companies crawling all over it for 20 years (optioned for times). Essentially the property lacks strong promotion and is in an area with negative political considerations at the moment...

Do you know of any fora where this sort of thing is discusssed?

-- Will (righthere@home.now), January 28, 2000.



Will - yes - your time may have come - try www.gold-eagle.com and usagold.com forums - there are a whole bunch of miners and prospectors on these two forums and they may be able to point you into a more precise direction. The reason why your properties are not being productive and earning money for you and America is due to the blatant manipulation of gold and silver.

I ask you, silver at the same price it was 20 years ago???

Bullsheeet :o)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 28, 2000.


Thank you Andy, most useful... I believe your up for at least some kind of fee for your help...contingent on results of course. :)

The reasons for this property not being a mine yet are varied, but obvious manipulation is definitely a large part of the problem. Exploration companies are interested but they are not too liquid with this current environment, we need to search harder to fit into someone's budget.

Yeah, silver twenty years ago....especially sad when you consider all this *asset inflation*. Nothing is forever though.

I ask you, silver at the same price it was 20 years ago???

Bullsheeet :o)

-- Will (righthere@home.now), January 28, 2000.


Whoah, sloshing all over the keyboard again.

Andy, I forgot to add the mine and I are most un-American. More like Columbian except British... you know.

-- Will (righthere@home.now), January 28, 2000.


Andy,

Industry is changing from a lead based solder to a silver-tin type. This is being done for worker health reasons. Has a higher melting point than the old stuff. Took them long enough to realize this.

Most of my silver was bought a 16, 20 years ago, still got it, still hoping!

-- Chief (bmc@sealret.com), January 28, 2000.


Platinum and Palladium also a blip up the last couple of days -- very approximately, my e-gold accounts up about 8%.
http://www.e-gold.com

And, as you guys say above, silver also up. My account up roughly 10% (maybe more) since a few days ago (I don't bother checking every day, as I'm a long term holder, not a short-term trader, in these).

And gold still no move. Hmmmm.

-- A (A@AisA.com), January 28, 2000.



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