Bullion, coin dealers call for investigation of U.S. coin blanks supply

From Mineweb: A congressional subcommittee has been asked to investigate the growing backlog in and foreign procurement of U.S. bullion and collectors' precious metals coin blanks manufactured by the U.S. Mint. Witnesses before and members of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy have urged Congress to direct the U.S. Mint to buy U.S. manufactured blanks for gold and silver bullion coins and discontinue the practice of using Australian-made blanks.

Ranking Subcommittee Member Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said he opposes the Mint's current efforts to gain greater power in determining the composition of circulating coinage."We could not maintain the gold standard nor the silver standard. We could not maintain the copper standard, and now we cannot even maintain the zinc standard," Paul noted. "Paper money inevitably breeds inflation and destroys the value of currency."

Michael B. Clark, president of the Diamond State Depository, a subsidiary of the Dillon Gage group, one of 12 authorized purchasers of American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins, told the subcommittee, "The Mint's inability to keep pace with demand has had a negative and unnecessary impact on the investment and hobby community."

He added that the Mint's reliance on just three suppliers for planchets or blanks "is flawed. Moreover, there is some irony in the fact that while Congress requires the Mint to procure the gold for its Eagle bullion coins from newly mined U.S. deposits, the Mint then ships that gold to Australia to be made into blanks. Then, the fabricated blanks are later shipped back to the United States for the production of coins."....read on

The Death of Paper Money

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: As they prepare for holiday reading in Tuscany, City bankers are buying up rare copies of an obscure book on the mechanics of Weimar inflation published in 1974.....read on

Platinum could outshine gold

From the UK Telegraph: Platinum demand should improve in the fourth quarter, according to Nick Moore, a metal analyst at RBS, and he sees strong upside for prices in the next few years. "We continue to expect significant upside to the platinum price with a 2013 average of $2,000 per ounce,"....read on

The Sultans of Swing

by Gordan T Long: The news rocked the global gold market when an almost obscure line item in the back of a 216 page document released by an equally obscure organization was recently unearthed. Thrust into the unwanted glare of the spotlight, the little publicized Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is discovered to have accepted 349 metric tons of gold in a $14B swap. Why? With whom? For what duration? How long has this been going on? This raises many questions and as usual with all $617T of murky unregulated swaps, we are given zero answers. It is none of our business!.....read on

Crossing over to the Dark Side

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton discusses the new financial regulations, dark markets, and positions limits in commodity markets. This could potentially impact the ongoing short side manipulations in the silver market.

SMOKING GUNS OF USTREASURY MONETIZATION

By Jim Willie: A significant feature of fiat money systems is the privilege for the custodian of the reserve currency to engage in regular practices of ham-fisted monetary management, even permission for fraudulent centers to flourish, surely developing a debt monster that an economy grows dependent upon. Fannie Mae might be the most offensive blight on such privilege.....read on

The Coming Silver Supernova

By Lorimer Wilson: "Few investment opportunities arise in our lifetime like silver. The stage is set for a silver price percentage gain of extraordinary magnitude! Forget the popular refrain of "Got Gold?" and make some additions to your portfolio to take advantage of the coming silver supernova!".....read on

Why the silver price looks set to surge

By Joss Smith: Well, the strongest recommendation for silver at this time is that it is both a precious metal and an industrial metal. And that means two opportunities to profit. The first will be if economies continue to recover and industrial demand rises. The second is as an inflation hedge if economies perform less well than I expect.

Silver is an investment 'each-way bet' - we could win on one count, or we could win on both. And having lagged the price of gold, now is a great time to buy into silver.....read on

Is Now a Good Time to Buy Gold?

By Jeff Clark of Casey Research: While we’re convinced gold and gold stocks are destined for much higher levels, buying when prices are low can mean the difference between a double or triple and a ten-bagger.....read on

Doug Casey still very gloomy

From Arabianmoney.net:

Alternative investment guru Doug Casey stayed true to his gloomy view of a second phase of the Greater Depression that we are living through in his presentation in Vancouver this morning.

He thinks markets are presently in something of a ’sweet spot’ or the ‘eye of the hurricane’ and that very shortly the volatility will return....read on