Matt Taibbi has repetitively said Wall Street has become the worlds biggest casino.  Case in point.

Dirckman wrote:

I bought 100 oz. of silver at $16.80 an ounce and 2 oz. of gold at $972.00 an ounce back in 2009 and early 2010.  Silver is now worth $28.03 an ounce and gold $1,339.60 an ounce.  Not like I've made a fortune at it by any means, but it's been a lot more valuable to me than keeping it in the bank.

Does that even mean anything if you do not cash in and realize a gain?  Wouldn't now be a good time to take some of that gain and hedge by shorting gold at the height of its bubble?

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

Dirckman wrote:

I bought 100 oz. of silver at $16.80 an ounce and 2 oz. of gold at $972.00 an ounce back in 2009 and early 2010.  Silver is now worth $28.03 an ounce and gold $1,339.60 an ounce.  Not like I've made a fortune at it by any means, but it's been a lot more valuable to me than keeping it in the bank.

Does that even mean anything if you do not cash in and realize a gain?  Wouldn't now be a good time to take some of that gain and hedge by shorting gold at the height of its bubble?

I'm viewing it not so much as an investment, but as a hedge against inflation.  I was intending to keep buying metals, especially silver, whenever I had extra money.  I stopped because it's value kept going up and up and I didn't want to buy high and sell low.  Once the value goes down again I will start buying more of it.  I've found that buying metals is a great way to run a savings account too.  A normal savings account is just too easy to pull money out of when you see something cool you can't live without.  One ounce bars of gold and ten ounce bars of silver are already cool so you don't want to trade them in for some smelly old fiat currency.  I've also taken the anarcho-capitalist libertarian philosophy as far as I can take it at this point in my life and want to hold my store of value in something other than a medium tied to the dollar or any other state issued currency.  It's also become somewhat of a collector's hobby, especially with silver rounds.  You wouldn't believe some of the wacky right wing groups that have had their own silver rounds stamped throughout the years.  I've got "End The Fed" silver rounds, Liberty Lobby silver rounds from a white power organization, and a Ron Paul dollar that didn't get seized by the FBI.  I'm currently trying to get my hands on a Liberty Dollar that escaped the FBI raid on the Sunshine Mint, but the ones out there come at a premium I'm not willing to pay, especially because I'm avoiding numismatic value at all cost.  It's been a really interesting hobby that I've actually learned a lot from.  You learn about history, science, economics, and politics along with the enjoyment of hunting for and acquiring a particular piece.  Youtube is full of videos showing "silver porn" and "gold porn".  It's hard to explain, but when I'm watching them I'm not thinking of the value of the silver or what I could get from it, I'm just jealous because I want the metal itself.

Dmtdust wrote:

I think an AK 47 and 10 thousand rounds are a better hedge at this point.

Totally agreed.  Although those bullets don't seem to go far.