Tags: Great Depression Gold Silver Economic Collapse Inflation Dollar Devaluation

I've noticed over the past year or so that climate can have a major impact on health. I'm currently a student at Indiana University where I'm creating my own major called the "Evolution of Human Health." It encompasses studying how humans evolved over millions of years on Earth and have becoming biologically and anatomically adapted to their environment. This is called adaptation from natural selection. Now, stick a human in a home with central heating in Vermont in the middle of January with three feet of snow outside and that's called culture. Culture allows man to do things he never dreamed of. Because of culture we can live anywhere in the world, we can go anywhere in the world, we can cook extravagant meals, we can live indoors, wear clothing, practice "good" hygiene, and so on. When you think about it, the necessities for life in its purest form are very slim. Stick yourself in the right region and the necessities are bare indeed (except that they won't come to you, you'll have to go to them).

In both Indiana and New York (my home) the winters are cold. I layer on as many articles of clothing as I can, still to find myself freezing. My hands dry up, crack open and bleed. I sleep in a fleece every night, often to find the room still cold. Culture works, because I survive, but do I actually thrive? Tim VanOrden, creator of "Running Raw," often talks about the difference between surviving and thriving during his lectures, and I think that one important aspect of thriving is the region that you live in. First of all, in a temperate and cooler climate, there is far less sun. Albeit, it's true that humans have made adaptations for this. The reason why northern inhabitants have lighter skin is so their bodies can absorb more vitamin D from the sun. Black skin provides far better protection from UV radiation, but impedes on Vitamin D absorption (which doesn't matter because when living in the tropics you get plenty of sun, and thus, plenty of Vitamin D). As a result, over time, natural selection created white humans (that's why we whities burn so easily).

However, over time, from being in the sun more, the body tells the melanocytes in the skin to produce more melanin as an adaptation to increased sun exposure. This is called tanning. The human body is truly amazing, but it is important to note that Homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans) have only been living away from the equatorial region for 60,000-100,000yrs. While it is true that there were premature human forms in northern regions for 1.5 million years before that, that form, Homo erectus, was replaced (the Replacement Theory) as the newer form out of Africa, Homo sapiens, was selected for and by 500,000 years ago, Homo erectus was extinct. Richard Leakey, one of the leading bioanthropologists of our day, states that it can take anywhere from 500,000 to 1,000,000 years for an animal to make a full evolutionary adaption. I learned all about human evolution in his book, "The Origin of Humankind." Now, ask yourself, is 60,000 years truly sufficient time for humans to adapt to freezing weather? How about canned beans? Twinkies? Indoor living? How about sedentary living? How far can culture take the human race without major developmental regression?

While I don't know the answers to all of these questions, what I do know is that all of the other anthropoid apes (gibbons, bonobos, orangutans chimpanzees, gorillas) still live in the tropical African jungles (Orangutans actually live in tropical southeast Asia) from which we came. Modern man is so far removed from his natural environment, many today would think that we evolved eating pork rinds while watching our favorite TV show re-runs.

When was the last time you actually saw a piece of fruit growing on a tree? Have you ever been to a tropical climate? Have you ever breathed fresh air?

This is my first time truly enjoying a warmer climate. The weather is beautiful, the sun is great, the beach is relaxing, and for once I'm not cold. My skin is soft, smooth, and shining, I get up when the sun rises, spend as much of my day outdoors as possible (stability ball workouts outside, running outside, biking outside, active cords outside, eating outside), and I get tired and go to bed when it gets dark. I feel like my life is shifting more into place here. While Naples, Florida is not tropical, it is as close as I can get for now, and it feels much better on my body (Naples is 26 degrees latitude and the Tropic of Cancer is 23.5 degrees). My next goal is to try and plant some fruit trees on my property here, but that will take my dad some convincing.

Until Next Time,

Sam

...where even movie stars struggle to make ends meet.

As evident in the precious metals markets today, the paper price for gold and silver does not reflect the physical demand and shortages, resulting in high premiums.

The question many people are asking is this: Should I selling my Silver Eagles on Ebay and then go buy a Silver contract on the COMEX to double my position? That was the question I had to ask myself, and I'll fill you in on the research that I did.

First, you must ask yourself what your goal is. Are you looking for maximum leverage? Are you looking for an alternative currency to Federal Reserve Notes? Do you want numismatic coin or simply any silver you can get in any form?

Asking yourself some of these questions should help you in deciding your final move.

Once you have established solid answers to these questions we can move on.

It is also important to know the difference between COMEX silver and Silver Eagles.

COMEX silver is industrial grade silver, including a COMEX mint mark and its weight. Every COMEX bar weighs a slightly different amount, so upon re-entering the COMEX it will need to be re-assayed. Buying COMEX silver is explained in my article titled "How to Buy Physical Gold and Silver."

In contrast, Silver Eagles are unique in that they are U.S. Treasury minted legal tender (currently uncirculated coins), and include a face value amount on each coin of $1. They were approved by Congress through The Liberty Coin Act of 1986 (Section 5112; Subsections (f) and (h), which was then signed by President Ronald Reagan. Note that they are not legal tender for paying government taxes, put in personal transactions they are. However, at this time it would not be wise to use the Silver Eagles in place of dollars as the value of silver will likely skyrocket with the continued collapse of the current financial system over the next 5-10 years. Therefore, in the future, the Eagles will have the possibility to be used as money in transactions rather than trading them for a future money and thus, being subject to capital gains taxes. The only problem that could arise in this scenario is that, at some point in time, commodity prices will peak in comparison to the current circulated currency, so how would one get the full benefit of the price peak without selling the Silver Eagles? Buy a lot stuff? I'm not sure, that is yet to be explored.

It is also important to know that Silver Eagles are a much more liquid investment than COMEX bars. Silver Eagles can be sold on EBAY to the average Joe in very small quantities, and for extremely high premiums. The current spot price on this Friday is $9.40. Today I looked on EBAY, and the sellers are starting single Eagles at $0.99 and they are auctioning off at between $20 and $25, with some of the MS69 graded coins going in the $30, $40 range and higher. The "buy nows" are also around $25, and they are all being bought. COMEX bars can not be easily sold on EBAY. However, in the future, as I see higher demand and major supply shortage, I think there will be a growing market for 1000oz bar holders to become sellers to mints in need of industrial silver to mint numismatic 1oz coins and small 10oz bars. While the coins will hold larger premiums, the 1000oz bars give you more bang for your buck.

I think that it is a good idea to take part in both sides of the coin. I would suggest taking a COMEX contract if you can afford it, but I would not suggest selling all of your Eagles to double your holdings. The COMEX will default in the near future because of an overwhelming majority of long contracts demanding delivery, versus a minority of shorts. On top of that, most of the shorts, at least 20,000 contracts or so, are naked shorts from investment banks trying to drive down the price of spot silver. Once the COMEX defaults, all of the long contracts will be forced into cash settlement and the shorts will be forced to buy back their contracts, resulting in the end of the COMEX as the international silver hub. After this fiasco, the price will most likely be determined in Dubai, currently the second largest precious metals hub in the world.

For this reason, it is important to diversify your silver and gold holdings. Don't become solely dependent on futures contracts that may not hold to their promises. While the contracts, after having taken delivery, can provide some excellent leverage, it is important to continue to hold other stores of metal just in case the delivery does not follow through.

It is hard to say what the future will hold for various forms of silver. All I can say is that I'm positive that silver and gold will both be going a lot higher, especially with the Federal Reserve now promising to print 8 trillion dollars, which will increase our current money supply by 80%. So, the only real store of value must be in REAL things. What kind of real things you decide to store your wealth in is up to you. I choose silver.

Until Next Time,
Sam