When John Law was faced with crippling sovereign debts in eighteenth century France he issued a lot of successful paper money and made the country feel rich. He was clever, brave, charming, honest and - for a while - extraordinarily popular. Unfortunately he also caused virtually everyone who had any money in France to lose it, which tends to overshadow those other qualities. How it happened is worth understanding; and never more so than now. One of the arguments put forward by deflationists (people who are forecasting deflation) is that today's monetary system is credit-based and hyperinflation is not possible under such a system. What they mean by "credit-based" is that new money is borrowed into existence, the implication being that in order to get a net increase of $1 in the total money supply there must be a net increase of at least $1 in the economy-wide debt burden. As a result (so the argument goes), the more the supply of money is inflated the more the economy is weighed down by debt, thus improving the odds of an eventual deflationary outcome. During a market corner, a buyer accumulates an asset with the intention of driving the price higher without any regard for its true value. Additionally, the buyer amasses such a large holding that market prices cannot remain elevated without continuous buying. For example, when the Hunt Brothers cornered the silver market, silver rose from $11 per ounce in September 1979 to nearly $50 an ounce in January 1980. Eventually, the Hunt Brothers stopped buying silver as they ran out of capital and the market for silver dried up. As happens with all market corners, when the buyer disappeared from the market, the price of silver spiraled downward. The Federal Reserve, knowingly or not, has cornered the credit market. Coming into September the markets had the potential to experience either a deflation scare or a mini blow-off in inflation-related plays. Within the first few trading days of September it became apparent that it was more likely going to be the latter. The blow-off in inflation-related plays is taking most equities and commodities higher, with gold and silver stocks leading the way. It will probably end within the next two months, but it hasn't ended yet.

I wouldn’t say that SafeHaven was too advanced for the average silver investor.

As a resource, it’s big, broad and raw. You can pick through it if you have the time and/or energy. There are definitively jewels nestled within. They admit that they keep it simple on purpose.

Streamlined traffic serves a good in this space. Some 75,000 visitors per month get a glimpse of the precious metal story, though never enough of the silver story.  The more the merrier – unless you are not invested…then you wouldn’t really understand.

However, I believe most people would rather pay to have this type of content  filtered and delivered, and with a ‘voice’.

On the way to the forum …which was down during the week I spent putting this together, I realized that they could probably do well by sprucing things up a bit- maybe even putting together an email package of ‘highlights’ with commentary.

Time and skill = money.

For me SafeHaven represents a HUB-full of rich content.

I read a lot in this sector. I’ve been at this for a while. I get the language. And I own silver bullion, which makes me particularly sensitive to quality. I don’t the money to ’simply buy gold’. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way.

It takes one to know one and I appreciate it and realize that no perspective should be completely ignored.

I like digging into content from the ‘professional’ perspective – which is what you’ll get here.

But you don’t need to be a professional to miss the big picture. Again, it just takes one to know one and discovering the ‘truth’ is not a straight path. Professionals and academics tend to come loaded with assumptions that are considered standard.

That’s where it gets tricky, in my opinion.

For me, everything boils down to physical silver. It’s all very simple over here in silver-coin-land. I want to help regular people see this too. I’m not sure that this is a great place to reinforce what most people need to get started with something as simple as silver coins.

The masses need access to some way of protecting wealth. They may not have much, but silver is cheap enough to provide protection for very little exchange- at least for now. It won’t last long. So there is urgency to add to the emotion.

For the regular person just becoming aware of this, SafeHaven will likely feel obscure.

What I decided to do was break down there own About Us section for you.

What follows is a paragraph by paragraph break-down with my comments (as they apply to the silver coin investor (link: http://www.silver-coin-investor.com) in between.

Here’s how I see it:

SafeHaven Says:

“At some point in your life you will want to, or be forced to consider an investment program. The main criteria in choosing one that is right for you is summed up in three words “Preservation of Capital”. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it?”

Yes it does. Which is why I like silver. It is simple, fundamental, of the earth, etc. And precious metals have always been a key for wealth preservation. Of course, gold priced in dollars is expensive for folks like me. Silver is not. Silver (and gold) can be purchased at your local coin shop. And silver coins are liquid and easy to store for the regular guy.

SafeHaven Says:
“Remember, “Investing is not Saving”!”

This is where I need to part company a bit. Or maybe I’m missing something. Every one needs to save these days. Especially the average American. But a traditional savings account provides little interest, and it is denominated in dollars. Unless you believe in the official numbers and the presumption in the mainstream that their will be low inflation – if any at all – there is no way that the dollar will retain the purchasing power that it has today. So saving ‘in silver money’ makes sense. But given the market fundamentals and the relative scarcity of physical metal, silver is also a potentially ‘lucrative’ investment.

SafeHaven Says:
“The mainstream media would lead us to believe otherwise (in terms of saving, me) and seldom comment on the risks inherent in equity ownership or debt investments. They are quick to point out the positive aspects of every news event with prepared soundbites of information. They provide simple, continual commentary on the respective markets to show they are up to date with the latest developments.”

The mainstream media is the ultimate form of propaganda designed to keep the masses quiet. It has the appearance of being ‘civil’ because it currently does not use force. (Outside of creating a revolving-door ‘prison-subculture’ for moral crimes, like drug abuse).

SafeHaven Says:
“They don’t comment on developing trends until the trend is obvious to everyone; acting as cheerleaders for the greatest bull market of the twentieth century. A cautious and more reasoned approach is needed.”

Yes. Unfortunately, the reasoned approach will never be accepted. Its like trying to get and even when the media catches on to the inevitable shift, it will not likely happen without a context – like war or some other societal scapegoat.

Even today, you can read passionate discourse about the ‘morality’ of the inflation-hawks. Thus, creating a new belief paradigm about sound money – with Orwellian fact-changing all along the way.

SafeHaven Says:
“We are not permabears, nor are we bullish for the foreseeable future. The Stock Market Bubble is not our greatest concern. The Credit Bubble, however, when it inevitably implodes, will wreak havoc on all sectors of the World Economy, including the Stock Market.”

Indeed, the problem we face in the West is one of debt. We cannot afford deflation because everything we ‘own’ is financed. When the value of these assets falls, so does the servicing ability. We need ever more debt to pay off the existing debt. This is totally ignored by the media, though it is, ironically, well understood by the average American in the wake of the Madoff scandal.

SafeHaven Says:
“The articles from GoldenBar and PrudentBear are all a must read. As a starter, we suggest you read On the Manipulation of Money and Credit by Doug Noland of Prudent Bear and Inflation versus Deflation by Ed Bugos of GoldenBar. These articles help towards an understanding of the Bubble and monetary inflation.”

I would partially agree, but I also recommend that for the Average citizen looking for wealth protection or an alternative asset like silver coins, in the beginning, the ‘need’ for technical analysis will risk clouding the underlying factors – making this simple investment seem inaccessible.

SafeHaven Says:
“GoldenBar articles are published bi-weekly, and PrudentBear is published Wednesday and Friday evenings. Please visit their web sites.”

Nothing wrong with getting paid for value.

SafeHaven Says:
“If you have an interest in long-term cycles, then start with Generations and Business Cycles by Michael A. Alexander and Measuring Financial Time: The Magic of Pi by Barclay T. Leib.”

I found these recommendations somewhat tedious for my interest. I think one of the very best and broad works on Generations and Historical (inducing business) is ‘The Fourth Turning”, by Strauss and Howe

SafeHaven Says:
“Also strongly recommended is David Jensen’s In Denial of Crisis and Antal Fekete’s two series, Revisionist View of the Great Depression and The Goldbug Variations I.”

You can go there if you like, though again, for the big-picture investor, you could skip these.

SafeHaven Says:
“We won’t update every hour of every day- it is not necessary. Bull and bear markets evolve over many months and years, and a single news event has never changed the long-term direction of markets. If you have written an article, if you wish to provide a link to a newsworthy item, or if you have comments, suggestions, or recommendations, please Contact Us.”

Maybe we will submit this one.

“The site has been kept simple to allow quick download times and to keep problems with old browsers to a minimum. If you are having a problem, please email us and we will try to adjust for your browser or printer.”

Yes, it’s simple to navigate and very dense with information that you (as a silver coin investor) may put off today and possibly enjoy tomorrow.

SafeHaven Says:
“Enjoy your visit and visit often!”

Thanks, we did, but we probably won’t.

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