What can you say about the public regarding investing? They are always late to the party. They are the last investors into any market that booms. First you get the "smart money." Then comes the institutional investor once the trend shows legs. And finally the the public comes in and buys leading up to the absolute top. Some of them buy after the top figuring the price has gotten better and without recognition that it's over.

This is lifted from an article by Doug Hornig with Casey Research.

How Much for the SOB's Wedding Ring?

The supply source that's taken the biggest leap forward in recent times is the recycling business. So-called "scrap gold" includes rings from failed marriages, earrings with missing mates, out-of-fashion bling - and anything else that's been gathering dust in the jewelry box. Old electronics, too. A ton of discarded cell phones will yield 150 grams of gold, 30 times what a miner gets from an average ton of ore.

People are hip to the rising gold price, and they're parting with their unwanted baubles en masse. It's big business. TV ads soliciting scrap abound, including one during the Super Bowl; Internet recyclers have proliferated; and in some suburban neighborhoods, gold has replaced Tupperware as the focal point for social gatherings.

The flood of scrap has hardly been insignificant. CPM reports that it rose an estimated 18.9% in 2008, to 38.5 million ounces, following a 23.3% jump in '07. Scrap sellers are bringing to market more than half as much gold as all the world's miners.

Now if the public buys at the top, where do they tend to sell? Got it?

And what is the public now doing? Any questions?

P.