Not everyone has protection in the form of gold or silver; since SLI shareholders are also basically holding gold as a hedge, I believe this is a very intelligent and defensive position for us to be in for the foreseeable future. There is a limit to the supply of precious metals but there is no limit to printing fiat money.This “foreseeable future” will last until the private sector has restored their balance sheet, something that has taken Japan some fifteen years to realize.

Richard Koo speaks about our present economic situation and notes that we are using our grandchildren’s credit cards. (Unwittingly for the most part) If you have the time or inclination to hear Richard Koo, I found this interview to be a very interesting monolog describing the mechanisms of and reasons for a “Balance sheet recession”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt3KdH1uk-c&feature=relmfu