Mr Ben...nothing would make me happier than gold and silver being pointless. I could sell it off to some other 'mug' and do something else; but I really need some questions answered. Please try and do it with facts and reasoning that I may have missed rather than calling me a mug and adding in lots of smilies.

I'll do this in bullet points and i'll probably forget three quarters of the stuff I need to post so i'll probabaly add more as time goes on.

1) What are the chances of 'Helicopter Ben' allowing deflation to take place? Have you read his work on the great depression or heard him speak? He will not allow deflation.

2) Assuming there is a depression coming (and if you look at the figures there has to be really) do you think that it will be a deflationary depression or will governments do what they have done every time in history (apart from the great depression where hands were tied by a gold standard) and print the money needed? QE3 is coming soon. Can we forever go on with bailouts, QE and money printing?

3) 46.2m Americans were on food stamps as of October 2011. I believe that number has increased (I will look for a source when this is posted). How long can this go on?

4) America has $92tn in unfunded liabilities for medicare, medicaid and social security. Where is this money coming from? When the baby boomers begin retiring in 2016 where is this money going to come from?

5) When there is overwhelming evidence that silver and gold are being manipulated downwards to keep the faith in debt backed currencies why aren't you questioning WHY they need to do this? You say gold and silver are going down but any of the big players can come in and short gold and silver to a massive degree which really has a big impact on the spot price. One of the people who testified said that the metals are trades in the multiples of 100 of the underlying physical. Does this mean the true price of silver is spot x 10? I'm sure it wouldn't actually work out like that but citing the paper price as basis for slating the physical is ridiculous.

6) No fiat currency has ever survived. Why will this one be any different. America had the continental and the confederate dollar which both went to zero. Fiat currencies don't work.

7) China are buying lots of gold and silver. As are central banks. Why do you think this is?

I have to go out now but this is a nice start. At the end of the day I believe what i'm doing is right. I appreciate your concern but I have to make my own mistakes and learn the hard way if i'm wrong.

Btw I have to admit that I do wish that I had as apparently clever and far seeing as Menelaus has been to stock up on the stuff back when it was first in the sub 400 dollar range.
Wouldn't that have been delicious.
But alas it would seem my crystal ball wasn't working too well when it mattered.

J2- as requested, I will address your post.

1.work this out J2- there has been QE1 and QE 2  ontop of other measures.There was no hyperinflation>Now YOU are talking deflation????????
I thought money printing led to hyperinflation?

  Why has this not happened already?

2.your assumptions are so badly flawed.There is no dpression coming. By default the rest of the argument fails.

3.Totally irrelevant.These losers have been on food stamps for years, why  will they suddenly influence anything?

4. whats the difference between 92 trillion and 80 trillion. 120 trillion? If this was going to bowl the economy over it would have already done so.

5. I cant address this, is sooo utube. Gold and silver are overpriced, not underpriced.No such  downward manipulation exists.

6.Because it is not a fiat currency.

7. Do you have a pipeline to the chinese govt? How do you know they are buying gold and silver? Because you were told so?

  If this is the case why has the price of both dropped? Even if china  is buying- whats the relevance?
  China bought a mountain of copper of the last few years.Copper down 2000 a tonne last 12 mths.I fail to see what  this has to do with anything?

  J2 -  stop gobbling up what is common knowledge with common conclusions.Learn to read between the lines.
  There are many potential reasons and conclusions to any given financial situation.Until you accept that and learn what too do with it, you will remain living with you mother.

   Singular conclusions rough housed by the real world rarely work out.

rather than trying to be " right" learn how to make a profit.