LBMA Silver Set to 'Flat Run Out', Banks Caught Short Will BURN: Ed Steer
Summary
Precious Metals Manipulation: Ed Steer discusses the manipulation of silver and gold prices by bullion banks, predicting significant price increases once price suppression ends, with gold potentially rising above $10,000 and silver reaching triple digits.
China's Silver Strategy: China is actively purchasing silver concentrate directly from miners, indicating a strategic move to secure silver resources, potentially impacting global supply dynamics.
Fiat Currency Concerns: Steer expresses skepticism about the longevity of the fiat currency system, suggesting it is on its last legs and advocating for precious metals as a hedge against currency devaluation.
Silver Market Dynamics: The podcast highlights the expectation of silver breaking above $40, driven by reduced short positions by major traders, and the potential for a significant price rally once this threshold is crossed.
Investment in Silver Miners: Silver mining stocks have outperformed the metal itself, with substantial institutional buying indicating confidence in future price increases, despite current market volatility.
Gold Revaluation Speculation: There is speculation about potential revaluation of gold reserves by the Fed, which could significantly impact gold prices, though this remains speculative at present.
Historical Context: The discussion includes historical insights into the transition from a gold-backed currency to the current fiat system, emphasizing the potential for a return to a gold standard amidst growing economic uncertainties.
Transcript
Hello everybody and welcome into commodity culture where our goal is to make you a better investor in the commodities sector. My name is Jesse Day and on this episode I'm thrilled to welcome Ed Steer to the program. A precious metals expert who has been analyzing the space for over 20 years. He is a former contributor to Casey Research and the founder of Ed Sears Gold and Silver Digest. We are going deep on both the silver and gold sectors today as Ed provides his latest take on the bullion banks manipulating both metals and why once price suppression ends and the shorts are forced to cover, gold could rise to over $10,000 with silver in the triple digits. We're going to discuss why representatives from China have been flying around the world buying up silver concentrate directly from miners. Is this a clear sign that China recognizes the true value of the metal and what is their ultimate end game? We're going to explore why Ed thinks the fiat currency system is on its last legs. And you're going to want to stick around to the end where Ed dives into why his grandfather gave him the greatest advice perhaps ever given to a grandchild. Never trust the banks. All of this and so much more. So, strap yourselves in for my conversation with Ed Steer. Ed Steer, great to have you back on Commodity Culture. Last time we spoke was at the beginning of June this year. Silver was around $35 at the time. We've since seen a breakout to nearly $40 before it pulled back and is now sitting around $38, 37 and change, close to 38. A lot of people expected silver to break out after that 40 get and get to that $40 mark and beyond. Um I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that expectation that a lot of people had and what you make of the recent price action in the silver market. >> Well, you know, a lot of people are expecting that, including including myself, you know, um but what happened is, you know, as you pointed out, silver went from 35 and it got as high as $39 an ounce. But um the uh commercial traders decided that's as high as they're going to let it go for the time being. So they capped it at $39 and we've sort of been a slight downtrend since. And of course we got smacked pretty good yesterday which was Tuesday. We've recovered a bunch today. So you know everybody expects it to break above 40. I'm expecting it to break above 40. And the the only reason it's not is because uh it's always the case. the four and eight large commercial traders uh have been sitting on the price for what the last 50 or 60 years or whatever and u we're seeing a you know they're allowing the price to rise slowly and uh one of these days some probably this fall sometime we're going to see silver break above 40 and once we get above 40 then things are really going to start to get interesting but you know we have to get through the summer doldrums you know as I we talked about on the air before we started recording this is that you know the volumes in the comx futures market are basically fumes and vapors. You know, the shares, there's not much volume in them. Everybody's on vacation. This has been like this now for the last couple of weeks and I expect this to continue right up until we get past the September long weekend or at least until we get past the Jackson Hole meeting this Friday. So, you know, it's uh it's summertime and anybody that has an agenda like they did yesterday can come in and either run the price up or smack it lower. And um there's very there was very little volume yesterday and uh so uh it's it's it's it's summertime so I'm not expecting anything until like I said until next week or until we get into the uh into the fall. >> Yeah. And you mentioned uh that there was activity interesting um activity bubbling beneath the surface when we did converse before hitting record as well in the commitment of traders report. Could could you walk us through that? Yeah, you know, if you look at the price, normally what happens is is if the boys are going to come in and try to cover short positions, they drive the price into the dirt. But, you know, we haven't seen that really. And, uh, since the since the beginning of July, which is like oh, 6 weeks ago, 7 weeks ago now, uh, the big four and the big eight shorts have covered 14,000 of their short positions. And if you look at the chart, there's no sign of it anywhere that they've beaten the price down. They've been doing it quietly and under under the radar. The only time you'd notice it is when you look at the actual numbers. You'd never know by looking at the price. So, uh, they've been reducing their short positions like mad and very quietly. And not just in silver, but also in gold. It's but it's much much more pronounced in silver. And, uh, they've covered, like I said, 14,000 contracts, which is 70 million ounces they managed to cover, and there's rec to cover, and there's no sign of it in the price whatsoever. And I'm expecting this Friday's commitment to raise report to show another big drop. So, um, quietly and under the hood, uh, the four large four and eight largest traders, the ones that are actually controlling the prices in silver and in gold, uh, are are heading for the exits. >> Well, I wanted to discuss the possibility of tripledigit silver with you here because everybody's talking about $50. We need to get back to previous all-time highs. If we return to 1980 all-time highs, we're looking at $200, just under $200 silver. And even if we're using the two, if people will say, well, that wasn't an organic spike. It it was due to the Hunt Brothers silver squeeze. Well, we could go to 2011, it's still over $100. Is this a realistic proposition in your view? Because there's a lot of talk that the powers that be certainly don't want to let silver get to those levels. Number one obviously because it then shows the weakness in fiat currency and kind of shows silver's role as money which they don't want and the other is for the industrial uses of it. Um it would then be much more expensive for manufacturing particularly military purposes which some people who've gone down that rabbit hole say that's one of the main reasons they want to control your the price. So, I'm wondering what your thoughts are there on on those forces trying to stop silver from getting to that level and if you think ultimately they will be successful or not. >> Well, you know, um I I have one of Keith Newire's triple-digit silver t-shirts. I don't have it on today, but it's in my closet. >> Okay. And uh there's no question about it. Silver should be some rather fantastic three-digit number right now as far as price is concerned because they've been sitting on this thing like forever. And all you have to do is look at you know the the uh supply demand fundamentals. We're now according to the silver institute in the fifth year where demand has exceeded supply by 100 or 200 million ounces. I mean, this can't go on forever. And uh, you know, they're not trying to protect the price uh, you know, because it becomes too expensive for the military, whoever the heck is, you know, using this stuff. For for most purposes, the amount of silver in any product is a minuscule amount. And, uh, so whether the price is $38 like it is today or $380 isn't going to make a lot of difference to their product. Um the only reason that we're sitting at the price we are at today is because as I said to your previous question is that the large commercial traders which are mostly bullion banks have been sitting on this price the price of it for the last you know three or four generations. So, uh, like I said, they're covering the short positions and, uh, the supply demand fundamentals dictate that at some point we're going to run into a a a situation where the the physical supply doesn't exist and then we're going to see far higher prices. You know, Ted, silver analyst Ted Butler wrote a piece about that called the bonfire of the silver shorts and the these big runups in silver that we saw back in 2011 and back in 1980 with us. I' I've lived through both of those, you know, were basically short covering rallies where the shorts were were running to cover their short positions and driving the price higher. Well, this time when uh silver goes and we do run into a a problem, we're going to see a uh three-digit silver price is going to be rather shocking. So, u it's just a matter of when it happens, not if it happens. And uh you know they've been keeping it on the lid on this thing for for for a couple of generations and uh but one of these days uh it'll break once it breaks above 40 I think then you'll s re see it really start to move cuz I think some of the short position short holders you know are sitting on horrendous losses and they're going to be forced to cover and once we break through 40 I think it it won't be long before we break through 50 and once we break through that well it's then the sky's is the limit. And now a quick break to hear from our sponsor. Ark Silver Gold Obium owner Ian Everard is considered one of the most honest and levelheaded gold and silver dealers in the United States. Praised even by his competitors. So give him a call today to take advantage of the specials right now. Silver Kangaroos 2023 1oz coins mint fresh only $247 over spot. Mint fresh silver maple leaves 2025 coins 1 ounce $2.87 over spot while supplies last. Reach out today at 3072649441 or by email at ianarchsggo.com and make sure to tell him that commodity culture sent you. And now back to the interview. Yeah, and I think that run from 35 to nearly $40. It got to I think 39.40 40 or somewhere around there before correcting a little bit. It's still hovering around 38. I think that's actually a very promising development. I think one of the issues is we live in a world of social media noise and and so people expect instantaneous results like, okay, it's headed to 40, it's going to go to 50, and then when it doesn't, they're ultimately disappointed and and then they come to my comment section and complain about it. So, I I do want to bring one thing to your attention that I came across on X. I'm not sure if it's legitimate or not or or not. There was an account called My Precious Silver and they posted that the SLV ETF added over 10 million shares a couple of days ago. A fact they claim means 285 metric tons less free float in LBMA vaults. Now, as I mentioned, social media is so full of noise. People are throwing around things. Sometimes they're not as significant as they're made out to be. Do you have any insight into this and any thoughts you could give us overall on current LBMA silver inventory levels? >> Oh, sure. I mean, uh, the that 10 million ounces is probably right on the money. And the reason I say that is very simple. Uh, I think it was on Monday, um, SLV added 9.1 million troy ounces of silver to their to their stash, which, you know, roughly translates into 10 million shares. So, you know, that that is absolutely true. I mean, I I it was the headline to my column uh on Tuesday or or was it Saturday? I can't remember what day it was, but it's happened within the last three or four days that 9.1 million ounces of silver was added to SLV. And when you add that silver to SLV, uh you have to generate the shares to back that up. And so that that is absolutely uh absolutely correct. And u whether it be 9.1 million shares or 10 million or whatever, it's a lot of silver. 285 as as this gentleman reported. And uh you know that's not exactly chopped labor. I mean that's a lot of silver. You know everybody's watching the float in London. London is such an opaque market that you know they don't tell you anything more than they absolutely have to. And uh you know that 9 or 10 million shares 10 million ounces um went from the free float into SLV. And of course there's other ETFs out there besides SLV. And so, you know, the the amount of silver in the float out there is getting smaller and smaller all the time. And uh once we get it like once we have silver above $40 when you're going to see the amount of silver pour into these ETFs just absolutely skyrocket. So, you know, it's a very delicate balancing act for, you know, for the silver inventories in the LBMA and and sooner or later they're just going to flat run out and um everybody's looking around for the signs of that to happen. And that 9.1 million ounces that just got added, I mean, what was that all about? My guess is it was added uh it was added on Monday. Now that I think about it, that was probably added to cover an existing short position in SLV because the short position in SLV right now is, let me see, in the last short report, it was 45.22 million shares/droy ounces. That is a horrendous amount. It's like 8 and a half. it's it's 8 and a half% of the entire float of SLV shares is held short and uh that short position you know a short position is an open position that has to be covered and those who are short most likely some of the big bullion banks but sooner or later have to cover either by buying the shares or depositing the physical metal and that physical metal at 9.1 million ounces is probably added to SLV to cover a short position Um and it won't be in the next for short report that comes out next Tuesday because it was deposited it it's they're very it was deposited on the 18th which is a Monday and the cuto off for the next report is was last Friday. So it was conveniently added so we won't see the results in next Tuesday's uh sort report in SLV. So there's between that and the covering in the the big four and the big eight and this big addition to SLV uh and the huge short position SLV like I said there's all kinds of intrigue going on if you don't know where to look uh there's there's there's there's big activity going on. >> Do you have any concerns about the authenticity of the numbers reported by SL the SLV ETF? I know there was concern raised. It must have been one or two years ago that the SLV changed its perspectus and changed the language and it's something to the effect of that they might not exactly have all of the exact ounces to back the amount of shares that they've issued which is why there was a big push for you should invest in PSLV instead the SPAT product because all of that is 100% authenticated. What are your thoughts there? >> You know I wasn't aware of those changes in SLV. So, you know, you're talking to the wrong person. You know, I I'd be very surprised if SLV doesn't have the silver they say they're going to have. But having said that, you know, I am not a fan of SLV at all. When you mention Black Rockck and JP Morgan in the same sentence, I'm run screaming. I run screaming. Okay. And so should everybody else, you know. I own PSLV for exactly that reason, you know. And I've owned PSLV since the outset. you know, I've had it for as long as uh Eric came up with the with the fund. So, um you know, I just don't don't like uh SLV or um or GLD for those reasons because they're controlled by the big banks and I just don't trust them. So, um that that's not investment advice, but that's where I stand on the issue. >> Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Another thing I wanted to talk about was reports that I've heard from several guests on this show. I've seen it come up on social media as well that representatives from China are buying silver concentrate directly from silver miners around the world kind of under the radar. Do you know if this is true and and if so, what is their endgame in your view? >> Uh yes, it's absolutely true. This has been going on for a while now. They're scouring South and Central America. I think it's mostly South America, although I could be wrong about Central America. uh mostly South America scrunching up all the dory and all the um concentrate they can uh for their smelters back in China. So uh this is absolutely true and um I don't know how much of it's going on right now. You know, China is the number two silver producer in the world. They import a lot of silver. They export a lot of silver and the fact that they're out there scrging this stuff up, you know, it's just just means that u well I was told by one mining executive that the reason they're doing this is they're trying to starve the US smelters out of product. So they don't they don't have as much product for themselves. And there's could be a element of truth in that. But the fact of the matter is, you know, yes, China's been scarring South and Central America, not only for silver dory and silver concentrate, but for for a lot of other things too, including gold. >> Let's talk about the silver mining sector. It's looking quite good year to date. Both the SIL and SJ ETFs up around 60% uh obviously greatly outperforming silver itself and completely outperforming the broad market. What are your thoughts here on the price action in the silver miners? Do you think we're on the cusp of a of a bull market for silver mining stocks? And uh if so, do you think now is a good time to get in? Obviously, we don't give investment advice here, but um so some are saying it could be overbought at these levels. How do you see it? >> You know, I'll tell you what, in the last two months, I think it's been the last couple of months, we've seen uh up until then, the shares were just stinking up the place. I mean, they weren't outperforming the metal at all. I mean, it was just terrible. Normally when we're in a bull market the the shares or the the shares are are selling for like two or three at least three time two or three times what they what they uh this actual silver prices gain is and we haven't it's been years and decades since we've seen that and all of a sudden in the last couple of months uh I've reported in my column I said you know so that you know who's buying all these shares all of a sudden we have a big update and the silver hadn't done much and this has been going on for a while now and as you point correctly pointed out you know the silver equities are up 60% this year and and and and silver's up 29%. So we're at two times on that and in gold it's up um the shares I have the numbers right in front of me on Nick Large's chart. You know Huey as of yesterday was up 68% year to date and and gold itself was up 27. So that's more than two times right there and it's two times bit more than two times in silver. So, somebody is coming in and buying up all is quietly buying up all the shares I can they can. And these aren't this isn't Joe Six-Pack buying these shares. You know, the retail investment sector is absolutely dead than a doornail, whether it be physical or for the shares. The people, you know, buying these shares are people with deep, deep pockets. They know exactly what's coming. And uh if you're looking for a sign that silver prices are going to go higher, all you have to do is look at the massive buying in the silver stocks. In the last couple of months, it's been going on quietly under the surface. Just like the short covering in um SLV and in the ComX futures market, silver go and gold has been going on quietly for the last two months. And unless you know where to look, you'd never see it. So this is just another brick-in-the-wall, you know, straw in the wind that something is a foot. >> Yeah. And speaking of big money entering into the silver space, earlier this year, uh, billionaire David Baitman bought a massive amount of silver. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but but it was an extremely large amount. This just came to mind as you were mentioning that it wasn't Joe and Jane six-pack buying the silver mining stocks. Um, and he stood for delivery and he's been posting about it on X ever since. Um, he's a big believer in that silver tripledigit silver price due to all of the factors that you've outlined in our conversation so far. Do you hear any word of uh large either individual players or institutions actually purchasing physical silver in large quantities and standing for delivery? And do you think that might be a trend we see develop moving forward? >> Well, you know, we've had big deliveries this year in the ComX futures market in both silver and gold. And because it's all done through the bullion banks, you don't know who the individual players are that are are doing the stopping on this. In other words, uh, you know, um, standing for delivery on their long positions. We just have no idea who they are as individual investors. But I can tell you right now that this Mr. Baitman fellow, and I saw the ex post about that that you're referring to. And, uh, he's just one of the people that's, you know, gets up there and shouts out, you know, it's the top of the hill and shouts at the top of his lungs, look, look what I just did. You know, but the fact of the matter is that the big money, you know, the the people that do do it under the, you know, quietly, you know, they'll they'll call a broker to make a decision, you know, get their heads together with the company or whatever and say, "Look, you know, this is what's going to happen. So, I think we should quietly do this." So, you know, for every person that's shouting it from the rooftops buying big silver and bless the man, love him to pieces, okay? There are countless more that are doing it quietly and under the hood under the under the hood and we're seeing that like I said in the uh shares of GLD and SLV and all the precious uh minor stocks but they're doing it quietly and under the radar where nobody knows but if like I said if you know where to look and as you just pointed correctly pointed out we've seen a huge jump in the value of the uh precious metal shares and that's the quiet money accumulating for whatever's coming next. Let's talk about gold. Uh what do you think the main catalysts and uh tailwinds currently driving the gold sector are? And what do you make of gold's price action? Because it's been consolidating sideways for quite some time now, a few months at this point. Uh what are your thoughts? >> Well, it's been it's been we've been in this flag pattern uh in gold since middle of April. So, this has been going on for a long time. But you know, let's you know, I want to I I want to get look at this thing from 50,000 ft up is the fact that nobody knows what the true free market prices of silver or gold is. We know we can look at the day-to-day action. It goes up one day and down the next and we're ooing and aawing and people are complaining or rejoicing about what's going on. But you have to remember that for the last 50 plus years, eight commercial traders, most of them bullion banks, have been sitting on the prices of all four precious metals and copper and West Texas Intermediate crude. They have been controlling their prices in the ComX futures market. Nobody has any idea what the free market price of of gold is or silver. And everybody agrees, okay, that silver should be some rather fantastic three-digit price. And it would be if if uh if they weren't sitting on it, the Comx futures market. And the same goes for gold. It they've been sitting on the price forever. And platinum is even worse. If you think gold's bad, you know, the short position in platinum is just plain ugly. And it's number two after silver. So, you know, if we ever get a short covering rally like Ted Butler's bonfire of the silver shorts and um uh we're going to see who knows what the free part, you know, gold could be 10 or $15,000 an ounce. Silver should be let's just pick a number of 250. I mean, that's eight times what it is today. Look at the gold silver ratio. It's what 89 to1. It comes out of the ground at 7 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold. So you know even a realistic say 20 to1 for silver or 10 to 1 it would not be outline 10 * what 10 * 38 is what 380 okay and 8 time is it it is you know it's 320. So, you know, gold could be at what whatever number we're, you know, we're we're dealing with semantics here. When you've got the bullion banks, which you pointed out earlier correctly, as you know, they're trying to prevent people from running from the paper asset, you know, Nvidia and all these GameStop and all these paper. They're trying to keep people in the paper market in the bond market and preventing them from running into the physical market. Anything. I don't care if it's rubber or cocoa, but you know, gold and silver have been money for all of, you know, all of recorded history. And the central banks have been buying the stuff up hand over fist for the last 3 years. And uh people are buying the shares now under the hood. And um you know, this price management scheme has been going on for the last 50 years. And you know, um sooner or later it has to end. And uh we're seeing you know we're seeing the signs of it now with you know the shares up what big this year and silver now at 39. I mean I remember when buying silver way back in 2000 or 1999 for $5 an ounce and now it's at 39 and uh it should be about 10 times that price. So, you know, it we don't know what the true pre pre-market prices are and if the banks ever get off, you know, get off out of their short positions and have to cover. Then we're going to find out what it is. But, um, you know, so gold is gold like silver and platinum and platium and everything else. We're going to get a big reset in commodity prices because they've been sitting on them trying to keep everybody in the fiat currency system for the last well, like I said, 50 plus years. And sooner or later that's all going to fail. And um they're talking about like I said everybody's talking about a reset of one great reset of one kind or another. And when the physical commodities get repriced like silver is going to get repriced one of these days that in and of itself will be a great reset on its own. >> And we have been in this fiat currency experiment for actually not that long. If you go back to 1971 that's yesterday in the span of human history. Is it correct that prior to 1971, like is this the first global fiat currency system we have been in where the whole world is essentially on a form of currency that is not backed by anything aside from trust in their governments. >> Absolutely. I mean uh we're in uncharted territory here. You know, I'll be 77 years old on my next birthday. I remember perfectly well back in the 50s and the 60s, every every coin except for the nickel and the penny were made out of silver. The silver dollars, the quarters, the 50 cent pieces, the dimes. We thought nothing of it back then, you know. And uh I remember I was in a small town and we had a bank there. Royal Bank of Canada was the only bank we had. This is the days before credit unions came along. And anyway, you I would go in the bank as a small boy with my mother and at the end of the counter, I was always intrigued by this. is there was a little cubicle there that said gold exchange. And in those days, if you looked at your paper money, whether it be a $1 bill or a 10 or 20, uh I never saw a $20 bill until I was like 16 years old because money just there wasn't a lot of money back in those days, you know. But every bill had the same thing on it. It said, "We'll pay the bearer on demand." Which means you could take your $35 or in Canadian, whatever the heck it was in down to the bank, and they would have to pay you in gold for that. Okay? And then in 71, that all disappeared. And we've been on this fiat currency system ever since. It is on its very last legs. Uh it's going to fail. There's no ifs, ands, buts, or may about it. You know, China's accumulating gold. They know what's coming. Russia's everybody's accumulating gold quietly and now the central banks have been absolutely you know outfront about it you know a thousand plus tons a year and who else who knows what else they've been accumulating and who else is accumulating but this is this is all going to come crashing down because you know what did was it Thomas Jefferson said paper is poverty it is but the ghost of money not money itself >> okay >> so we're about to find that out in spades and All the signs are you know slowly I mean everybody complains about well it it's 11:00 how come it's now it's going to be I expect this to happen in 1 hour you know changes like this you know monumental changes in in politics or finances or whatever take place at glacial speeds and there's always somebody there running interference to make sure it lasts as long as possible and you know we've been in this paper situation for the last 50 years so what's another six months or year I mean uh but the change is coming and what's it saying? Um, Hemingway saying slowly at first and suddenly, well, the slowly part is getting faster and faster all the time. That thin edge of the wedge is getting thicker and thicker. So, you we're just sitting here. I'm looking at the price of silver right now and it was a down 65 cents and now it's up 54 cents today and gold's up 3360. So, what happened yesterday? Maybe there was some short covering going on. What's going on today? Who knows? But you know, you know, I look at my stock portfolio and I look at it what it was at the beginning of the year and I look at it now what it is now and what it's going to be in the future and I'm very happy. So if you go if you're going to buy something, uh, buy the dip like we're getting right now and sit back and just wait and cuz that day is coming. >> And isn't it crazy that your average person out on the street has no idea about any of this? That's the thing that gets me is that that was 1971 when we went on a global fiat currency system where we removed gold from backing. Obviously the through Breton Woods uh the US dollar was backed by gold. Most major currencies were pegged to the US dollar and so by proxy you had kind of a global currency system pegged to gold. Although you could not go into a bank I believe uh in most places in the world and exchange your dollars for gold. Under Bretton Woods, there was a true gold standard pre prior to that, of course, but nobody knows this history. Nobody knows it out on the street. H how how are we going to shift to an honest monetary system potentially with gold and silver involved if you're a man on the street has absolutely no clue. Is it just a matter of eventually this will be forced upon us? You know, like I think who who was it who had that quote? um was it Churchill who said the American empire always does the right thing after they've exhausted all other options. I would extend that to governments in general. But are we going to reach that breaking point and be forced to reintroduce gold and silver and that's when people will kind of have to wake up? >> Okay. First of all, I want to point out that back in 1967 and '68 when they started taking the silver out of the coinies, there was a mad rush by everybody in the entire population when I was how 60 I was 15 years old. 15 about 15 at the time and everybody in town was taking all the silver they could find. The banks were out of silver coins. There was a coin shortage in Canada for a couple years because everybody just stole this, you know, took the stuff and said, you know, they because they knew what it meant. They knew that it was inflation. I remember when postings went from 6 cents to 7 cents. There was a riot that cost, you know, 6 cents to mail a first class letter. That was outrageous. Okay. Of course, look what happened since. Okay. But here's the other thing, too, is that the governments control what everybody learns in school. Okay? They don't teach anything about a gold standard. They don't say, they don't refer to the great coinage thing of 19. They don't talk about it at all. They talk about this and they talk about that. Look over here. Don't look over here. Okay. So, there's two or three generations of people that have no idea about gold and silver. And that is deliberate. They've dumbed the population down in absolutely everything. I know what I took in school uh when I was a kid back in the 50s in the early 60s. And what they're teaching in school today and what I learned back then are two entirely different things. What has changed? They don't teach you how to balance a checkbook. they don't teach to do anything responsible anymore. So when we have a reset, every 99% of the population is going to go down with the ship and it's too bad. But you know, it's been deliberately set up that way. And like you said, the United when this thing, you know, they've they've been at this price management thing for so long that they just going to keep it up right until the very very bitter end. The last good delivery bar goes out the door before the whole thing collapses. And and we're going to see that. And and you know, a lot of countries um are aware of that. The banking system is certainly aware of that and that's why they're stocking up on much gold as they can and somebody's buying the shares. So, you know, it's uh like I said, it's just a matter of time and uh it's just unfortunate uh but deliberate that the vast majority of the people in the planet Earth are going to get uh are going to go down with a ship when this thing comes down. I want to put the question of gold revaluation to you because there's been rumors abounding recently that the Fed might be considering revaluing their gold reserves. This was kind of reignited. They released a paper where wherein they discussed uh some other nations who had revalued either I think part or all of their gold reserves. I don't know the exact specifics but they released a paper examining that and the effects of it. So that's led to a lot of speculation that it's a move that the Fed uh and the US government could be considering. Is this a realistic proposition in your view? Does it even make sense? What could its implications be? Is it more noise than signal? What are your thoughts? >> It's wild ass speculation right now. Uh I can see why they would want to do it. Uh it's all part of this thing, the great reset. Uh if they decided to revalue gold, like I said, nobody knows what the true price of these metals are anyway. If they left them run freely and the banks weren't allowed to suppress their prices or trade in these in these precious metals, who knows what they' be at priced at today. It could be $30,000 an ounce for gold. It could be $400 an ounce for silver. Nobody knows. Okay. So, this talk of a revaluation is basically going to be a reset of all the inflation that's been suppressed in the in the precious metals since in the last 50 plus years. So, could they do it? Sure. Will they do it? Who knows? I mean, it's just speculation. All I know is one thing is for sure. I would rather be all in the day before that happens rather than the day after. So uh you know I've been all in in the precious metals now for what better for 25 years and uh although it's it's been pretty rocky at times you know there's no place I'd rather be. So is a revaluation in the cards? Uh I would s that suggests it and I can tell you right now that if silver is trading at north of $300 an ounce, you can bet that gold's going to be at some fantastic price that uh you can't possibly imagine. So it's it's it's impossible to tell. And uh you know, I'm just like I said, I'm I'm all in just sitting here waiting for this day like everybody else. >> Well, before I let you go, final question. We talk a lot about gold and silver on this show whenever I have you on. But I'm wondering if there's any other asset categories that you think could outperform up ahead. You mentioned you thought oil was suppressed as well. Is is that another um commodity where we could see true price discovery moving forward? Obviously platinum, palladium. I know that you're you're very bullish on um for those reasons. Where else are you looking outside of of gold and silver for upside value these days? >> You know, I'll tell you what, I don't invest in anything else. I'm just in gold and silver and of course zinc and copper and all that other stuff because it's a byproduct of the silver mining process. You know, I'm looking I'm okay. I'm looking at uranium and say well that's got a future for it. Okay. >> And crude oil of course at at what is it $50 $60 a barrel. That's ridiculously low priced. Okay. Uh so but the thing is that when this we when we see a reset in gold and silver we're going to reset see a reset in all the prices of commodities at the same time. So, you know, I'm looking at these things, but you know, I you know, I've I've been in, you know, I'm I made my choice back in 1997, I believe, that, you know, I I remember what my grandfather told me when I was a little boy back when I was about 10 years old in the early 50s. And I've always remembered that since he's never trust banks that, you know, u I've always owned gold. >> What a great lesson. >> Okay. Yeah. Um, I've always owned gold and he sold me the gold and silver he brought back from from because he fought in World War I in Belgium and France and he brought back the gold and silver uh that he had with him and he said, "This is the only thing that you have to worry about." And so when you're 10 years old, you have a sort you sort of remember that stuff, you know? And so when we had the big run up in the Hunt Brothers back in 1980s, I think I was in my early 30s at the time, I made a bunch of money and I made like3 or $4,000, which was real money back then. Okay. And then I lost it all. Okay. Cuz I didn't know anything about the silver month market or anything. Okay. But the bug had been set and the die was cast and in 1997 uh when we had the Washington court, I've been following this and all of a sudden the gold and silver bug bit hard. And what my grandfather told me when I was 10 years old sort of set me on the course for the rest of my life since then. And uh I look at what's going on out there. I know what's going on. Prices have been suppressed. This can't last forever. paper is poverty is but the ghost of money to Thomas Jefferson and my grandfather whispering that in my ear. I'm all in and just sitting here waiting for this whole thing to blow up or melt down, whichever the case may be. >> Well, that has got to be the best advice ever given to a grandchild. When I have children, that'll be one of the first lessons I teach them. Do not trust the banks. Uh well, Ed, this has been a fantastic conversation. Tell us about Ed Ed Steer's Gold and Silver Digest. >> Well, just Google my name, Ed Steer. Ster Ed Steer Golds. my website will pop up and there's a tab on there gives you a free sample column. It shows you the kind of stuff I report on which is very facts based. There's no speculation here. It's just the facts and if that sort of information interests you. The costs $100 US per year for about 260 issues. >> Great. Well, I'll put a link in the description below so people can check it out. Thank you so much, Ed, for coming on again. Always enjoy our conversations. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. >> Thank you for joining us today. Take advantage of arc silver gold osmium specials. Silver kangaroos 2023 1oz coins $247 over spot. Silver maple leaves 2025 1oz coins just $2.87 over spot while supplies last. Reach out to owner Ian Everard today at 3072649441 or by email at ianarchsggo.com and make sure to tell him that commodity culture sent you. and I'll see you guys in the next episode. And by the way, pick up your merch. Hats, hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, all backed by 100% quality guarantee. Link is in the description below. Commodity Culture is a series on commodities and natural resources. If you would like to see more, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell notification so you're always up to date with the latest episodes.
LBMA Silver Set to 'Flat Run Out', Banks Caught Short Will BURN: Ed Steer
Summary
Transcript
Hello everybody and welcome into commodity culture where our goal is to make you a better investor in the commodities sector. My name is Jesse Day and on this episode I'm thrilled to welcome Ed Steer to the program. A precious metals expert who has been analyzing the space for over 20 years. He is a former contributor to Casey Research and the founder of Ed Sears Gold and Silver Digest. We are going deep on both the silver and gold sectors today as Ed provides his latest take on the bullion banks manipulating both metals and why once price suppression ends and the shorts are forced to cover, gold could rise to over $10,000 with silver in the triple digits. We're going to discuss why representatives from China have been flying around the world buying up silver concentrate directly from miners. Is this a clear sign that China recognizes the true value of the metal and what is their ultimate end game? We're going to explore why Ed thinks the fiat currency system is on its last legs. And you're going to want to stick around to the end where Ed dives into why his grandfather gave him the greatest advice perhaps ever given to a grandchild. Never trust the banks. All of this and so much more. So, strap yourselves in for my conversation with Ed Steer. Ed Steer, great to have you back on Commodity Culture. Last time we spoke was at the beginning of June this year. Silver was around $35 at the time. We've since seen a breakout to nearly $40 before it pulled back and is now sitting around $38, 37 and change, close to 38. A lot of people expected silver to break out after that 40 get and get to that $40 mark and beyond. Um I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that expectation that a lot of people had and what you make of the recent price action in the silver market. >> Well, you know, a lot of people are expecting that, including including myself, you know, um but what happened is, you know, as you pointed out, silver went from 35 and it got as high as $39 an ounce. But um the uh commercial traders decided that's as high as they're going to let it go for the time being. So they capped it at $39 and we've sort of been a slight downtrend since. And of course we got smacked pretty good yesterday which was Tuesday. We've recovered a bunch today. So you know everybody expects it to break above 40. I'm expecting it to break above 40. And the the only reason it's not is because uh it's always the case. the four and eight large commercial traders uh have been sitting on the price for what the last 50 or 60 years or whatever and u we're seeing a you know they're allowing the price to rise slowly and uh one of these days some probably this fall sometime we're going to see silver break above 40 and once we get above 40 then things are really going to start to get interesting but you know we have to get through the summer doldrums you know as I we talked about on the air before we started recording this is that you know the volumes in the comx futures market are basically fumes and vapors. You know, the shares, there's not much volume in them. Everybody's on vacation. This has been like this now for the last couple of weeks and I expect this to continue right up until we get past the September long weekend or at least until we get past the Jackson Hole meeting this Friday. So, you know, it's uh it's summertime and anybody that has an agenda like they did yesterday can come in and either run the price up or smack it lower. And um there's very there was very little volume yesterday and uh so uh it's it's it's it's summertime so I'm not expecting anything until like I said until next week or until we get into the uh into the fall. >> Yeah. And you mentioned uh that there was activity interesting um activity bubbling beneath the surface when we did converse before hitting record as well in the commitment of traders report. Could could you walk us through that? Yeah, you know, if you look at the price, normally what happens is is if the boys are going to come in and try to cover short positions, they drive the price into the dirt. But, you know, we haven't seen that really. And, uh, since the since the beginning of July, which is like oh, 6 weeks ago, 7 weeks ago now, uh, the big four and the big eight shorts have covered 14,000 of their short positions. And if you look at the chart, there's no sign of it anywhere that they've beaten the price down. They've been doing it quietly and under under the radar. The only time you'd notice it is when you look at the actual numbers. You'd never know by looking at the price. So, uh, they've been reducing their short positions like mad and very quietly. And not just in silver, but also in gold. It's but it's much much more pronounced in silver. And, uh, they've covered, like I said, 14,000 contracts, which is 70 million ounces they managed to cover, and there's rec to cover, and there's no sign of it in the price whatsoever. And I'm expecting this Friday's commitment to raise report to show another big drop. So, um, quietly and under the hood, uh, the four large four and eight largest traders, the ones that are actually controlling the prices in silver and in gold, uh, are are heading for the exits. >> Well, I wanted to discuss the possibility of tripledigit silver with you here because everybody's talking about $50. We need to get back to previous all-time highs. If we return to 1980 all-time highs, we're looking at $200, just under $200 silver. And even if we're using the two, if people will say, well, that wasn't an organic spike. It it was due to the Hunt Brothers silver squeeze. Well, we could go to 2011, it's still over $100. Is this a realistic proposition in your view? Because there's a lot of talk that the powers that be certainly don't want to let silver get to those levels. Number one obviously because it then shows the weakness in fiat currency and kind of shows silver's role as money which they don't want and the other is for the industrial uses of it. Um it would then be much more expensive for manufacturing particularly military purposes which some people who've gone down that rabbit hole say that's one of the main reasons they want to control your the price. So, I'm wondering what your thoughts are there on on those forces trying to stop silver from getting to that level and if you think ultimately they will be successful or not. >> Well, you know, um I I have one of Keith Newire's triple-digit silver t-shirts. I don't have it on today, but it's in my closet. >> Okay. And uh there's no question about it. Silver should be some rather fantastic three-digit number right now as far as price is concerned because they've been sitting on this thing like forever. And all you have to do is look at you know the the uh supply demand fundamentals. We're now according to the silver institute in the fifth year where demand has exceeded supply by 100 or 200 million ounces. I mean, this can't go on forever. And uh, you know, they're not trying to protect the price uh, you know, because it becomes too expensive for the military, whoever the heck is, you know, using this stuff. For for most purposes, the amount of silver in any product is a minuscule amount. And, uh, so whether the price is $38 like it is today or $380 isn't going to make a lot of difference to their product. Um the only reason that we're sitting at the price we are at today is because as I said to your previous question is that the large commercial traders which are mostly bullion banks have been sitting on this price the price of it for the last you know three or four generations. So, uh, like I said, they're covering the short positions and, uh, the supply demand fundamentals dictate that at some point we're going to run into a a a situation where the the physical supply doesn't exist and then we're going to see far higher prices. You know, Ted, silver analyst Ted Butler wrote a piece about that called the bonfire of the silver shorts and the these big runups in silver that we saw back in 2011 and back in 1980 with us. I' I've lived through both of those, you know, were basically short covering rallies where the shorts were were running to cover their short positions and driving the price higher. Well, this time when uh silver goes and we do run into a a problem, we're going to see a uh three-digit silver price is going to be rather shocking. So, u it's just a matter of when it happens, not if it happens. And uh you know they've been keeping it on the lid on this thing for for for a couple of generations and uh but one of these days uh it'll break once it breaks above 40 I think then you'll s re see it really start to move cuz I think some of the short position short holders you know are sitting on horrendous losses and they're going to be forced to cover and once we break through 40 I think it it won't be long before we break through 50 and once we break through that well it's then the sky's is the limit. And now a quick break to hear from our sponsor. Ark Silver Gold Obium owner Ian Everard is considered one of the most honest and levelheaded gold and silver dealers in the United States. Praised even by his competitors. So give him a call today to take advantage of the specials right now. Silver Kangaroos 2023 1oz coins mint fresh only $247 over spot. Mint fresh silver maple leaves 2025 coins 1 ounce $2.87 over spot while supplies last. Reach out today at 3072649441 or by email at ianarchsggo.com and make sure to tell him that commodity culture sent you. And now back to the interview. Yeah, and I think that run from 35 to nearly $40. It got to I think 39.40 40 or somewhere around there before correcting a little bit. It's still hovering around 38. I think that's actually a very promising development. I think one of the issues is we live in a world of social media noise and and so people expect instantaneous results like, okay, it's headed to 40, it's going to go to 50, and then when it doesn't, they're ultimately disappointed and and then they come to my comment section and complain about it. So, I I do want to bring one thing to your attention that I came across on X. I'm not sure if it's legitimate or not or or not. There was an account called My Precious Silver and they posted that the SLV ETF added over 10 million shares a couple of days ago. A fact they claim means 285 metric tons less free float in LBMA vaults. Now, as I mentioned, social media is so full of noise. People are throwing around things. Sometimes they're not as significant as they're made out to be. Do you have any insight into this and any thoughts you could give us overall on current LBMA silver inventory levels? >> Oh, sure. I mean, uh, the that 10 million ounces is probably right on the money. And the reason I say that is very simple. Uh, I think it was on Monday, um, SLV added 9.1 million troy ounces of silver to their to their stash, which, you know, roughly translates into 10 million shares. So, you know, that that is absolutely true. I mean, I I it was the headline to my column uh on Tuesday or or was it Saturday? I can't remember what day it was, but it's happened within the last three or four days that 9.1 million ounces of silver was added to SLV. And when you add that silver to SLV, uh you have to generate the shares to back that up. And so that that is absolutely uh absolutely correct. And u whether it be 9.1 million shares or 10 million or whatever, it's a lot of silver. 285 as as this gentleman reported. And uh you know that's not exactly chopped labor. I mean that's a lot of silver. You know everybody's watching the float in London. London is such an opaque market that you know they don't tell you anything more than they absolutely have to. And uh you know that 9 or 10 million shares 10 million ounces um went from the free float into SLV. And of course there's other ETFs out there besides SLV. And so, you know, the the amount of silver in the float out there is getting smaller and smaller all the time. And uh once we get it like once we have silver above $40 when you're going to see the amount of silver pour into these ETFs just absolutely skyrocket. So, you know, it's a very delicate balancing act for, you know, for the silver inventories in the LBMA and and sooner or later they're just going to flat run out and um everybody's looking around for the signs of that to happen. And that 9.1 million ounces that just got added, I mean, what was that all about? My guess is it was added uh it was added on Monday. Now that I think about it, that was probably added to cover an existing short position in SLV because the short position in SLV right now is, let me see, in the last short report, it was 45.22 million shares/droy ounces. That is a horrendous amount. It's like 8 and a half. it's it's 8 and a half% of the entire float of SLV shares is held short and uh that short position you know a short position is an open position that has to be covered and those who are short most likely some of the big bullion banks but sooner or later have to cover either by buying the shares or depositing the physical metal and that physical metal at 9.1 million ounces is probably added to SLV to cover a short position Um and it won't be in the next for short report that comes out next Tuesday because it was deposited it it's they're very it was deposited on the 18th which is a Monday and the cuto off for the next report is was last Friday. So it was conveniently added so we won't see the results in next Tuesday's uh sort report in SLV. So there's between that and the covering in the the big four and the big eight and this big addition to SLV uh and the huge short position SLV like I said there's all kinds of intrigue going on if you don't know where to look uh there's there's there's there's big activity going on. >> Do you have any concerns about the authenticity of the numbers reported by SL the SLV ETF? I know there was concern raised. It must have been one or two years ago that the SLV changed its perspectus and changed the language and it's something to the effect of that they might not exactly have all of the exact ounces to back the amount of shares that they've issued which is why there was a big push for you should invest in PSLV instead the SPAT product because all of that is 100% authenticated. What are your thoughts there? >> You know I wasn't aware of those changes in SLV. So, you know, you're talking to the wrong person. You know, I I'd be very surprised if SLV doesn't have the silver they say they're going to have. But having said that, you know, I am not a fan of SLV at all. When you mention Black Rockck and JP Morgan in the same sentence, I'm run screaming. I run screaming. Okay. And so should everybody else, you know. I own PSLV for exactly that reason, you know. And I've owned PSLV since the outset. you know, I've had it for as long as uh Eric came up with the with the fund. So, um you know, I just don't don't like uh SLV or um or GLD for those reasons because they're controlled by the big banks and I just don't trust them. So, um that that's not investment advice, but that's where I stand on the issue. >> Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Another thing I wanted to talk about was reports that I've heard from several guests on this show. I've seen it come up on social media as well that representatives from China are buying silver concentrate directly from silver miners around the world kind of under the radar. Do you know if this is true and and if so, what is their endgame in your view? >> Uh yes, it's absolutely true. This has been going on for a while now. They're scouring South and Central America. I think it's mostly South America, although I could be wrong about Central America. uh mostly South America scrunching up all the dory and all the um concentrate they can uh for their smelters back in China. So uh this is absolutely true and um I don't know how much of it's going on right now. You know, China is the number two silver producer in the world. They import a lot of silver. They export a lot of silver and the fact that they're out there scrging this stuff up, you know, it's just just means that u well I was told by one mining executive that the reason they're doing this is they're trying to starve the US smelters out of product. So they don't they don't have as much product for themselves. And there's could be a element of truth in that. But the fact of the matter is, you know, yes, China's been scarring South and Central America, not only for silver dory and silver concentrate, but for for a lot of other things too, including gold. >> Let's talk about the silver mining sector. It's looking quite good year to date. Both the SIL and SJ ETFs up around 60% uh obviously greatly outperforming silver itself and completely outperforming the broad market. What are your thoughts here on the price action in the silver miners? Do you think we're on the cusp of a of a bull market for silver mining stocks? And uh if so, do you think now is a good time to get in? Obviously, we don't give investment advice here, but um so some are saying it could be overbought at these levels. How do you see it? >> You know, I'll tell you what, in the last two months, I think it's been the last couple of months, we've seen uh up until then, the shares were just stinking up the place. I mean, they weren't outperforming the metal at all. I mean, it was just terrible. Normally when we're in a bull market the the shares or the the shares are are selling for like two or three at least three time two or three times what they what they uh this actual silver prices gain is and we haven't it's been years and decades since we've seen that and all of a sudden in the last couple of months uh I've reported in my column I said you know so that you know who's buying all these shares all of a sudden we have a big update and the silver hadn't done much and this has been going on for a while now and as you point correctly pointed out you know the silver equities are up 60% this year and and and and silver's up 29%. So we're at two times on that and in gold it's up um the shares I have the numbers right in front of me on Nick Large's chart. You know Huey as of yesterday was up 68% year to date and and gold itself was up 27. So that's more than two times right there and it's two times bit more than two times in silver. So, somebody is coming in and buying up all is quietly buying up all the shares I can they can. And these aren't this isn't Joe Six-Pack buying these shares. You know, the retail investment sector is absolutely dead than a doornail, whether it be physical or for the shares. The people, you know, buying these shares are people with deep, deep pockets. They know exactly what's coming. And uh if you're looking for a sign that silver prices are going to go higher, all you have to do is look at the massive buying in the silver stocks. In the last couple of months, it's been going on quietly under the surface. Just like the short covering in um SLV and in the ComX futures market, silver go and gold has been going on quietly for the last two months. And unless you know where to look, you'd never see it. So this is just another brick-in-the-wall, you know, straw in the wind that something is a foot. >> Yeah. And speaking of big money entering into the silver space, earlier this year, uh, billionaire David Baitman bought a massive amount of silver. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but but it was an extremely large amount. This just came to mind as you were mentioning that it wasn't Joe and Jane six-pack buying the silver mining stocks. Um, and he stood for delivery and he's been posting about it on X ever since. Um, he's a big believer in that silver tripledigit silver price due to all of the factors that you've outlined in our conversation so far. Do you hear any word of uh large either individual players or institutions actually purchasing physical silver in large quantities and standing for delivery? And do you think that might be a trend we see develop moving forward? >> Well, you know, we've had big deliveries this year in the ComX futures market in both silver and gold. And because it's all done through the bullion banks, you don't know who the individual players are that are are doing the stopping on this. In other words, uh, you know, um, standing for delivery on their long positions. We just have no idea who they are as individual investors. But I can tell you right now that this Mr. Baitman fellow, and I saw the ex post about that that you're referring to. And, uh, he's just one of the people that's, you know, gets up there and shouts out, you know, it's the top of the hill and shouts at the top of his lungs, look, look what I just did. You know, but the fact of the matter is that the big money, you know, the the people that do do it under the, you know, quietly, you know, they'll they'll call a broker to make a decision, you know, get their heads together with the company or whatever and say, "Look, you know, this is what's going to happen. So, I think we should quietly do this." So, you know, for every person that's shouting it from the rooftops buying big silver and bless the man, love him to pieces, okay? There are countless more that are doing it quietly and under the hood under the under the hood and we're seeing that like I said in the uh shares of GLD and SLV and all the precious uh minor stocks but they're doing it quietly and under the radar where nobody knows but if like I said if you know where to look and as you just pointed correctly pointed out we've seen a huge jump in the value of the uh precious metal shares and that's the quiet money accumulating for whatever's coming next. Let's talk about gold. Uh what do you think the main catalysts and uh tailwinds currently driving the gold sector are? And what do you make of gold's price action? Because it's been consolidating sideways for quite some time now, a few months at this point. Uh what are your thoughts? >> Well, it's been it's been we've been in this flag pattern uh in gold since middle of April. So, this has been going on for a long time. But you know, let's you know, I want to I I want to get look at this thing from 50,000 ft up is the fact that nobody knows what the true free market prices of silver or gold is. We know we can look at the day-to-day action. It goes up one day and down the next and we're ooing and aawing and people are complaining or rejoicing about what's going on. But you have to remember that for the last 50 plus years, eight commercial traders, most of them bullion banks, have been sitting on the prices of all four precious metals and copper and West Texas Intermediate crude. They have been controlling their prices in the ComX futures market. Nobody has any idea what the free market price of of gold is or silver. And everybody agrees, okay, that silver should be some rather fantastic three-digit price. And it would be if if uh if they weren't sitting on it, the Comx futures market. And the same goes for gold. It they've been sitting on the price forever. And platinum is even worse. If you think gold's bad, you know, the short position in platinum is just plain ugly. And it's number two after silver. So, you know, if we ever get a short covering rally like Ted Butler's bonfire of the silver shorts and um uh we're going to see who knows what the free part, you know, gold could be 10 or $15,000 an ounce. Silver should be let's just pick a number of 250. I mean, that's eight times what it is today. Look at the gold silver ratio. It's what 89 to1. It comes out of the ground at 7 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold. So you know even a realistic say 20 to1 for silver or 10 to 1 it would not be outline 10 * what 10 * 38 is what 380 okay and 8 time is it it is you know it's 320. So, you know, gold could be at what whatever number we're, you know, we're we're dealing with semantics here. When you've got the bullion banks, which you pointed out earlier correctly, as you know, they're trying to prevent people from running from the paper asset, you know, Nvidia and all these GameStop and all these paper. They're trying to keep people in the paper market in the bond market and preventing them from running into the physical market. Anything. I don't care if it's rubber or cocoa, but you know, gold and silver have been money for all of, you know, all of recorded history. And the central banks have been buying the stuff up hand over fist for the last 3 years. And uh people are buying the shares now under the hood. And um you know, this price management scheme has been going on for the last 50 years. And you know, um sooner or later it has to end. And uh we're seeing you know we're seeing the signs of it now with you know the shares up what big this year and silver now at 39. I mean I remember when buying silver way back in 2000 or 1999 for $5 an ounce and now it's at 39 and uh it should be about 10 times that price. So, you know, it we don't know what the true pre pre-market prices are and if the banks ever get off, you know, get off out of their short positions and have to cover. Then we're going to find out what it is. But, um, you know, so gold is gold like silver and platinum and platium and everything else. We're going to get a big reset in commodity prices because they've been sitting on them trying to keep everybody in the fiat currency system for the last well, like I said, 50 plus years. And sooner or later that's all going to fail. And um they're talking about like I said everybody's talking about a reset of one great reset of one kind or another. And when the physical commodities get repriced like silver is going to get repriced one of these days that in and of itself will be a great reset on its own. >> And we have been in this fiat currency experiment for actually not that long. If you go back to 1971 that's yesterday in the span of human history. Is it correct that prior to 1971, like is this the first global fiat currency system we have been in where the whole world is essentially on a form of currency that is not backed by anything aside from trust in their governments. >> Absolutely. I mean uh we're in uncharted territory here. You know, I'll be 77 years old on my next birthday. I remember perfectly well back in the 50s and the 60s, every every coin except for the nickel and the penny were made out of silver. The silver dollars, the quarters, the 50 cent pieces, the dimes. We thought nothing of it back then, you know. And uh I remember I was in a small town and we had a bank there. Royal Bank of Canada was the only bank we had. This is the days before credit unions came along. And anyway, you I would go in the bank as a small boy with my mother and at the end of the counter, I was always intrigued by this. is there was a little cubicle there that said gold exchange. And in those days, if you looked at your paper money, whether it be a $1 bill or a 10 or 20, uh I never saw a $20 bill until I was like 16 years old because money just there wasn't a lot of money back in those days, you know. But every bill had the same thing on it. It said, "We'll pay the bearer on demand." Which means you could take your $35 or in Canadian, whatever the heck it was in down to the bank, and they would have to pay you in gold for that. Okay? And then in 71, that all disappeared. And we've been on this fiat currency system ever since. It is on its very last legs. Uh it's going to fail. There's no ifs, ands, buts, or may about it. You know, China's accumulating gold. They know what's coming. Russia's everybody's accumulating gold quietly and now the central banks have been absolutely you know outfront about it you know a thousand plus tons a year and who else who knows what else they've been accumulating and who else is accumulating but this is this is all going to come crashing down because you know what did was it Thomas Jefferson said paper is poverty it is but the ghost of money not money itself >> okay >> so we're about to find that out in spades and All the signs are you know slowly I mean everybody complains about well it it's 11:00 how come it's now it's going to be I expect this to happen in 1 hour you know changes like this you know monumental changes in in politics or finances or whatever take place at glacial speeds and there's always somebody there running interference to make sure it lasts as long as possible and you know we've been in this paper situation for the last 50 years so what's another six months or year I mean uh but the change is coming and what's it saying? Um, Hemingway saying slowly at first and suddenly, well, the slowly part is getting faster and faster all the time. That thin edge of the wedge is getting thicker and thicker. So, you we're just sitting here. I'm looking at the price of silver right now and it was a down 65 cents and now it's up 54 cents today and gold's up 3360. So, what happened yesterday? Maybe there was some short covering going on. What's going on today? Who knows? But you know, you know, I look at my stock portfolio and I look at it what it was at the beginning of the year and I look at it now what it is now and what it's going to be in the future and I'm very happy. So if you go if you're going to buy something, uh, buy the dip like we're getting right now and sit back and just wait and cuz that day is coming. >> And isn't it crazy that your average person out on the street has no idea about any of this? That's the thing that gets me is that that was 1971 when we went on a global fiat currency system where we removed gold from backing. Obviously the through Breton Woods uh the US dollar was backed by gold. Most major currencies were pegged to the US dollar and so by proxy you had kind of a global currency system pegged to gold. Although you could not go into a bank I believe uh in most places in the world and exchange your dollars for gold. Under Bretton Woods, there was a true gold standard pre prior to that, of course, but nobody knows this history. Nobody knows it out on the street. H how how are we going to shift to an honest monetary system potentially with gold and silver involved if you're a man on the street has absolutely no clue. Is it just a matter of eventually this will be forced upon us? You know, like I think who who was it who had that quote? um was it Churchill who said the American empire always does the right thing after they've exhausted all other options. I would extend that to governments in general. But are we going to reach that breaking point and be forced to reintroduce gold and silver and that's when people will kind of have to wake up? >> Okay. First of all, I want to point out that back in 1967 and '68 when they started taking the silver out of the coinies, there was a mad rush by everybody in the entire population when I was how 60 I was 15 years old. 15 about 15 at the time and everybody in town was taking all the silver they could find. The banks were out of silver coins. There was a coin shortage in Canada for a couple years because everybody just stole this, you know, took the stuff and said, you know, they because they knew what it meant. They knew that it was inflation. I remember when postings went from 6 cents to 7 cents. There was a riot that cost, you know, 6 cents to mail a first class letter. That was outrageous. Okay. Of course, look what happened since. Okay. But here's the other thing, too, is that the governments control what everybody learns in school. Okay? They don't teach anything about a gold standard. They don't say, they don't refer to the great coinage thing of 19. They don't talk about it at all. They talk about this and they talk about that. Look over here. Don't look over here. Okay. So, there's two or three generations of people that have no idea about gold and silver. And that is deliberate. They've dumbed the population down in absolutely everything. I know what I took in school uh when I was a kid back in the 50s in the early 60s. And what they're teaching in school today and what I learned back then are two entirely different things. What has changed? They don't teach you how to balance a checkbook. they don't teach to do anything responsible anymore. So when we have a reset, every 99% of the population is going to go down with the ship and it's too bad. But you know, it's been deliberately set up that way. And like you said, the United when this thing, you know, they've they've been at this price management thing for so long that they just going to keep it up right until the very very bitter end. The last good delivery bar goes out the door before the whole thing collapses. And and we're going to see that. And and you know, a lot of countries um are aware of that. The banking system is certainly aware of that and that's why they're stocking up on much gold as they can and somebody's buying the shares. So, you know, it's uh like I said, it's just a matter of time and uh it's just unfortunate uh but deliberate that the vast majority of the people in the planet Earth are going to get uh are going to go down with a ship when this thing comes down. I want to put the question of gold revaluation to you because there's been rumors abounding recently that the Fed might be considering revaluing their gold reserves. This was kind of reignited. They released a paper where wherein they discussed uh some other nations who had revalued either I think part or all of their gold reserves. I don't know the exact specifics but they released a paper examining that and the effects of it. So that's led to a lot of speculation that it's a move that the Fed uh and the US government could be considering. Is this a realistic proposition in your view? Does it even make sense? What could its implications be? Is it more noise than signal? What are your thoughts? >> It's wild ass speculation right now. Uh I can see why they would want to do it. Uh it's all part of this thing, the great reset. Uh if they decided to revalue gold, like I said, nobody knows what the true price of these metals are anyway. If they left them run freely and the banks weren't allowed to suppress their prices or trade in these in these precious metals, who knows what they' be at priced at today. It could be $30,000 an ounce for gold. It could be $400 an ounce for silver. Nobody knows. Okay. So, this talk of a revaluation is basically going to be a reset of all the inflation that's been suppressed in the in the precious metals since in the last 50 plus years. So, could they do it? Sure. Will they do it? Who knows? I mean, it's just speculation. All I know is one thing is for sure. I would rather be all in the day before that happens rather than the day after. So uh you know I've been all in in the precious metals now for what better for 25 years and uh although it's it's been pretty rocky at times you know there's no place I'd rather be. So is a revaluation in the cards? Uh I would s that suggests it and I can tell you right now that if silver is trading at north of $300 an ounce, you can bet that gold's going to be at some fantastic price that uh you can't possibly imagine. So it's it's it's impossible to tell. And uh you know, I'm just like I said, I'm I'm all in just sitting here waiting for this day like everybody else. >> Well, before I let you go, final question. We talk a lot about gold and silver on this show whenever I have you on. But I'm wondering if there's any other asset categories that you think could outperform up ahead. You mentioned you thought oil was suppressed as well. Is is that another um commodity where we could see true price discovery moving forward? Obviously platinum, palladium. I know that you're you're very bullish on um for those reasons. Where else are you looking outside of of gold and silver for upside value these days? >> You know, I'll tell you what, I don't invest in anything else. I'm just in gold and silver and of course zinc and copper and all that other stuff because it's a byproduct of the silver mining process. You know, I'm looking I'm okay. I'm looking at uranium and say well that's got a future for it. Okay. >> And crude oil of course at at what is it $50 $60 a barrel. That's ridiculously low priced. Okay. Uh so but the thing is that when this we when we see a reset in gold and silver we're going to reset see a reset in all the prices of commodities at the same time. So, you know, I'm looking at these things, but you know, I you know, I've I've been in, you know, I'm I made my choice back in 1997, I believe, that, you know, I I remember what my grandfather told me when I was a little boy back when I was about 10 years old in the early 50s. And I've always remembered that since he's never trust banks that, you know, u I've always owned gold. >> What a great lesson. >> Okay. Yeah. Um, I've always owned gold and he sold me the gold and silver he brought back from from because he fought in World War I in Belgium and France and he brought back the gold and silver uh that he had with him and he said, "This is the only thing that you have to worry about." And so when you're 10 years old, you have a sort you sort of remember that stuff, you know? And so when we had the big run up in the Hunt Brothers back in 1980s, I think I was in my early 30s at the time, I made a bunch of money and I made like3 or $4,000, which was real money back then. Okay. And then I lost it all. Okay. Cuz I didn't know anything about the silver month market or anything. Okay. But the bug had been set and the die was cast and in 1997 uh when we had the Washington court, I've been following this and all of a sudden the gold and silver bug bit hard. And what my grandfather told me when I was 10 years old sort of set me on the course for the rest of my life since then. And uh I look at what's going on out there. I know what's going on. Prices have been suppressed. This can't last forever. paper is poverty is but the ghost of money to Thomas Jefferson and my grandfather whispering that in my ear. I'm all in and just sitting here waiting for this whole thing to blow up or melt down, whichever the case may be. >> Well, that has got to be the best advice ever given to a grandchild. When I have children, that'll be one of the first lessons I teach them. Do not trust the banks. Uh well, Ed, this has been a fantastic conversation. Tell us about Ed Ed Steer's Gold and Silver Digest. >> Well, just Google my name, Ed Steer. Ster Ed Steer Golds. my website will pop up and there's a tab on there gives you a free sample column. It shows you the kind of stuff I report on which is very facts based. There's no speculation here. It's just the facts and if that sort of information interests you. The costs $100 US per year for about 260 issues. >> Great. Well, I'll put a link in the description below so people can check it out. Thank you so much, Ed, for coming on again. Always enjoy our conversations. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. >> Thank you for joining us today. Take advantage of arc silver gold osmium specials. Silver kangaroos 2023 1oz coins $247 over spot. Silver maple leaves 2025 1oz coins just $2.87 over spot while supplies last. Reach out to owner Ian Everard today at 3072649441 or by email at ianarchsggo.com and make sure to tell him that commodity culture sent you. and I'll see you guys in the next episode. And by the way, pick up your merch. Hats, hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, all backed by 100% quality guarantee. Link is in the description below. Commodity Culture is a series on commodities and natural resources. If you would like to see more, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell notification so you're always up to date with the latest episodes.