Silver Nears $100, NATO Arrives In Greenland: What's Next For Markets? | Mark Skousen
Summary
Precious Metals: Silver surging toward $100 and gold making new highs are framed as evidence of permanent inflation and renewed monetary demand.
Silver Thesis: Industrial demand from data centers, electricity, and semiconductors plus export restrictions and scarcity underpin a bullish view on silver and related miners.
Gold Outlook: Central bank diversification away from the dollar and stubborn inflation (tariffs, higher defense outlays) support sustained strength in gold.
Defense Stocks: Escalating geopolitical risks and a larger U.S. defense budget drive a bullish stance on defense equities and ETFs, with Lockheed Martin (LMT) cited amid sector momentum.
Uranium/Nuclear: Pro-nuclear policies in the U.S., China, and Russia, with potential European shifts, support uranium’s upside from ~$80–85/lb as nuclear buildout advances.
Copper Opportunity: New highs for copper are tied to infrastructure, AI/data-center buildout, and defense demand, with exposure via names like Southern Copper (SCCO).
Tech Context: AI-linked tech led by Nvidia (NVDA) has run hard and may continue, but the guest favors commodities (gold, silver, uranium, copper) as the core overweight in 2026; prior picks include Kinross (KGC), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Caterpillar (CAT).
Transcript
As I said last year, this is the last time you're going to see it below 50. And sure enough, it has really taken off. It's legal tender at $1 and back in the '60s and now it's worth a benjamin $100 bill. And I think that's historic because it demonstrates uh that we've entered an era of permanent inflation. All this talk by the Federal Reserve that they're going to control inflation and and their goal is price stability. Well, this is bunk. It's a historic [music] time to be an investor, especially the commodity sector. Gold is approaching $4,700 per ounce, just over $4,600 as we speak, and silver has now breached above $90, approaching $100. When is going to hit 100? What does this all mean for the economy? And just overnight, uh NATO troops from Europe were deployed to Greenland, presumably, I guess, to defend Greenland from another NATO member, uh the United States of America. We'll find out what this means for the economy as well and for investors. Welcome back to the show Mark Scousin. Mark is uh the uh presidential fellow at Chapman University, editor of the Scousin Report uh referred to by the media as America's economist. So good to see you, Mark. Always good to host you, >> David. It's a real pleasure and this is an historic week because as as you mentioned uh silver approaching $100 and in fact an American Eagle silver dollar which I hold right here, it's a symbol of uh of in in uh of sound money and uh liberty and you now require a Benjamin. You have to use you have to pay a Benjamin for one silver dollar that's legal tender at $1. and back in the 60s was in our pockets $1 and now it's worth a benjamin $100 uh bill. And I think that's historic because it demonstrates uh that we've entered an era of permanent inflation. That is my main thesis that all this talk by the Federal Reserve that they're going to control inflation and and their goal is price stability. Well, this is bunk. Uh they actually have a policy of inflation, modest inflation, 2% but as you know it's not they're cutting interest rates already before it even hits 2% on the CPI. >> Okay. Uh let's talk about uh silver first and then we'll talk about geopolitical news. So the fact that silver is tracing $92 an ounce, let me just show my screen right now. Uh what is that signaling to you? Well, it's not only an inflation hedge and the fact that uh it has become the hottest inflation hedge now for 2026, even 2025. Silver outperformed all other commodities. And it's not just because investors see it as the poor man's gold. Gold reaching all-time highs. That's certainly a factor. But I do think that uh silver is now being used. It wasn't it was used a lot for for uh photography but now it's more the data centers the uh it's it's very much involved in the in the industrial sector uh electricity um the chip making requires silver so there's a very powerful industrial use that I think is playing a role also to push silver up plus silver is now in a scarce commodity there's a a shortage China has prohibited the uh the export of silver. So there's a lot of factors that are pushing silver higher and one of the reasons we're recommending uh precious metals, gold and silver mining companies as well as the commodity itself. >> The uh entire silver uh industry has been waiting for $50 since basically the early8s and it finally happened. There was a big moment of rejoice, I guess, from the silver community. And then before people had time to catch a breather, we're now at 92. Within a span of well, 51st in October, within a span of less than 3 months, silver's gone up 77%. From 50 to 92. So when people have been calling for $50 to be $50 to be the first leg up, they weren't they weren't kidding around. What was your initial reaction to seeing not just $50 but the subsequent move after $50? Did that concern you at all? How fast silver has moved in such a short period of time? >> So, I have lived through all three bull markets in silver in 1980 when the Hunt brothers tried to uh capture the silver corner of the silver market and uh the government intervened and kept that from happening. Uh then you went through a long period of time where it really didn't go anywhere and then finally hit $50 again in 2011 along with gold. Uh and then finally it has now pushed above $50. And as I said in my newsletter last year, uh this is the last time you're going to see it below 50. And sure enough, it has really taken off. So I think there's a little bit of speculative fever in there. But it is also driven by industrial use for silver. uh anybody anything that's it's it's kind of a catch-up period for commodities uh whether it's nickel or uranium or what have you uh copper is at an all-time high so it makes sense that uh with the need for infrastructure the building of data centers the uh uh chipm that's going on the AI phenomenon all of this requires silver as well as other commodities so I think it's entering a speculative fever and and I'm hoping to see a drop because I'm I'm bittersweet about this situation because I used to I used to hand these out to my students. Every student would get an American Eagle silver dollar the year they took my class and it was a a kind of a memorial piece that they would hold on to and they could look at it. Uh I use it as gifts for graduation uh tips. uh when my uh somebody shined my shoes, I'd give them a silver dollar and instead of 20 bucks, but at $100, I don't think so. So, I I I kind of feel uh sad that it has reached this extremely high level, which I don't think is going to come back down much anytime soon. >> Why not? Every time it's happened before where it's gone parabolic, it's the move has been shortlived. I'm talking about 2011 and 1980. Well, I certainly hope you're right. I hope it comes back down, but I don't think it's going to come back down very much because we've had a lot of inflation since then. We had uh the every time we have a financial crisis, whether it's 2008 or 2020, uh Biden during uh the Biden administration, the money supply went up 40%. We've entered an era of permanent inflation. Uh it's uh it's not a stable environment. As Ludy Van Mesi said, uh inflation is never neutral. It affects certain sectors of the economy more than others. We're seeing a boom in the whole commodity uh area. There is I don't think there's a single commodity that has been dropping in price. Correct me if I'm wrong, but copper, aluminum, uh uranium, um the the rare earth, uh silver, gold, all of these have industrial uses, not just monetary uses. and the fact that China has moved to uh prohibit the export of silver. There's a shortage in India for silver. Uh and remember silver is also um a byproduct. There aren't very many pure silver mines. Yes, you have heckla, you have Aino in Mexico, and you have some others, but most of the time it's a byproduct of the gold market. And so you're not going to get a huge stimulus in silver production as a result of higher silver prices. So that suggests that silver is going to stay fairly high. Yeah, it's going to be correcting down. I hope the sooner the better, but I'm not uh I'm not holding my breath. Before we continue with the video, let's talk about today's sponsor, Monetary Metals. You already know why people hold gold. Because it's real money. But what if your gold could do more than just sit in a vault? Well, that's where Monetary Metals comes in. They offer a way for you to earn a yield on your gold paid in physical gold through their leasing marketplace. You can earn up to 4% yield per year in gold. Instead of paying storage fees, your gold works for you. And because that yield is paid in gold, not cash, your stack grows no matter what the dollar does. Thousands of clients already earn a monthly yield in gold through monetary metals. So don't just hold it, put it to work. Go to monetary-me.com/lin link down below or scan the QR code here to learn more and start earning real gold on your gold today. What about gold, Mark? Same story. We're different. >> Well, yeah, gold is much more of a monetary uh uh uh commodity and uh uh central bank buying has people have lost faith. A lot of the central banks have lost faith in the dollar and they're trying to move uh and diversify. Uh gold is one of them. So central bank buying has been pretty steady. Gold has been pretty steady moving higher. Uh it's a sign that inflation is stubborn, stubborn inflation. And the Trump administration has not helped this in two areas. One is the tariffs uh constantly uh uh forcing uh uh producers to to charge higher prices to pass on the costs of the tariffs. Um second of all uh Trump is stirring the pot internationally creating a lot of interest in def defense spending or war spending. Uh that means more deficit spending. You know you got to remember that Trump has always been a a debt financing person. He's never he's actually used that to his advantage. So I don't see any effort particularly. Uh Doge was a failure. Uh it's hard to reduce government spending and he's increasing government spending uh especially when it comes to uh uh war expenditures. So those are a lot of reasons I by the way I just added to my portfolio a defense uh uh technology fund. It's up uh 20% so far this year. Maybe it'll go up a higher if if indeed troops are now going to Greenland to defend the Greenland. That's a that's a that's a new uh new situation. >> Let me just Yeah, let me let me uh let me just come back to that in just a minute because that that is developing and that is major. So you you said that uh the fact that one silver uh ounce is now the equivalent if you buy an American Eagle is now the equivalent of a Benjamin $100. So you're calling it the financial wakeup call of 2026. What what what should investors be woken up to thematically? Yeah, it's a I think it's a realization that gold and silver uh who which has always been kind of the ultimate inflation hedge has proven to come back to life. uh everybody was switching over to Bitcoin and to the cryptocurrency market and so on and it really hasn't done particularly well uh during this uh inflationary environment. Uh it may uh it's an unproven uh uh commodity if you will. Uh but gold and silver is once again proving that they it's the ultimate inflation hedge and the fact that it is outperforming the stock market in the 21st century makes us pause to wonder uh you know are we really uh solving our inflation problem are really keeping the problem down. The fact of the matter since World War II inflation has entered a permanent rise permanent increase. And uh this is evident despite all the talk of the Fed of price stability and they have a 2% uh target rate and they don't even they start cutting interest rates before they even achieve the 2% target rate which means that they really should go down to uh to a lower level than than 2% and that's just not happening. inflation is stubbornly staying high for all of these reasons and I think that's why people are switching to gold and silver. There's also the issue of the dollar. Can the dollar maintain itself as the world's currency when uh you have this uh aggressive anti-globalization policies going on right now uh by the Trump administration. America first which is also fortress America is what I call it. And I think it's a very bad policy because if you what has kept inflation down inflation's the inflation rates stayed down relative because of globalization because we've had to we've been able to cut prices and have low prices at Target and Walmart and other stores for clothing and stuff like that. It's never been cheaper. But now that's reversing itself because of this anti-globalization movement. I think it's a really unfortunate aspect. I mean, I like a lot of things that Trump has done, but this is not one of them. >> Uh, final question on commodities and we'll move on. So, silver once it hits $100, suppose it does, what happens then? Are we expecting a lot more selling pressure or do you think that that is a base for even more momentum, even more rush from the retail crowd? Well, I do I think the retail crowd is probably it might be like 1980 where everybody is selling their silverware and junk silver and so forth. In talking to coin dealers, I think just specula speculators are in are buying right now. The people who own lots of you know this is the irony. Okay, so silver is used as primarily an industrial metal. the majority of us for industrial purposes and we have billions and billions of of of silver uh hoarded being hoarded and uh I would like to see that become available for this industrial use and the price drop again and I'm hopeful that that'll be the case. Uh but right now we're in this speculative fever and it's impossible to tell how high it's going to go before it comes back down. But my hope is that people will uh stop hoarding the bags of silver that they've have in their box. You know, you know how many of these were minted last year, David? >> No. >> These silver dollars 50 million. At least 50 million, maybe even more in 2025. And these are beautiful coins with the symbols of America. It's got Lady Liberty in God We Trust, the rising sun, Ben Franklin's favorite symbol. Uh, it's got the eagle on the back. It's got all these wonderful symbols and they're all in the dark in safety deposit boxes. I mean, it's one of Paul Samuelson's always thought that was rather ironic that we would dig out of the ground at great expense our gold and silver and then turn around and put them back in in the earth in a safety deposit box. Quite ironic. >> We are going to move on now to uh talk about uh uh geopolitics. So, we're going to finish off the conversation later with uh SC Mark's favorite asset classes. So, comment down below what you think uh will be the top performing asset classes in 2026, and we'll get Mark's takes a take at the end. He'll review that for us as well. So, like I uh discussed with you in the beginning, European troops now have arrived in Greenland. So, they weren't uh they weren't bluffing. I think they're understanding that Trump doesn't really bluff as well. European troops arrived in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support. Um Trump pushed ahead with his aim of conquering quote unquote one European territory. Uh president then sided with a man who invaded another country uh casting this is according to CNBC casing zeleleski rather than uh Putin as the obstacle to peace. So we're we're talking about small numbers of military personnel from France, Germany, the United Kingdom. That's odd. The UK was um has been America's biggest ally, the eur in the European states. But anyway, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were arriving in the Arctic Island early Thursday. Um I don't know off the top of my head how big this force is. It certainly looks to be um symbolic, but I I think the Europeans have made it clear that if Trump does do something with Greenland, uh he's going to have to actually fight the rest of NATO. I don't know. Let's suppose this happens. Let's let's wargame this out. Scout Mark, do you think Trump will then have to fight on mainland Europe as well? >> No. I mean, look, these are allies. The NATO is is a group of allies. We are a member of NATO. This is absolutely insane. But unfortunately, Trump's just speaks off the top of his head sometimes saying, "Well, if we don't voluntarily get Greenland, we will use force." I mean he has said these statements several times and of course it's totally inappropriate to say that to devoted allies over the years. Uh I mean Denmark is not the enemy and yes uh Greenland could be viewed as strategic. Heck Alaska why don't we go into the Russia because that you can make the same argument for Russia. Uh, I mean it's just insane policy and this is the example where President Trump is really uh very uh egotistical. Look at me. I am the I can do anything I want. And uh he needs to he needs to have his hand slapped if not more to back off. And the same thing with the Supreme Court. I'm hoping they will rule against his tariffs because he used executive orders that were inappropriate, but he thinks he's all powerful and that he can pull off these uh uh these egotistical actions that have tremendous unintended consequences. So, I think he's going to back off of this. There's no reason why Greenland can't be supported by NATO. I mean, come on. >> Well, what do you mean about back off? He's the entire administration. Steven Miller of the Homeland Security uh Department has made it very clear that Greenland is America's right to take. So either they take it by force or they somehow buy it. Denmark has made it very clear it's not for sale. So what's next? >> I think uh Trump is going to back down on this and he's he's backed down on tariffs before. When when push comes to shove and people say, "Hey, no, you've gone too far." I think his uh uh his counselors look at him and say, "Listen, uh this is not a battle worth fighting. There's lots of other battles going on in the world, such as the Middle East, such as the Ukraine war." I mean, this is a manufactured crisis and he needs to back off of this. I mean, Greenland's been around for years. I don't see why that suddenly Greenland that nobody even thought about uh is suddenly this real critical area in today's world. I just don't see it. >> So, if he's going to back off on this, why are you long defense stocks? >> Well, because that's not the only battle that's going on. I mean, we're talking about what he did in Venezuela and that that that event is ongoing. Uh they're talking about look at Cuba. There's talking about uh Colombia. There's this aggressive uh warlike attitude that that Trump seems to have. It's it's uh uh it's it's it's Teddy Roosevelt all over again, right? That's what we're seeing here. Teddy Roosevelt being a very aggressive, the Monroe Doctrine being pushed, uh the the war in the Middle East, in the Ukraine. Uh these aren't going to end anytime soon. And Trump loves the idea of his troops going around the world demonstrating how strong and powerful they are. I just think that in the case of the Greenland, that's going to be that's a no-win situation and he's going to have to back off on that. Well, the fact that he's taken Venezuela, the fact that there's now unrest in Iran, and by the way, uh Trump has issued a statement publicly that said that if uh the Iranian government takes action against the protesters, uh the Americans will somehow come to the rescue with military force with which Iran responded with, "Go ahead and we'll strike back." So, there's that going on. Um the all these things going on, is this the precursor to more peace or more war? No, it's headed toward more war right now and and President Trump has emphasized how he's kept wars from taking place, but he's now very much an interventionist. He's a neocon, as they say. Uh he was not that way when he ran for president. Uh but everything's changed because he's flexing his muscle. It's an ego ride and he's going to push this as far as he can. But you'll notice that look, you have to remember that the book to read about Trump is not the uh art of the deal. It's the art of war. Suns Sue made it very clear that you you make your enemies wonder what are you going to do next? You create tremendous uncertainty. You make all kinds of statements that confuse people. He does this, then he backs off. And this is this is so that we talk about Donald Trump day in and day out across the world. That's his goal. And he's achieving it. But he's creating a lot of uncertainty. And uh this is the first time Wall Street has actually really liked uncertainty. In the past, they've they like certainty, but we're not getting that with Donald Trump. >> Yeah. Well, uh this is certain. Loheed Martin's gone up uh uh 20% in the last couple weeks. [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. And we're and we bought right at the bottom, by the way, right at the beginning of the year. We we were uh uh buying uh I added to my position uh the uh one of the ETFs that's uh that's uh linked to defense uh defense technology fund. Uh it's up 20% so far. uh this year. >> It's also because Trump has announced I think it's over with. Look, it hasn't even reached its alltime high. >> And don't forget, Trump has announced an expansion of the defense budget to $1.5 trillion as well. So, >> I mean, that's a huge that's a 50% increase from the budget from just this year. >> Don't tell me the deficit is going to go down. >> Okay. So, deficit's not definitely not going down because of this. So, what's going to happen now to monetary policy now that the deficit potentially is going to widen even more? Are they do you think do you think the Fed's going to respond to this somehow? >> The pressure is on, of course. He wants Trump wants JPAL to resign early. He's going to hold off, I think. I mean, the the criminal indictment against them because he overspent money. I mean, how many how many government officials are you going to indict? How about Tim Waltz? Maybe they should invite him in Minnesota for the fraud that he's committed. I mean, this is government officials are famous for engaging in expensive extravaganza spending, a new Fed building. I mean, come on. There's all kinds of new building going on and it's been encouraged in other administrations. So, it just seems like a vendetta putting pressure on JPL to lower interest rates when I think that you're right, David. I mean, if the defense budgets going getting out of control spending, uh you're going to have inflationary pressure and uh he look, when the Supreme Court rules against his tariffs, which I think they will do, uh then he's already got plan B out, which is allowing him to continue the the uh the running of the the trade war. Uh so he has his pet projects. He's going to push those through. He especially wants to do it during the first two years of administration because there's a very good chance traditionally the Democrats uh you know the the the party in power loses control of the House maybe even the Senate in November uh there's so much chaos going on and so much criticism uh that I think it's uh well we'll see what happens but uh history is on the side that the Democrat rats will take the house in November. We'll see. >> Okay. Well, let's get Mark's uh favorite commodities and or assets of 2026. So, we've talked about silver and gold and we've talked about permanent inflation. We've talked about this financial awakening. We've talked about how you like defense stocks. Let's put everything together. What are your top overweights for 2026? It could be anything. So we've had a we've had a tremendous rise already in AI linked technology uh in the last couple of years uh Nvidia being the biggest company in the world now and stuff like that. So we've had a huge run in that and I think that trend might continue but I do think commodities in general still have a a way to run. This is a super cycle if you will. Uh so uh I wouldn't be surprised to see gold and silver continue to move higher. But uranium now that's a really interesting story cuz uh Trump is very pro- nuclear power and so is China uh and so is Russia. All of these uh the big three are all pro nuclear power. Maybe even Germany and France will come come around when they freeze to death in the winter and realize that nuclear power is something they need to add. So, you put that all together, uranium prices got to what, $120 a pound, I think, uh, over a year ago and so on. And, and now they're at 80, uh, 85. So, they have room to grow. Uh, and they haven't had the runup that, uh, and then they, they are moving up. There's no question about it. uh but uh they they're not they haven't had the big run like technology has and gold and silver have. So I I see uranium. I see copper also. Copper hit an all-time high of $5 a pound. Uh I think copper is a very essential ingredient to this infrastructure boom to the defense spending boom that's going on. So I've been recommending uh some copper stocks as well. So I think those are two areas that that we could see and possibly nickel as well. Nickel is really an essential commodity and there aren't very many nickel producers around the world. So I have some recommendations there which are uh uh which are you know part of my scalin report that'll be coming out in February. >> All right. Excellent. Thank you very much Mark. We'll uh follow you uh in the links down below. Where can we go to follow you Mark? Well, so I would recommend you go to mscousin.com. sken mscousin.com. I am changing publishers. I was for 45 years the publisher of forecasts and strategies. And I I'm switching now over to the Oxford Club. The Oxford Club.com is where I will be writing my newsletter, the Scousen report. and uh they tripled my u my circulation overnight by going from Eagle over to Oxford. So they u they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I even had a signing bonus. I felt like a baseball player. So uh very excited about the future and and last year I ended with my the best best return I've ever had and the first part of this year same thing. So, starting February 1st, I'll I'll be uh writing for the Oxford Club called the Scousin Report. Central Intelligence by America's Economist is a subtitle. >> Well, some trading services as well. >> You did tell me offline that um a lot of this uh success you had last year was due to the mining stocks were some particular mining stocks you vested in. But given how far they've run already, are you rotating now in 2026? >> Well, I'm adding I'm adding I'm staying gold and silver. Uh I I recommended Kin Ross Gold, for example, which was one of the it tripled in value last year, and that's one of the major top 10 uh uh producers. So, it wasn't like I was recommending penny stocks and stuff like that, but I've added a defense ETF. I've I've added copper play, Southern Copper. Uh there's a lot of these companies that are roaring heads. So, I haven't really re I've added to my position. So, I have 17 positions right now. All 17 are doing well. And by the way, one of the things I have is the flying five strategy, which is my five favorite Dow stocks, blue chip stocks, and they include Goldman Sachs, which had incredible returns and is up sharply uh so far this year. Caterpillar is another one as well. So, uh I'm going to continue making those recommendations uh in the Scousen report starting in February. >> Excellent. All right, we'll put the links down below. So, make sure to follow Mark down below. And of course, there's Freedom Fest coming up in the summertime, but we can talk more about that closer to the date of the event. U Mark is the um organizer of a great conference called Freedomfest. Okay. Well, we'll talk soon, Mark. Take care for now. >> All right. Thank you. I did want to mention very briefly that I do have a new book out called The Greatest American, which is Ben Franklin, the world's most versatile genius, and that's been a bestseller. So, uh you might try that get that copy of that book this uh this year or the 250th anniversary of nation's founding. >> Yes, we did talk more about that book in our last interview with Mark. So, make sure to follow >> or watch that interview link down below for more information on um Ben Franklin. Okay, good. Mark was speaking out soon. Take care for now. >> Be free. Thanks. >> Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like and subscribe.
Silver Nears $100, NATO Arrives In Greenland: What's Next For Markets? | Mark Skousen
Summary
Transcript
As I said last year, this is the last time you're going to see it below 50. And sure enough, it has really taken off. It's legal tender at $1 and back in the '60s and now it's worth a benjamin $100 bill. And I think that's historic because it demonstrates uh that we've entered an era of permanent inflation. All this talk by the Federal Reserve that they're going to control inflation and and their goal is price stability. Well, this is bunk. It's a historic [music] time to be an investor, especially the commodity sector. Gold is approaching $4,700 per ounce, just over $4,600 as we speak, and silver has now breached above $90, approaching $100. When is going to hit 100? What does this all mean for the economy? And just overnight, uh NATO troops from Europe were deployed to Greenland, presumably, I guess, to defend Greenland from another NATO member, uh the United States of America. We'll find out what this means for the economy as well and for investors. Welcome back to the show Mark Scousin. Mark is uh the uh presidential fellow at Chapman University, editor of the Scousin Report uh referred to by the media as America's economist. So good to see you, Mark. Always good to host you, >> David. It's a real pleasure and this is an historic week because as as you mentioned uh silver approaching $100 and in fact an American Eagle silver dollar which I hold right here, it's a symbol of uh of in in uh of sound money and uh liberty and you now require a Benjamin. You have to use you have to pay a Benjamin for one silver dollar that's legal tender at $1. and back in the 60s was in our pockets $1 and now it's worth a benjamin $100 uh bill. And I think that's historic because it demonstrates uh that we've entered an era of permanent inflation. That is my main thesis that all this talk by the Federal Reserve that they're going to control inflation and and their goal is price stability. Well, this is bunk. Uh they actually have a policy of inflation, modest inflation, 2% but as you know it's not they're cutting interest rates already before it even hits 2% on the CPI. >> Okay. Uh let's talk about uh silver first and then we'll talk about geopolitical news. So the fact that silver is tracing $92 an ounce, let me just show my screen right now. Uh what is that signaling to you? Well, it's not only an inflation hedge and the fact that uh it has become the hottest inflation hedge now for 2026, even 2025. Silver outperformed all other commodities. And it's not just because investors see it as the poor man's gold. Gold reaching all-time highs. That's certainly a factor. But I do think that uh silver is now being used. It wasn't it was used a lot for for uh photography but now it's more the data centers the uh it's it's very much involved in the in the industrial sector uh electricity um the chip making requires silver so there's a very powerful industrial use that I think is playing a role also to push silver up plus silver is now in a scarce commodity there's a a shortage China has prohibited the uh the export of silver. So there's a lot of factors that are pushing silver higher and one of the reasons we're recommending uh precious metals, gold and silver mining companies as well as the commodity itself. >> The uh entire silver uh industry has been waiting for $50 since basically the early8s and it finally happened. There was a big moment of rejoice, I guess, from the silver community. And then before people had time to catch a breather, we're now at 92. Within a span of well, 51st in October, within a span of less than 3 months, silver's gone up 77%. From 50 to 92. So when people have been calling for $50 to be $50 to be the first leg up, they weren't they weren't kidding around. What was your initial reaction to seeing not just $50 but the subsequent move after $50? Did that concern you at all? How fast silver has moved in such a short period of time? >> So, I have lived through all three bull markets in silver in 1980 when the Hunt brothers tried to uh capture the silver corner of the silver market and uh the government intervened and kept that from happening. Uh then you went through a long period of time where it really didn't go anywhere and then finally hit $50 again in 2011 along with gold. Uh and then finally it has now pushed above $50. And as I said in my newsletter last year, uh this is the last time you're going to see it below 50. And sure enough, it has really taken off. So I think there's a little bit of speculative fever in there. But it is also driven by industrial use for silver. uh anybody anything that's it's it's kind of a catch-up period for commodities uh whether it's nickel or uranium or what have you uh copper is at an all-time high so it makes sense that uh with the need for infrastructure the building of data centers the uh uh chipm that's going on the AI phenomenon all of this requires silver as well as other commodities so I think it's entering a speculative fever and and I'm hoping to see a drop because I'm I'm bittersweet about this situation because I used to I used to hand these out to my students. Every student would get an American Eagle silver dollar the year they took my class and it was a a kind of a memorial piece that they would hold on to and they could look at it. Uh I use it as gifts for graduation uh tips. uh when my uh somebody shined my shoes, I'd give them a silver dollar and instead of 20 bucks, but at $100, I don't think so. So, I I I kind of feel uh sad that it has reached this extremely high level, which I don't think is going to come back down much anytime soon. >> Why not? Every time it's happened before where it's gone parabolic, it's the move has been shortlived. I'm talking about 2011 and 1980. Well, I certainly hope you're right. I hope it comes back down, but I don't think it's going to come back down very much because we've had a lot of inflation since then. We had uh the every time we have a financial crisis, whether it's 2008 or 2020, uh Biden during uh the Biden administration, the money supply went up 40%. We've entered an era of permanent inflation. Uh it's uh it's not a stable environment. As Ludy Van Mesi said, uh inflation is never neutral. It affects certain sectors of the economy more than others. We're seeing a boom in the whole commodity uh area. There is I don't think there's a single commodity that has been dropping in price. Correct me if I'm wrong, but copper, aluminum, uh uranium, um the the rare earth, uh silver, gold, all of these have industrial uses, not just monetary uses. and the fact that China has moved to uh prohibit the export of silver. There's a shortage in India for silver. Uh and remember silver is also um a byproduct. There aren't very many pure silver mines. Yes, you have heckla, you have Aino in Mexico, and you have some others, but most of the time it's a byproduct of the gold market. And so you're not going to get a huge stimulus in silver production as a result of higher silver prices. So that suggests that silver is going to stay fairly high. Yeah, it's going to be correcting down. I hope the sooner the better, but I'm not uh I'm not holding my breath. Before we continue with the video, let's talk about today's sponsor, Monetary Metals. You already know why people hold gold. Because it's real money. But what if your gold could do more than just sit in a vault? Well, that's where Monetary Metals comes in. They offer a way for you to earn a yield on your gold paid in physical gold through their leasing marketplace. You can earn up to 4% yield per year in gold. Instead of paying storage fees, your gold works for you. And because that yield is paid in gold, not cash, your stack grows no matter what the dollar does. Thousands of clients already earn a monthly yield in gold through monetary metals. So don't just hold it, put it to work. Go to monetary-me.com/lin link down below or scan the QR code here to learn more and start earning real gold on your gold today. What about gold, Mark? Same story. We're different. >> Well, yeah, gold is much more of a monetary uh uh uh commodity and uh uh central bank buying has people have lost faith. A lot of the central banks have lost faith in the dollar and they're trying to move uh and diversify. Uh gold is one of them. So central bank buying has been pretty steady. Gold has been pretty steady moving higher. Uh it's a sign that inflation is stubborn, stubborn inflation. And the Trump administration has not helped this in two areas. One is the tariffs uh constantly uh uh forcing uh uh producers to to charge higher prices to pass on the costs of the tariffs. Um second of all uh Trump is stirring the pot internationally creating a lot of interest in def defense spending or war spending. Uh that means more deficit spending. You know you got to remember that Trump has always been a a debt financing person. He's never he's actually used that to his advantage. So I don't see any effort particularly. Uh Doge was a failure. Uh it's hard to reduce government spending and he's increasing government spending uh especially when it comes to uh uh war expenditures. So those are a lot of reasons I by the way I just added to my portfolio a defense uh uh technology fund. It's up uh 20% so far this year. Maybe it'll go up a higher if if indeed troops are now going to Greenland to defend the Greenland. That's a that's a that's a new uh new situation. >> Let me just Yeah, let me let me uh let me just come back to that in just a minute because that that is developing and that is major. So you you said that uh the fact that one silver uh ounce is now the equivalent if you buy an American Eagle is now the equivalent of a Benjamin $100. So you're calling it the financial wakeup call of 2026. What what what should investors be woken up to thematically? Yeah, it's a I think it's a realization that gold and silver uh who which has always been kind of the ultimate inflation hedge has proven to come back to life. uh everybody was switching over to Bitcoin and to the cryptocurrency market and so on and it really hasn't done particularly well uh during this uh inflationary environment. Uh it may uh it's an unproven uh uh commodity if you will. Uh but gold and silver is once again proving that they it's the ultimate inflation hedge and the fact that it is outperforming the stock market in the 21st century makes us pause to wonder uh you know are we really uh solving our inflation problem are really keeping the problem down. The fact of the matter since World War II inflation has entered a permanent rise permanent increase. And uh this is evident despite all the talk of the Fed of price stability and they have a 2% uh target rate and they don't even they start cutting interest rates before they even achieve the 2% target rate which means that they really should go down to uh to a lower level than than 2% and that's just not happening. inflation is stubbornly staying high for all of these reasons and I think that's why people are switching to gold and silver. There's also the issue of the dollar. Can the dollar maintain itself as the world's currency when uh you have this uh aggressive anti-globalization policies going on right now uh by the Trump administration. America first which is also fortress America is what I call it. And I think it's a very bad policy because if you what has kept inflation down inflation's the inflation rates stayed down relative because of globalization because we've had to we've been able to cut prices and have low prices at Target and Walmart and other stores for clothing and stuff like that. It's never been cheaper. But now that's reversing itself because of this anti-globalization movement. I think it's a really unfortunate aspect. I mean, I like a lot of things that Trump has done, but this is not one of them. >> Uh, final question on commodities and we'll move on. So, silver once it hits $100, suppose it does, what happens then? Are we expecting a lot more selling pressure or do you think that that is a base for even more momentum, even more rush from the retail crowd? Well, I do I think the retail crowd is probably it might be like 1980 where everybody is selling their silverware and junk silver and so forth. In talking to coin dealers, I think just specula speculators are in are buying right now. The people who own lots of you know this is the irony. Okay, so silver is used as primarily an industrial metal. the majority of us for industrial purposes and we have billions and billions of of of silver uh hoarded being hoarded and uh I would like to see that become available for this industrial use and the price drop again and I'm hopeful that that'll be the case. Uh but right now we're in this speculative fever and it's impossible to tell how high it's going to go before it comes back down. But my hope is that people will uh stop hoarding the bags of silver that they've have in their box. You know, you know how many of these were minted last year, David? >> No. >> These silver dollars 50 million. At least 50 million, maybe even more in 2025. And these are beautiful coins with the symbols of America. It's got Lady Liberty in God We Trust, the rising sun, Ben Franklin's favorite symbol. Uh, it's got the eagle on the back. It's got all these wonderful symbols and they're all in the dark in safety deposit boxes. I mean, it's one of Paul Samuelson's always thought that was rather ironic that we would dig out of the ground at great expense our gold and silver and then turn around and put them back in in the earth in a safety deposit box. Quite ironic. >> We are going to move on now to uh talk about uh uh geopolitics. So, we're going to finish off the conversation later with uh SC Mark's favorite asset classes. So, comment down below what you think uh will be the top performing asset classes in 2026, and we'll get Mark's takes a take at the end. He'll review that for us as well. So, like I uh discussed with you in the beginning, European troops now have arrived in Greenland. So, they weren't uh they weren't bluffing. I think they're understanding that Trump doesn't really bluff as well. European troops arrived in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support. Um Trump pushed ahead with his aim of conquering quote unquote one European territory. Uh president then sided with a man who invaded another country uh casting this is according to CNBC casing zeleleski rather than uh Putin as the obstacle to peace. So we're we're talking about small numbers of military personnel from France, Germany, the United Kingdom. That's odd. The UK was um has been America's biggest ally, the eur in the European states. But anyway, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were arriving in the Arctic Island early Thursday. Um I don't know off the top of my head how big this force is. It certainly looks to be um symbolic, but I I think the Europeans have made it clear that if Trump does do something with Greenland, uh he's going to have to actually fight the rest of NATO. I don't know. Let's suppose this happens. Let's let's wargame this out. Scout Mark, do you think Trump will then have to fight on mainland Europe as well? >> No. I mean, look, these are allies. The NATO is is a group of allies. We are a member of NATO. This is absolutely insane. But unfortunately, Trump's just speaks off the top of his head sometimes saying, "Well, if we don't voluntarily get Greenland, we will use force." I mean he has said these statements several times and of course it's totally inappropriate to say that to devoted allies over the years. Uh I mean Denmark is not the enemy and yes uh Greenland could be viewed as strategic. Heck Alaska why don't we go into the Russia because that you can make the same argument for Russia. Uh, I mean it's just insane policy and this is the example where President Trump is really uh very uh egotistical. Look at me. I am the I can do anything I want. And uh he needs to he needs to have his hand slapped if not more to back off. And the same thing with the Supreme Court. I'm hoping they will rule against his tariffs because he used executive orders that were inappropriate, but he thinks he's all powerful and that he can pull off these uh uh these egotistical actions that have tremendous unintended consequences. So, I think he's going to back off of this. There's no reason why Greenland can't be supported by NATO. I mean, come on. >> Well, what do you mean about back off? He's the entire administration. Steven Miller of the Homeland Security uh Department has made it very clear that Greenland is America's right to take. So either they take it by force or they somehow buy it. Denmark has made it very clear it's not for sale. So what's next? >> I think uh Trump is going to back down on this and he's he's backed down on tariffs before. When when push comes to shove and people say, "Hey, no, you've gone too far." I think his uh uh his counselors look at him and say, "Listen, uh this is not a battle worth fighting. There's lots of other battles going on in the world, such as the Middle East, such as the Ukraine war." I mean, this is a manufactured crisis and he needs to back off of this. I mean, Greenland's been around for years. I don't see why that suddenly Greenland that nobody even thought about uh is suddenly this real critical area in today's world. I just don't see it. >> So, if he's going to back off on this, why are you long defense stocks? >> Well, because that's not the only battle that's going on. I mean, we're talking about what he did in Venezuela and that that that event is ongoing. Uh they're talking about look at Cuba. There's talking about uh Colombia. There's this aggressive uh warlike attitude that that Trump seems to have. It's it's uh uh it's it's it's Teddy Roosevelt all over again, right? That's what we're seeing here. Teddy Roosevelt being a very aggressive, the Monroe Doctrine being pushed, uh the the war in the Middle East, in the Ukraine. Uh these aren't going to end anytime soon. And Trump loves the idea of his troops going around the world demonstrating how strong and powerful they are. I just think that in the case of the Greenland, that's going to be that's a no-win situation and he's going to have to back off on that. Well, the fact that he's taken Venezuela, the fact that there's now unrest in Iran, and by the way, uh Trump has issued a statement publicly that said that if uh the Iranian government takes action against the protesters, uh the Americans will somehow come to the rescue with military force with which Iran responded with, "Go ahead and we'll strike back." So, there's that going on. Um the all these things going on, is this the precursor to more peace or more war? No, it's headed toward more war right now and and President Trump has emphasized how he's kept wars from taking place, but he's now very much an interventionist. He's a neocon, as they say. Uh he was not that way when he ran for president. Uh but everything's changed because he's flexing his muscle. It's an ego ride and he's going to push this as far as he can. But you'll notice that look, you have to remember that the book to read about Trump is not the uh art of the deal. It's the art of war. Suns Sue made it very clear that you you make your enemies wonder what are you going to do next? You create tremendous uncertainty. You make all kinds of statements that confuse people. He does this, then he backs off. And this is this is so that we talk about Donald Trump day in and day out across the world. That's his goal. And he's achieving it. But he's creating a lot of uncertainty. And uh this is the first time Wall Street has actually really liked uncertainty. In the past, they've they like certainty, but we're not getting that with Donald Trump. >> Yeah. Well, uh this is certain. Loheed Martin's gone up uh uh 20% in the last couple weeks. [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. And we're and we bought right at the bottom, by the way, right at the beginning of the year. We we were uh uh buying uh I added to my position uh the uh one of the ETFs that's uh that's uh linked to defense uh defense technology fund. Uh it's up 20% so far. uh this year. >> It's also because Trump has announced I think it's over with. Look, it hasn't even reached its alltime high. >> And don't forget, Trump has announced an expansion of the defense budget to $1.5 trillion as well. So, >> I mean, that's a huge that's a 50% increase from the budget from just this year. >> Don't tell me the deficit is going to go down. >> Okay. So, deficit's not definitely not going down because of this. So, what's going to happen now to monetary policy now that the deficit potentially is going to widen even more? Are they do you think do you think the Fed's going to respond to this somehow? >> The pressure is on, of course. He wants Trump wants JPAL to resign early. He's going to hold off, I think. I mean, the the criminal indictment against them because he overspent money. I mean, how many how many government officials are you going to indict? How about Tim Waltz? Maybe they should invite him in Minnesota for the fraud that he's committed. I mean, this is government officials are famous for engaging in expensive extravaganza spending, a new Fed building. I mean, come on. There's all kinds of new building going on and it's been encouraged in other administrations. So, it just seems like a vendetta putting pressure on JPL to lower interest rates when I think that you're right, David. I mean, if the defense budgets going getting out of control spending, uh you're going to have inflationary pressure and uh he look, when the Supreme Court rules against his tariffs, which I think they will do, uh then he's already got plan B out, which is allowing him to continue the the uh the running of the the trade war. Uh so he has his pet projects. He's going to push those through. He especially wants to do it during the first two years of administration because there's a very good chance traditionally the Democrats uh you know the the the party in power loses control of the House maybe even the Senate in November uh there's so much chaos going on and so much criticism uh that I think it's uh well we'll see what happens but uh history is on the side that the Democrat rats will take the house in November. We'll see. >> Okay. Well, let's get Mark's uh favorite commodities and or assets of 2026. So, we've talked about silver and gold and we've talked about permanent inflation. We've talked about this financial awakening. We've talked about how you like defense stocks. Let's put everything together. What are your top overweights for 2026? It could be anything. So we've had a we've had a tremendous rise already in AI linked technology uh in the last couple of years uh Nvidia being the biggest company in the world now and stuff like that. So we've had a huge run in that and I think that trend might continue but I do think commodities in general still have a a way to run. This is a super cycle if you will. Uh so uh I wouldn't be surprised to see gold and silver continue to move higher. But uranium now that's a really interesting story cuz uh Trump is very pro- nuclear power and so is China uh and so is Russia. All of these uh the big three are all pro nuclear power. Maybe even Germany and France will come come around when they freeze to death in the winter and realize that nuclear power is something they need to add. So, you put that all together, uranium prices got to what, $120 a pound, I think, uh, over a year ago and so on. And, and now they're at 80, uh, 85. So, they have room to grow. Uh, and they haven't had the runup that, uh, and then they, they are moving up. There's no question about it. uh but uh they they're not they haven't had the big run like technology has and gold and silver have. So I I see uranium. I see copper also. Copper hit an all-time high of $5 a pound. Uh I think copper is a very essential ingredient to this infrastructure boom to the defense spending boom that's going on. So I've been recommending uh some copper stocks as well. So I think those are two areas that that we could see and possibly nickel as well. Nickel is really an essential commodity and there aren't very many nickel producers around the world. So I have some recommendations there which are uh uh which are you know part of my scalin report that'll be coming out in February. >> All right. Excellent. Thank you very much Mark. We'll uh follow you uh in the links down below. Where can we go to follow you Mark? Well, so I would recommend you go to mscousin.com. sken mscousin.com. I am changing publishers. I was for 45 years the publisher of forecasts and strategies. And I I'm switching now over to the Oxford Club. The Oxford Club.com is where I will be writing my newsletter, the Scousen report. and uh they tripled my u my circulation overnight by going from Eagle over to Oxford. So they u they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I even had a signing bonus. I felt like a baseball player. So uh very excited about the future and and last year I ended with my the best best return I've ever had and the first part of this year same thing. So, starting February 1st, I'll I'll be uh writing for the Oxford Club called the Scousin Report. Central Intelligence by America's Economist is a subtitle. >> Well, some trading services as well. >> You did tell me offline that um a lot of this uh success you had last year was due to the mining stocks were some particular mining stocks you vested in. But given how far they've run already, are you rotating now in 2026? >> Well, I'm adding I'm adding I'm staying gold and silver. Uh I I recommended Kin Ross Gold, for example, which was one of the it tripled in value last year, and that's one of the major top 10 uh uh producers. So, it wasn't like I was recommending penny stocks and stuff like that, but I've added a defense ETF. I've I've added copper play, Southern Copper. Uh there's a lot of these companies that are roaring heads. So, I haven't really re I've added to my position. So, I have 17 positions right now. All 17 are doing well. And by the way, one of the things I have is the flying five strategy, which is my five favorite Dow stocks, blue chip stocks, and they include Goldman Sachs, which had incredible returns and is up sharply uh so far this year. Caterpillar is another one as well. So, uh I'm going to continue making those recommendations uh in the Scousen report starting in February. >> Excellent. All right, we'll put the links down below. So, make sure to follow Mark down below. And of course, there's Freedom Fest coming up in the summertime, but we can talk more about that closer to the date of the event. U Mark is the um organizer of a great conference called Freedomfest. Okay. Well, we'll talk soon, Mark. Take care for now. >> All right. Thank you. I did want to mention very briefly that I do have a new book out called The Greatest American, which is Ben Franklin, the world's most versatile genius, and that's been a bestseller. So, uh you might try that get that copy of that book this uh this year or the 250th anniversary of nation's founding. >> Yes, we did talk more about that book in our last interview with Mark. So, make sure to follow >> or watch that interview link down below for more information on um Ben Franklin. Okay, good. Mark was speaking out soon. Take care for now. >> Be free. Thanks. >> Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like and subscribe.