There was quite a meeting in Washington, D.C., last week. Some of the key players in government and the metals industry came together in the same room to discuss the looming shortages of critical elements that are coming down the road. The idea is that supply chains are only as strong ...read more

Let's take a quick look at what's happening in Brazil, over and above the 2016 Olympics being awarded to Rio de Janeiro. "I don't know if I will live to see it," said Brazil's president Luiz (Lula) da Silva a couple weeks ago. "But Brazil has to transform itself into a ...read more

Rare earth elements (REEs) have been the mystery metals of the mining world for years. Now, suddenly, everyone’s heard about them. Before we delve into the reasons behind all the publicity, here’s the basic skinny on REEs: One, they are rare, at least sort of. Two, they are indispensable to modern ...read more

What makes investing particularly difficult now is that the distortion in prices, as if reflected in a funhouse mirror. Normally market prices should reflect underlying demand and supply. As in a vegetable stand, the prices come from the buying and selling of people in the market. But with all the artificial ...read more

Can you believe it's already June? What a month May was for commodities. They are Lazarus, come from the dead to tell us all that the world will not stop turning if there is a financial crisis in the West. Or something like that. If we were using numbers instead of ...read more

I keep thinking of Ray Stevens ("Ahab the Arab," "Shrine Convention," "The Day the Squirrel Got Loose," etc.) I just want to sing my little song," plot my stock charts, love my great sailor, play in my greenhouses, buy gold no matter what the economy is doing, and be the happiest ...read more

It was almost sad to see 2008 come to an end. Talk about moving markets… As investors with discipline, there was something for everybody. The first half of the year saw ALL-TIME HIGHS in gold, crude, wheat, unleaded gas, copper, corn and soybeans. But as they say, what goes up must ...read more

I’m happy to turn the page on 2008. We had a great streak of profitable trades in Strategic Short Report, but it still was a stressful, painful year to be an investor. Even if you’re far more patient and disciplined than most investors, you still were punished in 2008. Dozens of ...read more

Sometimes you have to just stand back and admire the extremes a real bubble can produce. What you have now, as Bill explained a few nights ago at the Doomer's Ball, is the last greatest bubble of them all, the bubble in U.S. bonds. It's reaching staggering levels. How do you ...read more

“In my own case, the Depression brought a strange result,” writes Eddie Cantor in 1931. “Before the crash, I had a million dollars, a house, three cars and four daughters. Now all I’ve got left is five daughters.” Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) was a comedian, singer, songwriter and actor. “Banjo Eyes,” as ...read more