The BarkerLetter

Greetings Investors.

I’m answering some reader mail today…

First, my apologies for not posting for months. I haven´t been very interested in buying of late, owing to the ‘pending recession’ and lack of liquidity on the junior exchanges.  In fact, I´ve been telling subscribers to sell - and sell hard - on the rallies since last spring. However, prices have come down somewhat and I’m getting interested again.

Hayden writes: ‘What the heck is up with Rochester Resources lately?´ The short answer is, I don´t really know. I was told some weeks ago that they encountered issues trying to get their production up but that the mill is back on track and silver recoveries are improving.

Company share prices often have volatility during a start up phase, owing to the inevitable bugs that have to be worked out, immediate targets not being met, etc.  Plus general market conditions have been poor. I’m hanging in there but not accumulating at the current price.

Bill Schooler asks: I am interested in more information on the Ameridollar and its effect on our dollar. What plans are afoot? Well, I suggest that any plans for an Ameridollar involving Canada and Mexico - if there were any - have been shelved.  Some time ago I speculated that North America might go to a single currency, but I have never believed it will happen over the short term. Canadian manufacturers enjoy too many benefits from the spread between the Loonie and the greenback. I believe the Canadian banks surreptitiously control the rate of exchange to their own advantage, Mexico too, though they will tell you there is no central bank intervention in the currency exchange markets and hasn´t been for decades.  I find it very hard to believe, especially in view of recent events, that central bankers leave the pricing of their currencies up to fate, kismet, or the free market. They just don´t.

Janice Kimball writes: My husband is a Mexican National. He has title to a new mine in Jalisco and as we are both retired we would like to sell it or find a partner who speaks English as I do not speak Spanish but have a half interest.  We had laboratory tests done by ALS Chemex on 2 samples. It is very rich in many metals including gold and silver.  We live in a rural area and I need to talk with someone that speaks English .  Sure Janice  … send me a private message.  I´m very interested in helping you, and by the way anyone who knows anything about a mineral project at any stage of development anywhere in the world is welcome to contact me.  I may even finance it.

Frank Macius muses: I have shares of GOLDSPRING (GSPG). This shares will have a value of 20 dollars each one.  Is this the best company at this moment.  Hmmm, well GSPG is an OTC gold company and those have had a lot of trouble getting investment capital of late.  The stock plummeted in mid September on some aggressive short term selling.  It looks to me like someone wanted to take an early payday. Tsk, not nice. Can´t speculate on their prospects since I haven´t analysed them. I`ll try to get around to that in the near future.  The stock has a seven cent per share high though, which is encouraging - that`s a 300 percent premium to the current market.

Taxi driver opines: I agree that everyone should read up on their history before expounding on the merits (or lack thereof) of the Gold Standard. I also agree that everyone should stop ragging on Nixon for abolishing it. The reason for both of my positions is simple: Nixon DID NOT abolish the Gold Standard, F D Roosevelt did in 1933 by outlawing the private ownership of gold. Thereafter, the US government kept the ostensibly gold backing “reserve” in Fort Knox, but only a fraction of the amount that would be required to redeem the entire dollar money supply.

The notion of a gold standard when private ownership of gold itself is criminalized is a joke at best and a fraudulent charade at worst. Nixon merely ended the pretense of a de facto non-gold standard, in an economy where it was becoming increasingly a sword of Damoclese over the government’s head, as the actual gold reserves as a fraction of the money supply continued to spiral in the downward direction.

So, the US only had a “real” gold standard for 33 years, from 1900 (with the adoption of the gold standard act), to 1933, with Roosevelt’s outlawing of gold ownership. Coincidentally, those were pretty lean years for the US economy. I say coincidentally because I do not wish anyone to infer that I mean causally. Thanks for putting it in a nutshell for us, Taxi Driver. Thanks for sharing and stay in touch….

Kb