By Peter Schiff
I am a well-known "gold bug" because of my strongly voiced opinion that gold has been one of the best assets for protecting yourself from the US dollar's prolonged decline.
Lately, the precious metals have taken a beating, and I've been called to defend gold's future prospects in the media countless times. While I am confident that gold will rebound with a vengeance before long, I think investors are potentially missing an even greater opportunity in that other monetary metal: silver.
To address this oversight, I have compiled a special report called The Powerful Case for Silver, which is available at www.schiffsilver.com. This 14-page report report contains in-depth analysis of what I believe to be the strongest arguments for owning the white metal. What follows is a general overview of the key arguments I make in the report.
The People's Money
After a couple generations of purely fiat currency in the United States, a lot of people have forgotten that money used to be backed by something of value - gold and silver. It wasn't until 1965 that the US stopped making its dimes and quarters out of 90% silver, and the dollar was backed by gold internationally until 1971.
In spite of fiat money's ubiquity, more and more people around the world are waking up to the dangers of paper currency and turning to gold and silver to protect their savings. Silver is particularly useful to everyday citizens around the world because of its smaller value-to-weight. A half-ounce of silver can buy you dinner. A half-ounce of gold can buy dinner for you and 60 of your closest friends. That's why for centuries, gold has been considered the money of kings, while silver is known as the people's money.
It's not hard to see the growing importance of a stable medium of exchange worldwide - look to the Cypriot banking crisis or the barter markets evolving spontaneously in economically devastated countries like Argentina or Greece. Here are places where having an stash of silver versus a roll of banknotes can mean the difference between keeping your family well-fed and having to beg for assistance.
Developed nations are also waking up to this reality, translating into record silver sales at the US Mint and other major bullion producers despite the recent correction in global spot prices. This investment demand is providing a baseline of support to silver's price and helping to re-establish silver as a universally recognized form of money.
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Peter Schiff is a well-known commentator appearing regularly on CNBC, TechTicker and FoxNews. He is often referred to as "Doctor Doom" because of his bearish outlook on the economy and the U.S. Dollar in particular. Peter was one of the first from within the professional investment field to call the housing market a bubble. Peter has written a book called "Crash Proof" and a follow-on called "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets". He is the President of EuroPacific Capital, which is a brokerage specializing in finding dividend-yielding, value-based foreign stocks.
