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Join Date: Dec 2007
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The Mayflower, The Pilgrims, and Gold
Over 400 years ago, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth England with a little over 100 passengers. Half those passengers were religious dissenters, half were entrepreneurs. They were bound for the Virginia colony.
In a book I read about the Mayflower’s passage across the Atlantic, shortly after leaving England, one of the passengers remarked how placid the Atlantic Ocean had been. As I recall, one of the sailors on board remarked, in so many words, “Don’t be fooled; there will be storms." In fact, the Mayflower almost sunk in one of those storms. The Pilgrims, as it turns out, had to use their printing press's screw to shore up the top-deck's floor-boards.
At this juncture, you may ask, what does this all have to do with precious metals’ stocks, i.e., gold. If you catch my North Atlantic Drift (pun intended). there are possible "storms" just about everywhere.
If you think one of those “storms,” e.g., banking crisis, debt ceiling, constricted lending, "de-dollarization," etc. can’t come back to bite us, you’re, IMO, being short-sighted.
Yes, there is, for all intents and purposes, currently a lull. To carry this nautical example, ad nauseum, we're not in the “horse latitudes. Yet, it would be foolish to think that one of the aforementioned above couldn't come back "to bite us." I would say, “Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security!”
In my opinion, there’s just too much out there. “Black Swan” event? It’s certainly possible. In times like these one can’t have their head in the sand like an ostrich.
That’s why I keep harking back to gold as an "insurance policy.” Yes, admittedly, undeniably, I have a vested interest. I own both gold and silver stocks, and yes, in recent days, I’ve taken “a beating.” But I’m staying the course, just las the Pilgrims did. There’s no turning back.
Finally, as the for Pilgrims and their passage across the Atlantic, there were, as one of sailors had predicted, storms. The Mayflower was blown off course. It ended up several hundreds miles north of its intended destination.
First, the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown, MA at the tip of Cape Cod. They would sail west and land at Plymouth, MA. And sadly,about half the Pilgrims died during that first winter.
Yet, in closing, those Pilgrims persevered. They would build a successful colony.
About ten years later, the Puritans arrived in Boston.
Yes, I feel better, in these uncertain times, that I have in my portfolio, gold.
__________________
Walt (Teach)
"Walt, make a 'mental bet' and lose your mind." R.N.S.
"The important thing is what I think of myself."
"David and Lisa" (1962)
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