Gold gained about $8 in the first eight hour of trading in the Far East yesterday morning. The top came shortly after 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…and between that time, and the Comex open, gold gave half of that gain back. Then we were treated to that [by now] familiar chart pattern…with the worst damage occurring once the London p.m. gold fix was in at 10:00 a.m. New York time. Between its high in Hong Kong and its low in New York…gold got hit for around $23. Silver’s flight path was similar to gold’s…with the high at the same Hong Kong time as gold. However, the real sell-off in silver didn’t begin until the London p.m. gold fix at 10:00 a.m. New York time [3:00 p.m. in London]. From that point, silver ‘lost’ about 48 cents in an hour…to go along with the 21 cents it lost between its Hong

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As we all plan our investments for 2009, no factor is more important than the economy.  It is a subject on which everyone has an opinion.  That is the natural state in the American democracy, dating back to the observations of Alexis de Tocqueville.  His famous work, Democracy in America, is still read by every student of political science. While a complicated work should not be summarized in a sentence, the Wikipedia article includes a good warning: Democracy in America predicted the violence of party spirit and the judgment of the wise subordinated to the prejudices of the ignorant. The 21st Century Democratic opinion has advanced into the 21st century.  Modern scholars are impressed with how well de Tocqueville's work has held up, but there are some changes.  With the help of the Internet, everyone is able to offer ...