With Matt Badiali

Q: Are the major oil companies growing their reserves like they used to? I’ve read that they aren’t. – T.N.

A: Some are and some aren’t – and that’s vital information for anyone interested in investing in oil.

Reserves are the lifeblood of an oil company. An oil company makes money by selling off its reserves. How efficiently a company replaces its reserves tells you nearly all you need to know about the company’s future.

As large oil discoveries get harder and harder to find, oil companies are having trouble growing their reserves like they used to. Resource nationalization is also hurting Big Oil.

Think of an oil company like a dairy. An oil company that doesn’t replace its reserves is like a dairy that sells 50 gallons of milk every day, but only gets 40 gallons out of its cows. Eventually it will go out

With Matt Badiali

Q: What are your current recommendations for silver plays, including low, medium, and high risk? – B.C.

A: I think precious metals are a pretty low-risk investment in general right now. We’re on the brink of a global inflation crisis.

I’m no economist, but I know inflation when I see it. The price of oil is incredibly high. Oil affects the price of everything. Plastics are made from oil. Trucks, trains, and boats that move goods from point A to point B burn oil products. No matter what it is, if you bought it, you paid an “oil tax.”

That’s not an American phenomenon, that’s worldwide. High oil prices mean price inflation on a global scale.

Take a look at Asia, where Indonesia’s inflation rate is 10%, the Philippines’ is 10%, and India’s is 12%. Those countries are indicative of much of the developing world, where food and fuel