Why Investors Are Buying Silver As If There Is No Tomorrow

The American Dream
April 23, 2011
The price of silver has been absolutely exploding lately. It has reached heights not seen since the Hunt Brothers attempted to corner the silver market over three decades ago. But this time there are no Hunt Brothers to blame for the stunning rise in the price of silver. So exactly why are investors buying silver as if there is no tomorrow right now? Well, the truth is that there are a lot of reasons. Investors have been flocking to precious metals such as gold and silver as the value of paper currencies has declined. The euro is incredibly weak right now and the U.S. dollar appears to be on the verge of a major collapse. In fact, the entire financial system is highly unstable right now. In such an environment, investors seek some place safe to park their money, and right now gold and silver are seen as safe harbors. But gold and silver have not been going up in price at the same pace. So why is silver outperforming gold so significantly?
The price of silver has increased by more than 150% over the past 12 months. But the price of gold has only gone up about 30%.
If you invested $100 in the S&P 500 ten years ago it would be worth about $107.48 today.
If you invested $100 in gold ten years ago it would be worth about $569 today.
If you invested $100 in silver ten years ago it would be worth about $1037 today.
Clearly something is going on with silver.
Many people are convinced that this is part of a correction that is long overdue. Geologists tell us that there is approximately 17.5 times as much silver in the crust of the earth as there is gold. But today the price of an ounce of gold is about 30 times higher than the price of an ounce of silver.
That would seem to indicate that the price of silver still has a lot of room to grow relative to the price of gold.
In addition, silver is a key industrial commodity and it is constantly being used up. Today, silver is used in a vast array of products and medicines. The following is an excerpt from an official U.S. government report that describes just some of the ways silver is used in society today….

Silver’s traditional use categories include coins and medals, industrial applications, jewelry and silverware, and photography. The physical properties of silver include ductility, electrical conductivity, malleability, and reflectivity. The demand for silver in industrial applications continues to increase and includes use of silver in bandages for wound care, batteries, brazing and soldering, in catalytic converters in automobiles, in cell phone covers to reduce the spread of bacteria, in clothing to minimize odor, electronics and circuit boards, electroplating, hardening bearings, inks, mirrors, solar cells, water purification, and wood treatment to resist mold. Silver was used for miniature antennas in Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) that were used in casino chips, freeway toll transponders, gasoline speed purchase devices, passports, and on packages to keep track of inventory shipments. Mercury and silver, the main components of dental amalgam, are biocides and their use in amalgam inhibits recurrent decay.

Estimates vary, but many experts are now projecting that at current consumption rates we will run out of silver at some point during this century.  (CONTINUE READING)