Prices/ metal market falling hard - Page 2

Prices for copper around me are down from the past two weeks.

Originally Posted by unknownk

If the economy realy implodes like doomsday people think then Gold will be worthless as well, you will be in a barter economy where real goods and food are all that matter.

Gold, silver, and copper (and their various alloys) have been mediums of trade for thousands of years. Local and global economies have collapsed before and will collapse again. These metals will still retain their value. It may come to the point where people barter with each other for goods and services - but if no one wants your goat milk, wheat, or chicken eggs you better have something else they want. A little Mercury dime with its known amount of silver certainly holds it value better than your goat milk. Silver doesn't spoil or get broken.

Like a lot of people, I've collected, hoarded, stashed, what have you, a fair amount of little round pieces of metal. A small bit of gold, a fair amount of silver and copper, and a good bit of brass and lead to protect it all.

Historically Gold and Silver was used for trade because governments/empires had their stamps on it (backing it just like paper money has now). Outside of use in industry and jewelry metals have no real value.

As far as historical value of metals we can look at Aluminum (which was once worth more then gold):

Up until the late 1800's, Aluminum was extremely valuable due to the fact that it was very hard to procure. As an example of just how prized a metal it was, Napoleon Bonaparte was said to have a special set of aluminum utensils only to be used by his most esteemed guests. His gold utensils were for more casual occasions! Also, atop the Washington Monument sits an almost 3 kg pyramid of aluminum, placed as a symbol of how strong and wealthy the U.S. was.

In 1886, the Hall-Heroult process was invented as cost-effective way to produce aluminum. Since then, the value of aluminum has been significantly reduced.

Watching energy prices is a fairly good indicator of what metals will do, Stephen Leeb's review in Game Over is an amazing analysis. Lots of energy is being unlocked in the U.S. and worldwide, this makes mining more affordable and somewhat tempers scrap metal value. There are other factors of course...

Gold way down $43.00 silver down as well. What happened today? Live Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium Quote Spot Price Chart - Kitco

Also Stock Market getting beat up as well
DOW down $210.00
NASDAQ down $59.00
S&P down $25.00

Spain's banks are about to ask for a $78 billion bailout. Spain's Banks Need Up to $78 Billion, Assessors' Report Says - Yahoo! Finance

Gold dropped this time last year and spiked in Sept, so maybe it will happen again this year. Hopefully it hits $1800 again as I want to unload some at that price.

Woohoo! Called the yard today to check on how bad I'm going to get beat up tomorrow. Shred actually stayed the same as last week!

Got $170 for unprepared today.