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Many of you may know of Hannukha Harry from his comic forays on the old Saturday Night Live. Well, a similar number of you may not realize that Harry– in true legend– actually wore a formal stove-pipe hat (see above) when doling out socks and toothbrushes and other sensible gifts to the good Jewish chillens over the eight nights of Hannukha.
I can confirm this, as I saw Harry himself with mine own goyum eyes coming through the garage door entrance (sensibly) of my friend Benjamin Zimmerman’s house one early December evening in sixth grade, when I’d stayed over — at his parents’ invitation– on the third night of the Festival of Lights.
It was 7:30 and we’d just laid out the traditional borscht and bagels after Jeopardy, when we saw his trademark stovepipe peeking through the door. Hannukha Harry only comes at sensible times, as he needs to be in bed before ten. None of this fakakta post-midnight chimney drop-ins for him, he told us. That, he explained, is for the meshugganah Sinter Klaus — a distant relative and definitely not glatt kosher.
One of the gifts Harry bestowed upon us that night was The Tale of Sound Money. Sure, he was easy with the gelt, but aside from the traditional chocolate coins, he told us never to trust a fully fiat currency system, as it would always let us down. At the time, he told us, the U.S. dollar had devalued from it’s 1913 (pre-Federal Reserve) value by almost 87% (it’s now closer to 95%), and much of that drop was achieved in the decade since Richard Nixon had given up on gold convertability altogether in the 1971 Bretton Woods abdication.
Harry told us it was only a matter of time before politicians and their allies in the central banks got so greedy that they’d wreck a fiat currency system designed — with the best of intentions — to promote sound economic trade. There was just too much conflict of interest for any one central bank or sponsor country to trust another, and worse was that temptation more for the “currency of record” that was held as the “reserve” in a fake money system.
No, only an anchored “no cheater” metric could ensure a balance of trade that would not bankrupt the citizenry of the developed world, he admonished, with furrowed mono-brow.
And to emphasize the point of the lesson, Hannukah Harry left us with a Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin a piece (he explained he was originally from Toronto), and then drove out of sight in his ’79 Toyota Corrolla (sensible to the end).
So today, in remembrance of that evening with Hannukah Harry, and on this first night of Hannukah, I have discarded my formal iBC Approved Lincolnesque stovepipe top hat, and replaced it with the traditional Hannukah stovepipe instead (above).
Happy Hannukah to all of you, and most especially to my Tribal readers and friends.
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As for the market, I think you can see what’s happened to the dollar, and consequently, our vindicated precious metal markets. Notice also that things in the PM world have started to get a little tired and labored even as the dollar drops? That’s why I’m not really adding to my precious metal hordes at this late hour, despite the temptation to do so.
In fact, I may even use this short burst to trim some of my laggards like IAG and GSS, and even sell some calls on my workhorses like SLW and ANV. In the meantime, I make hay whilst the sun shines (and the dollar drops) on such long term holds as ENTR and TC. I even added to TC ($12.80) and rare earth metal nut-stock AVARF ($3.69)today, as I recorded in The PPT.
These are all late game plays, and I will be trimming in the week ahead almost definitely. There’s only so much we can expect out of the magnificent moves we’ve experienced in the last months, and I will squeeze what I can out of my bounty. I will also endeavour, however, not to get stupid and over-greedy.
Best to you all, Light Festivalists.
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