The media hated them.
Big Business, various federal agencies, and politicians of all stripes disliked them too.
Tiffany’s, the popular jewelry business, vilified them in a full-page ad in The New York City Times, calling them “unconscionable.”
The bad guys everyone loved to hate were the Hunt siblings. They were critics of the fiat cash system and advocated hard money based upon products.
At the time, personal ownership of many gold was prohibited in the US. So the Hunt siblings relied on the next best thing: silver.
From the late ’70s to 1980, they stockpiled silver. And unlike other financiers who settled their silver sell cash, the Hunts took physical delivery. This often implied flying the silver to Switzerland for storage.
It squeezed the supply … and assisted rise the silver cost. It went from around $6 in the late ’70s to over $50 in 1980.
But were the Hunts actually the bad people everybody made them out to be?
They not did anything unethical. They simply exchanged United States dollars for silver from voluntary sellers. In fact, it was an action to the government’s unethical actions …
You’ll remember President Nixon severed the United States dollar’s last link to gold in 1971. Without the discipline of gold, there was absolutely nothing to stop the United States federal government from printing as numerous dollars as it pleased and diluting the purchasing power of savers. As an outcome, the dollar was now a pure fiat currency.
The Hunts bought silver due to the fact that they figured the US government’s actions would lead to inflation. And they were right …
The ’70s saw the greatest inflation levels in living memory– even according to the government’s own misaligned stats.
Still, that didn’t stop the United States federal government from pursuing them for charges of market adjustment. To that, among the Hunt bros said: “Apparently the CFTC is attempting to repeal the law of supply and need.”
You see, the silver market is tiny. It’s roughly 1/10 the size of the gold market. So it’s susceptible to crisis-driven advantage explosions as money floods into it during periods of high inflation.
And today, the stage is set for another explosion in inflation. I anticipate it to begin a crisis-driven mania into silver like what happened in 1980, but possibly even bigger.
Why Silver Now?
Frankly, there is just one factor I am interested in silver.
I’m not thinking about silver as cash– since it is inferior to gold.
I’m not interested in silver because of its commercial uses either– especially at a time when the global economy is on the precipice of the biggest crisis in generations.
The only reason I have an interest in silver is that it is prone to crisis-driven advantage surges. It is a small market with enormous speculative potential during periods of monetary chaos– such as the one I believe we are going into now.
Gold is mostly a monetary metal. As a result, industrial usages make up a relatively little part of the total need for gold.
Silver is the opposite. It’s primarily an industrial metal with monetary usage comprising about 15% of the overall need.
That 15% normally is inconsequential in driving the silver rate. But throughout periods of financial turmoil and raging inflation, people flood into alternative kinds of cash that hold their worth much better than rapidly depreciating government paper currencies.
It is during these times that there is frequently a stampede into silver. And since the silver market is so tiny, it rapidly gets overwhelmed, causing the rate to spike.
That’s why I like to view silver as a commercial metal with a call option on inflation and monetary turmoil.
Everything could happen faster than many understand, and I believe the cost action will be explosive.
That’s because the United States federal government has actually printed more money just recently than it has for its whole presence.
Thanks to the Covid hysteria, governments worldwide have actually thrown out the last semblance of financial and financial sanity. As a result, they are ruining their currencies at a breakneck speed.
Deficits are exploding to previously unimaginable levels. The US government is issuing avalanches of debt to fund all this spending. So, who is purchasing all this debt? The Federal Reserve and its printing press.
In the end, it’s likely to be measured in the 10s of trillions of dollars or more.
It’s the most negligent financial action in the history of the United States. Moreover, it has actually set the stage for a surge in inflation– regardless of any token moves to tighten.
Silver’s financial need skyrockets throughout durations of high inflation. As money floods into it, the price spikes.
It has occurred previously, and it will take place again– quickly.
The “Next Hunt Brothers”
Today, the phase is set for another explosion in inflation. It’s most likely to be even more significant than the inflation of the 1970s. I expect it to kick off a crisis-driven mania into silver like what happened in 1980.
Adjusted for today’s costs, that could imply silver overlooking $190 an ounce– lots of multiples the current cost.
If that occurs, silver mining stocks will increase even higher– by orders of magnitude.
Individuals will panic into precious metals once the dollar starts to lose its value in earnest– which I anticipate could be sometime in the next 12 months.
It will resemble what happened in the ’70s and ’80s, however likely on a much larger scale today.
But this time, it won’t be the Hunt Brothers.
The “Next Hunt Brothers” will be the masses terrified of inflation eating away their cost savings. They’ll quickly demolish the small silver market, and it will cause the cost to spike.
It’s a foreseeable pattern:
Financial Profligacy → Currency Debasement → A Panic into Silver → Price Spike
Here’s the bottom line.
The stars are aligned for a silver price spike for the record books. Now is the ideal time to get positioned.
Just remember, the silver price tends to collapse just as drastically as it rises, which is why I would recommend wanting to squander as quickly as the silver cost spikes.
Editor’s Note: Doug Casey’s projections assisted financiers prepare and profit from: 1) the S&L blowup in the ’80s and ’90s, 2) the 2001 tech stock collapse, 3) the 2008 financial crisis, 4) and now … Doug’s sounding the alarms about a disastrous event. One he thinks could quickly strike. To assist you prepare and benefit, Doug and his group have actually prepared a special video. Click here to watch now.