Italian Bonds, Gold Bullion ETFs, the Gold Standard and Government Regulation

Listeners’ Questions, Peter’s Answers- November 17, 2011

[youtube class=”center” id=”aQIqdHxVrEs”]

[separator style_type=”single” top_margin=”5″ bottom_margin=”5″ sep_color=”” icon=”fa-play” width=”” class=”” id=””]
Daniel from Chicago, IL
Regarding silver from a technical view, do you think it’s forming a bearish rising wedge pattern that can see drop further to support around $21 before rebounding? In addition, the ECB needs to print more money to buy Italian bonds and keep the Italy Germany 10 year spread beneath 450 to avoid margin calls on Italian bondholders. A weaker Euro would cause metals to fall relative to the dollar.

Bryan from Seoul-Teukbyeolsi (South Korea)
Some analysts say the reason gold stocks have been sluggish against gold bullion recently is because of the rise in gold bullion ETFs. Do gold bullion ETFs represent a fundamental change in the market which will divert money from gold mining equities long-term?

William from Charleston, WV
In regards to the gold standard: Is there a reason for not using actual gold or silver coinage? The notion of politicians being able to set the dollar value makes me feel uneasy.

Michael from Signal Mountain, TN
One of your main points with which I agree is that federal regulation of business is inefficient and even unconstitutional. So my question is, should there be any regulation on business — perhaps state-by-state? If so, what regulations should be there? Safety, quality, etc.?

Rob from Rochester, NY
Do you think the current dollar price of gold already reflects the increase in the monetary base? Or has it not yet trickled down into consumer prices, which would bring gold much higher?