SAVINGS BONDS EDUCATION TAX EXCUSION LIMITS

- Stock certificates are certainly easier for the investor to store than the metal itself, and.

- The 'common stock' format allows more categories of investors the eligibility to participate.

What is interesting about the Barclay's proposal is that its goal is to put 130million ounces of silver into reserve, the exact level of Warren Buffet's holdings. Could they be using that precedent as a model? Burton notes that even though Buffet was careful not to disrupt the market, the price of silver still doubled during that accumulation. Furthermore, Burton says, "I see nothing in the Barclays prospectus suggesting such buying restraint, either in time or price."

So, Butler reasons, this makes the situation most favorable for involved investors:

"This silver ETF announcement is a true win-win for silver investors. (If) their silver ETF becomes effective, the impact on the price of silver will be great. That’s win number one, obvious and straightforward.

• "But if ... this ETF never sees the light of day, that will be a big win as well for silver investors. Why? Because it will prove for all to see just how critical the supply/demand and inventory situation is in silver. If the government says no way to this ETF, it will be for one reason only – there is not enough real silver in the world to fund it."
• Either way, it's a development worth watching. Graeme lists the Comex figures daily at the end of his column and always mentions when another allotment of silver moves to HSBC-Hong Kong. The growth of those figures could well be the 'tracer' of things to come.
• Stay long precious metals.

"Stay long precious metals" ...

• I'm beginning to think that's Graeme Irvine's mantra.
• He's the business columnist on Longer Life's Bourse page, and I'll leave it to you to discover his reasons for this four-word chant. Amidst Graeme's siren calls, I've taken notice of his recent daily listings of silver transfers. It seems that HSBC-Hong Kong is in the process of accumulating a substantially high percentage of the current market inventory. The range is something like 60%, an achievement I find as breathtaking as it is intriguing.