What happened in Vegas should NOT stay in Vegas

2:16p ET Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

One of GATA's first supporters in the coin and bullion business, Dr. Fred Goldstein of Swiss America Trading Corp. in Phoenix, attended the recent hard assets investment conference in Las Vegas and his comments about it are appended, along with an essay by Swiss America's Craig R. Smith.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

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A Report from the Las Vegas Conference

By Dr. Fred Goldstein

The theme of the Las Vegas conference was that we are in the early stage of a long-term bull market in gold and natural resources. Howard Ruff captured it at the "bull vs. bear" debate when he said, "You have not seen anything yet" -- and there were no bears.

(Well, that was before Monday.)

The conference was a win for all involved as vendors were able to introduce their companies to potential investors. A keynote speaker was Swiss America's Craig R. Smith, co-author of "Black Gold Stranglehold" and author of "Rediscovering Gold in the 21st Century," the first book to lay out GATA's views of the gold market. Smith disputed claims of "peak oil" and warned that oil-producing countries may soon be reluctant to accept U.S. dollars. Smith believes that oil is actually plentiful and gold scarce -- not the other way around as commonly perceived.

GATA supporters Jay Taylor of J. Taylor's Gold and Technology Stocks letter and James Turk, founder of GoldMoney.com, also made solid presentations.

After meeting hundreds of people I was impressed with the willingness of new investors to embrace the hard asset concept as well as GATA's notion of gold price suppression.

I have used the phrase "go on your own gold standard" for 20 years, and now, thanks to conferences like this, it just may become the norm.

Smith wrote an essay about the Las Vegas conference and it's appended here.

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Dr. Fred Goldstein is senior broker for Swiss America Trading Corp. He will provide GATA supporters a free copy of Craig mith's "Rediscovering Gold in the 21st Century" as well as information about investing in coins and bullion if they call him at 1-800-289-2646.

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Cutting the World's Economic Jugular Veins

By Craig R. Smith
for WorldNetDaily.com
Monday, September 11, 2006

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51912

Last week I had the opportunity to speak, along with some of the world's most respected experts in the natural resource field, at the 13th Annual Las Vegas Hard Assets Conference.

What I stressed at the conference was that the U.S. is in an accelerating war for natural resources and ideological polarization -- not fought on the battlefield with tanks or bombs, but instead fought on a financial level with currencies and commodities.

As the fifth anniversary of 9/11 arrives we must not forget that these terrorists are targeting the world's economic jugular veins -- starting in New York with the World Trade Center -- then other major financial centers in Madrid, London, and Bombay.

Will they succeed? No. But they are creating a perfect financial storm to destroy assets. Unless you've built your foundation upon assets that can withstand the tests of time and trouble, your financial future is at risk.

The public has their facts severely reversed when it comes to the issue of oil's "scarcity" and the "abundance" of gold.

Oil is primordial, plentiful, and abundant. "Peak oil" theorists and Malthusians have been consistently incorrect in their "running out of oil" predictions in the past, and they will continue to lose credibility in the future. Why?

With every new deep-oil discovery, such as Chevron's giant oil reserve in the Gulf of Mexico (which is expected to boost the U.S. oil supplies by as much as 50 percent) the "peak oil" theory moves closer to extinction -- where it belongs.

As for gold, it is widely accepted that gold is plentiful, yet keep in mind that from each 200-ton load of rock and ore, miners can extract an average of only $1,800 worth of gold. Yes, gold is truly rare, unlike oil.

Now the upside of higher oil prices is that Big Oil has a much greater incentive to drill deeper than previously thought possible (as deep as 7 miles into the earth) to discover the oil reserves that may help in establishing U.S oil independence.

Geopolitical threats by Iran's leaders have played a large role in spiking oil prices, as the evidence confirms that they will not stop until they acquire nuclear weapons.

Then there is the threat that OPEC and oil-rich nations may soon demand to be paid in dollar alternatives, such as the euro, yen, or gold. This could send an already weak dollar over the edge, dragging down every asset denominated in it.

Ironically, both oil and gold prices fell sharply last week, as geopolitics appear to be settling down. Yet I can't help but feel that most Americans are whistling by the graveyard if they do not plan for increasing volatility in the future.

As Dr. Michael Economides of the University of Houston and Texas Energy Center aptly stated at the conference, "We are two headlines away from $100 oil."

He went on to say that "ethanol is the biggest scam in the history of this business," adding that it takes 1.6 gallons of gas to produce 1 gallon of ethanol. He calls ethanol the "dot-com of the energy industry."

Much of the crisis we face today in oil refining in the United States is the result of not building a single new refinery in 28 years -- thanks to the radical environmentalist movement. This must change or we will continue to remain subject to Mideast politics and what I call "black gold stranglehold."

I must say it was encouraging to see that in a city like Las Vegas, which is based on tempting the public with the illusion of wealth via gambling, thousands of conference attendees gathered to discuss the acquisition and preservation of real wealth.

Nevertheless, I found myself relieved driving back from Las Vegas to Phoenix, as the overall spirit of the city of Las Vegas can be very oppressive to those seeking to embrace truth.

Here is a new slogan worth considering before planning your next trip to Vegas: "The money that goes to Vegas ... stays in Vegas!"

My hope is that what happened at the Las Vegas Hard Asset Conference will NOT stay in Vegas but instead be multiplied a thousand-fold -- thanks to the faithful attendees, exhibitors, and speakers at this landmark event.

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at the
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