Reasons why Silver is a Better investment than Gold

1. The historic silver/gold price ratio was 15 or 16:1, but in recent years, silver is relatively cheaper ranging from about 40:1 to 80:1. With silver at $4.89/oz. and gold at $368/oz., the ratio is 75:1. This means that silver is currently undervalued, and cheaper than historic norms, and thus it is a better investment than even gold if you want to "buy low and sell high".

2. The supply and demand fundamentals for silver are extraordinary. There has been an ongoing supply/demand deficit in silver for 12 years. More silver is consumed by industry than is produced by mining and recycling combined. Some say this deficit reaches back 60 years, and has consumed virtually all the known silver ever mined since the beginning of the world. The annual deficit has recently ranged from 100 million to 200 million ounces per year. Annual supply is about 650 million ounces, and annual demand is about 800 million ounces.

3. Considering refined and mined known silver reserves, there is far less silver in the world than gold. About 150 million ounces of silver vs. 4000 million ounces of gold.

4. Most silver, 70-80% brought to market, is mined as a by-product of copper mining, gold mining, or zinc and lead mining. There are very few silver mines in the world, since most are really copper or gold mines. Therefore, mild increases in the price of silver will not bring substantially more silver out of the ground. Much silver is consumed in photography; by Hollywood and medical photo imaging. There is so little silver used in each photograph, that price increases in silver will probably not reduce demand. With a relatively inelastic supply, and relatively inelastic demand, it will require a dramatic explosion in price to bring the supply and demand deficit back into balance.

5. Famous Billionaires have bought silver in recent years. In 1997, Warren Buffet bought 130 million ounces of real silver, due to the favorable "supply and demand fundamentals", and although he bought as much as they would let him legally buy, his purchase was with about 2% of the value of his portfolio. Another Billionaire who tried to follow in his lead would be unable to do so since there is less silver now available in the world to buy at the COMEX than what Buffet has, and less than that in known, reported silver reserves in the world. George Soros owns a large percentage of Apex Silver (SIL). Bill Gates owns over 10% of Pan American Silver (PAAS).

6. In the gold market, there has been a large increase in paper futures contracts which are used to suppress the price. In silver, the relative amount of paper contracts is much larger. In other words, there are more paper shorts who will be caught in an impossible situation when the price of silver really begins to rise due to the fundamental supply demand gap. They will be forced to buy silver or go bankrupt. Either action will cause a dramatic rise in the silver price. If they default on the silver contracts, that will signal to the world the severe shortage of silver, and signal a great investment opportunity.

7. One of the cheapest ways to buy silver: You can buy U.S. coins dated 1964 or earlier, $1000 face value (4000 quarters, or 2000 half dollars, or 10,000 dimes), in a "bag" of "junk silver", which contain 715-720 ounces of silver, depending on how worn the coins are. In the early 1980's, when silver was $30-$50/oz., a bag of silver could be used to buy a house! Imagine buying the money for your next house for $3500 today by investing in silver!

8. You get so much silver for your money. A bag of junk silver weighs about 55 pounds, and is the size of a bowling ball. If you invested $100,000 into junk silver coins, at $3500/bag, that would give you 28.5 bags each weighing 55 pounds, or 57 bags weighing 27 pounds each, or about 1571 pounds total. Could you imagine moving that much around your house if you had to move? Silver is so cheap it creates physical problems for investors today!

REV. DR. JOHN WESLEY KNIGHT – A WHITE MAN WHO UNSELFISHLY SERVED HIS BLACK ADOPTED BRETHREN IN ST. ANN, JAMAICA

By Winston Donald

Class, color and race have defined Jamaica. The majority black Jamaicans are ever reminded of our past not by institutions but by the power relations that permeate our socio-economic and cultural space.
Yet in our history  the  people of color are  and were  those who represented colonizers , settlers and abusers of  our humanity   but strangely  at times  produce  individuals who  made an indelible impression on our lives and have served with love and call beyond duty.
Not many Jamaicans knew of Dr. John Wesley Knight but those of us who are Baptists, especially Independent Baptists,  knew of Knight’s connection to the Dry Harbour Mountain villages of Clarksonville,  Aboukir, Cedar Valley, Thatch Walk, Cave Valley, and Northern Clarendon villages of Mt. Moriah, John Reid, Aenon Town, Anderson Town , Bog Hole and others.
Knight a native of the Stoufville area of Ontario came as a young man to Jamaica  and  became immersed in the culture of St. Ann. Can you imagine? , a white man who any pregnant woman could call upon to take her to the local Alexandria Hospital to have her child delivered. Knight as a white man was not scared to get his hands dirty He was a productive farmer engaging in digging the red “dirt” of the bauxite parish. . In fact the first time I saw Zoysia grass was at his home, the Clarksonville Manse where he was busy planting a lawn one cool summer day  in the seventies..  Knight would plant his yams, sweet  potatoes , raise his cattle , and contribute the development of agriculture in the Dry Harbour Mountains.
John Knight was one fearless but committed white man loved by all in the communities. When he saw the backward move by several London white Baptist  intellectuals  assigned  to the Jamaica Baptist Union  in Kingston  to implant modernism in religion such as disputing the virgin birth of Christ, he tried to reason with them.  Numerous dialogues and meetings followed  but their position  of  Christian fallacy remained  , a trait of many  intellectuals. Failing any compromise Knight and other Baptist stalwarts  such as   Rev. Dr. A. L. McKenzie, Rev.  S.I. Cummings  of  MT. Peto , Hanover moved to create the independent Baptists , a grand  move as it saved community churches and lands from being controlled and appropriated by the Jamaica Baptist Union , but most importantly shunned liberalism in church. Liberalism has a role in the secular world , not in Christianity .. That is one of the best thing to  happen to large Baptist Churches in rural Jamaica, being saved from central control. Churches like Buff Bay Baptist, Clarksonville Baptist, Aenon Town Baptist Churches are now free to make their own decisions and to manage their own affairs without the control and organization by  officials,  technocrats, bureaucrats . big wigs and men of influences  from  large  central church organizations.
Pastor Knight  throughout his tenure made it a priority to educate the people of Jamaica , in particular  for those in St. Ann,  he  and played an important role in shaping education in post-colonial Jamaica as Chairman of the School Board and has one whose presence and integrity brought educators and teachers from academic and religious background to the communities for many years.
The Stoufville Online News magazine has now published an article on Knight. That area of Ontario is pleased to know that one of its son spent his life in Jamaica to serve the poor. How many persons today would give selfishly of  themselves? How many white folks would be willing to sacrifice their time and resources for the betterment of another nationality? How many white folks would be wiling to become black, to live among the people and not be a spy or exploit the natives? The answer is very , very few.
Reflecting , especially with the knowledge that most missionaries who have served their foreign missions played a double role, I am apt to wonder if  he was  a spy or if he had ulterior motives. The answer is no. Knight’s character was a true and godly one. He could not be bought, not even by his own nation. On the event of his departure , forced by the socialist politics which saw individuals seeing him as representative of imperialist countries,, Knight left the little “change” he had in his account for the church. The Michael Manley regime of the days would not allow him to take more than a few US dollars. Such was the control of people lives which Knight had fought against  during his tenure as a Missionary Pastor.
Was I glad to have met Pastor Knight? Surely. My aunt t said Pastor loved to baptize , but that was his mission to save souls. He did not push Calvinism on the people despite the fact that Baptist dogma is Calvinistic.  And so pragmatic was Pastor Knight that when asked by as  a adolescent regarding a Christian  who smoked, Knight replied , that he would not lose his Christianity but laughingly  said, “that Christain would be a smoking Christian.” Knight belief in Jamaica was so strong that he sent all his children to school in Jamaica rather than going to the motherland of Canada. His children became part of the school scene at York Castle in Brown’s Town and Calabar High in Kingston.
‘
It is my desire to the days when people serve not for OJ, CD or other Jamaican national awards. I desire to see people with  prominence , colour , power or wealth do goods without seeking high profile, recognition and return of favours. Knight rejected every attempt by the MP Neville Gallimore to offer any symbol of appreciation or token of service. Knight was so pure in heart, one  who was not tempted by corruption that  money  from tobacco farmers was not welcomed as tithe or offerings. Today Churches especially the Roman Catholics will  l accept money in their plates from their congregation with large Chinese gaming and  gambling operators or racing elites.

ART and HEGEMONY

 
By WINSTON Donald ( Galley owner, Newspaper Columnist, MA student)


Where would popular culture be today without the expressions of music and the creations of art forms. Whether it is high culture or popular culture, the creations by Jamaicans are mostly done by the black majority, those of a black ilk , the sons and daughters of long gone slaves. But who control the wealth of creations? Who dominate and steer even the lives of these artists? Who appropriate the work of the finest Jamaican artists? It is not the masses, it is not the average man, it is not the ‘peole” Control by aminority with given consent by various stratified groups or by the majority in a nation is called hegemony. This descriptive reference is not uncommon to fine art. Hegemony by a minority in this island and that is the damning truth. This is the paradox, the dilemma and the fallacy of the 50th anniversary of independence with regards to our visual arts.

To list the most established artists churning out the most expressive, aesthetically accepted art forms and works consumed by Jamaican we can think of Albert Huie, Alexander Cooper, Barington Watson, Phillip Supersdad, Ralph Campbell , Eic Cadien, Kapo, Milton George, Hopeton Fletcher, Judy MacMillan, Petrona Morrison, Hope Brooks, , Vilya Thomas, Gene Pearson , Ma Lou, Stafford Schieffler, Sameer Tansley, Cecil Baugh and Lutolo McKonzi
Unlike popular music and other forms of popular culture our fine art rests as investment mostly in middle class space. The overwhelming majority of Jamaicanns do not have or consumed the fine arts. Galleries in spaces where there are obvioius tension or antagonism towards the masses; they are located in negotiated spaces.
Currently, the masses can only enjoy and consume street art because these forms are present where they are not influenced by capital or commissioned . They are in public spaces , freely painted at no cost to the people. However, one does not have to feel left out. There are beautiful murals around town communicating various messages but also confirming identity and resisting elements of the status quo

CRIME WILL REMAIN BECAUSE OF THE EVIL OF THE POWERBLOC AND THE CORRUPTION OF THE POLICE FORCE

 
By Winston Donald ( Galley owner, Newspaper Columnist, MA student)

Just two weeks ago I attended a Unite Jamaica conference put on by Minister Peter Bunting. I am wondering how effective was this conference. Personally and from all empirical evidence this conference has nothing new for reducing crime. Its all BIG TALK.

Crime will never be reduced until we deal with those at the helm who finance crime by their greed and corruption and politics.

First let look at the business community. One prominent member of the NIA who I have complained about has a track record of corruption. His major entity in the 1980’s reported thousands of barrels of pickled mackerel destroyed claiming millions from the Insurance company. Nothing like that happened. Yet these are the persons representing honesty and integrity. Does the western embassies really knows the characters off these people. They cloaked behind ethnicity, colour and upper class when they are worst than common thieves. I have yet to pen a letter to the embassy regarding the corrupt nature of some of these entrepreneurs. My college mate was fired when one of these entrepreneurs believed he did wrong by not writing off $10 million (in 1988 $’s) of losses. Fact was, the hurricane just tossed those pails of pickled mackerel from one side of the warehouse of the wharves to another.
Crime is ascerbated next by those who had financed the 1980 election, those who purchased the m16’s and Bushmasyers to murder innocent people like those in Greenwich Town and student like Carol Narine , community member of the Waterhouse/ Olympic Gardens Community. Do the minister and government recognize that people who finance these crimes have expected returns in political and businesss favours or OJ’s, CD ‘s and national honours from the Jamaican state? Does the minister realized that there is no grievances or empathy for the mayhem carried out by agents of murders , especially those who fuelled the near civil war and hard drugs and corruption in the island? Do the minister realized that the western powers must have documented illicit and criminal activities of these agents of death against the Jamaican people but is silent because of cold war ideology and capitalistic interests. On the other side of the coin does the minister realized and know that other elements trained in left leaning countries are equally responsible for the hell we have now called crime and that the legacy of both left and right extremities still resonate today. The guns of yesteryear were never totally removed from the armoury of criminals.

Does the national security minister knows that if a survey is carried out by the people , it would reveal that at least 80 % of the police force is corrupt and furthermore that one in every five Jaamicans have at one time or the other been solicited to provide bribes to element of the police force. I also wonder why we don’t see policemen who are White Jamaicans, Arabs or Chinese? Perhaps the Minister can answer why.

That conference and all conferences to follow will be a waste of taxpayers money, a repeated failure, an affront to justice and a farce. I will bet anyone that crime will be here longer and more brazing than last year. Crime can only be mitigated when they deal with the power bloc and the police force. Poor people are at the periphery of society ; they do not have the disposable income and cash to buy high powered weapons such as AK 47, M16, Berettas , Glock , Sig Saur, Bushmaster, M1, , neither do they have the vast resources to import manufactured drug from cocaine in containers, neither do they have that kind of cash to give to politicians for renting cars, advertising and political promotion or so called social and amenities to communities. Poor people are only the henchmen and footsoldiers of the dominant class , doing the dirty in which they seek ‘a food” or patronage.
When the power bloc , police force and elites come clean nad confess, then and maybe then the decent people of this beloved island will savour some peace and tranquility from crime. Until sicuch time those with their ill-gotten wealth from political patronage , kickbacks, export of drugs from their private estates in the 1980’s , selling their soul to spy agencies , violation of customs and gross undermining of the state by political rightwing and leftwing chicanery can only live with a hypocritical self worrying that one day they will be exposed if not by man but by God. Has those who hid behind the marijuana planes to ship the weapons of mass destruction to Jamaica been comprehend for their political inspired murders on the citizens? Is the minister cognizant that people do not forget atrocities.

Rap Artists Who tried Reggae - In honor of Reggae Month

In honor of Reggae Month i have made a list of rappers who have tried going into the actual reggae culture some only vocally while others have "the look".

1.  

A lot of hype was made over Snoop Dogg's transition to Snoop Lion in 2012, but he's not the only one who has wanted to make songs under the Caribbean sun. Many have taken their deep Jamaican roots and infused them into the lifeline of the culture. With the Long Beach, California, Reincarnated album and documentary it showed that he was devoted to the culture but Lets face the facts Snoop Dogg makes better music than Snoop Lion and the album sales have proven that. I wanna see a Doggystyle part 2 album uncle snoop.




 2.
Brooklyn rapper Lil' Kim aimed to follow up the hype delivered by 2003's La Bella Mafia with her fourth studio album The Naked Truth. Stripping away her notoriously raunchy rap style in favor of something more soul bearing, the Hard Core rapper launched "Put Your Lighters Up" as her first single. The song was a departure from the hard-hitting thump and Hip-Hop pop that the New York native was known for. Boasting a similar tone to Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock," the song did a wonderful job in hyping up the album. The single quickly became her highest charting solo hit making it to the #31 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and was a repeatable hit at bashment parties across the country.




3. . 
Smif-n-Wessun the Hip-Hop duo consisting of members Tek and Steele are a major component of the Brooklyn-based Boot Camp Clik supergroup, and legends within the culture. Known inside and outside Kings County for their gritty raps and dark, dusty beats, Swif-n-Wessun were underground kingpins throughout the mid-1990s. After a cease and desist order from the Smith & Wesson firearms company, the group had to rename themselves Cocoa Brovaz. But it was their classic cut, "Sound Bwoy Bureill" from their debut album, Dah Shinin' that endured them to rap fans around the globe. Sampling "Dust Out a Sound Bwoy" by Super Beagle (which was also used for Kanye West's "Mercy"), "Sound Boy Bureill" is so good that the intro usually murders the bash, before the actual tune started.




4.  
KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock consisted of the lyrically beastly Hip-Hop group known as Boogie Down Productions. The group delivered classic songs, yet one of their biggest contributions to Hip-Hop was their pioneering fusion of dancehall reggae and rap music through their debut LP, Criminal Minded. KRS-One and Criminal Minded play an integral role in reaffirming the social acceptance of being Jamaican, and its influence was well illustrated by the use of the "Mad Mad" or "Diseases" riddim that begun with reggae star Yellowman ("Zunguzug"). The song "9mm Goes Bang" is a perfect example of this usage, and was one of the first Hip-Hop songs to be based around a first-person crime narrative.



5. 
The late Heavy D was everything that you would want in an entertainer. Charismatic, enduring, a talented songwriter, and a pretty smooth dancer to boot, the Mount Vernon, NY rapper was a treasure on M-I-C and in the Hip-Hop culture. Together with rap cohorts G-Whiz, "Trouble" T. Roy, and Eddie F, Heavy D and The Boyz maintained a sizable fan base throughout the jiggy-era of the 1990s. In 2008, the Mandeville, Jamaica-born rapper decided to expose the world to his irie side with the Reggae album Vibes that came out on December of that year. Featuring no raps from the Overweight Lover MC, Hev managed to maintain him image of being the heavyset man who constantly charms the ladies with clever wordplay.


6.  
Brooklyn's own Foxy Brown decided to change her image to reflect the Kings County neighborhood she's from. In 2001, she released her third album, Broken Silence showcasing a more "street" image, and gave tribute to hometown heroes such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. The first single, "Oh Yeah," featured her then-boyfriend, Jamaican dancehall king Spragga Benz. Sampling the Jamaican reggae and ska band Toots & The Maytals' "54-46 That's My Number," the Ill Na Na flowed like water on the track. In the end, her song is widely credited as the first song to kick off the Hip-Hop/Dancehall movement in the early 2000's.


7.
New Jersey's own Lauryn Hill was a Hip-Hop treasure as a part of the group, The Fugees. When she broke out to do her own as a solo act, her album became the stuff of legend. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was the first Hip-Hop oriented album to ever receive 10 Grammy nominations. Taking home five golden gramophones marked her as the first woman to win that many Grammys in one night. Hill's love of music, and namely Bob Marley, is apparent throughout the album. Littered with Rastafarian overtones, the cut "Forgive Them Father" directly sampled "Concrete Jungle" by the man known as Tuff Gong. Written and produced by the former Fugee crooner, the song meshed classic Hip-Hop bass-lines and snares with Caribbean flare.