Top Ten Reasons to Own Silver #2
On a per capita basis, the reduction in world silver inventories is even more dramatic, because the population of the world grew by 50% over that time span of 28 years. In 1980, there was almost 1 ounce of silver inventory for every person on the face of the earth. Today, only a small fraction, .15 of an ounce remains. Stated differently, in 1980 there was six times the per capita amount of silver inventory than there is today. On that basis alone, not allowing for inflation, the price of silver should be 6 times higher than the price of silver was in 1980. How did the depletion happen? A good amount came from the great silver melt down in which people sold silver objects in response to high prices. Much more came from Central Banks who disposed of long-held silver certificate inventories in what was a long term practice of leasing. President Clinton sold off the US Government strategic metals store of inventory to help balance the budget which is why the price of silver stayed so low in the 1990’s. The US mint doesn’t us silver anymore for regular currency but does for coin collectors in minting the silver eagles. The Mint has to go out in the spot market now and buy the silver for the coins. They are having a hard time maintaining a solid supply for their coins.