I enjoy the process of getting to know each customer who comes into my store or answers a craigslist ad to sell gold or silver. I make it a point to ask why and how each person came to find me. Part of my job is to get to know the customer because somewhere down the line, other opportunities may present themselves. Recently, one of my ads in Craigslist sparked a phone call that was pretty interesting.
The guy who called said he was a lawyer and worked as a number cruncher and general duties guy (not specifically lawyer stuff) for the Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group describes itself as a “global alternative asset manager with more than $150 billion of assets under management in 89 active funds and 52 fund of fund vehicles.”
Sounded impressive. I’d heard of them. Most of what I’d heard included things about their involvement in weapons systems contracts for various middle east countries…mostly nefarious whispers…I was suspicious. But intrigued.
“I want to buy your silver…as much as you’ve got.” I held a few kilos at most. Not the sort of thing the Carlyle Group would be interested in. I was a small fish. What did he want from me? Wasn’t there a larger, more well known dealer to buy from. Why me?
As part of my regular routine, I ask questions. And I asked some of him. “Tell me your strategy-why are you buying-what do you know that I don’t know- because you’re the first non-militia guy to call me about this…It was true. I was new in the business and this was the first person who was interested in buying who wasn’t crazy sounding end-of-the-world type…This guy was a pretty sharp lawyer, reasonable well educated and he’d piqued my interest.
His interest in buying was because he believed that like Mexico and Argentina, America was due for a financial reset in which our currency would be devalued by design. The Federal Reserve would determine that the value of the dollar was near zero and would eventually issue “new dollars”. It was all coming, he assured me. A combination of student loan debt, commercial real estate debt and the fact that Medicare would be overloaded by the baby boomer generation would lead to a cataclysmic devaluation of US currency.
In his opinion, there would be a 4 to 6 month period after wealth was erased during which people would be in shock and since the dollar would be worthless, you’d need silver to conduct your day-to-day transactions which would include food, fuel, rent and other necessities.
His target date for this event to occur was mid or late 2012. I took him seriously and have my silver today because after he explained his position, I was too concerned to sell. So I kept my silver just in case. I’m pretty sure that the end of the world isn’t coming this week, but I’m going to keep holding on to most of my silver. If you want to buy junk silver, contact Houston Gold Merchants. We can be reached at 832-259-7225 or www.houstongoldmerchants.com
