Where to store physical gold?

Safe Deposit Box

When people lose confidence in financial system, they go to gold. At the time, will bank be open to the public? It may not.
Is safe deposit box insured? It does not.

A Hidden Floor or Wall Safe
Check with your insurance agent first.

Segregated Vault Storage
This is the highest level of security available. Check out Brink's.

Buyer Beware about buying paper Gold/Silver

Gold and silver "pool accounts" and "certificate programs" should really be called "IOU Gold and Silver Someday" accounts.

Theodore Butler of Butler Research warns:

"These are purely paper promises or bookkeeping-only entries."

When looking at these types of investment vehicles, it's important to examine the bid/ask spread.

To know more, read the following article: Buyer Beware

http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1170190859.php

Gold ETF = Investment in Gold ?

THE PAPER GAME
by James Turk
Founder, GoldMoney.com
March 5, 2007

The World Gold Council recently announced that the assets of StreetTracks Gold Shares (ticker symbol: GLD), the NYSE-listed exchange-traded fund it sponsors, exceeded $10 billion. That remarkable accomplishment makes its fund one of the fastest growing ETFs in history, which in itself is a significant achievement given the growing popularity of these investment vehicles.

In view of this milestone, I decided to take a fresh look at GLD. I’ve looked at GLD many times in the past, but always came up with the same conclusion.

Despite the way it was originally presented before its launch, GLD is not an alternative to owning physical gold.

To continue
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/turk/2007/0305.html

Can we trust the silver ETF?

James Turk: Can we trust the silver ETF?

GoldMoney founder James Turk, editor of the Freemarket Gold & Money Report and consultant to GATA, has studied the SEC filings and prospectus of the silver exchange-traded fund on the American Stock Exchange (SLV) and has discovered that they go out of their way to provide for not actually having allocated silver to back the shares sold in the fund. Turk's research revives the long-simmering question of whether the precious metals ETFs are secure investments or just more mechanisms to be used by the financial powers and the central banks behind them to short the metals.

You can find Turk's new report, "Can We Trust the Silver ETF?," at Dollar Collapse here:

http://dollarcollapse.com/iNP/view.asp?ID=52

And at GoldSeek's companion site, SilverSeek, here:

http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1176161794.php

Mr. John Chambers

My 'Dear John' Letter

By Andy Serwer

May 14, 2001

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Dear John,

Hey, dude! How ya doin'? No, really, are you okay? 'Cause I know you're going through some pretty heavy stuff out there. (Understatement!) Anyway, I need to talk to you about something. I know we spoke on the phone the other night, but it was rushed and I just didn't feel comfortable. I hate to do this in a letter, but, well, you've been so busy meeting with all those analysts and suppliers and employees.

But first I want to show you this picture I found of the two of us. Yup. Those were the days! You and me bombing around your hometown in West Virginia. The times we had were really special. Anyway, let me get to the point. This is really hard for me, John, because as you know I have so much respect for you, but right now I'm hurting pretty bad, so I guess I'll just have to say it.

John, things aren't the same between you and me anymore. Last year you were on top of the world. Cisco was on this great run, and you were talking about how it would last forever. And like a fool I bought it--lock, stock, and router. Now look at us! You're stacking up sandbags to stave off the 100-year flood, and I'm keeping my head down. Trying to avoid the stares, the whispering. (As in, "There goes the guy who wrote, 'No matter how you cut it, you've got to own Cisco.'")

Yes, John, as you well know, I penned that remarkably imperceptive sentence in what today looks to be a remarkably imperceptive story on Cisco (May 15, 2000). My timing couldn't have been less impeccable. Sure, maybe I'm being a little hard on myself. The stock was already down almost 30% from its peak of $82. But of course, that's small consolation for the 70% drop since then! Let's just say I hit as close to the top of the curve as I ever want to again.

As you may also recall, John, in that story I inducted you into the CEO Hall of Fame. It was still early, I acknowledged, but I suggested that you were as sure a bet as Ken Griffey Jr. (who ironically enough is injured right now!). Well, maybe I was a bit premature. After all, the primary stat buttressing my case wasn't RBIs or homers but the fact that you had presided over the creation of more than $541 billion in stockholder value during your first five years as CEO of CSCO. Had to be an all-time record, I wrote.

Now, let's take a look-see. Yes, Cisco's market cap is still up $103 billion during your tenure. On the other hand, you now have the ignominious distinction of presiding over the destruction of $438 billion in shareholder value! (Closing in on a trillion-dollar swing!) I wonder if any other CEO can lay claim to that feat either!

And then there are the layoffs. You've often said how painful it was to pink-slip thousands of folks at Wang earlier in your career. It was something you said you never wanted to do again. So you can't be feeling very good about dinging all those Cisco-ites. "A personal failure" is how you described it to me on the phone the other night. Lesson here, I guess, is never say never.

You told me something else too. "Stick by us," you said. Cisco will be back, and I'll feel warm and cozy about John Chambers and Cisco again. FORTUNE and Street Life will look good by making the right call for the long haul. Well, I don't know, John. I just feel so burned! (Also, as other journos always remind me, I'm a shareholder too!) One thing I do know, John, is that if ever there was a time to earn your Hall of Fame stripes, it is now. To use your own metaphor, CEOs, like the rest of us, are probably best measured not when the waters are running fast and true between the banks but when the levee breaks.

Power of being a Consumer Monopoly: Passing Along Rising Costs Lifts Kraft, Wrigley

Passing Along Rising Costs
Lifts Kraft, Wrigley

Meat Glut Chops
Tyson's Earnings

By JULIE JARGON and LAUREN ETTER
July 29, 2008; Page B1

Passing along higher costs to consumers helped Kraft Foods Inc. and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. post strong second-quarter results, but Tyson Foods Inc.'s profit suffered because it couldn't raise chicken prices enough to offset high feed costs.

Food companies of all kinds have been hit by rising fuel and ingredients costs. But while some manufacturers of packaged food have been able to protect their profits by raising prices, an oversupply of meat and poultry has made it harder for meat companies like Tyson to do the same.

In June, the average U.S. retail price of cereals and bakery products was up 10.4% from a year earlier, compared with a 2.9% increase for meat, poultry, fish and eggs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"There's no oversupply of Oreos, so the packaged-food companies have been able to offset enough inflation to post profit growth," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold.

In addition, Kraft, one of the world's biggest food companies, and gum maker Wrigley have benefited from sales in overseas markets where local currencies are strong against the dollar.

Monday, Kraft said its second-quarter net income rose 3.5% to $732 million, or 48 cents a share. Revenue rose 21% to $11.2 billion.

The company's chief executive, Irene Rosenfeld, said in an interview that she expected to see a significant decline in sales volume in the quarter, but volume fell just 1% despite a 7% increase in the company's prices.

Ms. Rosenfeld, who is midway through a three-year turnaround plan at Kraft that includes cost-cutting and developing premium-priced products, said the company will continue to increase its marketing spending and boost prices.

"The best thing we can do is make necessary investments in the value of our brands so that we can price away costs as they come up," she added.

Meanwhile, the Chicago-area company, whose products include Oreo cookies, Oscar Mayer hot dogs and Kraft cheese, raised its guidance for net organic revenue growth this year to 6% from 5%, due to price increases. It also raised its 2008 target for earnings, excluding items, to at least $1.92 a share, up from $1.90.

Wrigley said second-quarter net rose 14% to $194 million, or 70 cents a share. Sales also rose 14% to $1.57 billion. The Chicago company, which makes Juicy Fruit and Orbit brand gums, attributed more than half its sales gain to strong foreign currencies, with the rest coming from higher-priced products and increased shipments in Asia. In North America, where sales were up 5%, Wrigley's volume declined by about 5% because of higher prices.

Things weren't so rosy for Tyson, which warned that its U.S. chicken business will take longer than expected to recover from high feed costs. Tyson's net for the fiscal third quarter ended June 28 plunged 92% to $9 million, or 3 cents, as revenue rose 3.5% to $6.8 billion. An operating loss of $44 million in Tyson's chicken business largely offset profits at the Springdale, Ark., company's beef and pork businesses.

Dick Bond, Tyson's CEO, told investors that he expected the company's corn and soybean costs to be about $550 million higher this year than last. So far, Tyson says, it hasn't been able to pass along the higher costs to consumers, but Mr. Bond warned that higher prices are on the horizon.

"The consumer really hasn't felt the $6 and $7 grain markets yet, either on beef, pork or chicken," he said. "We are going to see the effects of that coming through at some point in time."

KOG- Oil Company

This stock does not fit to Buffettology but it rocks to $ 4 recently because of oil in the Williston Basin of North Dakota. Does SJC have property in Montana? Below are from thestreet.com:

First up is Kodiak, an oil and gas producer that operates in the western U.S. The main catalyst for the company lies in the Bakken Shale play, located in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana. The company recently increased the amount of land it owns in this area to approximately 38,000 acres. Kodiak has yet to drill a well on the property, but activity in the area has been successful for several operators -- leading to high expectations for Kodiak. This has resulted in a nice jump in the stock price over the past two months, from its 52-week low of $1.54.