Green shoots are giving way to an economic death spiral, exec says

"Many of the economists who relied upon deceptive government-generated economic statistics to tout a questionable recovery are now becoming increasingly pessimistic as a consequence of mounting evidence of collapsing consumer confidence, punk retail sales, and a fierce resumption of housing's descent," says Chris Blasi, president of Neptune Global Holdings LLC.

"They are adjusting their forecasts down and some are even suggesting that normal economic activity will not resume until 2015 or beyond. What remains to be seen, however, is if a nation that is so massively indebted, top to bottom, will be recognizable after such a prolonged period in the tank," he says.

"Simplistic investment axioms passed off as wealth management, such as buy/hold equities and real estate never go down, have failed miserably for the past decade," Blasi says. "Preservation of wealth until the storm passes, in lieu of squandering hard-earned dollars chasing yesterday's investment themes, appears to be the more prudent course of action. ...

"Although derided as useless by those with a vested interest in preserving the privileges accorded those who steal wealth and gain power via a fiat monetary system, gold and silver have historically served as a refuge when such a counterfeit system is threatened with degradation or collapse. Our mirage of a money system is facing a challenge to its viability right now. Should the Fed's irredeemable paper scraps experience further loss of purchasing power, or global repudiation, gold and silver holdings will come through such a debacle intact and still be in possession of intrinsic value tradable for goods and services globally.

"The model portfolio has always included a measured position in gold and silver and such an allocation should be regarded as a long term store of wealth and not as a position for short or intermediate trade.

"Given that we are hurtling headlong into what the Chinese would call 'interesting times,' it makes sense to grab hold of something that has been here before and has consistently come out intact - physical gold and silver."

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