The Year in Review – Top Smauldgld Posts of 2013

JM Bullion

Smaulgld.com was launched on April 28 this year with the blog post “Student Loans and Unemployment are Holding Back the Economy and Real Estate Market” (560 views).

Since then we have published over 120 posts and the site has received nearly 50,000 unique visitors and over 75,000 page views.

While the bulk of Smaulgld.com’s visitors come from the United States (83%), we have received visitors from 145 countries!

Rounding out the top ten countries sending visitors to Smaulgld.com are: Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Singapore, Germany, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Spain.

The Smaulgld You Tube Channel featuring weekly podcasts with former CBS Radio host Ryan Sloper has received nearly 2,800 views.

Thanks to everyone for reading and listening. Happy New Year!

Here are Smaulgld.com’s most viewed posts of 2013:

Top Posts of 2013

1. The Coming Real Estate Supply/Demand Inventory Reversal 3,842 views. This piece was published in June at the height of the housing “recovery” and predicted that more inventory would come on the market as demand dropped due to a tepid economy and higher interest rates.

2. Why the End of Quantitative Easing May be Bad For The Dollar (& Good For Gold & Silver) 2,775 views. An economic theme during 2013 was whether the Federal Reserve would begin to taper its quantitative easing (QE) program and what the impact might be on the economy, real estate, the dollar and precious metals. In this blog post from August we postulated that QE was operating as the backing for U.S. treasuries and the dollar and that cessation of QE might have the unintended consequence of harming the dollar and causing a flight to non dollar assets like gold and silver.

3. Twelve Ways Silver is Different Than Gold 2,702 views. Published in August, this blog post has served as an evergreen resource containing some little known but important differences between silver and the yellow metal.

4. The False Housing Recovery of 2013 and How it Unraveled 2,257 views. This October blog post chronicled the 2013 housing market and noted that the housing recovery was no recovery at all.

5. The Recovery Has Reversed Course – Welcome to the Revocery 2,157 views. This blog post highlighted that the economy was weak and that the rising stock and real estate markets were not indicative of the underlying health of the economy and were a product of the artificially low interest rates brought about by the Fed’s QE program.

6. The Dark Side Of Artificially Low Interest Rates 1,752 views. This blog post discusses how artificially low interest rates cause an economy more harm than good.

7. The Disconnect Between Home Prices and The Economy 1,645 views. This blog post made it clear that rising home prices could not be sustained without a healthy job market.

8. Is a Gold and Silver Supply and Demand Price Adjustment Coming? 1,589 views. This piece highlighted that demand for physical gold and silver were high throughout the year as the price declined and questioned whether the price of precious metals would remain suppressed in light of increased demand.

9. Real Estate’s Underwater/Down Side Sticky Catch-22 1,387 views. This blog post discussed the unique dynamic of underwater home owners and reluctant home sellers and their impact on restraining housing inventory and prices.

10. The Dark Side of Rising Home Prices 1,378 views. This blog post highlights why rising home prices aren’t necessarily a good thing.

11. Bitcoin – A Mining Disaster Waiting To Happen 1,344 views. This December blog post followed “The Case Against Bitcoin” and discussed the artificial scarcity of bitcoin and the lack of a concrete basis for the value of bitcoin.

12. The Case Against Bitcoin – A Faith Based/Emotion Backed Currency 1,316 views. This November blog post was written when the price of bitcoin hit its high price of the year – over $1200 – and discussed the reasons the crypto currency might not live up to the hype.

13. Gold and Real Estate Are Assets, Not Investments 1,176 views. This blog post discusses why gold and real estate held as primary residences should not be considered investments.

14. San Francisco Police Ban Chess 1,159 views. This blog post went viral in October shortly after the San Francisco police decided to ban chess games on the basis that they were attracting the “wrong element” on the streets of San Francisco

15. The Gold Silver Ratio vs. The Silver Gold Sales Ratio 1,132 views. This blog post was the first in a series that highlighted the ratio of silver to gold sales throughout 2013.

16. What the Budget Deal Means for the Economy, Real Estate, Gold and Silver 1,122 views. This October blog post discussed the potential impact of the deal that Congress struck to avoid a default on the nation’s debt.

17. Can the Housing Recovery Continue? 1,009 views. Written in August, this blog post questioned the strength of the housing recovery.

18. Negative Interest Rates and Janet Yellen 962 views. This blog post was published in October shortly after the announcement that Janet Yellen was nominated to become the Chair of the Federal Reserve in January when Ben Bernanke’s second term expires.

19. Is College Worth It? 815 views. This blog post argues against the conventional wisdom that a college education is worth it by listing dozens of very successful people who never graduated college.

20. You Can’t Get There From Here – Straining to Regain Real Estate’s Promised Land 809 views. This blog post criticized the concept that the housing recovery had further to go as prices had not yet reached 2005-06 levels.

21. Why Interest Rates are Rising – Podcast 8.2.13 806 views. This August blog post and companion podcast discusses the reason interest rates were rising- the Fed’s threat to taper QE and NOT an improving economy.

22. The Recovery is Worse Than the Recession 765 views. This August blog post notes some of the economic data that indicate that things were better economically during the recession of 2009 than they were during the recovery of 2013.

23. The King is Surrounded: Bernanke’s No Exit Dilemma 744 views. Written in June, this blog post noted the difficulty the Fed would have continuing or tapering QE.

24. What’s Next For The Fed? No Exit 624 views. This blog post was written after the Fed’s September meeting at which they decided not to taper QE even though such a move was widely anticipated.

25. The Price of Silver and Real Estate 603 views. This blog post notes that demand for silver is up while the price is down and that the demand for real estate is down while the prices are up.

26. Janet Yellen and the Precious Printing Press 583 views. This blog post discusses what type of Fed Chair Janet Yellen might be and concludes that she will be a proponent of QE and negative interest rates.

4th Quarter Top Posts

1. The False Housing Recovery of 2013 and How it Unraveled 2,257 views.

2. The Dark Side Of Artificially Low Interest Rates 1,749 views.

3. Bitcoin – A Mining Disaster Waiting To Happen 1,332 views.

4. The Case Against Bitcoin – A Faith Based/Emotion Backed Currency 1,308 views.

5. Twelve Ways Silver is Different Than Gold 1,212 views.

6. Is a Gold and Silver Supply and Demand Price Adjustment Coming? 1,195 views.

7. San Francisco Police Ban Chess 1,159 views.

8. What the Budget Deal Means for the Economy, Real Estate, Gold and Silver 1,122 views.

9. Why the End of Quantitative Easing May be Bad For The Dollar (& Good For Gold & Silver) 986 views.

10. Negative Interest Rates and Janet Yellen 962 views.

11. Janet Yellen and the Precious Printing Press 583 views.

12. Mexico To Levy New Tax on Gold and Silver Miners 534 views. This blog post covers the Mexican government’s announcement in late 2013 indicating their intention to place a surtax on Mexican mines.

13. Buying Physical Gold & Silver 513 views.

14. U.S. Department Of The Treasury Warns: Value of Dollar At Risk 478 views. This blog post was written prior to the deal to avert a default and discussed the warnings of U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

15. The Labor and Real Estate Markets and Interest Rates – Podcast 11.8.13 475 views.

16. The West Sells Paper Gold While the East Buys Physical Gold 473 views. By the fall of 2013 it became apparent that the world’s physical gold supply was moving east. This blog post covers that trend.

17. Five Long Years in the Fed’s Potemkin QE Village 461 views. This blog post noted that the Fed’s QE program has lasted nearly five years and has not resulted in sustainable economic growth.

18. Three Possible Outcomes of the U.S. Debt Ceiling/Default Situation 434 views. This blog post correctly predicted in October that a default on the United States’ would be averted at the last moment.

19. Why Saudi Arabia Matters in Helping to Keep the U.S. Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency 433 views. In October Saudi Arabia expressed displeasure regarding the United States’ position vs. Syria. This blog post analyzes the importance of the U.S./Saudi Arabian relationship in helping to keep demand for the dollar strong.

20. The Dark Side of Rising Home Prices 404 views.

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