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Last
week, Ranting Andy Hoffman directed one of his rants toward the Perth Mint. I
allow Andy to write about any topic of his choice and give him complete freedom
to speak his mind. Andy is a gifted writer, with an amazing knowledge of our
industry. He wrote what he believes and, if you follow his rants, you know
that he pulls no punches and writes from the heart and with great passion. He
insists that he got his facts right. But that's not the point. In this
case, I have to disagree with what he wrote.
In
my opinion, as the CEO and founder of Miles Franklin, we should be above
negative stories directed toward others in our industry (and we usually are).
We can hold our head high by virtue of our own business practices and
reputation and it is not necessary for us to lift ourselves above anyone in
our industry by putting them down.
I
have read the negative articles written about the Perth Mint, but from my
own first-hand experience, I am unaware of anything that they have done
that is questionable or unethical.
Ranting Andy and I are on the same page
when it comes to the inherent risk in owning gold or silver in ANY pooled
account. Ranting Andy thought he presented a factual essay; unfortunately it
didn't come off as he intended. Although I didn't write the article, the buck
stops with me. I own the firm. I want to personally apologize to the Perth
Mint for singling them out. It was unwarranted.
I
hope all of you will read the article at the end of the daily by Thomas Friedman. My daughter Betsy
and son Andy both grew up in and went to school in St. Louis Park. I
completely understand what he is saying here. Friedman is often a bit
"too Liberal" for my tastes, but he is an excellent writer and this
piece in particular I find to be very interesting and valuable.
Regarding
Jim Sinclair's comments that gold should be kept at home by yourself, I agree when it comes to central bank
gold. They are taking un-necessary risks in storing it with other countries
like Great Britain and the US. For individuals, caution is the rule of the
day and we offer every possible safety measure, including two independent
levels of redundant audits, every quarter, of all the metals stored in our
Brinks program in Montreal. What more can I say than Andy Schectman,
Andy Hoffman and myself all have our metals stored there, and not simply to
"promote" the program, but because that is where we feel our gold
and silver is the safest and most logical place to reside.
Jeff Clark's view is that platinum is a
better deal than gold. I have written as much myself, several times in the
last six months, and my last two personal purchases have been PLATINUM.
Sincerely,
David
Schectman
Miles
Franklin
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