Peter Smith
● A lot of people lump silver in with gold, thinking it'll protect them from inflation over the long haul. Brandt says that's not just wrong—it's dangerous. Silver tends to bubble up on speculation, then crash right back down to what it costs to dig out of the ground.
● History backs him up. The chart tells the story: silver spiked hard in 1979–1980, then again in 2010–2011. Both times, prices came screaming back to earth, settling near production cost levels. Instead of betting on silver as an inflation play, Brandt thinks traders should watch the industrial side—where efficiency and mining costs actually matter.
● Silver's caught between two worlds: precious metal and industrial commodity. That makes it super cyclical. Inflation stories can get retail investors excited, but eventually the price gravitates back toward what the most efficient miners can produce it for. That's the reality check for anyone treating silver like a safe haven.
Silver will have its bubbles. Silver is an industrial metal. Its price will bubble, but then return to the cost of production of the most efficient global producers. Period. End of story. Sorry bulls, writes PeterL Brandt
Peter Smith
