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I hope you were able to buy gold and/or silver on Saturday to protest the Federal Reserve, as my wife and I did.
I noticed that gold and silver are up this morning, but I’m a bit distracted from the price movement of these metals.
I live in Waterbury, Vermont – one of the towns hit hardest by Hurricane Irene on Sunday night. Thankfully, my family was largely unaffected by the storm. The Winooski River is normally found about ¼ mile from our house, but it came within 100 feet. We did lose power for about 24 hours, but at worst, our Ben and Jerry’s ice cream got a little melted.
I wish I could say the same for our neighbors. Many of them had the foundations of their houses swept away in the flooding. You can see from the picture below, taken yesterday morning, that the river swelled above its banks and sent at least 2-3 feet of water down Main Street.
Unfortunately, it appears that many, if not all homes and businesses along Main Street were heavily damaged.
A legendary local brewpub, the Alchemist (pictured below, in better days) will be closed indefinitely. I ate dinner at the Alchemist last Monday with my mom while she visited from New Jersey.
I could go on – all of the familiar businesses and houses that I regularly inhabit are in bad shape.
But I’m hopeful.
I know that Waterbury will emerge from this flood better than ever.
I can despair over what’s been lost, and still be optimistic about the future.
And that’s what I want to impress upon you as a reader. I know that most of the time, my job as a commodity analyst has me throwing light onto the shoddy condition of our political system, our government, our corrupt markets and debt-ridden society.
But I believe things will eventually get better. If I didn’t believe they’d get better, I wouldn’t be writing this letter.
So take heart. Invest prudently. Save diligently. Keep your loved ones close and safe. And be optimistic about the future – even when things seem to be at their worst.
In that vein, if you find yourself in Waterbury, Vermont anytime soon, ask around for how you can buy the Alchemist’s beer in cans. The brewer recently invested in a cannery, which was thankfully spared from the flooding. So we’ll be able to enjoy Alchemist beer, even though the Alchemist brewpub is in ruins.