One could hardly fail to notice that gold investors have suffered a little more than a “bit of pain” over the past month. More like a good kicking as gold moved down by about 20% from its recent high of $986 on July 15.

Not so very long ago, I published here a photo of an honest-to-goodness bank run in England, as depositors tapped politely at the door of Northern Rock Bank in the hopes of receiving their money back.

Despite the government’s “best” efforts, most reasonable people realize that there is no amount of legislation that can solve our oil problems. Congress seems only capable of making things worse.

Here at Casey Research we have been on the record as bearish on the outlook for the economy for some years now. Lest you think that is loose boasting, I can offer proof in Doug Casey’s August 2005 article, the dramatically titled “Profiting from the End of Western Civilization”.

For a useful way to think about energy exports and prices, Dallas based geologist Jeffrey Brown points to the current situation with global rice supplies. Brown among others worked on the Export Land Model (ELM), a model that reflects the decline in oil exports as a result of Peak Oil.

Today, I’d like you to imagine a hot-dog business. After buying your cart, permits, insurance, hot dogs, buns, and condiments, you hit the street. You sell hot dogs people will happily pay $2 for. Let’s say it costs you about $1.50 to produce a hot dog, so you’re making a gross profit of $0.50 per unit.