It takes nearly five hours by plane to get from my new hometown of Melbourne, Australia to the Timor Sea, the body of water that lies off Australia’s northwest coast.

The surest sign of a civilization in decline is inflation. Governments throughout history have resorted to debasing their currencies to meet their expenditures beyond tax receipts. We hardly think twice about inflation anymore. After 70 years of this kind of cheating, we’ve come to expect it.

The base metals were all in the red on Thursday. Copper backed down for a second straight day, dropping from the pre-dawn hours to late morning, after which it recovered slightly to finish at $3.844/lb., down 4¾ cents.

We’ve said it before and no doubt we will say it again. The golden rule is to invest in mining companies that are either already producing or nearing production.

It was a mixed session on the Canadian markets during Wednesday trading as, believe it or not, the junior bourse outperformed its bigger brother.

The base metals were all in the red on Wednesday. Copper couldn’t hold on to Tuesday’s gains, as it fell in fits and starts through the day, finishing at $3.8915/lb., down 4 cents.

The base metals were mostly in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper revved up after the LME holiday, meandering up and down through about a 4-cent range yesterday, before settling with a nice gain at $3.9316/lb., up nearly 6 cents from Friday.

A modest recovery in the price of bullion and oil helped propel the Canadian markets higher during Friday trading.

The base metals were mostly higher on Friday. Copper was down in the pre-dawn hours, but took off once New York trading began and pushed steadily higher, only retreating a little after noon to finish at $3.8731/lb., up 8 2/3 cents.

The base metals were mixed on Wednesday. Copper bottomed in the pre-dawn hours, then was up through most of the day, finishing at $3.9472/lb., up almost 2¼ cents.