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Former Hedge Hund Manger and tv personality Jim Cramer quipped to drop dollars for copper.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11153014/1/cramer-skip-dollar--buy-copper.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed

Just found that amusing as I was doing just that this week. I.e. giving a bank branch dollars and taking copper in return. Sure I have to sort it and store it but I'd rather buy the physical stuff on the cheap over futures any day.

copper is better than dollars but if China crashes copper will suffer in the short term. copper price is highly correlated with global business activity.

I enjoy watching Cramer though his delivery is somewhat over the top. But then again business can get boring and he does what he does to make it interesting. Method aside he is a very intelligent & knowledgeable person.

Lemon Thrower wrote:copper is better than dollars but if China crashes copper will suffer in the short term. copper price is highly correlated with global business activity.

I've been thinking about that a lot recently. If china's housing bubble pops (which I'm not sure it really will 'pop' because everything is state controlled) it would drop copper I would think because of the housing market taking a significant drop. Long-term it will stay a great investment for a while I think though.

true, and its more than just housing. copper is used in everything. if factory output declines, then copper usage declines. their current rate of usage is off the charts high, its more spec and getting out of treasuries.

When the world economy is good, cooper is used to build a better world, when the world economy goes bad, copper is used to build a better war....Just my humble opinion.

If copper drops way down, that's when I'll back up my truck and load up!

pennypicker wrote:I enjoy watching Cramer though his delivery is somewhat over the top. But then again business can get boring and he does what he does to make it interesting. Method aside he is a very intelligent & knowledgeable person.

Agreed pennypicker. If you consider it's entertainment first and investment advice second, it's all good.

Years ago he used to do a radio show before he had TV show gig. The radio show was truely something that you get more insight from. I recall before the oil boom years ago the he'd spend half of his radio show pounding the table to that you need to own an oil producer and a oil service company.

With TV though, such a shorter attention span you cater too. You have to rush through investement idea after another. Good stuff but take it with a salt shaker.

ffej wrote:When the world economy is good, cooper is used to build a better world, when the world economy goes bad, copper is used to build a better war....Just my humble opinion.

I agree.

Plus, you can always use copper cents (rolls, gallon jars, 5 gallon buckets, Hoard's pallets of boxes) as trade units if push comes to shove.

Well, I don't have cable TV.. Gave it up years ago.. But, man! is Cramer getting old... hahaha. (me too) Anyways.. I love it. I'm working on my next 5 gallon bucket. Just about 2 thousand more to go.. lol

Short term I think copper will give back a little ground, but long-term it's strong. Honestly I think it's a better inflation hedge than gold. People buy gold because there scared, people buy copper to use.

Yes, but gold is more scarce and harder to mine than copper. Copper is abundant and I believe mining could be more easily expanded than it could be for gold. That being said, I'm still hoarding copper. I think it's good to be diversified and both will likely appreciate nicely.

inflationhawk wrote:Yes, but gold is more scarce and harder to mine than copper. Copper is abundant and I believe mining could be more easily expanded than it could be for gold. That being said, I'm still hoarding copper. I think it's good to be diversified and both will likely appreciate nicely.

There is not a lot of industrial application for gold. Granted I don't see it dropping much, I believe copper will close quickly on gold/silver and surprise a lot of people. Will it be worth more? Not in my lifetime, but it will gain at higher percentages over the next 10 years IMHO.

ffej wrote:When the world economy is good, cooper is used to build a better world, when the world economy goes bad, copper is used to build a better war....Just my humble opinion.

and when the world economy is idle or slowing, the price of copper declines.

be very careful when a you investment strategy and Cramer's advice are aligned.

personally i tune out all mainstream media. besides the questionable ethics of guys like Cramer and publications like Barrons and Forbes, a reason for this is a human instinct called confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is a human tendency to give disproportionate weight to things with which we agree. so if you want to invest in copper, and hear someone like Cramer recommend it or a publication like Forbes, then it will reinforce what you think is a good idea. you'll tune out others who disagree with your view.

it also works in the opposite direction. many here understand real money and how the government actually operates. this information conflicts with years and years of misinformation held by those we come in contact to. when you try to explain this stuff to them, their defense mechanism rejects it. its actually threatening. its quite common for them to lable you a nut.

inflationhawk wrote:Yes, but gold is more scarce and harder to mine than copper. Copper is abundant and I believe mining could be more easily expanded than it could be for gold. That being said, I'm still hoarding copper. I think it's good to be diversified and both will likely appreciate nicely.

During WWII, nickle became more valuable than silver. It's hard to say what metal may become the next "green metal", therefore, diversification in all metals is a good idea. One thing to remember, as the cost of fossil fuels continues to go up, so does the cost of mining any metal, including copper.

Cost push inflation - or supply destruction if costs cannot be passed on.

Yep, and I love it when I hear about all these alternative energy sources like wind and solar, because no matter the source of the power generation it takes copper to distribute it and move it from point a to point b.

Silver actually conducts electricity better than copper, but I don't see the wiring in my home getting replaced anytime soon.

inflationhawk wrote:Yes, but gold is more scarce and harder to mine than copper. Copper is abundant and I believe mining could be more easily expanded than it could be for gold. That being said, I'm still
hoarding copper. I think it's good to be diversified and both will likely appreciate nicely.

I wouldn't call copper "abundant" considering the world was short 855,000 metric ton last year alone. Which means demand is far surpassing supply.

Copper cents will close ground on classic gold/silver/copper coinage prices.

As I understand, raw copper is also gold and silver ore, sometimes. So, if the demand for copper drops enough, some of the copper mines will probably close, decreasing gold and silver production.