Gold just had its best year since 1979. Silver more than doubled. Then both sold off hard, right when the reasons to own them were getting stronger. Liquidity is breaking down in corners of the financial system most people aren’t watching. Two multi-billion dollar companies collapsed last September on fake invoices and double-pledged collateral. JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Barclays all had exposure but none of them caught it in time. In early 2008, nothing felt broken either. Leverage, funding, and trust between institutions were already cracking beneath the surface. Then the whole system came apart, but not as a stock ... (full story)