The price of silver responds to the supply and demand for the metal. The demand can at times be speculative rather than for industrial or medical uses. Silver is an inconvenient store of value unless one can buy it in enormous quantities, such as Warren Buffet did. As a result of the debacle of the Hunt brothers' speculative activities, silver speculators were badly burned, and anyone speculating in silver since then has been a loser.
Because of this long history of disappointing results, few people are disposed to resume speculating in silver, even though supplies available for purchase are extremely low. Some people think there remain substantial numbers of small hordes of silver that might be liquidated if the price were high enough.
There is, however, no demonstrable connection between a defect in computer software or hardware that may cause minor inconveniences and some expense to remedy, and the price of silver. Even if the defect caused great disruptions to banking operations, cash money or even postage stamps would be much more useful to own than silver. When all the banks were closed in the 1930s, some cities issued "scrip" IOUs, which were accepted by many vendors.
I suppose that should millions of people, for a few days, succumb to the same paranoia, one might unload bags of silver coins quickly and make a small profit, much as people sold Cabbage Patch Dolls. |
