With gold and silver prices falling off a cliff in 2013, it’s not surprising that earnings estimates are being cut for the miners. Silver Wheaton , one of the largest streaming metals companies in the world, is no exception. Ten earnings estimates for 2013 have been cut in the last two months, sending the consensus plunging for the year.  Shares of Silver Wheaton are soaring more than 4% Monday but don’t get too thrilled about the longer term picture.

Silver Wheaton is not

By Hard Assets Alliance Team

Hard Assets Investor Managing Editor Sumit Roy recently caught up with Hard Assets Alliance General Manager Ed D’Agostino for his take on the latest developments in the gold and silver markets.

By Dennis Miller

Some people claim that our Social Security system isn't broke. Technically, they're right. The Old Age and Survivors Trust Fund (OASI) currently holds $2.5 trillion in special government Treasuries that can be redeemed at any time – in theory of course.

But here's the catch. What happens when the OASI needs those trillions of dollars to pay out benefits? Essentially, the government has to find the money to pay the face value of those Treasuries. So from that standpoint, Social Security is broke. The Treasury IOUs are not backed by any cash surplus, only by faith that the US government will somehow come up with the cash... probably by indebting itself further or by raising taxes.

Social Security was created by the Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) and sold as a government-managed insurance program. We pay "premiums" to the OASI during our working years (actually the government just snatches money from our paychecks), which are supposed to be invested and provide retirement income for the rest of our lives. Our retirement is supposed to come from the income on those investments.

After taxing baby boomers for decades, the OASI is huge. But now that millions of those baby boomers are retiring, it's time for our government to tap into that fund to keep its promises.

Kaye: “Stocks in our opinion have been driven higher by all of this cocaine from the Fed and the other central banks. 

By Dennis Miller

Go into any fast food restaurant or retail store and you’ll find a lot of seniors working for minimum wage. Here’s why.

When personal computers hit the scene, numerous retirement-planning programs quickly became available. You entered your personal financial information, along with yield and inflation projections, and the computer would tell you how long your retirement nest egg would last.

The first time I ran the numbers, my computer told me I had enough money to retire as long as I died before I was 72 (I’m currently 73). That's when

Last September Fortuna Silver Incorporated traded at almost $6.00 and yesterday it closed at $2.86, another clear demonstration of just how hard this tiny sector of the market has been hit. Its interesting to note how far the P/E ratios have contracted, Fortuna is down to 11 which is lower than most in this sector.

Their latest results are not too bad either which we have highlighted below for your perusal: 

By Hard Assets Alliance Team

By Joe Yasinski, for the Hard Assets Alliance

Like most investors, the experience of the financial crisis left an indelible mark on me as an evaluator of risk. Like most of you, I spent countless late-night hours reading, consuming the details of the crisis in real time as events unfolded. As I more intimately acquainted myself with vaguely understood terms like "credit default swap" and "collateralized debt obligation," I vigorously directed my energies toward grasping the true scope of what was unfolding, and more important, what the official reaction would be.

Unbeknownst to me was that experience would lead me to a completely new philosophy of counterparty risk, money, savings, wealth, and diversification. And after the immediate volatility had subsided, I did an autopsy on all my mistakes before and during the crisis, big and small. The biggest question I had to personally answer to myself is why I didn't see it coming. At what point during that period were the warning signs so glaring that I should have been better prepared for what was approaching?

Haynes:  “Eric, we had another huge week. 

By International Man, Network

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently penned an article in which he comes out in favor of capital controls.

Not surprisingly, his argument follows the near cookie-cutter justification used by governments throughout history to seize more control over their citizens.

1. Spuriously shift the blame for the crisis onto foreigners.

1. Claim the increase in government control is for "your own good."

Krugman doesn't see irresponsible government spending and the resulting debt as the core cause of recent crises in Europe and around the world. Instead,

By Jason Sampognaro

By Jason Sampognaro, Hard Assets Alliance Analyst

When we think of gold, we think of the solid, safe-haven, value-holding, inflation-hedging, shiny, yellow metal that lets us sleep at night knowing the governments of the world cannot print it out of existence. Gold is the big cheese in the precious-metals investing community. There's no doubt that gold should be a part of everyone's investment portfolio, but it's important not to forget gold's little brother: silver.

Silver holds all of the same characteristics that make gold a great monetary metal. Silver is durable, malleable, easily recognizable, portable, divisible, and uniform (one silver coin is basically the same as the next). It is also scarce enough to make it valuable for smaller transactions. Most important of all, as with gold, no amount of money printing will reduce your physical holdings of silver by one bit.

What makes silver even more attractive than gold is its potential upside. There are several reasons why silver may outperform gold in the coming years. They are outlined below. After examining these reasons, we'll explore the recent shortage of Silver Eagles at the US Mint and what this all means for the price of silver in the long run.

Reason #1: The 16:1 Rule

Historically,