"If you want something else to show you that people are starting to get smart about owning gold and how this new demand is overwhelming the manipulation of gold by the Fed and the bullion banks, then a report from GATA.org is just the thing you need."

There has been an increase in the number of people writing to me, but still mostly asking the same two questions, namely "Are you some kind of idiot?" (Answer: Yes) And "How do I go about getting some gold?"

I take it from the increase in email traffic that it is not just me and them that are running to gold in a panic, as James Moore, of TheBullionDesk.com, noted that Tuesday's report of the StreetTRACKS' Gold ETF says that their gold holdings have jumped to "a record 609.33 tons of gold", which "means that it is 'now eclipsing China's 600-ton central bank holding...making it the 10th single largest holding of gold' in the world."

If you want something else to show you that people are starting to get smart about owning gold and how this new demand is overwhelming the manipulation of gold by the Fed and the bullion banks, then a report from GATA.org is just the thing you need. It reads "Reginald H. Howe, proprietor of Golden Sextant Advisors and consultant to GATA, has reviewed the Bank for International Settlements' semi-annual derivatives report and finds explosive growth in gold options." The net result is that, "The reported figures indicate that the mountain of gold options now almost certainly exceeds 30,000 tonnes - an amount roughly equal to the world's total claimed official gold reserves." Yow! What a derivatives scam!

Mr. Howe also notes that "foreign-owned gold has started to be withdrawn from the New York branch bank of the Federal Reserve", which shows that foreigners are not as stupid as us Americans.

I can see that he is not comfortable talking about people being stupid since he is talking to (as I am known around here) King Stupid, but he says that "Both the explosion in gold options and the resumed exports of foreign-earmarked gold suggest that managing the gold price is becoming an ever-more-difficult task. No surprise, then, that gold prices have turned sharply upward during the second half of the year. However, the price managers still have one thing operating in their favor: the apparent willingness of hedge funds and other supposedly sophisticated large players to make their bets on gold through paper derivatives, not the acquisition of physical metal."

This brings up the subject of holding metal bullion. I have always said that if you are starting out in accumulating gold because you are smart enough to see that we are freaking doomed and you curse yourself for not having found out about this earlier but you were too, too busy having a wonderful time with your life to worry about it, then you should start with taking some gold bullion in hand. No certificates. No accounts. No receipts. Just heavy chunks of gleaming yellow gold in your sweaty little hand.

However, if you are happy to take someone's word for it that they are holding gold for you, then I have exciting news for you! In response to overwhelming demand, the Mogambo Gold Bullion Storage Service (MGBSS) is now in operation, and it couldn't be easier!

Just send me as much cash (no checks!) as you can get your grubby mitts on, addressed to "Occupant", and I promise, cross my heart, to use the money to buy gold and store it for you, instead of using the money to throw the biggest damned wing-ding this sleepy little burg has ever seen for me and my hoodlum friends!

I can tell by the look on your face that you are obviously too smart to fall for another of my Sleazy Mogambo Scams (SMS), so I will not give you a brochure, and instead illustrate why the government needs so damned much money, that prompts the Fed to create it, that creates disastrous inflation in prices, by quoting Scott Burns at finance.sympatico.msn.ca, who says, "Consider the proud trumpeting that came from Washington at the close of fiscal 2007. The deficit for the unified budget was, politicians crowed, down to a mere $162.8 billion. In fact, the U.S. government is overspending at a far greater rate. The total federal debt actually increased by $497.1 billion over the same period."

In short, the Fed must create the money that the government needs to borrow. And now you also know why electing Ron Paul as President is so imperative, and who is the only hope this stupid country has.

P.S. To get The Daily Reckoning sent directly to your inbox, sign up for our free email newsletter, or if you prefer to use RSS, subscribe to the Daily Reckoning RSS feed.