Singapore - The New Switzerland

wealthcycles.com

While most of the world clings to its doomed global fiat currency system, desperate to keep the Ponzi scheme afloat for as long as possible, a small number of governments have set up laws that anticipating the changes, and will benefit their neighbors and citizens.

Singapore took one more step towards becoming “the new Switzerland,” as Mike Maloney often calls it, when Swiss precious metals refiner Metalor decided to build a new refinery on the Pacific Rim, as reported by Metalor Group CEO Scott Morrison:

The construction of a gold refinery in Singapore comes at a time of rising demand for precious metals and is therefore perfectly in line with our development strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Morrison’s comments make perfect sense, as Metalor acquired the Hong Kong refining business of Johnson Matthey in 2007. Metalor further reports that International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, a government agency, is driving the initiative, affirming comments from Singapore finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who said the government’s intent is to develop a metals refining and trading industry within the nation.

In our March 2012 article, Singapore Writes Support for a Gold and Silver Hub into Law, we quoted Nick Trevethan, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Singapore:

The removal of the GST [Goods & Services Tax] on precious metals will allow Singapore to better compete with Hong Kong and other bullion trading centers in the region… it seems a little unfair to put a sales tax on what is essentially money.

Singapore’s exemption of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on investment bullion products began in October 2012. In anticipation of the favorable tax treatment, GoldSilver added a state-of-the-art, private third-party vault as a recommended precious metals storage facility in The Singapore Freeport

Eliminating the tax on silver and gold money will level the playing field between gold and silver and other currencies, allowing citizens and those able to transact in Singapore more freedom of choice in how to store the fruits of their labor.

Historically, humans have always selected silver and gold as money spontaneously,  because their natural properties serve to store wealth, maintain real purchasing power, and act as a commonly accepted medium of exchange.

Despite its recent good decision-making, Singapore is not immune to the global crisis of confidence in paper currencies. As the dollar fails, so will every faith-backed currency worldwide. Slowing legacy economies quicken the pace of currency decline. The rate of economic growth in Singapore is slowing faster than expected, as global trade falters.

Nominal GDP growth in Singapore is down almost 6% for the third quarter, compared to expectations of about a 3% decline. The slowdown comes as no surprise in the midst of real economic contraction in the U.S., and worse, nominal contraction in the European Union. For more on real versus nominal, see Gold Under Fire as Money Not Traceable like Bank Issued Toilet Paper.

Since the legacy economies’ only solution to their debt problems is to add more debt, they are doomed to the Keynesian endgame, in which tax revenues equal interest expense on their debt. At that point their faith-backed currencies will lose purchasing power even faster, as they plummet in value against the limited supply of real assets. When Americans’ and Europeans’ trips to the grocery store become painful enough, the herd rush will begin into the only asset recognized as real money throughout human history.
Singapore, which  has already recognized that gold and silver are money, will be well positioned to serve as the free trade hub at the center of it all.