Many gold investors, myself included, expected gold and silver...

Many gold investors, myself included, expected gold and silver to have their standard tank this morning after hitting new highs (in gold's case, a technical breakout above $39 in silver's) in the past few days.

Glad to see it didn't happen and the Dow also surged a bit at the end, so it could be Money Monday...

Here's why, IMO... whether the US prints money to avert a default or prints money in QE3 to avert Depression, the sensible investment strategy now must be to pile up on PMs.

BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14164308 has Obama saying the US is "running out of time" to avoid a default on its $14 trillion of debt.

Just in from ino.com http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=68979719727790:

By TOM RAUM
Associated Press

(AP:WASHINGTON) Horror stories are flying about the damage that might be wreaked should Congress and President Barack Obama fail to cut a deal by the Aug. 2 deadline to increase America's borrowing limit. Nearly every American is in harm's way, either directly or indirectly.

Absent a deal by then, the government would find itself tight on cash and unable to borrow _ and have to start deciding which of the 80 million bills due in August it should pay and which it should put off.

Tough decisions would come immediately: On Aug. 3, some $23 billion in Social Security benefit payments are due to be processed. On Aug. 4, the Treasury Department must pay $87 billion to investors to redeem maturing Treasury securities. On Aug. 15, more than $30 billion in interest payments come due.

In addition to those costs, the government normally pays $5 billion to $10 billion daily to defense contractors, Medicare providers, federal employees and others.

Obama has said he can't guarantee Social Security checks and payments to veterans and the disabled will go out on schedule in the absence of a deal: "There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it." He could be challenged on that, however, because some legal and congressional budget experts question whether he can unilaterally decline to pay Social Security benefits if there are still assets in the program's trust fund.

Regardless of how that issue is resolved, there's no question that government services, programs and benefits could take an enormous hit.

No one knows exactly what choices Obama and his top officials would make if the crisis comes. The White House Office of Budget and Management is the agency charged with reviewing possible cuts in benefits and payments while the Treasury Department handles cash flow. All have been mum about their crisis plans, apparently to avoid market speculation or panic.

But Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has insisted the deadline is real. "There is no credible way to give Congress more time," he said recently.