Who exactly is conservative news programs aimed at?

[chris_brown207]

I have noticed a trend, and it could totally be my imagination. I get my news from a variety of news sources. When I hear breaking news, I will usually switch over to a number of different channels so I can get their take on it. And I share work space with work mates who are avid conservative radio listeners.

One easy way I have found to determine who the demographics of any TV or radio program is by listening to the commercials. For example, if you watch golf on TV, you will be exposed to commercials for Mercedes, luxury condos, quality watches etc. because their demographic is older wealthier Americans.

If you watch Jerry Springer or Maury Povich, you will see commercials for Tax Attorneys, get rich quick schemes, buy gold now, and even sexual supplements. I would take this to mean that their demographic are less wealthy, or under educated Americans.

So, my question is why does it seem that conservative radio, such as Fox News Radio, or conservative TV such as Fox News carry a lot of the same advertising as daytime scandal talk TV programs? (Or is it just my imagination)

If is not my imagination, who is the demographic?

[chris_brown207]

I don't think people are less educated because they are buying gold... IF they were buying it 5 years ago. Often you can trace a trend about to form by where the majority of the advertising dollars are being spent. Seeing as how the great majority is being focused on getting people to invest in gold - I would be willing to bet we are going to see something in the next year or two that will erase what many economists see as inflation in the gold market. The same type advertising was evident leading up to the housing crash - "Buy houses now, or miss out on an incredible investment..." As one investor once told me - "The Smart Investor, when he sees everyone running towards an investment, will be the one running away from it." The greatest money is made not by following trends, but by predicting new ones.)

The gold situation is not comparable to the housing boom, when everybody was involved and the government was pushing banks to loan money to people so they could buy a house. I would say less than 3% of Americans are into gold to a significant degree, so 'everyone' is not doing it. The talking heads on the cable business channels aren't promoting gold, they are stock market perma bulls despite their miserable track record the last ten years. The last ten years those guys have been saying gold has peaked, it will crash, 'you have to be crazy to buy $1,000 gold', etc. None of the factors that have caused the gold rise have changed. IMHO we are in a long term gold bull market and a long term stock bear market. Fighting the trend is not wise. I agree the gold bull market will end when prosperity returns, but that is years away. There is no limit to how low the dollar can sink. Think about this: In 1913 if you had a $20 gold piece it would be worth about $1800 today, if you had a $20 bill in 1913 it would be worth about $1 in purchasing power compared to 1913. I don't see that trend changing. I don't see holding gold as a way to get rich, but as a way to preserve what assets I have. Short of default, the only way the government can deal with our $15 trillion debt is by printing money, which is ultimately inflationary. Gold has always been money, I predict the fiat money experiment will end badly, followed by some kind of gold standard. This isn't just a US issue, we are just 8% of world gold demand. What is going on is a worldwide rejection of fiat currency.

I meant to revisit this conversation the last two weeks, but this is the first chance I got. I wanted to see if you were still bullish on the value of gold, seeing as how we just had the biggest single drop in the value of gold in more than 30 years?

Granted, it was only a loss in value of 9.4% at the end of a 12 year period which saw the value of gold more than quadruple, but it was an interesting situation nonetheless. What are your thoughts? (By the way, I agree with you over the long term on gold, I am mainly talking about the next 5-10 years)

I have a feeling that it is just a matter of time before the fed raises interest rates, and the value of gold stagnates for a while.