Silver as an asset class

There are approximately165,600 tons (5.324 billion ounces) of gold above ground.  Priced at $1400 per ounce, the existing gold above ground is worth $7.5 trillion.

The market capitalization of Microsoft is $225 billion.

The market capitalization of Apple is $325 billion.

The market capitalization of ExxonMobil is $425 billion.

Equities worldwide are roughly $50 trillion.
 
US debt and unfunded liabilities total over $100 trillion, despite much lower figures reported by the mainstream media.

The global derivatives market is well over $1 quadrillion.

There are roughly 900 millions ounces of silver above ground as of late 2010, of which 490 million ounces are in ETF vaults.  At today's price of $34 per ounce, all the existing silver in the world is worth $30.6 billion.

It won't take much to move the needle on silver.