Before I left for Estonia, GATA Treasurer Chris Powell sent a message out on the GATA wire, Meet GATA Board Member Austin Fitts in Estonia, inviting members of the global GATA network to have lunch with me in Estonia.

Sure enough, two weeks later, a GATA clan gathered at the Bocca Restaurant in Old Town Tallinn on Monday.

From The Tavid Group, currency and gold dealers in Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden, we had Chairman Kuno Rääk, Member of the Supervisory Board Meelis Anton, Development Manager Paavo Pauklin and Latvia Chairman Roman Lossman. The group at Tavid is quite remarkable. I had a chance to visit with them in their offices before lunch.

Joining us from Riga, Latvia was asset manager Felix Pieplow, his fiancé Nadja Cornelius and his partner Dimitri Speck from Munich.  See their websites at Staedel Hanseatic Qualitatives Asset Management and Seasonal Charts. Dimitri proceeded to teach me things about the gold supression scheme that I had not known before. Dimitri has published his research on the gold suppression scheme at Gold-Eagle.com.

Joining from Tallinn was Paul Vahur, an entrepreneur with significant experience with precious metals and who is very knowledgeable about the US and global economy.

The conversation roamed through the markets and around the globe as we discussed when the stock markets might find a floor, collateral fraud in the mortgage and Treasury markets, when the need for bailouts might taper off, what would happen to the Dollar and the Euro over the next year and the outlook for gold and silver.

No matter the country or the continent, the growing GATA network gathers the most extraordinary people.