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Cult of Mac Defends Apple on Street Signs
Mar 13, 2025
Cult of Mac contributor Buster Heine takes the side of Apple in the debate of whether to invest in Gold or Apple on CNBC's StreetSigns with Erin Burnett
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and now two of the most fervent camps on
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Wall Street call it the battle of the
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gold bugs and the Apple bugs they're Die
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Hard they're devoted they're pit bowls
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of passion take a look at why in the
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last 20 years Apple's Shares are up
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[Applause]
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4,000% gold up more than 225% okay so
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apple looks better on that front but
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still Gold's up and is the trend going
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to continue or do all things that go up
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eventually come down whether you're a
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devote or Not Gold bug James de Georgia
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the publisher of the gold and energy
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adviser and author of The Traders great
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Gold Rush joins us extoling the virtue
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of all things happle meantime is Buster
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H blogger for the site cult
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of.com okay great to have both of you
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with us and thanks for for having fun
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and being willing to play with us guys
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we appreciate it Buster let me start
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with you uh it's amazing when you start
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uh looking around on the web for things
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about Apple sort of linking it to a cult
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or a religion um you find things like
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the cover of The Economist with Steve
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Jobs with a Halo uh and that's just the
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tip of the iceberg um there's something
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to this isn't there there there is I
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mean when you're when you're buying
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apple and you're buying into a culture
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Apple sells a whole culture not just uh
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electronic parts but that's what the
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campaigns are all about um you're part
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of you know the best technology the best
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products and everything like that it's
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kind of like an exclusive club that
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people are kind of buying into and you
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you Buster have bought in right I mean
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you've done some strange things uh yeah
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I mean I like I I really enjoy it you
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know camping out for the iPhone it's
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it's an event you know you you're never
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going to see a company like this ever
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again nobody cares about going out and
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buying other computers but with apple
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everybody gets really stoked me and my
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friends every time there's an iPhone
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launch we'll camp out you know 10 p.m.
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the day before it comes out just to have
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fun James uh what about on the gold side
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of things what is it that makes some say
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you know jokingly hey the gold bugs
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right I mean what is it that causes that
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the group to Define itself like uh like
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that well you know for a long time we
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were a little niche part of the uh
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financial markets and you know gold you
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know dragged from 1980 to uh you know 2
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2001 and there was a a disbelief in its
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value as a monetary unit but as we've
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seen over the last 10 years uh there's
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been a you know R A sharp rise in gold
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and depreciation of currencies and uh
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you know people that are gold bugs
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people who believe in gold at this point
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are the ones who believe that uh the uh
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the uh currency situation around the
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world and the debt
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situation that's around the world is so
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out of control that uh that not holding
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some gold in your portfolio is just pure
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you know Folly here here's where I get
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confused though guys because you can't
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both be right over the long term right I
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mean I got Buster here betting that kids
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are going to you know people are going
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to get richer and have all these fancy
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iPhones and I got James saying the world
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might come to an end if he's know if
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gold really goes the roof I totally
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disagree with you the two are not oppos
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wrong well frankly I could see a gold at
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$2,255 and see the Dow you know at
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15,000 or 16,000 what's happening is the
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relative value of both items apple is a
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is a study in what is done right if we
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ran our governments and we ran our
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currency we ran their Federal Reserve
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and treasury like you know the Apple has
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run their company uh you know I would be
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a gold bug it's the fact that they
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haven't run things well that has caused
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that situation so I could see a
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situation where you know gold goes back
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to the the equilibrium of $2,000 plus
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and constant $1
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19980 and still see Apple at $360
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$450 you know a share they're Innovative
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they're creating they're controlling
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their their expenses they have new
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cutting technology it's it you know it's
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a wonderful investment but you need gold
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in your portfolio against everything all
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the other dangers all right bus is he is
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he is he convincing you no I mean I
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think Gold's a great investment for the
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long term but right now you're going to
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be making more money with apple what
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you're seeing kind of like what you said
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with gold it was a niche market Apple
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also was a niche market now they're
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expanding into mainstream it's huge now
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uh people that want to be in technology
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if you want to be looked at as knowing
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what technolog is about really you're
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buying Apple products Apple only has
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room to expand because it was Niche now
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it's mainstream uh you're going to be
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seeing growth for another 3 to 5 years
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from Apple Gold may be a great long-term
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investment I'm not a gold expert but I
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know that Apple's probably one of the
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best bets that you can count on for the
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stock market for the next 3 to 5 years
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now Buster what do you think Steve Jobs
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has done to to make people like you feel
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the way you feel I just wanted to read
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you something these these professors at
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Texas A&M University you know they did a
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study um on how the iPhone became Divine
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and the iPhone was called the Jesus
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phone um and and one of the things they
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they note they say oh Apple was born in
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Humble surroundings just like Jesus jobs
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was struck down and resurrected just
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like Jesus and Apple stores are
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miraculous clean temples of Holiness I
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mean it is sort of amazing that that
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that this person has such a following
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because it is a lot about him
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individually isn't it it is I mean you
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have other people behind the scenes that
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also contribute with apple you have John
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IV you have uh Tim Cook uh Phil Schiller
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they're all great people I mean Steve is
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the salesman you know a lot of people at
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Apple kind of used Steve as kind of like
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a Leonardo da venci type of of the
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modern day I mean he's everything that
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he touches turns to Gold whether it's
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computers music with the iPods now the
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iPad for netbooks soon to be television
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um really he can't do any wrong I mean
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he's a modern day genius and uh
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nothing's going to really stop it Apple
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until Steve kind of uh abandons ship
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which isn't going to happen cuz it's his
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baby he's a tech Messiah is what it
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sounds like the way you're talking about
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James uh in Gold do you have any
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frustration about all the people who are
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coming into your world right there's the
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True Believers like you and then there's
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the people who are buying gold bars
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because they see them advertised on TV
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do you resent those people because
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they're not real
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Believers no I don't resent them in fact
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you know I think that it's an
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inescapable conclusion I think you know
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pointing to Steve Jobs as a as you know
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the U icon of of Apple you know gold has
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a lot of people behind it as well that
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are in the problems namely politicians
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all around the world Federal Bank uh
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Reserve Bankers Central Bankers you know
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policy makers and they're making all the
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wrong decisions so you know we have a a
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big tail wind I don't know about the
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short-term potential but I wouldn't
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count gold out okay well James Buster
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thanks very much to both of you and for
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and for playing everyone let us know
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which investing Church would you join
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apple or gold we'll be
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back
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