Likewise, I agree with Jack's comment. Gas would and should be $8 if we factored in the cost of maintaining a global military empire to keep puppet regimes pumping oil.
I'll say it now, the only hope for America is if the public wakes up and learns the truth and supports heroes like Ron Paul. Ron Paul for President 2012! Give huge amounts of your paper dollars to his campaign, because if he's not elected your savings will be 1/10 of what it is today. The simplistic way to say it is if you love your children or your grandchildren, support Ron Paul.
Even with Ron Paul elected we have much pain to bear. A revolution of some form is coming in the ashes of the oh mighty USA. I just hope its not too bloody.
Considering where the political mainstream has gotten us -- perpetual war, crushing debt, high unemployment, stagnant wages, rising prices, living far beyond our means, government gropes and nudie scans just to move about the country -- maybe it's time we start listening to the "fringe."
$8 gas would be very interesting... I would only hope that it gets to $8 based on a fat, deficit reducing consumption tax, not just supply & demand.
No one is thrilled with the bailouts, qe, gas prices, unemployment, etc., but to say Ron Paul was right and modern economic theories are wrong, is disingenuous. Where were house prices ~30 years ago vs. the price of gold? 5 years is a blink of the eye. I pity the fools buying gold & silver out of fear (then again, I pitied them when they were 1/2 their current prices).
Neither of these is a story about gold or houses, but about the Fed's continual (and accelerating) debasement of the dollar.
It's not Ron Paul vs. modern economic theory. It's Austrian economists vs. Keynesian economists and Fed money debasers. And judging by the mess that the Keynesians and debasers have gotten us into, I'd say the Austrians have won the argument hands down.
Both of those are myths that the Fed perpetuates to maintain its power.
In fact, FDR devalued the dollar in 1934 from 1/20 of an ounce to 1/35, a massive devaluation and a complete break of the gold standard, and yet the Depression lingered on for years until WWII.
And the Fed creating inflation does not translate into keeping people employed -- see 70's stagflation and the current high unemployment even in the face of a shrinking labor force.
HH- you are completely wrong. Inflation and devalueing the dollar does not equal jobs.
The only thing that got us out of the last depression was WWII.
The government can not get us out of a depression by devaluing the dollar. Its only kills our kids future and makes us slaves to our debtors-China. Just like the English Empire became slaves to the USA right after WWII. Watch I.O.U.S.A then you will get it.
W.C is completely correct. Ron Paul supporters are not the fringe. Voting for status quo of Obama or RINOs just continues to destroy our country for our children. Its that simple. Voting for anyone other than Ron Paul is voting for the continued destruction of America.
Mining for gold releases toxic mercury, causes birth defects, pollutes groundwater, and messes up the landscape. If that's what Ron Paul wants, then I can't vote for him. I'm old but I still manage to get outdoors every once in a while, so I like a clean environment. I guess I'll tell my ancesters, "Yes, you owe China a lot of money, but at least there's not a toxic strip mine in your backyard!"
I'll cut you some slack cause your old so you might be slowing down. Your logic is way off. I hope you have someone to care for you in your remaining years.
"Mining for gold releases toxic mercury, causes birth defects, pollutes groundwater, and messes up the landscape. If that's what Ron Paul wants, then I can't vote for him."
How did you deduct that Ron Paul want to increase mining? Wow.... Your out there. But then again, your not along. Many Americans are morons and will vote status quo and quicken the time for 3rd world America
The system is broken anyway you look at it. Ron Paul makes a whole lot of sense if you listen to what he is saying. I like what he has to say. It's really simple but it will be painful for all. He is no fringe player and more people will get behind him in the future. Forget about that bombastic bigoted Trump. I'm sorry but Obama's not getting it done. Ron Paul's your man if you really would like change in this Country.
True, my logic ain't what it used to be. If Ron Paul puts us on a gold standard then gold becomes legit money. If you could go out in your backyard and dig up dollar bills you'd dig the whole thing up. Africa would be stripped raw. They'd be the fastest growing continent. The poor monkeys will be eating arsenic. The children will have 3 arms and 14 toes.
No longer will Google be "the place" to work. Mining will take over as the industry of tomorrow. Our greatest minds will be trying to figure out how to strip 5 mountains at a time instead of just 1. Selling stuff is a pain in the arse, why not just dig up the money?
And, nobody will be able to get an abortion after the drunken one night stand at the mining camp saloon. Not only will Ron Paul take away our right to print money (Don't Cry for Me ARgentina), he'll take away our rights to control what's inside of our own body!
Going on the gold standard wouldn't mean more mining.
Gold is already so valuable that they are trying to mine it everywhere possible. The gold standard wouldn't change mining at all. A gold standard would on be a limiting factor on the Fed's ability to bail out the banks and screw the poor with inflation.
We could and should even tighten environmental mining restrictions. The gold standard is just about reining in the corrupt and unaccountable Federal Reserve.
Miners pumped out 75 million ounces of gold last year. That gold never goes away. Once it's in the system, it's in the system. That's the same as printing $100 billion dollars ($1500/ounce). Why do you like it when the apartheid-loving Africans print money but not the bald white guys in DC?
Will the African miners monitor global consumer prices on their way down into the mining shafts, like Bernanke does when HE cranks up the press?
Or possibly they are they busy monitoring the heavy metal levels in the seafood I used to be able to eat before I got this giant tumor growing out of my hairy goiter. Getting old SUCKSSSSS!
Between Ron Paul, Donald Trump and Sarah Palin... the republicans better hope for a miracle. Birth certificate and gold standard are not going to cut it. Even the lockbox was a better buzzword.
Bottom line: the gold supply grows very slowly, roughly inline with population growth, below world GDP growth, and far below the growth rate of printable fiat currencies.
Jack is right -- it doesn't have to be gold. It can be a basket of real commodities. But if currencies are not backed by anything real, they are not to be trusted. Just look at the loss of purchasing power of every fiat currency in the history of the world.
Allowing the Fed to print at will has not only destroyed the value of the currency, it has facilitated politicians spending money they don't have and leaving a disaster for future generations.
And look at the economic devastation that an unchecked Fed has created.
Greenspan created the housing bubble to bail out the tech stock bubble. The crash of Greenspan's housing bubble caused enormous suffering which continues to this day.
Now Bernanke is giving senior citizens 0% on their savings, printing trillions, and causing food and energy inflation, all to bail out the banks from their mistakes in Greenspan's housing bubble.
With this kind of track record for the unaccountable Fed, are you really afraid of trying sound money for once?
Your link doesn't inspire me. I don't have my ounce of gold. I can't do something just because everybody else is doing something. I'm not going to buy an ounce of gold just because everybody else has an ounce of gold and I need to get my fair portion. Everybody else wears underwear. I discovered long ago that underwear is just one extra step. Why bother? I broke the hold that Haines had on my life and I feel free (literally, I feel free down there. Can I get an amen!)
"Get your ounce before they do" copycat thinking works great in emerging countries where people get their information from the coconut wireless and facts blend seamlessly with fiction, rumor and myth. Those people should be hoarding books and building schools instead they're building mines, hoarding shiny yellow stuff and polluting the environment. Again, I'll have no trouble explaining to my ancestors why I didn't vote for Ron Paul, Donald Trump or Sarah Palin.
How come we are freaking out about the gas pries, yet my friends in Germany (& other parts of Europe) are managing to pay approximately $9 per gallon? Food is more expensive there, too.
We have millions of people living paycheck to paycheck (and 44 million -- 14% of the population! -- on food stamps).
If we'd been paying $9 a gallon for years and people had planned that into their budgets, that would be fine. But to hit people with huge price increases when they're already on the edge is tough.
Plus Europeans use public transit a lot more, and those who drive generally have smaller cars and/or shorter commutes.
I think you miss the bigger point because you are stuck on the gold thing. Our currency is not backed by anything tangible. Maybe it was backed by our promise to provide work or product but now the world is realizing the USA is going to renege by printing a lot more funny money, diluting or eventually eliminating the value of a dollar bill.
The backing doesn't have to be gold. To some extent the fact that oil has been traded in dollars has allowed the USA to continue its economic death spiral for decades longer than it would have.
Maybe the dollar doesn't even have to be backed by an asset, but if the money supply is not backed to something REAL and clearly definable it opens the door to the destruction of the economy.
If you haven't noticed, the door was swung wide open and the fuse has been set.
The U.S. military is tangible and they get paid in dollars, not gold. If you're a citizen of the U.S., the government has a claim on your wealth. That is substantial "backing" by any measure.
I'm around a lot of old people. When they start to whine about their .1% interest rate on their savings I chastize them like the greedy children that they are. Where in life's manual were they promised 5% risk free? Do they have any idea of what their medicare is costing the next generation? Do they realize that they'll leave this planet with a government in massive debt (a debt from which they were the main beneficiary). They paid taxes but clearly they didn't pay enough and they voted in the wrong leaders, otherwise we wouldn't be as broke as we are. So, maybe I'm extreme in my viewpoints but I feel little sympathy for savers and their .1% interest rate, while they're racking up Medicare benefits, social security and matinee movie prices... paid for by their ancestors.
The Federal Reserve is destroying the middle and working classes to bail out the wealthy.
ReplyDeleteThey print money, which causes food and energy inflation for the masses, and asset inflation to make the rich asset owners even richer.
While your food and gas prices are doubling, the banks are making obscene profits thanks to free money from the Fed.
The Democrat/Republican argument is a sideshow to distract people from the real villain: the Federal Reserve.
I hope it goes to $8 a gallon then people will use their polluting machines with greater thought. Save mother earth!
ReplyDeleteI full agree with WC. He is 100% correct.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I agree with Jack's comment. Gas would and should be $8 if we factored in the cost of maintaining a global military empire to keep puppet regimes pumping oil.
ReplyDeleteAnd $8 gas would encourage serious conservation.
I'll say it now, the only hope for America is if the public wakes up and learns the truth and supports heroes like Ron Paul. Ron Paul for President 2012! Give huge amounts of your paper dollars to his campaign, because if he's not elected your savings will be 1/10 of what it is today. The simplistic way to say it is if you love your children or your grandchildren, support Ron Paul.
ReplyDeleteEven with Ron Paul elected we have much pain to bear. A revolution of some form is coming in the ashes of the oh mighty USA. I just hope its not too bloody.
There was an image of Ron Paul on my toast this morning. I think I will sell it on eBay.
ReplyDeleteI knew the political fringe was hiding out somewhere in Leucadia!
ReplyDeleteConsidering where the political mainstream has gotten us -- perpetual war, crushing debt, high unemployment, stagnant wages, rising prices, living far beyond our means, government gropes and nudie scans just to move about the country -- maybe it's time we start listening to the "fringe."
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that the "fringe" has been proven correct by economic reality.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd listened to Ron Paul and sold your house five years ago in the Fed-created housing bubble and bought gold, you'd be rich.
so why is sandag expanding the I-5?
ReplyDelete$8 gas would be very interesting... I would only hope that it gets to $8 based on a fat, deficit reducing consumption tax, not just supply & demand.
ReplyDeleteNo one is thrilled with the bailouts, qe, gas prices, unemployment, etc., but to say Ron Paul was right and modern economic theories are wrong, is disingenuous. Where were house prices ~30 years ago vs. the price of gold? 5 years is a blink of the eye. I pity the fools buying gold & silver out of fear (then again, I pitied them when they were 1/2 their current prices).
HH,
ReplyDeleteGold is up 45x since 1971 when Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard.
Houses are up somewhat less than that, but still a huge amount.
Neither of these is a story about gold or houses, but about the Fed's continual (and accelerating) debasement of the dollar.
It's not Ron Paul vs. modern economic theory. It's Austrian economists vs. Keynesian economists and Fed money debasers. And judging by the mess that the Keynesians and debasers have gotten us into, I'd say the Austrians have won the argument hands down.
I was very young during the Great Depression so I can't be sure, but from what I've read it had something to do with the gold standard.
ReplyDeleteInflation sucks but it keeps people workin'!
HH,
ReplyDeleteBoth of those are myths that the Fed perpetuates to maintain its power.
In fact, FDR devalued the dollar in 1934 from 1/20 of an ounce to 1/35, a massive devaluation and a complete break of the gold standard, and yet the Depression lingered on for years until WWII.
And the Fed creating inflation does not translate into keeping people employed -- see 70's stagflation and the current high unemployment even in the face of a shrinking labor force.
jack...
ReplyDeletei use my polluting machine with great thought...
i park it on the weekend and don't get back in it until monday morning.
but if you want $8 gas you are also wanting an $8 loaf of bread.
BTW... random tangent but i think the "WALK" light is not working at leucadia blvd and 101.
ReplyDeleteHH- you are completely wrong. Inflation and devalueing the dollar does not equal jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that got us out of the last depression was WWII.
The government can not get us out of a depression by devaluing the dollar. Its only kills our kids future and makes us slaves to our debtors-China. Just like the English Empire became slaves to the USA right after WWII. Watch I.O.U.S.A then you will get it.
W.C is completely correct. Ron Paul supporters are not the fringe. Voting for status quo of Obama or RINOs just continues to destroy our country for our children. Its that simple. Voting for anyone other than Ron Paul is voting for the continued destruction of America.
Mining for gold releases toxic mercury, causes birth defects, pollutes groundwater, and messes up the landscape. If that's what Ron Paul wants, then I can't vote for him. I'm old but I still manage to get outdoors every once in a while, so I like a clean environment. I guess I'll tell my ancesters, "Yes, you owe China a lot of money, but at least there's not a toxic strip mine in your backyard!"
ReplyDeleteHH-
ReplyDeleteI'll cut you some slack cause your old so you might be slowing down. Your logic is way off. I hope you have someone to care for you in your remaining years.
"Mining for gold releases toxic mercury, causes birth defects, pollutes groundwater, and messes up the landscape. If that's what Ron Paul wants, then I can't vote for him."
How did you deduct that Ron Paul want to increase mining? Wow.... Your out there. But then again, your not along. Many Americans are morons and will vote status quo and quicken the time for 3rd world America
The system is broken anyway you look at it. Ron Paul makes a whole lot of sense if you listen to what he is saying. I like what he has to say. It's really simple but it will be painful for all. He is no fringe player and more people will get behind him in the future. Forget about that bombastic bigoted Trump. I'm sorry but Obama's not getting it done. Ron Paul's your man if you really would like change in this Country.
ReplyDeleteTrue, my logic ain't what it used to be. If Ron Paul puts us on a gold standard then gold becomes legit money. If you could go out in your backyard and dig up dollar bills you'd dig the whole thing up. Africa would be stripped raw. They'd be the fastest growing continent. The poor monkeys will be eating arsenic. The children will have 3 arms and 14 toes.
ReplyDeleteNo longer will Google be "the place" to work. Mining will take over as the industry of tomorrow. Our greatest minds will be trying to figure out how to strip 5 mountains at a time instead of just 1. Selling stuff is a pain in the arse, why not just dig up the money?
And, nobody will be able to get an abortion after the drunken one night stand at the mining camp saloon. Not only will Ron Paul take away our right to print money (Don't Cry for Me ARgentina), he'll take away our rights to control what's inside of our own body!
So, I'll choose FREEDOM in 2012!
HH,
ReplyDeleteGoing on the gold standard wouldn't mean more mining.
Gold is already so valuable that they are trying to mine it everywhere possible. The gold standard wouldn't change mining at all. A gold standard would on be a limiting factor on the Fed's ability to bail out the banks and screw the poor with inflation.
We could and should even tighten environmental mining restrictions. The gold standard is just about reining in the corrupt and unaccountable Federal Reserve.
Gold Smold. there are plenty of real commodities out there. Gold is just one small token.
ReplyDeletePlease the monetary system has to be based on current traded value of real commodity not just paper. How much is a single sheet of toilet paper worth?
When it only on paper, we are all screwed.
Come on HH. I know your smarter than that. the feds are killing our countries future.
Wake up and lets let America live.
HH,
ReplyDeleteI just re-read your post. You are clueless and make no sense. Again, I hope some family member is close by to help you out in your remaining years.
God bless, I for one wish you the best.
Jack
Miners pumped out 75 million ounces of gold last year. That gold never goes away. Once it's in the system, it's in the system. That's the same as printing $100 billion dollars ($1500/ounce). Why do you like it when the apartheid-loving Africans print money but not the bald white guys in DC?
ReplyDeleteWill the African miners monitor global consumer prices on their way down into the mining shafts, like Bernanke does when HE cranks up the press?
Or possibly they are they busy monitoring the heavy metal levels in the seafood I used to be able to eat before I got this giant tumor growing out of my hairy goiter. Getting old SUCKSSSSS!
Between Ron Paul, Donald Trump and Sarah Palin... the republicans better hope for a miracle. Birth certificate and gold standard are not going to cut it. Even the lockbox was a better buzzword.
HH,
ReplyDeleteI've covered the issue of gold supply here.
Bottom line: the gold supply grows very slowly, roughly inline with population growth, below world GDP growth, and far below the growth rate of printable fiat currencies.
Jack is right -- it doesn't have to be gold. It can be a basket of real commodities. But if currencies are not backed by anything real, they are not to be trusted. Just look at the loss of purchasing power of every fiat currency in the history of the world.
Allowing the Fed to print at will has not only destroyed the value of the currency, it has facilitated politicians spending money they don't have and leaving a disaster for future generations.
And look at the economic devastation that an unchecked Fed has created.
ReplyDeleteGreenspan created the housing bubble to bail out the tech stock bubble. The crash of Greenspan's housing bubble caused enormous suffering which continues to this day.
Now Bernanke is giving senior citizens 0% on their savings, printing trillions, and causing food and energy inflation, all to bail out the banks from their mistakes in Greenspan's housing bubble.
With this kind of track record for the unaccountable Fed, are you really afraid of trying sound money for once?
Your link doesn't inspire me. I don't have my ounce of gold. I can't do something just because everybody else is doing something. I'm not going to buy an ounce of gold just because everybody else has an ounce of gold and I need to get my fair portion. Everybody else wears underwear. I discovered long ago that underwear is just one extra step. Why bother? I broke the hold that Haines had on my life and I feel free (literally, I feel free down there. Can I get an amen!)
ReplyDelete"Get your ounce before they do" copycat thinking works great in emerging countries where people get their information from the coconut wireless and facts blend seamlessly with fiction, rumor and myth. Those people should be hoarding books and building schools instead they're building mines, hoarding shiny yellow stuff and polluting the environment. Again, I'll have no trouble explaining to my ancestors why I didn't vote for Ron Paul, Donald Trump or Sarah Palin.
How come we are freaking out about the gas pries, yet my friends in Germany (& other parts of Europe) are managing to pay approximately $9 per gallon? Food is more expensive there, too.
ReplyDeleteAnna,
ReplyDeleteIt's about the change, not the level.
We have millions of people living paycheck to paycheck (and 44 million -- 14% of the population! -- on food stamps).
If we'd been paying $9 a gallon for years and people had planned that into their budgets, that would be fine. But to hit people with huge price increases when they're already on the edge is tough.
Plus Europeans use public transit a lot more, and those who drive generally have smaller cars and/or shorter commutes.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHH,
ReplyDeleteI think you miss the bigger point because you are stuck on the gold thing. Our currency is not backed by anything tangible. Maybe it was backed by our promise to provide work or product but now the world is realizing the USA is going to renege by printing a lot more funny money, diluting or eventually eliminating the value of a dollar bill.
The backing doesn't have to be gold. To some extent the fact that oil has been traded in dollars has allowed the USA to continue its economic death spiral for decades longer than it would have.
Maybe the dollar doesn't even have to be backed by an asset, but if the money supply is not backed to something REAL and clearly definable it opens the door to the destruction of the economy.
If you haven't noticed, the door was swung wide open and the fuse has been set.
The U.S. military is tangible and they get paid in dollars, not gold. If you're a citizen of the U.S., the government has a claim on your wealth. That is substantial "backing" by any measure.
ReplyDeleteI'm around a lot of old people. When they start to whine about their .1% interest rate on their savings I chastize them like the greedy children that they are. Where in life's manual were they promised 5% risk free? Do they have any idea of what their medicare is costing the next generation? Do they realize that they'll leave this planet with a government in massive debt (a debt from which they were the main beneficiary). They paid taxes but clearly they didn't pay enough and they voted in the wrong leaders, otherwise we wouldn't be as broke as we are. So, maybe I'm extreme in my viewpoints but I feel little sympathy for savers and their .1% interest rate, while they're racking up Medicare benefits, social security and matinee movie prices... paid for by their ancestors.
Jerry, I love Ron Paul as well as toast so I'll probably be bidding. Lee, I lover your intangible value concept.
ReplyDeleteSammi, where are you?
I'm here Winston. Just was out enjoying the surf and sun all weekend. I agree with all the points made from W.C. and Jack.
ReplyDeleteI am voting for Ron Paul as well.
Thanks for editing my posts for me and have a good week.
With a forecasting record like this, why would anyone allow that man to centrally plan the economy?
ReplyDelete