Remember when we spoke about giving up every last penny of our wealth to get rid of the bloodsucking elites that are killing our childrens’ futures?
After reading this commentary, you will have the concise MATH, (there’s that word again), and course of the nation that explains why you feel like a hamster on crack, and can’t sleep at night. The numbers do not lie.
FOREWORD: At certain times, focusing on the big picture is important not just for investment success, but for personal welfare, and even survival. We believe such times are here. It is estimated that 98% of Americans have never held a gold coin in their hands. Yet 100% of Americans regularly handle Federal Reserve Notes. From a contrarian standpoint, the financial message from those two statistics is clear. Even so, gold is much more than money or an investment medium; it stands for liberty and throughout history has facilitated escape and ensured freedom. Never having touched a gold coin is the monetary equivalent to never having breathed fresh air, felt the warmth of sunshine, looked up at the stars or risen from the gutter. Fiat Federal Reserve Notes are becoming nothing more than sewage decomposing in the vast, toxic septic tank of predatory Washington politics, epic Federal Reserve arrogance and error, blatant Wall Street fraud and outright Master Class plunder. Below, we outline America’s troubling and compounding predicament, and urge you to think about how to protect yourself from its consequences, both financially and personally.
Thanks to the endless barrage of feel-good propaganda that daily assaults the American mind, best epitomized a few months ago by the “green shoots,” everything’s-coming-up-roses propaganda touted by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, the citizens have no idea how disastrous the country’s fiscal, monetary and economic problems truly are. Nor do they perceive the rapidly increasing risk of a totalitarian nightmare descending upon the American Republic.
One stark and sobering way to frame the crisis is this: if the United States government were to nationalize (in other words, steal) every penny of private wealth accumulated by America’s citizens since the nation’s founding 235 years ago, the government would remain totally bankrupt.
According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent report on wealth, America’s private net worth was $53.4 trillion as of September, 2009. But at the same time, America’s debt and unfunded liabilities totaled at least $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion), or 225% of the citizens’ net worth. Even if the government expropriated every dollar of private wealth in the nation, it would still have a deficit of $66,600,000,000,000.00 ($66.6 trillion), equal to $214,286.00 for every man, woman and child in America and roughly 500% of GDP. If the government does not directly seize the nation’s private wealth, then it will require $389,610 from each and every citizen to balance the country’s books. State, county and municipal debts and deficits are additional, already elephantine in many states (e.g., California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York) and growing at an alarming rate nationwide. In addition to the federal government, dozens of states are already bankrupt and sinking deeper into the morass every day.
The government continues to dig a deeper and deeper fiscal grave in which to bury its citizens. This year, the federal deficit will total at least $1,600,000,000,000.00 ($1.6 trillion), which represents overspending of $4,383,561,600.00 ($4.38 billion) per day. (The deficit during October and November, 2009, the first two months of Fiscal Year 2010, totaled $296,700,000,000.00 ($297 billion), or $4,863,934,000.00 ($4.9 billion) per day, a record.) Using the GAAP accounting method (which is what corporations are required to use because it presents a far more accurate and honest picture of a company’s finances than the cash accounting method primarily and misleadingly used by the U.S. government), the nation’s fiscal year 2009 deficit was roughly $9,000,000,000,000.00 ($9 trillion), or $24,700,000,000.00 ($24.7 billion) per day, as calculated by brilliant and well-respected economist John Williams. (www.shadowstats.com) Fiscal Year 2010’s cash- and GAAP-accounting deficits will likely be worse than 2009’s, given government bailout and new program spending that is on steroids and psychotic.
Putting Fiscal Year 2009’s $9,000,000,000,000.00 ($9 trillion) deficit another way, 17% of America’s private wealth, accumulated over a period of 235 years, was wiped out by just one year’s worth of government deficit spending insanity.
Given this, is it any surprise that Treasury Secretary Geithner has announced that the release of the nation’s FY 2009 supplemental GAAP financial statements has been delayed? Remember, this is the same Secretary Geithner who bullied people to cover up the sordid details of the AIG, or more accurately, the taxpayer-funded, multi-billion dollar, Santa Claus bailout and bonus bonanza for Goldman Sachs. Do you really think this government, characterized as it is by fiscal and monetary secrecy, lies, chicanery, cronyism and stonewalling, wants the people to know what is actually happening? Obviously, it does not, so it hides from the public the inexcusable facts.
It is estimated that the top 1% of Americans control roughly 40% of the nation’s wealth. In other words, 3 million people own $21,400,000,000,000.00 ($21.4 trillion) in net private assets, while the other 305 million own the remaining $32,000,000,000,000.00 ($32 trillion). 77,000,000 (77 million) Americans (the lowest 25%) have mean net assets of minus $2,300 ($-2,300.00) per person; they live from paycheck to paycheck, or on public assistance. The lower 50% of Americans own mean net assets of $27,800 each, about enough to purchase a modest car. Obviously, it would be impossible to retire on such an amount without significant government or other assistance. Meanwhile, the richest 10% of Americans possess mean net assets of $3,976,000.00 each, or 143 times those of the bottom 50%; the top 2% control assets worth more than 1,500 times those in the bottom 50%. When you combine these facts with Wall Street’s typical multi-million dollar annual bonuses, you get an idea of wealth inequality in America. Historically, such extreme inequality has been a well-documented breeding ground for totalitarianism.
If the government decides to expropriate (steal) or commandeer (e.g., force into Treasuries) America’s private wealth in order to buy survival time, such a measure will be designed to destroy the common citizens, not the elite. Insiders will be given advance warning about any such plan, and will be able to transfer their money offshore or into financial vehicles immune from harm. Assuming that the elite moves its money to safety, there would then be $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion) in American debt and liabilities supported by only $32,000,000,000,000.00 ($32 trillion) in private net worth, for a deficit of $88,000,000,000,000.00 ($88 trillion). In that case, each American would owe $285,714.29 to balance the country’s books. (Remember to multiply this amount by every person in your household, including any infant children.)
If the common people suspect that something diabolical was in the works, a portion of the $32 trillion in non-elite wealth could be evacuated as well prior to a government expropriation and/or currency devaluation, resulting in less money for the government to steal. What these statistics mean is that it is absolutely impossible for the government to fund its debt and deficits, even if it steals all of the nation’s private wealth. Therefore, the government’s only solutions are either formal bankruptcy (outright debt repudiation and the dismantling of bankrupt government programs) or unprecedented American monetary inflation and debt monetization. If the government chooses to inflate its way out of this fiscal catastrophe, the United States dollar will essentially become worthless. You can be absolutely certain that a PhD. in economics, such as Dr. Bernanke, is well aware of these realities, despite what he might say in speeches. For that matter, so are Chinese schoolchildren, who, when patronized by Treasury Secretary Geithner about America’s “strong dollar,” laughed in his face. One day, perhaps America’s school children will receive a real education so that they, too, will know when to laugh at absurd propaganda.
The government has announced that during the fiscal years from 2010 through 2019, it will create an additional $9,000,000,000,000.00 ($9 trillion) in deficits, an amount that is almost certain to be understated by trillions given the country’s current economic trajectory. The government assumes that this vast additional deficit will be funded by others, such as the Chinese, as it is a statistical fact that the United States will be incapable of funding it.
Furthermore, with the budgetary equivalent of a straight face, the Office of Management and Budget reports in its long-term, inter-generational budget projection that the United States government will experience massive, non-stop deficits for the next 70 (SEVENTY) years, requiring the issuance of tens of trillions of dollars of additional debt. The OMB does not project even one year of surplus during the entire seventy year budget period.
These deficits and debts are now so gargantuan that they have become surreal abstractions impossible even for sophisticated financiers to begin to comprehend. The common citizen has absolutely no idea what these numbers mean, or imply for his or her future. The people have been deluded into thinking that America’s arrogant, egomaniacal, always-wrong-but-never-in-doubt fiscal witch doctors and charlatans, including Greenspan, Rubin, Summers, Geithner and Ponce de Bernanke, have discovered a Monetary Fountain of Youth that endlessly spits up free money from the center of earth, in a geyser of good will toward the United States. Unfortunately, this delusion is false: there is no Monetary Fountain of Youth, and contrary to the apparent beliefs of the self-deified man-gods in Washington, D.C., the debt and deficits are real, completely out of control, and 100% guaranteed to create catastrophic consequences for the nation and its people.
When government “representatives” deliberately sell into slavery the citizens of a so-called free Republic, they have committed treason against those people. This is exactly what has happened in the United States: the citizens have been sold into debt slavery that they and their descendants can never escape, because the debts piled onto their backs can never, ever be paid. Despite expensive and sophisticated brainwashing campaigns emanating from Washington, claiming that America can “grow” out of its deficits and debt, it is arithmetically impossible for the country to do so. The government’s statements that it can dig the nation out of its fiscal hole by digging an even deeper chasm have become parodies and perversions of even totally discredited and morally disgusting Keynesianism.
The people no longer have elected representatives; they have elected traitors.
The enslavement of the American people has been orchestrated by a pernicious Master Class that has taken the United States by the throat. This Master Class is now choking the nation to death as it accelerates its master plan to plunder the people’s dwindling remaining assets. The Master Class comprises politicians, the Wall Street money elite, the Federal Reserve, high-end government (including military) officials, government lobbyists and their paymasters, military suppliers and media oligarchs. The interests and mindset of the Master Class are so totally divorced from those of the average American citizen that it is utterly tone deaf and blind to the justifiable rage sweeping the nation. Its guiding ethics of greed, plunder, power, control and violence are so alien to mainstream American culture and thought that the Master Class might as well be an enemy invader from Mars. But the Master Class here, it is real and it is laying waste to America. To the members of the Master Class, the people are not fellow-citizens; they are instruments of labor, servitude and profit. At first, the Master Class viewed the citizens as serfs; now that they have raped and destroyed the national economy, while in the process amassing unprecedented wealth and power for themselves, they see the people as nothing more than slaves.
America’s public finances are now so completely dysfunctional and chaotic that something far worse than debt enslavement and monetary implosion, terrible curses unto themselves, looms on the horizon: namely, a Master Class-sponsored American dictatorship.
Throughout history, the type of situation in which America now finds itself has been a fertility factory for tyranny. The odds of an outright overthrow of the people by the Washington and Wall Street Axis, or more broadly, the Master Class are increasing dramatically. The fact that so few people believe an American dictatorship is possible is exactly why it is becoming likely.
Dictatorships have blighted history and ruined lives since the beginning of civilization. In recent times alone, tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Ceausescu, Amin, Hussein, Mussolini, Tojo, Kim, Pinochet, Milosevic, Tito, Batista, Peron, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Marcos, Somoza, Mengistu, Bokassa, Sese Seko, Franco, Ho Chi Minh, Mao, and Castro have power-sprayed blood onto the screen of time and ravaged mankind with murder, torture and human oppression. A full catalog of history’s tyrants would require a book of hundreds of pages. In the past 100 years alone, over 200 million human beings have been annihilated by wars, ethnic cleansings and government assassinations. Just when we think that civilization has been able to rise above tyranny’s inhumanity and disgrace, a new dictator appears on the scene to start the process all over again. Every time this happens, fear and submission paralyze the vast majority of the affected masses, leading them to “follow orders” and lick autocracy’s blood-stained boots.
History has proven to tyrants that oppression works. In fact, it is easy to control a populace, once you control the money, markets, military (including police), media and minions (the recipients of welfare, social security, free health care, government jobs and the like, who are dependent upon the state and likely to be compliant). This is exactly where the United States is today.
Recent American events paint an ominous picture of a Master Class that is now in total control.
When 90% of the American people vehemently rejected the $700,000,000,000.00 ($700 billion) TARP bailout plan, the Master Class put it on a fast track and approved it anyway.
When a clear majority of the American people said no to a government takeover of Chrysler and GM, the Master Class poured billions of taxpayer dollars into those corporate sinkholes and took them over anyway.
When the people said no to multi-trillion dollar crony bailouts for the bankers and insurers whose corruption had caused global financial mayhem, the government pledged to those elite insiders more than $13,000,000,000,000.00 ($13 trillion) of the people’s money anyway.
When the people expressed astonishment and anger that Wall Street planned to pay itself record 2009 bonuses, in the midst of America’s worst-ever fiscal and financial crisis caused by them, Wall Street stuffed its pockets with taxpayer-supported bonus money anyway.
When the people said no to a proposed $40,000,000,000.00 ($40 billion) bailout of AIG and its elite trading partners such as Goldman Sachs (an amount that subsequently exploded to $180,000,000,000.00+ ($180+ billion)), the Master Class went underground, covertly misappropriated taxpayer money and made the payoffs anyway.
When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were nationalized at enormous taxpayer expense, the government approved $6,000,000.00 individual pay packages in 2009 (150 times the average American wage) for the CEOs of both failed companies anyway.
When a clear majority of the people said no to nationalized health care, even after being bombarded by a multi-million dollar, lie-drenched propaganda campaign designed to bamboozle them, the House and Senate passed nationalized health care bills anyway.
When more than seven million American workers lost their jobs and were subsisting on unemployment benefits and food stamps, federal government employees, who now earn DOUBLE what private sector workers earn, were given another round of pay and benefits increases anyway.
When private sector workers’ 401Ks and IRA retirement plans plummeted in value due to economic collapse and endemic Wall Street-orchestrated market corruption (including systemic front running, flash trading, naked short selling and other manipulations), government “defined benefit,” lifetime-cost-of-living-adjusted pension plans, despite already being underfunded by $2,000,000,000,000.00 ($2 trillion), were made richer than ever anyway.
The long, shameful litany of events signaling the total divorce between the Master Class and the people of the United States doesn’t stop there. It goes on and on.
The message from the American Master Class to the American people is simple and clear:
We Defy You.
Governments that openly defy the people are either already totalitarian or in the process of becoming so. Monetarily, the United States clearly functions as a totalitarian dictatorship already, with a Federal Reserve that operates in secrecy, creates limitless amounts of debt and currency at will, and showers trillions of dollars upon favored Master Class insiders with zero transparency or accountability whatsoever. The Federal Reserve is so shameless about its dictatorial powers that it flatly refuses to provide details about multi-trillion dollar bailouts and rescues of privileged elites, in open defiance of Congress and the people. The fact that they get away with these blatant acts of defiance demonstrates the true extent of the Master Class chokehold on America.
If the Master Class were a benign despot and if its policies and programs actually worked, that would be one thing. But that is not the case. Rather, its programs are in a complete shambles.
Every single government entitlement program in the United States is bankrupt. This includes Social Security ($17,500,000,000,000.00 underfunded; $17.5 trillion); Medicare Part A ($36,700,000,000,000.00 underfunded; $36.7 trillion); Medicare Part B ($37,000,000,000,000.00 underfunded; $37 trillion); Medicare Part D ($15,600,000,000,000 underfunded; $15.6 trillion), Government and military pensions ($2,000,000,000,000 underfunded; $2 trillion), Food Stamps (current underfunding difficult to measure because the number of recipients is exploding; hundreds of billions underfunded versus original projections, minimum); and the list goes on. The above underfunding amounts are NET of projected tax receipts over the next 50 years. But the current recession has invalidated virtually all long-term budget and tax receipt assumptions, meaning that the true underfunded amounts are now greater than current, already mind-boggling estimates.
While the above statistics are terrifying enough to any citizen with a functioning brain, what is Twilight Zone-eerie and a far more serious cause for alarm is the casual indifference with which the Master Class is now making the country’s dire and irreparable fiscal circumstances even worse.
The nationalized health care program will cost at least $1 trillion over the next ten years, and most likely multiples of that. It is being crammed down America’s throat by a bankrupt government that does not have the money today and will not have the money tomorrow to pay for it. Worse is the fact that the same government that has bankrupted each and every existing social program now intends to directly or indirectly control the health care of all citizens. Based on the government’s existing track record and the health care program’s enormous complexity, invasiveness and cost, the probability that it will become a national fiscal and humanitarian catastrophe is roughly 100%.
“Cap and Trade” is a multi-trillion dollar tax scam being foisted onto the American public without a legitimate debate or popular referendum. You might be surprised to learn that “Climate Revenues” are already included in the federal budget, starting with $79,000,000,000.00 ($79 billion) in fiscal year 2012, which begins only 20 months from now. During fiscal years 2012 through 2019, the government expects to collect $646,000,000,000.00 ($646 billion) in “Climate Revenues,” a completely new tax category. Have any of your elected traitors told you that they have enacted $646,000,000,000.00 ($646 billion) in “Climate” taxes beginning twenty months from now and continuing forever? These “Climate Revenues” are based on junk science, lies and hysteria, and have been pimped by greed-diseased parasites who seek to make billions from operating and manipulating the Cap and Trade “marketplace.” Favored elitists such as Hank Paulson, Al Gore, General Electric and Goldman Sachs, among others, have positioned themselves to profit from the nation’s upcoming Cap and Trade tax misery and economic debilitation.
The reality is that the giant Ponzi scheme called the United States of America is running out of money. In any Ponzi scheme, money must constantly be poured into the top of the funnel in order to pay the redeemers at the bottom. As the number of redeemers has grown, tax receipts have fallen far short of covering their withdrawals, a problem that has now become an outright government funding emergency further aggravated by the fiscal, financial and economic crises.
If the Washington and Wall Street Axis were not legally able to create and distribute counterfeit American money, the Ponzi scheme would have collapsed already. Trillions of new, out-of-thin-air, printing-press and electronic “dollars” have bought the Axis additional time, but new sources of revenue must immediately be found to keep the scam alive. Congress is fully aware of this reality. Outright tax increases would be bad politics during a recession that is morphing into a depression, and also bad for 2010 re-election campaigns, so they cannot be implemented. Therefore, Congress continues to advance the health care and Cap and Trade agendas, which are nothing but taxation Trojan Horses festooned in righteousness and sanctimony, despite overwhelming popular opposition.
If the nationalized health care program is passed, revenues and fees will kick in immediately in 2010, whereas costs will not begin to accrue until 2012 and later. The government plans to spend the revenues immediately to forestall a total fiscal collapse. Nationalized health care has absolutely nothing to do with health care; it has to do with creating an immediate revenue stream to help fix the current government funding crisis. Similarly, Cap and Trade has nothing to do with fixing the environment. It, too, is nothing more than a massive tax increase similarly designed to address the government’s epic funding shortfall, with thick slices of pork thrown in for privileged insiders and deceitful propagandists like bloated “Father of the Internet” and now “Savior of the World” Al Gore.
The last thing the Master Class wants is for the people to understand the disastrous state of the nation’s finances. Master Class brainwashing tells the people that it is “negative” and “pessimistic” to look at the facts, despite the fact that psychological health is characterized by the ability to identify and deal with reality. The Master Class wants the people to put on Bozo the Clown happy faces and let sugar plums and green shoots dance in their brains as they write one check after another to pay for Cap and Trade, nationalized health care, and a mind-numbing assortment of other taxes and fees.
On Sunday night, November 30, 2009, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Il (a name that says it all, even better than Made-off’s), an international poster child of Master Class psychological illness, devalued his country’s currency by 99%. This vicious tyrant, who has given birth to a national hell on earth, is chauffeured in Mercedes Benz limousines, drinks the finest imported whiskies and dines in imperial dignity on foods prepared by personal chefs while his citizens starve to death on the streets or, at best, eke out a subsistence living. Kim became paranoid that the people were actually figuring out how to improve their pitiful, impoverished lives in tiny ways, so he decided to wipe them out. The people were given one week to exchange their money at a rate of 100 old Won for 1 new Won. Any lifetime family savings in excess of roughly $700.00 were simply confiscated by the North Korean government. To keep the people in line, the military and police were put on high alert, fully prepared to kill or arrest any protesters.
On January 9, 2010, Venezuela’s strong man Hugo Chavez devalued his country’s currency by 50%, overnight and without warning, causing immediate inflation, shortages of food and supplies, and general financial chaos throughout the nation.
While you might be shaking your head in pity over the plight of the citizens of North Korea and Venezuela, ask yourself this: could this not happen in the United States?
On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, an Obama hero, outlawed gold ownership overnight by signing Executive Order 6102, which gave the people three and one-half weeks to surrender all privately-owned bullion to the government for a price of $20.67 per ounce. On January 30, 1934, nine months after collecting the people’s gold, Roosevelt devalued the dollar 69% overnight, by raising the gold price from $20.67 to $35.00 per ounce.
Since its founding in 1913, the Federal Reserve has devalued the dollar by 98+% thanks to endless money printing and debt creation, a corrosive and impoverishing process that is now accelerating. In the past year, the Fed has engineered $20+ trillion in bailouts, subsidies and guarantees for well-connected and lucky scavengers and opportunists, an amount equal to roughly 40% of the total private wealth created in this country since its inception. All because a few elitist government man-gods with an almost perfect record of error and failure have deemed in their imperial wisdom that it shall be so. The citizens, whose hard-earned wealth is being systematically destroyed by this continual, government-decreed monetary debasement were never invited to the debate or given a say, which is par for the course for dictatorships. This massive de facto devaluation now hangs over the people’s wealth like a great monetary sword of Damocles.
Conceptually, whether it is a 50% overnight devaluation in Venezuela, a 69% overnight devaluation in the United States, a 98% devaluation in America over time, or a 99% overnight devaluation in North Korea, what is the difference? The fact is: there is no difference; monetary debasements are all the same. In each and every case, the people’s wealth is stolen via government edict, while the people stand by helplessly and in shock.
So one must ask: For whom does the bell toll? A foreign “them,” or a domestic us? Who is to say that you will not be told tomorrow morning that, effective immediately, in accordance with some perversely named mandate such as the “American Monetary Security, Wealth Preservation and Terrorism Prevention Act,” enacted by emergency for “the safety of the nation and the financial well being of the citizens,” all existing currency and bank balances will be redenominated in “New Dollars,” at a conversion rate of 1 new for every 100 old currency units? Would this not simply be another, almost predictable act of defiance toward the American people by the Master Class? And if that happened, do you honestly believe that the Master Class would not have been alerted in advance and allowed to make special preparations for itself ahead of the devaluation? Do you think they intend to go down in the same ship as the people they defy? If such a currency devaluation were announced, what could you do about it? March on Washington? But how would you get there if your money had been wiped out?
Despite what you may hear from State Media, which includes virtually all establishment news organizations, particularly financial ones (e.g., CNBC), America is on the precipice. No bankrupt nation in history has ever defended or preserved the freedoms of its citizens. In fact, it has been the exact opposite: in desperation, bankrupt governments have routinely plundered their citizens’ wealth and imposed totalitarian controls. What will make things different for the United States, the largest debtor nation in all of recorded civilization?
The United States government cannot ever, possibly pay its debts, is pathologically incapable of controlling its spending or curbing its hunger for both domestic and international empire and persistently refuses to tell the American people the truth. If America’s citizens were told the truth and given the benefit of true leadership, as opposed to the guile and dishonesty of an endless array of political liars and hacks, perhaps they could rally and defeat the problems that afflict them. But instead, they are fed by the Master Class a steady diet of narcotic propaganda that deludes, confuses and enervates them. The truth cannot set people free if it is never told, and that is the essence of America’s gathering tragedy.
In a future article, we will detail specific developments you should watch for to chart the course of America’s ominous and potentially deadly national storm. The current, grave situation is already a clear call to action. When the signals become even more urgent, it will be late in the game to take protective action, and possibly too late. Citizens should begin to prepare now not just for financial survival, but for the personal security of themselves and their loved ones should a Category 5 economic and political hurricane rip into the nation, something that becomes more likely every day.
With respect to personal finances, in virtually every national currency devaluation and major political upheaval in the past, gold has represented sanctuary for the affected people. Gold has not just preserved wealth, but personal freedom as well. While governments can devalue fiat currencies, they cannot, by edict, devalue gold. Yes, they can try to manipulate its price, but unless all governments join in the collusion, ultimately the price will return to market. The market for gold is global, and demand exists in all nations and among all peoples. Should the government attempt to confiscate gold, it will be an outright admission that the financial system is collapsing, and the people will know better than to hand over to a corrupt government their only means of survival. The most important point is this: devalued currencies never rise again. Once they are destroyed, they are gone forever, and those whose wealth had once been denominated in them are wiped out. As you have no doubt heard before, not one fiat currency has survived over time, and that is an indisputable fact. More significantly, no fiat currency has ever suffered the abuse that has been inflicted upon the United States dollar, meaning that it is at extreme risk. Gold has been money for 5,000 years. It has not merely survived, it has prevailed over each and every fiat currency collapse throughout history. Given this, the most important financial question a person can ask him- or herself today is: How is my wealth denominated at this time? And given its denomination, is my wealth likely to be safe in current and evolving circumstances?
One thing is certain: as the epic David and Goliath monetary battle unfolds, between the people fighting to defend their hard-earned wealth on one side, and a Master Class that greedily and pathologically wants to plunder them on the other, the price of gold will become extremely volatile for a period of time. Volatility will, in fact, tell you that the War on Wealth has officially been declared, and will be your signal to do whatever you must to protect what is yours. As the government Goliath and its Master Class allies short tonnes of bullion into rigged futures markets in a desperate attempt to make gold look dangerous and risky, the Davids will be coming forth not just in the United States but from all corners of the globe, buying 10 grams here and one ounce there. There are 6.8 billion Davids, versus one diseased Master Class that numbers in the small millions. There is no way the Master Class can defeat the people, if the people finally rise up and say “No More of Your Plunder. No More of Your Cold and Soulless Financial Oppression. No More of Your Cynical and Godless Exploitation.”
If you find the above argument compelling, you should consider how to protect yourself from Executive Orders that could be issued at any time, under any pretext, and that could be extremely hostile to your financial and/or personal health and well being. One simple way to start is to purchase one ounce of gold for yourself and each member of your household, and much more if you can afford it. That is not financial advice; it is merely the common sense generously communicated to you by history.
Stewart Dougherty
Stewart Dougherty is a specialist in inferential analysis, the practice of identifying historic and contemporary patterns and then extrapolating their likely effects upon the future. Dougherty was educated at Tufts University (B.A., magna cum laude), and Harvard Business School (M.B.A. and an academic Fellow). He can be reached at stewartdougherty@cs.com. He is not affiliated with or compensated by those he references or recommends. He does not offer investment or trading advice, and nothing in this article should be construed as such. This article represents the author’s personal opinions, and nothing more. The reader has the author’s permission to share, print, forward or post this article provided that the content is not changed and the author is acknowledged.
For my brother Shtuey, and because I walk in the light. THE MONSTER STANDS WITH ISRAEL!
Four days ago I wrote Stop Preaching To The Choir about what ALL anti-obamanation voters will need to do to defeat The One in 4 years. I know quite a few of you have read and commented on it and maybe, I am once again, ahead of my time or a legend in my own mind….I don’t know which, BUT damn, if it is not still ringing true.
Reserved for the Department of Homeland Security
[...] Same As It Ever Was…. Four days ago I wrote Stop Preaching To The Choir about what ALL anti-obamanation voters will need to do to defeat The One in 4 years. I know quite a few of you have read and commented on it and maybe, I am once again, ahead of my time or a legend in my own [...] [...]
[...] Same As It Ever Was…. Four days ago I wrote Stop Preaching To The Choir about what ALL anti-obamanation voters will need to do to defeat The One in 4 years. I know quite a few of you have read and commented on it and maybe, I am once again, ahead of my time or a legend in my own [...] [...]
PUMA is becoming a spin-off of NOW, just another liberal ‘women’s rights’ organization that rejects the fact that not all women are liberals. It has already been proven how ineffectual this is in the grand scheme of things.
I rarely visit PUMA sites anymore because they are stuck in the sexist this and that meme. It saddens me that they can’t get past themselves and see the larger picture.
Right now the government is committing fraud on a grand scale with the bailout. We have no clue where $290 billion dollars has gone because there is no oversight. The PUMAs need to address this.
They need to join up with the other grassroots movement before it is too late. We need an army…to defeat The One and his cabal in Congress.
I agree with the comment above.
One other thing some people on other blogs think the PUMAs are either irrelevant or figment of someone’s imagination…and the first thought maybe true…irrelevant.
We now know why The Clinton’s campaigned so hard for The One…and their reward. A White House full of Clintonistas…and very high profile cabinet spot in The One’s Administration.
And yes Hillary really did betray her 18 million supporters…
This is the conversation between my husband and I…Hillary’s betrayal.
And now I wonder every day why I spent my money and time to hit the road for Hillary in four states. I feel a deep abiding regret for doing it too.
Now that McCain is kissing The One’s feet, I am glad I didn’t volunteer to campaign for him. I certainly didn’t need more regret!
NavyVet – yes the PUMAs do not realize that they are marginalizing themselves by focusing on the tidbits and not the whole shebang. I wonder how long it will take and how many will open their eyes? At this point, not too many I think. So sad.
Our sight is PUMA and while we are angry as hell as women, we also are angry at the Dem Party and see them for what they are …SCUM…for enabling all this economic mess. And the foreign policy stuff. We are pissed at the bunch, the Clintons and their hackery and we see what you see!!!
We at IA DO NOT ACCEPT this crap of folding back into the Dem Party and we will continue to raise flags and try to inform about what either the Dems or Repugs do to screw the country!!!
We are trying to be TRUTHSEEKERS and I may be changing my little PUMA bit on the left of the page to reflect that
Insight! sorry if I offended you – your site is NOT one of the sites I was writing about – Keep it up – Country First!
To all….welcome to the Vast Right Wing conspiracy.
You are now seeing what we all saw years ago….the Clintons are all about the Clintons. Period.America is just their personal playground/bank.
And McCain? Well, he can kiss my ass. He is just as bad as they are. He can’t be bothered to stand up for Sarah Palin…who was the one after all that we were all voting for…but he can take the time to kiss TheOne’s ring?
Fah! We need to start getting people in line for office that have something to really offer the American people…and not worry about party lines. Although, I must say that since the dems have turned into socialists I won’t be voting for any of them until they change back in to “just” the loyal opposition to the republicans. Right now they are the disloyal opposition to Americans.
Now if we could only get all those that are dissatisfied with both parties to join ONE INDIE PARTY! Now I know that is a Pipe Dream! I think I will just focus on the grassroots army.
Ghost is right…..
Okay Clinton bashers, it’s reality time.
First, as in all things HRC, I will believe it when it comes out of her mouth.
Second, what is going to save this nation is not an independent party, but the realization that all politicians are self-serving, lying asshats. The Clintons don’t own that category, or were Bush and Cheney not sucking this country dry for eight years with Halliburton’s no-bid contracts?
What is an independent party going to accomplish, replace Obama with another scumbag that has an R in front of its name instead of a D? That is not a plan.
You want change? I’ll give you change. Americans no longer filing their taxes. That’s change. Americans using their constitutional powers to take control of the federal government and force it to operate within the confines of the Constitution. That’s change.
Trading one fascist for another is not change.
63 million idiots thought Bush was doing such a great job they voted for him again. 67 million voted for an idiot who thinks there are 57 states. That means that more than 1 in 3 Americans are so incredibly stupid that if breathing were not rooted in an involuntary nerve impulse they would all drop dead.
Sorry, this country is permanently set on stupid. Release the ravenous dogs.
If PUMAs are not going to make amending the Constitution and reforming government its number one priority then it is a complete waste of time.
DT, everyone’s pissing me off again…not you of course because I know you’re as pissed as I am. We need to stop relying on parties and politicians. And we can’t rely on Americans because too many are braindead stupid. Again, release the ravenous dogs.
Halliburton….did you know,shtuey, that soros owns quite a bit of that company? The same soros that now owns the democrat party.
And this:”If PUMAs are not going to make amending the Constitution”
No no no no NO and double NOOOOOOOO….
Are you kidding? what are you going to tell me next, that the constitution is a *gag* “living” document?
Now this I can get behind…” Americans no longer filing their taxes. That’s change.”
Seriously, is there anyone that doesn’t know what politicians are…except for all the idiots that voted for a messiah…hah!….I think we are all quite aware of what a politician is.
Clinton “bashers” ??? Seriously?
What do you need? If it walks and talks and screws over it’s own country like a snake….guess what? It’s a snake.
And, to be accurate, only 52% of this country seems to be set on stupid………
Shtuey, Ghost – take it easy you two. I love you both and though you don’t realize it right this moment – you two are waaaayyyyyyy closer than you think. Get to know each other, visit each others sites and look at more than one post. Can you do that for the Monster?
Mahalo!
This is EXACTLY what I have been saying.
The fatal problem with an Independent Party is that it has no power.
The ONLY way to make a difference is for PUMA and the Centrists to form an organization and join the Republican party.
Why, you may ask. Very simply because the Republican Party is the minority party and it doesn’t have an organized radical organization, also known as ACORN.
If this organization was able to form itself and concentrated in advancing people that will conform to advancing the core centrist agenda, then, it can and will make a difference.
Otherwise, it’s all talk and nothing more than just talk.
Think about it. If such an organization could have voting discipline, then, it can nominate centrist candidates in the primary process.
And THAT is where the difference can be made.
Otherwise, we stuck between having to choose between 2 bad candidates that nobody wants to vote for. Either a radical liberal or a radical conservative.
What we need is candidates that have centrist ideology. Which is very hard to accomplish because the candidate has to appeal to the radical part of either party.
In the end, in order to make a difference, this organization needs to have about 20 million members, voting discipline, and willingness to work for the advancement of the cause.
ooookay diamond…just for you.
actually i think we are pretty close together. after all i voted for bush twice and i am more than willing to admit that the second time was a mistake. “maybe” [except here's where the lame-o pick the lesser of two evils really kicks in] even the first. BUT, and this is a big one, seriously can anyone here even imagine what it would have been like to have al “where’s that BUCKET of ice cream when i need it” gore as president after 9/11?
really, please….don’t just knee jerk, think about it. my family lived in the middle east…my sister was born there…and they don’t respect kumbaya….they only respect force or the threat of force combined with the power and will to back it up. i wish we lived in this swell world where everyone could be rational too…but we don’t period.
Ghost – what you and Shtuey have in common is your deep love of this country and it’s constitution. I agree with both of you on alot of issues AND I disagree with both of you on alot of issues, but the constant is that both of you have OPEN MINDS and are willing to consider all positions instead of just being democrat, republican, liberal, conservative, centrist…blah, blah, blah. You understand me and I think if both of you took the time you would be as impressed as I have been with both of you!
Wow Tired- what an excellent perspective – only problem is the Republican party ain’t what it used to be and I mean way back when it started as the anti-slavery party – not when the conservative right wing took it over. It has that brand now – they have to change it to the common sense, centrist, American agenda.
To Diamond Tiger,
I have a few ideas, however, nothing is going to happen unless PUMA, Dems for McCain, and centrists are willing to organize under a single organization that will adhere to voting discipline.
That’s the whole key. Voting Discipline.
If the organization can deliver all of it’s members to support a candidate, then, the candidate can tailor their message to attract the center-right or center-left, fully confident of the monolithic support from the organization. This setup should be able to carry most of the time and most of the places.
In order to make this work, the organization must have a set of core principles that need total adherence from the candidate.
And these principles have to have UNANIMOUS agreement from ALL members of the organization.
Obviously, wedge issues would not be in those principles. i.e. abortion.
Some of principles would be,
1-Balancing of budget through spending cuts, not cutting the rate of growth, actually cutting spending.
2-Teacher accountability for better education reform
3-No Special Interest or Lobby money.
4-All earmarks must be voted by the full body to be included in a bill, no middle-of-night inclusion of earmarks that nobody knows about.
In another words, NO PORK.
I’m sure most centrists can agree to these principles.
Because of #3, the organization members must be willing to contribute a certain amount to the candidates per election cycle.
It shouldn’t be much because if you have a million member strong, $10 from each member would be $10 million and a congressional candidate should be able to run within this budget.
As for member’s point of view, $10 is nothing compared to the massive amount of waste by the government, porking of a bill, that eventually cost the taxpaper, you, me and everyone else, all year around.
And members should agree that additions to the core principles should only be approved by 90% agreement. I would think that is quite fair.
I’m sure that others will have more principles that they would like to include in the core set, however, they should be careful to recommend anything that could divide the organization.
Only sticking with things that we can all agree on, initially, would be the right thing to do.
Ghost, my point is that we need a significant paradigm shift that neither party is going to deliver…because they have no vested interest in doing so. In order to create that shift history tells us there are two possibilities…cut off the money, or cut off the power. I prefer both.
I should rephrase when I say amend the Constitution. What I mean to say is that we should exercise our powers granted to us in the Constitution; specifically the power to petition for a redress of grievances, as stated in Amendment I, and use our powers under Amendments IX and X to create citizen driven institutions to which our elected officials are directly beholden. Let’s face it, voting is bullshit.
DT…you DIDN’T offend us! Just wanted to reassure people that we are not all about sexism…We have a few posts “pent up” currently, but we’ve go the Scanners (political and foreign) we put together and also other pieces in the works…
It will take some time to regroup, but we are all catching our breath and getting a lot of frustration off our chests. Some of us “old farts” have lived through so much and we see it all over again and gee, it’s so aggravating!!!
So, that’s what’s going on now…but we do have other fish to try and want to help out anybody else who has a means of organzing a “resistance movement.”
“got” the Scanners…SORRY!
It’s not a done deal yet. Until Jan. 20th something could trip Obama up. The problem is getting the word out in spite of this vast socialist network that has been decades in the making. Obama is not qualified to be president because he is not a natural born citizen. Obama is not qualified to be president because he never bothered to register for the Selective Service. If anyone looked, it appears that he has also committed treason, felonies, and there may be something about Donald Young and others. We say we’re in danger of a constitutional crisis. Saul Alinsky’s disciples would say “goodie”.
Tired – I can see you have thought this out and I agree but I think you really need to read Stop Preaching To The Choir if you haven’t already. When I figure out how to get the PUMAs and the Conservatives at the same table, then we will be getting somewhere. And I don’t mean Republican Conservatives, I mean American Conservatives, Moderates and Liberals.
Ghost? Do you see what I see now?
(The Monster has zero tolerance for stupid people – I don’t even acknowledge their appearance.)
Shtuey….I agree with everything you say until you get to the “voting is bullshit” part.
What would you have in it’s place?
My three sons [I know....sounds so lame] are all in their twenties and they keep saying that we need a third party……I then point out that we already have several to which they say yeah but….
Yeah but nothing. Do we really want to go down the same path as the euros? I sure don’t.
And therein lies the rub.
after all just because something is broken it doesn’t mean you should just chuck it out and move on to the next thing.fix it! I really think that we have to concentrate on the two parties that are the major ones. R and D. Wow, if only they worked as well as my R and D lab does….hmmmm.
But I am old enough to remember when they were both quite valid parties…. they just had different bases and ideas BUT they were PRO America. I really think that’s what we have “lost”. Well, not lost so much as it has been stolen from us by Soros and the other billionaire boys.And not a one of them gives a rip about America or us, her citizens.
What about this….let’s say we take a good look at every single senator [for starters] and develop a rating for them based on good qualities and bad.Qualities that both traditional R’s and D’s can get behind comfortably.
As an example I have been a registered republican since I first voted, yet I grew up in marin county and was a hippy. After school I was living on a houseboat in sausalito and painting in the artist’s co-op.As you can imagine, people always assume they know my politics because I am an artist….which I find terribly amusing. although for the last ten years or so I didn’t dare tell anyone I was a conservative [that before republican] because I would have lost work and been shunned. Now isn’t that just total crap? And this crap started in the 60′s.
I think we need to get back to being able to use free speech without getting hurt etc. Right now we might as well be living in Venezuela and with obama as pres. it will get much much worse. Let’s all remember Joe the plumber for a moment.
And most people I know aren’t one issue voters at all. that’s what the media wants everyone to think and that’s total BS. I have been an environmentalist my whole life as has my family. the environment shouldn’t be a one party thing…it’s everyone’s. I’m pro life but I also don’t think it’s my right to tell anyone else what to do. There are some changes I would like to see…late term etc. gone. It’s wrong and it’s medically unnecessary. Ask any doctor…that’s what they say. So what if we based things on facts and not emotions.
What most people don’t realize is that the media and political parties have been using emotions to keep people apart….because when we are all on the same page, they are in trouble and they know it.
I’m sorry I’m rambling….just thinking out loud.
My wish list would be:
no lobbyists. companies don’t get a vote.
no pork….period. unless it is the only thing in the bill and we all see it.
no conflicts of interest. for all the screaming about halliburton and cheney for the past 8 years, just wait, you won’t hear a peep about soros and the same company as he pulls gumby’s little strings.
secure borders.
mind our own business.at least for the next few years. if it isn’t directly hurting us it’s not our problem.
allies are only real allies when they actually do help you out. we have never really had any so it’s always our necks on the line. no more.
no more economic help to any other country …period. why pray tell are we giving money away when there are people right here in this country that can’t make ends meet?
which brings me to why are we policing the world when A. they don’t appreciate it. and B. it always comes back to bite us. and C.until we can walk down any street in this country in the dead of night without getting whacked i really don’t give a flip what it’s like in somalia.sorry…but we can only do so much.
and freedom isn’t free….if we help out someone [think iraq] it should be because they asked us to and we aren’t going to break out bank to do it.
pro America. we aren’t perfect but i have lived and traveled all over the world and we sure as hell are the closest thing to perfect. besides…perfect doesn’t exist.
there is only one America….but there are a lot of socialist and communist sh*tholes. if people want that type of “government” i suggest they move there. PERIOD.
what do you think?
Hallelujah- I thnk I just heard the angels sing! Go Ghost! I’m too tired to write more but you rock and I can’t wait to see Shtuey’s reply. I love smart people!