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!
Reserved for the Department of Homeland Security
He probably has as much right to turn away patients who supported Obama as those doctors who refuse to treat medicare patients. That is discriminating against the elderly.
I don’t see any reason why he should not, not post that sign. First off he’s not refusing anyone care. secondly, where in the US Constitution does it say he cannot refuse medical care?
How many stories have we seen where a doctor refused to help a victim they passed on the street because their insurance would not cover it? There are plenty of physicians to deal with Obama Care according to the Congress; why should Dr. Cassell not be allowed to treat those he chooses to treat?
The reality is, if I choose to purchase health care or food in a restaurant, I’d best not agitate the physician, the chef, or the waiter with my own politics. I’m not likely to be happy with the service and goods I receive. Dr. Cassell is merely warning those who disagree with him to either choose another Urologist or STFU.
The sign implies that he will not have you as a patient if you don’t subscribe to his politics. It’s doesn’t matter what his political views are – politicizing any medical practice is unethical.
What if we changed the first line to “If you are black.” He wouldn’t actually turn black people away, just post an inflammatory sign – that makes it okay, right?
Yeah, I think not.
His actions are in violation of the American Medical Associations Code of Ethics.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please make sure Allen Grayson gets to use a bag whenever he has to go. If Mt Dora wasn’t so far from the Villages, I would be in your office within a week.
You are a fool!
I agree that Dr. Cassell is justified in posting the sign and doesn’t have to remove it because of Obama supporters becoming offended. The need for an overhaul of the healthcare does come at the expense of elderly people and an invasion of privacy. Most of all the Constitution mentions nothing on the government forcing the purchase of healthcare.
The overhauling of healthcare is not the answer. The answer is changing the mentality of patients that a “pill” always fixes everything from stress, not sleeping, depression. The doctors that refuse drugs as a means to cope with issues that require counseling or therapy is where we can start. As long as a loop hole can be found in whatever process of government there is, it will be utilized. How is it that our Congressional leaders can “not” pay their taxes and owe as law biding citizens do but still make decisions that affect Americans? They should be required to be current or removed from their position. If anyone would actually read the bill, they would be opposed immediately. Is it logical to have a 1000 plus pages on reform that require another 1000 plus pages of amendments? If America doesn’t realize how wrong the reform is, it will be my generation that pays for this reform in years to come. Being in the mid to late 30′s, I fear for my future and it looks really bleak with more government forced policies and programs.
Government intrusion at the expense of the elderly… you are aware Medicare is a government program?
The Constitution once counted African Americans as 3/5 a person. I think it’s time you reevaluate your authority on ethics.
Those “pills” you’re so against– cut emergency room costs. Counseling and therapy is incredible costly. I thought you were worried about healthcare overhaul…?
Members of Congress do pay taxes. If they don’t, they are penalized– just like every other American.
The bill is 2,000 pages, because it is a complex bill. Complex bills require details. Details are page consuming… do you see where I’m going with this?
Your generation was going to be paying for the inferior healthcare system prior to the health care bill anyway. Except now 32 million people don’t have to choose between cancer treatments and bankruptcy.
If this healthcare bill makes your future look bleak… you probably didn’t have much of a future to begin with.
Two words to start with on the congressional tax evaders: CHARLIE RANGEL!
Jessie – WAKE THE HELL UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE.
If you want to live in a socialist country – move to Canada or North Korea.
Socialism, big government, and this form of healthcare reform are UNSUSTAINABLE. The MATH does not lie.
One more thing – my family and I are part of the millions required to pay for Obamacare but will not have access AND MY HOUSEHOLD HAS NO INSURANCE. I will also be fined for not being able to purchase insurance.
WAKE THE FRAK UP!
What an ass. Never heard of the Hippocratic Oath, or maybe he’s just trying to kick start his wife’s political career (I hear she’s running for a county commissioner seat).
Nothing like mixing medicine and politics to “help” your patients, eh, doctor?
Who is next on your “do not treat” list? People who supported Mitt Romney’s health care plan? Or those who supported the Republican plan as suggested by Bob Dole and Chuck Grassley?
I think I’ll donate some money to Alan Grayson to make myself feel better!
Perhaps you’ll think twice when all Floridians have to somehow cough up $1 BILLION dollars to support this unconstitutional healthcare takeover or the ‘feds’ will have to take away medicare $$…..typical Chicago strong arm twisting. So, before you donate to Mr. Grayson’s sinking career, budget some funds for a return of the intangable tax and maybe higher real estate taxes.
I guess you don’t respect people’s individual rights to express themselves…..or, are you in support of silencing free speech too?
RedLemur says:
One, we don’t have a national healthcare plan. And two, you are a nutball if you are suggesting that this healthcare plan, which started as a Republican idea, is the beginning of a Marxist state. That’s not just unfounded, it’s patently ridiculous.
You just hush Michael. We Americans are free to spend our money any way we want, even in lesbian themed night clubs. And if we tell people to send nooses to Washington and load up their guns so that we are ready for…well, you know…, we aren’t spreading hate or suggesting that anyone do anything violent. It’s all about free speech. So shoot baby, shoot!
Perhaps the Dr. understands his oath better than you or I. it seems that you presume to have a right to be treated by him. He should have the right to treat whomever he wishes. Dr. Cassel, is afterall, a businessman. Home Depot does not have to serve you, so why should this doctor have to treat you. First, his office is not an emergency room! He would not have to treat you if you can not pay. If he does not accept your current insurance plan, then you would need to find another doctor. Only the ER’s are required to take you regardless of your ability to pay. This is why so many illegals go there and run up my costs! Second, his office his rules. If you don’t care for that concept, move to N Korea, if they will have you.
Maybe you can get Grayson to move into your district and he can represent you,as he will be looking for work after his next election.
Mount Dora is a beautiful quaint town, full of old Florida charm. I would suspect PC is not a part of most of the towns vocabulary.
I can only guess that someone will suggest a brain scan for the Dr. How about brain scans for the O voters, are would that be considered the R word.
Full of old Florida quaint racism too! What’s next can’t attend church because your pastor doesn’t agree with the way you vote. The good doctor has a right to his opinion but by posting it on the office door he is trying to force that on his patients.
I am ecstatic about this. Physicians should unite. They work too hard and go through too much sacrifice for lazy, self-indulgent paqtients who want to sit on their rearends and let Papa Obama take care of them. Perhaps Mr Obama would like to cut the AMA a deal like he did the UAW…then he should do the same for nurses, MA’s , PT, OT, pharmacists, teacher…..
Judy,
God, you are ignorant aren’t you? Not all people who want health coverage are lazy, self-indulgent patients who want to sit on their asses. I work for a company that does not provide health coverage and I am denied coverage by insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition.
Thank you Jennifer! I was just about to post the same thing. I work for a large local company that does provide health care coverage but you have to pay the entire premium yourself and the deductible is $1500 and that must be met before the insurance company pays anything!!
Well then Jennifer, you just don’t get sick and you’ll be just fine! See, all’s well that ends well. I mean, people don’t become doctors because they want to help people, they do it because they want to get rich. Why should your pre-existing condition be allowed to interferer with my ability to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year? Otherwise known as the “I got mine, so screw you” policy. Be well.
Dr. Cassel’s response exposes the dirty little secret of Obamacare. The government can dictate all it wants what they are willing to pay doctors, and what insurance companies must accept if they join the exchange.
But guess what: there’s nothing in the world that says the companies MUST join, nor that doctors MUST accept the paltry amount the government offers.
Welcome to a free market economy. If they choose to turn down your business (and many if not most will), there’s nothing you can do about it.
Now THERE’S change you can believe in
He’s just mad because he wont make as much money now, been rippin people and Insurance companies off for years, and now it’s going to be harder, May have to step down to a toyota instead of a lexus LOL
The beauty of America is if you don’t like his opinion go to a different Doctor. Really I am sure there is some liberal doctors out there who managed to get through school that would be more than happy to work on you. But, I do believe the constitution protects his right to an opinion and gives him the right to voice it. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make you right or “it” (the opinion) law. I think in America political correctness is being used to destroy freedom and freedom of speech. At the end of the day you should be more concerned about protecting his right to voice his opinion and to act on his beliefs. If you do not protect those rights then you risk your being free at all.
I doubt that there are any liberal doctors out there Derrick. Everybody knows how stupid those libs are.
Hoorah for Dr Cassell, finally someone with enough backbone to say what many are thinking. If you voted for this loser of a president maybe you should feel some of the fallout and realize not everyone is getting a handout like you. Those that aren’t and are paying don’t have to like it. So get used to it, and by the way when your employer decides not to give you a raise because the healthcare costs are higher, thank Obama. If you lose your job because your employer would rather employ 45 people instead of 50 and have the Gov’t in their business thank Obama. When the doctor says he’ll see you in three months be thankful he hasn’t decided not to see you at all, thank Obama. Get the idea yet. There is no such thing as free lunch. Go Dr Cassell, I’d go out of my way to see you.
I love this guy!! What people don’t understand is that doctors don’t have to accept the insurance or crap that Obama is dishing out. My doctor and numerous others in our county have started discussions on accepting cash paying patients only. If you think its because they want a new Lexus or whatever, you’re stupid. Most doctors come out of school with over a hundred thousand dollars in student loans, have spent 15 or more years of their lives training, and now are expected to NOT get paid for their work. What a bunch of crap. Only welfare dependent, lazy bum democrats would expect anyone to work for free, or to work your butt off and give everything to some lazy, low-life slacker. People are in for a harsh wake-up call if they think doctors are going to accept any of this garbage healthcare plan without a fight. ANYONE BUT OBAMA IN 2012!!
Good for you Dr Cassell!!!
I am noticing alot of -1 votes on pro-American commentors from lurkers. Chickens….just sayin’
That’s right, everyone that disagrees with the right wing have to be labeled as anti-American! Idiot…..I’m just saying!
If a doctor is concerned about my political affiliation before he treats my medical needs, I don’t think I need him as a doctor. I will be happy to find a doctor that upholds the oath he swore to uphold, not some cockamamie ideology. It is my hope that doctors such as this one have their license revoked, as he seems to have reneged on his agreement to serve the well -being of the citizenry. Sadly, good riddance to a (once) good doctor.
Obviously you are long on ideology and short on business sense. The doctor has every right to see who he wants, it is his constitutional right. Now if you and Obama want to forgive his student loans and pay his overhead maybe you can have some say on how much he should get paid for his services. You and your political affiliation is as important to him as whether you voted for the “Socialist in Chief”. He didn’t say he wouldn’t treat democrats he said he would prefer not to treat those who voted for Obama. Maybe he is trying to stamp out stupidity. If the shoe fits wear it.
If he had any “business” sense he would see any patient no matter their political view. Fool! No one is saying he doesn’t have the right to express his opinion, it is just in real poor taste to treat his patients like this. What’s next he will only see certain religions, races, genders…..the list goes on and on. If he feels this strongly about it, join a political group and protest. That is his right too…..his patients shouldn’t have to suffer. He is absolutely disrespecting them and I would certainly leave his practice if I was his patient.
“Health care bees my right, and you bees my slave, so eyes gosta gets da free health care or youse bees racist and eyes be riotin!” [Too funny……………….USA is now the USSA. Kind of like Harare, Zimbabwe, with Obamie as Mugabe.
Careful Rev, you know we are trying not to let those stupid libs know how much we hate that a blackie got elected president. We whites will come out on top next time, though.
Doncha just love it when the moonbats come by and try to look like conservatives?
Does anybody want to know the difference? Moonbats actually notice the color of someone’s skin over the content of their character and then make racist comments. Conservatives have manners.
Did not comment as I did not want to encourage this but you are right those who protest loudest are usually the guilty party.
Where can I get a copy of the timeline he gives his patients?
“I don’t see any reason why he should not, not post that sign.”
Because it conflicts with his duties as a physician: some of his patients may not be able to switch doctors, or switching doctors may negatively impact their treatment. They end up being faced with getting treated by a doctor who dislikes them for their political views, and they have to wonder whether their medical care ends up being second rate because of that.
A doctor has a duty to leave his political convictions out of his medical practice. Making all his patients welcome and comfortable is a medical duty because it is necessary for effective treatment.
I think someone with attitudes like this shouldn’t be a doctor at all.
A doctor has a right to make money to support themselves. Why should a doctor not ‘go over the top’ when the government has gone wild?
Congratulations to you doctor…I support you. Too bad the Communist government is destroying our health care system. How many doctors will be leaving??
Cheers to the Doctor who has the right and the balls to say what he felt he needed to.. FREE SPEECH! If he would of said that about President Bush no one would of thought twice about it. Dr. Cassell, if your practice was here in Orange City I would make it a point to become your patient.
Thank you for saying what millions feel.
God bless you Dr Cassell!
Doctor you are a freek’in moron look forward to to getting everything you deserve as well as from the medical board. You’re an idiot
Give this Godly man some praise! Also rate him very high in his online doctor rating. Praise Jesus!
I for one am glad he hates Obama supporters.
Editor’s note: It is NOT okay to post address and phone numbers on my site! Trying to out the doctor’s personal information is NOT OKAY and has been removed.
Just another dumb republican. He is a disgrace to the profession and by all means breaking the code of ethics. What an idiot. He will probably lose his license and more people such as his staff will be out of work.
There is no doubt that this sign is a form of intimidation, intended to create dis-ease for people in favor of insurance reform. It is an abuse of this doctor’s position of authority, as he is in a superior position, as regards to the people who are in need of medical care. No one who is given the privelege to treat patients should be allowed to abuse this privilege.
Frankly, I think the state should suspend his license for threatening and intimidating behavior. At least, the Florida Medical Board should investigate whether he has demonstrated other acts of patient abuse.
It is amazing that people have distorted insurance reform to such an extent. Insurance companies have made tons of money by having doctors provide care, then denying claims for a pre-existing condition, lack of authorization, and timely filing deadlines. What are people thinking? Insurance companies have steadily decreased reimbursementst to doctors, and at the same time increased premiums. I have seen doctors complain about this for years, and retire due to this reason. Many doctors are already cash only due to the steep provider discounts that insurance companies place on payments to doctors. The last time I saw my doctor, I was embarassed at what my insurance company paid him for my services. At the same time, my premium increased by 30%. Where did the difference go? It is in the 45 million dollar bonus that insurance company CEO will get. The only problem with insurance reform is the lack of a public option. I wish President Obama could have gotten this through Congress. With the pubic option, private carriers would have to be competitive. Now, they have free rein! But, I think that “Hope” and “Change” will eventually work. In closing, “Welcome to the state of countries, which do not turn their backs on the sick and poor”….Sarkozy, 2010
It’s called WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE
I love it. I wish I could tell that to my clients.