-- Posted Thursday, 29 June 2006 | Digg This Article
Musical Metaphors
After all, it is a very good place to start and normal modality. I also believe that it is a line from The Do-Re-Mi Song in The Sound of Music. “Let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start”. Then the song goes on to tell us about why it’s such a good place to start. Duh!? Or is that Doe, a deer, a female deer…
Well, of course we’ll start at the beginning—from where else should we begin? Would it be at the end or in the middle? Actually, if we were to somehow be cognizant of an ending or the ending, it actually might be a good place to start. We could then work our way back to the beginning much as a good mystery writer might present a story in reverse. We know the ending but have limited knowledge as to how we got there. We would of course be offered tantalizing clues along the way back so as to learn all the particulars of the story. Eventually it would all come together. If only life were so simplistic.
I’ve been working on a limited basis for a month or so due to personal issues—actually some personal losses and it feels like my wife and I have needed one too many umbrellas. But, “that’s life, that’s what all the people say, you’re flying high in June and shot down in May”. Actually that’s what the Universe does; it keeps you humble and honest by occasionally shooting you down. You don’t want to get too big for your britches, so goes the cliché. But clichés are clichés for a reason and that reason is more often than not because they are truisms on one level or another.
Life is mostly a plane, such as the rain in Spain lies mainly in the plane—with a few very deep valleys and a few very high pinnacles. How we learn to deal with the plains, the ho-hum-drum of day to day existence, gives us reasons to celebrate the peaks and the personal intestinal fortitude to deal with the valleys. The more creative, loving, giving, and friendly we can be on a day to day basis, the more that “mind-set” will be returned by the Universe when our own wells need to be replenished.
(I believe we’ve now covered songs from two Julie Andrews’s musicals and a wonderful Frank Sinatra song written by our old neighbor Paul Anka—That’s Life!)
We are told to accept the lumps that life hands you and then move on. I will spare you the lemon to lemonade spiel or the coal into diamonds routine!
There are instances when it is infinitely more difficult to move on than others. We certainly cannot paint all losses or difficulties with the same brush. The one thing I always try to do is learn the lessons that the Universe is presenting. I don’t know if I always “get it”, but I’ve learned enough to try and keep learning.
I’ve learned enough not to give up on the process.
In other words, I’ve learned that learning can be an end in and of itself. I’ve also tried to be humble, as I personally learned a long time ago that “pride goes before a fall” and arrogance is a sure fire recipe for getting your butt kicked—again by the Universe and usually when you least expect it. But do remember that arrogance is different from self-confidence.
As we’ve been working our way through the razor wire of life’s travails we’ve learned that it is necessary to keep things in perspective and to try and ascertain what is really important in life. Of course, as you all well know, it comes down to love, family, friends, good health, and the ability to keep your chin up in the face of adversity. Knocked down seven times, you get up eight. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it, but we all know that it isn’t. Sometimes, it is necessary to remind ourselves what is really important and to reassess our lives in order to prioritize what is important.
That leads us to the idea that frequently the equation for success centers on that one little component that we often overlook and when we finally do put our finger on it everything else rolls into place.
Living life coherently takes a plan. If you don’t know where you’re going, how in the heck are you ever going to get there? Money and “Supply” are important but it isn’t everything and at the end of the day, you can’t take it with you.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet just combined resources to create a Foundation worth in excess of 60 billion dollars. How absolutely refreshing—a breath of fresh air in an environment where business and government malfeasance has left us all wondering about the negative meanings of wealth and power.
And so as I’ve watched the Gold and Precious Metals markets consolidate for the past month or so, I would offer you this one piece of advice. Learn what is really important in life and never relinquish the process of learning. It will keep you young, it will keep you healthy, and it might even help you become wealthy. It will certainly help you become a better investor and most assuredly a better speculator. Then you can give it all a way to make a better world. I know the kind of foundation I’d like to begin even if I only had ten million. Do you know where your passion lies?
Now We’ll Start at the Beginning
The most important financial issue that faces America today is the viability of its currency; otherwise known as the common stock of the United States. Our currency is in trouble and you can take your own pick as to the reason why. However, it really goes against the very concepts stated in the US Constitution about money and the creation of money. You could fill a small library on the subject so I’m not even going to attempt to cover it here.
But I think it goes to arrogance, ego, and people lusting for power for powers sake. I see very few politicians that are in the game to help the average American. I see most of them in the game to advance their own careers and to make themselves legends in their own minds. I would have to say that Ron Paul from Texas is at least one individual that does not fit that mold.
At the other end of the spectrum you’ll discover that our economy is also in trouble. The economy is what helps to maintain the viability of the common stock of the US. The past industrialization of this Nation which made it great has given way to our current economy. It can best be described as a service economy that cannot possibly support the tremendous amounts of debt that have been created; especially over the past twenty years. It actually really began when Nixon took us totally off the gold standard around 1971. Do you see any connecting threads, any cause and effects?
Something has to give and it is giving—unfortunately not in the way that is going to help the average American.
200,000-300,000 or even a million low paying jobs at a Burger or Pizza Joint is not the magic formula that is going to help this country compete in an ever more complex, technologically oriented world. It is not going to help recover the tax revenues that are being displaced because our industrial base is losing out to those of other more aggressively competitive countries that don’t have to support voters in the lifestyles to which they’ve become accustomed.
These are the countries that are teaching their kids math and science and are graduating them from Universities of the Highest Caliber. Since we’ve lost most of our manufacturing base, it seems that the only things we produce on any level of consistency are military materials, movies, and paper dollars. These are the same dollars that the rest of the world is now trying to dump at an ever increasing pace. They are the same dollars that the rest of the world is now saying: Enough Already! We’ve supported your ideals for all these decades—certainly since the end of World War II, and you’ve squandered opportunity after opportunity. We don’t want to service your debt any longer when all you give back is mountains of worthless paper. It’s a sad fact but its true.
Remember I said a while back that the dollar is like a widget and when the world has too many widgets they begin to decrease in value? Well, guess what’s happening? Yes, there are too many widgets and the monetization of the US debt is not fooling all of the people all of the time.
Monetizing the debt simply means creating dollars out of thin air and using those dollars to pay off existing debt or to be used to acquire bonds or other paper instruments on behalf of the US bureaucracy. It is a ruse and of course the world’s power brokers and bankers know exactly what is occurring. However, it is not in their best interests to rock the boat until they have unloaded their own dollars. That’s about as simple as I can put it.
Statistics released by the US Government suggesting we’ve had no real inflation for the last five to ten years is food for fools. Go to your .commonsense.com and ask any person who manages the household finances whether or not we’ve had inflation or inflationary repercussions and I’m sure you’ll see we have not only had rising prices but we’ve also had a draconian increase in money supply.
Less Transparency means more Shenanigans
Is it any wonder that Helicopter Ben along with Mr. Greenscam wanted to do away with the M-3 statistics? Less Transparency means more Shenanigans. Lest we forget, the classic definition of inflation is an increase in the supply of money and the rising costs for goods are a simply a result of that process. But don’t forget that stuff includes houses, gasoline, stock prices, and precious metals. Stuff comes in all shapes and sizes and most of it has been increasing in price with the exception of the stuff put into the paychecks of Average Americans.
The old joke that inflation won’t have any affect on you personally unless you eat, wear clothes, need a place to live, or drive a car becomes ever more lucid in this financial environment.
Again, might I suggest that you visit .commonsense.com and understand that the levels of debt in this country at every level are mind-boggling? If the Fed continues to raise interest rates, there is no way that the average American can continue to service the debts that have been incurred by them. There are too many adjustable rate mortgages and credit card balances at 30% interest. However, if they don’t raise the interest rates then who or what is going to want to continue to lend the United States the money necessary to service the Government debts? Remember that money travels to where it is treated best and is safest.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s called being between a rock and a hard place. When push comes to shove, try and put away a little physical gold and silver to help protect you from the upcoming financial storms. It’s no longer a case of if; it’s a case of when.
From Whence Cometh that Gene?
Gold Bulls or Gold Bugs weren’t born with a gene that determines that classification or orientation. I would suggest to you that individuals who really understand the historical implications of why gold and silver are so important are those people who have taken the time to understand the significance or perhaps the insignificance of true fiat currencies and what eventually happens to them over time. I believe it goes without saying that over the last five centuries or so, they’ve all gone the way of the dinosaur. They are defunct.
Succinctly put, the concept behind the fiat currency has always been abused by a group of powerful individuals more interested in their own agendas than that of the Sovereign State issuing the currency or the citizens paying the taxes to support the concept. Citizens of the United States have been hoodwinked over and over again by those central bankers, i.e., powerful people who have picked our pockets clean.
Central Bankers now have to pay the piper. Well, actually we the citizens of these countries have to pay the piper for them, because as you well know they are “loaded” and have their assets safely locked away in a Swiss Bank Account. Most likely they also have their own gold bars safely stored at one of the many repositories untouchable by those who would have the playing field leveled at some point in the future.
Back to the Future
Do you remember the first paragraph where I so glibly mentioned that of course we have to start at the beginning? “Actually, if we do know the end or the ending, then it just might be a good place to start and work our way back to the beginning?” Ladies and Gentlemen, that was no misprint, no accident waiting for an apology. We do know the ending and we can begin at the ending and work our way back to the beginning. We know how this story ends and that gives us an enormous competitive edge.
The end is a severely compromised dollar and the beginning is Gold and other monetary Precious Metals.
The ending is simply that the fiat currency known as the US dollar will discover its own demise somewhere down the road and probably in the not too distant future if history is to be our guide. It offers me no great pleasure to tell you this particular fact, but if you are concerned about this recent gold market consolidation, I would offer you the crystal ball that only centuries of historical evidence can empirically substantiate.
There are only a small percentage of us world wide that give a hoot about gold and silver and what they represent. Unfortunately, way to much of the worlds population is still trying to find something to eat.
The rest of the population has been brainwashed into believing that everything the dollar or any fiat currency represents is as “good as gold”. That myth has been deliberately inculcated into the population for a very specific reason. “They” want you to believe it. “Paper” servers their purposes; physical gold and silver do not. Paper can be printed; gold and silver cannot.
The dollar is not as good as gold nor is any fiat currency on the face of the planet. 24K gold is as good as gold—accept no substitute. At this particular juncture in history, your life and your future depends upon you understanding this very basic concept. Of course, no one knows the exact timing but you do know that things are changing.
Understand that the power brokers of the world along with their corresponding political machines have a vested interested in having you believe that the dollar, the Euro, or the Swiss Franc is rock solid. They have a vested interest in having you believe that the Federal Reserve is a Department of the US Government. Therefore when Mr. GreenScam or Helicopter Ben tell you something you believe it has been passed down from the US Treasury Secretary and is an extension of the US Government. It makes it appear as though the edict, whatever it may be, has more repute than it actually does. Again it goes to a con—fidence; your confidence that paper beats rock (metal). Even as a kid, playing rock, scissors, paper—you knew that paper does not beat rock.
Dear reader, nothing has really changed in the international financial arena during these last two months. The sooner you understand this, the sooner you will realize that you’ve always been on the right track in so far as the precious metals complex is concerned. You will be once again on track protecting your financial assets if you simply stay the course.
We are currently in a long term bull market in gold, precious metals, and other tangible assets of value. It is a time to be buying, not selling.
We are moving back to the future and the future is in our hands. We know the end and we know the beginning. The rest is up to us as we wrestle with the existential dilemmas of our time and those existential dilemmas are really not that different from those of the last two thousand years or so.
Until next time,
D. Stewart Armstrong
consulting@seacoastpub.com
-- Posted Thursday, 29 June 2006 | Digg This Article
