MONEY: Heading down the road to serfdom

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

https://internationalman.com/articles/the-great-wealth-divide-own-the-right-assets-or-fall-behind/

The Great Wealth Divide: Own the Right Assets—or Fall Behind
by Nick Giambruno

*** begin quote ***

Let’s start with three assumptions that I consider rock-solid.

1. Government spending will continue to grow.

2. The government will need more currency debasement to finance that spending.

3. Wages will not keep up.

If I had to distill this into a single point, it would be:

You can’t outrun the money printer by working harder. You need to own the right assets or fall behind.

Owning inflation-resistant assets matters more than income, though income still matters.

*** and ***

According to the rigged CPI, prices rose 977%, while wages rose 1,179%. The official numbers claim that wages have outpaced inflation since 1964.

Yet anyone with eyes to see and a functioning brain knows that claim is false. Reality lies in a different ballpark.

The government uses the CPI as misleading propaganda to conceal its atrocious currency debasement.

The growth in the money supply provides a better measure of the damage. It grew 5,775% over the same period.

In other words, wages kept pace with about 20% of the currency debasement. Relative to the money supply, wages lost about 80% of their value.

To me, this better reflects reality and provides a sound benchmark and hurdle rate.

If your wealth does not grow at least as fast as the money supply, you are losing ground and h.

*** end quote ***

# – # – # – # – #

Seems like if “We, The Sheeple” want to “save” for their “golden years”, then it better be in GOLD!  The kind you can hold in your hand.  Not “paper gold” which isn’t worth the electrons holding it.

If anything, I have become MORE of a “gold bug”. 

You might consider ₿itcoin, but while I am a HODL maxi (i.e., Hold On for Dear Life because it has a limited supply), I am concerned about AI and its ability to defeat encryption and its bug finding ability. (See the Biance hack!)

YMMV but I want things that the greedy Gooferment can’t steal from me.

For us “little people”, like me, a fat old white guy retired injineer who’s a poor old senior citizen on a fixed income, I like saving silver.  Everyone can put a roll of nickels away for a “rainy day”.

Remember pre-1913, people saved in gold and silver coins. Argh!  A much simpler time, when there was price deflation because the Gooferment couldn’t silently tax us with the horrific “inflation” of “money printing”!

Sigh!

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: The U$D (“dollar”) has lost 99% of its purchasing power in the “modern era” of deficit spending!

Saturday, October 31, 2026

https://nypost.com/2026/10/07/us-news/congress-eyes-push-to-stop-minting-nickels/

Congress eyes another major US currency change after killing the penny
By Natalie O’Neill
Published Oct. 7, 2026
Updated Oct. 7, 2026, 11:26 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Now, some lawmakers want to focus on making the high-cost nickel for cheaper, according to Fox News.

“If it costs 13 cents to make a five-cent coin, Washington should fix the problem instead of wasting more taxpayer money,” House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain told the outlet.

“My bill gives Treasury a path to make nickels at a lower cost without disrupting how Americans use them. It is a simple reform that saves money and brings a little more common sense to government.”

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis also told the outlet: “More and more Americans are paying with credit cards, debit cards and stablecoins for everyday purchases that once would have been made with cash or coins.

*** end quote ***

Anyone care to examine WHY the pennies and nickels are being eliminated?

Yeah, like saving the Taxpayers’ money was, is, never on the mind of any of the politicians and bureaucrats!!!

Anyone remember “penny candy”? Why is there no more “penny candy”, “nickel cigars”, “dime comic books”, or “quarter a gallon gas”? Or that we had a half-cent coin?  (Coin collectors probably do!)

Perhaps it might have to do with the U$D (“dollar”) has lost 99% of its purchasing power in the “modern era” of deficit spending!

No it’s all about pulling the wool over the rubes’ eyes.

I think it was downright <synonym for the act of procreation in real time> hilarious that Senator Lummis had the audacity to mention “STABLE coins”.  What is stable about digital representation of a “dollar” when its purchasing power is depreciating by double digit percentages every year?  At least ₿bitcoin has only a fixed number that can ever be “printed”. Argh!

“Inflation allows them to borrow in dollars and repay in dimes.” — Nick Giambruno

“Inflation is theft, you’re stealing value from people who save money.”-Ron Paul

“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” — Milton Friedman

So, of course, “Don’t look at the man behind the curtain!” commands the Great And Powerful Oz —  from the 1939 Judy Garland hit!

— 30 —
 

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: BOGO is a marketing gimmick

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

https://join1440.com/p/8021?utm_source=1440-bf&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=view-content-pr&user_id=685d887928f3f06ff608ec8b

Posted by
Phoebe Bain
Aug 23, 2024
‘Buy one, get one free’ is often a clever way to get you to spend more money

*** begin quote ***

One Burger King diner recently saw the price of her $2.16 sandwich rise to $3.19 per sandwich when she used a buy-one-get-one-free (or BOGO) coupon. Naturally, she became suspicious about how good a deal BOGO really is. This video explains why BOGO deals are a way for companies to get you to spend more money, rather than less.

*** end quote ***

Yeah, look at the prices carefully.  Most consumers don’t.

My wife buys BOGOs, but only of the stuff we use.  Otherwise, just ignore. 

In case where I’ve been to the store, you can sometimes, if the clerks are lazy, see th old price under the BOGO sign.  From this unstatistical (a derived adjective) observational study, you’re usually getting 50% off the second item while paying full price for the first one.  

Again, if it’s something you use anyway, with enough shelf life to last until you use it, then it’s a “bargain”.  Otherwise, you’re just a sucker.  

Like the beer distributors send pretty young girls to give “free samples” to get you to try “their” brand.  The bar owner raises the prices a buck or two to get some more money from the distributors and any suckers who buy another to keep the girls talking to them. 

Sigh!

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Gooferment can’t print a barrel of oil

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Doug Casey’s International Man

*** begin quote ***

But the fundamental problem facing the oil market cannot be solved with derivatives, interest-rate cuts, newly created money, or manipulating the market.

A massive volume of oil has been removed from the global market as the Strait of Hormuz is essentially closed.

That supply will not be easily replaced.

Alternative pipelines have limited capacity. Spare production cannot be activated overnight. Tankers, ports, refineries, and storage facilities all face physical constraints.

Governments can print currency.

They cannot print a barrel of oil.

*** end quote ***

“There is an old German saying that goes, ‘Whoever does not respect the penny is not worthy of the dollar.’ It expresses the sense that those who neglect or ignore the small things cannot be trusted with larger things, and fittingly describes the problems facing both the dollar and our nation today.” — Ron Paul

Why is there no more “penny candy”, “nickel cigars”, “dime comic books”, or “quarter a gallon gas”?

Because the Gooferment “printing press” (i.e., the FED) … … 

 … … The Federal Reserve Bank is a misnomer. IT ain’t “federal”. It reserves nothing. And, it ain’t a “bank”. It is a private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians. … … 

… … allows the Federal Gooferment to “spend fiat money” without limit.

Argh!

— 30 —
 

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Her accounts and savings were nowhere to be found

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/your-money/fidelity-investments-fraud-alert.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dlA.2bK0.gN47H93flP5j

How a Systems Glitch at Fidelity Caused One Woman’s Savings to Disappear

  • How did this happen? Fidelity Investments notified a customer that her phone number and email address had been removed from her profile. When she logged in, her accounts and savings were nowhere to be found.

Tara Siegel Bernard
April 25, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Nobody thinks about the enormous amount of faith we put into the invisible infrastructure that continuously tracks and documents our financial accounts, until that one day when things go very wrong.

For Ms. Gruntmane, a 35-year-old physician assistant, that moment came on the Friday morning before Easter, as she was getting ready to take her daughter to school. Fidelity Investments sent messages alerting her that her phone number and email address had been removed from her profile — and to contact Fidelity if she hadn’t done it.

*** and ***

From here on in, she said, she’s going to be sure to keep physical evidence of her accounts and balances in a secure place. Her tale serves as a reminder that we all should adopt that habit.

Tell us about your financial dilemma.

*** end quote ***

I’d have been stroking out.  Clearly, there’s now a case for EVERYONE to keep at least one printed statement for EVERY account you have.  Physical printed copy!

I’m going to that in conjunction with my tax return compilations. 

YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary!)

p.s., the NYT wants your horror stories.  It might help others and it may scare the Financial Institutions as well.

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Going cashless is a very BAD situation

Saturday, April 11, 2026

FROM FACEBOOK

A cashless is a very BAD situation. We should absolutely resist it. While it may feel convenient, the amount of monitoring and control it gives the government over your money is frightening.
 
Do not give any business to businesses that don’t accept cash!
 
By the way, at this time it is illegal in NJ for most businesses to refuse to accept cash, and you can report them. They will be fined.
 
# – # – # – # – #
 
Have to look into this.
 
Robert Wood Johnson has gone cashless across all their practices and locations?
 
Argh!
 
— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Paper money has zero intrinsic value; hard money prevents chaos

Sunday, January 18, 2026

https://joehoft.com/up-in-smoke-irans-currency-totally-collapses/

UP IN SMOKE – Iran’s Currency Totally Collapses
January 13, 2026 by Joe Hoft

*** begin quote ***

The crisis for the Islamic Iranian regime just got worse as the country’s currency totally collapsed. It’s virtually worthless.

The International Business Times reports on Iran’s currency crash:

The Iranian rial has effectively collapsed, plummeting to an unprecedented low of more than 1.47 million per US dollar on unofficial markets this week. The currency crash has triggered a wave of nationwide ‘revolutionary’ protests, as the cost of basic survival spirals out of reach for millions of Iranians.

On Monday, 12 January 2026, the dollar was quoted as high as 1.47 million rials in the ‘free market’ of Tehran, marking a catastrophic decline from 2025 levels. For comparison, the rial traded at roughly 70 to the dollar during the 1979 revolution; it has now lost approximately 20,000 times its value over four decades, according to The Economic Times.

*** end quote ***

The Dead Old White Guys were very right when they said that money should only be gold or silver.  Their wisdom is on display for anyone that cares to see.

It the Iranian rial was a gold coin, then it would be very hard to start a panic.

I believe that one of the reasons that Gaddafi was deposed from Liberia was that he wanted to be paid for his oil in gold. The first time I heard about a golden dinar was when he was agitating against the Petro dollar.  His mistake was making it public.

I hope everyone has a few silver eagles stashed away for the “hard times” when they come.  And they will come because paper money always returns to its intrinsic value —  zero!  “Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” — Voltaire 

William Rusher, the editor of the conservative National Review, quoted economist Milton Friedman as saying that “if the government were to take over the Sahara Desert, there would be a shortage of sand in five years.”

“Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money.” — Daniel Webster

“But if in the pursuit of the means we should unfortunately stumble again on unfunded paper money or any similar species of fraud, we shall assuredly give a fatal stab to our national credit in its infancy. Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them. Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice.” — George Washington

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Welcome to the age of paper money, where governments and central banks can manufacture as much money as they want without limit. Gold was the last limit. Its banishment as a standard unleashed the inflation monster and leviathan itself, which has swelled beyond comprehension.” — Llewellyn Rockwell

“He chose poorly.” A mammoth understatement by the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/quotes

What form of money do you choose to save in?

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Spend Gold Freely Again

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

https://www.goldback.com/spend-gold-freely-again-did-we-fix-money/

Spend Gold Freely Again: Did We Fix Money?

Written by Kim Coleman, Director of Strategic Relations

*** begin quote ***

Goldback is making it possible to spend gold freely again. In this short series, we will examine how gold freedom was lost, what the Constitution authorizes and prohibits regarding gold freedom, and what steps can be taken, with your help, to make it possible to spend gold freely again.

“Specie [gold and silver coin] is the most perfect medium because it will preserve its own level; because, having intrinsic and universal value, it can never die in our hands, and it is the surest resource of reliance in time of war.”

Thomas Jefferson

The State of Money Today

Despite their best warnings, it wasn’t long before paper became the predominant currency. There is almost nothing left resembling the intent to base the nation’s monetary system on gold and silver. In fact, the government rejected it entirely when it seized private gold in 1933, ended redemption of Federal Reserve Notes for physical gold in 1934, and removed the U.S. dollar from the gold standard in 1971. This resulted in a full fiat currency system that has suffered the same issues our Founders described.

We see it. We feel it everyday. The green piece of paper we hold in our hands purchases much less than it did even five years ago—25% less!1 Americans are losing their purchasing power and hopes for future prosperity. But there are options to regain that power, and Goldbacks can play a key role in that.

*** end quote ***

Fiat Money —  paper —  allows the Gooferment to spend without restraint.

“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” — Milton Friedman

“Inflation is theft, you’re stealing value from people who save money.”-Ron Paul

We don’t need ANYONE setting interest rates.  Least of all the FED!

(The Federal Reserve Bank is a misnomer. IT ain’t “federal”. It reserves nothing. And, it ain’t a “bank”. It is a private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians.)

Time to heed the wisdom of the Dead Old White Guys!

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: A dollar bill, it has no objective value

Tuesday, December 23, 2025

https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-intelligence-outgrows?publication_id=2863167&post_id=181390292&isFreemail=true&r=58ecz2&triedRedirect=true

The Big Think Interview with Yuval Noah Harari

  • What happens when intelligence outgrows its creators
  • We built genius machines, and gave them our blind spots.

Big Think
Dec 13, 2025

*** begin quote ***

If you consider, for instance, a dollar bill, it has no objective value whatsoever, at least not for human beings. Maybe termites can eat it, but humans can’t eat dollars, they can’t drink them. There is nothing useful you can do with them. They nevertheless have value because the greatest storytellers in the world, the finance ministers, the bankers, the investors, they tell us a story that this piece of paper is has value. I can use it to buy bread or potatoes or bananas or anything else.

As long as millions of people believe in this story, they are willing to work, for instance, on constructing and nuclear reactor because at the end of the month, they get these few colorful pieces of paper. Today, of course, it’s not even paper. Most of the money in the world today is not paper notes and metal coins. It’s just digital information moving between computers. But as long as people still have trust in the story about these digital information, it works.

*** end quote ***

As the tin foil hat survivalists preach, at some point in time, “We, The Sheeple” will recognize that:

  • “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” — Milton Friedman

  • “Inflation is theft, you’re stealing value from people who save money.”-Ron Paul

  • “The gold standard did not collapse. Governments abolished it in order to pave the way for inflation. The whole grim apparatus of oppression and coercion — policemen, customs guards, penal courts, prisons, in some countries even executioners — had to be put into action in order to destroy the gold standard. Solemn pledges were broken, retroactive laws were promulgated, provisions of constitutions and bills of rights were openly defied. And hosts of servile writers praised what the governments had done and hailed the dawn of the fiat-money millennium.” — Ludwig von Mises

And, when the SHTF, people will seek band aids, beans, bullets, and bullion.  The farmer, the carpenter, the electrician, and the plumber will thrive.  The politicians, bureaucrats, celebrities, and influencers will starve.

Hope I never have to live thru it.

But it seems unavoidable.

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Remember penny candy? I do!

Thursday, November 20, 2025

https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/5602348-why-the-us-is-minting-its-last-penny-and-what-happens-now/

Why the US is minting its last penny, and what happens now
by Addy Bink – 11/12/25 3:10 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

(NEXSTAR) — The day has finally come: the U.S. Mint is pressing its last pennies on Wednesday. It comes as retailers across the country are already facing empty penny slots in their cash registers.

*** end quote ***

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/11/12/what-fdr-did-to-our-money/

What FDR Did to Our Money
By: Jacob Hornberger|Published on: Nov 12, 2025

*** begin quote ***

For more than 125 years, the United States had a gold-coin, silver-coin monetary system. No, it was not a paper-money system backed by gold, as so many mainstream commentators have been taught to believe. It was a system in which gold coins and silver coins were the official money of the American people.

*** end quote ***

# – # – # – # – #

Penny candy, Nickel cigars, Dime store comics, and Quarter a gallon gas!

Hopefully, this action by the mint will drive home to “We, The Sheeple” that they have been robbed of their birthright.

Prior to FDR, one could stack gold coins and save for your old age secure in the knowledge that your wealth could nit be silently stolen by the Gooferment via “inflation”.

The Dead Old White Guys knew what we have apparently forgotten as a society.  Having lived thru an era of “not worth a Continental damn”, they knew that papa money was the Devil’s spawn.  

I’ve posted many blog posts about “pony candy” and well-remember life was better when money was “honest”.

Perhaps, ₿itcoin will replace the “Federal Reserve Note”?

Save your nickels because they are the next to disappear.

Argh!

— 30 —

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries