Reinke Faces Life

http://woodpilereport.com/html/index-194.htm

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Oh, you do know that only dimes (originally dismes), quarters, halves and dollars (originally eagles) minted in 1964 or before are silver, don’t you? Those made in 1965 and after are not junk silver, they’re junk junk, they’re money only because “they” say they are and people have to pretend to believe them. They’re of no intrinsic value, or near enough, unless you need to shim a table leg.

Nickels dated 2010 and before are an alloy containing 25% nickel, currently valued at 6¢. They may be the small change of the future. Pennies dated 1982 and before contain 95% copper, they’re going for around 2.5¢ at present. Now for the dreaded minutia. Nickels (originally half-dismes, silver, then debased) made from 1942 through 1945 are 35% silver, currently fetching about a buck and a half. Eisenhower collector grade silver dollars are 40% silver, the ones made for circulation are worth about 25¢. 1965 through 1970 Kennedy half dollars are 40% silver. Naturally there is even more minute minutia, there always is, but none of this is going to mean much in a post-cataclysm world so it isn’t worth remembering unless you’re planning to go into the metal separation trade, post-doomsday.

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Check your change for “real money”!

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/rounds5.1.1.html

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The transfer of money via a hawala banking system is extremely private and is unlikely to be reported or discovered by anyone other than the hawaladar, the transferor and the tranferee. In a world where bank privacy is increasingly hard to find, this is a welcome feature of hawala banking. In the hawala system, hawaladars are the brokers or facilitators of the transaction. This transactional privacy has made hawala banking an evil villain for enemies of personal privacy and financial privacy. False and exaggerated allegations of money laundering and terrorism funding through hawala money transfers and hawala transactions have incorrectly characterized the hawala network while hawala banking is actually the most efficient and ancient of all money-transferring systems.

*** end quote ***

Would seem that “the privacy invading aardvarks want to stick their nose in everyone else’s business” would be upset.

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http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/12/05/reader-story-making-the-move-to-semi-retirement/

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On 31 December 2009, I finished what I hope will be my last full-time, permanent job. I’ve worked a bit here and there over the past year, but it’s on my own terms, and not because I have to. I’m now semi-retired at the age of 45. But what does that mean?

About nine years ago, after reading Your Money or Your Life, I changed from an under-earning, confused woman to a woman with a mission: to never have to work again (unless I wanted to). In November of last year, I reached the Crossover Point, where the income from investments exceeded my expenses. (I think it actually happened sooner than that, but I hadn’t been paying attention.) At last, nine years after first figuring out what I wanted to work hard and save money for, I’d reached Financial Independence.

*** end quote ***

Interesting. Wish I could have done it. Sigh.

Guess I should have read that book.

Bout the only thing I can remember doing right was matching car loan to car savings plan.

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2006/05/07/muny-the-majority-of-auto-loans-are-now-five-years-or-longer/

I think I’ve made most of the mistakes. Wonder if I should write the “fat old white guy injineer’s guide to money”?

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http://www.cnbc.com/id/40521684

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But the production process is so complex, it has instead foiled the government printers tasked with producing billions of the new notes.

An official familiar with the situation told CNBC that 1.1 billion of the new bills have been printed, but they are unusable because of a creasing problem in which paper folds over during production, revealing a blank unlinked portion of the bill face.

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I thought that now bankrupt New York State Off Track Betting (a Gooferment gambling operation) was the “best” example of Gooferment operational expertise. But here we have the Gooferment can’t even print money profitably. No one noticed that a grazillion bucks was NG? No one tested this great idea. And, of course, no one will suffer for this stupidity. No one except the taxpayer that is. Argh!

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http://cafehayek.com/2010/11/uncommon-cents.html

Uncommon cents

by RUSS ROBERTS on NOVEMBER 17, 2010

in MONETARY POLICY

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The penny is almost irrelevant already.

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Doesn’t any one feel a sense of outrage? The reason the penny is a seen as burden is that the FED has stolen 97% of the value of a “dollar”. That’s wealth that has been stolen from “We, The Sheeple” as sure as it the Prez, any Prez of either of the supposed political parties, had taken a gun and robbed you in the street. The fact, that it’s done sight unseen by the magic of paper, doesn’t make it any less of a robbery. We just don’t see the masked men. But everyone’s attitude about the penny is the evidence that the crime was committed.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE6A706720101108

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The summit has been overshadowed by disagreements over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) policy under which it will print money to buy $600 billion of government bonds, a move that could depress the dollar and cause a potentially destabilising flow of money into emerging economies.

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The you know what is flying towards the fan?

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/holland/holland32.1.html

2010 Is Just Deck Chair Politics on the USS Titanic by Ron Holland

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Confiscation of Large Retirement Fund Accounts – The long-term confiscation and control idea is to eventually force all retirement benefits under the new automatic/mandatory IRA program where everything will be combined with and managed like your Social Security benefits. Wealthy and productive Americans will find their retirement benefits used to support the trillions in underfunded union, state and local government employee plans.

Solution: When possible, move your substantial retirement assets legally offshore to escape a future liquidity crisis when the theft will occur and drawdown your balances by taking withdrawals as soon as you can without an early retirement penalty.

The Risk of Private Gold Confiscation Will Go Up – When the dollar and Treasury market crashes, Washington will enact legislation against gold investors to curtail your profits, add a confiscatory non-productive asset tax or confiscate your gold with some type of fiat currency exchange. In any case, they plan to end up with your gold as this will be the basis of a restored dollar.

Solution: Move most of your gold offshore in a legal and reportable manner but outside the threat of closed or paralyzed banks, US investment firms and desperate politicians.

*** end quote ***

He makes it sound pretty bleak. But, I have to say, I don’t see how the Gooferment steers it’s way out of this debacle. They need trillions of “dollars” in wealth to somewhat balance the international books.

That means default, hyperinflation, or seizing the IRA/401k money.

There’s nothing else in the sizes that they need. Of the three options, seizing is the “easiest”. They only have to order a few hundred “custodians” to hand over the loot. Those “custodians” are companies that operate under the thumb of the Gooferment regulation, are beholding to the “bailouts” in one way or another, and are the fat cats who will be well rewarded for betraying the Sheeple.

The only question in my mind is does this bring on a full scale armed revolt. It’ll MIGHT make the tea parties look like a Boy and Girl Scout’s Jamboree. Think storming the Bastile. And, in the words of that often quote but possibly never said famous star-crossed Japanese Admiral: “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” — apocryphal unsourced quote attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner438.html

Rising Food and Energy Costs to Add to Retirees’ Problems by Bill Bonner

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Our advice: don’t grow old. Don’t retire. Don’t get sick. Don’t trust the feds. And don’t sell your gold.

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Yup, it’s gonna be tuff to be old!

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<Broken Link>

How Will Financial Reform Affect You? by Ric Edelman For Immediate Release October 29, 2010

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After months of debate, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is law — and a long one at that. At more than 2,300 pages, the law requires regulators to create some 240 new rules, conduct 68 studies and issue more than 20 periodic reports. All this will occur over time; in many cases, implementation dates and deadlines are unspecified.

Parts of the law will impact the products and services that are available to you; others are designed to improve the nation’s financial stability. Read on to learn about some of the law’s most important provisions.

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Ric Edelman has a lot of smart people looking into this. It’s going to impact everything. And, I doubt that it will be good. Who know what the “unintended consequences” will be? FYI!

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/foreclosure-fraud.html

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#6 Renowned investor Jim Sinclair is actually warning that the collapse of securitized mortgage debt could be the “final shot” that will wipe out many financial institutions across the United States.

The recent warning that Sinclair posted on his blog is more than a little sobering….

I am asking for your attention again because of the depth of the fraud and now the size of the securitized mortgage debt OTC derivative pile of garbage that is in the trillions. This entire mountain of weapons of mass financial and social destruction is now in question. I have been telling you this for more than 2 years since the manufacturers and distributors of this crap were called by the NY Fed due to the loss of control over the paperwork.

I had dinner with my former partner, then lead director of and CEO of Bear Stearns. I could not contain myself so I asked him why he did so much business in OTC derivatives which were certain to bankrupt them. The answer I got was it was more than 50% of their profit. The right answer should have been it was more than 80% of their earnings.

Securitized mortgage debt is going to be the final shot that kills all kinds of financial entities in the Western world. The biggest holder of this putrid junk is pension funds.

*** end quote ***

Regardless of the accuracy of this assertion, one can be sure that, between the Federal Reserve System and the corrupted politicians in the District of Corruption, this will become the taxpayer’s problem. fjohn

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http://www.ricedelman.com/cs/pressroom/pressroom_detail?pressrelease.id=1788

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Yes, this article is about long-term care insurance. As you know, the planners and I at Edelman Financial strongly encourage most of our clients to obtain long-term care insurance. AARP estimates that 70% of Americans who are age 65 today will require long-term care at some point; the average cost is currently $74,000 per year, and in many metropolitan areas the cost exceeds $125,000 annually, according to a 2010 nationwide survey of nursing homes by Genworth Financial.

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We’ve seen estates drained as well. Hopefully, everyone can have the old folks protect their life’s work. Argh! At the very least, Medicaid Trust.

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5505a7f0-d7c2-11df-b478-00144feabdc0.html

Dollar fall sparks stability warnings

By David Oakley and Peter Garnham in London and Michael Mackenzie in New York

Published: October 14 2010 19:55 | Last updated: October 14 2010 19:55

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The dollar tumbled against most major currencies on Thursday, prompting warnings that the weakness of the world’s reserve currency could destabilise the global economy and push other countries into retaliatory devaluations to underwrite their exports.

Increasing expectations the Federal Reserve will pump more money into the US economy next month under a policy known as quantitative easing sent the dollar to new lows against the Chinese renminbi, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. It dropped to a 15-year low against the yen and an eight-month low against the euro.

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Why? Is QE2 a raid on the treasury? Privatize the gains; socialize the losses! A plague on all their houses.

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http://www.spinninglobe.net/amishmudsill.html

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6. The Shrimp Lady

In the northeast corner of an island a long way from here an older woman sells plates of cooked shrimp and rice from out of an old white truck in a remote corner of the island. Nobody is around the truck. A lot of people pass, however, because the road she’s on goes to a famous surfing beach which attracts crowds year round.

She sells only shrimp and rice plus hot dogs for the kids and cold soda. The license to do this costs $500 a year, $43.25 a month, less than a dollar-and-a-half a day.

Anyone could do what this lady is doing who would get together about $15 thousand in seed capital. She’s 59, has a high-school diploma, a nice smile and cooks good shrimp. A hand-lettered sign advertises the wares beside the road.

The day I stood in line five customers were in front of me. They bought 14 plates between them and 14 sodas. I bought two and two. By the time I got to the window 5 new customers had arrived behind me. I was intrigued enough to sit across the road for two hours and count the sales: 41 plates, l5 hot-dogs, 50 sodas. The plates were $9.95, the dogs $1.25, the sodas $1.00. She had taken in close to $500 in two hours and her sign informed me she was open eight hours, seven days a week. Was it possible this truck was grossing nearly three-quarters of a million dollars a year?

*** and ***

Back in Orestes Brownson’s day the central promise of American life was democratization of intelligence and winning an independent competency upon which to exercise that intelligence. In America every one got the chance to develop intelligence, not just the elites. Beyond the narrow uses of intelligence for work it found many private uses inside home and family circles. Public argument was the great incentive to master knowledge. But after Darwin a horde of voices said argument was a waste of time for the stupid masses. Mudsill theory became scientized with Charles Darwin, with the rise of the German research university in America, and with the religion of numbers and bell-curve statistics.

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Wow, that’s a stunning example! Forced Gooferment Skrules really hurt.

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http://www.ricedelman.com/cs/pressroom/pressroom_detail?pressrelease.id=1629

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Lawmakers are creating solutions for their pension shortfalls. New York is considering a plan that would let it borrow money from the state’s pension plan and use that money to pay its annual obligations to the pension plan. (No, that’s not a typo — they’re essentially planning to rob Peter to pay, well, Peter.)

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Worth reading. The insanity of unfunded liabilities is only going to get worse.

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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100906192154AAN9byy

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In addition to the penny, the nickel also has a physical value which is higher than its face value; nickels cost around 7.7¢ US to make.

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http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/metals/nickelalloy/nickelalloy.asp

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OK, you can afford a truckload of gold or silver.

How about a couple hundred buck in nickles?

The Gooferment is paying 7¢ each. And, it still has an intrinsic worth.

When the crunch happens, it’ll have some value over and above the paper value.

When the hyperinflation hits, we all know what the paper will be useful for!

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http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=208601

Politics versus gold
Thomas Sowell
Posted: September 28, 2010

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Inflation is a quiet but effective way for the government to transfer resources from the people to itself, without raising taxes. A hundred dollar bill would buy less in 1998 than a $20 bill would buy in the 1960s. This means that anyone who kept his money in a safe over those years would have lost 80 percent of its value, because no safe can keep your money safe from politicians who control the printing presses.

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“We, The People”, aka the Sheeple, are SO dumb. It’s a miracle that the species survives. It’s the meme of Gooferment that kills more than any disease, impoverishes us, and sets brother against brother over trivialities.

Argh!

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http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/20-signs-that-the-economic-collapse-has-already-begun-for-one-out-of-every-seven-americans

20 Signs That The Economic Collapse Has Already Begun For One Out Of Every Seven Americans

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For most Americans, the economic collapse is something that is happening to someone else. Most of us have become so isolated from each other and so self-involved that unless something is directly affecting us or a close family member than we really don’t feel it. But even though most of us enjoy a much closer relationship with our television sets than we do with our neighbors at this point, it is quickly becoming undeniable that a fundamental shift is taking place in society. Perhaps you noticed it when two or three foreclosure signs went up on your street. Or perhaps it got your attention when that nice fellow down the street lost his job, and he and his family seemingly just disappeared from the neighborhood one day. The Census Bureau made front page headlines all over the nation this week when they announced that one out of every seven Americans was living in poverty in 2009. Every single day more Americans are getting sucked out of the middle class and into soul-crushing poverty.   

*** and ***

Do any of you have any suggestions for how we should go about fixing all of this?

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I think there are two things that can prevent TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It).

One, we must redefine the money back to a commodity money. I think the easiest way to do that is to repeal the “Legal Tender” laws. Allow everyone the freedom to transact in whatever currency they wish to. Competition will supply the discipline.

Two, we must end Gooferment education. It took decades to destroy American education; we need a transition plan back to “you had them; you educate them”. (I proposed a 40 year plan back in the Eighties during the NJ tax revolt days. If it had been adopted, we’d be almost done with the propaganda camps.)

From these two actions, we’d turn the Titanic away from the iceberg.

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http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/us-government-hiding-true-amount-of-debt/story-e6frfkur-1225926567256#ixzz106MjZzOz

US Government ‘hiding true amount of debt’

* By Gregory Bresiger

* From: NewsCore

* September 20, 2010 9:09AM

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THE actual figure of the US’ national debt is much higher than the official sum of $US13.4 trillion ($14.3 trillion) given by the Congressional Budget Office, according to analysts cited on Sunday by the New York Post.

“The Government is lying about the amount of debt. It is engaging in Enron accounting,” said Laurence Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University and co-author of The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America’s Economic Future.

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The various authors and economists quibble about what it is exactly. But whether it is the lowest at 60T$ or the highest at 200T$, does that really make a big difference?

We need “honest counts” so we know how big a hole we are in!

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8010896/Parents-wont-have-wealth-to-pass-on-report.html

Parents won’t have wealth to pass on, report
Future generations should not expect to inherit wealth from their parents following the ravages of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, a new report has warned.
By Angela Monaghan
Published: 10:00PM BST 18 Sep 2010

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Parents won’t have wealth to pass on, report warns

The report says few Europeans are likely to have made adequate provision for their retirement, let alone passing on wealth to the next generation.

*** and ***

“Europe’s working population has yet to wake up to the fact that it will not be able to retire as early as it would like, and indeed may have to work a lot longer,” Mr Bowers said.

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Hard to believe that the politicians and bureaucrats have wiped out a nation’s wealth. A life time of work destroyed. By rich corrupt politicians and their self-serving bureaucrats.

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*** Begin forwarded message ***

From: APMEX News <news@apmex.com>
Date: September 14, 2010 12:24:10 PM EDT
To:
Subject: APMEX – Gold Reaches New All-Time High!
Reply-To: news@apmex.com

Dear ferdinand,

Gold reaches a new all-time high of $1271.70 today, breaking the previous record high of $1265.50 on June 21, 2010!

This is due in part to economic concerns in Europe and the weakening U.S. dollar index. Accordingly, gold experienced an upward surge this morning.

A Bloomberg survey of 29 financial investors, traders and analysts have predicted the yellow metal may rally as high as $1,500.00 next year. Demand for physical gold is expected to remain strong as gold continues to be a safe haven investment for long-term and short-term investors alike.

Don’t miss this opportunity to lock in your prices on gold today!

SERIOUSLY CONSIDER adding to your gold portfolio. A wide selection of investment grade gold bullion is available 24/7 at http://www.APMEX.com!

Respectfully,
David McCarty
Director of Marketing
American Precious Metals Exchange

*** End forwarded message ***

Suggest a few coins — gold or silver — stashed somewhere is appropriate. And, “accredited investors” (how wall street describes fat cats) should have 5 to 15% in “commodities”. For us poor people, we should be laying in a supply of nickels. (Yeah, a nickel is worth more than five cents. The Gooferment hasn’t gotten around to making them “slugs” yet.)

For those who think my tin foil hat is strapped a little too tight, please review the monetary history of the French Kings from Louis 1 to Louis 17. The French Franc started out as a gold hockey puck and wound up as a collar button that was so thin it almost qualified as “gold leaf”. We know how that worked out for the French. Little tough on old Seventeen and his gal Marie. The serfs didn’t do too well either.

Then tell me how the “American Kings” (i.e., the politicians of both parties and the Federal Reserve System — think banking monopoly) aided and abetted by Wall Street have managed to destroy the American Greenback Dollar, which has lost 98% of its purchasing power since 1913.

And my tin foil hat is the problem?

How much is penny candy these days? Does anyone EVER remember “penny candy”?

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“Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store.” He repeated that four times like poetry. “Six Characters in Money: Portable – Durable – Divisible – Uniformity – Limited Supply – Acceptability.” CHURCH 10●19●62 (Vol 1) 978-0-557-08387-9 page 110

I’ve changed my mind. Our biggest problem is NOT the Gooferment. It’s a big problem, but not our biggest. Our problem, my problem, is that we have accepted the Gooferment’s definition of money. The definition of what we will accept.

The Federal Reserve Note originates in a secret banking monopoly, called the Federal Reserve Bank. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System&gt; It was created in 1913 by the two rival banking giants. And, we have been the losers for it. BTW the Federal Reserve Bank is not “federal”, doesn’t “reserve” anything, and is not a “bank” in any meaningful sense.

Through miseducation and propaganda, they have deluded us into thinking that what were once glorified “dry cleaner receipts” for gold and silver are really just funny green rags. Mostly cotton, they have for the most part “dead presidents” on them and, other than artistic value, they have no value. The only value they do have is that other deluded fools will give you “stuff” (e.g., food, drink, gasoline, clothing, bullets, band aids) for them. Talk about “The Emperor’s New Clothes”?

Imagine a football game played on a 100 yard field. Each year the lines were repainted a little closer because some bureaucrats somewhere redefined a “yard” as some random percentage less. Since 1913, a “yard”, OK call it a “dollar” has been silently redefined to what is now 95% less. So what is a “dollar”. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar&gt; Quote from wikipedia: “Count Hieronymus Schlick of Bohemia began minting coins known as Joachimsthaler, named for Joachimstal (modern Jáchymov in the Czech Republic), where the silver was mined.”

So, how can it be a “measure”? Measure of what? If I have ten pounds of apples, there is general agreement of what constitutes an “apple”.  I can say 5# of apples is more that 4# of apples. Apply that to dollars? There’s no agreement as to what constitutes a dollar. It caries over time.

So, how can it be a “standard”? It’s purchasing power varies over time (i.e., decreases due to inflation). Some standard!

So how can it be a “store”? Put that dollar in your pocket for a year and see how you make out.

P.S.: If you have a Morgan Silver dollar (24.057 grams 0.848585703 ounces $16.86 cents), it’s worth between $30 and $66,000 Federal Reserve Notes. Why is that?

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http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/30/general-motors-ipo-elections-opinions-columnists-shikha-dalmia.html

Uncommon Sense
Obama’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ Moment At GM
Shikha Dalmia, 08.30.10, 12:21 PM EDT
The company’s politically motivated IPO could jeopardize taxpayer ”investment.”

*** begin quote ***

The General Motors IPO, the second largest ever, is arguably this decade’s most hyped financial event. But it might also turn out to be this decade’s biggest financial fiasco. Its timing is driven not by the financial needs of the company– or the interests of taxpayers who are poised to get royally screwed–but the election-year needs of the Obama administration.

*** end quote ***

And, we still got screwed as the GM bond holders.

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