MONEY: Save but in things that will retain their value

Friday, December 24, 2021

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/evil-root-all-fiat-money

Evil Is The Root Of All (Fiat) Money
BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, DEC 03, 2021 – 09:40 PM
Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com

*** begin quote ***

“So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?” -Ayn Rand

Money used to be a stable medium of exchange and a store of value but that was in the days when there were sound monetary principles, mostly backed by gold or silver.

*** and ***

But these are the consequences that history teaches us time and time again. But sadly everyone thinks it is different today.

Since every currency system in history has collapsed, it is quite a certain bet that this one will too.

For the few who have savings, wealth preservation in physical gold and silver is essential as insurance against yet another failed currency and financial system.

And for everybody it is important to remember that the most important things in life are family and friends. Helping others in difficult times is critical.

Remember also that many wonderful things in life are free, conversations, books, music and nature.

*** end quote ***

At this time of peace and joy, let’s prepare for the 7 years of “famine” ahead. 

Buy some commodities and stash them away for the future.

Vote with your wallet when you spend “dollars” and vote your politics considering your wallet.

—30—

 

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MONEY: The US dollar that is the fraud

Sunday, November 21, 2021

>>>> I really wish I understood the crypto world better. It seems like such a scam.

There are numerous good videos on crypto, bitcoin, etherium, and other “distributed blockchain ledgers”.  Some sites will even give you coins to watch their tutorials.

Essentially a bitcoin is nothing more than having a number that is the product of two large prime numbers.   For example, 77 is the product of 7 and 11.  You prove that “77” is yours because you have a public key of 7 and a private key of 11.  This “ownership” is written in a “distributed ledger” in lots of places.  That’s all you really need to understand.  

The “mining” that everyone talks about is people finding these pairs and writing the public key found and their private key to the distributed ledger.  Then, transfers are done by someone combining that public key to your wallet’s public key using their private key and writing it to the ledger.  Copies of the ledger are then created by all the other ledgers who repeat that calculation and confirm it. 

Sounds complicated but it really isn’t.

What makes these “coins” of great interest is that, in the case of bitcoin and bitcoin/cash, there is a limited supply that can not be inflated by anyone.  Including the Gooferment.  As such, it becomes “maney”, similar to gold and silver.  Especially as it gets wide spread adoption, it will become that store of value that every one seeks who realizes that the fiat Federal Reserve Note is essentially being made worthless by the Gooferment inflating the number of “dollars” in circulation.   

Just like the Romans devalued the denarius (silver) coin and the French the (gold) franc, so to the USA is devaluing the dollar to give politicians the money to spend on our version of “bread and circuses”.

Like all empires, the USA will financially collapse … … sooner or later.

BITCOIN might emerge as the money of the future.  

I probably won’t be around to see it, but I believe it WILL happen.  

If you’re looking for a scam, it’s the US dollar that is the fraud.

Sadly.  Sigh!

—30—

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MONEY: The FED is “shrinking” the value of your money silently and secretly

Saturday, October 23, 2021

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2021/10/15/yes-we-can-trust-the-fed-to-keep-devaluing-our-money/

Yes, We Can Trust the Fed. To Keep Devaluing Our Money
By: Stefan Gleason | Published on: Oct 15, 2021

*** begin quote ***

Former Fed chair Yellen wants us to trust current Fed chair Jerome Powell when he says inflation is “transitory” and merely the effect of supply disruptions.

She doesn’t want us to focus on the fact that the central bank is now buying well over 50 percent of all new Treasury debt. Nor does she want us to be concerned that the M2 money supply is growing at a 13 percent annual rate.

Sure, let’s trust the Fed.  What the Fed can absolutely be trusted to do is continue inflating.

But that means investors can’t trust fiat dollars to hold their value. Debt instruments denominated in U.S. currency will almost certainly return less than the inflation rate. Over time, bondholders risk an enormous loss of purchasing power even if the issue never results in formal defaults.

*** end quote ***

What is a “poor” “We, The Sheeple” to do?

“Poor” is used in the sense of not rich, but yet not poor enough to qualify for the Gooferment’s dole.

Well, if you’re in the bottom of that spectrum, save your nickels and stockpile your everyday needs whenever you see a bargain. I particularly like Shoprite’s “can can” sale where the Progresso soup, which is usually near $3 / can, for a dollar if you buy ten.  I was putting them under my bed and using them when I felt like soup.  Have to watch the expiration dates. But I usually write them on top with a big black sharpie.

For those who are the top of that spectrum, I recommend a monthly buying program of whatever you can afford in a 50/50 gold and silver mix.  It doesn’t take long before you can “amass” a decent portion of “hard money”.  This presumes that you have no “bad debt” (i.e., credit cards, non-zero interest car or other capital goods credits).  

You can, of course, do both. 

Be aware of “shrinkflation”!  That’s where the package size stays the same but the content is reduced. Unit costs are the key metric.

And, remember this when the politicians say “free”!

—30—

 

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MONEY: The Gooferment maintains a playing filed that tilts in favor of employers over workers

Monday, October 11, 2021

https://www.cato.org/blog/new-cato/yougov-survey-health-savings-accounts

OCTOBER 6, 2021 9:11AM
New Cato/​YouGov Survey on Health Savings Accounts
By Michael F. Cannon

*** begin quote ***

Many call the “tax exclusion” for employer‐​paid health insurance premiums a tax “break.” In fact, it denies workers control over an enormous share of their earnings. It coerces workers into letting employers control roughly $1 trillion of their earnings each year as well as their health insurance. Along the way, it leaves workers vulnerable to losing coverage when they change jobs, divorce, or retire. 

*** end quote ***

Thanks to the market distortion introduced by FDR’s WW2 wage and price controls, “benefits” for employees were a way that employers could “pay” employees more without running afoul of the “law”.  

Back in the Seventies, leave at night in an AT&T datacenter watching accounting programs run, a wise old AT&T Treasury executive opened my eyes to how unfair that “benefits” were to me.  I didn’t realize that the “benefits” were more valuable to AT&T than to me.  Every benefits “expense” was a tax deduction to AT&T.  As well, all those “expenses” were added into the “rate base” used in front of the FCC and various PUCs to justify higher regulated rates.  The old exec pointed out that I was “paying” for the benefits in salary reductions.  And, the wicked kicker was that if I left my “servitude” I’d lose most and in some cases all of those “benefits”. Argh!

Now decades later, the USA has evolved to realize that while you don’t lose your car insurance if you change jobs, you do lose your “health insurance”.  (Don’t make me laugh about COBRA; who can afford those rates?)

OK, so you decide to get your own “health insurance”, and you find that expense is not tax deductible to you as an employee that has “benefits” with your master.  I meant employer.

If you have a niche that permits you, then you can become a “corporation” and the premiums for all your employees is deductible.  Just don’t have any other “employees” and you have found a loophole.  Of course, there are setup and ongoing expense to “being a corporation” but it’s no where near as much as you think.

Bottom line: The tax code needs to change to allow you to deduct your private health care insurance.  What’s good for the employer should be good for the worker!

—30—

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MONEY: Inflation 101

Thursday, October 7, 2021

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/peter-schiff-government-serves-grade-bs-inflation?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

Peter Schiff: Government Serves Grade-A B.S. On Inflation
BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, OCT 05, 2021 – 01:35 PM
Via SchiffGold.com

*** begin quote ***

In fact, there is always a shortage of supply. We don’t have unlimited stuff. So, we have to ration supply with prices. The more money we have in circulation, the higher the prices have to climb in order to ration the supply. You have more dollars chasing the same amount of stuff. This is inflation 101.

*** end quote ***

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MONEY: End the FED, Freddie, Fannie, and all the GSEs

Thursday, September 9, 2021

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/fed-helping-facilitate-trailer-park-evictions?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

The Fed Is Helping Facilitate Trailer Park Evictions
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, SEP 08, 2021 – 09:01 AM
Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

*** begin quote ***

The Federal Reserve is helping corporate real estate investors evict poor people from mobile home parks.

NPR highlighted the growing number of mobile home part evictions. According to the report, real estate investors continue to buy up mobile home parks across the US. They then raise lot rents and fees, and evict residents who can’t pay.

As the report explains, the government makes this scheme possible with easy financing through agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Here’s how it works in a nutshell.

A company raises rates and fees in a park. That makes the park more valuable. So they can now borrow more money against it, kind of like when you refi your house and get cash out of the deal. They pull out, say, $3 million, and they use that to go buy another mobile home park. And then they do that again and again. It’s a cascade of borrowed money. And often, these loans are backed by the US government. They provide very, very low-cost debt for these investors to get enough cash out to go buy additional parks. The loans have super cheap interest rates because they’re guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed entities at the heart of the US mortgage market.”
NPR gets part of the story right. In fact, it’s pretty impressive that they didn’t just pin the blame on “greedy capitalists.”

Nevertheless, the story completely misses the biggest player in this game – the Federal Reserve.

*** and ***

This is yet another way the Fed distorts the economy, drives misallocations of resources, transfers wealth from the poor to the rich, and generally wreaks havoc.

*** end quote ***

OK, the problem was identified by Ron Paul decades ago in his Presidential campaign. 

Does anyone want to address the problem?

“Penny candy” is an example of the inflation of the US$.

Argh!

—30—

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MONEY: Injury from a “vaccine” might be devastating financially

Saturday, July 3, 2021

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/07/01/covid-vaccine-deaths-and-injuries.aspx?ui=f9839516412491bb1e06c9e47058c6fb81b9b9b6acedf03e65e93dfdb263c1b9&sd=20210317&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1ReadMore&cid=20210701_HL2&mid=DM924431&rid=1197507551

COVID Vaccine Deaths and Injuries Are Secretly Buried
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola 
July 01, 2021

*** begin quote ***

  • Reports of deaths and serious injuries from the COVID-19 jabs mount by the day. As of June 11, 2021, the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) had posted 358,379 adverse events, including 5,993 deaths and 29,871 serious injuries
  • In the European Union’s database of adverse drug reactions from COVID shots, called EudraVigilance, there were 1,509,266 reported injuries, including 15,472 deaths as of June 19, 2021. EudraVigilance only accepts reports from EU members, so it covers only 27 countries. Remarkably, about HALF of all reported injuries — 753,657 — are listed as “serious”
  • The British Yellow Card system had, as of June 9, 2021, received 276,867 adverse event reports following COVID “vaccination,” including 1,332 deaths
  • Before you make the decision to participate in this unprecedented health experiment, it may be wise to assess your personal insurance and financial ability to handle a serious injury, as pandemic vaccine manufacturers are indemnified against lawsuits
  • If you are injured by a COVID shot and live in the U.S., your only recourse is to apply for compensation from the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Act (CICP). Payouts are rare, cover only lost wages and unpaid medical bills, cannot be appealed, are capped around $370,000 for death, and require you to exhaust your private insurance before kicking in

*** end quote ***

That last point is devastating financially.

So Big Pharma gets all the profits and some random poor shlub “wins” a negative lottery!

That doesn’t seem very fair.

Time to release this “payoff” to Big Pharma for their campaign contributions.

Argh!

—30—

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MONEY: Inflation deception — what goes up; never ever comes down

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/inflation-transitory-heres-your-simple-test

Is Inflation “Transitory”? Here’s Your Simple Test
BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, JUN 17, 2021 – 09:50 AM
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

*** begin quote ***

Is inflation “transitory” in your household budget? Really? Where?

The Federal Reserve has been bleating that inflation is “transitory”–but what about the real world that we live in, as opposed to the abstract funhouse of rigged statistics? Here’s a simple test to help you decide if inflation is “transitory” in the real world.

Let’s start with some simple stipulations: price is price, there are no tricks like hedonics or substitution. Nobody cares if the truck stereo is better than it was 40 years ago, the price of the truck is the price we pay today, and that’s all that matters.

(Funny, the funhouse statistical adjustments never consider that appliances that used to last 30 years now break down and are junked after 3 years–if we adjusted for that, the $500 washer would be tagged at $5,000 today because it has lost 90% of its durability over the past 30 years.)

*** end quote ***

My readers, acquaintances, friends, and anyone who will listen to me is probably tired of hearing me whine about “penny candy”, “three silver dimes for a 1965 gallon of gas”, “my long gone father-in-law’s fifty dollar bill”, and “the dollar losing 99% of its purchasing power in 50 years”.

I don’t know how else to make “We, The Sheeple” realize that the politicians are robbing us blind.

Argh!

All I can say is save your nickels; at least they have some intrinsic value.

—30—

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MONEY: “everybody is rich”

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2021/05/when-hitler-finds-out-accelerating.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+economicpolicyjournal/YZSb+(EconomicPolicyJournal.com)

When Hitler Finds Out The Accelerating Inflation Is Not Transitory
EconomicPolicyJournal.comby Robert Wenzel

# – # – # – # – #

Short video about “everyone is rich”!

—30—

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MONEY: Currency Devaluation?

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

https://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2021/05/this-is-how-bad-currency-devaluations.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+economicpolicyjournal/YZSb+(EconomicPolicyJournal.com)

TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021
This is How Bad Currency Devaluations Can Really Get

*** begin quote ***

Re how vicious currency devaluations can be for many people, I heard an interesting anecdote today in a podcast about a young man who escaped the horrors of North Korea. He described in excruciating detail the various ways that the communist regime savaged the common man/woman there.

Almost in passing, the young man mentioned “did you hear about the currency devaluation that occurred in North Korea in 2010.” (It caused him to be homeless again.) He said that it, “killed thousands of people because the money that people had been saving became worthless.”

He added, “a lot of our neighbors committed suicide. It was like one day they had something and another day they have nothing. And they have no hope of living.”

*** end quote ***

Once upon a time, before I was old enough to get a job that paid real money, I had the childhood dream that “Monopoly money would become REAL money.”  Sigh, the child’s fantasies, have sort of become true.  The “REAL” money of my youth has become almost as worthless as Monopoly money.

The dollar of the 1960’s has lost NINETY SOMETHING per cent of it’s purchasing power.

Using the “penny candy” standard, it’s a 100%.

Using the “quarter a gallon of gas” standard, (a silver quarter is worth about five 2021’s “dollars”; 5 2021’s “dollars will buy you 2.78 gallons; a 2021 quarter “slug” will buy you  about 0.14 of a gallon; that about 0.05 of value) it’s about 95%.

Using the “Kendall Park ranch house” standard, (a 35k$ house now sells for about 325k$; or about 9 times it’s nominal value) it’s about 92%.

Pick the number you like best to describe the “devaluation”!

The Gooferment might as well devalue. “We, The Sheeple” are already screwed.

—30—
 

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