Gold Prices?????

Chuck are you saying you dont believe that what they say about Us attacking Iran to prevent them switching the oil trade to Euro's is true? Also you dont think that Our money will become practically worthless over the next few years if we dont attack Iran due to the oil thing and our National debt being so High? If so it is nice to see that not everyone is all gloom and doom.

__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer

Your Favorite Electronic Survival Newsletter-Free

All The Information Fit For The Self-Sufficient And Paranoid

Contact is jimd303@wmconnect.com
Web Site is www.bisonnewsletter.com
Subscribe at www.bison.tridentlist.com
Snail Mail is 2307 N. Carson St. #117, Carson City, NV 89706-1622

Contents copyrighted 2006 James M Dakin ( non-profit use allowed )


BULLETS, BEANS, BULLION AND BOULDERS

Is anyone out there surprised that inflation is heating up? You did see this coming, right? Federal government spending is out of control and the only way to pay the bills is to create the money out of thin air. Foreigners are slowing down their purchases of our national debt yet the government needs more money than ever. So they increase the supply of currency. You don't even need to print it up, just add some zeros in your computer. Talk about computers increasing productivity! If you hold the legal monopoly on force you can add as much money to the system as you like and people are forced to accept it. A very sweet deal indeed. Inflation is the devaluation of the money supply. As the supply of money increases, the value of each monetary unit goes down. If you start a game of Monopoly with the regular supply of money, prices stay the same. If you add in the currency from another Monopoly set, the prices will double as everyone has twice the cash to bid up prices during auction. Inflation is easy to understand. The government creates more money, and the money in your wallet now buys less. While the government has in the past mostly been content to augment their tax collections with a modest inflation, now they have little choice but to increase the amount of inflation. The private sector economy is in serious trouble ( being mostly autos and homes and businesses catering to them-and we all know how those two are doing ) and the government must prop up more and more of the economy through stimulus and thus is in dire need of more spending cash. You may not have received an income tax hike but you are paying a yearly inflation tax. Currently at about 10%. Always double the official inflation estimate as normal folks eat and have shelter and use energy to survive, a few things that the government leaves out of the inflation figures. And right now you can triple the figures as oil prices reflect not only the dollars inflation but also increased world demand and decreasing global supply. I won't start another rant on Peak Oil, I'll just say that the cost will continue to go up. You can take that to the bank. Those idiots that forecast increased prices will lower demand never had to commute because the suburbs were the only affordable housing nor did they ever have to heat that house in the winter. People can cut back on needless errands but they still need to get to work. They can turn down the thermostat a few degrees and wear a sweater but you still need to heat the place in the cold. Global warming won't work quick enough for most of us to forgo a heating oil delivery. At best perhaps five to ten percent of our energy needs can be cut back in these ways. Not enough to effect much in the way of prices.

And as much as I admire the writings of a lot of economic commentators, I can't agree that we are in for a deflationary economy. Businesses might need to cut prices to attract customers and unemployment might be soaring, but the government will always be there. Inflating the money supply to pay its bills. Creating make-work for employment creation. Expanding the welfare roles. The whole government might well crash after hyper-inflation and we could enter a deflationary depression, but by then we would be on a barter economy and the currency would be worthless anyway. Hoarding cash now through an inflationary period in the hopes it might eventually appreciate during a deflationary depression seems rather silly. Savings should not be at the mercy of the governments shenanigans. Any paper asset could be in danger of failure. Any paper "promise to pay" can be reneged. Only trust tangible assets you keep on hand. I would much rather have one gold once coin on hand currently worth almost $700 than the promise of $3,000 worth of stock certificates. One is cold hard cash, untouchable by government, the other a promise to pay and subject to inflation. All promises to pay should be suspect. Stock certificates, bonds, your retirement pension, and especially anything from the government such as Social Security and Medicaid. Oh, I used to tell myself I would never see Social Security. Now I'm not so sure. Now I think I will actually get it in almost thirty years. It just won't buy a heck of a lot. Currently the cost of living allowance on government retirement is tied to the official inflation rate, 3%. Yet inflation is really running at about 9%. In thirty years that difference of 6% is going to take my current promised amount of $700 a month a turn it into about $400 of actual purchasing power ( and that is assuming energy costs don't go too much higher as a percentage of ones income or the buying power will be even less ). Now, I can live on that amount. Can you? This is what inflation does. Lower your bills for retirement. No debt, house paid for, lessen your need for a car if not eliminate it, garden or at least have a stockpile of food, most of your non-emergency money in precious metals and enough energy efficiency to enable you to drastically cut back on fuel should it become too expensive. Those of use in the present need to also combat inflation.

Fighting inflation is not easy. Uncle Sam and the hoard of parasites clinging to his fat ass can easily beat the ravages of inflation through financial manipulation and insider knowledge. Those of us at the bottom of the economic ladder need to play things a little smarter if we wish to minimize our suffering. My first bit of advice would be to get out of debt. While perhaps you can use inflation to pay off your debts in worthless dollars, it is also true that being in debt doesn't allow you much wiggle room to adjust your spending to meet life's challenges. For instance, if you have a mortgage, a car payment and three credit card payments, what happens when gas prices double? If you are stuck in a house you can't move closer to work so you keep paying on the house and the car because you need to commute but you can't cut back on any of your credit payments so you charge the increased gasoline cost to your credit cards and now are paying twice the gas cost plus 15% a year on it. Sound familiar? Gas prices doubled in the last three years while your income stagnated. I don't even get COLA, my raises don't equal even the official rate of inflation. You have little option but to go deeper in debt. Get out of debt even if you have to declare bankruptcy. You can still do it, it is just harder than it used to be. You just need to be earning less than your states median income to qualify for a total write off. But I think you do need to go to counseling. I don't have all the details, but in general a good strategy would be to repo the house and car, close the bank account before the last credit card payments are made and have a new job that pays a lot less.

__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer

Liquidate and move to the area you bought a crappy piece of land and put a crappy piece of trailer to live in and bike to work and work minimum wage. They'll let you declare bankruptcy, I'm sure. It doesn't have to be a life time wage slavery sentence if you give up your middle class lifestyle. Wouldn't it be great to wake up each morning and smell the country air and know that you could go to work and come home with all the money you made less 25% taxes ( less 20% if your state doesn't have an income tax ). You need to give up your house that needs thirty years to be paid off ( and maintenance now and forever more ) and your car that is never paid off ( keep buying a new one every five years or keep repairing the old crap-box- payments never stop ). Is this so much of a sacrifice?

You can see inflation is getting worse. Don't sit around and wait for it to get unmanageable. Cut your expenses, even if you must cut your income to do it. Then, except for a small cash reserve, put your money into hard assets. Beans, bullets, bullion and boulders. Food storage, guns and ammo, if you have a lot of cash gold but most likely for all of us cheapskates stockpile silver, and some kind of land even a piece of dirt out in the middle of nowhere. If you only have a minimum of cash get wheat kernels to store. Wheat is one quarter the price of beans even if the protein content is low. Or, if you wish to forego whole wheat altogether get sacks of white flour and beans. You can have more variety in your diet and there is no need for a grinder. Whole grain is still under $10 a sack at the feed and grain store ( but won't be forever, buy soon ). If you can afford the grain but the poly buckets are too much for you one method that is better than nothing ( as long as rats or mice are not a concern ) is to buy the 18 gallon plastic tote at WalMart for $4 and some 39 gallon trash bags. Put the bags(s) in the tote, fill with 100 pounds of wheat, tie off the bag. One third the cost of poly buckets ( although you can't stack them ). I would only do this if you have diatomaceous earth to put in the grain, but it is a good "11th hour" method if you want one step above having paper sacks full of wheat. Guns and ammo are easy enough, a subject we are all familiar with. If you are dirt poor you are limited to surplus bolt action rifles. The cheapest right now is the Russian Mosin-Nagants. I would favor the older models over the carbine 44 if possible ( carbines in full power rounds kick harder and have lots of muzzle flash- plus the 44 was a war time production for lower quality ). Just beware that the Russian gun has no gas safety bleed in case of ruptured primers of case. A feature you may wish to chance but I do not. I'll spend the extra $50 and buy a Enfield. Of course, for the cost of an Enfield you can get an SKS. While I think semi-auto's are not what a survivalist should have, if you can practice fire discipline and live in an area where there are few wide open spaces, then go with the SKS. The little guy is much cheaper than an AK, it is more accurate, can be fired prone, doesn't need mags and is under one third the cost of a Rugar. Just beware the bulk ammo shortages right now include the 7.62x39. You can still buy 20 round boxes, but good luck finding the sardine cans of 800 rounds. If we lived in a perfect world we could all afford full size battle rifles such as the H&K91 with spare parts kits, plenty of mags, enough ammo to blaze away in every battle, etc. Instead, as the saying goes, we spend $12 trillion dollars a year and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. We are poor, we will eat wheat gruel and fire old guns and live in a tarp lean to. Poor does not mean you can buy too much gun for your budget.

Bullion, either gold or silver, is great for inflation proofing your savings. But only after you have plenty of supplies put back. You can't eat your silver coins and you can't protect yourself against thieves with them. But after you have all other necessities they are a nice cozy warm and fuzzy feeling. With them you will never have to pay the inflation tax again. They are real money. The only real money there is. But you must have your supplies first. To include land. Even if all you can afford is a piece of dirt twenty miles from town it is still all yours and not subject to repossession by the bank. Sure, the government can always steal it. Hopefully you are buying in such an economically depressed area developers will never bribe the local officials to steal it for them. Even today, you can still buy a $500 piece of land on E-Bay. There are 1/8 acre lots in northwest Utah, some in Arkansas. You can even get an acre in west Texas. All the land have problems. The Utah land is zoned recreational only ( no permanent buildings ). The Arkansas land is, well, in Arkansas. The Texas land is in the middle of no where, thirty miles from town or water, surrounded by illegals ( although that is relative as there are few people at all ). You can do a little better with a grand. East Texas has lush green lots right next to town. But there is massive unemployment. And floods and hurricanes and tornadoes and lots of people. But you could garden and fish and live in your paid for shack with no heat needed in the winter. If it wasn't for all those people I would be living there myself. West Texas for twice the money moves you closer to town and water and further away from the border. Check E-Bay everyday, you will find a cheap piece of land you can pay cash for and then own a retreat to move to in troubled times. Or a place to live in at retirement rent free. Owning your own lot is the best thing you can do to cut your cost of living. Owning it, no money owed, not touchable by the bank after you lose your job. Even if all you can afford is a tent on it, it is still home sweet home without the worries of rent or obscene property tax. Twenty bucks a year instead of two thousand. If the only worry you have on your own land is how you can eat, you are miles ahead of the rest of the population. You don't need to worry about a car payment, the mortgage payment, credit card payments, replacing your outsourced job with another high paying job, your wife losing her job, etc. All you have to worry about is keeping a part time minimum wage job ( and perhaps how to keep your trailer roof from leaking ). Gee, what a choice. You can, if you wish, live simply. There is no need to panic that the economy is about to tank. All you need is a little bit of cash up front. Very little.

I don't know about you, but I worry about the economy almost every day. Of course, my job is really boring and I have a lot of time to ponder. And my Internet visits are all to doom and gloom sites. I read mostly survival related stuff. I even try to get as many disaster movies in my Netflex list as possible. I just rented Panic In The Year Zero which was really cool and despite the happy corny ending really left one pondering ( and this was a 60's flick ). My worries help me write this newsletter every week ( although do nothing for my blood pressure ). But if I wasn't such a compulsive I could relax. I have my land paid for as well as my trailer, my stored food, plenty of guns and ammo, plenty of LED lights and a solar battery charger, water filters, etc, etc. I have plenty of inflation hedge. I bought plenty of silver back when it was cheap. If I can do it for $8 an hour with child support payments you can to. I declared bankruptcy and live dirt cheap and put everything into hard assets. It does involve hard choices. I lived without a car for many years and rode a bike everywhere. I don't have cable ( I do have a roof antenna ) or broadband ( dial-up still ). All my stuff is used from the thrift store ( except shoes and skivvies ). My trailer has no propane, no water heater. I use buckets to collect drips when it rains. I struggle over every dime before it gets spent. I can now relax after several years. I am almost done. I even bought a $500 car, and we went out gambling yesterday ( although with a $20 limit ). I still worry about inflation ( the dollar store mouthwash went from 24 ounces to 17 ounces for the same $1- that really ----ed me off ) because without paranoia they WILL get you. But it is as simple as scrimping and saving as little as two grand. Spend a little money now, or a lot later.

If you have any questions specific to your situation/income/area, please feel free to write and I'll help if I can. I wish everyone could have a safe stash to fall back on to beat inflation. I really am worried it is going to get worse.
END

I still have a few of the "junk" CD's left ( old style stamped title, no "reload" article on it ) for a buck each. E-mail first to hold and to be sure they are still in stock. The regular CD is still on sale for $2, postage paid ( $4 other countries ). My snail mail address is at the beginning of the newsletter. At some point I do plan on fixing it up, re-inserting the missing article ( separate file right now ), using a PDF writer that doesn't have a water mark at the bottom of each page. If you want, wait for that. Or just order the darn thing now, warts and all. It is only two bucks which supports the Bison, and there are plenty of gems to pick from amongst all my blather.
END

__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer

Cool,I'll put it it my 'Head in the Sand folder' and bring it back in a few years.

Then we will see if the dollar has lost value.

In my book,a weak,unbacked US dollar is a disaster!

Then we will see if Iran trades oil in Euros and we have a war,as we had happen in IRAQ!They almost pulled it off.
I will bet we will NEVER see Iran successfully trade their oil in Euros,any more than Iraq did!

In my book,killing people is a disaster!

Though I could put on my ROSE TINTED GLASSES and say EVERYTHINGS ROSY.

As for gold/silver,we always have maket changes.They are high interest,real estate,stocks, and metals.Those are the big ones .We will alwys have 1 that is the mover and makes the money.

BooBoo

No NO NO!

Thats just Doom and Gloom! Forget that its TRUE! Forget that has REAL REPERCUSHIONS for AMERICA ! Didnt you just see the Emporers new clothes???????

BooBoo

As for the bubble,it will ALWAYS be GOLD or SILVER,and it will ALWAYS have value,and it will ALWAYS be MONEY.I dont really care if its 50 dollars/ounce or 5,if the CHTF,its REAL! A nice bit of INSURANCE against economic collapse.
Or even the slow but continual failure of the Federal Reserve note,which is also FACT.

BooBoo

BooBoo, I agree. And I would add that when paper, fiat, currencies fail (as they do because they are a function of government), things that are valued worldwide retain value -- no matter what happens to the fiat currency.

A ton of steel has value. A ton of degraded paper currency has little or none. Argentina is a relatively recent example. Keeping or transporting a ton of steel may be a bit inconvenient, but there are materials that have greater value per unit mass.

__________________
Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

I read most of the thread --but I got tired of reading the same rehashed thought process that they give you on TV.

The Federal Reserve is not a government entity. Do some research. The bankers of the world control monetary policies and dictate the application of wealth.

Gold is used by speculators the same way you use ground--your chickens--etc. as a hedge against what they feel is a acceleration of inflation--declining purchasing power--same thing by the way in otherwards as a hedge against what they feel are bad things to come.

The dollar is going to decline world wide until the wild government spending is curtailed, the current account (trade) balances are corrected, and or countries like Japan and China stop minupulating their currencies. Probably all of the above.

One more point--the President presents a budget to the congress--only congress can spend money as outlined in the constitution.

SleepingBear, I agree with you to a point but lets do a "what if", just like all these wall street firms are doing right now, talking about the same things we are right now...

The Fed Reserve is controlled by private banking.....I agree
But what if gold is being bought up at $750 plus by countries like china which I have heard is part of gold's inflated price.....We already know there is a huge trade deficet....They have our gold.....I actuallity what can the Reserve do.....? It comes back to what someone else said.....paper money trully has now tangible value....We don't own as much gold (nationally) as we did because other counties own it.....so what is our dollar worth?......That's the whole basis of USA economices is the value of gold againt the dollar.....Please comment...

They can expand and contract the money supply.They can set the interest rates.That gives them complete control over number of jobs,what you make,what you can purchase,the list of economic control is total.

That a PRIVATE BANK,THE FEDERAL RESERVE,A PRIVATE BANK !!!! Was given this control of our money,and therefore country,it boggles the mind.

Heres a homework question for you.

EXACTLY WHO OWNS THE FEDERAL RESERVE?????
Try to google the actual names,and good luck to you.

BooBoo

I don't know that much about politics. I do invest in silver and gold. It is more of an investment than for any SHTF thing.
What would happen if the U.S. did have a melt down? What would happen if the U.S. gave notice to all the countrys that we owe money they will have to forgive the notes?
I do know that other countrys have their debt forgiven. What would happen if the U.S. didn't give the other countrys any choice? What happens if we refuse to pay?

OK I have two friends at each end of the spectrum. One is in his 80's and says this is just another bump in the road. No Worries.

The other quick sold his home and converted the funds into gold and silver. He says that Gold will go as high as $3000 before it reverses. He's counting on making a good deal of $$$$$$.

I read that Bill Gates is buying Silver mines and lot's of Gold. He made a statement that he didn't trust the US Dollar and converted a few Billion to Euro's.

Based on that I'd say if you have a few bucks to splurge buy a ounce or two of gold and 20 ounces of silver. If it goes wild and over the top...Cash in.

If it flops or stays the same, you still have some nice "Treasure" to leave the Grandkids.


Kenneth

Owners of the Federal Reserve (a privately owned company)
Rothschild Bank of London
Warburg Bank of Hamburg
Rothschild Bank of Berlin
Lehman Brothers of New York
Lazard Brothers of Paris
Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York
Israel Moses Seif Banks of Italy
Goldman, Sachs of New York
Warburg Bank of Amsterdam
Chase Manhattan Bank of New York

__________________
Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

For those interested (and every citizen of the US should be), a very informative essay discussing the Federal Reserve appears at: http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1095269452.php

__________________
Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

Obser,how sure are you on that and what source? Ive heard Bank of England mentioned,and Rockefeller?
Scary bunch,eh?
And consider Lehman and Goldman Sachs when speaking metal manipulations too.And isnt Chase also involved in metals? (not sure on that)

PS-read your link,there was the Queen of England and Bank of England links.Didnt know the Queen had knighted Greenspan.
Then again,GWB 'Knighted' Tenet,a Presidential Citation and Medal,must be for his great work on the Iraq data,eh?

BooBoo<-----"What,Me Worry?"

BooBoo. I would not bet my life on it, but there is information from reliable sources. An article entitled, "The Federal Reserve is PRIVATELY OWNED" by Thomas D. Schauf appears at http://www.worldnewsstand.net/today/...atelyowned.htm and the earlier citation cross-references some of the information.

Although individual entities and holdings may be obscured, there is little disagreement that much (most?) control of the Fed is in the hands of old European money, royalty and banking interests. The British Monarchy is regularly cited as primary.

I know a bit of the history of the Federal Reserve and have visited the rooms where it was formulated in 1913 at Jekyll Island, Georgia (Millionaire’s Island).

That was and is a sorry chapter in American history wherein the public interest was and is sold out to big money.

__________________
Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

Yep,sold us right out.

BooBoo

Wonder how many who dont know about the fed will take the time to read that link above.Wont be many is my guess,as its long and requires concentration. And you better believe the FED counts on that to continue the treason they engage in.

BooBoo

This sums it up pretty clearly...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN 1935 THE SUPREME COURT RULED THAT CONGRESS CANNOT CONSTITUTIONALLY DELEGATE ITS POWER TO ANOTHER GROUP. (Reference 22, P. 168)

Rothschild, a London Banker, wrote a letter saying "It (Central Bank ) gives the National Bank almost complete control of national finance. The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class... The great body of the people, mentally incapable of comprehending, will bear its burden without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical (contrary) to their interests." [The bankers created the legislation for the FED]

In 1913, before the Senate Banking and Currency Committee, Mr. Alexander stated: "But the whole scheme of a Federal Reserve Bank with its commercial-paper basis is an impractical, cumbersome machinery, is simply a cover, to find a way to secure the privilege of issuing money and to evade payment of as much tax upon circulation as possible, and then control the issue and maintain, instead of reduce, interest rates. It is a system that, if inaugurated, will prove to the advantage of the few and the detriment of the people of the United States. It will mean continued shortage of actual money and further extension of credits; for when there is a lack of real money people have to borrow credit to their cost."

I still don't know if my question has been answered but here is another similar to the others. If things go hay-wire can the federal reserve keep the US out of a depression? Or will they do like they did in the 30's and not do anything until its to late......in relation to inflated oil, gold, silver, releaste decline, intrest going up, huge national debt......???????????