tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post5708430335885082861..comments2023-09-15T08:07:28.542-06:00Comments on Western Hero: The value of moneySilverfiddlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-85800576676045799842012-01-23T11:55:11.792-07:002012-01-23T11:55:11.792-07:00It's a question of who owns who. Many of us ar...It's a question of who owns who. Many of us are coming to the realization that the banks own and manipulate the government and not the other way around. <br /><br />The Great Depression was a deliberate contraction of the NY money supply and was noted as such by Milton Freidman. <br /><br />In my studies of the Wilson era, I found government officials consulting with arms dealers before planning moves. I found the JP Morgan bankers using the State Dept as their personal secretary. Just look at the current number of Goldman people all in the Treasury Dept. They are so intertwined, that we have a de facto fascist state.republicanmotherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07771957484079419477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-22127589394868786312012-01-20T08:39:23.161-07:002012-01-20T08:39:23.161-07:00Thanks for noticing Gene! My photochop skills are ...Thanks for noticing Gene! My photochop skills are crappy and it took me awhile to get that on just right...<br /><br />Jez: What says prices are always supposed to be stable? A market is made up of thousands of signals and factors. These come together to make some prices go down and others up. That's a market.<br /><br />My point about banks and stock markets is that the combination of taxes and inflation erode peoples' savings. You actually lose money right now if you put it in a bank. This forces people into the arms of Wall Street. Here in America, there is a big difference between the two.<br /><br />Are you familiar with the term "liquidity trap?" That's just a fancy word for the dead end of state-sponsored monetarism.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-31871301429505414732012-01-20T08:09:36.022-07:002012-01-20T08:09:36.022-07:00No Jez, it is not necessarily a good thing that pe...<em>No Jez, it is not necessarily a good thing that people have to risk their money just to tread water.<br /><br />Money in banks also goes out as loan for economic activity.</em><br /><br />I wasn't differentiating between savings accounts and playing the stock market because they are approximately the same thing. Would you object to be compelled to deposit your money with a bank, in order to tread water?<br /><br /><em>Great Depression? Hello? That was the longest downturn in our history!</em><br />But I said deeper not longer. Yes, shocks were short but history shows that prices are unstable in a zero inflation world.jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-40427995094571952752012-01-20T07:57:35.232-07:002012-01-20T07:57:35.232-07:00Hmmm, I object to the Ayman al-Zawahiri wearing th...Hmmm, I object to the Ayman al-Zawahiri wearing the Obama symbol. That's rather disingenuous Silverfiddle.<br /><br />But, since every right-winger <i>knows</i> Obama loves terrorists, I guess it fits you'd put that graphic up there.Grung_e_Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-10878529425420663152012-01-19T14:47:50.450-07:002012-01-19T14:47:50.450-07:00Yes, SilverFiddle. Good response to Jez's alle...Yes, SilverFiddle. Good response to Jez's allegations. The Gods of the Copybook Headings -- like The Ten Commandments -- are NEVER wrong, yet humanity continues to try to prove otherwise ALWAYS to its detriment.<br /><br /><i>"The lesson we learn from History is that we learn NOTHING from History."</i><br /><br />Each generation seems to have to learn how to invent the wheel all over again.<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-86989257558154012222012-01-19T08:09:34.042-07:002012-01-19T08:09:34.042-07:00No Jez, it is not necessarily a good thing that pe...No Jez, it is not necessarily a good thing that people have to risk their money just to tread water.<br /><br />Money in banks also goes out as loan for economic activity.<br /><br />And you last statement is wrong, at least if it pertains to America. Out panics were short before the Federal Reserve Act.<br /><br />Great Depression? Hello? That was the longest downturn in our history!<br /><br />Carter's malaise lasted years and the geniuses guiding Obama policy appear just as stupid as Bush's.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-571517160599938212012-01-19T07:43:09.816-07:002012-01-19T07:43:09.816-07:00As it is, we're driven to the stock market.
a...<em>As it is, we're driven to the stock market.</em><br /><br />arguably a good thing, spare money is put to work in viable enterprise.<br /><br /><em>People love to point out how we still had crashes and panics back when we had the gold standard.</em><br /><br />arguably they were deeper and more frequent back then.jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-37727360726966778452012-01-19T06:33:21.400-07:002012-01-19T06:33:21.400-07:00Jez: I think it would be nice to see one's sa...Jez: I think it would be nice to see one's savings of a lifetime not turned to dust in old age. As it is, we're driven to the stock market.<br /><br />People love to point out how we still had crashes and panics back when we had the gold standard. <br /><br />More properly stated: Monetarism, despite the promises, has not prevented crashes, panics, unemployment and inflation.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-54044920665414144762012-01-19T03:08:04.791-07:002012-01-19T03:08:04.791-07:00So what are we aiming for, zero inflation??So what are we aiming for, zero inflation??jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-28174652742383515452012-01-18T21:26:58.254-07:002012-01-18T21:26:58.254-07:00The Wisdom of the Ages is distilled in this poem b...The Wisdom of the Ages is distilled in this poem by Kipling. EIther you see it, or you don't, but I assure it's there. - FT<br /><br /><i>As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,<br />I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.<br />Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,<br />And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.<br /><br /><br />We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn<br />That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:<br />But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,<br />So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.<br /><br /><br />We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,<br />Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,<br />But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come<br />That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.<br /><br /><br />With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,<br />They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;<br />They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;<br />So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.<br /><br /><br />When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.<br />They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.<br />But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,<br />And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: <b>"Stick to the Devil you know."</b> <br /><br /><br />On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life<br />(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)<br />Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,<br />And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: <b>"The Wages of Sin is Death."</b> <br /><br /><br />In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, <br />By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; <br />But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, <br />And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: <b>"If you don't work you die."</b><br /><br /><br /><b>Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew<br />And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true<br />That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four<br />And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.</b><br /><br /><br />As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man<br />There are only four things certain since Social Progress began. <br />That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, <br />And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;<br /><br /><br />And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins<br />When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, <br />As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, <br />The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! </i><br /><br /><br />~ Rudyard Kipling<br /><br /><br />Submitted by FreeThinkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-207233327230269942012-01-18T19:22:53.405-07:002012-01-18T19:22:53.405-07:00Jersey,
I do agree with you that gold is in a bubb...Jersey,<br />I do agree with you that gold is in a bubble right now, but the dollar is also way down against other economic indicators. <br /><br />As for your grossly ignorant comments reflecting your childlike confidence that Big Daddy Government can do no wrong, read Paul Volker's comments in the New York Times and learn something instead of just shooting off your mouth for a change:<br /><br /><i>“We simply should not countenance a residential mortgage market, the largest part of our capital market, dominated by so-called government-sponsored enterprises,” Mr. Volcker said in his speech. <br /><br /><b>“The financial breakdown was in fact triggered by extremely lax, government-tolerated underwriting standards</b>, an important ingredient in the housing bubble.”</i><br /><br />So take it up with the former Fed chairman respected by both dems and repubs. I'm sure he'll hang on your every word as you dispense advice to him over brandy and cigars in his NY high rise office.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-76027623345614470982012-01-18T16:44:06.317-07:002012-01-18T16:44:06.317-07:00The problem is that when it became politically ine...The problem is that when it became politically inexpediant to raise taxes, government started printing money to pay its bills. Each dollar printed with nothing behind it devalues all the other dollars out in circulation. The result, the dollar you earn today is the equivalent of 79 cents in 2001.<br /><br />Lets say you are 65 and retiring this year having started working in 1967 and having saved the first dollar you earned. Today, that dollar has the purchasing power that 15 cents had the year you earned it.<br /><br />If you had purchased $1 worth of gold in 1967 it would be worth $47.48 today.<br /><br />The point isn't that we need to return to the gold standard, the point is the value of our currency needs to be pegged to something other than the whims of politicians or their appointees who will manipulate it to further their own ends.<br /><br />Cheers!Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-44695017811405795452012-01-18T16:05:48.021-07:002012-01-18T16:05:48.021-07:00No, Silver, I read the whole thing, comments and a...No, Silver, I read the whole thing, comments and all, and found a bottom line in your argument that seemed obviously flawed.<br /><br />I found other things too, in case your curious. For instance, when you look at today's gold prices, and then decry the value of any currency compared to that ridiculous bubble, you may as well be complaining that your beach side resort is too close to the ocean! <br /><br />And then that ridiculous assertion that the government caused the mortgage bubble by forcing or bribing banks to make loans is the single most naive thing I've ever heard. Really? You really believe that? You really believe the government is forcing these speculative bubbles? You really don't believe that it's the other way around - that the banks are bribing our elected officials to turn a blind eye to private finance detrimental to the health of the state?<br /><br />Really???<br /><br />Get real.<br /><br />JMJJersey McJoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15426560061830038806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-11017052147647480992012-01-18T16:03:52.775-07:002012-01-18T16:03:52.775-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jersey McJoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15426560061830038806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-31181649300197912052012-01-18T13:37:42.109-07:002012-01-18T13:37:42.109-07:00Jersey: Thank you for shooting off your mouth wit...Jersey: Thank you for shooting off your mouth without reading what I wrote.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-74675115803991242882012-01-18T13:14:00.932-07:002012-01-18T13:14:00.932-07:00This is just silliness. There isn't enough go...This is just silliness. There isn't enough gold in the world to back our currency today. Never. Gonna. Happen.<br /><br />JMJJersey McJoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15426560061830038806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-9344799867317480532012-01-18T13:12:16.455-07:002012-01-18T13:12:16.455-07:00Ducky: OK, I concede. There are plenty of republ...Ducky: OK, I concede. There are plenty of republicans who willingly volunteer for overlord duties in the progressive long march. You got me.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I couldn't fit them in the picture. Maybe you could create your own picture?Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-59179567405779386552012-01-18T11:34:54.779-07:002012-01-18T11:34:54.779-07:00Uncle Sam backed Countrywide and Ameriquest, dmark...Uncle Sam backed Countrywide and Ameriquest, dmarks?<br /><br />The government forced Lehman to leverage bad paper at 60 - 1?<br /><br />Pardon me if I put it indelicately and inform you you're full of shit. I honestly don't like to be vulgar but you consistently repeat every rabies radio talking point like a freaking parrot.<br /><br />It's like Silverfiddle's graphic for this post, all Dems as if the Republican ass clowns had nothing to do with our problem going back to Saint Ronnie Raygun.<br /><br />True believers get us nowhere.<br />What they get us is Romney/Obama. Thanks.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-80192143667553885152012-01-18T11:31:53.786-07:002012-01-18T11:31:53.786-07:00You've got it, Silverfiddle. All in a nutshell...You've got it, Silverfiddle. All in a nutshell.(((Thought Criminal)))https://www.blogger.com/profile/17311656184275255223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-1311766212885512072012-01-18T10:52:51.647-07:002012-01-18T10:52:51.647-07:00Money is not wealth. It is a measurement and stor...Money is not wealth. It is a measurement and store of wealth.<br /><br />Think of this: If they doubled the money supply tomorrow, the dollar would devalued by 50%. Prices would double. <br /><br />So far so good. Nothing has been created or destroyed. <br /><br />The problem comes in because all salaries will not double, giving those who exchange their work for dollars a 50% pay cut.<br /><br />The next problem is for those who hold their wealth in dollars. Their savings is now cut in half.<br /><br />That is the essential problem with money manipulations like Quantitative Easing.<br /><br />Corollary problems include people who get the new money first and thereby benefit the most from it before the market adjusts and devalues those dollars.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-64651775057314573852012-01-18T10:06:18.212-07:002012-01-18T10:06:18.212-07:00Silverfiddle,
In an economic climate where peopl...Silverfiddle, <br /><br />In an economic climate where people are <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2011/10/entire-bridge-stolen-scrap/272/" rel="nofollow">stealing bridges to get by</a> can you imagine what would happen if the dollar were pegged to gold again?(((Thought Criminal)))https://www.blogger.com/profile/17311656184275255223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-13770516054909258182012-01-18T09:31:30.477-07:002012-01-18T09:31:30.477-07:00How many times did Bush and CHeney try to warn abo...How many times did Bush and CHeney try to warn about the bubble? I think it's five, in public, anyway.<br />But, who could listen...?<br /><br />Ya, I've got a video of Daniel Mudd promising the Black Caucus (new senator Obama in the crowd on the stage) that EVERYBODY WILL HAVE A HOME, and he'd SEE to it (looking at the group like a deer in the headlights, which he probably was)......the dumbest thing ever. And now those poor who they thought (supposedly) they were helping, are the first ones OUT of their homes. sadZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-55629352354128070682012-01-18T08:49:44.207-07:002012-01-18T08:49:44.207-07:00Beamish: I am not a hardcore goldbug, and the man...Beamish: I am not a hardcore goldbug, and the man in the article is not advocating that either.<br /><br />He is essentially advocating for a "pegged" system that we had prior to Nixon completely destroying it, opening us up to rampant tinkering.<br /><br />We need something to keep the money manipulators' grimy mitts off of our money.Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-2350017346286732842012-01-18T08:36:22.324-07:002012-01-18T08:36:22.324-07:00DMarks,
Ducky's the sort of American exceptio...DMarks,<br /><br />Ducky's the sort of American exceptionalist that believes America can make communism work because we're bad ass like that.<br /><br />Silverfiddle,<br /><br />It's a rare day, because (after slamming Ducky a sentence ago) I have to partially agree with him. The greatest flaw of the gold standard is that deepens recessions and lengthens depressions. That's Economics 101, something Ron Paul never pulled out of a pregnant chick.<br /><br />To spit out the distasteful feeling of being in agreement with Ducky, I would point out the "prosperous" period of America's centrally planned economy gold standard days involved typewriter factories making guns for our boys over there and food and gasoline being rationed.(((Thought Criminal)))https://www.blogger.com/profile/17311656184275255223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-68836583545893653912012-01-18T08:35:51.728-07:002012-01-18T08:35:51.728-07:00Jack said: "The Great Depression was a result...Jack said: "The Great Depression was a result of speculation and poor financial practices. This recession? Pretty much the same thing."<br /><br />Restrictions on free trade (Smoot-Hawley) kicked the depression down the stairs, and made sure it would be deep and long. <br /><br />Thankfully, opposition to free-and-fair trade is rather small at this point.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.com