Gold and Money - Atlas Shrugged

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion--when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing--when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors--when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you--when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice--you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, 'Account overdrawn.' "



"Francisco's Money Speech" by Ayn Rand

National Debt

We recently just passed $12 trillion, keep stepping on that gas administration, no one is watching, we are all to busy watching American Idol and enjoying the recovery...

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Total: $12,030,203,408,433.00

Debt Per Person: $39,058.00

Debt Per Taxpayer: $110,681.00

Timing the Market

I feel like this sometimes, good thing my risk tolerance is strong...I am just praying that the game hasn't changed like some are saying because I have a lot riding on long term investments. This even while I hold my IRA in cash at the moment.

The Vampire Squid and Their Politicians

Can I rant for just a second? Please take a good look at this list of Representatives who voted nay on an amendment offered by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) to give federal watchdogs massive new authority to audit the Federal Reserve. If they are in your State/District please do all you can do to make sure they are not re-elected. I am sorry, they do not deserve the right to serve this great country one more day. It is laughable that Barney Frank is still in office, I would be ashamed if I lived in Massachusetts.

The Federal Reserve is robbing Americans right in front of our faces and our politicians are allowing for it to happen. Here are a list of the these politicians who are in bed with the Federal Reserve:

CA-35 Rep. Maxine Waters
CA-42 Rep. Gary G. Miller
CA-43 Rep. Joe Baca
CT-04 Rep. Jim Himes
FL-22 Rep. Ron Klein
IL-04 Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez
IL-08 Rep. Melissa L. Bean
IL-14 Rep. Bill Foster
IN-02 Rep. Joe Donnelly
IN-07 Rep. Andre Carson
KS-03 Rep. Dennis Moore
MA-04 Rep. Barney Frank
MA-08 Rep. Michael E. Capuano
MA-09 Rep. Stephen F. Lynch
MN-05 Rep. Keith Ellison
NC-12 Rep. Melvin L. Watt
NC-13 Rep. Brad Miller
NY-05 Rep. Gary L. Ackerman
NY-06 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks
NY-14 Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney
OH-06 Rep. Charles Wilson
OH-15 Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy
TX-09 Rep. Al Green
WI-04 Rep. Gwen Moore
WV-02 Rep. Shelley Moore Capito

Comment by Cognitive Dissonance

This post is from a regular reader By the name of Cognitive Dissonance over at Zero Hedge, and thought I would share it with you:

This post is about

by Cognitive Dissonance
on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 16:47

I am convinced more and more every day this bill is DOA. They simply can’t let this pass in any form whatsoever other than purely ceremonial. The Ponzi can't be exposed to the light of the day for it will not survive.

As I've talked about repeatedly, all Americans (not just corporate or white collar, but blue and green collar as well) have been deep captured by the Ponzi. Their future is wrapped up in their homes, their 40(k)’s and their public and private pensions. They knew deep down inside their hearts this train ride would end some day and they’re sick to death that time might be now. And they don’t wish to face that truth.

Given the choice of exposure now, causing asset classes to drop like a rock when the true extent of the corruption, counterfeit Treasuries and MBS, blatant influence peddling by the Fed and so on (followed by what I believe will be slow but sustainable growth over 10 years) or the slow melt down into deep recession/depression most people hope and pray will be the preferred outcome (unless you are a double shot espresso Kool-Aid drinker and you believe nirvana is around the corner) the choice is obvious. Do nothing and hope for the best.

We The People are addicted to false hope because false hopes bind us to impossible conditions and situations. As long as we can convince ourselves that recovery is just around the corner, we won't do the really hard work required to stop this madness, cut out the corruption and filth and get on with building a more sustainable world.

It’s just not going to happen until people want it to happen. I beg everyone to work on the people you know who are in denial. Don't give them huge doses of reality all at once because they’ll simply turn you off like the TV. And don't talk at them. Please don’t point the finger at them and say you should know this or that. It’s poison and all it’ll get you is hostility.

Present your ideas as a narrative about yourself and your own personal road to understanding and awareness. Tell them “I used to believe this about the world but when I began to look in some uncomfortable places, I found this and that.” People have a tendency to listen if they don't feel they’re being lectured to, that the speaker is exposing a personal, hidden and vulnerable side to the listener. Allow the listener to feel empathy towards you rather than force the listener deeper into his or her denial. Seduce them with an honest look at yourself by yourself.

It works. I do it all the time and people listen. Don't make yourself out as a hero for learning the truth. Expose yourself as a reluctant truth seeker who was shocked and saddened by what you found. But now that the shock has worn off, you’re even more determined to stop the insanity. I suspect you won’t need to lie about that fact.

Focus on 5 people and slowly spread the word. It’s our only hope folks.

This is how I try to approach thing when speaking with people about this, but I am not doing so well at it? I will keep trying though as it is the only way to make it stop is to reach we the people.

Reading on Gold/Money/Fed/Dollar

There is a great guest post over at Weakonomics on Money, Gold, the FED, and why you should be concerned about the US Dollar. It is written by askmrcreditcard who has guest posted on my site before. Check it out, in the meantime I am waiting and hoping that gold comes back down around the 1000.00 mark and will purchase some if so.

Ron Paul: On Market Economy & Creating Money Out of Thin Air

House Gambles with Economic Future

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Dylan's four (shockingly logical) proposals on how to fix the broken financial system:

Inject transparency, primarily to bring almost $500 trillion in swaps to the forefront.

Capital to back Wall Street's gambling. It is a guarantee that very few firms will have Goldman's trading pattern each and every quarter.

Enact a tax-code to discourage short-term profits. "Fortunes should not be made in minutes but over years through the creation of value to society."

Break up the Too Big To Fail banking institutions. Start with Goldman Sachs. Right Now. Christine Varney, we are still looking at you.

October 09 Net Worth: Out of Equities into Precious Metals

October was a another good month for me, my net worth was up 10% and broke the 40k mark—50k is on deck with 100k sometime soon!

Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: We saw cash saving jump up 3k mostly because of a bonus at work, I am so blessed that my company is doing well at the moment with all that is going on with this economy. I still do not see much growth in this area over the next 4-5 months with all the wedding and honeymoon stuff that we will have to pay for. This bracket holds the funds for my down payment on house(which is pushed back another year), engagement ring, insurance, auto maintenance, Roth IRA(before I max it out), and vacation. This is why it can be a little deceiving, it also holds my monthly budget in it. It has about 16-17k sitting around as savings the rest are funds that are going to be used at some point over the year. The rest is used on a daily bases for covering expenses, rent, food, auto, etc...

Stocks/Brokerage: As you can see I sold all my stocks this month. Most all of that $688 is all shorting the financials/stock market and the rest sitting in cash in my brokerage account.

Precious Metals: All the money from selling my stocks I bought gold stocks(see previous post)

Retirement 401k: This braket is just me adding money to my 401k every month. Not seeing much growth here this last month. I not really checking on this bracket as it really long term and I just keep pumping money into it every paycheck.

Retirement IRA's: Overall I lost money this month with my Roth as I have started to dollar cost averaging in to max it out the rest of the year. I still have a big chunk of cash sitting on the sidelines which will hopefully be maxed out before April 15th. If I still think the market is going to correct itself I will keep it on the sidelines and just try and max out my fiancés and my Roth's next year.

Debts and Liabilities - Vehicle and Credit still high

Credit Cards: All of this is still the engagement credit card with a 12 month 0% APR, I am not going to put much of a dent into this debt until the 12 month or January/February, when I will pay it off in full. I have that money going straight into my saving account creating a little interest off of it till I pay it in full.

Car Loan: See last month with starting to think abut paying it off in full at some point—This will probably be next year, as I don't want to take that big of chunk of saving out for it t the moment. I am paying 4% APR on it so I am paying a little but not a ton. Still looking to pay it off early-will probably be a goal next ear.

So overall October was a good month. Still kicking up the saving as I have wedding and honeymoon expenses coming down the line.