Weekend Listening: James Dines Author of GOLDBUG!

This is one of the most interesting and most entertaining interview I have heard. I would take the time and listen to this interview. This is from Financial Sense Newshour Enjoy!



James Dines has become legendary for having made correct forecasts that were in complete contradiction to the rest of the financial community. He has a new book called "GOLDBUG!"

The Hidden Cost of War

1975 New York = 2010 California

Take the time and view this series, it is very scary. I know my generation doesn't know much history, much less situations like this. Especially events that happened before we were born, besides the major wars and the great depression. I ask anyone who was born after 1975 to watch this because this can happen and it will happen if we do not get our fiscal house in order. I believe that California will go first...

Found from iTulip.com TARGET="_blank">a new window

My Money Shrugged Turns 1 Year Today!

My Money Shrugged turns 1 today! I want to thank everyone who has checked out the site and who continues to come back daily, weekly or monthly! It is the viewers of this site that keep me posting things I find and other thoughts and ideas I have.

This site started out as a personal finance blog and has evolved into a personal finance/political blog. I know I probably lost a lot of viewers when I started posting about government intervention...*shrugged*. When I started looking at my finances and how I wanted to always be a saver and be prepared for the future, I realized there are so many outside factors that influence my capital. I also dove deeper into economics and now see how government intervention can strongly decrease not only mine but others people's saving through taxation, inflation, and a loss of our freedoms.

I only other thing I would say, is that I would love to start more of a community here, if you feel like commenting on anything I post please do and we can start a conversation so we can learn and exchange ideas and solution that could help with our personal finances and most importantly our freedom.

Thanks again for everyone who reads and send out my links to friends/family/twitter/etc...

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” - Thomas Jefferson

Peter Schiff - Unhappy Stimulus Anniversary

Capitalism vs Socialism - What about Freedom?

Read this in the comments section over at Zerohedge:

Statism; and socialism, corporatism, fascism are all variants of the same authoritarian dynamic, where the state exerts authority over individuals. The difference between socialism and fascism is, in terms of the principles involved, one of degree, not kind. I.e. You Do Not Own Your Own Life.

The cause to rally behind is, in general umbrella terms, freedom. The fight is against centralized power and the curtailment of individual rights. The facilitator of that power, right now in the US, is the Federal Reserve. Get the government and quasi-government entities out of trying to manipulate and manage currency and the economy, and the rest becomes just quibbling. I would love it if the fundamental debate nowadays was simply capitalism versus socialism, but the fact is there is no capitalism now. All we've got now is massive government intervention and manipulation of the economy, and whether the intervention favors the rich or the poor, at this point doesn't matter because they're running on fumes, over the edge of a cliff. Getting back to a real and healthy economy means breaking the government's power to distort markets, especially the currency. Once we get back to that point (if ever), then I'm happy to talk capitalism versus socialism, and what can we afford to allow the government to provide, etc. But until then, to me all forms of state interference in the economy are part of the problem, not the solution.

"The cause to rally behind is, in general umbrella terms, freedom. The fight is against centralized power and the curtailment of individual rights." This is where we are...People get so wrapped up in fight against this or that but we have to get to the point of it being about individual's freedoms . I highly suggest you watch the video in the last post.

The American Form of Government

This is a must watch...

¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido!

More comments from Zerohedge.com this time from a commenter JR - These are well thought out comments that address history and how free people are willing to fight/die for freedom:

The US fiat dollar did not become the global ”reserve currency” until 1944. That is not what built America. But in the hands of the Fed, IMO, it is what is destroying America.

The American Dream was about individualism and the opportunity to achieve success without interference from others. The American Dream was about freedom; its lifeblood was free enterprise.

Its heartbeat was America’s superior patent system. That’s what gave men the incentive to burn the midnight oil--a chance to own a property right in their own invention. A 1997 study of the inventors honored in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, revealed that 91% of the world’s greatest inventors worked in America and only 9% in other countries.

Global fascism or Red China pseudo capitalism can never give the spring to invention that our Founding Fathers gave to Americans when they included in the United States Constitution the provision “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”

I have faith that men who have known freedom will always, in the end, sacrifice everything to retain that freedom. Americans are close to that point now where they will tap into that thirst for freedom that brings revolution if the few now wielding raw power do not respond to the call for change – real change, not Obama “change.”

“Government exists off surpluses created by the people whom they rule. The ruling classes, i.e., those people who refer to themselves as ‘government,’ do not produce wealth, thus their existence depends upon the expropriation of assets from others.” -- Robert J. Ringer in “Restoring the American Dream.”

It is now a question of opportunity—as things get worse, and they are going to get much worse, and when the government clamps down more and more with no redress, that desire for freedom is going to kick in, and men are going to drop everything to get that freedom back. And they are going to fight: and will kill if they have to kill as they always have, in the cause of freedom.

I hope it doesn't come to this point. We as citizens of this country have to get together and get the government out of our business. Governments, since the beginning of time, have always been oppressive and the bigger and bigger it grows, the harder it is for the people to gain control. This isn't about politics as usual, its about government growing to a point that they want more and more control and power. Once they get drunk off power, they will do whatever it takes, to not lose control, including what are in these videos. They have a strangle hold on the US economy and are a part of almost every aspects of our life...

medicare
medicaid
social security
SSI
extended unemployment benefits
emergency unemployment benefits
socialized medicine
corporate welfare
bailouts
just to name a few..

They tax us to death, and they try to tell us what to spend and not spend our money on, and they claim to know what is best for us. Last time I checked, they are the ones that got us into this problem, why do I believe they are going to get us out of it? I DON'T, it is time for this government to step aside and allow for the free market to get us out of this recession. Wake up America? Demand less involvement of you incompetent government and its policy makers!

Read Atlas Shrugged and open you mind, trust me I know very little, but I have started to open my mind and what I am finding out is scary. At least I know that I am doing my best to wake up the people to be united.

¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido! (The people united will never be defeated!)

Money As Debt

This should be mandatory viewing in order to get a High School Diploma.

January 2010 Net Worth: Starting Off Right

The start of 2010 was a good month for us even though the market was down. We have a lot on tap for 2010—our wedding, honeymoon, bachelor party, 2-3 friends wedding. If we can just keep it up in 2010 as we did in 2009 we will be truly blessed.

Lets break it down:

Cash & Savings: We saw cash savings drop 5k, but that was because we paid off our credit cards which were interest free that had my fiancé diamond and our honeymoon. It feels amazing to know that our honeymoon is paid in full. This is why I was didn't see much growth in this area over the last few months. I also bought some stock at the beginning of the month. Hopefully we will start to see some growth in this area over the net coming months, even though with wedding stuff, it might not grow the way I would like. This bracket holds the funds for my down payment on house(which is pushed back until after the wedding), 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 13-15k 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: Stocks have been slowly growing over the past few months, as I have bought some stocks I have been watching along with with some hedging. I bought some Exxon(XOM) and Chevron(CVX) stocks as a hedge for crude oil prices which I see going up in 2010. I drive around 40 miles to work everyday so gas is a big expense. I bought the stock while crude oil was around 76 a barrel. If crude oil goes down the stock goes down but if it raises my stocks hopefully will raise with it. I also have gold/silver and mining stocks and couple other random ones - (GLD)(SLV)(EGO)(AUY)(FAZ)(ZQK)

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. This month it jumped up based of my company 401k match which is nice since the match was suspended in 2008.

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 under 10K!! Credit Cards done...

Credit Cards: All the credit card debt we had was from a credit card with a 12 month 0% APR. Last month also I had a balance because we paid for our honeymoon, and it was on the balance but we paid it off before we accrued any interest. This is a great feeling even though I could have paid the other credit card off but we had cash sitting in a high yield saving account gaining a small amount of interest.

Car Loan: 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 this or next ear. I ended paying near $458.00 dollars in interest last year(dang) but still just contemplating paying off early. We are still saving up for a house so not sure its in our best interest to get rid of our cash sitting to be debt free on my vehicle.

So overall January was a exciting month with our credit card debt being gone. Still kicking up the saving as we have the wedding and possibly home owning in our future.