Last Tuesday, Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election by a landslide, yet the stock market posted its worse two-day loss after an election in American history – dropping approximately 10%.  So what the heck happened?

It’s easy…  After the enthusiasm of a new president wore off, everyone realized we still have to deal with George Bush and his failed antics for another three months.  Luckily, Bush will most likely be on vacation, hopefully hunting with VP Dick Cheney, for the next three decades or so...  Or until Cheney mistakes Bush for a deer and shoots him repeatedly.

In other news, Americans showed their support for Obama and his policies by purchasing all the guns and ammo they can get their hands on.  Nothing says Americans have faith in their government like everyone rushing to stock up on automatic weapons and ammo after an election.  Especially when they’re already armed to the hilt and itching to mistake people for deer.

Maybe it’s because Vice President elect Joe Biden and his cronies have made clear their plans to take over Americans’ private retirement accounts, including ALL 401k’s and IRAs!  Sure, your money is safe in the hands of the government - especially when the government is bent on “spreading the wealth” by any means possible.  And don’t mind the fact they'll confiscate 50% of your wealth when you die and make it impossible for employers to match your retirement contributions… that’s just a technicality.

When asked about the confiscation of half of all American's wealth, Teressa Ghilarducci spoke on condition of anonymity, saying: "They'll be guaranteed 3% returns per year on the money we take from them" - which almost covers the "official" inflation rate of nearly 5%.
When pressed further, Ghilarducci said (again, speaking anonymously) "Of course, participants would not earn a real 3% return.  How's that for double-speak? But don't worry about it - It'll be managed by the Social Security Administration and you can see how well we've managed those funds so there's nothing to worry about."

It really is a good idea to let the government control your hard-earned cash.  Just ask Argentina… only a couple weeks ago, Argentina nationalized the citizens’ private retirement accounts, then promptly raided the ill-gotten money to pay their bills – causing Argentine pesos to lose 40% of their value in ONE DAY.  Yay!  Let’s hear it for spreading the wealth of the citizens into the hands of government!

The good news is that President Bush, in all his absentminded retardation, has set the bar so low that Obama will have an extremely hard time doing worse.  That pretty much assures us that President Obama will be great... by comparison anyway.

It's here - the answer to all our prayers... now you too can become an instant billionaire and participate in the hyperinflation currently plaguing zimbabwe.  Who knows, buy enough and you just might be able to afford a loaf of bread.  The auctions below are offered at eBay and provide a great way to add to any currency collection or store away a piece of history.

US Auctions Australian Auctions Austrian Auctions Belgian Auctions Canadian Auctions French Auctions German Auctions Hong Kong Auctions Indian Auctions Irish Auctions Italian Auctions Dutch Auctions Polish Auctions Singapore Auctions Spanish Auctions Swiss Auctions UK Auctions

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With today being election day in the United States, it won’t be long before Comrade Obama takes office in an effort to “redistribute the (your) wealth”.  With so many people voting for Obama, it may be no surprise that his socialist economic policies are already taking effect across the country.

Here’s a humorous overview on just how Comrade Obama’s economic plan will work.  It’s not 100% accurate since it doesn’t mention highly inefficient government spending, but the idea is the same.

In fact, many voters across the nation claim they've already quit their jobs and are just waiting for the wealth sharing to head their way.  One voter went so far as to send an invoice to Barack's campaign headquarters, complete with a detailed list of neighbors' property he would like to call his own.  Another called "dibs" on Bill Gates fortune while many others claimed the Playboy Mansion is now rightfully theirs.  Obama has already promised North Dakota to the Canadians and promises to make good on all other claims as soon as time allows.

Funny enough, nobody has claimed Hillary Clinton so she will probably be shipped overseas as part of a trade with China for lead-tainted glow sticks.

In other news, it's probably no surprise by now that Obama will be the next U.S. President.  The only surprise will be if he can't manage to beat a 200 year old man and the hot chick from car commercials.

Here are some interesting charts showing just how much the U.S. monetary base has outright exploded over the past eight weeks.  In two short months, the monetary base has skyrocketed by $300 Billion dollars.  Only a few years ago, it was big news when the government's deficit was that much for an entire year, and now they're blowing that figure out of the water in a couple months.

Add to this the devastating effects of "Fractional Reserve Banking" - where a bank only has to have 10% of the money they lend - and the inflationary effects of this massive monetary increase should be down right frightening.  When a bank lends money, they create the majority of it out of thin air by making a couple entries in a computer.  Of course, this leads to even more money creation and inflationary pressures.

In order to provide some balance in this post, here's another article that discusses whether we're heading towards hyperinflation or deflation.  It also makes an argument for "Stagflation" - High inflation while the economy stagnates - which is certainly a possibility.

Sure, there are many pundits who will say "We can't have inflation because the economy is in a recession".  Funny - a lot of these pundits are the same people who came out last year saying "There's no such thing as a recession and the housing market and U.S. economy will recover in mid-2008".  Revisionist history and a complete lack of memory make things interesting indeed.

I don't know where things are headed any more than the next guy.  And even if the economy is in a recession or depression or tardation or whatever you want to call it, the government is still printing money like it's going out of style.  If inflation is bad because there are more dollars fighting for the same amount of goods, imagine what it will be like if there are way more dollars fighting for even less goods.

Something to think about.

Anyone with any interest in gold or silver may have noticed recently that the "spot" price for silver and gold is a joke and nowhere near the price you'll pay if you actually want to invest in or own precious metals.  In most cases, gold coins are selling for 50% above the spot price while silver bullion is enjoying premiums of 80-100% or more above the "official" price.  This should concern everyone for the simple fact that these events are a huge indicator of highly inflationary times to come.  But the bigger news is that this enormous price discrepancy can't (and won't) last forever - something has to give.

Here's an article that explains just what's going on with precious metal prices. It explains recent events in the precious metals markets much better than I can, but I'll provide some notes and highlights here anyway.

The main problem is that the "spot" price of silver and gold do not reflect reality.  With the spot price of silver under $10/ounce, you'll get laughed at if you show up at the local coin shop trying to buy silver at this price.  Chances are they don't have any silver at all and if they do, the price will be closer to $18-20/ounce.  The article linked above focuses on gold but the same problems plague the silver markets - and to a much greater extent since the silver market is substantially smaller than the gold market and it won't take near as much money or investor demand to trigger a price explosion.

First, let me expand on the spot price of precious metals.  This is a price set on commodity markets by large hedge funds and financial institutions who place bets on the future price of silver (or gold) via paper contracts.  There isn't a whole lot of physical metal to back these contracts, which normally isn't an issue since most bets are simply rolled over or cashed out as the contracts expire.  However, there is an option to take physical delivery of the precious metal outlined in the contract, and with the contract price of silver and gold being so much less than the physical price, human nature says a large majority of contract holders will be inclined to take delivery on the metals.

When there are a large number of contracts demanding delivery of precious metals at artifically deflated prices - with relatively small amounts of physical metal to back these contracts - the most logical outcome is a default on the contracts.  In other words, people who pay $10/ounce for silver contracts and expect to take delivery of the physical metal won't be able to do so.  There's simply not enough precious metals to meet the soaring demand.

When this happens (which could be as early as December 2008), the "spot" prices of silver and gold will be exposed as the manipulated scams they represent and the physical prices of these precious metals will take over.  Some people "in the know" predict that if/when this happens, gold and silver prices will double in a matter of days.

Well shoot, if physical silver is already selling for double the spot price and the physical price takes over, silver prices will effectively double in an instant if this happens.  Actually, they've already doubled the "official" price so your guess is as good as mine as to how much higher silver prices will go from there.  But whatever the case and arguments, all signs are highly bullish for silver, gold, and all other precious metals.

As a side note, I still consider silver to be a much better investment than gold.  If you wish to invest in precious metals and feel you must own gold, consider the following:

• Silver is an industrial metal and more silver is consumed every year than is produced - this has been going on for 20+ years, eating away at the available supply of physical silver.  On the other hand, gold is NOT consumed.  Virtually all of the gold that has been produced since the beginning of mankind is still available in one form or another.

• The Gold-to-Silver ratio is currently around 80 to 1.  This means that one ounce of gold can be traded for approximately 80 ounces of silver.  Historically this ratio is closer to 20 to 1 and was only 50 to 1 only a few months ago.  It's become increasingly out of whack.  So if you must own gold, buy 80 ounces of silver instead of 1 ounce of gold, wait for the ratio to return to the historical norm, and then trade your 80 ounces of silver for 4 ounces of gold.

• The physical market of available silver decreases every year while the phsyical market of available gold increases every year.

Of course, there are other reasons to own silver over gold but all signs seem to indicate that owning any precious metals is a far better option than trusting your wealth (and livelihood) to paper money that's backed by nothing.  And remember, the paper markets are extremely skewed and don't represent reality so they currently can't be trusted.  It may be cliche, but everything is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it and as far as precious metals go, people are willing to pay much, much more than the "official" price.

Good investing!

Inflation in Zimbabwe is currently soaring at 231 million percent!  231,000,000%!!!  Of course, by the time I finish this post, it'll be even higher.  To put it another way, if the inflation rate were to stay stable for an entire year (which it most certainly won't), something that costs one zimbabwe dollar today will cost almost a quarter of a billion dollars a year from now.  In reality it'll cost much, much more since the inflation rate is increasing on a minute-by-minute basis.  Now that's currency devaluation on a grand scale!

The thing that worries me is that so many people in America (and other western countries) dismiss these devastating events by saying "It can't happen here", or "If it was really a problem, we'd hear about it on the news", or even "Why should I be concerned with something happening in a small African nation?"  I'll be blunt here in order to get a point across - It CAN happen here - This is a REAL problem - And you SHOULD be concerned, even if you can't pinpoint Zimbabwe on a map.  The truth is this is the INEVITABLE result of ALL fiat currencies, INCLUDING the U.S. Dollar.  All paper money that's backed by nothing will eventually be inflated to the point it spirals out of control, leading to the destruction of the currency as it returns to its true value - nothing.  This is not a guess, not a prediction, and not "crazy talk" no matter how far out in left field it may seem.  Inflation and eventual hyperinflation that destroys a nation's wealth and purchasing power is an inherent flaw in all fiat (backed by nothing) currencies.  It WILL happen to ALL fiat money, the inevitable can only be postponed and covered up with crafty lies, but it CAN'T be avoided forever.

Here's a pictoral progression of the hyperinflation currently taking place in zimbabwe. Pictures speak louder than words and show just how quickly monetary debasement (excessive creation of new money) can throw an entire country into financial turmoil.

One interesting thing to note is that the bills in the pictures linked above contain expiration dates.  Money that expires, and soon!  That's one heck of an alarming indicator on just how quickly Mugabe's money debasement has destroyed people's wealth.  The expiration date is somewhat refreshing though - in an odd and sad way.  After all, it's an outright admission that just because a fiat dollar has value today, doesn't mean it'll have the same value in the future.  Maybe this disclaimer should be included on all currencies with no inherent value (especially the U.S. Dollar).

For those of you who still subscribe to the mindset that this "can't happen here", I seriously urge you to deeply question your reasons for this thought process.  First, it's imperative that you understand the money you use - after all, it affects every aspect of your life.  If you haven't taken the time already, stop everything you're doing and watch this video about the immoral scam of fiat currencies, including the U.S. Dollar.  It's a real eye opener and explains in-depth the monetary system that controls our lives.  It's well worth an hour of your time to understand what's really going on and the video will change the way you view money forever.

It may also be interesting to note that it wasn't too many years ago that one Zimbabwe Dollar was equal to one U.S. Dollar.  Now, one U.S. Dollar will get you tens of millions of Zimbabwe Dollars.  Zimbabwe followed a prescribed path towards hyperinflation and currency destruction and the United States (along with many other countries) are currently following the same path.  So again, if you think this "can't happen here", at least get informed as much as you possibly can about the underlying issues that cause this devastation before risking the livelihood of yourself and family members on pre-conceived notions that have been force-fed from all directions by those perpetuating these crimes or blindly subscribing to these immoral falsehoods.

One more thing to note - The U.S. Federal Reserve (and all modern central banks) are private, FOR-PROFIT, companies. Their goal is to make a profit, NOT do what's best for the people they scam.  If you give a private company unrestricted control of a nation's currency, with full knowledge that they make a profit by debasing the currency they control - human nature indicates they'll do just that.  Don't believe for a second that those who control the money supply will provide solutions for the problems they themselves created - especially when it's not in their best interest.  Sure, you'll get the horse and pony show, but it's just that - a show.  A show to obfuscate the truth and deceive the public from what's really going on.

So get informed, protect yourself and your family, and remember that things aren't always as they seem.  And yes, it can happen here.

I saw this quote today direct from the 'brilliant' minds at Google:

"Democracy works best when we all participate.  Please take time to vote..."

I disagree with their take on Democracy and offer this quote instead:

"Democracy works best when we have politicians worth voting for."

And wait a minute, isn't America supposed to be a Republic anyway?  If not, then what the heck is the Pledge of Allegiance talking about?

In a bold move of stupidity sure to exacerbate the global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund announced that they too want to create money out of thin air.  In a self-respecting, educated society, such a move would be stopped dead in its tracks.  However, with bold moves of stupidity being the norm these days, the announcement went largely unnoticed.

An official from the IMF, speaking on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying:

“Everybody else is printing money as fast as they can and so far it’s making matters worse.  Inflation is rampant, several currencies face possible destruction, and the central bankers who got us into this mess haven’t fixed things yet.  That’s why we need more central bankers to step in and help out.  It’s become obvious to us that we aren’t throwing enough money at the problem.  That’s why we want to create money out of thin air too.  It’s not about the elite few controlling the entire wealth of the world, and it’s certainly not about lining our pockets with other people’s hard earned cash.  Anybody who thinks otherwise is a terrorist and unpatriotic.”

U.S. President George W. Bush is all for the move, citing the “basically sound” financial roadmaps of Weimar, Germany, Argentina, and Zimbabwe.  And all central bankers have applauded the move to print more money – even create new currencies and inflate those if they have to.  When asked about the impending global recession, all but one banker claimed they weren’t experiencing it and “profits have never been better”.  The one banker who opposed the move apparently died two years ago but nobody has noticed yet.

Yes, this post may contain satire, but sadly it’s not far from the truth.  If you check out the article linked above, you’ll see that the IMF indeed wants to create a new currency so more money can be created out of thin air.  You’ll also get a glimpse at some of the many countries currently facing financial problems due to unregulated stupidity of those who control their money supply.  It’s interesting to note that ALL countries currently facing financial problems use a fiat currency.  Maybe there’s a reason Ron Paul calls fiat money an “immoral system” that’s destined to failure.

For those of you who don’t know, a fiat currency (or “fiat money”) is money that has no value whatsoever and is backed by nothing.  It is only used as money because a government’s order (fiat) requires it to be accepted as payment.  You may also find it interesting that these currencies are destined to failure from the start.  Each new dollar created comes with immediate interest owed to the central bank.  Even if every single debt was paid in full, there would still be massive amounts of interest payments owed to the central banks - and no money to pay it. Ron Paul calling this an "immoral system" is an understatement - "highway robbery" seems closer to the truth.

I’ll end this with a relevant quote from Thomas Jefferson.
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

With all the silver posts lately, some people have been asking me where the cheapest place to buy physical silver is at.  Without a doubt, the cheapest silver bullion (and coins) I have found are at www.bulliondirect.com.  I don't make anything for plugging this site, and there are no affiliate links, I'm simply regurgitating my own experiences in the hope it'll benefit others.

I've noticed several searches hitting this site wondering if BullionDirect is a scam.  While this is a valid question and one you should certainly investigate before making any investment (no matter how small), I can personally vouch for BullionDirect - at least for the limited experience I've had with them.

I've found them to be helpful, responsive, and exactly what they claim to be.  An order placed by myself on their "nucleo" market (an open market that matches precious metal buyers and sellers) was filled and delivered to my online account quickly and efficiently.  I later took physical delivery on some of this purchase and was quite pleased with the order, packaging, and shipping times.  I got exactly what I paid for and have talked to others (including family members) who've experienced similar results.  A quick note here - if you take physical delivery of precious metals from this site, you'll have to pay a "handling" fee of about $6 and another $10 for shipping and handling (insured).  I'm rounding up by a nickel on each fee but take these numbers into account since it obviously wouldn't be financially beneficial to take delivery on a small order.  On the other hand, you can take delivery to your online account for nothing, there are no storage costs, and you can sell your account holdings at any time.

So from these experiences, I would have to say that no, BullionDirect is not a scam - it is a very convenient and economical way to invest in physical precious metals.  At the same time I would issue a warning about ordering precious metals directly from their catalog.  I haven't tried this method but have seen that their catalog prices are usually slightly higher than their "nucleo" market and most of their catalog products are delayed (for physical delivery) for several weeks or more.

Just thought I would share my experiences with this site and confirm it is definitely the cheapest place to currently buy physical silver (and gold... and platinum).  I would love to hear from others who have had positive or negative experiences with this company.

Good Investing!

I was going to write a long-winded, boring article about the spot price of silver and how it currently doesn’t reflect reality. But why bother when somebody else has done it for you?

For those of you who don’t know, there is currently a substantial shortage in the physical gold and silver markets. Buying a silver or gold coin (or bullion) is difficult right now for the simple reason that demand is outstripping supply and that’s resulted in a precious metals shortage. There’s more to it than that, but I’m inherently lazy and will let the articles linked below explain further. In some instances, gold is selling for 50% above spot price and silver is a whopping 100% or more ABOVE the “spot” price if you can even find some for sale.

Over the course of last Saturday, I was able to locate a total of 12 ounces of silver by calling local coin shops. 12 ounces of silver for sale in a metropolitan area with millions of people! What’s more, they wanted $19 per ounce! This is when the “spot” price is hovering around $9.10 per ounce. Further verification was found by calling other out-of-state coin shops where store after store told me the precious metal shelves were bare or they had at most a few bullion coins. If you check eBay, you’ll see that 2008 silver American eagle coins (1oz) are currently selling for around $19-$20 or more per ounce – plus shipping and insurance. (You can buy it for slightly cheaper by the roll – 20 one ounce coins)

So what’s the deal here and why is physical silver (and gold) selling for so much more than the “spot” price? There are several reasons but this article sums it up with more insight than a hobo like myself dare bother with.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6952.html

The article is about gold, but the same thing applies to silver. In fact, it applies to silver in a much more drastic extent since the physical silver market is substantially smaller than the physical gold market.

I don’t necessarily agree with the prediction in the article (that the U.S. Dollar will hit a hyper-inflationary state and collapse within the next 30 days), but it certainly is possible and when the dollar fails (as all fiat currencies eventually do), it’s almost certain that it’ll be a sudden explosive event that triggers hyperinflation and takes the majority of people by surprise. The Dollar losing status as the world’s reserve currency could be a large part in this but that won’t necessarily be the case, especially when the U.S. government is so willingly creating massive amounts of new money out of thin air.

So check out the link above and get better informed about the “money” pretending to represent your wealth. And while you’re at it, check out this informative article about “Exploding Debt Dynamics”.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6971.html

I only push these articles so that you can be better informed, and take steps to protect yourself against the financial problems that will eventually destroy the life savings of millions of people (and has already destroyed trillions of dollars of wealth in retirement, savings, and investment accounts). It may not happen now, but with a fiat currency (such as the U.S. Dollar and most of the world currencies), it will happen eventually. And even if it doesn’t happen in our lifetime (which I doubt unless you’re as old as John McCain), you’ll still be better informed and prepared to protect your wealth for the future.

Enjoy the info and please start taking steps to protect yourself, your family, and your financial future. And if you haven’t figured out the trend yet… put your money in tangibles, tangibles, tangibles.

We face some scary times ahead but the destructive blows will be substantially reduced if you take the time to educate yourself on what’s really going on and take the necessary steps to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your livelihood.

Good investing.