Last Updated: Nov 19th, 2009 - 11:07:39 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 Thought for the Day I was very fortunate to receive an excellent education at our local High School back in the 1950s. I was interested in science and we did many experiments in the laboratory and we were always asked to find out what the facts were. And then we argued about what this could mean. And so we built up our knowledge about the world around us. But further than this we learned the Scientific Method for determining what is true and what is false and what this means. We learned to propose an hypothesis and then to determine ways of testing that hypothesis. If we could find no fault in the hypothesis then it might be true, and we upgraded it to the status of "theory". If this theory was true for many years, decades or even a century and no-one could fault it then it may be raised to the status of "law" and we could really believe it. So we studied and understood Newton's three laws of motion and all was right with the world. Unfortunately there are always some irritating people around and early last century a young chap called Einstein showed by "thought" experiments that these laws were false. Oh dear! At least what he showed is that they are approximately true at normal human scale speeds but when the motion is occurring at very high speeds the laws are further and further from the truth. So we learn to be very careful about what we believe to be true. And we always consider what may happen at boundary conditions that we may come across in the REAL world. Many things that economists believe to be facts are more properly called assertions that have not yet been properly subjected to the rigours of scientific experiment. In addition, economists argue continually about these assertions without agreeing at the beginning on basic axioms - or at least statements that both side of the arguement can agree as starting points for the discussion. So our economists continue to generate more heat than light. What a pity. Jun 19, 2009, 10:34 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 How Monsanto Kills The News Searching for the truth leads to some interesting places. Can this story be true? [ Visit Website ] Jun 19, 2009, 10:12 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 Why the Meltdown Should Have Surprised No One AS President Ronald Reagan said, "The government is the problem." Peter Schiff tells it like it is and the picture is not pretty. An understanding of REAL Economics provides a sound basis for understanding and predicting the future. America is in REAL Trouble. Can we understand and profit from all this experience? [ Visit Website ] Jun 16, 2009, 10:25 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 The Coming Collapse of The US Middle Class This is a one hour lecture but the facts are irrefutable. Our middle class world is crumbling. The facts are all about America but New Zealand sounds very similar. This is why we are so concerned about Economic Growth. Nice middle class democratic western countries are carrying a huge burden of unproductive government overhead that is slowly but steadily reducing people to poverty. Running a paper based money system is just disguising what is really happening. The next generation or two are in big trouble. [ Visit Website ] Jun 14, 2009, 14:55 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 Russia May Swap Treasuries for IMF Debt The BRICs are following up their recent meeting with action. They are swapping American paper money for IMF debt money. They are worried about America inflating their savings away to nothing. As the Americans are now printing Trillions of new dollars their fears seem to be well founded. Now, how exactly is IMF debt safer? The IMF supposedly owns a lot of gold - it is currently selling some - and presumably this forms the basis of IMF's ability to function. Presumably this gold is held in Fort Knox or one of the other depositories around the States. Is anyone worried that Fort Knox gold has not been audited since 1954? Jun 11, 2009, 12:47 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 Bullion and Bandits: The Improbable Rise and Fall of E-Gold An interesting story. [ Visit Website ] Jun 10, 2009, 18:24 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 Top China Banker Wants U.S., World Bank to Sell Yuan Bonds China is buying gold for its reserves - recently increasing them by 75%. It also looks as if China is now deciding to compete on a more equal footing with the USA using their paper money. Russia is also increasing its gold reserves and touting the Rouble as part of the international currency scene. Not easy given its rather mixed history. China, Russia, India and Brazil are also meeting to discuss ways of using something other than Yankee dollars for money. World War III looks set to be fought with paper money in the near future! Just when it gets serious will depend on how the politics plays out. The timing is inherently unpredictable. More fun times for all. Jun 9, 2009, 11:01 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 The Second Crash - On the Way and Unstoppable The people managing the Cullen fund believe that all is well and if they keep on putting money into the international share markets they will soon be back in the credit side again. We are unfortunately in a major bear rally and sometime in the near future this rally will turn into a rout. Bye-bye investments. There are many reasons why this is so. Here is one - the good old American mortgage market again! Jun 9, 2009, 10:37 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 19 June 2009 Quote for the Week "Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state." Avram Noam Chomsky May 19, 2009, 10:16