Last Updated: Dec 15th, 2009 - 12:06:25 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Thought for the Day Last century seems to have been the era of continually growing governments. Socialism became the State with 100% government and controls to stop the people from leaving. But eventually that collapsed with great pain for all. Dictatorships flourished and demanded 100% obedience from the people but they too have mostly disappeared as their economies declined and the people revolted. Democracy became the preferred method for ruling a nation - not because it was ideal but because it was just the best of a bad lot! But democratic governments seem to have a built-in mechanism for growth. Not economic growth but growth of bureaucracy. The population votes for politicians who will take care of them and the people who get elected take that job very seriously. Just like President Obama. Now there are crowds of people flocking the streets in America accusing Obama of that great American sin - being a socialist. Why is it that governments think they have to do everything for us, as if we were not capable of living our own lives. REAL Capitalism doesn't have a chance with governments running our lives. Sep 25, 2009, 12:22 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Staff in Carbon Footprint Trial Face £100 Fines For High Emissions Words fail me. [ Visit Website ] Sep 25, 2009, 11:37 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Doug Casey on Gold I have said that if we just concentrated on a country of low taxes and sound money - and achieved that - we would be the wealthiest people in the world. We know what low taxes are but what is sound money. My investment adviser, Doug Casey, is interviewed by Louis James here and provides one of the best and simplest explanations I have come across. Sep 24, 2009, 10:31 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Global Rebalancing to Weaken Dollar Quietly As I mentioned in the last newsletter the only two things we need for sound economic progress in a nation is low taxes and sound money. The USA is currently failing on both these fronts and it looks like they will be in trouble for some time to come. Printing money hasn't worked so far as the population has decided to save instead of spend - they have no option - and Obama is proposing to increase taxes next year. Next year the Alt-A and Option ARM mortgages come up for renewal and that will see another disaster of sub-prime proportion descend on the hapless home owner. Things are not looking good for America and therefore they are not looking good for the world. Is America now abandoning its strong dollar policy? Sep 23, 2009, 11:10 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 (US) Dollar Falls on Speculation G-20 Will Want Other Currencies Up It is always a good thing to see what others are saying about us. New Zealand gets more than a mention. Sep 22, 2009, 17:49 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Inflation and the Fall of the Roman Empire This is a transcript of Professor Joseph Peden's 50-minute lecture "Inflation and the Fall of the Roman Empire," given at the Seminar on Money and Government in Houston, Texas, on October 27, 1984. History can teach us many lessons. [ Visit Website ] Sep 21, 2009, 17:52 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 HSBC Bids Farewell to Dollar Supremacy The basis of Austrian Economics is "Human Action". Human actions follow the incentives for making life more comfortable and whatever individuals want which usually takes more money. So REAL Economics says "follow the money" - just like the good detective story! America's love of paper money printed by the Federal Reserve bank is causing real problems for their economy. High inflation is "baked in the cake". The recent increase in the money supply of some trillions of dollars will eventually come through as high prices of everything, unless the Obama government get too carried away with their own spending spree and bog the economy down by not letting bankrupt companies disappear. Just as it has happened in Japan over the past 20 years. Then we get economic stagnation. Given "helicopter" Bernanke's attitude to spreading plenty of money around I would expect that America will go towards hyper-inflation rather than long term stagflation. Politicians also tend in this direction because easy money allows them to satisfy the immediate needs of their electorate. Following the paper money trail always takes us to hyperinflation. At least it has done so every time previously in the entire history of human economies. The main players will of course know this but they are under the misconception that their economic theories will enable them to slow things down when they decide to do so. They are wrong. Sep 21, 2009, 11:48 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Time Magazine: 10 Questions for Ron Paul Q: What role does the Federal Reserve have in our current economic downturn? -- Brad Thomas, Kalamazoo, Mich. Ron Paul: The Federal Reserve is the key element in the formation and collapse of financial bubbles. They're a government unto themselves. They print their own money. So if people have any concern whatsoever about the serious financial problems that we have, they have to know about what the Federal Reserve is doing. Q: Do you think you were treated fairly by the mainstream media during your 2008 presidential candidacy? -- Jacob Schans, Silver Spring, Md. RP: I know if you asked my supporters that question, you'd get a pretty strong answer. But in spite of it all, I was very pleased. The little bit of time I had, I hope I made good use of it. Q: If people are so frustrated with a two-party system, why has there been so little success in coming up with another real contender? -- Erika Groff, Troy, N.Y. RP: Because we don't have a two-party system. We have a one-party system. Both parties endorse the welfare state and corporatism. Both parties support interventionism overseas. But they also write all the campaign laws. So they have made it virtually impossible to break into the monopoly. If I had run on a third-party ticket I wouldn't have been in the debates. Q: What would you do to reform health care? -- Leslie Gillis, Arlington, Mass. RP: I'd get the government out of the way. It's so important that the maximum number of people get the maximum amount of care. The harder the subject is -- the more difficult, the more complicated -- the more you need the marketplace. Q: Why do you support the decriminalization of marijuana? -- Craig Thomas, Longview, Texas. RP: Why support the criminalization of marijuana is the better question. First, I defend it because a free society allows people to make free choices, even dumb choices. And the problems we have with the war on drugs are a thousand times worse than the problems we have with drug overusage. Q: How do you feel about the way you were shown in the Sacha Baron Cohen film "Bruno"? -- Matthew Thacker, Bowling Green, Ohio. RP: I don't feel good about it because I was the subject of a trick, and nobody likes to be tricked. I understand they're not making a tremendous amount of money off this movie, so maybe the American people aren't as cynical as they assumed. Q: Do you feel that fearmongering from conspiracy theorists helps or hurts the cause of liberty? -- Kevin Tuma, Hillsboro, Texas. RP: It depends if there is a true conspiracy. You could call the Federal Reserve a conspiracy because they're conspiring to run the whole economy secretly. But the idea that there are 12 people holed up in some room someplace and they control the world through some type of conspiracy -- I don't buy into that. Q: Will you run in 2012? -- Paul Panasiuk, San Francisco, Calif. RP: Right now I have no plans to do it. That's a long way off. Q: Why do you oppose the income tax? -- Mike Phillips, Madison, Wis. RP: Because I have a right to the fruits of my labor, and government does not. If you concede the principle of the income tax, you concede the principle that the government owns all your income and permits you to keep a certain percentage of it. God-given rights to our life and our liberty don't come from government. Q: How does objecting to all legislation serve your constituents? -- Richard English, Mission Viejo, Calif. RP: I vote against all spending -- even spending that I might justify -- unless it doesn't add to the deficit, because debt is a monster and it has driven us to the point of bankruptcy. I think my constituents' best interests are served by voting against all excessive spending. Evidently they must understand it to some degree, because up until now I've been re-elected. *** *** *** Ron Paul is a Republican U.S. representative from Texas. He ran for President in the last election and was notable for raising significant amounts of money using the internet. Younger people seem to understand his message of individual rights and obligations. Sep 21, 2009, 10:53 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Robots Are Getting Smarter While the bankers and politicians around the world struggle with the impossible task of juggling interest rates and quantities of money to keep our unstable financial world afloat, technology advances. This is a fascinating advance in robotics: [ Visit Website ] Sep 19, 2009, 12:51 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 A Tale of Two Shortages When governments set out to "help" the people they always seem to make a botch of it. As a very senior politician once pointed out to me, "Government is the problem." As we see here: [ Visit Website ] Sep 17, 2009, 11:29 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Gold Rally Signals Move Away From Currencies, Greenspan Says. Now that Alan Greenspan is no longer the Chairman of the Federal Reserve he is able to speak the truth again about gold and money: Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) - Gold prices that jumped above $1,000 an ounce this week are signaling that investors are buying metals to hedge against declines in currencies, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said. The gains are “strictly a monetary phenomenon,” Greenspan said today at an investment conference in New York. Rising prices of precious metals and other commodities are “an indication of a very early stage of an endeavor to move away from paper currencies,” he said. The price of gold has jumped 13 percent this year as rising government debt coupled with declines in the dollar spurred demand for the metal as a haven. Silver, platinum and palladium also gained. “What is fascinating is the extent to which gold still holds reign over the financial system as the ultimate source of payment,” Greenspan said. Yesterday, gold futures for December delivery touched $1,009.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest for a most-active contract since March 18, 2008. The metal touched a record $1,033.90 an ounce on March 17, 2008. As of 9:42 a.m., gold traded at $988. China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, will continue to be a “large consumer” of commodities, including energy and metals, Greenspan said. “China is turning out to be the 900-pound gorilla in the energy and commodity market,” Greenspan said. “The increase in oil consumption in China has been quite extraordinary.” By Millie Munshi and Veronica Navarro Espinosa; Bloomberg.com Sep 17, 2009, 10:19 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 A million March to US Capitol to Protest Against 'Obama The Socialist' The headline says it all. [ Visit Website ] Sep 16, 2009, 12:33 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 The Dumbest Trade Ever? One of the advantages of knowing about REAL Economics - as espoused by the Austrian Economists and especially Ludwig von Mises - is that you can tell what the future will be. It is not possible to say when events will occur within narrow time-frames but we can say that they will occur. Just how politicians will react to events will play out the details but economic actions have predictable consequences and if we know what is coming we can be prepared. This is why I listen most carefully to those financial and investment advisers who understand REAL Economics. For instance, Ted Butler's predictions have been coming true for years now as this article explains. [ Visit Website ] Sep 16, 2009, 11:28 Newsletters : 2009 Newsletters : 25 September 2009 Quote for the Week The financial history of the last century shows a steady increase in the amount of public indebtedness. Nobody believes that the states will eternally drag the burden of these interest payments. It is obvious that sooner or later all these debts will be liquidated in some way or other, but certainly not by payment of interest and principal according to the terms of the contract. Ludwig von Mises Sep 14, 2009, 14:56