Rock, Paper and Precious Metals

Without sounding like a commercial it is hard not to notice all the uncertainty around the world. Yet people still look to the United States for stability.

At the moment we have been giving the license to print unlimited amounts of money, but obviously the game is rigged and at some point a collapse and reset has to happen. I'm sure the blame will be placed at our feet soon enough. Regardless of what some political figures think you can't borrow money and spend your way into prosperity nor can you do it by taxing all who you think are rich so you can redistribute the wealth. Winston Churchill hit the nail on the head when he said: "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

Quantitative easing(QE)version 3 in on its way as Uncle Ben is cranking the handle on the jack-in-the-box. We all know it will eventually pop out of the box and I'm sure, scare the hell out of most people who will be watching it happen. Sadly most people won't care or even bother to notice.

Likewise, the Federal Reserve has no other option they are willing to try. To use a dairy analogy, the Federal Reserve is trying to create a constant flow of milk, no matter how many cows they kill! Instead of the natural process they are genetically manipulating the system through artificially insemination. All the while we are told that everything is normal, we are in a recovery. The tit has been milked borrowing more money, bailing out all the banks as well as everyone else that needs it. It's all part of the process, they say, just relax. It is for the greater good you know! Remember just pass the bill and then read the contents later, trust and never verify. Have a little hope, come on lighten up!

Then you hear Berkshire Hathway's Vice Chairman Charles Munger make a comment saying: "Gold is a great thing to sew into your garments if you're a Jewish family in Vienna in 1939," the Berkshire vice chairman said, but I think civilized people don't buy gold, they invest in productive businesses." Now obviously I understand what the man is saying, he wants to see a productive asset. There is nothing wrong with that. Yet, it helps to be reminded that when you have billions to play with you can afford to make a lot of mistakes and still recover.

With all due respect, however, in this torrential rainstorm we call the US economy I for one at least favor a nice sturdy umbrella of gold and silver versus a bushel basket of paper or electronic entries. I'd rather sit and let the storm blow over or at least know at the very least which way the wind is blowing before venturing out. It appears a lot more people feel the same way as I do as well.

There are certain things in life as you grow older you remember and reflect on. Some people might say you become more jaded. Others might say, with age, comes wisdom. Regardless, you have to apply what you have learned in order for it to be of any use.

Pondering aloud, it's amazing how millions of dollars are spent annually trying to evoke a feeling or thought! Think about that it for a second by what you smell. Perfume is just one example; who really thought it was a bright idea to come up with the term toilet water? Oh, excuse me, I mean Eau de toilette, that sounds much more sophisticated doesn't it. What about when you go to someone's house and you smell potpourri in the air; doesn't that just bother you a little and make you wonder what they are trying to hide?

It is like reading the labels on the back of the can or box of stuff you just ate. You really don't want to know what is in it do you?

Crap by any other name is just that my friends, crap, it doesn't matter what it smells like we all know what end of the horse it came out of, so stop pretending.

Finally, if you are looking for market stability in our economy stop comparing the midgets in the room and step into the real world and open your eyes for a moment.

Oh yea, and watch where you step!

~Manipulation~

The average person is clueless to how rigged the system is and how it operates. We are all told that investing in the stock market is the best way to grow earnings and help save for your future. We are lead to believe that government officials are working hard to solve the problems. Really?

How can anyone feel comfortable investing when it appears that the real truth is hidden. The game now revolves around who can build the faster gadget to manipulate the outcomes the most not what is a good investment. Catching The "Silver Crusher" Algorithm In The Act http://www.zerohedge.com/news/catching-silver-crusher-algorithm-act This is not the free market system, this is a sham to benefit the few. This has the potential to wipe out the average investor with a few keystrokes and a shrug of the shoulders.

You can forget the government regulators stepping in to solve the problem because they are so deep into it themselves they can't stop it. For more proof do your own research online and type in the words "Plunge Protection Team" and see what you find. Sure some think this team is just monitoring the market and I'm sure sure they are. It is just like the government is monitoring GM or monitoring all the student loans or most of the home mortgages. Right, nothing to see, move along!

Who in their right mind thinks the dollar is strong? Compared to all the world’s currencies we might be the tallest midget in the room but we are still a midget! Stop gulping the kool-aid!

According to a recent Gallup poll 41% of Americans think the economy is getting better. Another way of saying this is 59% of Americans realize the truth. Things are not getting better, but worse!

The government is trying hard to get the media to spin the numbers they make up in desperation to boost confidence. Yet, when you pull up at the gas pump all that evaporates. It is like sitting at the dinner table with your grandmother passing gas and acting like it was the cat's fault. Granted, some people are slow to understand and others are just plain stupid which obviously can't be fixed. But ugly is still ugly!

So, what will be the solution? As sad as this is going to sound, it will have to get much worse before things can get better.

Someone will have to "take the can" away that has been constantly kicked down the road. When this happens "ugly" will have a whole new meaning. Until then, we will have to put up with the puffs of smoke and illusions telling us how good things are becoming.

The next time you are in an airplane, remove the bag in the seat back pocket, place a stamp on it and mail it to your Congressman to let him or her know how you feel. At a 12% approval rating they need to feel all the love they can.

If you ever wonder what your congressman is doing after they get elected here is one interview that you need to see that finally tells the truth: Bill Moyers Interview with Fritz Hollings - Telling the Truth About What Our Representatives Spend All Their Time Doing': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJv9t80pufc

So now you know a little piece of the truth of why things are so screwed up. Ugly is just that, ugly and looking the other way won’t change things one bit.

I'd like to think that knowledge is power, but even now I'm not sure that is true anymore!

“Being Prepared”

I have literally written down my thoughts and then clicked and not saved it several times now on the subject of “Being Prepared” and the reasons why this is so important.

I’m honestly not sure why I have chosen in the past not to save what I wrote. It is not because I did not think it was well written or that enough thought had not gone into what I was trying to say.

No, the reason was I felt uncomfortable because the subject itself for me seems stress filled and full of hypothetical situations where if you are honest with yourself they are no perfect answers.

Being prepared itself is not the problem but trying to determine what you are preparing for and to what extent is a critical issue!

If you spend anytime at all on the internet and go the route of looking on various survival sites you quickly can become overwhelmed by the degree of doom and gloom that is presented. Let’s see, some of the topics are: total economic collapse, no food, no water and protecting yourself from the ever present band of lawless thugs rioting and looting every house on your street. Oh, yea and solar flares, and I guess it is worth mentioning the 2012 end of the world according to the Mayan Calendar.

So with all this said it is no wonder why the vast majority of people have the tendency to throw their hands in the air and shrug their shoulders and give up before even starting.

Do I worry about not having power or water or sewer services? No I do not. Any disruption in services typically happens after a natural disaster and is short lived in nature. When this happens can you be uncomfortable, but it is not unbearable. Obviously the longer the duration the more frustrating it becomes but again it is not something that causes the fabric of society to come apart at the seams! I realize some may point to what happened in New Orleans and beg to differ with me. To that I would say that I agree; chaos can occur anywhere and anytime but after the dust settles society as a whole finds what is normal fairly quickly.

In the US we have had economic disasters with the stock market crashing and people losing lots of their wealth. People, however, did not go out and try to overthrow the government and somehow the population survived to the next generation and the next.

Are the threats we face real today? You beat yah! Will we likely see a huge amount of change within the next few years? We always have because that is the natural progression of things. Change is constant.

The most important part of all this hearing a line from Rudyard Kipling which reminded us: “Keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.”

Take heart in knowing that change is inevitable. Also note that how you react to change is entirely within your control!