If you think differently from the masses, and harbour hostility to authority figures – you may well be, according to new psychiatric “conditions” being touted by a revision of a psychiatric diagnostic manual.
Mark Nestmann has more to say …
Touting gold is a bit like touting disbelief in God to those who are religioius – as you’re up against ingrained belief systems.
Faith in the current financial system, even though there’s been a few shocks, is still firm – in the sense that the majority of people cannot conceive of anything else, and have faith that everything will turn out right in the end.
I told a friend to buy gold when it was $740 an ounce, and she did. She is thanking me now – given the current price. But I tell her, don’t sell – it’s going to go higher. But most people take such advice with a grain of salt. They may sort of agree, but getting them to actually change paper money for gold seems beyond their ability somehow. They are not convinced of the endgame in store for paper fiat money.
If you’re still skeptical on this issue, then have a read of Jim Willie’s essay:
Gold Price Breakout: The Ominous Silent Canary
The media has been full of dire warnings of the likelihood or even necessity of attacking Iran. Are we being conditioned to the possibility – or is it just talk?
Saif Shahin has an original take on this in his essay: Iran: War Talk, Peace Talk
I wouldn’t want to be President Obama for the world. Why? Because he stood on a platform of “hope” and “change” and is now facing ruination of his image and reputation.
Trouble is, Obama has inherited an economic mess, a mess that is intractable. Whatever he does, it won’t work. The more he promises hope and better times, the more the situation deteriorates and the more useless he looks to the electorate.
Pundits are already speculating that he will be a “one term” President. And the only way Obama can redeem himself is if he pulls off a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians – which is far from certain. But at least such a deal does not involve fighting the laws of economics!
So what is the solution to global financial doldrums? David Galland suggests some “tough love” in his essay: The Smoking Ruin Solution
In a world where surveillance is on the increase, one area of relative “privacy” is the ability to use cash to purchase things. When you use cash the transaction is virtually private in that no record exists to track the money changing hands or for what purpose.
This is not so with credit/debit card purchases, which leave a trail of what you do with your money. And for this reason cash is a bulwark of freedom in a way – at least in the world as it works now.
However, it appears the Swedes are seriously considering dumping cash in favour of a completely cashless society – as this article explains:
One question on the lips of many of those buying, or thinking of buying, gold is “Is it possible that the government may confiscate gold some time in the future?”
This question usually arises out of the knowledge that gold was indeed confiscated in the USA under President Roosevelt in 1933, and that it could be again.
David Galland thinks it’s unlikely that such a event is imminent but he does detect moves by government to more carefully monitor the gold market, in his commentary:
Gold Confiscation: Straws in The Wind
“Better late than never”, as the saying goes. And I guess this applies to Cuba also, which finally appears to be admitting (by its actions) that communism doesn’t work – as this latest announcement indicates:
Cuba To cut 500,000 State Jobs
I couldn’t have said it better myself. But Anthony Gregory has said it first:
Veteran foreign correspondent, Eric Margolis, has this to say:
9/11 Cover-Up Remains While Questions Mount
And my own opinion?
9/11 was a classic “false flag” operation. The buildings, and in particular building 7, were brought down by demolition charges, not planes hitting them. That level of technical sophistication points to some sort of operation with “inside” connections.
I have no proof as to who is behind this – but one can always ask the question, “who benefits?”
The recent fuss over the proposed burning of the Koran, by a fundamentalist Christian preacher, has raised some interesting issues – and as usual, the mainstream media and various pundits miss all the major points.
This is how I see it.
First of all, if someone wants to burn a book they own, then they have a perfect right to do it – whether it’s the Koran, the Bible, or a Harry Potter novel. The primary issue in such a case is property rights – or who owns the book in question.
Secondly, if some group (religious or otherwise) purchases a bunch of books, any books, then decides to burn them all, then once again that is their right.
However, “book burning” has got bad press, and rightly so. Why? Because we associate it with censorship – as in Hitler’s burning of books, of any any public burning of books by the authorities. In such a case the book burning is to obliterate the book in question – and to prohibit anyone from owning such books.
So book burning by individuals, as long as they burn their own books, is perfectly okay – even if irrational. Whereas the burning of books by the state, with the express purpose of destroying all such books so they cannot be read by anyone, it not okay at all.
As to the issue of offending people. Tough. In a world where free speech is valued, then there is no guarantee that you won’t be offended by someone, somehow.
It’s a bit like flag-burning. People with nationalistic inclinations get offended. Religious people similarly get offended if their favourite “holy” book is being disrespected. But there is no moral right to not be offended, so get used to it.
For most people, the best hedge against inflation over past years has been to buy real estate. And history has proven it to be so. Trouble is, over the last couple of years real estate has been falling – quite dramatically in some places – which is causing people to ask the question: “Is now the right time to buy real estate?”
David Galland has an interesting answer.
