Gold Above 370.00 per Oz...Hits High of 373.90 [6 Year High]

I hold some precious metals as a hedge against weird stuff in the economy (like a return to 1970s stagflation).

But there's a gold-fetishist culture out there that baffles me.

One thing that cracks me up is ol' Doctor "Scary Gary" North who managed to have, as part of his message for every catastrophe conceivable, told us all to buy LOTS OF GOLD!

Right now.

Come back in 20 years and tell me what a paper dollar will buy, if it has not been replaced by an entirely new scrip by then.

Come back in 20 years and tell me what a paper dollar will buy, if it has not been replaced by an entirely new scrip by then.

Fine. I'll pick the goods and services, and prove to you that the dollar has GAINED purchasing power.

Oh that is slick. We can buy far more computing power now for a dollar than we could in 1970. Some would call that deflation, and I have a feeling that you would conveniently pick this sort of "good" or "service" to prove to me it was deflation the entire time. As it is with advances in computer technology, you can prove NOW that the dollar has gained purchasing power since 1970 and not wait 20 years.

I am thinking more along the lines of basic things like postage, a loaf of bread. A loaf of bread used to cost 8 cents. Now it is around $1.50 to $2.00. Same loaf. There was a time when you could buy a nice house from Sears for $6,000. Entry level houses in my area just touched $300,000.

Some sectors are deflating now, but years or decades hence, after numerous "stimulus" programs and continued deficit spending, the end result will be price inflation and destruction of the purchasing power of the paper dollar.

Oh that is slick. We can buy far more computing power now for a dollar than we could in 1970. Some would call that deflation, and I have a feeling that you would conveniently pick this sort of "good" or "service" to prove to me it was deflation the entire time. As it is with advances in computer technology, you can prove NOW that the dollar has gained purchasing power since 1970 and not wait 20 years.

Sorry, you demanded the comparison be over the next 20 years. You kinda forfeited your right to determine the nature of the comparison.

And, BTW...the REAL determinant for the value of the dollar takes into account what the prevailing wage is, and then measures the cost of goods in relation to the amount of labor required to afford them...

The Gold Standard, A Breakdown by Alan Greenspan

"And, BTW...the REAL determinant for the value of the dollar takes into account what the prevailing wage is, and then measures the cost of goods in relation to the amount of labor required to afford them..."

As time goes by the value of the paper dollar changes and you must recalculate, continuously finding the new prevailing wages, and the new costs of goods, and calculating the ratios that give the amount of labor to afford them.

Finding the value of the dollar should not be comparable in difficulty to finding the instantaneous velocity of a falling object after so many seconds after release.

The value of the dollar was meant to be fixed, not moving. That is why the founders delegated the power to coin money to Congress, and wrote in Article 1 Section 10 Clause 1, "No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in the payment of debt." And the value of the dollar was fixed by law as that amount of silver or gold that was of the value of the Spanish Milled Dolar that was current in the late 18th century.

Because it is not fixed, it is foolish to save in dollars. Say my old man saved $100.00 in 1970. It might take $800.00 to buy now the same medicines $100.00 could have bought then.

So what does my dad care about your calculation of the REAL determinant for the value of the dollar when his savings have been descimated and, now retired, can't pay for what he needs anymore?

So you say he should try to earn interest. Fine, he earns a little interest and it is taxed. Further he is forced to play the game of trying to make his rate of interest be such that it cancels out the rate of inflation. Or greater if he wants to make any gain. Why should he have to spend his time working at that simply because the people who run this government refuse to obey the Constitution? That is wrong.

Paper money is socialism. The communists made no secret of their wish that we would debase our money---because the result would be the destruction of our society which is what they want.

Why is it you so strongly support paper money anyway? Why is it so right?