Gold: a problem of perception
A friend of mine, who was struggling with the idea of buying gold, lamented that gold only had any value if someone else perceived it to. Yes that’s true. As it is for everything, whether you’re talking about a share of Apple stock or a 1977 Chevy Malibu.
But perception is of particular concern for gold. To understand why the dollar price of gold languishes from time to time, you really have to step back and take a look at the larger picture. Understand that we now live in a world where almost every trader and investor today has lived their entire adult lives in a global system of fiat money. That almost every living person who has a degree in economics, finance, or business, has spent years having the false ideas of Keynesian promises drilled into their collective consciousness. That generations of the public have been told – and believe – that central banks notes are the ultimate arbiter of value for everything.
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However, the reality is simply this: you cannot continue to accumulate debt forever. Eventually something must give way. Our public leaders are not only unprepared to deal with this, but most will not even acknowledge it as a possibility.
Take Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. In his recent Bloomberg debate with Ron Paul (see video below), he was asked, with the current debt to GDP number around 100%, how much more debt would he be willing to incur in order to stimulate the economy? Â His answer was that he would be comfortable with an immediate increase in debt to GDP to 130%.
But how can this go on ad infinitum? Can an individual live beyond his means forever by accumulating credit card debt or is there eventually a day of reckoning? Â How is it any different for a government? Yes there is the additional wrinkle that they can print new money to pay for things, but there are limits to that as well. Then what?
Krugman and his Keynesian ilk would have you believe that we will grow into our debt. Jump start the economy with some additional debt and soon enough additional tax revenues will be flowing in to cover it. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen. If that were the case, how did we get to 100% debt to GDP in the first place? How do we have any debt at all? By any metric you care to look at, the total debt of the United States continues to grow beyond its ability to pay for it.
Yes the current perception will not change easily. There are simply too many who profit from it to let it go without a fight. The role of economics in modern society is not to spread understanding and offer solutions, but rather to obfuscate truth. The role of economic policy in politics is to convince the majority to support programs that are contrary to their own self interest.
The harsh lesson of life is that you are on your own and always have been. You simply cannot blindly follow those who are presented as experts. You must become your own expert. You must ask the tough questions and put emotion aside as you analyze the answers – remembering that the truth is often not what you want to hear.

Let me start by saying that I am not a technical analyst. Consider the following to be for learning or entertainment purposes only.



Political pundits remain amazed at 76-year old Ron Paul’s appeal to America’s youth. When he goes to college campuses, students show up in groves. A couple of years ago, his flight from Houston to Phoenix was weather-delayed for hours, but when he arrived at ASU thousands still waited to hear him speak.
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I highly encourage you to read the latest interview with Hugo Salinas Price. Â Mr Price is a retired billionaire who made his fortune via a chain of appliance stores in Mexico. Â He is also a tireless advocate of sound money. Â His plan to reintroduce silver as a competing currency in Mexico would make it the most sought after money in the world bar none. It is well worth your time to understand the details of how he proposes to do this.
