Showing posts with label investing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label investing. Show all posts

Friday, September 14, 2012

Wait for QE4, its only a matter of time


Chairman Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve announced yesterday September 13th that the FED would put into action an open-ended plan to purchase $40 Billion dollars of Mortgage Backed Securities every month. Thats about $500 Billion a year. They will also hold interest rates at near zero until at least mid 2015.
What a shock! Just like I predicted.

Between the FED and the Government they've created such a situation where there is no easy way out. Theres only two real options; either they are to incompetent to realize that their "solutions" are only increasing the underlying problems, or they know and are just trying to hide the truth for as long as possible. Either way its not good. The only way we'll see a real recovery is they stop intervening and just let markets find their equilibrium. We have a very harsh reality to face, that is true, but the sooner we face it the sooner we can begin with a fresh slate and correct the real problems. The perverbial can is just being kicked further and further down the road with the government bailouts and the banking bailouts and QE1,2,3,4; but no matter how long the road stretches, theres a cliff at the end of it.

The government is in dire straits. They have no money and continue to fall farther and farther into debt with every day. but instead of making cut backs like a normal business, they continue to borrow and grow the government with more tax programs and bailouts and stimulus and wars. Ofcourse wall street is happy because the stock markets keep floating higher on the constant wave of money coming from Ben at the FED. But what the average Joe doesnt realize is that while their mutual fund moves up a couple points and their housing prices seem to regain a foothold its only because the FED is diluting the currency with Trillions of dollars. So their savings and retirement funds are being swept away.

Analogy:

If Ford Motors produces only one of a new model vehicle its going to be worth a lot. But if Ford produces 1 Trillion of the same model, you couldnt give one away. They'd be worthless because everyone would have a hundred of them in their back yard. Well its the same thing with Dollars. Right now having $50,000 is great, but when all those fresh trillions hit the markets that $50,000 wont buy a stamp. Thats what QE is doing to the public savings.



A Conspiracy of the Rich?

What is the number one reason that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class struggles with debt?

Its because financial education takes place in the home.
Parents pass down their understandings and financial habits to their children. Its funny how such an important part of our society is completely neglected in the public school system. Wouldn't a person of any occupation benefit from the knowledge of how to properly invest and ultimately create personal wealth? (my definition of wealth being that yearly passive income derived from investment is greater than yearly living expenses). Ofcourse it would be their own decision whether or not to follow through and adopt the principles learned. Wouldn't financial literacy on an individual level tend to produce a more wealthy and prosperous nation as a whole? Hence the riches of Babylon. Like in the story of Babylon it seems that our people have lost touch with the knowledge and labors that once created such an imperial state.

Would those people in position of power knowingly deprive others of such necessities?

It is hard to argue otherwise.
In 1902 John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest buisness men on earth, with the combined efforts of some of America's wealthiest and most influential figures, founded the General Education Board. Donations from the Board helped to spawn the first widespread highschool systems for the southern states, and also to create higher education institutions across the nation. They also contributed large sums to medical and agricultural institutions and education in those fields. There are many who believe that the intentions of the board were to direct the education of America's youth rather than increase it. A paragraph from the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin puts it well....

"The purpose of the foundation (the General Education Board) was to use the power of money, not to raise the level of education in America, as was widely believed at the time, but to influence the direction of that education... The object was to use the classroom to teach attitudes that encourage people to be passive and submissive to their rulers. The goal was-and is-to create citizens who were educated enough for productive work under supervision but not enough to question authority or seek to rise above their class. True education was to be restricted to the sons and daughters of the elite. For the rest,, it would be better to productive skilled workers with no particular aspirations other than to enjoy life."

Also, an excerpt from a letter written by the General Education Board....

"In our dreams, we have limitless resources and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present education conventions fade from their minds, and unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning, or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, editors, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have an ample supply…The task we set before ourselves is very simple as well as a very beautiful one, to train these people as we find them to a perfectly ideal life just where they are. So we will organize our children and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way, in the homes, in the shops and on the farm."

Apparently the education and thought process that seperate the poor and middle classes from the upper class are strictly on a need-to-know basis.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

My 2010 position in Silver Wheaton brought gains of 100%, give or take a few dollars. I also had a small position in Premium Exploration which i thought had great potential as a gold exploration company. Their properties seemed to be extremely valuable but I sold my position at the end of the year for just a slight gain, which turned out to be a bit soon. Over the following weeks the stock did a major run up in price which would have been nice, but now it sits just about where i sold. The reason i sold my positions at the end of the year was so that i could switch from paper precious metals investments to physical metals investments. My research throughout the year taught me alot about the nature of our crisis as compared to other crisis's suffered by the US and other nations throughout history. I learned about the transfer in wealth from cash to tangible assets like gold and silver. So at the beginning of the 2011 year i purchased a 100oz bar of
.999 fine silver for $30 an ounce and paid $100 for shipping and insurance. In 2010 I started with $1600 which i doubled to just about $3200 by december. I then purchased the bar for $3100 and later two small 1oz bars for just under $100 with shipping.
Less than 3 months after my purchase silver was riding $50oz. Thats a gain of 62%.
During these summer months the price of silver has been beatin back by a combination of massive commercial shorts, in an effort to supress the price, and the natural summertime selloff which happens nearly on cue every year. Notoriously the fall and spring months are best for precious metals while the summer is usually the slowest.
I do expect that by years end we'll be back up near the $50 price range.