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First, let me say that if anyone has other recommendations for this, please share to help build our knowledge.
Freedom dies, when money lies!
Money, Currency, and Education
This thread is all about sound/honest money. Money, NOT currency. Our world today uses fiat currency. One good way I've heard paper money(fiat currency) described is that it's a mortgage on wealth that doesn't exist. The difference between money and currency is that money maintains its value over long periods of time. Historically gold has held its value against inflation of fiat currency, this is why it is referred to as an inflation hedge. It is not meant to make you rich but it will maintain what you have earned to keep your way of living from declining. I like to think of it as an insurance policy on my savings account. It is also tangible and has no counter-party risk if you possess it. Yes it can be stolen but you don't have to rely on a bank or financial institution for ownership.
I believe that education is one of the most important things a person can invest in and I believe money/currency is one of the most important subjects to be educated in. We all use currency after all. I find it crazy that people can spend their entire lives working hard, paying taxes and bills, but never even ponder the question, "What is money?" Or they live under the assumption that it is merely what you use to buy things or a piece of paper with a former president's head on it without a thought of how it is created/given its value.
Monetary literacy should and NEEDS to come before financial literacy. In order to make smart financial decisions it's crucial to understand the plumbing of how the monetary system works. In its current form, it is a system that I believe is evil and based on fraud. When central banks steal purchasing power from the common man, he must then work more—not to increase his wealth—but simply to replace the stolen purchasing power. This was by deliberate design from those who are responsible, they even told each other that if people have to work harder to maintain the same living standards they won't have time to figure out what is happening to them. Inflation is theft. If you take a look at inflation, you will come to find that it is a crime against future generations as it steals from the future to pay for today. Deficit spending is spending the money of your children and your grand children today at their expense. We have had periods in history for hundreds of years where prices stayed the same, no inflation. It's still possible. Inflation isn't some natural phenomenon that happens and we cannot control it or understand it. It IS by design to steal from the whole populace.
Protecting Your Assets
If you understand money/currency and how inflation works, you will be better able to protect your hard earnings. Pricing assets in dollars is deceiving and dangerous because the dollar always changes. It would be like trying to build a house using a measuring tape where an inch changes from day to day. It would be impossible to build anything doing so without a fixed measurement but we foolishly price assets in an ever changing currency. Pricing things historically was done in weight. In 1913 a house on average was $4000 or 200 ounces of gold at $20 an ounce. In 2023 the average price of a home was $400,000 or 200 oz of gold at $2000 an ounce. Many assets are at all time highs in currency but haven't changed much or at all in terms of weight of gold.
Gold has in-fact out paced the stock market in the past 25 years. Is it volatile? It can be, but it's best suited for savers not day traders.
[ This is rhetorical. Can you get out of a jail if you don't know you're in jail? Can you get out of servitude if you don't know you're an indentured servant? None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. ]
Reserved for documentary videos!
Historical Quotes
- Thomas Edison once said, "People who will not turn a shovel full of dirt on the project nor contribute a pound of material, will collect more money than will the People who supply all the material and do all the work." How many here have paid a mortgage? After 30 years you've paid more in interest than the house is worth.
- Henry Ford once said, "If the American people knew how the banking and monetary system worked, there would be revolution before the morning."
- "Money is gold, nothing else" - JP Morgan
- "And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." - Thomas Jefferson
Recommended Books
There are several books I would recommend reading that will help people to further understand money!
- What has Government done to our money by Murray Rothbard
- The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin
- End the Fed by Ron Paul
- The Case Against the Fed by Murray Rothbard
- The Invisible Crash by James Dine
Reserved for banking discussion/currency creation!
Discussion
I would like to know if any gaffers save a portion of their earnings in precious metals like gold or silver? And to clarify, never do anything you aren't comfortable with, doing your own research is key.