“Something For Nothing,” is what SFN stands for, and I use it regularly in my book, “Consequences.” (Free by e-mail) Everyone wants something for nothing, even though it is, for all practical purposes, not likely to be obtained. While “SFN” can be achieved with a lucky spin of slot machine wheels, or a good job of bluff in a poker game, SFN is mostly an illusion, as inventors of perpetual motion machines have discovered. When a youth, I was fascinated with perpetual motion, and used to draw machines and ideas endlessly, which would theoretically, run forever. The demonstrable fact of friction and motion loss, to my youthful mind, never entered the picture, and my inventions never worked. No perpetual motion machine has ever been invented yet. I have a wonderful idea of an engine that will run on water, and I swear it will work. I have clients who are in the process of building an electrical generator that is virtually free energy, and another who says it is nonsense, because of the old Libertarian saying that TANSTAFFL, (There is no such thing as a free lunch) is true.
When we buy gold and silver, in spite of the manipulators, we know that we are obtaining something of historic importance and actual wealth, for thousands of years. Surely, the price can go up and down. When it refuses to rise to our satisfaction, we are tempted to get angry and impatient, saying, ’the hell with it, I can do better elsewhere.’ We all want SFN, and to many of us, SFN is gold and silver. It may be, but as far as I am concerned, it is a way to PRESERVE OUR ASSETS, rather than watch them wilt away, as the dollar printing presses and DC checkbooks whirl away, ad infinitum, ad continuum. Just think about it people, and realize, that if gold and silver merely go up as fast as the fiat dollars go down, we are secure. If real estate goes down, due to overbuilding, an economic slowdown, or actual depression, and our home is still worth as many dollars than it was when we bought it, we are secure. If you bought into the NASDAQ at 5,000, at the urging of your stockbroker, Larry Kudlow, or other frauds, you may have lost a bundle, and are miserable understandably.
But to get the vapors now, when gold and silver are at their virtual cost of mining and production, is silly. I have a client who has just sold 4,000 ounces of silver at a loss and is getting into a scheme (multi level) that is supposed to give him a 20-40% return EVERY MONTH. Nothing I could say would change his mind. Nothing. He is convinced that he is on the road to huge riches because he has gotten three others to get in and pay their dues, and testimonials are ripe for the gimmick. Talk about SFN! (Ponzi?) I have another client who invested $100,000 in a similar scheme, which promised to pay 10% a month. Guess what? Correct: It is all gone. There are those in this field of mine, who predict $3,000 gold and $1,000 silver. I don’t. I think $500 gold is probable by year’s end, and maybe $8 silver, but I don’t know for sure. I just want to preserve my hard earned assets, and I can think of no better way, than to have gold, silver, a unique Victorian home, old cars and trucks, original oils and water colors, antique furnishings, thousands of books, etc. I have railroad books that are worth hundreds of dollars each, and I paid maybe $25 each for them. I have not achieved SFN with these books, because the dollar is worth that much less now. I may have broken even, which is all I wish to do, because breaking even, and preserving wealth may not be ’pie in the sky,’ but it is good, sound, common sense. I have enjoyed these books, paintings, antiques, cars, and trucks, and my home as well. I love them all, and all are “worth” (in dollars) more than I paid for them. I have preserved my assets, and not watched them decay in a bank savings account, or stock with a P/E ratio of 50, 200, or more. I have gold and silver, which is valued at about the cost to produce such, more or less, and it satisfies me. I don’t keep track of what I paid for it. Only the amount, in ounces, I have.
I have heard from a reliable source, that the Chinese are on a crusade to electrify all of their vast land area, and are mining copper at an enormous clip, to make the necessary wire and generators. Silver happens to be a by-product of copper mining, and my source says that the Chinese are selling the silver at current low rates, to pay for the copper and electrification. This would explain where it is coming from, at least to a degree, and explain why the price of silver is actually lower than production cost, in most places of the world. If the Chinese need copper, but not silver, and they are in as miserable condition as they seem to be in, selling the silver to pay for the copper and electrification, looks like it may make sense, for them and us. Silver remains at a bargain price for how long? I don’t know, but the cost of producing it, its history, and use, makes however long it takes, worth it.
In this life, it is difficult to know whom to trust. There are lollygaging, boasters, galore out there. There are promises of vast wealth, just for signing up and getting a few others to do so also. Huge increases of dollars, merely for joining and getting a few others to do so. Just a few dollars, and a few others to join, and presto! The world’s wealth will be yours a true SFN come true. Not me, Roger. Forget it Matilda. Drop dead Horace. If it were true, that by signing up three, and sending in a few hundred bucks, the dollars could be multiplied by 20-40% a MONTH, why, there’d be no need for anyone to ever work again. Just sign up three others, and send in your dollars (along with a Wheaties box top?) and dollars will drip into your hot little hands forever. Hooray, heaven on earth has been achieved!
Maybe I have been in the business too long. Maybe I am a grizzled old fatalist. Anyone want to buy a gold business? Maybe I am getting too critical of the SFN offers, to continue exposing the fakers who promise SFN. Why should I argue for seeming hours, at 10 cents a minute cost to me, trying to keep a client from selling 4,000 ounces of silver, at a loss, to “invest” in a scheme that promises to give him 20-40% a month? One of my best friends hired a trader of impeccable reputation, to do his futures trades for him, and he lost thousands. What’s the point? Myself, and other GE column contributors, tried to tell the boobs that the stock market was supported with empty promises, fluff, momentum, and nothing else, but would they listen? No, they just kept buying, and then lost $8 trillion. Now I’ve got to listen to this gibberish?
Way back in the 1970’s, as I remember, an outfit called “Presley Corporation,” (as in Elvis) had perfected a process to separate hydrogen from the oxygen in water, at virtually no cost, and thereby give everyone free hydrogen fuel, eliminating oil and smog. Imagine! Exhaust from cars would be water, not carbon monoxide. We all bought shares of Presley. Alas, it was a fraud, just like all the rest of the SFN schemes seem to be. I am not in business to place gold and silver in people’s hands as an SFN scheme. I am doing it, because I consider it an economic necessity. I could be doing something more constructive to society, like building a water powered engine maybe, but even at my advanced age, I am performing a service to those who desire it. Everyone needs gold and silver, just like they need to brush their teeth, take vitamins, and get enough sleep. Few will get it, and most will wiped out again, with their savings accounts and dollar denominated “investments,” not to mention the nocturnal airline outfits that promise pie in the sky, I assume a-la-mode. Protect yourself, and forget about SFN!