I love old movies, especially the black and white ones from the 30’s and 40’s, and have hundreds of them on tape. I love new film too, and we go to the theatre often. We don’t go to see science fiction, or those rife with “special effects.” The last of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, is now in release, and I am sure it will take in a lot of dollars, as did the first two. I won’t be one of the contributors to the box-office landslide. Why? Because I am a realist, I suppose. The new Jack Nicholson flick isn’t real, as it is a screwball comedy, but at least Jack isn’t leaping off tall buildings with impunity. I am wondering if the youth and other impressionistic craniums of America, haven’t had these special effects inculcated into their brains far too often for their own good. Perhaps they think such stuff can actually happen. There have been several crimes noted, whose perps tried to imitate special effects from either the big screen or boob tube. Being ancient, I know they can’t happen, but why waste money on fantasy? We get enough fantasy in our everyday life; especially from that capital of fantasy: Washington DC.
Ah yes! The fantasies concocted by the denizens of DC. As Mark Twain once said, “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” Or as late Ronnie Reagan expostulated, but didn’t practice: “Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it. The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.” The bureaucrats, administrators, Senators, Representatives, Cabinet, and the President himself, think it is all one continual spending holiday, with press releases to advertise their works. These “special effects,” affect us all on a daily basis.
The GDP figure s one. America has been in the economic doldrums for a long time, and still is. Just in time for Christmas shopping though, complete with incidental public hoorays, the magic figure was released of an absurd GDP increase. A few critics other than myself, disbelieve, and have also seen through this scrim of falsity, and written as much, creating a farrago of bad feelings in the hallowed halls of government. It did take the stock market up, didn’t it? You bet! The stock market goes up, and makes the P/E ratios ever more stratospheric. Jim Sinclair just wrote that good stocks have P/E ratios of 10 or less, and pay dividends. Know of any? I don’t. Does this affect America? You bet it does, as there is no value. Special effects stocks, created by special effects fake statistics. When they come down, those special effects, which boosted them up, will cost their owners dearly, as happened close to three years ago.
Then there are the CPI figures: meaning inflation. We supposedly have next to zero inflation, and isn’t that grand? Isn’t it wonderful that special effects inflation figures, which belie the facts, are making us all feel so warm and cuddly? We haven’t a worry in the world, with next to zero inflation. The presses and federal check-witers, will run off another special effects trillion dollars in 2004, meaning huge, non-special effects inflation. How can the money supply be increased by millions of dollars every single day, without inflation? Only by special effects press releases, fooling the public with special effects figures. All the while, prices go up.
The unemployment special effects figures, are also straight out of Walt Disney’s Studios. The claims went below 400,000 last week? Isn’t this marvelous. No one includes the hundreds of thousands who have given up, gone on welfare, declared bankruptcy, or are no longer looking. Responsible people say we need 300,000 new jobs a year, and it isn’t happening by a long, long shot. Even Wal Mart is down, as well as Target, and this is the Christmas season. Those aren’t statistics coming from special effects DC. Consumer debt is astronomical, as is the federal debt. America owes more than the rest of the world combined, probably, and the dollar is sinking like the Lusitania, but from special effects DC all is well.
The war in Iraq is going very well, and 130,000 troops can easily rebuild Iraq, which is the size of California, and control Baghdad with its 5.5 million inhabitants. 25 attacks a day on our troops, have been reduced from 35, and all is well, according to special effects press releases from the frontlines, edited by DC. The costs of this war balloons the dollar supply, but of course we have no inflation, so it’s OK.
Patriot Acts don’t threaten our privacy, as they are necessary for our fight against terrorism. The goons who examine the shoes of 80 year old great grandmothers at airports, and which are costing a bundle of fiat dollars, are necessary for our protection. The fact that hundreds of containers come into our ports daily, which can house atomic bombs or other lethal items, is no problem, as the airports are the main concern. “All is well,” the special effects press releases tell us. Seems to me that Hitler did the same thing, didn’t he? Didn’t he proclaim victory after victory, all through the war while he was conscripting teenagers?
I have clients in all professions, in all states and even nations of the world, and I love to talk with them about their trades and occupations. Be they valve manufacturers in Minnesota, farmers in Mississippi, pilots, surgeons, businessmen, or even retirees, the general theme is the same, and it is, to paraphrase: “Things are bad, and not getting better. Business is down, it is impossible to make a living farming, or other ways, and I am getting the hell out of paper dollars, and into something tangible, such as gold and silver, to protect myself.” It is depressing, but factual. The smart ones, who don’t have their head buried in sit-com TV idiocy or special effects movies, realize that things are not at all rosy. The euro is over $1.23 as I write this, and this is up from 50 cents less. Even the Canadian Dollar is up from 62 cents to close to 80. The South African rand is up, as is the Swiss franc, Japanese yen, and even the Mexican peso. US government and consumer debts mount hourly, and foreigners are ceasing to invest in a failing dollar’s instruments. Hopefully, they won’t dump them all at once. Hopefully, the Chinese will keep their renminbi tied to the dollar. Hopefully, our economy won’t crash. Hopefully, as a New Year approaches, things won’t get worse, and the trade imbalance won’t get to a trillion fiat dollars a year.
We don’t have to “hope” that gold and silver will rise in dollars, as this is writ firm in the diary of 2004, and a year from now, you will be amazed at what has happened to the price of your tangibles, no matter what they may be. I have a lot of tangibles, which give me great pleasure. I recently bought a 1973 Mercedes 450 SL for $2400, because as the owner said, ” it doesn’t run too well, even though it only has 82,000 miles on it.” After an expert re-timed the fuel injection, and corrected a couple of vacuum leaks, it runs like a top. I’ve seen them advertised for $25,000. It has a perfect body, has had no re-painting, no rust, and the upholstery is excellent. A tangible, in other words, can be of any type or sort, which gives one pleasure. Rare stamps give some pleasure, as do rare books. An e-mail from a non-client today, tells me of an antique $150 dentist chest he bought, which had concealed in it, a $20 and a $10 gold certificate in perfect condition, which had been there for probably 50 years. There are lots of ways to protect ones self with tangibles, be they large or small. Old tools, original art, watches, and even antique clothing are fun for some, and are a way of getting OUT of the dollar denomination. When tough times come or there is an emergency, few collectibles are easily disposed of quickly, so I consider compact gold and silver, to be the best. Unless you are Scrooge McDuck, you won’t get much pleasure in fondling your gold and silver. Just put it where no one would think of looking, and have the merriest Christmas ever. Protect yourself.