The latest surveys show that the largest segment of the American populace going bankrupt, are the elderly. Honestly, it’s enough to make one cry. The thought of these old people who have worked hard, raised their kids, and been wonderful, decent citizens, actually going bankrupt, and losing everything they have, is mind numbing. I wish I could help, but I can’t.
What I can do, is to council those still working, and still producing. My council and advice is simply: Don’t do what your parents did, even though they raised you to do it, and it seems so logical. Don’t do it, or you may end up as they have, and that is not a pleasant future to contemplate. Correct? Well, what did they do to make them go broke? Did they live beyond their means? If they did, it is obvious that you shouldn’t do that, so I need not elaborate on that one. What else did they possibly do, that has such dire repercussions on their lives? While this may sound absurd to you, it is an actual fact. They saved in dollars. How can this make one go broke? Simple!
Suppose from their earliest working days, they saved all extra cash in dollars in a savings account, or the like. More than a hundred million have done this, and the results are always the same. A de-capitalization of them, their families, and offspring. Stop and think for a minute about the dollar. We measure our wealth in dollars, just like we measure distance in miles, weight in pounds, water volume in gallons, electricity in volts, resistance in ohms, speed in miles per hour, light in lumens, power in watts, frequency in Hertz, and area in square feet. These measurements never change. If they did, we would be a lost civilization. Nothing could be built, designed, or repaired even. But the measure of our wealth, future security, current net worth, etc, is measured in dollars. The DOLLAR IS A SHRINKING MEASUREMENT. THE DOLLAR LOSES VALUE EVERY DAY, AND THOSE WHO SAVE IN THEM ARE LOSING THEIR NET WORTH, JUST AS CERTAIN AS THE SUN WILL RISE.
By storing our surplus assets in dollars, which bear an interest rate of maybe 3%, while we are having three to four times that much inflation, dollar degradation, or price increases, take your choice. So perhaps these oldsters saved their nest egg in dollars, and thought they would be OK for the rest of their life, which is a logical assumption, providing the dollar was, or is, a stable way to measure wealth, which it isn’t. Let’s say that a couple has $15,000 locked away in a CD with a 3% interest rate. That’s $450 a year, which currently may be three tanks full of gas. When they salted away those hard earned dollars, that $450 in interest, may have bought 20 tanks of gas, and they never counted on this happening to their plans for retirement. They never counted on eggs going for $2 a dozen, $4 gas, and ever higher food, clothing, tax, utility and insurance bills. Inflation has surpassed their savings by hundreds of percent, leaving millions bankrupt. They still don’t realize that the D.C. Gang has ruined their dollars with wars and endless spending. They think that when politicians spend and give grants, it has no effect on them, but it does, has, and always will. It destroys the dollars they saved in, and the process will continue to escalate.
Suppose that 35 years ago, these oldsters had begun to regularly buy gold coins when they had surplus assets. They would be in fine shape now with thousands percent increase in their dollars, rather than maybe 3%. In 1973, gold was $40 an ounce, and now over $900. You figure. Last week, a close friend of mine, had a CD coming to an end. He bought 26 Krugerrands for $874.20 each. He was worried, as he had never done this before. Like hundreds of millions in America, and billions around the world, he only thought in terms of his currency, which are dollars. He had been taught to save in dollars. As I write this, he has already made 4% in one week. True, he bought in a correction, but had he bought the Krugerrands a year ago, he would still be up 30%, which is obviously much better than 3%.
How tragic, that like “sheeple,” as we call them, always follow their leader, no matter how stupid their leader, or parents may have acted, even with the best of intentions. I loved my Mom and Dad, and learned to be honest, prompt, clean, well groomed, use proper grammar, and good table manners from them. But I didn’t follow their savings habits. I had to pay $1,700 to bury my Mom, and have never inherited a dime. I save in gold and silver, not dollars.
One last thing: Go to americansolutions.com and sign the Newt Gingrich petition to drill for oil here and now. I sent him $25 to help the cause along. Suit yourself. Summer’s here, and isn’t it grand! Have a great weekend.