No, I am NOT writing about dollars going down in value, but disappearing entirely. Vanishing in the wink of an eye, never to be seen again. It happens all the time.
In the ’great depression,’ trillions of dollars vanished when the stock market crashed. It recovered, and then crashed again, taking more dollars with it. People who had their retirement, investments, security, and savings, all lost their money in the two crashes in the 20’s and 30’s. Then, Roosevelt declared a ’bank holiday,’ and hundreds of banks took a permanent vacation, and never re-opened again, taking their depositors’ money with them. My parents lost their money in a bank which never re-opened. Their money was gone, and was never to be recovered.
While millions lost everything in the depression and bank failures, gold remained at the same price of $20.67. If everyone had all their wealth in Double Eagles, they would have been fine.
When the savings outfits went bust, more hundreds of millions were lost from such outfits as Lincoln Thrift and others, whose managers had invested wrongly and stolen their depositor’s cash.
A few years ago, when the stock market went from 14,000 to 7,000, it is estimated that $7 trillion dollars was lost. Gold went down 40%, but of course it came back and re-gained every cent it lost. Gold is a tangible, permanent item.
MF-Global took the money of 50,000 to the tune of $700,000,000 a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of years ago, one of the oldest banks in the world cost their investors billions when a young trader lost his mind and literally traded it into ashes, never to recover. Will John Corzine go to jail? He should, it appears.
There are many ways money can disappear, and even when it is stored or invested in a supposedly viable, capitalized, institution. I’m 77, and believe it or not, I have never had a savings account. Throughout my entire life, if I had extra dollars, I always bought something, started a business, bought a building or old car, traveled, and enjoyed it or saw to it that it was multiplied. Life has been a lot of fun for me, and I have never saved dollars ’for a rainy day.’ Even before I got into gold and silver, I always had fun or profitable things to do with dollars, rather than saving them. I have had close to 70 cars, and at one time owned 17 buildings in Philly, three hotels in Silverton Colorado, had a chain of ten ice cream parlours, and was in the theatre business for years, with six theatres. Life has been a challenge, but also great fun! In other words, I have never lost dollars in an institution, which I believe most people have at one time or another.
Gold, in the last week, lost 5%, and is now on its way back up. It will go back to its $1900 easily, and proceed on from there, in spite of the horrid manipulations attempted by all its enemies. Enemies? Gold has enemies? It certainly does! Just about every financial institution is an enemy of gold! Every financial planner is an enemy of gold! Every bank is an enemy of gold! Those who deal in paper assets are total enemies of gold, as are stock brokers. Accountants hate gold too, as none of the silly rules apply. After all, once you have your gold and silver, and watch it go up with an occasional dip, you have no other expenses, yearly fees, or commissions to pay as it goes up in dollar prices. If you sell and bought from us, we charge nothing. You just have to ship it.
Gold is so permanent, that if it is recovered from the bottom of a salt water ocean after hundreds of years, it sill looks exactly like it did when the long gone boat sank and took the gold with it. Gold has been historic money for thousands of years. In the Bible, gold and silver were money, and the Tabernacle was garnished with gold and silver as per instructions from The Lord. (Exodus 25). I love gold and silver! If even one percent of the world decided to save assets in gold and silver, prices would triple or quintuple overnight. And believe me, it will! Dollars and all paper monies can only go down in value, meaning prices of goods in those currencies can only go up, and this includes gold and silver. Just think. America has over a $15 trillion dollar debt, which is inconceivable, and a $175 trillion committed liabilities in the future. Totally unpayable other than economic collapse, new currency, or other government outrage. Gold and silver have been real money throughout hundreds of collapses, manipulations, and government frauds, and they always will be real, tangible, beautiful, historic, money. In your hands, safe, or other hiding place, gold and silver are as permanent as the earth itself.
Closed Thanksgiving and Friday too. Next column a week from now. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and be awfully glad you’re an American, in this most marvelous nation in history, and who can vote Obama and his Democrats out in less than a year.