There are lots of averages which tell tales, and some don’t. Averaging my age of 78 with an 18 year old, makes an average of 48, but that doesn’t make me any younger, or the 18 year old any smarter. Susan, a client of mine, sent the column below, and I just can’t resist reprinting it, because it says so much. Thanks Susan! It is a true story.
“An economics professor made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class insisted that Obama’s socialism worked, and that no one would be poor, and no one would be rich; a great equalizer. The professor then said, “OK, we’ll have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade, so no one will fail, and no one will receive an “A.”
“After the first test, the grades were all averaged, and everyone got a “B.” The students who studied hard were upset, and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little, had studied even less, and the ones who studied hard, decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second test average was a “D,” and no one was happy. When the third test rolled around, the average was an “F.”
“As the tests proceeded, the scored never increased, as bickering, blame, and name-calling, all resulted in hard feelings, and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, all failed, and the professor told them that socialism would ultimately fail, because when reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that,
“These are possibly the five best sentences you’ll ever read, and all are applicable to this experiment.
“1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
“2. What one person receives without working for, another must work for without receiving.
“3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
“4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
“5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.”
The above it true, except for the fact that since the Fed can print unbacked paper currency, which has fooled everyone into believing that government grants and handouts have no consequences, and cost nothing. The cost is that everyone is being robbed by the insidious tax of decreasing value dollars, or as the average person sees it, ’prices going up.’ The average occupier, Congressman, Senator, Presidential candidate, (other than Ron Paul), and Joe Sixpack, thinks that by passing more legislation, and giving more handouts, that will fix the problem. The reverse is true, and your only means of survival, is to protect yourself with tangible gold and silver, which goes up in dollar prices, along with every other tangible, as the dollar slides into oblivion. Stop imitating Mitt Romney, Obama, and Joe Sixpack, and THINK FOR A CHANGE. Greek bond holders will lose 70%, Alan Stanford is going to jail for bilking fools out of $8 billion, and England is trying to figure out what to do if the euro fails. The frauds go on and on, and while metals may correct, they always end up higher…in dollar prices.