(They never come true)
The Parts of the song are so true: “You made me promises, promises, knowing I would believe. Promises, promises, you knew you’d never keep.” A classic promise example is the U.S. Dollar, whose silver content as established by the U.S. Treasury, in 1785, is 375.64 grains of pure silver. Since there are 437.5 grains in an ounce, the dollar should be worth a fraction less than an ounce of silver, or maybe $16.00, or a gallon of gas to be priced at about 15 cents. Don’t hold your breath on that one. All presidential candidates from times past as well as the current ones, all promise to ‘balance the budget,’ but never put up a bill to make it Constitutionally imperative to do so. All politicians, at all levels, seem to lie perpetually, but especially at the federal level. They all promise what we want to hear, “Even you knew you’d never keep,” them, as the song goes.
Financial advisors, who charge an average of 1% per year of your dollar assets, to manage and advise you what to do, never guarantee their results and profits, except on TV commercials. Stock brokers the same. Just imagine a Bit-coin, not made of gold, to be worth $9,100, and they’re still being turned out in several places, as opposed to their initial promise of there only being a certain number of them. Like the dollar having 375.64 grains of silver, I suppose.
Promises made on paper and signed can become worthless. Gradually, or overnight, almost. The dollar has lost 98% of its purchasing power over a century, but stock prices fell out of bed almost overnight in the last few days, and no one seems to know where the bottom is, because no one knows the future of an abstract entity, such as a promise based on something other than a physical thing, such as a home, land, or yes, a gold coin. A gold non-numismatic coin, will always buy the same thing, as will a silver coin. I have always said that one ounce of gold will buy a good men’s suit, and it still will. I’ve got two Hart Schaffner & Marx suits, which I bought at the time with the equivalent of an ounce of gold. I’ve always said that three silver dimes have always bought a gallon of gas, but now they will buy that gallon of gas, with $1.25 left over. Ever wonder why just about everyone turns to gold when stocks crash? It’s always the same excuse: “They’re looking for safety.” If gold is ‘safety,’ why didn’t they buy it rather than stocks in the first place? Don’t ask me, because I have never bought stocks. I like nice, shiny, non-rusting, beautiful, tangible things which are easily stored and left to one’s kids with no inheritance taxes.
With the current Coronavirus crisis, hospitals and every other thing, are being cleaned and disinfected. Know what the best disinfectant is? Silver. Know what can lie at the bottom of the ocean for hundreds of years, and when brought up is still in the exact same condition as when it was sunk hundreds of years earlier? Gold. Know what is real money everywhere on Earth? Gold. Know what the dome on the Colorado Capitol is covered with and has been for over a hundred years? Gold.
To me, the world’s greatest economist, Ludwig von Mises, described economics as two simple words. They are, “PEOPLE ACT.” How true. Smart people ‘act’ smartly, by storing wealth in gold and silver. Not so smart people ‘act,’ by buying stocks and trusting paper promises of all kinds, of which there are thousands. When buying a piece of property, a title insurance policy provided by the seller, will give you about all the protection you can get against claims against it, but will not guarantee you against neighborhood changes, or natural disasters such as a flood or earthquake. Government runs up debts in dollars, reduces their value through inflation, and could eventually pay off its debts with worthless dollars, while the citizenry is ruined, as they are slowly being ruined now through inflation. The dollar is a title of a currency, and is no guarantee of it value now. The Treasury lied
China’s economy, through lies on paper statistics and promises, to me will collapse eventually, and the Coronavirus, which they started, may make it happen much sooner. Don’t ‘go long’ on China. People buying U.S. Treasury bonds at under 1% interest, will lose their shirts if interest goes up, because they will be worth far less, the higher interest goes. A bond is a promise of the U.S. government, backed by its “Full Faith and Credit,” except it has none. Gold and silver are self backed, and their value has nothing to do with any government guarantee anywhere on Earth. Their true value can be determined by an assay or legitimate hallmark, not by a paper guarantee. This why we sell good hallmarks, such as Canadian Maple Leafs or U.S. Gold Eagles.
Our world is full of promises made by governments, cheating husbands and wives, preachers promising heaven or hell, used car salesman swearing the car was only used by an old lady going to church on Sunday, a TV ad for silver promising free silver (with a qualifying purchase), a food item promising it is ‘all natural,’ or a service provider of any kind promising wonderful results it you hire him. It goes on and on, ad infinitum, ad continuum, as long as we live. We have to use our brains to make good choises in every aspect of life. Good luck! We’ve all made our share of mistakes. Ben Franklin once said, “Experience conducts a good school. A fool will learn in no other.”
Don Stott
– don@coloradogold.com