Morons.
It's not just this Rickards guy (although he is extremely moronic); the host didn't say "WTF are you talking about."

"Ok, let's say all the all the gold disappeared in the world....is that like matter meeting antimatter?"

lol. yes, indeed it is.

Nein! Mein Gold!



Pff we'd still have gold in our effing flag 8-)

At fist I thought this was rather crazy. If you would of asked in the roaring 20's if there come a day when they would be forced to deliver their gold to the government, they would of thought you a mad man. But then, it is 1933 and the depression is in full swing. Executive order 6102 is issued for all to see. Great economic disasters silence critics. Now that the dollar is a "world reserve" currency, the world itself owes to the stability of the dollar, more or less. Times aren't tuff enough for us to be able to politically demand the worlds gold, nor does this president have the "right stuff" to make such demands. And perhaps the US isn't in the right place in peoples minds to make this demand, or get away with it should I say. But tomorrow is not always like today. I can't even make a claim to the unlikeliness of this to occur. For sure, though, I don't Obama could "get away" with it. It would have to be a more populous candidate, and I see Obama more of an elite. I am not for this, mind you, I just like war gaming out possibilities, and this wasn't as crazy as I initially thought.

He is either a genius that knows more than everyone - or he's an idiot!

its ok, the usa owns the chinese ! Maybe he meant "owes" the chinese.... and maybe enough to go bankrupt.

>> ^sirex:

its ok, the usa owns the chinese ! Maybe he meant "owes" the chinese.... and maybe enough to go bankrupt.


When you owe someone tons of money, it is easier to dictate the terms. Look at most credit card settlements. The CC holds all the cards, but more often then not settle for much less than the contractual amount. Once a debt is sufficiently large, enough to jeopardize ANY return, the debtor has more power than one would normal consider. A cash cow can quickly turn to a liability if it isn't handled correctly. If a debtor knows his stuff, he can put considerable strain on the debt holder. It isn't common sense, but he is correct.

Is this what passes for financial experts nowadays? Outside of Rickards, the rest are fucking dis-info tools.

The Ben Bernanke said gold isn't money. He also said in response to Why do people buy gold?: "As protection against of what we call tail risks: really, really bad outcomes". Bad outcomes like... destroying an economy by design?

Meanwhile, If Central Banks Believe in Paper Money Why Are They Loading Up On Gold?

Also former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan disagrees with Bernanke. 2 years ago: "What is fascinating is the extent to which gold still holds reign over the financial system as the ultimate source of payment". (This is when gold was around $1,000/ounce)

In 1971, gold was $35/ounce. Now it's $1700/ounce. So it only took 40 years for the dollar to lose 97% 98% (edit) of it's value against gold.

It doesn't take an idiot to understand that if you save a $100 bill and forty years later it only has the purchasing power of $3 $2--that something is seriously fucked up with our monetary system.

You don't like gold? No problem. Just get rid of the economic central planning and let there be competing currencies. Gold will ALWAYS win in a a free market.

*talks

Adding video to channels (Talks) - requested by ant.

marbles' comment makes this video upvote-worthy

- "Hi!"

- "Hi."

- "Uhmm.. I'm here for my interview!"

- "OH, sure.. and which day was your interview scheduled for, sir?"

- "Well... actually *right now*. Sorry, traffic was just insane.. I'm running la-".

- "Sir, we don't have any additional interviews lined up for today. Perhaps you should check your schedule?".

- "No! I'm supposed to be on right now. I'm here to discuss the current economic crisis. You know.. buy gold, all that stuff?"

-"Well who's out on the floor..??!"

"Deb, Isn't that Rick the janiter? You know, the guy who works the really late shifts??" -

>> ^marbles:

Is this what passes for financial experts nowadays? Outside of Rickards, the rest are fucking dis-info tools.
The Ben Bernanke said gold isn't money. He also said in response to Why do people buy gold?: "As protection against of what we call tail risks: really, really bad outcomes". Bad outcomes like... destroying an economy by design?
Meanwhile, If Central Banks Believe in Paper Money Why Are They Loading Up On Gold?
Also former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan disagrees with Bernanke. 2 years ago: "What is fascinating is the extent to which gold still holds reign over the financial system as the ultimate source of payment". (This is when gold was around $1,000/ounce)
In 1971, gold was $35/ounce. Now it's $1700/ounce. So it only took 40 years for the dollar to lose 97% 98% (edit) of it's value against gold.
It doesn't take an idiot to understand that if you save a $100 bill and forty years later it only has the purchasing power of $3 $2--that something is seriously fucked up with our monetary system.
You don't like gold? No problem. Just get rid of the economic central planning and let there be competing currencies. Gold will ALWAYS win in a a free market.


Rubbish. Gold has nothing but perceived value. In real terms, it is useless. If the world economy completely destabilised tomorrow, gold would be worthless. It's time we started basing our economy on the the real cost of things, energy. Ultimately, everything has an energy cost. Today energy is cheap, mostly because of fossil fuels. When energy starts becoming much more expensive, that will be the single greatest economic change in history.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^marbles:
Is this what passes for financial experts nowadays? Outside of Rickards, the rest are fucking dis-info tools.
The Ben Bernanke said gold isn't money. He also said in response to Why do people buy gold?: "As protection against of what we call tail risks: really, really bad outcomes". Bad outcomes like... destroying an economy by design?
Meanwhile, If Central Banks Believe in Paper Money Why Are They Loading Up On Gold?
Also former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan disagrees with Bernanke. 2 years ago: "What is fascinating is the extent to which gold still holds reign over the financial system as the ultimate source of payment". (This is when gold was around $1,000/ounce)
In 1971, gold was $35/ounce. Now it's $1700/ounce. So it only took 40 years for the dollar to lose 97% 98% (edit) of it's value against gold.
It doesn't take an idiot to understand that if you save a $100 bill and forty years later it only has the purchasing power of $3 $2--that something is seriously fucked up with our monetary system.
You don't like gold? No problem. Just get rid of the economic central planning and let there be competing currencies. Gold will ALWAYS win in a a free market.

Rubbish. Gold has nothing but perceived value. In real terms, it is useless. If the world economy completely destabilised tomorrow, gold would be worthless. It's time we started basing our economy on the the real cost of things, energy. Ultimately, everything has an energy cost. Today energy is cheap, mostly because of fossil fuels. When energy starts becoming much more expensive, that will be the single greatest economic change in history.


The US dollar has nothing but perceived value. In real terms, it is useless. If the world economy completely destabilized tomorrow, the US dollar would be worthless.

Gold has nothing but perceived value. In real terms, it is useless. If the world economy completely destabilized tomorrow, gold would be worthless.

According to history, one of these statements is true, the other is laughably false.

So what do you measure you energy cost in?

In 2005, I purchased some gold bonds because I thought they were a better investment than a savings account. In 2010, I sold it for twice what I paid. If I had held it for another year, I might've tripled it. Unfortunately, I needed the liquidity because I'm among the ever-rising statistic of the nation's underemployed.

*cough* he forgot the giant gold nugget under the Canadian Shield.

He's a little bit obsessed with gold. He sounds like an intelligent crackpot though, has points but they sound silly because he's predicting Armageddon.

>> ^lampishthing:

He's a little bit obsessed with gold. He sounds like an intelligent crackpot though, has points but they sound silly because he's predicting Armageddon.


When I was a young lad, gold was trading at 300. It is now well over 1600, dabbling into 1700s. Pretty crazy. I have been re-investigating bit-coins again. Seems mostly immune to the kinds of political hijinx that go on with paper money. And unlike Gold, isn't as susceptible to deflationary spiral due to economic growth. It has a built in 4% inflation based on Milton Friedman's own formula for monetary growth. That was his main gripe with gold, is it is prone to tampering, and (rapid) deflation in times of (rapid) growth. I might start bit coin mining here in the future, a small investment of time and energy is a good opportunity cost for a money that doesn't rely on petty people making all the calls.

>> ^marbles:


The US dollar has nothing but perceived value. In real terms, it is useless. If the world economy completely destabilized tomorrow, the US dollar would be worthless.
Gold has nothing but perceived value. In real terms, it is useless. If the world economy completely destabilized tomorrow, gold would be worthless.
According to history, one of these statements is true, the other is laughably false.
So what do you measure you energy cost in?


All paper currency is perceived value. That's the point of it. It has no intrinsic worth, but it's part of the social contract that we collectively endow it with value.

If you want to trade gold as a currency, go ahead, but it has no more intrinsic value than the dollar. It's just not a very good standard. Iron would be better. If you have tonnes of iron, you can build stuff.

As for what you measure energy cost in, well, I don't know about you, but I measure energy in joules.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

All paper currency is perceived value. That's the point of it.If that's the point of a currency, then what's the point to your original post?
>> ^ChaosEngine:

It has no intrinsic worth, but it's part of the social contract that we collectively endow it with value.So WE collectively devalued the US dollar 98% the last 40 years? We did this... to further a social contract? So it helps people to free them from 98% of their wealth???
If anything, subscribing to a fiat currency based on debt is in DIRECT violation of any social contract.
>> ^ChaosEngine:

If you want to trade gold as a currency, go aheadCan't unless people have the right to refuse payment in US Dollars. Legal tender laws prevent it.
>> ^ChaosEngine:

It's just not a very good standard. Iron would be better.Let the market decide then. Iron ore is not fungible. Plus iron is consumed. Gold is held.
>> ^ChaosEngine:

If you have tonnes of iron, you can build stuff.
As for what you measure energy cost in, well, I don't know about you, but I measure energy in joules.
I'm starting to think you're not even being serious.