Among 13 crimes set to no longer carry the death penalty in China is the smuggling of gold or silver. The proposed amendment to China’s criminal statutes would reduce the number of crimes punishable by death to 55. That China has in its laws the death penalty for smuggling gold or silver shows just how much the State fears honest money.
Other death penalty crimes set to be eliminated include the smuggling of cultural relics or rare animals, trafficking in tax invoices, teaching crime-committing methods, robbing ancient cultural ruins and carrying out fraudulent activities with letters of credit or financial bills. Such is life (and death) in a total police state.
Honest commodity money has always been the bane of the State. Gold and silver come into existence only through the expenditure of capital and labor. Paper money, the first form of dishonest money, can be introduced into the money supply via the printing press and the legal right to print the money. In the United States, that right is granted exclusively to our central bank, the Federal Reserve System.
However, today the bulk of the new money that the Fed brings into creation is not printed but is result of computer keyboards. While most people never stop to think about it, most of today’s dollars are computer entries, digital dollars that are merely electronic impulses on silicon bubbles. Digital dollars have absolutely no intrinsic value. At least after the Germans destroyed their currency in the great hyperinflation of 1921-1923, they could burn the money for heat.
We have about 5% of our retirement monies in the gold/silver we bought from your company. The other 95% is with Vanguard money market and we’re getting nervous that it isn’t a safe haven anymore. Please offer more advice to the millions of us that are just trying to hang on. We’re not survivalists – we’re just trying to survive.
In the long-gone days of occasional balanced budgets, 5% in gold and silver was a conservative holding, which was commonly accepted even by Wall Street analysts. Today, it’s an entirely different situation.
The federal budget deficit is somewhere about $14.5 trillion, double what it was 7 years ago, which is evidence that fedgov spending is out of control. There is not even an estimate when our fedgov will see a balanced budget again. Latest projections see the fedgov deficit rising to $18.3 trillion by 2014.
More alarming, estimated off-budget liabilities are $60 to $80 trillion. These liabilities include such as things as military pensions promised the military personnel but not funded. Also included in these estimates are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and other federal promises. (The Social Security trust fund was long ago raided.)
There is no way these debts can be paid in today’s dollars. Historically, when countries have gotten themselves in such dire circumstances, they have either gone bankrupt (acknowledged the debt but admitted not being able to pay it) or they have printed money to pay the debt, which we are now doing. The later results in hyper-inflation and the destruction of the currency.
I recommend more than 5% in gold and silver; however, the amount you select to go with should an amount you are comfortable with. From what you’ve written, it appears you’re not comfortable with such large paper asset holdings. Maybe 15%, even 30%, in the metals would make more sense to you.
If you want to discuss this with one of our brokers, please call 800-528-1380. We take calls 7:00 am to 5:00 PM, Mondays through Fridays.
Bill Haynes