Former Secretary Robert Reich says buy big this Xmas & then ...

BUY GOLD


http://www.tompaine.com/articles/debtor_nation.php

why not buy gold instead of stuff for Christmas?

n/t

it used to be that only Rense and Art Bell talked about buying gold!

i keep comiing back to this:
The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War With Iraq:
A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth
by William Clark

http://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html

Although completely unreported by the U.S. media and government, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is in large part an oil currency war. One of the core reasons for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves. The second coalescing factor that is driving the Iraq war is the quiet acknowledgement by respected oil geologists and possibly this administration is the impending phenomenon known as Global "Peak Oil." This is projected to occur around 2010, with Iraq and Saudi Arabia being the final two nations to reach peak oil production. The issue of Peak Oil has been added to the scope of this essay, along with the macroeconomics of `petrodollar recycling' and the unpublicized but genuine challenge to U.S. dollar hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency. The author advocates graduated reform of the global monetary system including a dollar/euro currency `trading band' with reserve status parity, a dual OPEC oil transaction standard, and multilateral treaties via the UN regarding energy reform. Such reforms could potentially reduce future oil currency and oil warfare. The essay ends with a reflection and critique of current US economic and foreign policies. What happens in the 2004 US elections will have a large impact on the 21st century.

used the Euro in 2002. Apparently, he made something like $420 million in currency appreciation. THAT was when the Big Boys in Washington decided to move. The notion that countries would migrate away from the Petrodollar is seen as a huge threat.

1 year later and $270 billion dollars poorer, we are now the "owners" of a new country, like Colon Bowel said. After invading Iraq in 2003, they probably felt good....for about 10 days.

And ultimately, what did it get them? The dollar is in the ICU ward right now, teetering on the brink of death. Russia has been threatening for a long time to Ditch the Dollar.

It's happening anyway. Fools.

was using the Euro, why were most, if not all, of the billions that the sons loaded into that truck in American dollars. Where would a 2nd rate dictator get billions of American dollars in Iraq; of course, I can answer my own question and say that we gave him the billions, but why wouldn't he have turned those American dollars into Euros - I don't think he was a stupid man. Also, American dollars in such a large amount can be traced by their numbers as to where they came from, etc. so why hasn't this been done? Guess I could answer that question also by saying nobody in this Administration wants us to find out where they came from. Any thoughts?

"In the meantime, enjoy the holiday buying season, folks. And here’s a buying tip: With the dollar dropping, the nicest and safest gift you can give a friend or loved one is ... gold. But you better move fast. As the dollar drops, the price of gold is soaring"

He is saying buy big but buy gold.

The repulsivecons would skewer Kerry with the course of events, rather than blaming Reagan and a couple of moldy Bushes like they ought to.

and as the economy and dollar started to dive, maybe Kerry knew he could not stop the coming economic problems with a repug house and senate.

People talk about Carter losing the election over the Iranian holding Americans crisis. BUT it was more the double digit inflation that cost Carter the election.

But the good news. Maybe after a year of double digit inflation, the sheep will understand the economy is bad under the Repugs and the 2006 election could be a slaughterhouse as the repugs are voted out of office.

Just IMHO

i'm broke and marginal anyway.

sure would be nice to see the gentrification in principal cities that ran rampant during the boom sorta fall to dust in so many foreclosures.

i can't wait for the impending economic meltdown.

it will get all these debt-rich wage slaves back down to earth for one.

shit, I'D absolutely love to see it - watch all those newly erected mcmansions and cinder block condos empty out by the assload.

i know how to turn $.05 into $.25. i can survive with nothing. i have no shame eating from dumpsters, soup kitchens, or gettting some scratch from panhandling. there are ways to sleep outside and survive (in the city, albeit at great personal discomfort)--not ideal, but possible.

i've lost all i can lose, except for freedom to move about the country via foot/rail/hitchhiking.

yes, i'm bitter. but i think more people will find long dormant reservoirs of compassion once they get knocked down to size.

yes, i'm bitter. but i think more people will find long dormant reservoirs of compassion once they get knocked down to size.

My personal experience is that misery makes miserable people even more miserable and hateful. They will not be compassionate. They will be locking the dumpsters and pouring chlorine over the contents so we can't use them...in fact, that has already happened in my area, where it is no longer possible to "dumpster dive" because companies would rather pour chlorine on stale food than have one needy person pull a bag of sandwiches out of the trash. Compactors are everywhere.

This is not the 80s. Living out of a dumpster is no longer going to be tolerated. The obstacles to life outside the system have soared exponentially in recent years.

One of my homeless friends lived for years first at a university computer center and then at a large airport. Security hysteria has removed those options. The last time I heard from him, it was indirectly, because he had been locked up in a jail.

It is just going to get uglier if the economy gets worse. They don't want us free. They want us working. They just want our labor for nothing. And if we are jailed, they can force us to do road work, etc. for exactly that price.

I'm frightened by the rise of slavery I see in this country.

I don't want anyone knocked "down to earth." The fat in the system is what allows me to glide by on my tiny 4 figure income. When huge numbers of people are knocked "down to earth," I'll be pushed away from my last remaining sources of freebies. I've already seen it happen. There was a crash in freebies after the dot-com collapse like nothing I've seen.

but i think the newly traumatized (those knocked down) won't have the werewithal to figure it out very quickly, especially when they face the prospect of eviction/foreclosure/long term unemployment. it is overwhelming and takes months to reconfigure your identity once the world you've always known (or thought you knew) vanishes.

the homeless people i know are some of the most generous people i've ever met and they shamed me with their hospitality - i was never that generous before i "fell off the radar."

anyway, i've learned a lot, enough to know that you will never starve in a population center.

things get way tougher once you get away from the cities.

still, as a bottom feeder, necessity forces you to improvise and you have to become resourceful--otherwise you will not survive.

the biggest threat is law enforcement, but retaining some level of passing cleanliness (and having a good stash site so you don't carry a bunch of shit) gets you through.

i'm lucky, i have good papers right now (valid out of state d.l. good until 2008, a university student i.d., old work badge (with major corporation name on it - contractor credential).

when i was in chicago, a suitable story gets you through street-level identity interrogation. chicago cops don't really care enough anyway, just stay out of drug areas and known homeless locations (although they are everywhere now).

He says we may as well spend our cash as it's losing value, but later says we risk high interest rates. Wouldn't it be nice to have a lot of cash when the interest rates soar?