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From the Publisher's Desk "I can make a firm pledge; under my plan no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." The downsizing, lies and deceit continues! Have you noticed the downsizing of nearly everything these days? Open a pack of crisps (better known as potato chips in the US) and nearly 3/4th's inside the bag is air. Open a family size pizza carton and unlike pizza's of the past, today's pizza's has several inches to spare on the inside. Burger King's HORSEMEAT burger - Whopper (see Recently Australian Subway customer Matt Corby took a tape measure to the sandwich chain's vaunted Footlong and complained in a post on Subway's Facebook page that it was an inch short. See Subway had the audacity to respond to claims that its "Footlong" subway sandwich is one inch too short by saying that "Footlong" is only a name and not a measurement." Indeed! If you or any small business/person in the US did a similar thing, the do gooders at the Federal Trade Commission would sue you for false and misleading advertising and most likely force you/ them out of business, which is standard operating procedures for the FTC Of course all of the above is the result of the continuing and ever shrinking/declining dollar. And the bad news it isn't going to get better. Be sure and read in this issue "Argentina Freezes Supermarket Prices To Halt Soaring Inflation; Chaos To Follow" as this is likely to happen in most western countries worldwide in the not too distant future. So hold on, grin and bear it and "PT", i.e. prepare thoroughly and prepare now! To understand the fallacy of having a price for gold, temporarily forget about the dollar and look at what commodities are worth in relation to other commodities. Unlike their relationship to paper money, the relationship of commodities to each other has stayed Here is an example from the article Trillion Dollar Gold: If people were allowed to accept gold and silver coins the world would look much different. For example, everyone is complaining about the high price of gas. A gallon of gas is actually cheap. What if I told you that a gallon of gas actually only costs about a dime? It does-a silver dime. At 35 dollars for an ounce for silver, one tenth of that, or one thin new dime is worth about $3.50 or about what the national average price of gas is in the United States. Since abandoning the gold standard dollars have become synonymous with paper money. We rarely even think of money now as anything other than paper. That's why people talk about the "price" of gold. But for centuries before paper there was the silver doubloon and the twenty dollar gold piece-the cold hard cash of the realm. The Shrinking Value of the Dollar The CPI inflation calculator uses the average Consumer Price Index for a given calendar year. This data represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. This index value has been calculated every year since 1913. For the current year, the latest monthly index value is used. In 2008, for example, it took $21.57 to buy what $1 bought in 1913. Note that in 1920, it cost $2.02, and declined in 1925 and through the 1930s, illustrating the effect of the Great Depression, when prices slumped. Prices did not pass $2 again until 1950. Year and the amount it took to equal $1 in 1913 1913 - $1.00 Declining prices http://pricedingold.com/food/ "The incredible shrinking dollar: U.S. is a bargain basement for foreign firms sourcing materials and parts. But offshore components and commodities are becoming more expensive for American buyers". While politicians insist U.S. manufacturers will have a competitive advantage from a weaker dollar because they won't have to lower prices on exported goods to boost sales and capture market share overseas, the problem is that most American-based firms still sell more at home than abroad. And professional buyers at the U.S. factories can expect fewer bargains when sourcing offshore, as foreign-made goods imported to the country will cost more. What's more, because the cost to make the goods overseas will remain the same, companies may have to charge more in U.S. dollars to make up for the weaker exchange rate with foreign currencies in order to maintain profit margins. Trade deficit troubles In theory, a very cheap dollar should improve the trade balance by making exports cheap and imports expensive. Yet the U.S. trade deficit increased from $531 billion in 2003 to approximately $662 billion in 2004, reaching an unprecedented 5.6% So, with a devalued dollar, why is the trade balance going up, not down? It's because theory doesn't play out in reality due to the policies of companies and governments in the Far East and rising oil prices, says Robert Kuttner, the coeditor of American Prospect, a Washington-based political/economic magazine: "For one thing, many foreign producers, such as Japanese automakers', price to market; that is, when the yen rises against the dollar, these firms just eat the cost in order to maintain their market share. So the dollar price of a Toyota doesn't change and the trade deficit doesn't improve." Likewise, China keeps its currency pegged to the dollar, so a cheaper dollar doesn't improve the U.S.'s trade balance with the Chinese either, says Kuttner. In addition, most oil transactions are priced in dollars. So as the dollar's value sinks, "oil exporting nations just raise the price of oil, and high oil prices also worsen the trade deficit," So dear readers, buckle up, PT (prepare thoroughly) and buy as much silver and gold as you can. See you next issue Shamrock PS - Be sure to check out our latest report "How To Legally Move Large Amounts of Assets Abroad [without any filing requirements"]. "The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." To access our past missives just click here. Click here to subscribe to our FREE privacy newsletter, PTBuzz |
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