As the Federal Reserve continues to print more dollars, their value is decreasing and the ability to pay the ever increasing interest is getting more and more challenging. It would truly be a new paradigm if the dollar were to be replaced as the world’s currency but its a possibility. To help NPD readers position themselves against such a decline in the value of the dollar, here is a strategy from The Martin Weiss organization. Should the Fed stop printing dollars, another strategy would be called for.

Best,
Jeff

Their two-part report, entitled, Dollar Doomsday 2010 can be accessed here: Part One

“Could it all be a bad dream or a nightmare? Is it my imagination or have we lost our mind? It’s surreal. It’s just not believable. A grand absurdity. A great deception. A delusion of momentous proportions. Based on preposterous notions and ideas whose time never should have come, Simplicity grossly distorted and complicated. Insanity passed off as logic. Grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff. Evil described as virtue. Ignorance pawned off as intelligence. Destruction and impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism. Violence the tool of change. Preventive wars used as a road to peace. Tolerance delivered by government guns. Reactionary views in the guise of progress. An empire replacing the republic. Slavery sold as liberty. Excellence and virtue traded for mediocracy. Socialism to save capitalism. A government out of control unrestrained by the Constitution, the rule of law or morality. Bickering over petty politics into chaos. The philosophy that destroys us is not even defined.

We have broken from reality. A psychotic nation. Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. Money does not grow on trees or a government printing press escalating deficits. We’re now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people’s money. Exorbitant taxation. Deficits of trillions of dollars spent on a failed welfare warfare system. An epidemic of cronyism. Unlimited supplies of paper money equated with wealth. A central bank that deliberately destroys the value of the currency in secrecy without restraint or nary a whimper.

Yet cheered on by the pseudo-capitalists of Wall Street, the military industrial complex and Detroit, we police the world with 700 bases in 130 countries around the world. A dangerous war now spreads throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Thousands of innocent people being killed as we become known as the torturers of the 21st century. We assume by keeping the torture pictures form the public’s eye, we will be remembered as a generous and good people. If our enemies want to attack us only because we are free and rich, proof of torture would be irrelevant. The sad part of all this is that we have forgotten what made America great, good and prosperous. We need to quickly refresh our memories and once again reinvigorate our love, understanding and confidence in liberty. The status-quo cannot be maintained considering the current conditions. Violence and lost liberty will continue without some revolutionary thinking. We must escape from the madness of crowds now gathering.

The good news is the reversal is achievable through peaceful and intellectual means and fortunately, the numbers of those who care are growing exponentially. Of course it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare and that I’m seriously mistaken, overreacting and that my worries are unfounded. I hope so, but just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not too distant future. “

In Web of Debt, Ellen Brown delivers a probing account of the never ending debt being created on our behalf, who really benefits, explores how we came to give our power to print money away and how we can get it back. This is new paradigm writing at its finest. Here is one piece of Ellen’s writing that provides a glimpse into a brilliant mind and caring heart in service to humanity.

From the Introduction:

Money in the Land of Oz

If governments everywhere are in debt, who are they in debt to? The answer is that they are in debt to private banks. The “cruel hoax” is that governments are in debt for money created on a computer screen, money they could have created themselves. The vast power acquired through this sleight of hand by a small clique of men pulling the strings of government behind the scenes evokes images from The Wizard of Oz, a classic American fairytale that has become a rich source of imagery for financial commentators. Editorialist Christopher Mark wrote in a series called “The Grand Deception”:

Welcome to the world of the International Banker, who like the famous film, The Wizard of Oz, stands behind the curtain of orchestrated national and international policymakers and so-called elected leaders. 10
The late Murray Rothbard, an economist of the classical Austrian School, wrote:

Money and banking have been made to appear as mysterious and arcane processes that must be guided and operated by a technocratic elite. They are nothing of the sort. In money, even more than the rest of our affairs, we have been tricked by a malignant Wizard of Oz.

In a 2002 article titled “Who Controls the Federal Reserve System?”, Victor Thorn wrote:

In essence, money has become nothing more than illusion — an electronic figure or amount on a computer screen. . . . As time goes on, we have an increasing tendency toward being sucked into this Wizard of Oz vortex of unreality [by] magician-priests that use the illusion of money as their control device.

James Galbraith wrote in The New American Prospect:

We are left . . . with the thought that the Federal Reserve Board does not know what it is doing. This is the “Wizard of Oz” theory, in which we pull away the curtains only to find an old man with a wrinkled face, playing with lights and loudspeakers.13
The analogies to The Wizard of Oz work for a reason. According to later commentators, the tale was actually written as a monetary allegory, at a time when the “money question” was a key issue in American politics. In the 1890s, politicians were still hotly debating who should create the nation’s money and what it should consist of. Should it be created by the government, with full accountability to the people? Or should it be created by private banks behind closed doors, for the banks’ own private ends?

William Jennings Bryan, the Populist candidate for President in 1896 and again in 1900, mounted the last serious challenge to the right of private bankers to create the national money supply. According to the commentators, Bryan was represented in Frank Baum’s 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by the Cowardly Lion. The Lion finally proved he was the King of Beasts by decapitating a giant spider that was terrorizing everyone in the forest. The giant spider Bryan challenged at the turn of the twentieth century was the Morgan/Rockefeller banking cartel, which was bent on usurping the power to create the nation’s money from the people and their representative government.

To read the full Introduction and order a copy of this powerful expose, visit Ellen’s site.

Ellen Brown developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust.” She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Brown developed an interest in the developing world and its problems while living abroad for eleven years in Kenya, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. She returned to practicing law when she was asked to join the legal team of a popular Tijuana healer with an innovative cancer therapy, who was targeted by the chemotherapy industry in the 1990s. That experience produced her book Forbidden Medicine, which traces the suppression of natural health treatments to the same corrupting influences that have captured the money system. Brown’s eleven books include the bestselling Nature’s Pharmacy, co-authored with Dr. Lynne Walker, which has sold 285,000 copies.

For more visit http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091221/palast

The following letter is from a respected financial analyst and I am reprinting an analysis and invitation to attend a teleconfernce at no cost that will provide a strategy to protect our hard earned dollars from losing their value. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s been happening and looks like its going to continue. Please join me in listening in on this important call on October 6.

It’s starting to look like the Fed’s going to need a skyscraper-full of new printing presses …

In a statement released yesterday, the Federal Reserve said,

“To provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets, and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, the Federal Reserve will purchase a total of $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt.”

That’s a total of $1.45 trillion! Where’s the Fed going to get the money? Simple: They’ll have to PRINT it — create it out of thin air!

Plus, even former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is beginning to panic about the dollar’s decline, warning that total U.S. private and public debt — now at 84% of GDP and still soaring — is “very dangerous” and threatens both long-term Treasuries and the dollar.

Thank you, Mr. Greenspan!
I couldn’t have said it better myself!

This is precisely what I’ve been warning you about: Bernanke’s secret war on the dollar. One of the greatest explosions in the supply of unbacked paper dollars in history.

The really bad news? Bernanke’s inflationary chickens are just BEGINNING to hatch. History shows us that it takes months — sometimes years — for the full impact of an explosion in the money supply to be felt.

That means you can look forward to many more months of a collapsing dollar … and many more months of evaporating buying power.

I’m FED UP with Washington’s callous war on the dollar
— and at high noon on Tuesday, October 6,
I’m going to help you DO something about it!

The good news is, if you make the right moves beginning immediately, you still have time to shore up your financial defenses. You can shield yourself, your family, your savings and your investments from disaster as this great dollar decline slashes the value of your money.

More than that: There are many ways to harness this historic convulsion to keep your wealth growing.

That’s why I will be presenting a complimentary online seminar entitled “Washington’s Secret War on the Dollar: Protect Yourself and Profit” — on Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

My mission is clear: To help make sure you have the knowledge and the specific recommendations you need to insulate your wealth and to keep it growing as this great dollar disaster unfolds.

This online briefing is absolutely free for you — part of our ongoing commitment to help you sidestep emerging hazards to your wealth and profit no matter what the economy throws at you next.

I’ll give you the clear, concise, unhedged answers to your most pressing questions about this crisis now.

Right off the bat, I’ll give you my shocking update on this great global war on the value of the dollar …

* Why the REAL national debt is more than EIGHT TIMES GREATER than Washington claims: Why the full weight of our debt addiction is beginning to hammer the dollar NOW … and why our leaders have no choice but to slash the dollar’s value in sheer self-defense.
* Why the world’s governments, central banks, financial institutions and super-rich investors are fed up with Washington … why increasing numbers don’t want to touch the dollar with a ten-foot pole … and what they’re doing to protect themselves at YOUR expense.
* What the news media isn’t telling you about Bernanke and the dollar: And how global plans to stop using the U.S. dollar as a safe haven or for international trade will impact your buying power and standard of living.
* What’s the next shoe to drop in this great global war on the dollar? Could the G-20 be secretly scheming right now behind closed doors to accelerate the dollar’s plunge? (My answer is admittedly outrageous and has tremendous implications for your financial security!)
* Critical steps you should be taking right now to protect yourself from this great dollar disaster: PLUS, the three investments that are most likely to preserve your wealth as the greenback continues to plunge in value worldwide.
* SEVEN often-overlooked investments that are the most profitable way I know to harness this massive, long-term dollar decline: I’ll show you what to buy … where to buy it … and when!

The Title:
Washington’s Secret War on the Dollar:
Protect Yourself and Profit

The Date:
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Time:
12:00 noon, Eastern time
(9 AM Pacific, 5 PM GMT)

The Price:
FREE

Here’s how you can help me help you:

FIRST, click this link to reserve your place at Washington’s Secret War on the Dollar and to make sure you get your instructions for attending in time.

AND SECOND, click this link to jump over to my personal blog. Tell me what you’re most interested in hearing from me during this all-important online seminar. I’ll do my level best to make sure you get the answers you need!

Together, we can get you through this with your wealth intact and growing. You have my promise that, for our part, we will do everything possible to make sure you and your family are among the survivors and actually grow your wealth as this crisis continues to unfold.

Best wishes,

Larry Edelson

Two articles appeared in my inbox this monring. The first is a sobering assessment of the economic conditions we face with great suggestions on how to move in the right direction by John Galbraith and the second an analysis of the beneficiaries of the GM bankrupcy by Greg Pallast. Taken together with the recent statement of the head of the World Bank that social unrest is a possibility with increasing economic decline, it appears there are a lot more challenges ahead.

As readers know, most of the stories at NPD are positive about the emeging realities and perhaps the current economic crisis has within it the seeds of creative destruction that will allow the people and projects I write about to form the foundation of a sustainable new world.  I believe these two articles are worth reading and may provide insight on the true trajectory we are on. I think living in community with self sufficient energy and food with low rent or fully paid housing may be an ideal short term solution along with an investment in gold to protect against the declining value of the dollar and inflation. Long term, we must reimagine every institution and make them work for all, not the few at the expense of the many, which sadly is the pattern that continues to play out at GM and the wider economy.

Worst-case scenarios are something that few of us want to think about.

Personally, I consider myself an optimistic person who tries to live and act consciously in a positive way. I regularly seek to avoid negative and even horrifying thoughts and emotions.

And yet, sadly, negative and horrifying events occur worldwide on a regular basis regardless of my feelings. Are those of us who live in relative comfort oblivious to the possibility that worst-case scenarios might occur in our lives?

For the most part we have been trained to put all our financial eggs in one basket — the basket of paper assets; stocks, bonds, currency and highly leveraged high risk derivative instruments that have no sensible meaning to most of us.

Paper Money May Be Worthless

It seems prudent to have some stocks and bonds, and obviously currency is necessary, but in this day and age the high risk paper mentioned above has put the average investor at a disadvantage which he or she is simply not prepared to deal with.

We are now seeing the unwinding of this uncollateralized paper, and the ramifications are staggering in their severity. Estimates of how much bad derivative paper is out there, depending on the expert, range from 300 trillion to 500 trillion dollars. The subprime debt which exposed the far greater derivative nightmare pales in comparison.

This is truly a staggering amount, at least it is to me, and dwarfs worldwide GDP (gross domestic product) several times over.

Most of us have not taken the time to genuinely investigate how to balance our personal economic situation and protect ourselves against the fraud, greed and excesses that have caused paper assets to crash in such a dramatic fashion. And most experts agree that it isn’t over yet — there is a lot of de-leveraging yet to occur.

Gold Standard

Until 1971, the world of paper assets and currency was balanced with the gold standard. Gold provided a physical storehouse of wealth that was used to balance trade deficits and prevent unlimited printing of paper money.

Gold established and maintained economic discipline and balance. The use of gold in this fashion was agreed to by all the major countries in what is known as the Bretton Woods Accord.

But when President Nixon dissolved Bretton Woods, the modern world was thrown into uncharted waters; without the discipline of the gold standard, a new era of unlimited money creation was ushered in. Over decades, this eventually spawned an economy based overwhelmingly on debt, deficits, inflation, currency manipulation and unimaginable (at least to most of us) instruments called derivatives.

And now this house of cards is crashing and the economic worst-case scenario, for which few have prepared, is upon us.

Precious Metals are Real-Money Tangible Assets

The positive thing to do in such a situation is to protect yourself and your family by investing in the ultimate tangible asset, also known as real money; gold and silver. My experience in the precious metals business has taught me that the best way to do this is to take possession of the physical product.

Although there are gold ‘paper instruments’ including ETFs and even gold derivatives, why risk paper when it’s easy and convenient to possess gold.

It’s simple to do and you are in complete control of your assets. A client in his early 80′s recently told me:

“Jim, I’ve made and lost two fortunes in my life and the most important thing I’ve learned is to be in control of my money. Don’t trust other people to handle your money.”

There’s no simpler way to do this than to possess precious metals and cash. At this time $100,000 in gold weighs just over 6 pounds and fits in less than one quarter of a shoebox. Gold is the ultimate portable wealth; it’s a small package and is universally transacted. In a normal situation gold or silver can be converted into paper money in a day with a phone call.

In dire circumstances, both can be used for barter. Gold and silver are readily available in one ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce and tenth ounce increments. Larger gold bars are also available, but they’re not practical for barter transactions and the price difference between larger bars and one-ounce coins is minimal.

One unique form of silver is pre 1965 US change; halves, quarters and dimes were all 90 percent silver. The precious metals industry call this “junk silver,” an oxymoron if ever there was one, but it’s one of the most desirable forms of silver to own.

Not only because junk silver is a hot item to buy and sell, but because it provides outstanding flexibility in barter situations where a one ounce gold coin worth a thousand dollars or more isn’t practical. Owning mixed denominations of silver coins makes good sense.

Did you know the Constitution of the U.S. forbids any currency other than gold and silver?

It’s true.

The writers of the Constitution knew that this requirement would prevent banks from taking over the money supply and indebting the people. Of course, this is all to the benefit of banks but often to the misfortune of citizens. The founders knew this happened in Europe and they were intent to prevent it from happening here.

Ultimately, the greed, abuse and criminal behavior of banks has led to what is occurring today. And now we, the citizens, are coerced into bailing out the bankers. This is not right. As Dr. Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics and International Business at New York University, so aptly stated:

“This is again a case of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses, a bailout and socialism for the rich, the well-connected, and Wall Street. And it is a scandal that even congressional Democrats have fallen for, this Treasury scam, which does little to resolve the debt burden of millions of distressed home owners.”

How to Obtain Precious Metals

Buying and selling gold and silver is incredibly simple.

Over the phone, the customer and the dealer agree on a price. This is called a “lock-in” and the agreed-to price holds, no matter what happens to the price of gold between agreement and delivery.

Precious metals, like jewelry and diamonds and other valuable items, are mailed to the buyer via U.S. Post Registered & Insured for full value. The warehouse I work for has never had a package lost since opening in 1971. Nor has any warehouse I am aware of. Registered and Insured mail is handled separately and every handler must sign off on the package.

In the unlikely event that something should go wrong, the warehouse will replace the gold and go after the insurance. It is the buyer’s responsibility to send payment by wire or check as soon as possible. As incredible as it may seem, the gold business is routinely conducted in this fashion — where a person’s word is their bond. I find this incredibly refreshing.

Selling gold or silver back to the warehouse is just as simple as buying it. Simply call and lock-in a buy-back price. Mail the product to the warehouse (registered & insured), and your funds will be wired or mailed.

The Bull Markets Have Three Basic Phases

All bull markets have three basic phases:

1. Phase One: Investor Accumulation
2. Phase Two: Public Involvement
3. Phase Three: Speculation

Phase One is quiet accumulation by savvy investors who recognize the emerging bull and quietly accumulate. This is exactly what has been transpiring in gold since 2000 when the price was $253 per ounce. Since then, gold as steadily climbed up to $1,000 per ounce with almost no public awareness.

After all, have you been reading about the remarkable gold bull market in the papers or have you heard about it on TV? No, not until just recently.

Phase Two of bull markets occurs when the public gets involved. This is exactly where the gold bull market finds itself at present. Obviously, the public is now taking interest, and judging by the number of calls I receive and the size of the orders, I know firsthand that public interest is heating up … big time.

Newspapers, TV and other media outlets are all abuzz with info on gold, as well they should be. Big players like Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg and others now recommend gold as an investment. Morgan Stanley is projecting $1,650 per ounce gold by the end of 2009, and others forecast $2,000 per ounce.

Of course, no one knows for sure, but as the public enters the gold bull market en masse, the price is sure to soar. Moreover, the economic fundamentals, which have led to the current collapse in paper wealth as well as the gold bull market, have not changed at all.

In fact, the incredible amount of money creation for bailing out the big boys, based on yet more debt, will ultimately lead to increased inflation — some say hyperinflation — which is the perfect storm for gold. Gold is universally acknowledged as the ultimate hedge against the ravages of inflation.

For example, from 1971 to 1980, inflation soared to 21percent while gold increased from $35 to $850 per ounce — a remarkable 24-fold increase!

Phase Three of bull markets is the speculation phase, when speculators and gamblers push prices to ridiculous levels and create bubbles. This is exactly what happened with two recent bull markets: the dot-com bubble and the real estate bubble.

How Much is Enough?

Of course, how much gold and silver to own is highly debatable and the answer will vary depending on who you listen to. I hearken back to a time when I was a kid in the sixties and listened to the Louis Rukeyser Show.

A time when the Dow was in triple digits and everything was quite conservative. There were no derivatives, debt was frowned upon and, believe it or not, the U.S. ran a huge trade surplus. Ah, those where the days.

His guests would routinely outline their portfolios and it seemed like everyone had a 10 percent position in gold. This was the conservative hedge against a crash or war or any unexpected event.

Gold fell out of favor in the 80′s when dramatic mergers and debt instrument and speculation really began to dominate Wall Street.

This world of abstract wealth which spawned conspicuous consumption as a way of life continued through the 90′s resulting in various bubbles, all of which popped, and slowly began to turn with the onset of the current gold bull market in 2000. But after 20 years of the “paper bull” a new generation of “financial advisers” emerged who had no experience with gold or hard times.

This younger generation of financial advisors frowned on gold considering it too risky and preferred paper. Now that’s a kick. Hmm … real money in the form of gold, which has always been the ultimate form of wealth and will always be the last man standing, is too risky? How could paper be more valuable or safer?

Granted, gold doesn’t pay interest, nor do most stocks pay dividends, but in a gold bull market this becomes less important.

So, how much of one’s portfolio should be put in precious metals?

Personally, my wife, Karen, and I have over 80 percent in precious metals and 20 percent in cash and a house. It’s simple for us and we both sleep well.

The Sleep Test

I think the “sleep test,” is a good way to determine how much risk is healthy; Don’t make any financial moves that disturb your sleep, and if you do change them. This said, I realize that 80 percent is likely to be too high for many, not that it would disrupt your sleep.

It’s just ‘outside the box’ of habitual economic thinking. But, 50 percent seems quite reasonable considering that gold is just entering the second phase of an epic bull market and it’s about the only way to protect yourself against the ravages of a deteriorating economy that will feature overt depreciation of paper money, i.e., inflation.

Ultimately, whatever amount you are comfortable with is the right amount to invest. Whatever that is will prove to be a smart move. Perhaps the smartest money move you’ll ever make. It certainly has been for us.

Health is Your Greatest Wealth

I am fortunate to have a wonderful career in the alternative health field since 1975. Economically, I’ve observed and studied the markets and have been investing in gold since the mid 80′s. This June will be my third anniversary selling precious metals. But, ultimately, when all is said and done, what matters most is health.

Many times in my practice I’ve observed how stress adversely affects clients. Unfortunately, severe money stress is one of the most common experiences in our culture.

Other Helpful Comments from Readers

A number of our readers also contributed some great comments that were posted in my last major article on the economy. Many times these nuggets are lost in the large number of posts so I thought I would highlight a few of them for you now.

The great icon of self-help success books, Napoleon Hill, author of the classic Think and Grow Rich, taught that the fear of poverty is the number one stress that impairs and stifles people on a day-to-day basis.

Hill claimed there were six basic fears, and only the fear of death was more intense than the fear of poverty. As Mercola reader Crouchingkitty from Boulder, Colorado commented in a recent article:

“Our family has already been through the worst scenario financially, husband was unemployed for three years and we lost our home last year.

It felt like death as we sold everything of monetary value, lost the rest, and our family of three moved into a 1000 square foot studio rental in the mountains. So it didn’t feel so bad when my employer went out of business last month, and my husband’s hours were cut (at a job that already pays just 1/3 of his old pay). The worst part of it all was the time of fear before the house was lost.

Now I LOVE my life! It has been reborn as a life of connection and meaning!”

The more you can modify your lifestyle and take charge of the things that you do have some control over, the less stress you will feel, and the less fear you will have. Sometimes just seeing the situation as an opportunity rather than a crisis is enough to take the sting out of your circumstance.

Crouchingkitty goes on to say:

“My new-found open positive attitude attracted a community of people that has enabled us to live this new beautiful life. It is a life I never could’ve imagined 18 months ago, or even 5 years ago! I see the worries of the country, but from my experience it is an opportunity for a huge paradigm shift.”

Some of your recent comments have emphasized the importance of being proactive. A reader from Syracuse, New York named Frasmus commented:

“My family and I have been anticipating a crisis like what is coming for quite a while and preparing ourselves the best we can. I offer the following suggestions:

If you have a high mortgage that is difficult now, the bank may foreclose eventually. Better to deal with it now. Sell your house and take the loss or just give it back to the bank. If you have elderly parents that own a home, consider moving in with them. You could care for them and offer your protection. Live in the country if possible.

Get back to the basics. Shed anything with a monthly payment. Expensive cable tv and car payments are the obvious ones. If you live in a cold climate, can you find a way to heat for free? It may be better to use fuel that is grown locally. Think “Little House on the Prairie.”

I completely agree that the best defense is a good offense. Do what you can now, so that you will be in a better position if things do become worse globally.

Many of my readers are sharing ideas about simplifying their lives, returning to activities of the past such as barter and trade, instead of relying solely on paper money. Frasmus went on to say:

“Finally, be able to produce something people need that is easy to barter. We bought a grain mill so hopefully farmers will have wheat. We make the bread. We trade bread for firewood, etc. Community is critical. Think, “How can I trade if the dollar is dead?” Have something useful to use as currency.”

Some of you talk about moving out into the country where you have some land and can be more self-sufficient. Some of you are raising goats for milk, making your own cheese and yogurt, creating your own organic gardens, home schooling your children, making your own herbal ointments, and even trading childcare services for electric bills!

And all of these things are wonderfully positive responses to this economic crisis, turning an otherwise frightening situation into something new and productive.

The resourcefulness of the American people remains one of our greatest strengths.

A reader by the name of Mitchind from Arcadia, Australia commented recently on turning hemp into plastics, lightweight building material, biodiesel, paper, clothing, and other industrially useful fibers.

Another reader mentions using algae oil for fuel, stating it can be produced “thousands of times faster than any other crop, including hemp.”

There is no shortage of ideas — just look at the fantastic bunch of them from my website readers alone! For even more inspiring ideas, check out this recent msnbc.com article in its entirety, which includes such nuggets as:

• Remain optimistic by accomplishing five things each day: one thing for your job search, one for your community, one for your family, one thing to improve your home, and one thing for your own spirit.
• See the big picture by taking inventory of what’s really important and what makes you truly happy. Then remain focused on what really matters
• Unwind with cheap or free entertainment
• Cook, and even grow your own food
• Give to others in need

As long as we don’t succumb to fear, I am confident we will see our way through the challenges of this economic “paradigm shift,” if I may borrow that term.

There is no reason you must buy into the doom and gloom that the media loves to promote, and instead seize on the chance for a new beginning. Virtually everyone has a fear of poverty, and it behooves us to make cautious and wise investments with our resources. Our health may literally depend on it.

Right now, as the world is immersed in a crisis of paper wealth that threatens to get much worse, it seems to me that participating in the only available bull market — gold and silver — makes good sense.

Improving your economic health will almost assuredly improve your physical and emotional health by reducing stress and helping you feel more in control of your life.

Sleep well; it’s great for your health.

From NaturalNews.com
Monday, February 16, 2009
by: Arian Forrest Nevin, J.D., citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) This is not the first time a recession or a depression has occurred. It is an event that happens again and again, a recurring problem, which has yet to be solved. It is unlikely Congress will be able to solve this problem on its own. Senator Byron Dorgan recently admitted that Congress does not understand what is wrong economically nor how to fix the problem, “None of us have been here before. And nobody in the country really understands what is the right medicine to fix what is wrong with this Actually, the workings of the economy are not so mysterious that none can hope to understand.”

Congress and the Federal Reserve have undertaken a flurry of actions, but they have yet to do anything effective to make the economic situation better. They continue to put together various so-called stimulus packages which will not solve the problem. Their use of the crude medical analogy of “stimulus” demonstrates their ignorance. The economy is not suffering from a lack of stimulus. It does not need the economic equivalent of a sudden jolt of electricity or an injection of steroids to continue. This is like using drugs to mask symptoms, while ignoring the root cause. What the economic system needs is fundamental reform. There is no magic pill solution.

In the 1920`s, before the great depression, Nobel Prize winning scientist Fredrick Soddy said about economic crises, “if we do not understand how the existing system works and wherein it fails, we are likely to make it worse rather than better.” So let us start with one aspect of how the existing system works, where it fails, and what needs to change to solve our economic problem: the money system.

Almost all money is created by banks rather than by the government. Bankers admit that banks create money. As the Chairman of the Associated Banks of New Zealand, H.W. Whyte, said in his evidence before the New Zealand Monetary Commission, “The banks do create money. They have been doing it for a long time, but they didn`t quite realize it, and they did not admit it. Very few did. You will find it in all sorts of documents, financial textbooks, etc. But in the intervening years, and we all must be perfectly frank about these things, there has been a development of thought, until today I doubt very much whether you would get many prominent bankers to attempt to deny that banks create credit.”

Commercial banks create money simply through making entries in the bank`s database. Most money exists solely as entries in such databases. The central bank, The Federal Reserve, in addition to the above method, can also create money through the additional mechanism of printing money, which it loans to the government and to commercial banks. Thus money exists both as paper and coins and as electronic entries in computers.

It is impossible to maintain the framework of the current money system and at the same time solve our economic problems. A new money system is integral to any solution. Here is why: As it stands now, money exists primarily for the purpose of creating interest yielding debts to banks. The primary purpose of the current money system, which is integral to our economy, is to provide interest income to banks. Money should be issued solely by the government to facilitate the optimal functioning of our economy. At present, money is issued by banks to maximize their profits.

A closely related issue is inflation. Inflation is the gradual theft over time of the value of everyone`s money through the creation of new money. Banks create new money to loan; this dilutes the value of all presently existing money. It is impossible to eliminate inflation so long as money is created for the purpose of creating debts. Because of interest payments, more money must be repaid to banks than was initially loaned by banks. Where does this additional money come from? The only way this additional money comes into existence is when banks loan ever more and more money over time, thereby creating the additional money needed to pay the interest. This practice constantly increases the total quantity of money in existence. Another way of stating this is people, and the government must necessarily go ever deeper and deeper into debt for banks to create and loan new money. All so that interest payments can be made. The inch and the meter never change, shorter one day and longer the next, neither should the value of money. The value of money should remain constant over time so the people are not robbed.

We are constantly inundated with propaganda decrying how irresponsible Americans are to be so in debt. This is to blame the victim. Every major government in the world is massively in debt. The National Debt of America is much greater in amount than the debt of the entire third-world combined. Almost everyone is in debt. College students, home owners, corporations, along with the government are all in debt. Why is there universal indebtedness? People simply accept this situation as a fact of life. The cause is not questioned. But, the cause is simple. The money system requires it to be so.

Because money is created by banks for the purpose of lending it at interest, rather than created by the government for the common good, everyone must be in debt in order for money to exist at all. Whenever a loan from a bank is paid back, the bank destroys an amount of money equivalent to the amount of the original loan and keeps the interest payments. The electronic money banks create is all temporary money, though there is always a certain amount of it in existence. Their money creation is like a yo-yo. Money goes out with loans, and money comes back when the loans are repaid. The simplest example is a credit card. The moment a person makes a $100 purchase with a credit card, a bank creates $100 of electronic money that did not exist before. When that same person pays back the $100 several days later, the bank destroys $100 of electronic money. The money created by the bank only exists until the debt is repaid. Of course, because there are so many entities in debt, there is a certain amount of money permanently in existence. But banks are constantly creating and destroying money. It is a normal everyday affair. Most people do not realize it is ongoing.

Money only comes into existence when people borrow from banks. Money is destroyed by banks when people pay back loans. If nobody owed money to banks, then we would not have any money. Therefore, though it is possible for individuals to eliminate their debt, it is completely impossible for the whole of the nation to ever get out of debt as long as the money system remains as it is.

Who owes the debt to banks can be shifted around. Half the populace can owe money to banks, while the other half owes nothing, but it is impossible for everyone to get out of debt. Individuals can get out of debt, but everyone cannot be out of debt at the same time. Eliminating all bank loans, by paying off all debt, would eliminate almost all money. Some have to be in debt to banks in order for the money banks create to exist. Of course there is no reason that the creation of money need be tied to loans by banks. In an honest money system, the government would simply create money for the common good and spend it rather than lend it. The fact that banks create money today is solely the result of a historical accident and not the result of a conscious choice.

The government and Federal Reserve have announced a one-trillion dollar plan to “boost lending.” Another way of stating the aim of this plan is: The government is trying to “boost indebtedness.” Every money loan by a bank also creates debt. The government`s solution to our economic problem is for everyone, including the government, to go even deeper into debt. While in the short-term this may help, because people will have more money from loans, in the long-term our problem is only growing, because we are sinking deeper and deeper into debt. We need to get out of debt, not go deeper into debt.

We are liable to make the situation worse if we don`t understand how the existing system works and how it fails. The economic system works basically the same the world over. Everywhere banks function as debt and money factories. The system fails in that we have a private money monopoly and not a national money system. The government is only making our situation worse by creating more debt for all of us through its “stimulus packages.” All of this “stimulus” and bailout money comes from increasing the National Debt and the amount of additional debt will soon total well over a trillion dollars. One trillion is a thousand billions. What we really need is to get out of debt. The only way to do this is to start with an honest money system.

Soddy also said, “There is nothing left now for us but to get ever deeper and deeper into debt to the banking system in order to provide the increasing amounts of money the nation requires for its expansion and growth. An honest money system is the only alternative.” An honest money system is one wherein the government, not banks, create money, and the value of money remains constant over time. What money is worth today is what it will be worth tomorrow. Any government program to fix the economy that does not include the elimination of money creation by banks with the creation of money by the government instead, cannot possibly work in the long-term. How can going deeper and deeper into debt solve the economic crisis? An honest money system is part and parcel to an effective economic solution. This is not the first time a recession has occurred nor will it be the last until the sovereignty of the people is taken back from banks.

If you always do what you`ve always done, you`ll always get what you`ve always gotten. What we have the world over now is debt. Through our passive consent, we all contribute to this monstrous monetary injustice. We have nothing to lose except debt. We have everything to gain from an honest money system.

References

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITIC…
Frederick Soddy, Wealth, Virtual Wealth, and Debt: The Solution of the Economic Paradox. Frederick Soddy. 1926.
National Economy: The Way to Abundance. Arian Forrest Nevin. 2008.
A Matter of Life or Debt. Eric De Mare. 1983.