Gold

A decent read, until...

I just finished Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis which is, I think, most valuable for its condensed history of many of the world’s past and present empires, of which the US is pretty much the last one standing on crumbly legs. It’s also good at describing how we got where we are and why the consequences of 30 years of Republican and Greenspan’s fiscal shenanigans are totally opposite of the popular notion of the GOP being good for the economy. Maybe the insular tiny economy of the very wealthy, but for you and me, not so much. It’s also a bit brittle and sarcastic, and sometimes the language gets a little Buckley-eseque, but overall it’s a fairly compelling read, at least til the end where the author tells you to buy gold.

Look, I’ve been there done that. Yeah gold prices have shot up but they also did the same thing in 1980 only to crash soon after and stay flat for 20 years. I made a little money when I sold my tiny hoard of gold Krugerrands last year, though I’d have made a lot more if I’d sold em today. Whatever. Gold and other metals are just as much an oogity-boogity fiat currency as increasingly-worthless dollars: worth only what someone will give you in return, like any other commodity.

Nobody knows what our economy will look like in 1-2-5-10 years, least of all Bernanke and the plutocrats pulling the strings from lower Manhattan. Maybe buying a little gold would be a good idea, but I’m flying low and avoiding the radar. I don’t know of any other safe place for my savings than US Treasuries, so that’s where they are. I’ve pretty much given up trying to grow my savings and am fiercely focused on preserving them for the near future.

OK, that said, one of the book’s authors, Bill Bonner, has a pretty compelling post at Bits of News...

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