sound money

Passport Denials Long a Feature of U.S. Foreign Policy

"Neither national nor international law appears likely to stop the U.S. government’s concerted efforts to deny due process to those placed on the No-Fly List. While today’s mechanisms of travel control are far more sophisticated than those that Mrs. Shipley had at her disposal, the net effect is virtually identical: Both U.S. citizens and those wishing to visit the United States are denied a fundamental human right. Hopefully, you’ll never be placed on the No Fly List. But if you are, you’ll appreciate the utility of a second passport, 'just in case.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPassport Denials Long a Feature of U.S. Foreign Policy

David Galland: Welcome to the Company Store

"Other than a small percentage of the population who have managed to build enough wealth to break the cycle through diversified investment and income sources, the vast majority of the population lives pretty much hand to mouth. Of the money you earn, close to a majority is now returned to the state in the form of taxes of all description (payroll, property, sales, income, etc., ad infinitum). Then, because it's a rigged game, just like the company store, the money you do manage is steadily debased. And while the situation is bad, it hasn't yet gotten desperate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Galland: Welcome to the Company Store

Idaho Adopts Khan’s Free Online Academy

"The state of Idaho’s educational bureaucracy next year will allow public school students in two dozen schools to take Khan Academy’s free courses for full credit. This is a test. This is a huge breakthrough for liberty. It means that a state has tentatively accepted the idea that online education that is provided by a legally independent third party who is not in any way under control of the state’s educational establishment may be as good as classroom education." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIdaho Adopts Khan’s Free Online Academy

Barter and Alternative Currencies Growing in Greece

"The issue of tax reporting is brought into the article – and an insinuation is made that people are dodging taxes by using these systems. But so far as we can tell, such systems need central bookkeeping, which is one reason why we figure the United Nations has been a supporter of them. Gold and silver are far harder to track for personal usage than barter/currency systems that use a centralized bookkeeping system. Are Greeks turning to gold and silver as well, as those in Zimbabwe have done once the economy collapsed? We would bet gold and silver are finding their place alongside such barter/currency systems." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBarter and Alternative Currencies Growing in Greece

10 Reasons Why You Have to Quit Your Job This Year

"You can’t make money without selling something real. You can’t make something real without first imagination manifesting itself in your head. You can’t have imagination without surrendering yourself to an idea that you want to create something of value to other human beings. And now it’s too late. Now the course of history has finally written it’s next chapter. There’s no more bullshit. I’m going to tell you why you have to quit your job. Why you need to get the ideas moving. Why you need to build a foundation for your life or soon you will have no roof." Continue reading →

Continue Reading10 Reasons Why You Have to Quit Your Job This Year

Rocky Mountain high: Pot a $200M industry in Colorado

"Vigorous regulation of a thriving medical-marijuana industry in Colorado offers the best glimpse of what is coming to Washington when it launches its voter-approved social-use market. With continuous surveillance, bar-coded plants and strict financial background checks, Colorado's rules allowed capitalism to be unleased, creating an instant $200 million industry." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRocky Mountain high: Pot a $200M industry in Colorado

U.S. Inflation Since 1775 And How It Took Off In 1933

"Yesterday at the American Economic Association's 2013 Annual Meeting, Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff offered a paper titled Shifting Mandates: The Federal Reserve’s First Centennial. The paper included a cool chart of inflation since 1775. The authors argue that inflation didn't take off until the U.S. went off the gold standard in 1933." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Inflation Since 1775 And How It Took Off In 1933

Iraq unearths 1,400-year-old gold coins

"Iraqi archaeologists have found 66 gold coins that are at least 1,400 years old, officials said on Monday, adding that they hope to put them on display in Baghdad’s National Museum. Many of Iraq’s archaeological sites have been vandalised and encroached upon in recent decades, but especially in the years following the US-led invasion of 2003. The capital’s National Museum was also looted in its aftermath. At the time, nearly 32,000 pieces were stolen from 12,000 archaeological sites across Iraq, and 15,000 others disappeared from the National Museum in Baghdad, according to official figures." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIraq unearths 1,400-year-old gold coins

Krugman: Let’s Just Print Funny Money

"Don’t like the platinum coin option? Here’s a functionally equivalent alternative: have the Treasury sell pieces of paper labeled 'moral obligation coupons', which declare the intention of the government to redeem these coupons at face value in one year. It should be clearly stated on the coupons that the government has no, repeat no, legal obligation to pay anything at all; you see, they’re not debt, and therefore don’t count against the debt limit. But that shouldn’t keep them from having substantial market value." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKrugman: Let’s Just Print Funny Money

Krugman Gives the Thumbs Up on the Minting of a Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin

"Should President Obama be willing to print a $1 trillion platinum coin if Republicans try to force America into default? Yes, absolutely.[...] So if the 14th amendment solution — simply declaring that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional — isn’t workable, go with the coin." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKrugman Gives the Thumbs Up on the Minting of a Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin