Why Teabaggers Buying Gold And Panicking About The Collapse Of The Dollar Are Gullible/Stupid

Out of pure, morbid curiosity, I decided to check out that website advertised on Sirius all the time, EndOfAmerica13.com. I've already written at length about what a crock of shit that video is, as well as what a huckster con man the guy pimping it is. The only reason I find this so funny is that I actually know people who are scared out of their minds and buying up all the gold and silver they can get their hands on because they actually believe this crap (most of them believe everything Rush Limbaugh says too, so right there, you KNOW they're completely gullible). But even if we ignore the crater-sized holes in the "facts" the "Collapsing Dollar" fear-mongers are spewing, there is one HUGE reason why nobody should ever be taken in by this garbage. It's one of the oldest scams in the books. Right-wingers have been stoking the flames of fear in order to get their lapdogs to invest in gold, silver, et al. for DECADES.

The first thing that alerted me to the fact that this was a scam was the fact that this guy's internet video was originally titled, "EndOfAmerica11.com." That's right, the guy who is being touted for his unmatched ability to predict financial trends accurately, ORIGINALLY predicted the collapse of the U.S. Dollar would happen in 2011, and then when he saw that wasn't likely to happen, he gave himself 2 more years. Kinda like all those "the world will end on Date X" prophecies that never come true, and then the date gets pushed back.

I was reading a biography last night, and the author mentioned that he was reading a book called, "The Coming Hard Times" in which the author was predicting the complete collapse of the U.S. Dollar and the seizing of all funds by the U.S. Government, which would lead to full-scale anarchy in which the only way to protect your money was to buy gold and stock your house with canned goods and guns, and that such collapse was JUST ABOUT TO HAPPEN, so act quickly and buy up as much gold as possible. It was written in 1983. I actually tried to find the book on Amazon, but it must be out of print. I did, however, find about a dozen other books, all written from the '80s to today, all predicting the exact same thing and offering the same solution (buy gold).

It's a scam. It always has been. It's a way for right-wingers to scare their lemmings so that they turn against the evil, spend-crazy Demmy-crats, and then go out and spend their money on things that enrich the very people doing the scaring. And here's the kicker to all of this: the guy in the video says that the U.S. Dollar is losing its value because people are not investing in it anymore, but are rather buying "safe" commodities like gold and silver, and that is a sign that YOU should do it too. So, he's basically saying, go DO the very thing that will cause the collapse you're so afraid of. I and anyone who knows even a little bit about the way economies work knows that it will never happen in a million years, but if they ever did get enough people to devalue the dollar to the point of collapse, you just KNOW they'd LOVE it, because then they could blame Obama and the Democrats for causing it.

Besides, some of the other evidence is laughable. One of this guy's "strongest" pieces of evidence that this collapse is "imminent" is this: he puts up some quote from some financial "expert" stating that the best way to know when a country is about to devalue its currency is when the heads of the financial institutions all start insisting they WON'T be devaluing their currency. Then he shows a few quotes from Tim Geithner, all basically saying, "We're not going to be devaluing the Dollar," and this is supposed to be iron-clad PROOF that it's about to happen. This scam is a joke. It's embarrassing how many people have been taken in by it.

All the websites EndOfAmericann.com are still live and all point to the same place. This is so they can track what source you got the message from. Radio Show A gets "13," Show B gets "14," and so on. I didn't bother checking to see how high it goes. (Seems to go at least to 49.)

talk to his dad about, Next thing I know he started buying books telling him how to survive disasters, then started buying guns and ammo. Then one day he shows me his latest plan to make sure his money was safe, silver ounce bars, he was telling me that he was getting a fantastic deal why they were only costing him $35 an ounce and for ever 10 bars he bought he got a free bar! He spent 6 months buying these bars for around $35 to $39.95 depending on what the price was that week, but the end of 6 months he had close to $8,000 dollars in silver bars and he kept saying how rich he was going to be soon because the dealer he was buying them from said by the end of the year silver was going to be worth $100 or more an ounce so he was a financial genius. 3 days later he shows up at my house crying because he went to sell a few bars to fix his car and they were only worth $1.40 an ounce and his $8,000 investment was now worth a whooping $58. Life wasn't fair, he worked hard, those damn democrats did this to him, I had to remind him Reagan was the president, 2 years later he was laid off from GM and 6 months after that he was on welfare. I stopped hanging around him in the late 90's because he started claiming that in 2000 their was going to be a big race war and the US was going to be taken over by blacks.

if it wasn't so damn sad! Lolos! Fear turns their brains to mush.

...so you can convert it into worthless dollars later when gold is at a much higher price in dollars.

But wait, if the dollar is worthless, why would you ever want any of them for your precious gold?

Circular logic?

There is WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much emphasis on trying to portray a small group of gold investors who have little influence over the world gold price, as somehow representing every single person who buys gold.

And what good is gold in heaven, where the streets, we're told, are paved with the stuff?

This stuff makes my head spin... :evilgrin:

Can we say "self-fulfilling prophecy" yet?

either way a lot of foreign capital is also moving these markets, not just teabaggers. Economics goes well beyond US borders there days.

is what they are buying / being sold. Some of the stuff they sell, if you read the fine print is actually "gold clad proofs". In short base metal coinage flash plated to 5 micron depth. Some of the stuff is gold collectibles, or nuministics, sold at 2 to 3 times melt weight value.

Investors who purchase physical gold and silver (as opposed to futures contracts) will most often purchase medallions or ingots of .999 fine metal at a known weight. The better dealers will sell at current spot + 2 to 3 percent and will repurchase at current spot - a percent or two.

Some of the "cash for gold" operations are buying up jewelry at quite a large premium on the market as well. The folks I know who have gone to get "appraisals" seem to be getting 50 to 60 percent of the gold content melt weight at current spot. Yes, they will buy your gold scrap, at 50 percent of its real value. From there they could just package it up, send it to a standard reputable refiner and earn a tidy profit.

There are alot of actual scams out there.

I have had friends from other places in the world that did go through currency collapse. They live in this country now and it was the gold they had that preserved their family wealth. Just because something has not happened here does not mean it won't. For reason far more detailed than I can go into here, let us just say that it is a good idea considering the manipulations in the fiat money supply and stock market, I personally think it is a good idea to have some physical gold/silver in ones investment portfolio. I am not alone, the University of Texas retirement system just bought a substantial amount of physical gold and has said gold stored. I don't think the fund managers there are whack jobs. I feel better that my retirement is backed by some gold and not just stock. I don't care to have all the eggs in one basket. Personally speaking, I have done very well in my metals. Even if they only keep up with inflation, that is more than my savings, CD's, and money markets do.

And about the canned goods, guns, and ammo. When I was growing up, I thought my Aunties were crazy to store a years worth of food in their pantries-no, we weren't Mormon. I did it anyway, habit I guess. I live on the gulf coast and it was nice to have incase of hurricanes. Imagine what a life line it was for me when I was unemployed in the mid 80's. I was out of work for almost a year but I was able to use my scarce cash for rent and electricity instead of food. I don't need to be told twice to keep a pantry-it is better than money in the bank when you need it.

The gun and ammo is a deterrent against looters. People didn't think a major city in the US could descend into chaos but my one word response is Katrina. Enough said. The gun is just insurance.

Am I paranoid or irrational? Hardly! I am a generous, kind, hard working person that sleeps very well at night. I am secure in the knowledge that I have prepared as best I can for what curve I am thrown.

I don't have a very large savings fund, but I do have a small amount in gold and silver. I actually increased the amount last week when it dropped so quickly.

While the site that was originally referenced is made to cater to nutjobs, thats not what most metal investing is. I know a few VERY smart people who have made a great deal of money in gold. Any time there is money to be made from something, someone will find a way to exploit it.

Investing in gold isn't about the fear of the dollar collapsing. But there are some people who think that will happen in the next few years, so there are websites out there that play on that fear. And if the dollar collapses, those holding gold wouldn't trade it in for "worthless dollars" as mentioned earlier, they would be trading it in for currency that is stable. For the extremists, they probably think that the gold itself will become the medium of exchange.

Period.

Gold, per se, as a form of investment can make sense. To throw all of your savings into it though is risky and stupid (which I know you don't do, but alot of misguided people ARE doing right now). Not to mention all the gold scams there are out there. Including the manufacturing of fake gold bars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvM_4B7Pkc&playnext=1&list=PLBAFFA7982921BD6C

As for the pantry, having food on hand in case of an emergency is a good idea, but what ya' gonna do when your neighbors and their kids are starving?

Seriously. Good will begets good will. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but we were taught to share. When Ike hit, some people on one side of the street might have power, the other side none. You would see orange extension cords running across streets. As food was defrosting- block dinner parties were the big thing. We had guards (neighbors with guns) that would be out on occasion to be seen so as to discourage potential looters. We recovered to well so soon because we helped each other.

This self sufficient selfish Ayn Rand type survival nonsense is crap. Humans are pack animals, and we survived because banded together.

almost all the silver items I had in a case sold. Maybe I was visited by one of these nutjobs. Wait until they try to resell it for the price silver is going for. After the fees involved they'll lose money.

I'd really like to know, because the last time I sold silver, I didn't have to pay any fees. Just sold at the dealer's buy price.

A person who goes out looking for silver based on the number given by CNBC or the Wall Street Journal is in for a surprise.

you're talking about but sterling tableware or that sort of thing?

For some reason, in the US, Sterling tableware is discounted to .900 US silver coins, even though Sterling has a higher fineness. I think it may be that the US coins aren't usually melted (even though stories abound of melting US silver coins), while the Sterling stuff is often melted.

The guy has a point. I theorized more than 15 years ago that continued debt would eventually bring hyperinflation. It's economics. And though they ended QE2, I don't think QE3 is far off. China has recently indicated they're going to drop 2/3 (2 trillion) of their US bonds... I gotta go to work now or I'd write a far more complicated and insightful reason why the guy ain't wrong. Just 15 years too late.

www.davidjamesfrancis.com

My mother suffers from the fear mongering on talk radio. Beck, Boortz, Hannity, Limbaugh, and Savage. I believe it is because she is scared and confused by change. I don't post much but for some reason this morning I wish to take advantage of the near-inexplicable power to comfort that anonymous internet posting can provide.

It began with her watching Fox News in the evening, then she would have it one during the day on the weekends. She would listen to the radio at night to the replays of Limbaugh and Boortz but after a while she would listen during the day whenever she could. Now that she is retired, the radio is on in one room and Fox News is on in another.

All day long she is inundated with fear. It is so sad and I am powerless to help. No matter what I say nor how I approach her she gives me a kind but sad and dismissive smile as if to say "You're young and inexperienced and I know the truth and one day you will see the light".

Growing up I knew several older women in our church who in their later years turned inward and focused their lives solely on religion. I remember thinking at the time that I did not want my mother to be one. This is worse.

a head of cabbage will be worth more than an ounce of gold.

if done in extreme moderation. no more than 3-5% of your total investments. ITs an emergency shit hits the fan type of insurance policy. but putting more than a small amount into any precious metal is stupid.
currently i have about 1% of my assets in silver. but i trade then on a frequent basis

If things really hit the fan and the dollar vanishes, it will take all your metal to buy a loaf of bread.

to have a pantry.

that will be your "fort knox" in very hard times. :)

Cheers.

Then I will sell them for GOLD!!

They are buying gold so after the collapse of the economy they can buy food.

Wouldn't it be smarter to just buy unperishable food?????

I'm only half kidding.

That's why I'm a big advocate of gardening. Grow something, even tomatoes in a pot.

It won't save you but it will give you knowledge to contribute.

and if things, I hope not, get really bad, that knowledge may save your life.

It's funny how people think gold buying is exclusive to teabaggers and glenn beck watchers.

Randi has gold commercials every five minutes it seems like.

that little piece of paper that says you have gold really means nothing. i honestly don't think there is enough gold in the whole world to support the amount being sold.

sP

THAT is the scam or bubble if you will.

if everyone cashed in, there would only be enough for 1/4 or so of the people who think they actually "own" silver. That's why you'll see a higher price for actual coins and bullion than the "spot" price is because it gives you more of a garauntee.

as I said up thread, you will need a all of your metal to buy a loaf of bread.

Study history. When the Deutsch Mark collapsed, people were trading in whole sets of silver dining sets for food.

A head of cabbage will be worth it's weight in gold.

and they don't taste that great.
Buy meat now.
make jerky.
pack it in dry airtight canisters.

now THAT is gold in a jar.

It lasts for months. :)

I use a lacto-fermentation process. If I put bacon in the kraut, the fat would greatly decrease it's longevity.

However, I do agree with you on the jerky front.

Have you ever tried sun drying it?

with regard to the kraut. I wouldn't preserve them together but put the dried meat in a separate jar (if you can pull a vacuum on the jar, even better). You can even preserve bacon but you need to trim some of the fat. It will still have a delicious taste.

1) I taught history
2) Gold/Silver have been a viable currency for the last couple thousand years...so I think it will survive
3) We have quite an ample garden and I am more than willing/capable of hunting and fishing for other needs

The people trading their silverware for food were in that situation because not only did the currency fail, but because the food was so scarce. People that held that silver/gold made out well in the end.

sP

or the collapse of the Ottoman Empire?

both of which had skyrocket inflation.

gold, silver were virtually worthless.

As I have said before, a head of cabbage will be worth more than an ounce of gold.

Good thing you have a garden.

and hyperinflation was more about their paper currency and not gold/silver. the use of gold/silver for purchase of items such as food was driven because the economy as a whole was in a general state of collapse and those items were not readily available and so at that point, to some people, a loaf of bread was worth more than their flatware. the value of anything of necessity is determined by its scarcity/availability so in that aspect you are correct. however, just because a loaf of bread costs a billion marks does not mean that it will cost an ounce of gold (when an ounce of gold could easily be a hundred billion marks).

sP

And while the paper currency hyper inflated, they also couldn't buy anything with their gold or led crystal glass ware. (they made and exported led crystalline). It was worthless as compared to vegetables. As a result they lost their business.

So while you study, as I do, I also have the added benefit of knowing someone personally that was there and had direct experience with the failure of gold and silver during a hyper-inflated economy where food was very scarce. My grandparents were very wealthy, they lost everything. No amount of gold, silver or glassware was able to buy them food.

I'm not trying to play, "I can top that", I just have a very personal insight and benefit to what actually happens when the value of a currency hyper inflates.

Not everything adheres to economic projections.

and am in general not disagreeing with you. gold, however, is a good hedge against inflation and hyperinflation where goods are not in short supply. while the paper becomes worthless, the goods can still be bought and sold with valuable commodities (heck, even firewood can become valuable depending on what is in supply). but i am in agreement that if food and water are not available, then no amount of gold, silver or whatever is going to save you...hence the need for some sort of food security as well.

i cannot imagine the pain that people must have felt back then. my grand father and great grand father told me stories of the depression, but they were poor going in and were simply not able to obtain money, but had arable land enough to feed themselves and many others...the depression to them was pretty much a minor difficulty.

when all else fails, food, water, shelter and clothing are more valuable than any metal...

sP

That is exactly my point.

In Germany at that time everything failed.

While I certainly hope that never happens here, the reality is, like any other nation, that it could happen at some point in the future, and when it does, gold and silver will be worthless.

The worthlessness of gold and silver is a transient property.
If they are truly worthless then don't use them to acquire food...use some other means.
When the crisis is over, no matter what changes have been made to the monetary system, the gold and silver will once again be valuable.
So...acquire the precious metals and have a plan to also not starve.
You will maintain your wealth beyond the food crisis.

Diverse portfolio. In addition to my pantry, I have gardening skills too. Gold, guns, ammo, gardening, pantry, and patience.

I am not so arrogant as to think it could never happen here. That is why I prepare. There is peace of mind in being prepared. Because I am prepared, I am not fearful but calm. Calm allows one to make better decisions.

they will not become suddenly more valuable than metals.

Wiemar hyperinflation was caused by a collapse in productive capacity, not merely an excess of marks.

We aren't close to seeing severe food shortages and we have an oversupply of housing. Due to bad tax and monetary policies, we do have a glut of dollars in the hands of the wealthy, which is fueling global speculation on a massive scale. Investors are buying metals to protect themselves against the dislocations this speculation is causing and also as an insurance policy against potential sovereign debt crises. Our currency may be in jeopardy, but not for the reasons many assume.

Actually, it's probably a lot faster than that.

by huge banking/speculators and trade almost identically.

is not looking at the facts

And in the real markets -- the dollar pushes the commodities, not the other way around.

http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/gallery.html?$USD

The link isn't working right but you need to append a dollar sign and USD after the question mark to pull up the chart.

Value is in the eyes of the beholder. And at that exuberant rate I highly doubt smart investors are going to buy back any gold at that high of a rate which means those that have bought gold at that price are gonna lose alot of money.

At the then ridiculously high price of 745 per ounce and silver was 12 dollars an ounce, I respectfully disagree. I consider these price today a bargain. It is hard to believe, but I am still long on the metals. They have been good to me. I am not heavy in them 10% or less of my cash reserve.

No regrets here.
I preserved my dollar assets and then some by doing so...

We used to have a member way back when, since banned, who was ridiculed
for advising others to transfer dollars into PMs.

Who's laughing now?

I fully intend to sell some silver when it reaches $50.00 an oz.
I will then wait for the next drop and reinvest the profits.

I have CERTAINLY not lost any money at this point.
Had I left the cash in the investments they were in and
not bought PMs I would have lost it all at this point.

BHN

extra to invest then otherwise I would have bought. I invested in PM as soon as I could and like you do not regret it. I had stock but got out 2 years before the 2009 crash. I got out in the 1980's crash but got too cocky and trusted my advisor and got taken in the dot.com collapse. Made up for it by 2009. Bought back my time in the TRS so I can look forward to a nice pension on top of my investments now. I do better without the advisor. My personal research is better. In fact, the advisor assigned to my account has become a friend and always loves to pick my brain when I come in to rebalance my portfolio.

I guess I just stick with conservative mutual funds - have never done me wrong.

I believe in different eggs in my basket but frankly PM and my Index funds are the golden eggs in my basket and have been for some time. Too conservative and inflation eats your gains, too much risk and you wipe out your gains. Always tread cautiously.

I remember reading about this before the housing crash. I guess if they sold on time, they did pretty well for themselves. And there's nothing wrong with keeping it really if they did, anyway.