A dollar is a unit of debt.  Dollars are not backed by nothing - they're backed by debt.  The US government does not just "print money out of nothing" - they borrow it into existence (although way more money is borrowed into existence by the private sector than by the government). Read th...

A dollar is a unit of debt.  Dollars are not backed by nothing - they're backed by debt.  The US government does not just "print money out of nothing" - they borrow it into existence (although way more money is borrowed into existence by the private sector than by the government). Read the...

You're right, Trump hasn't said anything like that. All he's suggested is that we enforce the immigration laws that we already have. Laws that I'll mention Obama has been at times vigorous about enforcing himself; his administration has deported more than two million people over the course of his p...

Bumping this thread in honor of Trump's win in Nevada and to illustrate again that immigration is *the* issue for America, bar-none. Since this thread started, we have had massive immigrant crime wave sweep through Europe, Paris shot to pieces, San Bernadino shootings, and countless other violent a...

It's an IOU corresponding to a (very) small portion of the total public and private debt.

I think that historians will be hard on W. when it comes to the Iraq war. From the false WMD narrative that was sold to the American people as a pretense for war, to the nonexistent Saddam Husseign Al Queada connection, to the "Mission Accomplished" speech, to the exorbitant cost, to the ...

Pointedstick wrote: Are the cars on fire yet?

My wife went to a show downtown.  She's having a little trouble getting home.

MangoMan wrote: Faber has neither a PhD nor an MD or other professional degree, so I'm not sure why you refer to him as Dr. Faber.

I suspect he's thinking about Marc Faber (who does have a PhD).

If Manning calls the plays - Denver wins 20-13 Well done, rickb. Well - my "Kubiak calls the plays" prediction was 31-9 the other way, and I think Kubiak actually called the plays (huddle after every down, run, run, run, and run some more).  Minus a couple of critical turnovers and I thin...

Maybe it's already out there somewhere but a good idea for an article on the internet would be "Sports Superstars who went out in a blaze of glory". If Peyton Manning wins the super bowl he'll be close to the top of the list but I'm having a hard time thinking of any others . The closest ...

Depends on who runs the Bronco's offense.  Manning and Kubiak have been at each other's throats the entire season.

If Kubiak calls the plays - Carolina wins 31-9

If Manning calls the plays - Denver wins 20-13

ochotona wrote: Up 29% !

What is your upside target at which you'll sell?

If you don't have one, I suggest you get one.

Canada sold essentially all of its gold a few years ago, see http://investmentwatchblog.com/canada-has-sold-its-entire-holding-of-1023-tonnes-making-it-the-only-g7-nation-that-has-no-gold-backing-for-its-currency/ It holds so little now that small differences in the absolute amount constitute large ...

What were the PHYS expenses?  Per http://sprottphysicalbullion.com/media/16874/phys-q3-2015.pdf, PHYS's bullion storage fees were about $570,000 for 9 months for $1.33B worth of gold, i.e. about $760,000/yr (about 0.057%).  They say their total operating costs are about 0.1%/yr. PHYS's overall expe...

It seems clear that the most tax efficient of the 4 assets is Gold (only being subject to capital gains taxes when sold).  As such I try to hold as much gold as possible in my taxable accounts while throwing the other 3 assets into Roth IRA's, 401k, etc... A clarification - gold in most forms, i.e....

Reub wrote: What are the advantages of a treasury MM fund?

Safety.

The only scenarios where you can conceivably lose principal are fraud on the part of the fund manager (which is a risk any fund has) and default by the US (which is at least classically unthinkable).

Traditionally, minimum wage jobs were entry-level and stepping stones to better opportunities, but we've seen that change over time.  People are working at minimum wage levels (and slightly above that) because employers can get away with it.   Even if they were stepping stones, I'd still argue for ...

One thing to consider in this equation, if the limited potential upside has one thinking of just holding cash, is the bank 'bail ins' we've seen elsewhere in the world.  My presumption (possibly wrong), is cash sitting in US Treasuries would be immune from this, and thus be subject to less risk not...

So what's to done about it? It has to be dealt with from a federal government level, right? Or just accepted as one of those things that happens and it's too bad if you just can't compete? It's not rocket science and the fix is not to get rid of the EPA and unions and everything "big labor&quo...

Do you ever wear one of those Davy Crockett hats when you are slurping the plasma?  That might make it all feel like a moral victory at least.  :) Some time ago I dressed up on Halloween (at work) as a corporate HR executive, which of course means a Dracula sort of outfit (imagine Dracula in an exp...

I also agree 100% with MT. It's all about hurting others to get things. If you don't hurt others, I don't see the problem. Of course, there are ways to hurt others to get your stuff as a biiiig baaaad capitalist that are really sneaky, like taking advantage of the welfare system to underpay your em...

What has clearly been happening, though, is the government's red ink has been almost solely the result of not taxing the wealthy at historical levels, which is another argument against the idea that this country is somehow moving toward an anti-wealth socialist-type of system--it's actually quite t...

PS' example is hard for me, because I completely understand not wanting to have to work for somebody else your whole life, especially if your job isn't particularly fulfilling, as many aren't.  So, I'm not sure I'd call it greedy.  But, from a numbers perspective he'll definitely wind up with a lot...

So 25 times one's annual spending is not greedy unless that figure is measured in billions of dollars. So are billionaires the greedy ones? How about millionaires? Multi-millionaires? IMO, greedy is less about your net assets and more about your income.  If you are the CEO of a company and you make...

Conversely, I'm not understanding the dislike for Cruz.  What's not to like?  I understand the issues with being a first-term senator, and perhaps with the Goldman Sachs connections, but I think what you're describing goes deeper than that. His Republican peers in the Senate don't just dislike him,...