I have a hypothetical tax-related question relating to selling gold bullion coins. I've been buying them for years, but I've never had to sell one. If any of you has sold bullion coins before, maybe you can help answer my question. Let's assume someone kept detailed records and receipts of all of hi...

Stone, I don't think saving necessarily leads to deflated prices under a fixed money supply. It can, but it doesn't have to. For example, unless most of the money being saved is being stuffed under mattresses (unlikely), it is being lent out by banks and being invested in equity shares. Those loans ...

Tortoise "If they are not spending now, it is for the sole reason that they plan to spend later." Tortoise, I'm all for a non-expanding currency system but I really think that it is vital to face up to and address the perils that it would entail. "Net saving" means more saving g...

If you think that an economy should reach its own, unmassaged equilibrium, and that the paradox of thrif isn't a paradox at all but a necessary evil to a free populace, then the gold standard fits much more with that philosophy. The idea that the entire economy should ideally be in some kind of &qu...

In a fractional reserve system (and here I paraphrase Harry Browne), all banks have borrowed short and lent long.  If people actually want their money, the banks are toast.  Large-scale withdrawals would put the FDIC system to the ultimate test: what happens when the FDIC insurance fund is exhauste...

Interesting, thanks for that quote, Doodle! I had never seen that particular set of arguments on why hyperinflation in the U.S. is unlikely. It makes a lot of sense. It's not often that one of one's basic assumptions is successfully challenged, but I think today might be one of those days for me. I ...

Yes, the definition of "legal tender" in the U.S. makes it illegal for a U.S. business to refuse to accept dollars as payment. The business is free to accept payments in other currencies, and to state that it prefers to receive payments in other currencies, but it is not allowed to refuse ...

I think we can agree that gold has been going up dramatically. I think we can agree that interest rates are modest. The question is then whether gold is right about the money supply or interest rates are right about the money supply... The thing is I don't think either gold or interest rates can be...

I can see the benfits of your proposal, but I think it'd be the monetary equivalent of not setting up any kind of government transportation system... that only private systems should develop so as to not use force.  I don't think our private sector (yes, this includes the fact that we have gold at ...

The problem with a gold standard is that at some point big businesses will demand that the government spend money on their businesses (which is what happened in the late 19th century with the railroads). Government will get into debt and devalue the currency to pay those debts. Yes a fiat currency ...

On the one hand, I'm sure many--if not most--Californians sympathize with the view that it's a shame to farm out American work (especially public work) to China when so many American workers are unemployed. On the other hand, people don't appreciate having their taxes raised in the middle of a reces...

Updated Suicide Portfolio Contest results for Week 4. Surprisingly, 5 of the 8 portfolios are now in the black! Can the contestants eventually recover from these dangerously high gains? Stay tuned to find out... https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/oimg?key=0Am_PUxhr3qIwdHM4WUFobVFjWUJud05RWn...

melveyr, the idea that tax revenue effectively extinguishes some of the currency that has been created out of thin air by the government makes sense. I'm just not sure I agree that the same idea applies to Treasury bonds. Yes, they may extinguish currency at the time they are issued, but they must t...

I've tried introducing the PP concept and Harry Browne's Fail-Safe Investing to a couple of people with zero success. They are both extremely bright guys, and very financially conservative, but they simply didn't want to bother investing a few hours to read HB's short 100-page book. One of the guys ...

Under a fiat system, money does not exist until the government spends. The government literally spends money into existence; money comes from nowhere. Imagine the first day of a new fiat government. You demand a tax from your citizens in your currency, but no one possesses this new currency. How ca...

I'm not saying gold doesn't have value, but given the wealth we've created in our societies, I don't think gold will just automatically adjust around it simply because its rare.  I don't think society, as a whole, will give the pixie dust enough value. The exaggerated "pixie dust" example...

A complete prediction requires at least two pieces of information: (1) What is going to happen, and (2) when it is going to happen. Regarding what , Rogers says he predicts long-term U.S. Treasury interest rates are going to rise. Regarding when , he says "eventually." Not very specific. B...

I think it's a very succinct, if somewhat simplified version of saying that if you can't trust your government with the currency, then a gold standard is pointless... it means nothing.... you've already admitted that they'll break the standard when need-be if they have the power to, and having a go...

In the 10/31/2004 episode of his "Money Talk" radio show, Harry Browne gave a short explanation of his radio show's bumper music style of Dixieland jazz. He explained that Dixieland, which is different from modern jazz (a style he did not like), is a type of jazz in which several different...

Isn't that what insurance is for, or am I missing something? I still rent, but when I eventually buy I plan to purchase homeowner's insurance with the widest possible coverage--flood, fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, burglary, car through the living room wall, etc. Probably all of the above, re...

Yes, rickb, I have an autographed copy from an event several years ago at which I met G. Edward Griffin in person. The Creature from Jekyll Island was the book that first opened my eyes to the fundamentally fraudulent nature of fractional-reserve banking and the Federal Reserve System. It also intro...

Okay, l82start, I just added your portfolio to the Week 2 results. I included all four of your picks, despite the tiny market cap of a couple of the thinly-traded penny stocks. I figured your portfolio would spice things up with its extreme volatility and probably has about an equal chance of being ...

Thx Tortoise for the info. From the Schwab "Fixed Income Pricing" page http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investment_products/bonds_fixed_income/pricing , if I'm comprehending this correctly, there IS a $25 commission when you sell the T-Bond, since "sell orders must be placed thru ...

I have a 401(k) brokerage at Schwab. All LT Treasury trades are commission-free at Schwab, and they let you trade as little as $1,000. I actually did a commission-free $1,000 trade just last week. Regarding direct LTT ownership vs. indirect ownership via TLT: Do whatever is easiest for you and makes...

To be honest, I think the film was designed for more of a mainstream audience.  I understand why libertarians might want to abolish the Fed, but that thinking is very much outside of mainstream America. I didn't suggest the idea of abolishing the Fed be included in the documentary. That would immed...