Not all libertarians are anarchists.  Within libertarianism, no universal agreement exists regarding the minimum or maximum role of government.  For example, Ludwig von Mises was a "minarchist," meaning he advocated a certain minimum level of government for things like national defense, po...

[...] the challenges we face as a nation [...] [...] let the American public decide which they prefer [...] [...] we find ourselves in a difficult situation as a country [...] [...] an issue that could bring this country to its knees [...] Nations don't face challenges; individuals do.  The public ...

Some very good points have been made here regarding whether charitable giving should be considered a moral obligation or a personal choice. The facet of this issue I am most interested in, however, is the morality of helping others by becoming wealthy through honest means .  Rabbi Daniel Lapin gave ...

KevinW wrote: Also between lower expenses and tilting, I'll take lower expenses every time.  Low expenses help no matter what.

Yes, especially when the Ohio plan's expenses are ~65% lower than those of the West Virginia plan.  That's a huge differential.

I have seen Taleb's "barbell" portfolio (80-90% T-bills, 10-20% super-high volatility options) discussed briefly in a couple of threads here. One of the main objections to Taleb's portfolio seems to be that its returns are very lumpy; it loses a small amount of money most years and has a h...

Nevertheless, my inflationary bias tells me that it is hard to believe that as all ordinary rules are out the window, who is going to rewrite them in a way to create deflation which ultimately benefits no one. Come again?  Deflation increases a currency's value, thereby benefiting people living on ...

I think part of my objection is with that very phrase "giving back" to the community.  It implies that the person took --or stole, even--something from the community, so in order to avoid being a total jerk, is somehow obligated to "give back" some of it.  That assumption is root...

Dave Ramsey's quote about giving back to the community caught my eye. The general assumption in our culture seems to be that if a wealthy businessman who has worked hard and acquired considerable wealth during his lifetime does not "give something back" to the community in the form of altr...

...as best as you can, it's a good idea to not find yourself in the position of needing to use 1 oz. gold or silver coins to buy groceries.  Stock up on things you normally eat when food and drinks (including water) are on sale, keep the pantry full at all times, and put the freshest stuff at the b...

Moda, Regarding counterfeit coins, I'm assuming the SHTF situation would be relatively short in duration.  For example, if our currency were to collapse, I'm guessing the situation wouldn't drag on for long before the government rolled out a new fiat currency to replace the old one.  In that short t...

Most folks have no idea what junk silver coins are, having been born after they were made. There is no way to know if they would even be accepted by most folks as a form of payment. I think ASEs would fair better as an emergency medium of exchange. You took the words right out of my mouth.  I've ne...

I actually like silver for the variable portfolio, and think that having a few silver coins on hand for the very remote possibility of a currency collapse would be cheap insurance.  You don't want to go to the corner grocery store and try to buy a loaf of bread with even the smallest gold coin. If ...

Funny you should mention Kennedy silver half-dollars.  I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and a cashier handed me a 1969 Kennedy half-dollar (40% silver) as change.  Its melt value is about $5.  Not much, but it's ~10 times the face value of the coin. I used to assume that Gresham's law all b...

According to the prospectus, VGSH does not track the Barclays 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index.  It tracks the Barclays 1-3 Year Government Float Adjusted Index, meaning the fund invests in more than just Treasuries: "The fund employes a 'passive management'--or indexing--investment approach design...

For physical gold and silver, I hold only 1-oz coins.  My philosophy is that the whole point of taking delivery of physical gold and silver (as opposed to letting someone else hold it for you) is to give you something with which to barter in extreme SHTF situations.  Bartering with coins would be mu...

For the purposes of this poll, let's define "in your possession" as being stored in a place to which only you--and perhaps your spouse--have access, i.e., at home, in a safe deposit box, buried somewhere, etc.  Let's not count gold held on your behalf by a government or fund like Perth Min...

The only force that I think contains bernanke is the large voting senior population which would be harmed by high inflation. This group would rather see a deflationary environment and could potentially have the political clout to contain more stimulative QE printing. Actually, I get the impression ...

Shoes and jackets are occasionally stolen by muggers, but rarely do they steal all of a person's clothes off their back.  So personally, I like the duct tape method the best.  Either around the thigh or midsection.

If you want to read a short, fascinating book about how FDR's New Deal was essentially a revolution that overthrew the previous American form of government, download The People's Pottage by Garet Garrett for free:

http://mises.org/books/pottage.pdf

I've asked a few people over the years what life was like for their parents during the Great Depression.  All of them said something along the lines of, "Not all that different from any other time."  The reason is because none of their parents lost their jobs. I agree with MT that our perc...

Put the tube of gold coins inside a long tube sock.  If someone tries to mug you, use it as a weapon.  BAM!!  Sock it to 'em.

Thanks for the info, everyone!

If your goal is to purchase $47,000 worth of bonds, do a search on your fixed income section for all bonds timeframe 2039-2041 and find the ones you want to purchase that are not zero-coupon bonds (zero coupon are a little higher volatility) then calculate how many you can purchase based on the cur...

I recently decided I'm going to convert my TLT holdings in my 401(k) brokerage into actual LT Treasury bonds to minimize that extra layer of paper between me and my bonds.  I've sold the TLT, so now I just need to buy the 30-year bond(s) at auction on Thursday. Before I purchase my very first bond(s...

That one can draw some kind of distinction between "natural equilibrium" and "unnatural/artificial equilibrium" is by no means clear to me. Are human beings not living creatures, and therefore "natural" by definition?  At what point does an action performed by a living ...