Average consumer now carries $6,329 in credit card debt. 'People are stretched,' expert says

[HARK!]

You sound like a salesman.

I have been; but never a good one.

I'm better with History.

“We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper, mere paper, representing not gold nor silver; no sir, representing nothing but broken promises, bad faith, bankrupt corporations, cheated creditors and a ruined people.” -- Daniel Webster, speech in the Senate, 1833

 

[Tuur]

LOL. It's just a shiny metal with some uses. It's not majik.

The cap on top of the Washington Monument is made of aluminum, and was on display for a time at (hazy memory ahead) Tiffany's. At the time aluminum was a precious metal. Napoleon had aluminum ware dining utensils for the same reason. But then came the electrolytic method of processing ore and the value of aluminum plummeted.

Here, in 2025, there's a start-up company that thinks it can transmute gold from mercury at a profit. The idea is to put mercury 198 into fusion reactor and transmute it to mercury 197, which decays into gold 197. We will see. If successful, it's bound to have an impact on gold prices. Not as much as the electrolytic method did for aluminum,, but possibly significant.

Or people could just decide they don't like gold anymore. Like you said, it's just a shiny metal. It just happens to be a shiny metal people want.

 

[HARK!]

That said, I stopped paying attention when, out of curiosity, I checked into what they locals were paying, and it was much less than the price of gold at the time, based on 10 carat gold having a content of 10/24 = 5/12 = 41.67% gold, or 5/12 of a troy ounce gold per troy ounce gold alloy, or current price x 5/12. Best I can recall, someone was making a tidy profit. Basically, if you sold them jewelry, you were selling the metal at a discount.

I'm not desperate; and I won't hesitate to walk away from a bad deal. There are plenty of dealers out there who don't gouge. If somebody low balls me; I will literally laugh at them and walk away. Sometimes they chase me trying to make a deal. I won't deal with people who don't act in honor. You get only one chance to try to get over on me. It's the same for any price negotiation, no matter what it is that I'm buying or selling.

 

[HARK!]

Or people could just decide they don't like gold anymore. Like you said, it's just a shiny metal. It just happens to be a shiny metal people want.

I guess that's possible. After thousands of years of gold being the primary monetary metal; maybe the bankers will sell off their tier 1 assets at fire sale rates.

However, right now, the central banks of the world continue to quietly hoard it.

 

[HARK!]

Here, in 2025, there's a start-up company that thinks it can transmute gold from mercury at a profit.

..proving that when it comes to gold, alchemy never goes out of style.

If they are successful; the leaders of the banking cartels will be sick, I say, just sick. Maybe they should hire someone to start working on some genetically modified, blood letting, leeches for their healing....or would that be cannibalism?

No but seriously, there is a tremendous amount of gold that can be extracted from sea water; but the energy required is cost prohibitive.

One reason that gold has value is the amount of energy that it takes to acquire it. In a sense, gold represents a store of work.

 

[bèlla]

I have been; but never a good one.

I'm better with History.

“We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper, mere paper, representing not gold nor silver; no sir, representing nothing but broken promises, bad faith, bankrupt corporations, cheated creditors and a ruined people.” -- Daniel Webster, speech in the Senate, 1833

I’m not a historian per se but I’m a seer in the truest sense. I draw from the word and the past when I’m examining things and always had a penchant for times and seasons. If I was a man people would appreciate it. But I’m a woman and it makes them uncomfortable. Especially where money’s concerned. But that’s my gift.

Bloom where your planted and ignore the rest. You’ll be alright.

~bella

 

[Tuur]

I guess that's possible. After thousands of years of gold being the primary monetary metal; maybe the bankers will sell off their tier 1 assets at fire sale rates.

What's the exchange rate for wampum these days?

 

[Hans Blaster]

The cap on top of the Washington Monument is made of aluminum, and was on display for a time at (hazy memory ahead) Tiffany's. At the time aluminum was a precious metal. Napoleon had aluminum ware dining utensils for the same reason. But then came the electrolytic method of processing ore and the value of aluminum plummeted.

I read about it as a kid.

Here, in 2025, there's a start-up company that thinks it can transmute gold from mercury at a profit. The idea is to put mercury 198 into fusion reactor and transmute it to mercury 197, which decays into gold 197. We will see. If successful, it's bound to have an impact on gold prices. Not as much as the electrolytic method did for aluminum,, but possibly significant.

LOL. Is it possible to short this company, or at least anyone who invests in them.

Or people could just decide they don't like gold anymore. Like you said, it's just a shiny metal. It just happens to be a shiny metal people want.

Yep.

 

[NxNW]

As AI expands at an exponential rate; the demand for gold, silver, and copper , will grow to meet production needs.

As Buffett said, it does have limited use, but even with technology growth, I'm not holding my breath.

Here is where his Keynesian brainwashing come to light.

Gold has intrinsic value

Which is calculated how? Don’t show me the spot value, since that's just the arbitrary collective opinion that's ever- changing.

and its' quantity remains relatively fixed. Paper money has very little intrinsic value other than kindling;and its' perceived value is arbitrary.

Buffett's argument is that you can use that money to buy stocks, bonds, and farmland which actually produce profits and have intrinsic value.

Buffett built a mathematical argument on arbitrary numbers. That was an exercise in folly.

Which of his numbers were arbitrary?

Does Buffet not have anyone guarding his funny money?

I think most of his money is in shares of BRK, not sitting around in stacks.

He pulled his funny money out of the market; because like the bankers who print that trash, he knows that this ponzi scheme is almost up.

He pulled his money out because he's retiring.

...But if you want to continue to be the slaves of the bankers, and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money, and control credit.”
SIR JOSIAH STAMP PRESIDENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND

We don't trust the English here.

 

[NxNW]

If you trade your life for devaluing fiat currency; and use that as a means to store that wealth; your life will be stolen from you.

My money is invested in stock & bond index funds, which returned 16% this year. That's why you don't leave your long-term savings in cash. My short-term savings is earning 3.8%, still ahead of inflation.

 

[Hans Blaster]

We don't trust the English here.

The ancient enemy.

 

[Chesterton]

The ancient enemy.

The ancient enemy of who?

 

[Nithavela]

When I see people who invested in something shill that thing as hard as hark! does, I get wary.

Besides, isn't the topic of this thread that people can't afford groceries? I guess the suggested course of action is to buy gold...

 

[HARK!]

Buffett's argument is that you can use that money to buy stocks

How is that market crash coming along? Buffet cashed out of the market long ago. He's holding cash now, which I think is quite foolish. I think that he should follow the lead of those who create that cash with a ledger entry. They've been converting those ledger entries into tier one assets.

There was another time in a month of September that the market took a dive on a Friday, then crashed the following Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what happens on Tuesday. Gold and silver remained at all time highs this past Friday.

bonds,

The Chinese are dumping them.

and farmland which actually produce profits and have intrinsic value.

You can buy that with gold too.

However I think that metals will continue to appreciate at a fast pace; and I believe that real estate is in a huge bubble that is fit to burst soon.

I believe that those who are holding large quantities of gold and silver will be in a very good position when that which is undervalued, and that which is overvalued, flip.

 

[HARK!]

Which is calculated how? Don’t show me the spot value, since that's just the arbitrary collective opinion that's ever- changing.

I like the way that you think. I believe that gold is undervalued.

As gold is the primary monetary metal, for simplicity of a superficial calculation, let's pretend for a moment that the secondary monetary metal (silver) is out of the equation.

If we take all of the debt (fiat currency) in the world; and divide it by the number of ounces of gold in the world; we can begin to get an approximation of gold's true value per once.

 

[HARK!]

What's the exchange rate for wampum these days?

Limited. A museum might give you a pretty penny for it.

Gold is still accepted as the primary monetary metal, worldwide.

 

[bèlla]

@HARK! Why are you touting gold on a thread about credit card debt? Your posts are off-topic. Start a thread.

~bella

 

[HARK!]

If I was a man people would appreciate it. But I’m a woman and it makes them uncomfortable. Especially where money’s concerned.

I'm not intimidated by women who understand economics.

 

[HARK!]

@HARK! Why are you touting gold on a thread about credit card debt? Your posts are off-topic. Start a thread.

Watch the video that i posted in my previous post to understand how constitutional money forces governments to exercise fiscal responsibility. No, understanding the relationship between sound money, and fiat currency, is not off topic when we try to comprehend why the little guy is getting squeezed as wealth is being consolidated by the few.

 

[Tuur]

Gold is still accepted as the primary monetary metal, worldwide.

So are rare coins, but selling them is harder than you'd think. I learned this in the 1970's, when I had some almost uncirculated coins that weren't worthy much over face value, but enough I could sell for Christmas money. Took them to the nearest collector coins dealer, a store that sold rare coins in individual pouches. There I learned that while he sold them, he didn't buy them from the public, and the nearest place he knew that did was several hundred miles away. I'd already made a trip of 50+ miles one-way just to get to a store that sold coins. Thus I learned what something is valued is one thing; what you can get for it is another.