Yes it is raining soup while most are starving. The human condition has not changed, but the pace has quickened. As Dickens observed of a certain time close to the founding of the USA: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
I have not met most people. There are definitely some who are starving. I would say that the human condition is not what Charles Dickens believed it was in 1859. Quite a few humans alive at that time were dead within seven years from the date of publication of his novel _A Tale of Two Cities_. Astronomers would say that we are neither in Spring nor in Winter, but in Summer right now. As to whether souls are going to heaven or the other direction, that is up to the judge, and I am not the judge. Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. God's will be done. Amen.
Some superlatives are more equal than others. -smile-
Maybe if you tell me a bit more about what you know, or have heard, or what you want to do, that would point me toward the way to shine a bit of light on your choices. Are you only curious or do you want to get involved somehow?
No entity (Vanguard Indexes, savings accts) has been able to protect my lifelong savings erosion from inflation. I was fortunate to move some into metals 6 months ago. We Boomers are concerned that Mighty Powers will find a way to destroy/vaporize crypto. Poof, it’s gone. How does a tech dummy begin to wrap his aging brain around the crypto phenomenon? Not desperate yet, but getting closer...
Well, the first thing to understand is that you don't have to be connected to anything to keep your coins. There is such a thing as a paper wallet. There are a number of "cold storage" strategies which hold value without being online. So the mighty powers will have difficulty actually getting at what they want to destroy, even in the event that they are as clever as they portray themselves at being (which they aren't).
Another vital rule is: not your keys, not your coins. If you don't have the private key and the password to unlock your own wallet, if you are using an account based system on some online exchange, you have a derivative of whatever coin they show in your account. So you will want to learn about some good wallet technologies.
There are a bunch of people I find useful in this regard. An old friend is Mark E. Jeftovic who built EasyDNS and some other good things. He has some books you could read. Another friend is Wendy McElroy who writes for Roger Ver over at News.Bitcoin.com and there are, of course, a lot of basics at Bitcoin.org so you can explore outward from those links perhaps.
You will want some sort of account at an exchange to convert fiat currencies to crypto and back. Coinbase is a reasonably effective exchange right now. But keep an eye on the matter, and remember that MtGOX fell hard that one time, which calamity still reverberates in our industry to this day. Make some purchases and then use a browser plugin wallet (Coinbase has one that works) to move your coins from your exchange account to your own wallet and your own control.
You will want to spend some time on privacy technology topics and for that I often recommend NBTV - Naomi Brockwell has a YouTube channel, a Substack, and various other ways of spreading the news. The more you know about how to avoid being spied upon, the happier you are likely to remain.
As I mention in my essay above linked (previous reply) you can find out about current prices at CoinMarketCap.com and various other sites. If you stick with the top 100 currencies by market cap, you won't go far wrong in my opinion - they will continue to be interoperable and exchange for fiat currencies for some time to come.
When I asked my financial advisor to buy some crypto, he said “we don’t do that because it’s backed by nothing.” I didn’t really look into it too much more after that. I’m still confused.
There's a lot of information so it isn't unusual to find it confusing.
If you want to ask your financial advisor what the USA dollar is backed by, that might be an amusing conversation. He might say, "It is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States," which while true is a bit hard to pin down. How much credit does the USA have with $35 trillion in debt? Put another way, in 1913 it took $20 to buy an ounce of gold. Earlier today it was $2532. The gold hasn't changed, but the dollar is worth much less. If you want something that is backed by a commodity, gold, goldbacks, silver, and American coins from before 1964 are great. They have the intrinsic value of the precious metals they represent.
Somewhat more speculative but destined to do well in the coming months is the stocks of companies that mine gold, silver, copper, and other minerals. These tend to perform really well as gold continues its ascent into the stratosphere. One of the best investment opportunities I provided to my financial newsletter readers back in 2004 was a platinum mining company that generated a $409 per share high in 2007 against a $1.55 entry at recommendation. {blows on fingernails, rubs on shirt}
Crypto represents the value of electricity and computing power that is needed to generate it. Like everything else in the world, its value is not absolute but relative. "A thing is worth what it brings in exchange." Fifteen years ago when it was new, Bitcoin (BTC) had a very low relative value. Today one BTC brings $59,600 in exchange. Some of that increase in worth is due to the fact that a great many more people use Bitcoin today than did in 2009. Some of it has to do with the fact that a whole lot of dollars were created after the global financial crisis, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and Citigroup becoming a penny stock in early 2009, and during the plandemic. The national debt has soared and the purchasing power of the dollar has sunk. Your mileage may vary.
"If you want to ask your financial advisor what the USA dollar is backed by, that might be an amusing conversation. He might say, "It is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States," which while true is a bit hard to pin down. How much credit does the USA have with $35 trillion in debt?"
That made me laugh. Thanks for the links, I'll just go and plumb the depths of my ignorance on that one!
The war between the states was begun by the declaration of secession adopted by the state of South Carolina in the 12th month of 1860. It remained unsettled after the surrender of certain armies of the Confederate states in 1865. There was a certain act reflecting the attempted settlement of certain grievances in 1878 called posse comitatus, but it was fully abrogated in 1993 by the feral gooferment near Waco, Texas.
My references are to the supreme court of the United States opinion in Texas vs White of 1869 and to the corporation of the district of "Columbia" act of 1871 which established a false front, the corporation of the United States. I no longer refer to that district by the name of the freemason Columbus but by the term "district of corruption." As always, your mileage may vary.
Some time ago I re-published my essay, "USA: RIP" from the 10th month of 2001. In it, I go over some of the "recent unpleasantness."
Many people have noticed that for most of the actual years since 1776 the United States has been at war. Other people have noticed a sort of Poisson distribution of wars over the last few hundred years - see Michael Flynn, _An Introduction to Cliology_ in the appendices of his novel _In the Country of the Blind_ mentioned and reviewed in some measure in my essay here:
As with a great many things about the affairs of mankind, "it is worse than you know" would be a fair summary. That checkerboard square you see in various places, such as the apron of the Red Queen shown in the Alice in Wonderland painting in my essay earlier this week ("No, I don't think I will make it make sense"), on the cap brims of thug police enforcers in London and Chicago, and on the floors of their temples to the demons the freemasons worship, there has been a sort of vast abuse of mankind by those who claim authority over us and treat us like pawns in a tabletop game of strategy. It represents some aspects of the history of perfidy and betrayal that have been current for 200,000 years. The war has been going on for a very long time, and the suffering has been enormous.
So, yes, "events" rather than just one singular event. You'll find this answer incomplete. So do I.
Yes it is raining soup while most are starving. The human condition has not changed, but the pace has quickened. As Dickens observed of a certain time close to the founding of the USA: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
I have not met most people. There are definitely some who are starving. I would say that the human condition is not what Charles Dickens believed it was in 1859. Quite a few humans alive at that time were dead within seven years from the date of publication of his novel _A Tale of Two Cities_. Astronomers would say that we are neither in Spring nor in Winter, but in Summer right now. As to whether souls are going to heaven or the other direction, that is up to the judge, and I am not the judge. Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. God's will be done. Amen.
Some superlatives are more equal than others. -smile-
Always appreciate your writing, JD. Much to ponder. Can you recommend an ecoin 101, Boomer guide to crypto $ for the curious?
Well, I don't know where to start. I wrote a fairly general overview which I posted here:
https://l5news.substack.com/p/free-market-money
Maybe if you tell me a bit more about what you know, or have heard, or what you want to do, that would point me toward the way to shine a bit of light on your choices. Are you only curious or do you want to get involved somehow?
No entity (Vanguard Indexes, savings accts) has been able to protect my lifelong savings erosion from inflation. I was fortunate to move some into metals 6 months ago. We Boomers are concerned that Mighty Powers will find a way to destroy/vaporize crypto. Poof, it’s gone. How does a tech dummy begin to wrap his aging brain around the crypto phenomenon? Not desperate yet, but getting closer...
Well, the first thing to understand is that you don't have to be connected to anything to keep your coins. There is such a thing as a paper wallet. There are a number of "cold storage" strategies which hold value without being online. So the mighty powers will have difficulty actually getting at what they want to destroy, even in the event that they are as clever as they portray themselves at being (which they aren't).
Another vital rule is: not your keys, not your coins. If you don't have the private key and the password to unlock your own wallet, if you are using an account based system on some online exchange, you have a derivative of whatever coin they show in your account. So you will want to learn about some good wallet technologies.
There are a bunch of people I find useful in this regard. An old friend is Mark E. Jeftovic who built EasyDNS and some other good things. He has some books you could read. Another friend is Wendy McElroy who writes for Roger Ver over at News.Bitcoin.com and there are, of course, a lot of basics at Bitcoin.org so you can explore outward from those links perhaps.
You will want some sort of account at an exchange to convert fiat currencies to crypto and back. Coinbase is a reasonably effective exchange right now. But keep an eye on the matter, and remember that MtGOX fell hard that one time, which calamity still reverberates in our industry to this day. Make some purchases and then use a browser plugin wallet (Coinbase has one that works) to move your coins from your exchange account to your own wallet and your own control.
You will want to spend some time on privacy technology topics and for that I often recommend NBTV - Naomi Brockwell has a YouTube channel, a Substack, and various other ways of spreading the news. The more you know about how to avoid being spied upon, the happier you are likely to remain.
As I mention in my essay above linked (previous reply) you can find out about current prices at CoinMarketCap.com and various other sites. If you stick with the top 100 currencies by market cap, you won't go far wrong in my opinion - they will continue to be interoperable and exchange for fiat currencies for some time to come.
Let me know if these thoughts seem to be helpful.
When I asked my financial advisor to buy some crypto, he said “we don’t do that because it’s backed by nothing.” I didn’t really look into it too much more after that. I’m still confused.
There's a lot of information so it isn't unusual to find it confusing.
If you want to ask your financial advisor what the USA dollar is backed by, that might be an amusing conversation. He might say, "It is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States," which while true is a bit hard to pin down. How much credit does the USA have with $35 trillion in debt? Put another way, in 1913 it took $20 to buy an ounce of gold. Earlier today it was $2532. The gold hasn't changed, but the dollar is worth much less. If you want something that is backed by a commodity, gold, goldbacks, silver, and American coins from before 1964 are great. They have the intrinsic value of the precious metals they represent.
Somewhat more speculative but destined to do well in the coming months is the stocks of companies that mine gold, silver, copper, and other minerals. These tend to perform really well as gold continues its ascent into the stratosphere. One of the best investment opportunities I provided to my financial newsletter readers back in 2004 was a platinum mining company that generated a $409 per share high in 2007 against a $1.55 entry at recommendation. {blows on fingernails, rubs on shirt}
Crypto represents the value of electricity and computing power that is needed to generate it. Like everything else in the world, its value is not absolute but relative. "A thing is worth what it brings in exchange." Fifteen years ago when it was new, Bitcoin (BTC) had a very low relative value. Today one BTC brings $59,600 in exchange. Some of that increase in worth is due to the fact that a great many more people use Bitcoin today than did in 2009. Some of it has to do with the fact that a whole lot of dollars were created after the global financial crisis, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and Citigroup becoming a penny stock in early 2009, and during the plandemic. The national debt has soared and the purchasing power of the dollar has sunk. Your mileage may vary.
"If you want to ask your financial advisor what the USA dollar is backed by, that might be an amusing conversation. He might say, "It is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States," which while true is a bit hard to pin down. How much credit does the USA have with $35 trillion in debt?"
That made me laugh. Thanks for the links, I'll just go and plumb the depths of my ignorance on that one!
(Privacy notes particularly appreciated, thank you.)
"This is what I do." I am glad to be of service. God bless you and your family. Amen.
Another excellent article, thank you Jim!
"...the conversion of the republic to a tyranny in 1871 as an outcome of the war between the states..."
I'm curious which particular event(s) you are referencing with this statement.
The war between the states was begun by the declaration of secession adopted by the state of South Carolina in the 12th month of 1860. It remained unsettled after the surrender of certain armies of the Confederate states in 1865. There was a certain act reflecting the attempted settlement of certain grievances in 1878 called posse comitatus, but it was fully abrogated in 1993 by the feral gooferment near Waco, Texas.
My references are to the supreme court of the United States opinion in Texas vs White of 1869 and to the corporation of the district of "Columbia" act of 1871 which established a false front, the corporation of the United States. I no longer refer to that district by the name of the freemason Columbus but by the term "district of corruption." As always, your mileage may vary.
Some time ago I re-published my essay, "USA: RIP" from the 10th month of 2001. In it, I go over some of the "recent unpleasantness."
https://l5news.substack.com/p/usa-rip
Many people have noticed that for most of the actual years since 1776 the United States has been at war. Other people have noticed a sort of Poisson distribution of wars over the last few hundred years - see Michael Flynn, _An Introduction to Cliology_ in the appendices of his novel _In the Country of the Blind_ mentioned and reviewed in some measure in my essay here:
https://l5news.substack.com/p/slave-revolts
As with a great many things about the affairs of mankind, "it is worse than you know" would be a fair summary. That checkerboard square you see in various places, such as the apron of the Red Queen shown in the Alice in Wonderland painting in my essay earlier this week ("No, I don't think I will make it make sense"), on the cap brims of thug police enforcers in London and Chicago, and on the floors of their temples to the demons the freemasons worship, there has been a sort of vast abuse of mankind by those who claim authority over us and treat us like pawns in a tabletop game of strategy. It represents some aspects of the history of perfidy and betrayal that have been current for 200,000 years. The war has been going on for a very long time, and the suffering has been enormous.
So, yes, "events" rather than just one singular event. You'll find this answer incomplete. So do I.