Is ignorance bliss? Unfortunately, I think not. During the last recession I wrote on the \u201cW\u201d type recession that called for a double-dip recession. As always, the government did not acknowledge the severity of the recession until it was over thus keeping the populace ignorant of the facts. That downturn was called the \u201cGreat Recession\u201d. The Fed pumped hundreds of billions of dollar into the economy to bring it out of the downturn only to find that it was not enough. True inflation is running at 10% and we are making .1% on our savings causing us to lose money as savers. Where else can you put your money at zero risk? The safe havens are gone and inflation has an insatiable appetite to eat up life savings. The stock market has inherent risks and if there is a meltdown, it will take the price of the good stocks down with the bad. Why? When leveraged investors start losing money, they have to sell some of their good positions to raise cash to offset those losses. Thus we have a roller coaster ride. Additionally, large investment banks short gold and silver stocks to push down their price then buy them back at a cheaper price. They have been playing that game for decades. Gold and silver stock prices will be lifted by their ongoing profits at the current underlying metal prices. They are making money hand over fist and the market will wake up to that fact and send their prices higher.<\/p>\n
The United States has been the world\u2019s unpaid policeman. We are now involved in four war fronts. As a member of NATO, we are spending a higher percentage of our GDP than the other member countries according to the retiring Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The rest of the developed world has had a free ride for this \u201cpolice\u201d protection and I expect that to stop before long. I am sure that this topic has been discussed behind closed doors and that may be one reason why other countries have not yet dumped the U.S. Dollar.<\/p>\n