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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LLCF who wrote (53478)	6/1/2000 3:36:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 116764

David, My view is not "Nuvoe". It is a reflection of the current financial system as it is, not as it should be, or as I might want it to be. And yes, gold confiscation is always a possibility, but let's not forget that Roosevelt didn't just issue an executive order confiscating gold. He had the support and permission of a majority of congressmen and senators. From the link you posted: "In the hastily adopted act of Congress of March 9, blanket authority was given the President to do pretty much as he saw fit regarding money and banking, including authority for the seizing of the gold and gold certificates in the hands of the people." Also, bear in mind that this was the bottom of the great depression, when 1/2 of all US banks had failed (DESPITE BEING ON THE GOLD STANDARD). In fact, as was presented in an earlier article several days ago involving speakers to the World Gold Council, it was partially DUE TO NATIONS RETURNING TO THE GOLD AFTER WWI WITH A PRICE PEGGED TO THE PRE-WAR PRICE OF GOLD THAT WAS SUBSTANTIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEPRESSION. It was stated that after the inflation caused by WWI, nations once again pegged to gold, but failed to increase the price of gold to compensate for the inflation that occurred due to the war. Thus, economic contraction was inevitable with prices eventually returning to pre-WWI levels on many consumer goods. (this was a bit of information that I had been quite unaware of and found rather interesting). But just because the current financial system is a "confidence game" utterly dependent on managing consumer confidence in the value of their money, the same principle applies to a gold based system. Any financial system that uses metal/paper proxies in lieu of physical bartering of services or goods requires and exchange medium that engenders consumer confidence. And just as deficit spending or poor economic policies embraced by politicians can weaken confidence in the national currency, metal backed currency faces the problem of sudden influxes of metal hitting the market due to significant discoveries of the metal (Spanish conquest of the Americas, California Gold Rush, Alaskan Gold Rush... etc). Those events ALSO shook confidence in national currencies with the result being massive price increases in the local areas as merchants took advantage of the needs and requirements of these newly minted nouveau riche miners. Just as you claim current economic policies may cause a crisis of confidence in Fiat currency, a natural disaster of national or global proportion can negatively impact the confidence of a gold-backed currency. People would simply return to the fundamental barter system for exchanging goods and services. After all, that is all a currency represents... a means of exchanging goods and services and public confidence can be shaken in ANY currency under the right conditions. Btw, if we ever did return to a metal backed currency, I would certainly not favor gold simple because its rarity is out of proportion to the world's ability to grow economically. I would much prefer silver. Regards, Ron

To: LLCF who wrote (53478)	2/1/2002 12:34:08 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 116764

Fake sites aim to teach investors a lesson Our tax dollars at work . . . cnn.com Fake sites aim to teach investors a lesson January 30, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) -- McWhortle Enterprises Inc. seems like the perfect investment for the post-September 11 world: a solid company, praised by analysts and customers, selling a handheld biohazard detector guaranteed to beep and flash in the presence of anthrax or other deadly germs. Only one problem: The company doesn't exist. McWhortle Enterprises is a government hoax cloaked in respectability and planted on the Internet, waiting to deliver a lesson about the risks of online investing to unsuspecting consumers. The Securities and Exchange Commission, the principal agency behind the fictitious company, was announcing Wednesday that it has seeded the Internet with a series of such Web sites laying in wait to say "gotcha" to naive investors, according to a source familiar with the project. The SEC would only say that it was holding a news conference to discuss "investor education initiatives." Barbara Roper, the Consumer Federation of America's director of investor protection, said she has no problem with the SEC's unorthodox methods. "There's clearly no intent here to do anything but educate the public in a way that might actually catch people's attention and make them realize they were that close to being scammed," she said. "You need to make the risk real to people." On Friday, the SEC issued a fake news release on behalf of McWhortle, saying the company would go public Wednesday, with company President Thomas McWhortle III holding a news conference at SEC headquarters. The release was distributed mainly to Web sites by a service for financial news. Financial news agencies that received the fake release were warned. [...] After the release was sent, the McWhortle Web site received more than 120,000 visits, the source said.