...

Wow, I dunno TPTB re those countries (Mexico, Brazil Colombia, etc.) becoming leaders in The Knowledge Age.  

I certainly do not see that AT ALL in Peru.  Peru has a presidential campaign on right now, and most of them running are clowns even worse than what we are seeing in the USA.  Worse that the USA?  Well, here's us:



*   *   *

And, yep, all indicators are that the Peruvian electorate is going to vote again for who promises the most to the FSA ...  

Latin America may not have a religious belief in government, but they sure do have a tendency to vote for COLLECTIVISTS at a disturbingly high rate...  And almost all are extremely corrupt...

And THAT comment (blue highlighting mine), spazzdla, is the main reason I HODL Bitcoin.  I have bought, mixed and spent (only on gold) quite a few BTC to become familiar with its easy use, but the bulk of BTC I have now I want to hold for a possible YUGE gain.

A Lotto ticket...

Pioneers?  Let's see:

-- 4% of wallets hold over BTC1.00.  OK, let's stipulate ("MSU" here) that 5% of BTC hodlers actually own over 1.00
-- maximum of 1% of people in Europe, Japan and the USA hold ANY BTC  then:

0.05 * 0.01 = 0.0005 fraction of people own BTC1 or more.  Five hundredths of one percent (in easy-access Internet countries).

In my book, we're pioneers!


EDIT: corrected math error

One of my friends used the 23andme service a couple of years ago (sending in both material from him as well as his wife), before it was clear that genetic info was at risk to being turned over to .gov.  He got a lot of interesting information (including a surprise that his wife may have some TAIWANESE ancestry -- she doubts that and has no Oriental features at all).

He also found certain propensities to health problems and other factoids.  He still gets an occasional update from them when they invent a new procedure.

I WAS interested.  Now not so much.

Our .gov has proved over and over that you give them an inch (one iPhone's password info), and they want a mile (tap into iPhones to catch a drug dealer).

One more:

8:  If they ban cash, the homeless beggars would be cut to pieces if they could not panhandle in the streets or at the stoplights.

That actually would go for almost everyone who is not in a position to have a bank account.  Or anyone who IS poor, the fees would hurt them even worse than those with more wealth.  And the poor are far less likely to have Hard Assets as a defense vs. saving w/ negative rates.

Figures that TPTB are looking at screwing the poor yet again....

...

Cranky4u

Nice article, thanks for posting.  In my case, I find that I can spend CA$H quickly, especially if I want to buy gold.  Paying with cash helps keep buying Au a tad more private.

I'm going to guess that part of your inspiration in posting was the FBI-Apple iPhone imbroglio, where (if I understand correctly, and, ahh, well...) Apple has an excellent essentially unbreakable encryption system for keeping out anyone but the owner (via limiting password attempts).  The FBI wants to break into the California terr's phone to see whom he called...

But we all know what is going to happen if Apple gives in.  Every little drug investigation, every little everything then becomes fair game, and we have even less privacy than before.

.gov has proven many times that they abuse the kinds of powers they now seek.  I'm with Apple here.

...

Hmm, I don't want to overthink that.  I could imagine easily enough a chaotic Wild West of "justice" by the pissed-off adept.  Would a bounty hunter know or care if his target were innocent?

For me, I think that I'll just stay away from the dark markets, nothing I want there anyway.

...

I am always on the lookout for curious things happening on the blockchain, I caught the below wallet that receives and sends a whole lot of transactions (in different ways too) of about $839,000:

15QvRJfv4nDXfiC6kLP4szj5D7VPJDxTUg

BIG TIME donor ($157 million processed, current balance $0):

1F7w3bZsDeEh3X64kkWoYkhdXkJDZKKdtv

Lucky recipient 1JGCLM4U9thYJdArWETGzPDw3k2rdRApVZ (received form 15QvRJ... above) then spends this interesting looking trx:

ece77748e85373e5fedca09722c6d2ba6d680499b2430ac1a57117e8dacbfc8c


Veddy intedestink!

...

I heard comments today about UK Prime Minister Cameron's latest proposal for staying in the EU, the idea is in peril there.  Boris Johnson, the Marxist mayor of London wants OUT (as do many others).  Britain has a much larger economy that Greece, and of course is much more integrated into Europe as a whole.

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/forget-grexit-brexit-europes-latest-threat-76161?t=ezine#.Vsv_o_krLcu

I am not really knowledgeable about Britain and Europe -- it SEEMS like an important relationship, and were Britain to leave that would likely create a LOT of stress and other problems. 

The UK Pound fell today...

...

In my case I am more of a Bitcoin enthusiast, but not hardcore as I do not know enough.  I buy, I spend some (on gold) and hold the rest.

I do not know if the financial world will collapse, my *guess* would be NO, but who really knows?  Not I.

HODLing BTC along with gold and other assets, in a good diversification, will do about as much as is reasonably possible against a currency collapse.

Diversification works in both good financial times and bad ones.  Highly recommended.

...

Armstrong asks the question, then answers it.  In short, only a few assets are "safe".  SILVER (!), CA$H (somewhat safe, depending) and even stocks are.  Many other assets are not, particularly government short-term bonds (which could be changed over to long-term ones by .gov).

"Is Any Asset Safe?"

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/qa/is-any-asset-that-is-safe/

...

This is not real-time, but I like to watch how gold and BTC move against each other.  The below is a GLD (the ETF, so anyone can trade "paper gold") vs. the Bitcoin trust:





This only works ("in near real time") when the NYSE is open for trading.  

*   *   *

Another option is ounce.me which shows the BTC:Gold ratio in the upper left corner, currently 2.74 BTC per troy ounce.

ounce.me

ounce.me also shows LTV, Ethereum, Silver, Platinum, WTI Crude Oil and the S&P500 index.  It's a nice little site.

More...:

5)  Electrons in the bank could easily be seized should .gov want to...
6)  Credit card companies already skim some 3% per transaction, banning CA$H would mean they make even more money.
7)  We would pay to have "money" in the bank, but I doubt that they would pay us to borrow it...  Bigger save/borrow spread.

...

30-Year chart of gold price.  Note long "Bear Market" after 1980 (until 2005 or so).  Note also that these are constant dollars, NOT inflation adjusted.  It is estimated that the gold price would have to rise to about $2200 per ounce to equal the 1980 high in real terms.





And a 30-Day chart, showing gold's big price move up, and the partial retracement down:

...

I started a thread recently on gold having a big decline (after a big price rise a few days before).  That thread was meant for short-term observations.

Perhaps the time has come to discuss gold prices in general.  

As some of you already know, I am a believer in  holding "physical gold", not "paper gold" (the GLD ETF for example).  But, it is paper gold that we see prices now.  Here is a 10 year chart on gold prices.  Gold in general has done very well over the past 10 yeras, even if it is way off its all-time highs.  Note very recent price spike of almost $200 / oz.





kitco.com is the place that the LCS's (Local Coin Shops) get their prices from, and use to calculate their price to you, however, I could not properly load their 10-Year chrt here.

*   *   *

What will happen to the price of gold?  Well, that's what this thread is for...  Please discuss!

...

Brazil: Has been trying Socialism for several years now, in their Socialist experiment (and their vanity to land the Olympics), their country is in a hard recession now.

Russia: While "nominally" not Socialist anymore, they indeed have State Capitalism and Crony Capitalism ruining their economy.

India: Been Socialist for decades (hence still very poor), they may be reforming their economy.

China: While until very recently showing fantastic growth, much of that has been powered by over-investment as well as Crony Capitalism.

South Africa: Trying Socialism with disasterous results...

^^^--- That takes care of the "BRICS"

VENEZUELA and Cuba are both being ground into the dirt economically.  Communism/Socialism too...

*   *   *

Poland has been growing nicely since the early 1990s (on the whole), they are getting close to W. European standards.  How?  Freedom (Capitalism).

Greece?  Socialist government for many years.

QED

...

I use:

-- blockchain.info (mobile version) to send and receive small quantities of Bitcoin, esp. when not at my computer

-- blockchain.info to mix (via their SharedCoin service), then hold only small quantity of BTC there

-- Ledger Nano and Trezor to hold larger quantities of BTC.  I like BOTH the Ledger Nano (very cheap!) and Trezor (recommended here)

Much of the "gold community" does, in fact, NOT like Bitcoin, but the smarter ones do...  

What they realize is that BTC is good diversification even if they hold gold, even if they maybe hold a lot.

*   *   *

Note to people commenting on this thread:

I put this note up on the day AFTER gold's big price jump ($50) to show its partial retracement.

I did not intend for this thread to be a long-running one, there are at least two other threads following gold in general.  Again, this was an observation for the Au price drop a few days ago.

...

Gold will work, of course, as a Store of Value as long as you do not have to board the plane with it.

US resident citizens can always choose platinum if worried about the TSA upon exit or a general gold confiscation (unlikely IMO, but possible).  Silver of course would be free of that confiscation threat, but it is bulky. 

Or saffron?  (Worth more than its weight in gold I have read)

...

Martin warming up a wee bit to gold, it's just one paragraph so I copy 'n' paste it below (blue highlighting mine):

"While government may see gold as a barbaric relic of monetary history, it still will serve as a hedge against them from the private individual side. Our biggest problem is the hunt for money. They are of the opinion that it is not their fiscal mismanagement that is causing the instability, but rather it is that we have money that they see as theirs. This is the classic battle between public and private that I have warned about. You may not be able to travel with gold anymore as they close the corral and try to slaughter us for money. History still demonstrates that they will collapse, and that is when gold will provide its historically based purpose as the hedge against government. It is not a hedge against inflation nor will it track with the increase in money supply. It is driven by confidence and the lack thereof. When the latter raises it head, then it is time for gold to rise. Keep in mind I would recommend real gold coins of bullion value common dates compared to bullion. At least then you can claim you are a coin collector. That worked before, at least in the 1930s."

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/precious-metals/gold/gold-the-hedge-against-government-2/

*   *   *

I agree w/ Armstrong.  Confidence...

...

That's some great new technology.  It does seem like it will take years before we see that kind of permanent memory in products.  A good technology for permanent memory is not available yet IIRC.

If accessing that information is fast, then it would be easy to store & use the whole blockchain.  And have room for whole lot more.

Then I guess we are back to the issue of speed of moving data around.