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Hi Tibbs
Ownership of gold in a Kinesis account is digitised in the form of Kau. - 1 Kau = 1 gram of gold. - Kau fractionalised down to 5 decimal places can be transferred to a visa debit card and spent as ordinary money. - Hope this helps.
So isn't digital gold just a another version of paper or synthetic gold, wont it still be possible to manipulate the price ?
Hi Mr Gnome
Anyone who does a weekly shop knows that inflation - CPI and RPI - is higher than the quoted figures. Studies in the USA suggest it is anywhere between 5 - 10% and is probably that in the UK. There are also all kinds of fiddles such as shrinkflation. At one time, a girl would only need one Mars bar to make her put on weight and now it's nearer two. Leave well alone, say I! I won't even go near the unemployment figures question.
Your link included so much data that I couldn't possibly answer everything here. There are many pros and cons to having a fixed currency exchange rate but I am in favour of floating rates. Being on a gold standard back in the 19th Century was fine because the internal adjustments necessary to maintain parity with gold were easier to accomplish. Those adjustments were almost invariably to wages. So the landowner or manufacturer largely was OK, but the workers had to suffer. Most didn't have a vote and there weren't any unions, so who cares? It's much different today, of course. Even our Harold baulked at fighting the unions in 1967 when Britain devalued. It didn't affect the pound in your pocket though - laugh, laugh.
A country's exchange rate is, in my opinion, the most important safety valve for its economy. When Britain joined the ERM in the early 1990s, it lost over a third of a million jobs during a six month period because the rate was too high. You'd think that would have been a lesson in why not to join the Euro. Oh no, we had some idiots all for it - Blair, Ashdown, Hestletine etc. We now look at the southern EuroZone states and say 'we told you so'. The likes of Greece has had its economy trashed and only gets by from fiscal transfers given by Germany, Holland and Finland, in the main - the kindness of strangers. The Euro is worse than the gold standard - at least you can come off gold. Come off the Euro and you have all your debt to pay back to the strong Germans and Americans in a near worthless currency.
Floating rates are subject to manipulation but they do adjust quickly. Obviously the net affect of that adjustment is the same as a devaluation but at least no people seem to riot on the streets - politicians love a hidden fix.
We also had the removal of capital controls in the 1980s under Thatcher and that has increased the money supply and velocity. Foreign capital has flooded in - and sterling has moved out - which has meant more investment, higher productivity and an increase in GDP. The graph shows before 1971, all those factors were more subdued.
Gold itself can be considered fiat - shock, horror. When the going gets tough, gold gets ditched. The First World War would certainly have been over by Christmas if sterling hadn't been floated - the combatants would simply have run out of money.
The big problem is how to stop governments from borrowing so much money. If you can answer that one, you're a better woman than I GD.
Regards
Aoife
Hi Mr Gnome,
Enjoyed and agreed with your post, thank you!
You are certainly right about how using CPI to gauge inflation is gives a totally false result, in favour of the government I would add!
The UK Tory government (Cameron )decided to change the original contract terms T&C for annual increases on all contributory public services pensions from RPI to CPI, (even on those already being drawn) without any consultation.
I was involved with the cross union team of representatives who took the case to court who decided in the unions favour, the government appealed and lost, when this failed it went to the high court and those judges supported the government , our unions lost the case with no more rights of appeal!
What do you suppose the government misters and judges non contributory pension increases are based on, certainly not CPI!
I'm glad Aoife was thoughtful enough to remind me, yes indeed
Happy ANZAC day Australia and New Zealand!
Stop, please god sake stop, stoop" Turkish Lieutenant says... huge respects to Anzacs and Brits
When your enemy shows you more humanity than your own commander.
This is heartbreaking to watch.
My deepest respects to the ANZAC and Turkish soldiers who fought at Gallipoli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30SZscIFu78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnCtcvUyn4g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaiT1X01tPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n84MWP40Bgk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stDaQsfg2A0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5rXb_XejCs
https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/press/all-books/pdfs/2014/Puna-Wai-Korero_sample.pdf
In the 3rd film of back to the future...the Old West Doc explained elements of the future.. People running(jogging) for fun and they were rolling around...
Brian Cox went to a ghost gold mining town in the mid west as part of his Wonders of the Universe. He was talking to a kind of curator of the town and she said and I quote "the miners wold be astounded how valuable gold is today compared to then" And that's a suppressed manipulated price...imagine what it would be if it became unsurpressed ? It goes to show how far we have come in the degradation of fiat currencies if a suppressed gold price is more valuable in real terms than gold back then when it was real money....
Imagine going back aka Doc Brown in the Dolorean and explaining paper gold contracts to them...unlimited naked short gold contracts backed by nothing that can be printed at will to push the price of the real stuff down !
Fantastic Spindler, it was all about the real gold in the westerns!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubVc2MQwMkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo
But then High Noon is all about real integrity and also how fickle are the masses!
(This was the first film in real time)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MooNISe8aM
Very appropriate in these times!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7_BpvWDZy8
On the subject of showmen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MICPyrnGYwg
Tibbs
Hi Afur,
I enjoyed your post's, thank you.
Nigel Farage is no fool, but he is just as devious as the other politicians, he really only cares about Nigel, but he came up with a package just as full in inaccuracies, flawed information and prejudices that hit the right buttons at that time, it appealed to those that feel ignored ,frustrated feel powerless but wanted to rebel against what they saw as a political elite out of touch with ordinary people.
Even Nigel has left his original party, not quite sure what he is in now, that's how committed he is and despite all his claims prior to Brexit he is now denying that he ever said that the people would be better off!
To be fair the media like Farage & Boris for their showmanship and celebrity status, not because they have integrity or really offer any solutions, or better ways forward, quite the contrary as will be proven as time goes on, but never mind even that will provide good controversial headlines for the media!
The wall street bets crowd scared the **** out of the establishment over one lousy stock...imaginewhat they could do politically if they organised. Imagine what it would do for silver and gold miners if they understood like their great grandfathers what money really is.
I am a massive fan of westerns and i noted , they showed that in the past paper money was treated with suspicion bt was then accepted because it was backed by gold and silver....then well we know what the next step was.....i was watching breaking bad once when his wife showed the pallet with about 2 tonnes of paper money on it. Now i know you ca convert that into hard assets but it's just a load of paper. And by having the reserve currency the US has been getting stuff for free since bretton woods becuse they just print paper bcked by nothing more than aircraft carriers
Relevant back to our Egyptian miner i am reminded of one of the founding fathers who said "a dollar is mined out of the ground" Perhaps if even a cohort of the electorate could be taught what money really is (and it's not Fiat(they need fiat explaining first) and it's not crypto currency either or beanie babies....it's precious metals...) and what democracy really is(and it's not cronyism and lobbying) we might get change started.....but i'm not hopeful.....if anyone can change things its the millenials but they to wake up because they are the ones who really are having their lunch eaten, breakfast and dinner too.....i take great mischevious delight when i get the chance to explain all their tax goes to pay agreements between govt and previus gens aka pensions and yu arent getting the same deal. Want to buy a house ..sadlle up with debt to pay out someone who bought a house in 1960. You're in a cesspit of ponzi schemes...but thye don;t even know what a ponzi scheme is....and thats how govt like it ....
The term elite always vexes me because although they occupy this space, money and power aside they really are not that at all. They really are more soft gangsters. But i suspect proper hard gangsters of the old school back in the day probably had more ethics and code than the soft political gangsters who people stupidly vote for time and again.
I am very firmly of the opinion one should either not vote or should spoil the ballot. If enough people did this it would send a shockwave through the establishment as there would have no credible mandate. If even a cohort did this say the Millenials, they would be able to say "not my government" After theWalls Streets bet thing and reddit....perhaps we need a Gideon to rise up and preach this gospel to the electorate or a cohort of it...it would rattle the politicians on all sides to the core...it would likely create space for someone or someones in the background to seize the initiative and change the political landscape
Hi Spindler,
In hindsight possibly I was over generous as to the integrity and genuine nature of the of so many of our political elite!
As to Ant & Deck and your summing up of the the quality of the TV pumped out , you are absolutely spot on!
I think you're wrong. Having read the board for some time, it's clear to me that many people have seen some things that human beings really ought not to see, and they have formed their opinions based on that experience. I include myself in that statement.
Aoife
Seems a bit of a generaIisation, can;t speak for others but I have traveled extensively for business and personally. I studied German, speak it proficiently (to get jobs that require it) and have lived there periodically.
I would suggest many on here have not travelled much or experienced life outside the UK......they sit for years in their comfortable armchairs reading the Guardian..and then regurgitate their views on here!
Totally agree with your post there Arfur.....take Cameron as an example.....he was asked long long ago why he wanted to be PM ? His answer was "Because I think I'd be rather good at it " WOW....that's it nothing else, he thinks in his privleged entitled spoilt b*****d (rember him from Viz)excuse for a brain that's the ticket. A man so of touch with 99 percent of the electorate he knows what's good for them and the country.
Imagine holding an interview and that was the candidates response with no more foundation...no experience, no credentials. Outside of a cushy number at Carlton he never worked in the real world and he got that gig by cronyism...i believe his 2nd private gig was greensill !
Mr Tibbles "where they forget all their political principles of serving their country and the electorate in exchange for a seat on the top table and all the extra's that go with it! "
They had no interest in serving any kind of principles, country or electorate in the first place ! You were far too generous.
British politics was and is a corrupt cesspit and the more one understands the more one recognises the smell.
It is not a country of democracy but of cronyism. TPTB lord over us and believe we are all as dumb as **** Unfortunately by a massive percentage the electorate are just that. Tune in to I'm a celebrity, BGT(which is a joke because people fly in from elsewhere for this so how is it BGT ?, stickler for meaning of language me) x factor etc and they are part of the problem dumbed down proles being fed prole food. And it's amazingly succesful from a commercial point of view, thats how someone as boring as Simon Cowell with the imagination of a sticklebat leeps repeating the same tired format and comes out a winner. Take Ant and Dec people seem desperate to have these mediocre clueless non entities on their screens for ever. At least the chuckle brothers were never meant to be taken seriously but they are the chuckle brothers in tuxedo's. Even after one was drunk and nearly killed people in a car he is rehabilitated back on because the producers have no backbone and want the same format for ever. At least Eric and Ernie(well at least Eric) had genuine talent.
We have a ruling class that have no interest in this country other than to leech off it. Aided and abetted by a rotten crony media. The only way to rise above what they are handing out a lifetime of debt servitude is make some money or get out of dodge or both. I think this country had the golden years after ww2 for the common man/woman. That pretty much ended 2008 on wards if not before
Perfect Arfur.
Happy ANZAC day Australia and New Zealand. Thanks for always being there.
Aoife
Hi Mr T
Well, it reminds me of that Italian proverb: If you want to know how rotten a fish is, look at its head.
It's just politicians, isn't it? It goes to show that Enoch Powell's line of 'nearly all political careers end in failure,' pretty much hits the spot. Love him or hate him, Nigel Farage is clever enough to know that if you want to change something, focus on the one thing you are passionate about. Learn all about the subject and you'll hit the opposition for six. William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury and the Suffragettes (and so many others) showed him the way. If you have an ego too big to handle or just want to go for the perks, then become a politician and enjoy it while it lasts. You'll end up being hated by the people and achieve nothing of use - most likely you'll end up being a mass murderer like 'hello, I'm Tony'.
My solution has always been that the peoples of the world should club together and buy a distant island somewhere. Once the politicians are elected - or have elected themselves - we just fly them off to the island and we live in peace and properity until the next election. Rinse and repeat. But no one ever listens to me.
You see Mr T, there is a working class solution to every middle class problem.
Aoife
Cryptocurrency Huge change beckons in the payments system.
Ainslie Wealth and Instant Pay flicked a switch this week to enable real-time payments for crypto assets. It was a small action, but one that will have a big impact on emerging services built on the distributed ledger technology that enables bitcoin.
Ainslie, the third-largest gold dealer in Australia, has sold a digital representation of gold on the ethereum blockchain for the past three years, but there’s been a problem: Ainslie has had to wait for the traditional payment system to deliver it cleared funds before providing the token to the buyer. Much of the delay is a result of banks’ clunky ‘‘batch’’ processes and legacy systems that can take several days to clear a payment.
But now, Ainslie will use Instant Pay’s connection to the ‘‘new payments platform’’ (NPP) to receive customer funds instantaneously. This will save costs and reduce risks.
‘‘There is a big opportunity to bring bullion into the blockchain space, but given the chargeback risk, transaction limits and the cost of credit cards, we haven’t been able to give customers the normal, online shopping experience, including payment in one, uninterrupted shopping session,’’ said Ainslie Bullion director Paul Engeman.
But now it can. The arrival of realtime payments for crypto assets has been made possible after the major banks spent more than $1 billion building the NPP, a demand of the Reserve Bank. Instant Pay is connecting to the system via another ADI, Cuscal.
The NPP is a piece of critical national infrastructure set to unleash a wave of payments innovation, as hosts help fintechs connect to the real-time system to accelerate service delivery.
‘‘There are a growing number of NPP-connected fintechs supporting an expanding range of interesting use cases,’’ said Adrian Lovney, New Payments Platform Australia chief executive. ‘‘Either that’s real-time transfers to crypto and stock exchanges any time of the day or week or paying gig-workers and taxi drivers at the end of every shift. It’s a reminder that beyond speed, one of the key features of the NPP is that it is available 24/7/365.’’
Ainslie started offering bitcoin assets in September 2017 and in 2018 launched a digital representation of hard gold bars.
Thanks Cowichan
Many years ago I read a book that suggested one should consider ones life at the end. Imagined you were in the wooden cask, looking around in the church. Who would you want there? How would you like them to remember you? What impact would you like to be able to know, that you had on their life?..and a lot more
Never forgot that book
FIRST THINGS FIRST...Stephen J Covey (appears the kindle version is inferior to the paper)
best
the Gnome.
Are we doing alright or what? There is so much bunkum around, I thought I would have a look at some figures in the public domain, over a 20 year period.
Step 1: What is CPI?
CPI stands for Consumer Price Index. CPI is often used interchangeably with inflation because CPI measures the change in prices over time that consumers pay for goods and services.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services
The issue with using CPI to gauge inflation is that it is a basket of goods and services. It is what is included and not included in this basket that causes issues.
CPI puts expenditures into 8 majors groups: food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation, education and communication, and other goods and services.
It does not include investment items, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and life insurance.
How inflation impacted investment items
It seems we’re paying 56.3% more overall for items since 2000. The purchasing power of money is shrinking. OK
But none of these components have increased as much as investment items such as real estate and stocks, which are not included in inflation (CPI) calculations.
Since 2000, the S&P 500 is up 181% (from $1,469.25 to $4,128.80) and the average home price is up 110% (from $165,300 to $346,800.) ... 78% in UK...
In Australia, same period
Sydney 102%
Melb 131%
Darwin 60%
Canberra 151%
Brisbane 98%
Perth 88%
Adelaide 119%
So if these two categories were included in CPI’s calculation, inflation would be much higher each year.
[The other way of looking at this is that best not to keep cash in the basement }
So in short inflation is higher than the CPI number.
I don’t know what the “true” CPI number would be if you include investment items. Salary 2–3% annually, are you really staying ahead of inflation or are you losing purchasing power?
If real estate and stocks are the simple strategies to get rich, we should all follow suit...or do we invest in something else?
The Federal Reserve?
The federal reserve control the United States monetary system. And since the US went off the gold standard in 1971 their impact has been sensational.
The Fed, directly or indirectly, inflates the prices of investment assets. As a result, “the rich get richer.”
A while back I stumbled across a website, https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
Its worth a careful look, and do your own research! -> Dont keep $ in bank
It provides a variety of graphs displaying the impact going off the gold standard has had on the economy. Two of the best graphs show the impact it has had on income by percentile.
The other thing you can look at is the POG. In 2000 about $280/oz, Now $1750. That’s 525% increase.
You chose…
Interested in what you think!
Celebrating ANZAC today. Started in Gallipolli. Led to the wrong beach by the elites, and we don't seem to learn?
best
the
Excellent advice goldgnome.
Here's my 'cleansing' contribution to ideas actually worth your time :-)
https://www.ted.com/talks/bj_miller_what_really_matters_at_the_end_of_life/transcript?rid=tHzWo4CbCvoG&utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=watchNow
Well I guess each to their own defintion of fun. I think people have to be far more discocerning about what they chose to read. There is an incredibale amount of uninformed, negatively biased, anxiety dripping rubbish that passes for news and "informative" articles, and allows people to pass their time. On the other hand there is a large amount of very considered and well analysed writing. Chose well what and who you read. Life is shorter than one thinks.
I am tending to be more discerning these days, and if I must read something I read a good book by an author who I can do some proper research on, rather than flip and flop in the news feeds and twitter tweets and twats (not that I ever spent much time with that rubbish)
Just passing by...
best
the gnome