Zig's Place Chat Friday Evening 8-7-20

 Zig's Place Chat Friday Evening 8-7-20

Zig   Welcome to ZIG'S PLACE! This Chat Room will have NO MODS and nobody will ever get BANNED...This is a two month experiment  I invite everyone in the Dinar Community to participate...Post news articles, rumors, etc...You may advertise other chats and forums here freely including links...Will I delete any posts??...

Well I do not like racist remarks, ethnic slurs nor death threats...also, please do not criticize another person's English...Hopefully we will have people here from other countries/cultures whose first language is not English...

I want everyone to feel comfortable being here so would appreciate that...I do not mind a little trouble as many of you know...lol...we in the US have an election approaching so I hope we have some lively debates and hope we have a balance between Trump and Biden supporters...On October 1st I will decide if I will keep this room open or close it...What will factor into that decision??...many things which I will not get into at this time...

However, I will never add MODS nor ever BAN anyone...I do not like MODS, having been one...lol...IMO MODS kill chat rooms...they are control freaks that can't leave their biases out of their decisions....okay, I hope you like the room and please invite others and spread the word....love to have some people in here from Iraq...so if you know anyone please invite them....or if you see anyone on Twitter from Iraq give them the link....okay, that's all for now.

Zig  This will take a long time to become very active...I will not be here much at the beginning as I have promoting to do, etc...I have a lot of experience doing this and know that patience is needed....Have a great day and please spread the word about this chat room....Emphasize NO MODS and NO BANNING....Thanks.....

Zig  Sam......assuming that you will participate here, what do you know, if anything, about that Abe guy who is on PTR calls??....claims the GCR is close....claims to have inside info....anyone???.....okay....later.....

Butterfly  Hang on, the intel I have, the dinar is going to happen this month. I don't know if it is true, but I am involved with another organization and they are buying as much dinar as they can, AND paying big bucks to buy your dinar. I'm talking in the millions. This other organization has nothing to do with dinar and always said it was a hoax, but now they have someone that will pay millions to buy your dinar. After talking to a friend that talked to his friend, she told him DO NOT sell your dinar, it is happening this month.

Zig  butterfly : LOL....Yup....If anyone is having trouble try this link https://my.cbox.ws/ZIGPLACE

butterfly  Some are guessing it is going to help the idiot Trump get re-elected BUT we do not need him to get re-elected. I know there may be some that think he is the messiah, but he ain't. Further, the idiot has NOTHING to do with a revaluation of any currency.

Zig  butterfly : That would be awesome....but don't hold your breath.....LOL

butterfly  I've held it so long, I can't believe I'm not blue.

Dinar Recaps  Hello Zig and all

Dinar Recaps  Just here for a few to say hello and wish you luck Zig

butterfly  Any news/updates Dinar Recaps?

Dinar Recaps  we have our usual posts at https://dinarrecaps.com/our-blog

Zig  Dinar Recaps : Hi...Hard to write something about this chat until we see how it goes and what it becomes....with no mods and no banning it could get out of control.....lol....we'll see....Write whatever you wish as everyone is also free to come in here and criticize the chat....remember that this is Day One.....I will also invite many so-called Gurus to come here....Give it a couple of weeks......will be interesting.....I hope people also post a lot of news here too.....

Zig  I want everyone to treat me like any other member....I am not a Mod.....lol.....fear me not.....

Zig  Remember: This chat room never closes so post at any time 24/7  Hope to eventually have many people from other countries in here....Please invite your friends to join us!!!.....Remember to emphasize that there are NO MODS and NO BANNING....

Scrappy  So when is the rate going change were all tired of waiting

Zig  Scrappy  : Yeah....I wanna get filthy rich!!!.....lol

Scrappy  Zig when's the rate going to change

Zig  Have no idea....still hoping.....

Zig  What do you folks think about that Global Currency Reset thing??......Do you believe it??.....GCR.....

Zig  Asset-backed currencies soon??

Zig  I don't know what to believe anymore....lol

xyz  8-7-2020 Newshound/Intel Guru Mnt Goat education is not the reason why it has not RV'd.

butterfly  Heard that next week we "might" be getting "information" on how to do what we need to do.

Scrappy  Were only waiting for one thing, Iraq has told you what it is since the beginning of this year. Iraq must have stability.

butterfly  I'm on a phone call and giving you what he was told.

butterfly  Sealed boxes are approved and have a serial number and a certificate for the. 25,000 denominations. They are sealed and have a matching number on the certificate. Loose notes will be in a couple of weeks.

butterfly  I am passing on what I'm being told, be it true or false,

butterfly  For some reason when my friend said I could use a few million with what is being offered, why shouldn't I get those few millions now. NO NO because you will get more than what this person/organization is offering. Just hang on to what you have and see if I'm right.

Scrappy  I won't tell you who I am from dinarland. I'm one of the well known guru's.

Scrappy  This right here is why the rate hasn't changed because of this: https://search4dinar.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/baghdad-submits-to-the-region-a-proposal-on-outlets-and-they-are-close-to-a-comprehensive-agreement/

Scrappy  Iraq must have stabilty Kurdistan / Baghdad must reach an agreement and get along

xyz  Scrappy By guru Frank say there nothing more holding up rv

butterfly  talking on the phone getting more information

butterfly  Once the 300 billion is paid, look, duck, be patient.....

Scrappy   Id like to talk offline and compare notes with you.

butterfly   Thanks but I know no more than anyone else. I am repeating what I am told and what someone I am involved with another program that hates dinar, stupid people, don't waste your time, etc. is now offering from a person that will pay millions for a "box" of your dinar as I posted above. Soooooo

Scrappy   xyz tell me your thoughts, not those other guru's. When do you think the rate will change and why hasn't the rate changed yet.

butterfly   The url you posted tells more than you realize. As I stated, the billions paid, Kurds are solid, then "maybe" we will be next.

Scrappy   Not quite Butterfly, Iraq can only change their rate at the beginning of a fiscal year and the must have stability (Kurdistan / Baghdad must reach agreement)

Scrappy   Iraq's fiscal year doesn't start in January, i know this for a fact.

butterfly  You might be right and as I've said, I am just relaying what I am hearing. As usual NO ONE knows if or when it will make all of us millionaires/billionaires.

RamblerNash  Sterling Currency Group LLC - Sentencing in this matter is scheduled for October 4, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. in the Northern District of Georgia. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/sterling-currency-action

https://my.cbox.ws/ZIGPLACE

How to Talk to Your Financially Irresponsible Partner

How to Talk to Your Financially Irresponsible Partner

Trent Hamm, Aug 3, 2020  Founder of The Simple Dollar

My wife Sarah and I have a good financial relationship. Sure, there are times when I feel like she spends too much on things like crafting supplies and extra camping gear, and there are times when she feels like I spend too much — usually on Kindle books or tabletop game items. We’re not perfect by any means, but we’ve reached a point where we’re clearly headed toward our shared goals and we recognize that we both are imperfect and make mistakes sometimes.

It wasn’t always this way. There were many times earlier in our relationship, particularly before we started taking our finances seriously, where we both perceived the other person as being financially selfish. I’d see Sarah getting tons of expensive coffees and believe in my head that she was the one being selfish and causing our financial problems, while she’d see me with a new video game or an armload of new books and believe it was me.

The feeling that your partner is being financially selfish and the cause of your shared financial problems is a common one, and it’s a tough issue to tackle. Often, people don’t know how to tackle that sense of a partner’s selfishness, so they either sit on that negative feeling until it festers and grows into an outburst, or they try to immediately address that feeling in a clumsy way and cause a fight. Obviously, neither one of those outcomes is a healthy outcome.

What should you do, then, if you feel like your partner is being financially irresponsible?

6 Things To Consider When You Feel Your Partner Is Financially Irresponsible

Remember your partner probably doesn’t feel irresponsible

This is the single most important thing that you need to realize when you’re feeling frustrated by your partner’s irresponsibleness. It is extremely unlikely that they view their behavior as selfish. They likely view their behavior as living a good life, and it’s very likely that it’s a life they want you to share in.

It’s common for you and your partner to believe that the other one is spending beyond a reasonable, unwritten budget. However, if your partner does not view their behavior as irresponsible, you will get negative backlash if you dive in and accuse your partner.. No one likes to be viewed negatively, especially if they don’t see their behavior or mindset as financially irresponsible. They’re going to get defensive, and when someone gets defensive, the conversation is just going to fall apart. You have to take a completely different approach.

Come up with a meaningful alternative

This is the first step in that process. If you want your partner to step back from behavior that you view as irresponsible, there has to be a meaningful alternative they care about and feel like they’re contributing to in a meaningful way.

More importantly, just because you care about a goal doesn’t mean that they care. Try stepping back and talking about both of your individual goals, financial and otherwise. What are the things you want out of life in the future? Which of those things are things that you share? You might find that the things you think that your partner really should care about, the things that they’re being irresponsible by not contributing to, are simply things that your partner doesn’t value. You might be all about early retirement, for example, but your partner loves their job and doesn’t want to walk away from it.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/financial-wellness/feeling-like-your-partner-is-financially-irresponsible/

11 Family Finance Tips During the Pandemic

11 Family Finance Tips During the Pandemic

Trent Hamm, Aug 3, 2020  Founder of The Simple Dollar

In this week’s reader mailbag, we’re talking about families, particularly financial issues involving children and parents. This is a topic near and dear to me as a member of the “sandwich generation,” meaning that I simultaneously have young children at home as well as parents and in-laws who are already retired. Most of the questions in this mailbag deal with those challenges.

1. How much should we save for having kids?  2. Caring for a parent without retirement

3. Managing kids’ virtual learning while working   4. Saving for college without stocks

5. Setting “rent” for in-laws   6. Making inexpensive school lunches at home

7. Kindle Unlimited for daughter   8. First pet for a child   9. Cleaning out parent’s stuff

10. Returning to a job after a year   11. Cheap healthy kid-friendly food

Q1: How much should we save for having kids?

I’m 29, my wife is 26. We have been planning on having kids in our early 30s and decided a couple of years ago to get our finances straight. We are trying to decide how financially stable we should be before having kids. Is there a net worth level we should be aiming for, or some other measurement?  – Andy

My experience with the finances of parenthood is that the most important thing you should build before having kids is a healthy cash flow. You should be spending significantly less than you earn before you have kids, on the order of spending 70% or less of your income on living expenses, monthly bills, and minimum payments on debt. That other 30% should be used for something wise, whether it’s extra debt payments, saving for retirement, building an emergency fund or saving for a down payment.

If you’re finding it difficult to make ends meet now before having kids (and all of the extra expenses they bring), it’s going to be doubly hard when you’re dealing with all of the costs that a baby introduces — child care, diapers, clothes and food. If you both continue to work, child care is going to be a big cost. If one of you stays home, that’s going to be a huge salary hit (recouped by being able to lean more into eating at home).

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag/questions-about-finance-and-family

12 Things To Become Famous For

12 Things To Become Famous For

Written By Joshua Becker

Fame is a terrible master.

There are some who will do anything to achieve fame—just watch any number of reality television shows. And there are others who will do everything they can to stay out of the spotlight entirely.  In its most simple definition, famous means to be widely known. Of course, fame, just like wealth, is entirely relative. “Widely” can mean lots of different things: After all, there is world-famous, internet-famous, and barely-famous. Hollywood has A-List, B-List, C-List, and even D-List. There are people who are famous in your industry, famous in your town, or famous in your church. One time, I was even introduced to a man behind his grill as, “the man who is famous for his BBQ grilled chicken.”  As best I could tell, he’s only cooked for his immediate family.

“Fame” clearly means something different to different people.  To be famous is to be known for something among a group of people.  Given that understanding, might I suggest we all aim for fame. Not fame for wrong reasons, but fame for all the right reasons.  The reality is we are all going to be remembered for something—that cannot be avoided. So we might as well aim to be known, among those who know us best, for all the right reasons.

12 things we should all strive to become famous for:

1. Kindness. I have a good friend that I once introduced to a neighbor. Shortly after their first meeting, my neighbor said to me, “Bob may be the kindest man I have ever met in my entire life.” What an amazing compliment. Kindness… that is something I want to be known for.

2. Generosity. Many are drawn to riches, but few are drawn to generosity. But generosity makes our world a better place. It improves the life of the receiver and the giver. And yet, it is still too rare in our world today.

3. Perseverance. At some point, everybody gets knocked down by life. Staying upright through it all is not the final measure of a person. Getting back up and remaining persistent in the face of trial, that is perseverance. Now that is a trait worth being known for!

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.becomingminimalist.com/fame/

4 Countries Welcoming the Digital Nomads During Covid

4 Countries Welcoming the Digital Nomads During Covid

Notes From The Field By Simon Black  August 5, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

Life has taken an eerie turn for digital nomads as their favorite cities emptied of tourists and foreigners working remotely. Tasha Prados arrived in Vietnam in late February, a few weeks before the country closed its borders.

On March 12, she received word that she had 10 days to request an evacuation to the US through her travel insurance. Tasha opted to stay in Vietnam, and rent a house with five other digital nomads. They hunkered down for what ended up being a much more mild lockdown compared to many places in the US and Europe.

Vietnam accomodated those digital nomads who stayed, by automatically extending visas.

Still, a large portion of digital nomads across the world likely went “home” as the pandemic hit-- which for many meant moving back in with mom and dad or another family member.

Now as a second wave hits, and lockdowns are continued or reintroduced-- including in Vietnam-- many digital nomads are wondering when they can get back to their nomadic lifestyle.

And that same question is on the minds of a lot of governments who understand that digital nomads are valuable assets to local economies.

They come to a country and spend money on rent, food, restaurants, and entertainment.

They don’t take local jobs, and they don’t ask for anything in return except for good weather, a low cost of living, a vibrant cultural and/or nightlife scene, and decent internet.

Usually, digital nomads can stay in their chosen country for 30 or 90 days at a time, depending on the host country’s visa policy. But that’s generally just not enough. It takes time to set up your “new office” and become truly productive in a new country.

The Republic of Georgia was first to realize that, and back in 2015, it allowed citizens from this laundry list of countries to stay in Georgia for a full year, no questions asked.

As a result, safe, inexpensive, culturally rich Georgia has become a popular place for digital nomads.

(One of our own Sovereign Man team members is currently living and working in Georgia, and is already penning a Sovereign Man: Confidential alert about what he has learned after spending a few months there.)

Now, Georgia is reportedly rolling out a new type of visa aimed explicitly at attracting digital nomads.

But Georgia isn’t the only country looking to boost its economy by attracting mobile people-- and their mobile incomes.

COVID-related travel bans dried up the flow of tourists, so other countries have realized that they, too, want productive digital nomads to come and stay.

Barbados was among the first to announce a “12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp”, allowing visitors to come to the country and work remotely for a full year in the Caribbean paradise.

Barbados does charge a $2,000 fee. But you won’t be liable for Barbados income taxes. Plus US citizens will likely qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Tax Exclusion, meaning the first $107,600 you earn abroad is tax free.

Another option: starting from August 1, Bermuda will let foreigners work remotely on the island for a full year, after paying a $263 fee.

However, you may want to think twice if you plan to save money. Bermuda offers a very civilized and safe environment, but the cost of living in Bermuda can be higher than in New York City.

If island life isn’t your thing, the European country of Estonia has long been known as a tech-friendly innovator. It offered its e-Residency program to anyone willing to run an Estonian-based business remotely.

However, the program did not offer the possibility to actually live in Estonia.

Now, Estonia has announced a new “Digital Nomad Visa” for remote workers, allowing them to stay and work in the country for a full year.

And while Estonia’s northern climate and cold Baltic sea aren’t so tropical, its Digital Nomad Visa can be an excellent opportunity to spend a year in Europe and explore the rest of the continent.

We expect a lot more countries - especially those with suffering tourism industries - to wake up to the realities of the 21st-century digital economy and to start rolling out similar offers.

Due to Covid, there are A LOT more people working from home, who have the freedom to pick up and move if they choose. And that could mean a huge wave of new digital nomads.

That’s pretty exciting. Digital nomads have been voting with their feet for a long time, and rewarding the countries with the best policies and atmospheres.

To Your Freedom & Prosperity Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/4-countries-welcoming-the-digital-nomads-during-covid-28499/

“Personal Finance Is More Personal Than Finance”

“Personal Finance Is More Personal Than Finance”

Personal Finance  Financial Planning  Justin / August 2, 2020

“Personal Finance Is More Personal Than Finance” – Tim Maurer

A couple of weeks ago Morgan Housel joined The AGC™ for one of our weekly webinars. During the conversation, he shared what he called his “worst financial decision, yet his best money decision”.  The short version of this decision is he and his wife aggressively paid off their mortgage. You might initially question why he might consider this his worst financial decision–paying off debt is typically a good financial goal and milestone.

However, with mortgage rates at historical lows, spreadsheets and financial planning software would suggest investing the dollars that would be used for additional payments instead of paying off a mortgage; the long term expected return of a diversified portfolio is greater than current mortgage rates. Yes, I’m aware that past performance does not predict future returns, but even the most skeptical investor has to believe the long term return of a diversified portfolio should do better than the interest rate on a mortgage today.

Morgan admitted he knew from a financial standpoint, he would most likely be better off by keeping the mortgage and investing. He knows and understands the numbers behind the decision, but the peace of mind of not having a mortgage was more valuable than the additional dollars he could earn from investing–this is where personal finance becomes more personal than finance.

I was reminded of this last week when my friend Dasarte Yarnway posed a question on Twitter. He asked if it’s better to buy or lease a car.

My response was that it depends. The spreadsheet answer is you buy a car, pay it off, drive it for a long time, and have many years without a car payment. But, if you like to drive a new car and would be trading in every couple of years, despite knowing the numbers showing it’s not the right spreadsheet answer, then a lease might be a better option (there are other benefits to a lease as well).

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://allaboutyourbenjamins.com/financial-planning/personal-finance/

Don’t Be That Person

Don’t Be That Person

Adam M. Grossman    August 2, 2020

THE TRICKY THING about investing is that there’s no single “right” approach. In an earlier article, I described the approach I favor—what I call the five minds of the investor, which involves being part optimist, pessimist, analyst, economist and psychologist.

But there are many other ways to be successful: You might invest in real estate, or follow a quantitative investment strategy, or invest in private companies. There are plenty of people who do very well with these approaches.

That said, there are also many investing styles that look like they might work, but often don’t. Want to fare well financially? Here are five common approaches to investing that you should probably avoid:

1. The Raconteur. A raconteur is no ordinary storyteller. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a raconteur is “a person who excels in telling anecdotes.” That’s exactly what’s dangerous about this approach to investing. Though their evidence might be anecdotal, raconteurs truly believe they are using facts to support their views.

Suppose a raconteur is trying to research a consumer electronics company. He or she might speak with someone who works for the company or might try one of its products. In both cases, the raconteur is collecting real data, but it’s too limited to be conclusive. Nonetheless, that information can be woven together into a story that sounds compelling.

Raconteurs, in fact, love to invoke the concept of “buy what you know,” an idea popularized by Fidelity Investments veteran Peter Lynch. In the introduction to his book One Up on Wall Street, Lynch argued that individual investors should buy stock in companies that they know and understand. “If you stay half-alert,” he wrote, “you can pick the spectacular performers right from your place of business or out of the neighborhood shopping mall….”

He goes on to describe how he discovered several winning stocks—including Taco Bell, Dunkin’ Donuts and Apple—using just that method. But raconteurs overlook one key fact: It isn’t that simple. Yes, Lynch recommended that investors keep their eyes open for new ideas. But he didn’t stop there. Read the rest of Lynch’s book, and you’ll quickly see that anecdotes were just his starting point. He then moved on to hard analysis.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://humbledollar.com/2020/08/dont-be-that-person/

Inheritance Tips So You Don’t Screw Up Your Child’s Life

Inheritance Tips So You Don’t Screw Up Your Child’s Life

Posted by Financial Samurai

If you’ve amassed a decent amount of wealth, you will likely want to leave some of it to your children. Let’s discuss some inheritance tips so we don’t screw up our children.

One of the reasons why my 30-year-old neighbor still lives at home with his parents is probably because he expects to inherit a boatload of assets. His parents’ home, alone, is probably worth about $2.5 million.

The great thing about my neighbor’s living situation is that his parents only come to visit during the weekends. His parents have another home in the North Bay. He also rents out one of the rooms to his friend.

By continuing to live rent-free in his parents’ house, my neighbor is not only saving a lot of money, but he’s also laying claim to his future assets. When his parents eventually pass, surely the house will go to their by then 50+-year-old son who has been living in the home all this time.

However, despite being in a position to inherit millions, my neighbor doesn’t seem to be progressing in life. Although he graduated from college in 2015, he still works at a dead-end job. He’s not in a relationship either. Instead, he’s used much of his disposable income to buy and maintain two cars and two noisy motorbikes.

Awkward Neighbor

It would be one thing if he was cheerful and happy every time we cross paths. However, he never says hello and always seems angry.  One time, I was walking down the sidewalk pushing my baby daughter in her stroller. He decides to pull out one of his vehicles and block the sidewalk. He sees me, but doesn’t say hello.  I stop to play with my daughter, assuming he would continue driving his truck into the street or reverse back into his driveway so we could pass. We wait for three minutes. Nothing happens. Instead, he decides to get out and leave his car in the sidewalk. Nice.

If I was his father, I would be concerned. As a parent, all we want is for our children to be happy and independent. I’m afraid that if we can’t teach our children social skills or develop their emotional intelligence, then some of us will decide to just throw money at our children.

Millennials Are Going To Be The Wealthiest Generation

For all the talk about Millennials getting financially screwed over by Gen X and the Boomers, the Millennials seem to have it pretty good. Millennials get to benefit the most from their parent’s prodigious wealth accumulation without having to do much on their own!

By 2030, Millennials will have inherited roughly $68 trillion dollars of wealth according to one study by the real estate brokerage, Coldwell Banker. I’ve seen the figure range from $38 trillion to $68 trillion. Whatever the real inheritance number is, Millennials will be inheriting a crap ton of money!

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.financialsamurai.com/inheritance-tips-so-you-dont-screw-up-your-childs-life/

Mommy Put Us In Time-Out Again

Mommy Put Us In Time-Out Again

Notes From The Field By Simon Black August 4, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

After a few weeks of freedom here in Puerto Rico where people could engage in dangerous, death-defying acts (like going to the gym), our all-knowing, all-powerful governor announced new lockdown rules late last week.

Or as I tell my friends, Mommy put us back in time-out.

This is not unique to Puerto Rico; several states and countries all over the world are imposing new waves of restrictions due to an uptick in Covid infections.

I find this all remarkable.

Several months ago when Covid was brand new, it was pretty scary. We knew nothing except that it was highly contagious and seemed deadly.

Politicians had to make hasty decisions with imperfect information in an extremely emotional environment… and it’s hard to begrudge them for that.

But it’s not March anymore. It’s August.

And they’ve had five months to gather their wits, summon their courage, and perform a rational cost/benefit analysis based on mountains of data that are now available.

CDC statistics, for example, show that 79.8% of Covid deaths are from retirees over the age of 65 who are no longer in the work force.

Yet politicians still want to prevent people in their prime working years from being able to work-- ages 25-64, whose mortality rate is very low according to CDC data.

Most importantly, the CDC states that out of all ‘Covid deaths’, 94% were actually related to some other condition besides (or in addition to) the Coronavirus.

“[O]n average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death” in addition to the Coronavirus.

For example, roughly 10% of patients aged 0-24 years who tested positive for the Coronavirus actually died due to poisoning, accident, or intentional injury.

Yet they’re still recorded as a ‘Covid death’.

This is not some wild conspiracy theory. The CDC posts this data on its public website for anyone who cares to look.

But you never hear about this in the media.

They’d rather fan the flames of panic and hysteria.

Just as soon as people start to feel a little bit comfortable again-- BOOM-- they shove some story in our faces about a healthy teenager who died of Covid... just to make sure we all stay afraid.

They forget to mention, of course, how extremely rare this is. The mortality rate for healthy people, and especially healthy young people, is absurdly low.

They also fail to mention that healthy young people even occasionally die of the flu.

In December, for example, a 16-year old girl from Ohio caught the flu. And yes, it was the flu, not Covid. She had influenza B. And she died.

This is extremely rare; the mortality rate for young people with influenza is negligible. But even still, it happens. Just like Covid.  Yet amazingly enough, they did not shut down the global economy because a 16-year old girl died of the flu.

Covid is different due to its asymptomatic transmission. And I’m not making light of its public health impact. It’s obviously a serious issue.

But my main point is that these politicians don’t make decisions based on a rational, data-driven cost/benefit analysis.

It’s just monkey see, monkey do nonsense.

If some governor in one state tightens restrictions, it’s politically safe and acceptable for another governor to follow along.

If everyone is doing it, the political consequences are pretty low... regardless of the economic consequences.

80% of Covid deaths are from people who are not actively contributing to economic production. And 94% of deaths are related to some other condition.

Yet their only solution is to shut down the economy and cost tens of trillions of dollars of prosperity… even though this ‘whack-a-mole’ approach has been ineffective at eliminating the virus.

Duh. You can’t just wait-out a virus. Even 7th grade biology students know that.

Meanwhile, US GDP is down 33%. In Europe it’s down 40%.

The Census Bureau reported that more than 100 million Americans went without a paycheck last week, and 30 million had to borrow money from friends and family to make it through the month.

Tens of millions are without work, countless businesses have gone under.

And the national debt is skyrocketing.

Just this morning, in fact, the US Treasury Department announced that it expects to borrow at least another $2 trillion between now and the end of December.

That will bring the total new additional debt for 2020 to more than $5 trillion. It’s staggering.

A banker friend of mine in Switzerland summed it up last week when he told me, “The more money they print and the more debt they borrow, the less anyone seems to care.”

He’s right. And that’s a pretty scary statement… because it means they’ll just keep piling up the destructive consequences without ever asking the difficult question: “Is it really worth it?”

To your Freedom & Prosperity  Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/mommy-put-us-in-time-out-again-28485/

Some Clear Thinking On Gold At Its All-Time High

Some Clear Thinking On Gold At Its All-Time High

Notes From The Field By Simon Black  August 3, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of Bruce Lee.  I was probably about four years old when I first watched one of his movies. And I was instantly hooked. The guy was legendary.

As a teenager, I learned more about how he lived, and I began to admire his tenacity, discipline, and relentless pursuit of self-improvement… qualities that I endeavored to attain. I remain a fan to this day. In fact there’s even a Bruce Lee mural on the wall at our office in Chile.

So when I had the opportunity to purchase some of Bruce Lee’s artwork a few years ago-- sketches that he drew with his own hand-- I jumped at the chance.  It cost me around $8,000… but it was the best money I ever spent. I had it professionally framed and hung in my home, and it’s probably my most prized possession.

I doubt I’ll ever sell it. But it’s the only asset that I allow myself to be sentimental about.

In everything else related to money, I force myself to be unemotional. I don’t fall in love with prospective investments, nor do I have an emotional attachment to businesses that I own.

You hear this a lot with entrepreneurs, who often refer to their companies as ‘their baby’.

I don’t have that view. Bruce Lee aside, I’m willing to sell any asset for the right price… especially if someone is willing to pay far more than what I think it’s worth, or what it could be worth in the future.

And this brings me to gold.

The price of gold is now at an all-time high in nearly every major currency, including US dollars. On Friday, in fact, gold briefly passed $2,000 per ounce, and it’s still hovering near that figure now.

A lot of people have an emotional attachment to gold… a borderline fanaticism.

I don’t. I write about gold quite frequently. But I’m not a ‘gold bug’.

My views on gold are unemotional, grounded in a rational understanding of gold’s advantages, and the disadvantages of the financial system. I’ve written about this extensively.

But one important thing to understand about gold is that it can be very difficult to value.

I can much more easily value a business like Apple, or private company that I own. The analysis is never perfect, but I can project future cash flows and market-based asset prices, and derive an appropriate value for what an asset is worth.

But gold does not intrinsically generate cash flow like a business or rental property, so that analysis doesn’t work.

People often try to predict the price of gold by examining certain financial benchmarks.

For instance, in theory there are some loose relationships between the gold price and the money supply. But these relationships are far from perfect.

The previous peak for gold was in 2011 when it reached around $1900. The gold price then fell for more than four years, reaching a low of around $1,000 in December 2015.

Yet during that 4+ year period, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet increased 70% from $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion, and M2 money supply in the US increased 30% from $9.5 trillion to 12.3 trillion.

Gold should have performed well from 2011 to 2015 given all the money the Fed was printing. Yet instead the gold price fell.

There’s another theory that gold prices increase because the dollar is weak. But this relationship is also far from perfect.

In the summer of 2018, I wrote a note to our readers suggesting that it was a good time to buy gold, and that the price could double over the next few years.

At the time, the gold price was around $1200. But the ‘Dollar Index,’ i.e. the standard financial benchmark for the US dollar’s relative strength, was around 94.

Today gold is at a record high-- up more than 60% since I wrote that article. Yet the dollar index is almost exactly the same-- 93.8.

But if the theory is true, the gold price should be the same as it was in summer of 2016.

Finally, there’s a theory that the gold price is correlated with ‘real interest rates’, i.e. the rate of interest after adjusting for inflation.

This relationship is also far from perfect; real interest rates in 2011 and 2012, for example, were negative. Yet the gold price was falling.

Real rates in 2017 were rising. But the gold price was also rising. So this theory is also flawed.

The bottom line is that there’s no magic formula to tell us what the gold price should be. Dollar weakness, real rates, and money supply are all useful indicators. But they’re not predictors.

It’s fair to say, for example, that gold is still undervalued right now relative to recent growth in the Feds balance sheet.

Or that, over very long periods of time as central bankers print money and create inflation, gold tends to keep up.

After all, gold has a 5,000 year track record of holding its value against inflation.

In the short-term, however, the biggest driver of gold prices ironically seems to be emotion... specifically negative emotions like fear and mistrust.

Few people buy gold because they’re happy. Some forward-thinking central banks and investors may buy gold when it’s cheap because they understand its value and potential.

But for the most part, the price rises when people lose confidence in the financial system, in their government, in their central bankers, or in each other.

And that’s what we’re seeing now.

Nearly every government around the world looks incompetent and heavy handed against the Coronavirus.

Central bankers seem desperate.

Banks are sitting on trillions of dollars of losses, while regulators have actually asked the public ‘please do not withdraw your money.’

And social cohesion has practically collapsed. People are ripping each other apart over masks, social justice, political views, and just about everything else.

It’s hard to have trust and confidence at a time like this. And that’s been a key driver of the gold price.

If you own gold, congratulations. You’ve done well. But don’t be emotional about it.

A record high milestone like this is a good time to check your outlook; be rational and determine whether you want to buy, sell, or hold at this level.

Being rational means being able to see all sides of an issue.

You could easily make a strong case that the fear, uncertainty, and desperation could continue for quite some time. And that, long-term, gold continues to make sense.

You could also make a case that, given how quickly gold has risen in price, a short-term correction may be in order. Or that some of the fear subsides if a Covid vaccine is produced.

Remember that great quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald-- “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

To your Freedom & Prosperity  Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/investing/some-clear-thinking-on-gold-at-its-all-time-high-28481/

Checks and Balances Wake Up Call

Checks and Balances Wake Up Call

By Anna Von Reitz  Sunday, August 2, 2020

Most of us were taught about the concept of "checks and balances" as the Founders applied this concept in building the Federal Government, but it is a very ancient concept, not something unique to our deliberate constructions designed to balance and counterbalance powers within various levels of our government. 

One of the more ancient checks and balances principles involves the jurisdictions set up and recognized by the Roman Catholic Church in the process of setting up the Unum Sanctum (World) Trust: you can't be in two jurisdictions at once, and as you gain power in one jurisdiction, you lose it in the others. 

Strange, but true.  

The jurisdiction of the land and soil is solid, therefore, most powerful and fixed. The jurisdiction of land and soil is where gold is gold, plums are plums, and men are men.  Although our Proper Names, also known as "Lawful Persons", are not physical, they belong to us in the same way that our parents might also give us a bicycle or a chest of drawers.  

The rats have tried to human traffic us off the land and soil, and do it when we were too young to ever realize what they'd done.

Guess what? That "one in a million" Colonel House talked about? 320 of us figured it out.

Many people make the mistake of calling their possessions "personal property" when in fact they mean "private property".  This innocent mistake is then preyed upon by immoral judges and attorneys who think nothing of using this as a pretext to misidentify us, to steal our private property, and otherwise abuse us via False Legal Presumptions. 

Remember that in their jurisdictions, "person" means "corporation" so when you say "personal property" you give them the excuse to presume that you are acting as a franchisee of a foreign corporation and are fair game to attack, not owed any constitutional guarantees, and not owed any protection from them. 

Another example is the word "resident" or "residency".   We are not residents of our native land and soil.  We are part of the population living on the land and soil of this country, but British Territorial and Municipal citizens of the United States are "residents" sojourning among us on a temporary basis while they provide us with what Article IV of the respective Constitutions calls "essential government services". 

The same shoe fits on the other foot in this case.  They are residents when in our jurisdiction, and we are residents when we enter their watery or airy jurisdictions as well ---- so it's necessary to figure out who is acting as a "resident" where.  Are you residing in their jurisdiction or are they residing in yours? 

At every turn, intersection, and interface between the jurisdictions of air, land, and sea, we find the principles of "checks and balances" and the vocabulary of separate jurisdictions at work.  We also find specific allocations of "Powers". 

The People (Lawful Persons) have the right to charter and to liquidate corporations and franchises of corporations that are organized under their direct or delegated powers.  

Through such mechanisms as Anti-Trust and Anti-Monopoly laws, the People also exercise considerable control over the way corporations are allowed to operate and structure their business affiliations, but over time, Corporatists (Colonialists in drag) have undermined their true comptrollers until the People seldom, if ever, avail themselves of Public Interest actions to "check and balance" corporations.  

For example, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media purveyors have been censoring free speech in America ---- and using our Public Airwaves to do it.  Does anyone see a problem here?  

We already have the means to shut them down, bust their management, and liquidate their assets.  It's a matter of checks and balances.  

When we stand in our proper capacity and act in our native jurisdiction we can kick every corporation you ever heard of to the curb.  

Five major media conglomerates control the vast majority of all media markets in America ---- and they are all: (1) foreign; (2) all making private profit off our public assets; (3) increasingly monopolized; and (4) spewing propaganda designed to undermine our health and economy.  

So, we need to nationalize them, kick them out, restructure their operations, fine them and tax them and regulate them and, yes, liquidate their operations until they get a great big Attitude Adjustment. 

See how they like being the targets. 

A corporation is required to operate "lawfully" ---- which is a far higher and different standard than to operate "legally".   Most of these operations can't function for a day without breaking the Public Law, and they've simply gotten away with it for lack of enforcement of the Public Law. 

Our two foreign federal subcontractors, both ultimately owned and operated by the Pope, have been colluding together to evade their constitutional obligations and to promote their own self-interest at the expense of their Employers.  

Because they have been operating as privately owned and operated "governmental services corporations" they've been conveniently neglecting to enforce the Public Law. 

Well, my, my, my..... seems like I remember something called Article IV of both The Constitution of the United States of America and The Constitution of the United States, which requires the protection of our persons and property --- both public and private property.  

That doesn't include "protecting" us from opinions that run contrary to corporate bottom lines.  

That doesn't include curtailing our Natural and Unalienable Rights. 

That doesn't give Bill Gates the right to poke anyone with needles or alter anyone's DNA with his patented RNA implants.

It doesn't grant Fauci any right to "mandate" dog dung, masks, social distancing or anything else.  

It doesn't allow for any indecent commercial claims of corporate ownership of anyone or any claim of dependency based on patented nanobots or microdots or RNA scraps injected into anyone for any purpose whatsoever.   

Here we are: the long-lost American People.  

Here's news for Billy Gates and Dr. Fauci and the AMA ----- your patents belong to us and are protected by us, and if we choose to bust your patents ---- we can. And we will. 

And BTW, your corporations belong to us, too.   

Mr.Larry Fink and Black Water, Inc. just learned that the hard way.  

Yes, there is a Giant in the room, and it's no longer sleeping. 

Try to claim that you have any ownership interest in living men and women based on injecting them with your patented RNA crap and there won't be anything but a grease spot left of you, your patents, or your corporations, either. 

So fold up the Plandemic Crappola.  Call off the Funky Propaganda Act. We are holding every Corporate Officer and every Uniformed Officer in America personally and commercially liable for this and all your parent corporations and trustees, too.  

When corporations cross the line, when they operate as monopoly interests, when they engage in interlocking trust directorates, when they engage in criminal activities, when they knowingly advertise products, ideas, and agendas that are damaging to our health and our economy, when they infringe upon our constitutional guarantees and use our Public Airwaves and Public Right of Ways and Public Easements to do it----- it's time for the People to shut them down in the Public Interest. 

We have the "checks" and it's time for the "balances".  

Checks and Balances Wake Up Call

http://annavonreitz.com/checksandbalanceswakeup.pdf