patrick.net

Gold is just a trading vehicle to me. I am completely detached when it comes to investments.

Anyway, I'm good with leaving it as is. Just please know I don't look down on anyone who is genuine.

Take care.

It’s not money.

Gold coins *are* legal tenders, so they are technically money. However, you probably don't want to "spend" them at their face values. :)

Yes, I went physical, and yes at one time I had a 10oz bar which used to make me nervous.
That is so freakin' cool. Would you open the top of the toilet tank and point out your "water saver" to guests? Seriously, though, 10 oz. is about the break even point with the GLD ETF, which looses .4% a year. A Wells Fargo safety deposit box is $40 a year. And this still doesn't take into account security issues of buying and selling physical gold.
I am still in shock over the Euro. Any idea of who will blink first, the Fed or the ECB? And speaking of which, currency swaps are/were a huge part of the Fed SOMA portfolio. I am assuming this means that the Fed is holding a bunch of Euros, which, so far, seem to be getting more valuable. Ahh sweet, we lose but the Fed wins! Hurray for out team... let's devalue our way to prosperity.

People are going to be crushed under the palettes of $100 bills.

Randy H says:
And I always prefer investments into things that produce cash flows.

Here! Here!

I don't have an opinion on Euros. I don't even follow it but a friend emailed me yesterday and said, hey I just made some money with Euros.

Holding a 10 oz bar is a very interesting feeling. Pure gold is a beautiful substance.

Gold is beautiful but wicked. Like certain women.

I think there is a relationship there. The more gold you get, the more women you can get. The more women you get, the less gold you have left over.

It is just scary reading the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto and matching that with US history of the period.

I think you would like reading Jonah Goldberg's new book, LIBERAL FASCISM, in which he explores the thesis that fascism and Nazism are left-wing phenomina, rather than the standard mainstream-media take that they are right-wing phenomina.

Randy, make sure you pick up the DVD of John Milius'

THE WIND AND THE LION. It shows Theodore Roosevelt the way he should have been (it adds some Hollywood touches).

Heck I'm a typical social-graceless tech guy too. Degrees in physics and applied math, worked as a circuit designer then later systems engineer before going off to the "soft geek" world of law school.

We need that double-layered fence built ASAP.

Wouldn't a simple anti-personel mine field be a much cheaper and more effective barrier? You can't get over those with either a ladder or a coyote.

fascism and Nazism are left-wing phenomina

Of course. I thought individual freedom (with attached responsibilities) is a "right wing" concept.

Wouldn’t a simple anti-personel mine field be a much cheaper and more effective barrier?

Then we will need a double-layered fence to keep people from the mine field. ;)

Only on this blog....

What happens when a disgruntled guest does an upper-decker into your gold bullion stash?

DennisN Says:
February 28th, 2008 at 8:34 am
"Wouldn’t a simple anti-personel mine field be a much cheaper and more effective barrier? You can’t get over those with either a ladder or a coyote."

Border security is a political problem meaning the goal isn't to actually make the border secure, it is to continuously talk about it and look like you are going to make it secure. You go and put a minefield there, you'll actually make the border secure and then what, nothing left to talk about.

What happens when a disgruntled guest does an upper-decker into your gold bullion stash?

It is still golden.

Peter P Says:
February 28th, 2008 at 8:36 am
"Then we will need a double-layered fence to keep people from the mine field. "

The American corporate solution would be a warning label.

On the mines that is.

"the less gold you have left over" LOL!

(Why do I always miss the Great Gold Debates?) Must be past my bedtime?

Great article in the "O" yesterday about "the real gold"! There's a lot of biblical references but Norway has opened a "doomsday vault" deep within an Arctic mountain where millions of crop seeds will be stored to safeguard against wars or natural disasters wiping out global food crops!

Really interesting stuff. I gues the P.I had one but (as you likely guessed)... it flooded during a typhoon.

www.croptrust.org

www.seedvault.no

God help us.

I saw a show about that. It was very interesting.

Crop Diversity NOW Man!

All crops were created equal!

No seriously, I'm glad there's someone, somewhere in a think tank conjuring this stuff up. (I sure never would have thought of it?) I guess in that environment they say the seeds can be stored for up to 1,000 years.

Helps a guy sleep a little better at night. I'll trade you all of my crop seeds for all of your GOLD! Oh, uh... wait a minute...?

Bernanke says time for long-term mortgage answers

Thursday, February 28, 2008; 11:15 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that it was time to move beyond temporary fixes to the subprime mortgage mess and look for long-term solutions.

"It's important for us and for the servicers to move beyond temporary palliatives ... and try to find more permanent, sustainable solutions," Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee.

"I would urge you to continue to work on FHA modernization and GSE reform, two areas that can help us meet these challenges," Bernanke said. "Additional steps may be necessary in the future ... but I don't have any additional recommendations right now."

Concerning a New York Times article pity piece on "heavily mortgaged Americans ("Solutions the Public Hates", in the Patrick reading)

But readers aren't biting. More than 400 vehement reader comments on the Times' site ran 20-to-1 against any taxpayer rescue - with fairness and basic economics the main objections

Hope! Maybe the politicols will notice public outcry to a bailout and Harm's 3rd and 4th phases may be aborted.

The worst thing about a 10 oz gold bar is how tiny it really seems. How big was it - the size of a large dog biscuit?

The American corporate solution would be a warning label.

In English, American sign language, and braille-Spanish. :)

Small dog biscuit.

A little off topic...

Boy those Aussies have fortitude. www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/02/28/international/i053105S05.DTL&tsp=1

"My boat sank. I'll just swim 12 hours to the beach."

Hoarding silver is much more gratifying, at least you get something in return that is substantial.

Headset,

I'm glad we're getting the exposure, really I am. I think though writers like Michelle Malkin are getting much more traction. Her... solution to the subprime "crisis"?

Suck. It. Up.

What I have noticed though is a quiet convergence of "bubble coverage". Even Nik Ritchie at Dirty is lampooning the likes of Daniel Sadek and other "D-Bag" mortgage brokers. If we've in any small way inspired them... we're only too happy!

I'd guess was roughly about 3-4 inches tall. It was thick though. What's cool is how heavy it was for its small size, it felt like you were holding wealth. That's the only way to describe it.

NVR,

Thanks for that observation. A short while back I noted that there was hope when HP & BB spoke last that they were moving past band-aids and on to more permanent solutions.

weight wise, you really have to experience it to hold a gold bar in your hand, an entirely different sensation from holding money.

size wise, very depressing, it's like, I paid all that much for this little guy?

More like 3 inches, I'm envisioning it in my hand, if you squeeze your three middle fingers together that's about as tall as it was. I think it was a Credit Suisse bar. I like the Fortuna bars, they have a very pretty image on the front.

OO, you have to admit though that in a sense the small size is neat. I used to thing, wow, that is a lot of money/wealth/whatever to cram in such a small space.

DinOr,

Now hopefully some of that will spill into the "change" we keep hearing about.

Knowing that it is recognized like money anywhere in the world is part of the charm. If I give you some printed money from some country you never heard about you have no idea what you're holding, but with that gold bar you could go and get dollars for it, or you could go to some third world country and buy a slave or have someone killed. The concept of gold is a very interesting relic from ancient times.

think, not thing, God my typing :(

Look at this 12 oz gold coin. I bet it is not very big physically.

http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=5297&grp=1&categ=32

Which coin dealer do you guys use?

I am looking for a nice 20 Franc Helvetia. It just looks pretty to me. Perhaps I can use it for meditation.