time*treat's Blog

Too bad they didn't actually show this on T.V. last night, instead of giving us that 'Mittens-McLame Mudslinging Hour'. There is a lot of false "information" out there, and they want to keep it that way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xzOT-L-GsM

From index 1:32 to 2:22, the reporter brings up the Fair tax and asks Dr. Paul why he's for it. He states that he isn't for it and explains why he isn't for it. For the hearing impaired (or the obstinate), I've transcribed that portion below.

index 1:32 to 2:22 of 6:39
Reporter: Now, part of your platform is advocating for a fair tax. I think that's a very foreign concept for a lot of people. Boil it down to just a couple of concepts so people can understand why you believe the Fair Tax is the way to go.

Ron Paul: I don't advocate the Fair Tax. I'm for no tax. I'm for getting rid of the income tax, which the Fair Tax people also want, but I want to cut the spending so much that you don't have to have a sales tax; that's what the Fair Tax is. But it's (the Fair Tax) not fair for everybody so that's why I don't push it. But I emphasize cutting spending. That's why I talk about this trillion dollar empire that we're operating around the world and we can't do it for much longer. And that's why I want to cut so much spending we don't have an income tax. If we didn't have an income tax today, we'd still have as much revenue as we had ten years ago. But, you'd have to cut. If you just got rid of the income tax, the deficit would go up. That's why I want to cut a lot of spending.

 

I'm not waiting for my state's primary to vote...

 

    I imagine some people are feeling left out if they do not qualify for the bribe.. er.. rebate. Well, really, it's only a promise of a rebate. The promise being offered in time for Super Tuesday. Since there is the remote chance of electing a non-globalist, non-busybody to the nations top spot, the regulars had to (pretend to) do something helpful. More bread? More circus? A dollar was once a promise, too.

    It can be pretty tough tuning out the conversations of the sheeple as they gush about what they will do with their $300 (or $600.. or.. well.. we're not quite sure yet; gotta see how well the Establishment shills do in the early primaries, first.) Just hold your tongue. No need to tell 'em you bought 100 ounces of silver(Ag) back when I first wrote about it in March '06, when it was trading around $10/oz. Some of you old timers were buying long before that. Go ahead and gloat, you've earned it, or rather 'saved' it. Currently, Ag is going for over $16 an ounce. Checking my calculator, that's ... well, it seems to be over $600 profit if you bought at $10 and you choose to cash out, and you don't have to wait till May for it. If you do wait till May, who knows what it will fetch. That's over 25% per year, compounded. Not bad unless, of course, you're one of those people who'd rather 'earn 5% per year for 30 years' because inflation-is-low-if-the-gov't-tells-me-so. If that's the case, my 'absurd' ideas, as they have been called, won't appeal to you. You should stop reading here. I only get worse. Enjoy your grass. Ignore that nice man with the shears. This won't hurt a bit. It's for your own good.

Now, for the rest of you:
    Those old jars of coins you've been meaning to take to the bank may fetch you more at the smelters. It takes 155 pennies (well, the old ones, anyway) to yield a pound(lb) of copper(Cu). On the spot market, a lb of Cu is going for $3.25. Yes, the melt value is higher than the face value. Twice as high. I would discuss the zinc(Zn) price component, but I don't want you all geting arrested for diving into the wishing fountain at the mall.

    By April '07, I'd gotten around to writing about gold(Au) and its price and what that meant for the dollar. That particular rant began at about $690US per ounce and about 6 months before the buck tanked past the Canadian dollar(loonie) in value. That part is by design, but no one wants to see that. If my treatises on the impending destruction of our currency gave you a healthy dose of concern, perhaps you bought a couple ounces of the yellow metal before it got to $700. Yes, you oldster's who bought at $600 or $500 are allowed to do the Church Lady dance here, too. Now(Jan '08) each ounce of the Midas metal is over $200 higher than a year ago, above $900US, and not a word from the LameStream Media. I've never seen Ag do a 'perp walk' and I don't recall Au having to restate earnings due to 'accounting irregularities'.

    It is unfortunate that so many people still rely on television for their news(sic). Every real problem is treated the same. Deny it exists, say 'buy on the dips', then say the downturn will be short lived. "Faux Nooz: We Distortz. Youse Comply." What runs our economy is a healthy dose of optimism combined with a gross abundance of misinformation. Anyone challenging the 'nooz' is a kook, a racist, an isolationist, or a conspiracy theorist (unless we're running a special where you can get branded as any two for the price of one). Ignore 2,000 years of history (takes too long to learn, anyway). Well, ignore what can't be rewritten. You can create wealth, if you just have enough paper & ink. Four legs goooood, two legs baaaaad. We now stand for the Two Minutes Hate. Comrade, you've misunderstood; it was an "N", not a "Q". It was always an "N".
 
    Obviously this mindset doesn't apply to everyone, as the remnant is out there pushing the prices of the metals up, getting (as best they can) the #$%& out of 'fraudulent reverse notez'. Like the "crazy ol man" in the backwoods shack with his ammo & canned beans, I got to warn of the perils, venting frustration (because that's mostly all I accomplish) but safe in the knowledge that no one would actually pay me any attention (and thus drive up the price of ammo & canned beans). Well, it used to be that way. Looking at some of the other blogs, it looks like a few more "cabins" are popping up, next to mine, and 'beans' are at all time highs. That can't be good. Ugh.

1 minute vid 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVKSfwfy0h8 

from: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59882 (and many other places)

A woman running a vegetable stand in London's West End is facing fines of up to $130,000 and the possible loss of her business because she was caught by the government selling her produce by the ounce and pound.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Janet Devers, 63, was notified of the criminal counts with a 67-page letter that arrived in the mail, outlining 13 criminal charges relating to the "improper" pricing of goods as well as the offense of selling vegetables in bowls.

"It's disgusting," she told the newspaper. "We have knifings. We have killings. And they're taking me to court because I'm selling in pounds and ounces."

That, of course, isn't allowed under a European Union-mandated rule that all its nations must use metric measures, so veggies have to be weighed in grams and kilograms.

But pounds, pints and miles are what Britishers know best, said Scott Lomax, another vegetable stall owner. "Who's to tell us to change?"

Devers has entered a plea of not guilty to the charges, and says she's confident of her case because it will be decided by a jury, which could include sympathetic shoppers, the newspaper reported.

When Britain wrote the EU-required law in 2000, it included an exemption that businesses could use imperial measures as well as metric weights, but the metric weights could not be omitted.

That, apparently, was Devers' alleged offense, because two of her scales measured only in pounds and ounces, the report said.

Her trouble began in September when officials from the local government council and police officers came and seized her scales. The newspaper said they told her they were illegal.

Later came the 67-page charges.

Alan Laing, an official with the local government that is prosecuting Devers, said it is the government's obligation to see that laws are upheld. He must make sure "traders comply with weights-and-measures legislation," he said.

But Devers wouldn't be the first to have been ticketed for such an offense. Four market-stall owners, including her brother, lost a 2002 case that was similar, the newspaper said.

They were told that there would be no further action if they didn't break the law again, but a group is campaigning for them to be pardoned, and that group now has taken up Devers' case, too.

It's all about "who governs Britain," campaigner Neil Herron told the newspaper.

---

Ahh, gotta keep those rogue veggie vendors in line, Al-Carrota, don'tcha know. Society would crumble into chaos, if they're not reigned in. Weapons of Mass Roughage. Now this woman has her life interrupted plus lawyer fees for this type of bull. Meanwhile, some A$$hat bureaucr@p will no-doubt include this in the statistics of "crime preventions" for the year, and get a budget increase for next year, so that he can make life miserable for more peaceable citizens. After all, they are easier targets than the violent ones. It remains to be seen if the community will get together and demand these idiots be fired and/or vote their bosses out of office.

This is why I'm always railing about intellectually lazy sheeple who bleat along with "wut eva de law say", rather than ask themselves if a particular law makes sense. We end up in slave societies where you can't take a dump without filling out zee proper paper-verk. Meanwhile, all the things you really need 'protecting' from go unchecked. England is, maybe, 10 years ahead of America in terms of this kind of garbage, and given what passes for sense over here, I see no reason to think we won't catch up to them. More citizens can name the three stooges than can name the three branches of gov't... well, when we had three.

Oh, and the reason there are "knifings" & "killings" is because you can no longer legally own a gun in England. Guess the criminals didn't heed the memo. Another fine example that disarming law-abiding people doesn't make them safer! But socialists never let your reality get in the way of their f_e_e_l_i_n_g_s. Sadly, they can always convince enough pudding-headed emo-types to let them have their way.

The 'Elites' don't get close enough to the 'commoners' to ever be in any danger.

Some of these ideas can be hard to absorb all at once, especially when you've been conditioned to think any concept, no matter how complex, can be explained in 30 seconds or less. I didn't intend for this to be my first write-up on this subject but I found this article so well written, I decided to just copy it, here. As usual, none of the "mainstream" candidates or media have touched it. But, it's going to "touch" you ...
People who have picked up a little history will see the famine this will eventually lead to. Control who can grow food = control the population.

By Justin Sanders

Have you heard about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)? The radio ads feature a “farmer” telling us how hard it is to make a living farming today - harder than it was for Momma and Daddy. Worse yet, now we’ve got the risks of all these new diseases. But - golly, golly, gee -- the government is going to help. They’ve come up with a voluntary program to register our farms and animals to protect us and our animals from diseases. All good Americans will sign up.

Characteristically, the radio propaganda-speak beareth no likeness to the truth. To prove that for yourself, visit www.usda.gov/nais and click on the “Draft Strategic Plan” on the upper right hand side.

FOOD SECURITY

We all know that there is no pandemic or epidemic now sweeping through the livestock population would demand such drastic measures. If so, government’s first act wouldn’t be punching an ear tag into every chicken they could catch. Any eighteen-year-old mother who knows to hand testing a forehead for fever can tell you that tagging ears to fight disease is ridiculous. No, during epidemics government agents kill the infected animals and all animals in the herd. Then they spread out and test neighbouring herds and destroy those that test positive.

IF THEY’RE NOT FIGHTING DISEASE,

THEN WHY NAIS?

Follow the money. Ask, Cui bono? Who benefits?

Agribusiness lobbied the USDA to create a system to protect them from legal liability if an epidemic does break out. More, NAIS would protect agribusiness market share, forestalling a public revulsion against their product by “confirming” that only a few animals were sick, rather than not thousands. NAIS enables huge agribusiness conglomerates that concentrate thousands of animals (and so concentrate the chance for spreading diseases) to point their finger at someone else.

Here’s the scenario:

• People in Sheboygan get sick from something they ate.

• It’s determined the meat came from a local fast food joint.
  

• That fast food joint gets its meat from ABC cow factory.

• ABC cow factory buys cows from XYZ feedlots. Those feedlots had cows numbered 1q10 through 1q500 in their possession and those cows came from 15 small farms in suburban Tempe.

• Goodbye 15 small farms in suburban Tempe.

• Hello scapegoat for fast food joint, slaughterhouse, and feedlots.

To protect themselves these large corporations will effectively to put small farmers out of business. Not only the program costs (which fall on the farmer), but also the threat of fines and jail time for not complying will drive small farmers off the land. At the same time, NAIS sets up the same corporations as the only entities granted the ‘privilege’ to raise animals, since they, of course are the only ones who can be trusted to follow such a plan to protect the “national herd.”

EXEMPTIONS?

But I’ve just got a few chickens and a horse. Not me, right?

Wrong. The NAIS plans provide no exemptions whatever. One chicken, one horse, one cow, one sheep, one goat, one bison, one llama, one alpaca, one turkey, one duck -- all must register, premises & animals.

GOODBYE PROPERTY RIGHTS

The NAIS abolishes private property rights in farms and in animals. The NAIS, run by a branch of the USDA, considers “your” animals to be not yours, but part of “the national herd.” Plainly, they are right. If they can force you to register your farm and your animals, you do not own them. They own them because they control them. You are only inventorying property & animals for their true owner, the federal government.

MANDATORY MEANS MANDATORY

The NAIS’s schedule fixes January 2008 for “mandatory” enforcement. Mandatory means “forced” and “enforcement” means “putting into force.” Not of your own free will. The government will fine you, put you in jail, or seize your animals for raising animals without registering them with the government -- “raising animals without a licence,” I reckon they’ll call it. That’s right, 6,500 years of historical right will be abolished. From now on, you’ll be breaking the law for being a farmer without government permission.

What’s more, “The Department does not plan to issue ‘alerts’ to inform livestock owners of the requirements until April 2007, only eight months prior to the date when it will be mandatory to submit the GPS co-ordinates of one’s home and the RFID of one’s animal[s] to the USDA database.” (Zanoni, 3)

MORE GOOD NEWS

Who will pay for NAIS? You will. It does not favour the small farmer, but corporations with huge budgets. These conglomerates get to write off government registration fees, etc., but the write off means almost nothing to small farmers, who must first come up with the money to comply. The NAIS is free now, but will not be in the future. On their website, the NAIS states, “Even with public funding, there will be costs to producers.” There’s a time tax, too. States, tribes, producers, managers of livestock shows and events, market operators, processing plants, service providers and third parties will all have to provide labour for this system.

AND TAXES?

By registering with the NAIS you open yourself for future taxes. By registering your car, you pay taxes. By registering yourself as the owner of your home, you pay taxes. By registering yourself with a social security number, you pay taxes. Taxes for being a farmer and taxes on your animals will come, too.

THOSE FOR AND THOSE AGAINST

Tennessee (and probably your state, too) is now implementing the voluntary premises identification section of this plan. In your state you’ll see the Farm Bureau, the cattlemen’s association, and the extension agents lining up. With new government programs comes new government money. They’ll push NAIS compliance by holding out carrots of new money available only to those who register.

CAN WE DEFEAT NAIS?

You bet. There’s still hope we can defeat NAIS.

Dr. Mary Zanoni, a lawyer from New York, has filed official comments with the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) decrying the NAIS. She has also founded an organisation – Farm for Life. In her brilliantly argued statement filed in June 2005, she put this whole scheme in perspective.

Now, I'm sure this is all just the
rabid imagination of kooks...
except for that troubling gov't link.
They'd never abuse their "power & au-tho-ri-tah", would they?

One of the comments in my New Year's Day blog entry was about how horrible and unfair the "Fair Tax" would be to the poor and middle class, and how it would only benefit the wealthy.

As I understand the "Fair Tax", I have to agree with the person who posted the comment.

The matter that needs to be clarified is that the "Fair Tax" is Mike Huckabee's scam .. er.. plan, not Ron Paul's, who was the topic of the blog entry. Please try to stay on topic, people.

Here are the two compared, in their own words. 2m:23s. Research. You have fewer and fewer excuses to rely on rumor and no excuses to make up your own. See? I don't have to make up bad things about Tax-Hike-Mike. He's quite odious on his own.

Note near the end of the video where the Huckster talks about how to "help condition peoples behavior" and then codifying into law the "new behavioral norm". Then again, some people f e e l safer being told what to do & what to think feel. They would be happy (for awhile) under (the thumb of) a President Goebbels .. er.. Huckabee. Oh, Big Brother, Where art thou?

Well, back in 2003, we were sold a bill-of-(not-so)-goods about a certain nation and certain non-existant weapons, and how most certainly we would handle the cost of it all at minimal American taxpayer expense because oil would ‘pay’ for the war (but not the wounded and killed). At that time, oil was going for under $25 a barrel. Today, Jan 2, 2008, oil touched $100 a barrel.

Gas is going for about $3.10~$3.30 a gallon, where I’m at. It’s not summer driving season, yet. We haven’t had the switchover from winter-blend to summer-blend, yet. Not to mention the obligatory refinery fire somewhere in the nation.

Today, gold(Au) touched $860 an ounce, silver(Ag) is above $15, while the Euro touched $1.4730 (only 3 more cents to go). It used to be Au would swing about $6 up or down on the day. Now, it easily jumps or drops $10. As we go forward, these price swings will get larger across the board. I keep using the word “touch”, but I think prices will be back for a “feel”.

---

The thing about predicting future events is ~ you tell someone they’ll be hit by a car while crossing the street, they will be more careful crossing the street, and then say you were wrong. Or, they won't listen at all, and get a fender snack. That’s why people who see disasters in the making will often keep it to themselves. People appreciate getting out of trouble much more than not getting in trouble altogether. Too often, it seems to make no difference in the outcome, anyway.

No prognostications, today. It doesn't matter if you're right, unless the right people know you're right.

I see plenty of people on the net making fun of those who are concerned about the North American Union. I have decided that many of these people are shills for the establishment. They get paid good money, and most of them will be long dead when things get interesting. What is today the EU, is the result of over 50 years of “harmless treaties” and “innocent trade agreements”. The full & real plan was only revealed a few months before the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, about 40 years in. 40 years is a loooong time to be called a conspiracy nut. Today, the individual citizens of the EU member countries have a supranational governing body that can make rules for them and is unaccountable to them. It is not currently making many rules because it currently has no army to enforce its rules. That comes later.

We, in the West, are at the “harmless treaties” and “innocent trade agreements” stage.
We, in the West, are at the "those people are conspiracy nuts" stage.
We, in the West, will turn off the TV one day and ask how'd we get shafted. Answer: deeply.

I should clarify that these events are big news outside the U.S., but the U.S. is the hammer that will make or break the deal, which is why it is not getting any coverage here. Our citizens wouldn't want it either.

You knew this was coming ...
The half-dozen or so of you who read my musings (not counting you nice folks in Langley, VA) have probably figured out who I'm most likely to prefer this campaign season. There's only one person different from all the rest. You've probably also decided you wished I'd predict more pleasant things, too. Well, I assure you, it's even less fun being Cassandra.

Let it not be said no one cared. Let it not be said we did nothing.

What I really like is that this video mentions areas that I haven't covered here, because I thought the subjects were too esoteric.

It would take too many pages to cover the lyrics, so I'll give just the first 2 verses, and of course the video which links to other useful info.

Mitt Romney's a whore of the business class
And a Mormon who says that he supports abortion
Not for civil rights - wants to torture more
wants to double guantanamo with sodomy force
like freak Rudy Guiliani workin for Illuminati
he's a puppet of the banks and the real ruling party (Bilderberg)
he cleaned up the ground zero crime scene bombs
they let him run for president and the press applauds
he's a pro-war cross dresser womanizing gun-grabbin
nothin but a fake wanna make new wars happen
pushin for a biometric national id card
worse than the George Bush cokehead retard
Fred Thompson, who's Fred Thompson?
Another fake liar that keeps the world constant
John McCain holds on to fame
And he cheers the Iraq Vietnam that came
We need Ron Paul for the long haul
Cause he'll stop all the wars where the bombs fall
So it's Ron Paul, we gotta stand tall
Every other politician made the wrong call and passed the wrong laws
We need a long pause from the lies, thats why we need Ron Paul
We need truth like the border needs a strong wall
RonPaul2008.com, ya'll

Hillary Clinton is big-money pimpin
With the cash that the corporations goin insane
Cuz she's Bilderberg CFR pro-war s-c-u-m-bag
She's plannin on invading Iran we better run fast
Lady Clinton wanna manage a police state
Pan-American she bring death like cheesesteak
Barack Obama wanna bomb Iran
But he pretends he's an anti-war kinda man
Hasn't said a damn thing about the Patriot Act
Or the fact that most people live in one-room shacks
Or the fact that our economy's about to collapse
And the fact that most whites won't vote for a black
And besides, he's a gun-control free-trade pro-tax
War promoting shill takes AIPAC kick-backs
Like John Edwards a tool of the Israeli war-crime
clean-break murder while they act surprised
We need Ron Paul, for the long haul.
Cuz he'll stop all the wars where the bombs fall
So it's Ron Paul, we gotta stand tall
Every other politician made the wrong call
Passed the wrong laws, we need a long pause
From the lies, thats why we need Ron Paul
We need truth like the border needs a strong wall
RonPaul2008.com, ya'll

 

Other people have been industrious enough to put together footage and info that saves me work on my rantings, and since it's video, you save effort reading. So I would like to present a few of my fringe ideas, which are not real, and will never actually take place. I've written about some of this before, as I enjoy fiction.

In the event the nice people with the butterfly net (or the tasers) come to take me away (for my own protection, of course), it will serve as a reminder that if you behave yourself, you won't go to this (non-existant) place, or one like it. Maybe.

In either case, you won't have to put up with these blog entries, anymore.

 

An agent provocateur (plural: agents provocateurs, French language, "inciting agent") is a person who secretly disrupts a group's activities from within the group. Agents provocateurs typically represent the interests of another group, or are agents directly assigned to provoke unrest, violence, debate, or argument by or within a group while acting as a member of the group.

   

Now, remember kiddies, the SPP is just something made up by "conspiracy theorists".

Stop SPP Protest - Union Leader Stops Provocateurs

Watch these Agents in Action(vid)

This is What A Police State Looks Like Seattle, WA style(vid)

I've been thinking about this for months.

Recently I posted in a thread my belief that some people just enjoy the "action" of the lottery. Whether it is scratching the scratch-off tickets or selecting the numbers for the daily draw, the objective of their play seems to be not to win big, but to win enough to continue playing.

There is at least one "regular" who has posted more pick-3 systems than anyone sane would know what to do with (which may indicate another issue). The only thing is that they've never had the patience to stick with any of their systems and hone the filters a bit. Even the ones that have proven profitable in backtesting were quickly dropped for the next new idea. I differentiate "worthwhile" as a subset of "profitable". All worthwhile systems are profitable. Not all profitable systems are worthwhile (e.g., spending $39 to win $40)

It's like watching those shows where the two guys go on and on about how to catch the biggest fish - this type of bait or lure, that location, this time of year, that weight of line. Then they cast their line into the water, catch a nice sized fish, then throw it back. "Sport" fishing. I can see where it makes sense as a how-to demo for survivalists. For lottery players, it's just odd. May as well go to the casino. At least get some pretty lights and bells for your trouble.

I have found that the URLs of these things change, so I'll provide the title and enough of the story so it can be found in the search engines. Here is the original http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/12/05/4709540-cp.html. Below is an excerpt.

OTTAWA - Canada should resist the understandable appeal of pegging the loonie to the greenback or forming a currency union with the United States, the incoming governor of Bank of Canada said Wednesday at a Parliamentary hearing.

At an historic appearance by a governor-designate before the Commons finance committee, Mark Carney defended the Bank of Canada's management of monetary policy in the face of the recent surge - and just as sudden fall - of the loonie.

And while Carney said it was understandable that many would want exchange rate certainty to protect some industries, such as the manufacturing sector, he maintained that the cost would be too high.

---

I figure Mr. Carney will have either 1) a change of heart, or 2) a change of employment.

For the last day, I've been reading glowing stories cheering Venezuela's Chavez's 49/51 "defeat" (I guess Die(a)bol(ical)d got their switches flipped) and sad sorrowful laments about Russia's Putin's election victory and what it means for "freedom". As if Chavez doesn't have a few more tries before his current term ends in 2013.

Meanwhile, as usual, these events have provided convenient distraction for the ThoughtCrime Bill that sailed through the House of Reprehensibles like a fat woman going downhill on a buttered slip-n-slide, and is now before the Cynic. First there was the Military Commissions Act. Now this new one has a title so long you need a coffee break halfway through. Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism (pause ... sip) Prevention Act of 2007. The Ministry of Peace's latest means of saving us ... from the new enemies they are about to create. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1955 (decided not to hotlink it) It's vague enough that you can be considered a terrorist by ... um ... someone deciding you are. Of course they assure us that this power won't be abused, and US citizens won't be either. Right. Of course, if you're stripped of your citizenship, well...

***Social security numbers will only be used for social security purposes. This tax is only temporary. I'm on the "pill". The check is in the mail. There's no plan to merge North America (ignore Vicente Fox on the talk show circuit, there's nothing to see here). ***

But that and many other things take a backseat (waaaay back) to the skanklet-of-the-month's substance abuse and/or child custody issues.

We should all be safer now, as "The Enemy" hates us for our "wealth and freedoms". Checking the new laws and the exchange rates, we're about to be safer than ever. Ugh.

(Sweden, Finland, & Denmark (and many other places) are wealthy & free, yet no one seens to hate them. Hmmm.)

For this weekend, I thought I'd do a little trip down memory lane. If you spent any of your formative years in the 1980s, you remember Rubik's Cube and its many spin-offs. Another company has redesigned the inner workings (for speed) and have scaled the cubes up and down.

They even have some solver videos of the 5, 6, & 7 series at the bottom of their page.

Pros make it look easy.

http://www.olympicube.com/

Enjoy... back to fire, brimstore, and critical thinking, next week. 

The History
People who study history know that paper “money” is a way for governments to steal through inflation what they cannot coerce through taxation, fees, fines, etc. Having said that, we also know that while 2-ply toilet paper is better than 1-ply, you eventually wind up doing the same thing with either...     

For a good portion of the 20^th century, the American dollar was a store of value relative to most “local” currencies. The $100 bill, the largest readily available denomination note of a major economy, was quite popular outside the U.S. among honest people trying to protect themselves against the incompetence of their own government, as well as gangsters (elected or not). There was much fuss made over Saddam of Iraq being found with so many thousands of dollars in American $100 bills, and also the tractor-trailers found with same. There was not so much fuss made over the pallets of American $100s sent over by Congress, without your consent or knowledge.

   

The problem a “regular” person runs into is that you need, at some point, to convert your hidden American dollar into whatever local dreck is required to buy a loaf of bread. You need someone who has enough local cash to make the swap. Of course, they are going to want to profit from this “service” so there will be a spread involved. This is much like trading in a twenty dollar bill and getting back 19 singles.

   

Before you argue that such a thing only happens in “third-world” nations, and only during crises ~ as a real-world example; there is at least one company that has machines in grocery stores in the U.S. that take your coins, counts them, then issues you a receipt for 95% of that amount. You then use that receipt as a credit towards your groceries at check-out. That’s a double rip-off, because the coins actually have a melt value greater than their face value, anymore. That’s a whole other write-up. I leave it to you to decide if you are living in a third-world nation, or during a monetary crisis. I think I see what looks like a duck & I hear some quacking too.

       

The Dream
A few days ago, I dreamed I was in what looked like a convenience store. I was standing near the counter unfolding some American dollars (mostly singles), counting through them looking for some amount. (I should point out here that even during the dream I was not aware of what I was originally in the store to buy, or its price. It is not a forgotten detail. It was never “added”) As I was unfolding them, I came across a $100. A few more $1s and then a $500 (William McKinley), a few more singles and then a $1000 (Grover Cleveland). I felt like someone who finds a forgotten twenty in a pocket of their jacket, that is to say amused, but not concerned. The two larger bills were in normal circulation. Whatever I was going to buy didn’t cost that much, those bills had just slipped in with the singles. Then I awoke, and thought of a couple of pieces I haven’t seen anyone go out of their way to put together, anywhere. So, here it is.

     

The Warning
As I mentioned before, the American $100 bill was the big boy on the block in terms of paper currency. But there was that nasty “spread” involved and someone, somewhere, had to get it back to America, or believe they could. The Euro negates that need. It is used across many nations. The spread is gone. Those American dollars are no longer needed so much. They are coming “home”. At 1Euro ~ $1.50, the 100Euro note will “hold” $150. You say that’s simple math. Now here’s the “other” piece. The largest Euro note is not the E100. There is also a(n) E200 note. That is not the largest, either. Right now, today, trading in 26 or so nations, there is a currency note of E500 units. At $1.50 per unit, that will be $750. The King American $100 bill has been deposed seven times over. The U.S.$500 and U.S.$1000 have not been used since the 60s. Allegedly halted to combat organized crime (by Nixon, no less). Right. The Europeans seem to have to such concern.

I cannot say if the dream I had represented the future or the past. Those who find my previous entries entertaining or informative will decide on their own what, if anything, it all means. I will just add that I was one of the few (all the way back in 2006) griping about the U.S. dollar reaching parity with the Canadian dollar. I’m just saying….