The Books I Used To Write the Second-Longest Paper I Ever Wrote

When I was a senior in college, I wrote the second-longest essay of my life -- and it wasn't for a class. It was for a cash prize of $5,000.

In December 2009, I heard about the Atlas Sound Money Project Essay and, broke as the economy, I jumped for the cash prize. I did not win the first prize. A kid from Dartmouth did, if my memory serves me correctly. I also did not win the one of the two second prizes ($1,000), or one of the three third prizes ($500).

I had to choose between the following topics:

Essay Topics:

- “Money and the Free Society: Can Money Exist Outside of the State?”
- “The Ethical Implications of Monetary Manipulation”
- “Monetary Policy and the Rule of Law in the United States”

I choose the last one.

But cleaning up my desk this evening (how it surfaced to my desk 4 years later, I have no idea), I decided to discard the paper I had notes on and preserve the memory through this blog post.

Here are the books I used to write the 20-page essay, which was supposed to be "accessible to the educated laymen, but rigorous enough as to be used in college and university courses." That had my writing style written all over it.

Economics Reading List for Sound Money Essay 

-The Alpha Strategy

-How the Fed Works (50 pages)

-Essentials of Economics

-Gold Wars

-Honest Money (Esp. Biblical Monetary System)

-Housing Boom and Bust

These aren't the only sources I used. I also completed Robert P. Murphy's "Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism," some excerpts from some newsletters I was receiving at the time, and more. Besides the Murphy book, only other books I read in their entirety for this essay was "The Alpha Strategy" (which I have offered free of charge since November 2009), "Gold Wars," "Honest Money." I skimmed through the Sowell Book. I probably didn't cite the Faustino Ballve book nor the How the Fed Works book.

I also have some handwritten notes on this paper, such as "banks are good - fractional reserve isn't," "sell back gold to the public," "FDIC out of commission," "FED = Insurance Agency," "prevent recessions," "prices of goods will fall," "gov = tax in gold," " = pay in gold," and "no government mandate for gold-only. Gold is standard, but other metals are usuable (sic)." Corresponding page numbers were in parentheses next to these notes.

The Atlas Foundation's original blog post announcing the competition was published on December 2, 2009. The deadline to submit the essay was January 15, 2010.  You can read the blog description here.

I'll publish the essay on a later date. 

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 3

"Uninsurables" fate pinned on Supreme Court decisions, the Associated Press reports.

A new Dept. of Agriculture study says that healthy foods can cost less than foods high in fat, sugar and salts, the Associated Press reports.

Stanford University scientists created a light-powered retinal implant, BBC News reports.

FLASHBACK: The health care law includes a provision tracking gold transactions, Washington's Blog reports.

Many businesses already offer health benefits to same-sex couples, Kaiser Health News reports.

FLASHBACK: CBO says health care law could result in 20 million people losing their coverage, The Hill reports.

Video: You Have No Rights, What in the Gold?!?

Robert Kiyosaki: We are facing either Depression Or Hyperinflation

I agree with almost every word.

Check out his books here.

Video: Where do you start with Gold?

Video: Gold Vending Machines

Sneaky: The Obamacare Provision Regulating Gold

This could be the shortest blog post ever, asking only one question: Why is there a provision on regulating gold in a health care bill?

But I will further express my anguish over these new details about the Obamacare bill being brought to light.

Thomas Sowell's recent article alerted me to this provision:

One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive Obamacare legislation regulating people who sell gold. This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.

I never understood politicians who slip in these unrelated provisions into a much larger bill that is likely to get passed.

One can be for Obamacare--not me personally--but against the regulation of gold and be put in a very tight situation: "Do I go against the bill because of the gold provision? Or do I go for the Obamacare bill and cramp the liberties of gold owners?"

Seriously, it was a massive bill that no one read - and now that its details are coming to light people are going to see how slick and insidious the left can be.

What happened to the old left? The one that didn't encroach people's liberties.

Investing in Preparation for a Hyperinflationary Environment

Some general rules of thumb:

[1] The U.S. Stock Market is not a good place to start. If you have never invested before, opening a brokerage account may cost you more than it will help you. For example, opening an account with Fidelity will cost you around $2,500. Do you have $2,500 to spare? Do you have enough to buy $7 per share? How many shares would you buy? Will you have money left over to pay for bills and food? Did you know some of the minimum deposits for some accounts begin at $10,000 and the cheapest being $500? Can you afford that? These are some of the questions you should ask yourself before diving into the stock market.

P.S. The only stocks that look as if they will do good are Gold Stocks, Silver Mining Stocks, and Oil and Natural Gas. Some of these stocks are really low (beginning at $1.69 per share; $6.95; $12.95, etc, these are general prices for demonstrative purposes only) Others are already as high as $2,000 per share (these are mainly the oil stocks)

[2] Gold is more valuable than silver, period. Gold ended today at $1,042.26. Silver ended at $17.38. Get my point.

[3] Gold is rarer than silver. Silver is used for industrial purposes because it is more common. Nobody uses Gold for industry.

[4] Gold is an inflation hedge. More people are buying gold than ever before to protect their money. (I was recently told that gold is better used for the recovery period i.e. post-depression. I will rebut that with more facts later.)

[5] Stay liquid. "Liquidity" basically means keeping money in your pocket to spend. It also means keeping money in your pocket to save.

[6] Here is a recent article on Gold. Check it out.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/casey/casey31.1.html

[7] Some gold companies require you to make a minimum purchase of $10,000. Sound familiar? Perhaps you are better buying a year's worth of dry food to eat in the case of food inflation. (Especially if you live in an urban area.)

[8] Here is another website giving basic information on the history of gold, investment tips, and more. I highly recommend it.



....More to come later.....