Marc notes that every money printing exercise in the world leads to unintended consequences at a later point. One consequence is that the middle class and lower classes in the US have been hurt by the increased money supply in the sense that food and energy have gone up substantially while the S&P 500 has increased for the 10% of the population that invests in the market. This same group buys proportionately less food and oil products so this has created a greater wealth inequality, a big negative from our society point of view. Thus he notes that if you print money you don’t create prosperity.

Another interesting article from a couple of days ago is an excerpt from C. Martinson. His free report was discussing that some people don't believe that the price of gold and silver is manipulated.

"Managed prices and signals:

Aside from my opinion that our faith-based fiat money system mandates the management of the price of gold as a matter of fiduciary responsibility for those in power, here are some other facts that we have in our possession.

The quantity of money is managed

The price of money is managed (via interest rates)

Because interest rates are being managed (mangled?) to near zero, it means risk tolerances and preferences are being managed toward taking on higher risk

The price of oil is openly managed, with strategic releases from time to time

The price of food and energy are managed via subsidies, both direct and hidden

Official statistics (e.g., GDP. inflation, employment) are heavily biased, massaged, and managed to tell a rosy story vs. a more realistic version, which means that perceptions are managed.

Out of all these efforts, certainly the one with the most dramatic impact is the management of the price of money. That sets the stage for nearly every ill that follows, especially including the encouragement of taking on additional risk and the inevitable malinvestments that result.”

My apologies for perhaps wasting some reader’s time, but I am a firm believer in gold as wealth preservation and inflation protection and SLI will have its day in the sun and offer those advantages as well. I sincerely hope Grumpy will purchase substitute holdings in gold or silver and if so I am sure he will do well.