Changes

I humbly believe this is it. The last tanking of PM prices are here, and thereafter the train is going to move off. Load up if you can from now on till the end of the year (if PPT permits). Once the 1000 mark is crossed again, there is no turning back.

Below are excerpts taken from J.Donald Walter’s “Material Success Through Yoga Principles”. Apart from certain ’spiritual’ sounding statements, the bulk of these quotes gives a good insight into man’s insidious preoccupation with money or wealth.

The most important investment to keep at your command is your own energy, mental as well as physical. All human energy is mental primarily. I’ve quoted my Guru heretofore as saying, “The greater the will power, the greater the flow of energy.”
Some of the wealthiest families in the world have been reduced to penury as a result of relying too much, and too passively, on their handed-down inheritance. Your energy can be expanded, quite literally, to infinity. Alternatively, it can contract to virtual nonexistence. Some of the greatest fortunes on earth have been made by people who started with almost no money, but with great zeal.

While Walters focuses on ‘energy’, I’d like to focus on what his Guru mentioned - will power. But will power to do what?

Many I believe lack the will power to think objectively, to harness the human cognitive/executive function; this which differentiates us from other animals on this planet. They reply instead on emotions and feelings which devoids logic for most instances, and reduces their decisions to a qualitative equivalent to that which lower primates would make. The will to overcome (some of) our primitive compulsions through delayed gratification, objectivity, self control, etc. are what I believe nature has gifted upon the human species through a few hundred thousand years of social evolution. The problem is many do not use this will. Too much self-gratification, impulse, ego, self-centeredness has led to a world plagued with generations of man-made suffering.

Money is one of mankind’s three great delusions, the other two being sex and “wine” (that is to say, intoxication of all kinds, including hallucinogenic drugs).
Money is listed with these three for several reasons.
1) The expectation it gives of happiness.
2) The expectation of security.
3) The false belief that, with money, one becomes powerful, important, and superior to anyone with less money.

With the sense of superiority money very often gives a further delusion: the thought that people without money are worthless. Wealthy people often succeed in imposing this delusion on the poor, making them, by contempt for them, actually feel worthless. What makes these three delusions supreme is the fact that they strengthen the ego, alienating people thereby from their eternal reality: soul-identity with Infinite Consciousness.

I shall attempt to decipher “Soul-identity with Infinite Counsciousness” in another post.

As with the phrase “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”, money creates the delusion of superiority. How many times have we seen delusional people who seem to associate their wealth (mostly inherited) with their capabilities? Although not all rich are as delusional, there are many delusional who are rich. They may even get the best education, but as James Adams says below, they are not getting an education as human beings.

“There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. Surely these should never be confused in the mind of any man who has the slightest inkling of what culture is. For most of us it is essential that we should make a living…; but that fact should not blind us to another—namely, that in so doing we are learning a trade or a profession, but are not getting a liberal education as human beings.” - James Truslow Adams, 1929.

Putting 2 and 2 together, now it is easier to see why certain mainstream politicians and economists in the states still persist to follow illogical and damaging monetary policies. They have too much money flowing out of their ears and nostrils and PHDs pasted over their eyes to be able to see the reality that is happening to the US economy.

“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.” - Ayn Rand

Activity and discussions are slowly picking up in the arena of PMs (precious metals) as more and more investors flock towards safe haven assets. Gold as usual, the face of PMs, shows up as a representative in the majority of mainstream news and media. Her smaller sister silver however seems to have a secret agenda…

Did you know that there is less silver then gold above ground? Although more silver then gold exist below ground (unmined), most of the mined silver is consumed in industries leaving but a fraction available for physical investment. Additionally, silver is usually acquired as a by-product of mining for other industrial metals; and as a result of this economic downturn, many of these ‘industrial metal’ mines have closed thus putting an even tighter squeeze on the supply of silver. Still not enough? How about reports (or rumors) that central banks (particularly US) have been depressing the prices of gold and silver to maintain the strength (or peoples’ faith) in their currencies. If people lost faith in fiat money, what other forms of ‘money’ would they turn to for trade? You can print paper, you can’t print precious metals.

Ted Butler and his mentor Israel Friedman share their views on silver in this most recent report.
http://www.investmentrarities.com/02-03-09.html

The ratio of gold and silver. (Historial average has been about 1:40. But historically, silver has never been consumed by industries so much as it is today.)

Jan 2009. US citizens waiting in a long queue to receive food, personal care and household items as part of the nationwide programme to assist the working poor and disadvantaged families in Detroit, Michigan.

2009 will be known in history as the year that Americans realize that their dream is gone. Shattered by the greed of man, their debauchery, the corruption in their financial system and big government. So what really happened to the American dream? Or what was the American dream in the first place? James Quinn answers these question in his article “What happened to the American dream” on the eve of Christmas 2008.

His article echoes on an ironic theory that came to my mind last year - how man’s greatest strength is also his greatest weakness… that is his desire for “growth” - the want for more, for advancement, development, progress, profits… and on the flip-side of that same coin - spawning greed, jealously, competition, selfishness, egocentrism… this same desire built empires and infrastructures, discoveries and innovations, brought people from all languages, creed and colour together, and with the very same enthusiasm tore these empires apart, misused the discoveries of science to the demise of millions of lives.

Perhaps as all things are best applied in moderation, so does this very desire for “growth”. When is enough really enough? Will the rich say “I have enough” and not put his wealth into investments? Is being content with what you already have and not yearning for progress be considered stagnating? Where do we draw the line between a drive for improvement and plain greed? Perhaps only religion has the answer… … but has religion even done it’s job? Or has it just provided the fuel for more conflict?

(Un)Happy New Year to us all. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Wow, never updated this place since May =P
Just finished my last exam paper to complete my studies… and hopefully all turns out well. Somehow whenever I start to look around for a better job, the economy crashes. 2009 looks very very bleak. 40,000 jobs is going to be cut from the US postal service… this is like the first time ever in history; and in history I mean since the conception of the postal service itself (when letters were delivered via horse and carriage). So if a company that has weathered the many economic cycles and 2 world wars starts retrenching, I think we’re all headed for deep shit.

2009 holds major changes for me. A new and better paid job (hopefully), and a new family. Hmmm. But actually there has also been alot of changes for the past 3 years too… well I guess the only thing that doesn’t change is change in itself.