First, let’s review some basic assumptions.  If humans lived alone on their own private islands with no outside contact, they would need to spend most of their days providing for their own sustenance, shelter, firewood, and makeshift clothing.  They might be able to hunt or forage for multiple days’ worth of food at once, but without refrigerators or even plastic wrap, it wouldn’t keep for very long.  If a small group of them could somehow get together, the opportunity to engage in specialization would sprout – the ones better at hunting or foraging could provide the sustenance for the group while the ones better at collecting firewood could procure enough for everyone, and this distribution of chores would take less time and effort than each person providing his/her own food and firewood.  The extra leftover time could be used to further enrich the group members’ lives, such as by getting more food or firewood (investing in commodities), fashioning better tools or weapons (investing in industry), or by engaging in recreational pastimes.

Like families or tribes, small groups don’t necessarily need to keep score.  If everyone feels that they are doing a reasonable amount of work as compared to the others and are getting more in return than they could provide for themselves, they should be reasonably content.  Bear in mind that any of them could strike out on their own anytime, but would likely choose to live in the group because it would benefit them to do so.  In real life, specialization works – my wife can effortlessly whip up a gourmet dinner for us in less than 30 minutes, whereas it would take me longer to scrape together something not nearly as healthy and delicious.  She’s happy to do it because she finds it easy (if not enjoyable), and it leaves me the time to do chores for which I have a greater interest and aptitude than she.  Together we’re wealthier as a result of being able to focus on the tasks at which we’re more specialists.

As groups get larger and trading partners get more spread out, it becomes more necessary to keep score.  Goods and services may be difficult to divide, or trades may be separated in time or along chains of transactions.  For example, harvests may come in just once or twice a year, but a farmer may need fuel all year; a refiner may not need hundreds of bushels of wheat, but may prefer to trade fuel for finished bread.  Should the baker then trade fuel to the farmer for the grain with which to make the bread for the refiner?  It makes more sense to establish a “money” in which to store the interim value of these transactions.  In regards to large transactions, rather than a shoemaker trading hundreds of shoes at once for a car, it’s easier for him to sell shoes to various customers at his own pace and save up enough money to buy a car over time.

This concept of “saving up money” requires some medium in which to do so.  Grain spoils, fuel vapors evaporate, and shoes go out of style, so the need for a proper currency becomes even more pronounced.  Wiser men than I have made the case that good candidates for currency should be divisible into small-enough units for trade, should be easily portable, should not spoil over time, and should be difficult and costly to counterfeit.  Throughout history, various commodities have served as “money,” including seashells, foods, gemstones, and precious metals.  In prisons, cigarettes often fill the role.

The difference between these hard currencies and today’s fiat currencies is that when we trade for something with gold or cigarettes, tomorrow the recipient will still possess roughly the same percentage of all the gold or cigarettes that exist today.  Fiat dollars are easier to “counterfeit,” (simply by fiat) so if I trade for something with dollars today, and then more dollars are arbitrarily produced in the future, the recipient’s dollars will have less purchasing power at that time.

Generating more fiat dollars is precisely one of the things the Federal Reserve System does, managing the nations’ money supply through monetary policy.  The Fed can also give or lend new fiat dollars to bail out failing enterprises or industries, to encourage lending and borrowing, or to support US interests and foreign affairs.

There is only a certain amount of fossil fuel on the Earth, its scarcity and our demand for it determines its value.  If gasoline could be fabricated out of thin air, we wouldn’t be paying nearly $4/gal for it today.  Precious metals and gemstones work similarly – there are only so much of them available to satisfy demand for them.  Fiat dollars, however, have no such limitation.  Their number can be unceremoniously doubled in a short amount of time, making each one worth half as much in terms of their purchasing power in real goods and services.  Every new one printed steals value from the ones already in our pockets and bank accounts.

The trillion dollars we’ve spent on the war on terror would be a difficult pill for taxpayers to swallow whole, but by simply printing more money, huge costs like that can silently pass, unnoticed.  Over the years, as those bills are paid and those dollars then make their ways back to the US marketplace, they generate surfeit demand for an unchanged quantity of goods and services, reducing our wealth by quietly pushing up the prices of everything we buy.  Since few people realized or understood this hidden force until recently, the government largely wasn’t blamed for inflation – it was assumed by many average citizens to be a normal result of increasing wages and higher employment rates.  Unexpectedly to them, though, it has persisted (with a vengeance) throughout our current recession, despite lower wages and lower employments rates.  This may be in large part an impetus for the current battle cry to “Audit the Fed.”  (Higher employment actually creates more wealth, and higher wages are the fallout from inflation, not its cause.)

Funding wars and bailing out automakers, banks, brokerages, and even foreign nations are all within the possible uses of such quietly-printed fiat dollars.  Control of them is the ability to cripple or hyper inflate our economy, and it’s too much power for one entity to wield.  Any sort of currency that isn’t tied to a hard commodity is simply too easy to corrupt.  As a child, I used to believe that our dollars were backed by gold, so I was understandably surprised when it was explained to me that a five dollar note was worth five bucks solely because it was generally accepted in exchange for five dollars worth of goods.  More exactly, it’s because the government will accept it towards five dollars’ worth of an entity’s tax obligation.  Only more recently did I learn that commodities, when priced in other commodities, haven’t experienced the same inflation as our dollar has.  In 1960, an ounce of silver cost around 90¢, and a gallon of gasoline cost around 30¢, thus an ounce of silver would buy about three gallons of gas.  Today, although you can only get only about one-tenth as much gas for that same 90¢, the same ounce of silver today would actually buy about ten gallons.  Effectively, gas has gotten much less expensive in terms of silver, but both are significantly more expensive in fiat dollars.  Silver and fuel production are severely limited as compared to simply turning on a printing press to produce more dollars, and in this context, the Fed’s lack of restraint becomes obvious.

So what should we do about it?  As countless civilizations have found throughout time, gold and silver are some of the best candidates for currency media.  They are portable, divisible, durable, and limited in supply.  They even have uses outside of just serving as money.  While mining operations can produce more of them, it’s a much slower and more costly endeavor than a printer just flipping a switch on a machine.  Gold and silver coins and bars are an easy way to store value and could be used to pay for goods and services.  Checks and money orders could continue to serve as demands for funds, but could be denominated in weights of metals.  Credit cards, loans, and mortgages could continue to serve as debts to lenders who paid out gold or silver on borrowers’ behalves, and could be repaid over time in quantities of metal plus interest.

One minor nuance of a bi-metal currency system would be the relative value of the two metals.  We’re used to a system in the US whereby one dollar is fixed as being equal to 100 cents, but that wouldn’t work for exchanges between gold and silver.  The market would have to determine that ratio fluidly, as supplies and demands fluctuated, and as each participant set his/her own personal exchange rate.  A car might cost 10 ounces of gold or 550 ounces of silver; an hour of my time might be worth 3.5 ounces of silver or 25 grains of gold.  Gresham’s law would encourage efficient exchanges, ensuring that any businesses or government offices that got their individual exchange rates out of line with the market would find themselves at the short end of the stick.

Taxes would be payable in gold or silver, and government echelons would use that collected gold and silver to pay their expenses and debts.  Just as instruments such as checks, money orders, and credit card slips could represent stored metal, so, too, our government would probably create paper notes of currency to represent their stored metal.  If we’ve learned our lesson from the ills of the current Federal Reserve System, this must be a carefully monitored practice, ensuring that notes are only issued for quantities of metal actually on hand.  A policy of convertibility and periodic auditing should prevent runaway printing of unbacked notes.

There are still opportunities for governments, businesses, and individuals to borrow more metal to spend more than they’ve earned, but inflation is mitigated by the lenders being temporarily required to spend less than they earned – until their notes are repaid.

In conclusion, I think it’s obvious that our present system is broken, and since it is based on the flawed Keynesian assumption that government can better control the economy than could a free market, I see no reason to put bandages on it.  It is easier and more appropriate to start over with better assumptions and design a new system.  Decentralized control of money is safer and permits unfettered markets to do what they do best – find and adjust for the true values of goods and services – without the covert effects of inflation.  If government’s role is to represent us and to serve our best interests, rather than hide expenses in our future, let them tell us what it costs to wage a war or to build a bridge.  If they can get the support for such projects through increased taxes, referendums, or bond sales, the public must want them; otherwise, there’s no reason to force them and their costs upon us without our consent.  The ability to arbitrarily print fiat money wrests control of government expenditures out of the hands of the people who are subsequently asked to pay the bills.  We can no longer afford such a policy.

Now in 2012 we are in a fight once again for the right to rule ourselves with confidence and fairly. The fight is being led by The First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond. he is the elected first minister and his party the SNP elected by the good people of Scotland to govern our country. They are doing this for the betterment of Scotland. of course their is opposition from other parties especially the Labour Party. The self titled party of the working man,shame that they were found out at the last election allowing the SNP to a landslide victory.Ironic in that when devolution came to Scotland ,the then labour Leader made impositions on the voting system, that would stop any one party having outright majority.What happened the guid fowk oScotia saw through the failings of the labourites and voted them out. Why did they not vote for the Liberals or Conservatives? mainly because we remebered what the Tories had inflicted on Scotland and the Liberals were found to have no integrity and backbone, willing to sell out their ideals for power. it is also ironic that the SNP are the only party in the UK with an outright majority, a mandate from the people to govern. More than what can be said about the westminster government, two parties in a coalition, none of whom can claim an outright majority.

We are also witnessing the underlying prejudice aginst Scotland and its people, you insult our first minister , you insult the people who voted him in.The vitriol coming from the House of Lords is nothing short of racism.Now we know what wallace went through.The so called Scottish “lords” are the worst, throwbacks to the 12thc, sold out for a pot of gold and land.

The title song to a pivotal album of the 70’s, and one of the strangest and most unusual of all musical recordings. The song takes on everything from medieval knights in armour to UFO’s saving a lucky chosen group of humans from the apocalypse.

The song is best seen in covering three different periods of time and perception that start to overlap in the mind of the singer. The opening verse is clearly set in a hazily remembered past, with an almost intentionally clichéd view of a chivalrous pageant, and a sense of a children’s story, barely remembered. The knights are in some way associated with a queen, (Genevieve?) and an archer damages a tree (possibly a reference to Robin Hood taking part in an archery contest). There is a sense of someone ageing, reflecting on images from his youthful reading, or random thoughts in the mind of someone getting himself rather high.

The verse adds a fanfare with the image of the trumpets pointing upwards, as though the Sun itself was being worshipped, rather than the fanfare just taking place on a bright sunny day. The closing lines depict nature being destroyed by man in the 1970’s – a prophetic vision given that the song was issued just as the decade was commencing. Young has changed this to the 80’s, 90’s and Noughties in later releases and performances, keeping the line as contemporary as possible.

The second verse moves to a more realistic depiction of soldiering and violence. The narrator is in the wreckage of a bombed out building. It seems to be the position he has been given orders to maintain, and he is hoping that his replacement will arrive soon to relieve him, but there seems to be some kind of delay. It is night. He can see the Moon, but then he can suddenly see the Sun instead. It seems to be the fire-flash of a large explosion, most likely a nuclear one. The band he imagines himself hearing might be a rock band or a religious one playing a requiem to dying humanity. The singer reflects on a friend’s words that he had refused to believe but now fears might be coming true. This might well be a prediction someone gave him of the imminent end of the World, which he had dismissed as unrealistic or just rumour mongering. Now he is seeing it come true.

The final chapter depicts an unusual Judgement Day, in which the spaceships land, arriving as fantastically as the medieval knights of the earlier vision. There are many distressed children, and a select group of humans are given a new start with the aliens. The ships fly off sunwards. We are told that all of this is a dream.

The Sun is a recurring theme, the narrator sees all this as though not a part of it. He has no connection to the stories of his childhood. He sees no romance or chivalry in his burnt out basement, and he seems to be a witness to the extra-terrestrial gods aiding an evacuation rather than anyone invited to go.

The song has become something of an anthem for the Space aliens as God cults that still abound. Erich Von Daniken’s claims that ancient monuments such as the pyramids of Egypt were built by aliens and a diet of UFO related science fiction has led some to believe that aliens will arrive like angels to save them from the nuclear holocaust the rest of us will be left to suffer. The song captures some of that mood, with the singer not being one of the fortunate (?) chosen few.

An odd but beguiling song, with even its title unexplained or even referenced in the lyrics. The Klondike gold rushes left many people poor and bereft, and bitterly disillusioned. Humanity’s race will ultimately end in death for most, with few people feeling satisfied with what they gained in life. For many, the rush for capital is akin to the hysteria of the gold rush, with all its greed and madness and violence, but few of its rewards.

A haunting song that creeps up on you and stays in your head for a long time after a hearing. Cover versions abound, with cover artists including Prelude, Linda Rondstadt, Radiohead and Dolly Parton. 

The Song on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwjsYWGvaJo

Arthur Chappell

The value of a friendship, a situation or even just a moment is the value of impact and of the love shared for the growth in your evolution. As things may not last forever, one thing does… the impact essence of you on another. It may be in the silence of your soul or a memory that brings a smile to your face or as they say, “that one that got away.” The truth is that person, situation or moment changed you. In some connections bring out the best, making you a better person or perhaps the worst of you, like the ego and the mind take control; the mirror that needed to be expressed or surfaced and acknowledged. The depth of the connection may vary as does the meaning you place on that person, situation or moment. It is up to YOU to give it the meaning it has for you, if any meaning at all.  

The meaning of this all is to evolve and grow in compassion to self and embrace the mirror within you reflected in others. The “how” and “ways” does not matter. Distance, nor the age of the person or situation makes little difference in the impact of the meeting of the hearts and the mirror when it comes to the lesson. Like fingertips passing through the waters deep…on ships of gold and silver, the exchange has brought you to this point of awareness and changed you… the lasting meaning to your evolution is how you react to the interaction… with kindness or harshness… Harshness creates a trigger that reflects in relearning that learn until kindness and compassion fills you entirely. Kindness learned is compassion and love as I expressed in another blog, Open Letter to a Soul Mate in understanding the creation.

While I was talking with a friend, I came to understand the depth of how I created some situations and I am seeing the changes as I change my attitude about it. The kinder thoughts produce a better outcome. This friend stated something that made him rethought about a current situation. “You deserve cashmere and you are in K-mart”… how is that reflected with the people around you? 

Interesting reflection and perhaps a judgment of sorts isn’t it. You can get cashmere in K-mart. It is the reflection of efficiency and openness that places the value on that cashmere. The label or meaning you put on it is all that matters, not what society does. It is like saying… having friends from the “wrong” side of the track. Again, a judgment is being placed by association of the location, neither the heart connection nor spiritual growth potential.

Like minded individuals and situations are located every where you are attracted to…and the more you resist that attraction, the strong the attraction will persist. This is Universe law… so even if your intention is to walk away, avoid, ignore that situation or person, it will still be with you. There is still a value with you and in you about this.

This reminds me of the story of the king that traveled as a beggar to see who his true people were. He went to one house of wealth and was turned away… then another. Then he went to the poorest man, who had little to offer this beggar yet still shared his meal with him. The next day, the king returned gold to this man for his kindness.

So your thoughts produce the life you’re in and your actions tell where your heart is with the truth. Kindness will give you riches as the negative will continue to take it away as you wonder why.
We all deserve and are worthy of the riches and the form of  the riches does come in all ways. The people, situation and moments in your life are making the impact of the kinds of riches you have in your life, Gold or Coal.

A whispering of kindness and a smile may change a person live in many ways. Live through your heart and the world around will change for the better. Namaste.

(c)jenniferhillman 2012

Gold has simply completed the eleventh year of a bull market with the worth of gold increasing around four hundred per cent since 2001. There are several analysts and investment managers who believe that the positive outlook for the value of gold bullion can continue with additional price rises expected throughout the course of 2012. Here are our high 5 reasons why we have a tendency to believe the worth of gold might reach $2,000 per ounce or higher this returning year.

Gold is commonly bought by investors who are shopping for the metal as a secure haven amid turmoil within the monetary markets. and that we actually have turmoil within the monetary markets at the instant. several countries are scuffling with large debts and therefore the Euro zone is arguably on the verge of collapse.

it’s attending to take years for countries to mapped out the money issues they currently face. This in flip could lead on to an increase within the value of gold because the money uncertainty continues.

we tend to are seeing increased demand from central banks over the last few years. this is often as a result of central banks in many rising economies are craving for alternatives to the US dollar. The banks are wanting to take a position in gold as a result of it’s a extended record as a reliable store of worth. Central banks bought 344 plenty of gold within the 1st eleven months of 2011 plenty of it attending to Turkey and Russia.

There’s a restricted provide of gold and also the quantity of physical gold obtainable is shrinking. this is often partly thanks to investors from China and Asia who are unlikely to sell. it’s conjointly partly thanks to the renewed interest in shopping for gold coming back from the central banks who can in all probability hold their gold for many years. this could have the impact of resulting in higher gold costs.

Inflation is currently resulting in negative real interest rates during a heap of states. this implies that cash within the bank is value less and leads investors to shop for gold as the way of preserving their wealth. If central banks print more cash to do to fight inflation, the demand for gold can increase.

Gold costs will be quite volatile. though there’s a rising longterm trend we tend to additionally see massive upswings that are typically followed by massive downturns. Before investing in gold bullion you ought to do many analysis to create certain it’s the proper investment for you.

Image via Wikipedia

When I speak of “gold”, in no aspect am I implying or making relation to gold jewelry or any product of gold.  I do not perceive “gold” as being a physical item or object. Personally for me, “gold” symbolizes all that is special, beautiful, meaningful, and honorable to my heart. This “gold” is of exquisite, spiritual, emotional and inspirational deep value. It is immensely valuable but significantly priceless.  Tokens of this spectacular stunning “gold” are heart generated gifts, noble actions, blessings, powerful inspiration, treasured passions, a significant or creative process, life lessons, your faith, morals, values, quality time and the sentiments thrive endlessly .  I also view this gracious glorious “gold” to represent love or honor connected to someone who is dearly authentic to your heart.  Humanitarianism along with giving and making love and our individual rainbows are epitomes of “gold” in my perspective.

I believe that loving, respecting, honoring and appreciating people of all colors is living with a “Rainbow In Your Heart”.  Each day is a colorful celebration of love, blessings and diversity – acknowledge and celebrate each person’s “Rainbows and Gold”. Show, share, acknowledge and celebrate the colors of your heart and life with humanity. Spread your special “gold” among and within mankind.  The world is your boundless canvas. Paint the world with your “Rainbows and Gold”.      

There have been floods and fire until you think nothing else can happen.  Alas but it did, in south eastern Mindanao the mountains are slipping, what does that mean? Simply that they are having minor landslides.

These soil slippages are caused by much rain on the deforested mountains; again human greed causes the loss of life and property. Over 25 people are known dead, with over 100 missing, that means the death toll could add 100 lives very easily. Why and what really caused the land slippage.?

What really caused it was GOLD. The people were digging in the side of the denuded mountain looking for gold. The  ground  became  unstable  because  of the rains from  the  typhoons that  passed  by  there. When all that soil on the mountain got totally saturated it wanted to run down hill with the water.

This is  what happened because  there  was  no foliage to help absorb  the  water and  hold  the  soil  in place. It happens anywhere in the world where men are greedy. The Amazon River drainage in South America is another typical example abusing nature.

This  particular area is known for  its   unstable  mountains , and  the  people  were told to leave  several  times, but  the lure of  gold and  wealth lures  them back in spite of  safety. Like the Forty-niners in California’s Gold Rush, everyone is looking to strike it rich.

Is risking your life, for a little gold really worth it. There is  not a proper  mine  to  get the gold, they burrow  into the mountain  in  a hole  like  a Badger or some other  animal. With no support in your tunnel there is a good chance it will cave in on you

Why do people think they can abuse Mother Nature and get away with it? All of these things that happened; the flood on Mindanao was caused by  man deforesting  the mountains, there again  there  was nothing to hold  back the  water so it  came  down the mountain. The fires in Cebu City were caused by people over loading the electrical systems that they have available to them.

Sorry to rain on your parade but this game is no longer a user friendly experience but just a bunch of sad people who decided to re-ruin the game like what happened two years ago.

      The item I’d like to advise today is “Wine of Zamorak” it is currently at 2,033gp each, but it’s been bouncing around like a rubber band ball lately. This is not one of the many long term investments that are avalible, this is something you will want to check every day to know you get the best time to sell.

       If you don’t have a good amount of money to invest, you can obtain these rather easily assuming you have a descent combat level. All you have to do is go to the chapel near goblin village (NorthWest of Falidor) and kill all the monks. Then you can take the Wine of Zamorak. Notice it will effect your stats when you take it! If you are a descent level mage, you can avoid fighting and temporary stat effects by using the Telle Grab spell on it.

       Also this is a free player item so every one can use this item to merchant with.

       Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment. To see more of my merchant tips, click here, or to see my RuneScape 2011 Christmas Event walkthrough, click here.

Dr. Rizal was shot, but the musketry that snuffed his breath at Bagumbayan (now the Luneta or the Rizal Park), sounded the end of more than three centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines. It also heralded the birth of a new race of Filipinos. He and the Philippines have become the Filipino legacy. Before his execution there were only “Indios” or slaves. After his death the ideas and ideals which he nurtured in his own life and writings found their way into the national consciousness of the new Indio: the “Filipino”. 

Today the Filipinos are still fertilizing the future which Rizal had envisioned and for which he wished to be remembered. In a country like the Philippines (”the show window of Christianity and democracy in the Far East”) where the people reign supreme and God is the King, PEACE IS PRECIOUS AND BLOOD IS USELESS. At the EDSA Revolution to oust “Strongman” President Ferdinand Marcos, as the assault troops moved forward to kill, the world stood still and learned a lesson: that guns and pride cannot take the place of prayers and humility; that God does not march with iron-clad battalions but with the small man. The rest is for the world to emulate and remember. ###