But it is not just a brick of shiny metal. you can form it into anything you want. The industrial needs of our society will keep it at some cost, not to mention the basic jewelry that people have. Even 10k gold is still gold. (Not by much, but it is....)
So there may still always be a value to it, but provisions will be more valuable.
Some bullion heist in the UK a number of years ago did this... The downfall was that they had TOO MUCH gold to process. They would melt it in with other scrap to LOWER the karat value. They then sold it to various local merchants and jewelers. I seem to remember that only one person was caught with a back yard type smelter and most of the gold gone and unaccounted for. Don't recall how it turned out, it was one of the tv specials on history or discovery channels and I think I fell asleep.
Yep, When it comes down to it, The gold in your wedding band could of at one time been in a Mayan tomb through plundering and melting is no longer distinguishable from any other gold unless newly mined and controlled minting.
Goldline scam? I don't get it. But I don't buy from goldline. I don't know why you have a hatred for someone you don't know, but typical in today's post progressive era.
Try Kitco.com or any of the other brokers that are out there. It has nothing to do with Glen Beck All coins are sold at a premium because of the intrinsic value. As soon as a coin is minted it carries some intrinsic value. Look at the state quarters. They are just quarters, but people collect them. THAT gives it intrinsic value. Are they worth more than
As for arguing facts, etc... You may have some of the "Eminent domain requires paying the actual value of stuff, determined by a court. " wrong. INAL... (WARNING!!!) But from my understanding, it was FAIR value, not ACTUAL value. And it applied to REAL PROPERTY, not "STUFF". Just like during a war they can confiscate any supplies they want and leave you a piece of paper I-O-U until settled later. Besides, the definition of FAIR VALUE is a gray term. For example, My family had a piece of property that it owned for investment reasons for 18+ years. We paid taxes on the land, cut some hay off of it, but other than that it was behind an airport that wanted to expand and next to a major highway. The county government started bragging about taking it by eminent domain and put an article in the newspaper about what the value was and never asked us. The family already had a contract for the sale of the property much higher than the county government wanted to pay. It was our "FAIR" value, but not theirs. In the end we finished the sale and the new owner promptly stuck a for sale sign on the property at 2 or 3 times amount paid. He thought that the court would force the county to pay his amount. In the end the county walked away because judge said the fair value was the value that just fairly reached between the two parties. Too high for the county and too low for the new owner... My mother walked away happy from the private sale, and then the market crashed and we really counted ourselves lucky.
Ok... I digressed. The point is that there will not be a judgment for every person that has a gold coin. IF (BIG IF...) it ever came down to it, it would be a hard locked price per oz set by the government on gold just like 1934 when it was locked in at 35$ per oz (!!!! Wish I had some of it back then -- Oh, yep, wasn't alowed unless it was collectable or special permit for artistic or industrial use!) http://www.finfacts.ie/Private/curency/goldmarketprice.htm
Why would they leave the loophole? Dunno, maybe to keep their own collections intact? There is REAL intrinsic value to the coins if you ever actually held one. Last years buffalo or a Canadian Maple leaf.. Beautiful coins. My current favorite is the Australian Silver Koala, Gilded edition. So cute...
BTW, today it is currently at $1308, up from 1294. yep, only $14 from yesterday, but it was a push through the overhead limit that everyone worries about. There may be a drop as some folks will sell to take some profit. That will cause the market to drop a bit as it reabsorbs the product but the question is will it bounce. Dunno, but in the end, I'd still rather have REAL things to sell to the folks that have the gold if the dollar ever does collapse. Besides, all you need to buy is a gun and you can own all the gold you can take, because if it ever gets to that point, we are all gonna be in a shitload of trouble and not many law enforcement things will be going on if everyone is rioting, etc.
Sorry to ramble, but you seemed to be attacking and I thought a few clarifications (Not in my ramblings...) might help.
yep, I was thinking of buy into the dips not hacking it, but really 10 minutes would be too long. Really, if they are connecting to a datalink then make it live monitor of price or don't do it at all.
Lots of firewall, otherwise you could just hack a transaction to buy and sell into an account that you then empty from 3rd location. No reason to handle physical transactions.
As for the Gold standard, the real folly of that is that it could be a standard. There is not enough physical gold to cover daily purchasing done by cash. Think of the tiny grains you'd have to have to buy a starbucks coffee, etc... The bullion back currency would be nice, but that will never happen because then it would be apparent that we DONT have the bullion anymore to back the currency.
(See Ron Paul... He has been pushing for an Audit from the Fed that houses the USA gold, and always shot down. Why? Hmmm....)
Remember, we are a FRACTIONAL banking system, so LOTS of money in play... LITTLE to back it up other than congress's word. Right....
The sad part is I remember hearing the commericals a few years ago and wish I bought more because back then "Gold anywhere near 600$ and oz is a bargin!" Argh!! cursed hindsight!
But, if the dollar ever does collapse, I'll be there with a burger stand accepting bullion from those that bought gold, for a hamburger. Because, I stocked up in cattle futures! mwahhhhaaaa!
Government did it once to force dollars into the market, it can do it again. What it can't ban is gold coinage. That is why even modern gold coins have a value of the countries currency stamped in it. So if they outlawed gold again, the "value" is stamped on the coin. That is the value that you would get back from he government if you were forced to turn it in.
Lets see, a 50$ gold eagle (1oz) sells for 1368.+/- Currnt value of 1oz of gold on market is 1297 as of now. US Mint sells them at bullion price, so you'll never buy one for the $50 strike value. That is just a matter of semantics in case they ever recall them. You just gave the government $1318 profit.
The other reason to have coin instead of bar is for "numismatic" value, so that even if US dollar is nothing the collection value of the coin would be worth something more than just the gold. (At least one would hope.)
I understand Beck's POV on gold, but it is NOT for everyone (and he says so), and an ATM for it it more of a marketing twist than anything.
If he's willing to sell at 300 an oz, I'd even by at small quantity.
"Employers find every loophole they can. Two part time workers are cheaper to have than one full time employee. Minimum wage is more than enough (according to the employer) for you to live on, while they're banking sometimes tens of thousands of dollars a night"
I'm not going to say that some places are not making money hand over fist with tipped workers, but just remember..
Who is paying for the building of the restaurant? Land? Taxes on Land and building? Food costs, that employee wage, employee taxes (unemployment, etc), management costs, insurance, utilities, maintenance and upkeep, utensils, linens, appliences, local permits, heat and electricity, inspections and regulations, Uniforms? timeclock, advertising, rodent/pest control and inspections, accountants, lawyers for the litigious society we live in, and probably more that I forgot. So when you have small businesses and you think they are just taking it to the bank remember that all that money to the bank is not the profit! The profit doesn't count until you take out all the expenses from the income! That is what pisses me off when people say that capitalism doesn't work. Maybe on Wall-street, but on main-street it keeps families fed. We had to sell off after 30 years of keeping everyone employed and happy, 2 years after 9-11. The hospitality industry took a hit, and we were hurting. The Matriarch kept that place open for 2 years longer than it was break-even and in the end when they sold it, the family all had to take jobs. Previously eveyone thought we were all rich. I wouldn't use my last name because I was an invite to get ripped off. Employess would try and steal/scam us, short tills, all kinds of crazy stuff. We kept about 50 people employed and worked hard at it because a few of those people were direct family. Other were like family and treated as such when it came to personal loans/advances/bonuses, etc...
Tens of Thousands of dollars a night doesn't cover the multimillion dollar loans on the property.
Actually, it is all about taxation because of the above passed laws. When I DID work in a restaurant environment, the waitresses had to claim the tips as income and taxed on them as such. The only tips that ever got reported are those that are traceable with the CC purchase. You want to help out your waitstaff, give them CASH. Cash is "under the table" and they are not taxed on it. The CC tips went towards bringing them up to a 'minimum wage' level because it was collected and tracked by the restaurant.
Also never work a shift where they share tips because then you'll get the lazy bitch that ruins it for everyone else and still get a piece of the pie. Also, make sure that if you are working a party that you know WHO you are working with because of that same reason. Parties usually have a service fee tacked on (Parties larger than 8 some places, but I mean LARGE BANQUET parties.) If your lucky, even with a service fee, if you bust your ass you'll still find cash on your tables if you have good service. It also helps to flirt a bit and be chatty if it is in a nice manner... People don't want to hear about your problems and histories... But cute doggy stories that make a connection with a patrons key-chain picture of their pet chow work great, even if you don't currently have a dog. And remembering people goes a long way. If Mr. Smith comes to dinner every sunday with the wife and always orders a coffee to start, Damn straight you'll get a good tip when you bring that coffee over and just confirm he wants the usual and he didn't have to wait. Also, if you see him in your section acknowledge him with a hello or hi-ya and mention you'll be right over, it gives a feeling of "I'm special" to the patron. Ask how it has been, etc... keep them family. Those are just a few of the tricks for good waitstaff.
Yes, I had some experience with the biz because our family owned a restaurant/hotel/bar for 30+ years and I grew up in it either busn' tables, working midnight checkin, or lifeguard or back office depending on what stage in my life you pinpoint. Maybe I didn't get it across clearly, but I tip... usually. But I will NOT tip outrageous amounts just because the person randomly was at my table. The SERVICE is what determines the tip. I'm not asking for a handy when the wife is in the bathroom, I'm just looking for it to be personable service.
Evil capitalist slave-driver? Nope those are the people that use illegal (Sorry, UNDOCUMENTED) workers like Collin Powell because they would rather save a few bucks doing home repairs than hire REAL AMERICANS who are also out of work and would love to have a job doing sheet rock or landscaping if you paid appropriately. Why not just bring in undocumented workers to serve you dinner at your next restaurant. Then you can feel good for giving a 50% tip for just taking an order. Just another job that nobody seems to want to do, right?
Thank you.. That one was good.
I know, it may sound like I'm an ass... But it got everyone talking, and that is what I really was aiming for. Lets fix the broken system, let people have a chance to have input on the "rules" instead of some vague customs from 50 years ago when service was SERVICE.
Lets see, recently I had a dinner with the wife and kids when mother-in-law was visiting. That waitress made a huge effort to check on us for drinks and we never went dry with an empty glass. She brought an extra plate to split the kids food because they usually want to share (6 and 4 still young and cute) extra crayons for the broken ones, chatted about the kids and made us relate. Styrofoam box for the wife's leftovers without being asked. The packaged the leftovers up and wrote what it was and date on the box, etc... etc.. She probably got 25% or so. That night I was happy, and the tip reflected it. THAT is how the system is supposed to work. Plus she had a card about the service in the bill that I wrote a nice "thank you and praises" for the manager to see if she choose to share.
The other side...
During the summer on vacation in Michigan, got some dude with huge holes in his ears that was twitching worst than Timmy... Half the time you could hear him in the station area around the corner from us flirting with some other server or just telling rude jokes while I was waiting with my empty glass in front of the edge of the table so he could see it needed refilled. I tried to flag him down about the leftovers, but after the bill and change, he wouldn't even acknowledge us as a table even though I had not put the totals in yet. I don't think he even brought the food out, I think they had different people actually bring the food to the table and we had to tell them who got what food. The server should of been there and would of known.
Can you guess what tip he got? ZERO. And I'm sure he complained about it too.
When I was younger I also dated a waitress. She made good tips because she took care of the tables. THAT is how it is supposed to work, not an assumed supplemental salary just because they walked the food to the table.
Usually I pick up the pizza because we are in route between school and home vs work or some such trip when I need pizza. In College I used to tip, standard 10% and a toke if it was someone cool I knew. Now around here, when I had ordered delivery pizza when it was out of laziness instead of necessity, I quit tipping because they would automatically put a deliver charge on the Pizza. WTF, I'm not gonna double tip. But, that was like one time. Never understood putting a delivery charge on a delivery pizza...
I can out snob all you big tippers too. I stick to 15%, IF it is DESERVED. Remember, Tip is "To insure Prompt Service" and if I eat there often and have regular servers and they make an effort, then yes they get extra tips. If it is a one time meal or few and far between location and have just taken order and brought food and nothing special, then they are lucky if I even leave 10%. Why? Because it is NOT MY JOB to pay for a restaurant employee. If the restaurant cannot afford to pay for good servers and only pay tips and/or the person is working for tips, then I don't want to eat there.
Would I pay a tip at burger king or McDonalds? Nope. Same idea. I am not part of your socialist party where I pay a person to work at a restaurant that I do not frequent.
WORLD WIDE WEB...
Our laws won't apply to everywhere. At most it will be used to punish our own citizens who inadvertiantly purchase something from a shady location due to a discount in price. When will they wake up?
An old friend of mine used to work for a high clearance group out in Colorado someplace. This is going back to 1995'sh... He has since gone silent (No contacts) , but I remember one conversation that we had had where he warned:
"If you want it to be a secret you better keep it in your head. Don't write it down, don't email it, don't call on the phone... Because if they want, they can know." (Paraphrased from so long ago...) But you get the point.
It was true then and even more so now. Who are "They"? Well, that's the problem... in 1995 I presumed it was the Federal Government that could disseminate the information to state/local. And under Homeland Security we do have "FUSION CENTERS" so you know that happens. But also it seems corporations of large magnitude can fall into it. If it is for "research, Statistics & Administration" then big whoop, but obviously it is a big temptation for people to abuse it once they are on the "inside."
Case in point would be Crystal Bowersox. She had her privacy violated multiple times in Ohio. Probably by people paid to dig up dirt for tabloids or something, but just like Google, Creepy.
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/09/ohio-apologizes-to-crystal-bowersox-for-security-breach/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_29YKZdSnooBzedGCwrNGaqfyDgD9I4IR7G1
http://au.eonline.com/uberblog/b199540_why_were_cops_snooping_on_idols_crystal.html
Since they are not using propulsion once they obtain an orbit, would it not be more realistic to call them "formation falling"?
Just a thought...
Don't panic.
