Stuff From the Web (Personal Bookmark)

Lots of great reading out there this week. We love it when we come across thought-provoking, well written interpretations of the financial world. I didn't want to lose the links, so I've written them here ...

1. The Turd Speaks - great observations on the current state of things, peeling back the covers of the financial matrix and hitting a home run in the process.
   http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/3367/ramblings-lets-talk-dollar-gold-silver-crude-and-freedom

2. The Many Values Of Gold - by Victor the Cleaner - nice summary of the role of gold including some sections on Freegold.
   http://victorthecleaner.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/the-many-values-of-gold/

3. "Warren Buffett: Why stocks beat gold and bonds" - my namesake lets everyone know he doesn't like gold and trys to slip as many tulip bubble suggestions into his narrative, with some sage advice on why productive assets trump inactive ones (in normal business environments this is true).
   http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/09/warren-buffett-berkshire-shareholder-letter/

4. (Via Zero Hedge): visual representation of debt (by 'demonocracy.info'): I simply love visuals like this.
   http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/world_debt/world_debt.html


I wanted to tie them all in together - the main point is not to forget all that debt represents someone's asset, somewhere out there. That's a lot of assets - so in fact the world is very rich! But it's the quality of said assets that is the question, and whether the productivity of the folk making the regular payments, can keep up (like the Greeks, for example). And, that $160 billion eq. of new gold each year that Buffet complains about, doesn't look so bad when you consider how many $ are out there, swapping between asset classes. I was trying to figure out the comparative value of all the gold stock in the world, against these towers of money ... anywhere between 5-10 trillion, as a really lazy estimate. To be honest, the pile of debt didn't look so bad against all the gold in the world - it's similar to the assets:loan ratio that an average person might have on their house.

4 comments:

KJ said...

just finished reading victor the cleaner's latest, and an understatement, imo, to say it is a fantastic read.

Warren James said...

Yeah, gotta agree. My recommendation above was an understatement - it is a really useful reference which will remain important and relevant for many years to come (quite a feat). I guess that's what he has in mind with his blog - particularly as he is working towards his own interpretation of the Freegold thesis.

We don't have a huge readership, but hopefully I played a role in drawing some attention to it. I notice that FOFOA linked to it, as well as Jesse, and a few others.

Combined with some the recent stuff from Santa (see Turd's latest), it becomes pretty clear that the role of gold in our modern world is a story worth highlighting.

VictorTheCleaner, nice work!

Now what we need is a high school curriculum/subject on monetary principles (inclusive of freegold history and theory), and we might just save the next generation. It blows my mind that none of this stuff is approached in school (but of course I know the reason it is not).

KJ said...

wj, probably something to do with currency/store of wealth, price levels/interest rates and the connections to gold :) outstanding breakdown by vtc, I've got it bookmarked as I'm sure I'll refer to it again and again

Warren James said...

FOFOA just published a response to Buffet's letter. It's pretty good and worth a read (this link for any search engines reading) and humourous as well.

FOFOA Link: Yo Warren B, you are so OG!