Keep the Change
The Perth Mint has made it possible to do a serious night out on the town with nothing but change in your pocket. That is, if you don’t mind lugging around a 2,000 pound gold coin, called the Golden Kangaroo. But although it is “legal tender” with a nominal value of a A$1 million, the metal in it is valued at A$55 million — about US$59.5 million.
Why did they do it? Because they could.
But $55 million nothing. How about a $100 TRILLION dollar bill? Now that’s real money. A newspaper in Zimbabwe recently discovered that Zimbabwean money was so worthless it was actually cheaper to publish on it rather than import newsprint and advertise it by handing out fliers on trillion dollar bills. Top that, Australian Mint! So here to rival the Golden Kangaroo is the Golden Mugabe.
This is a government that “stays in power by printing power and crushing freedom of the press.” Why did Mugabe do it? Because he could.
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There’s the “nugget” of your next book, Richard. The elaborate heist of the world’s largest coin…
…..and the super-secret hyper-sonic stealth combi-helicopter/submarine our “hero” hijacks to make his escape with the trinket.
Murph the Surph has retired from cat burglary. Let us hope that no one else gets any ideas from watching Topkapi.
There is something magnificent in a truly pointless and excessive gesture. The economy needs a really futile and stupid gesture and we are just the guys to do it.
Dig out your old Liras, Drachmas and Pesetas. The Age of Funny Money is going to be a scream.
There was some discussion a while ago about whether the Treasury could ‘print’ away the deficit without the Federal Reserve Bank (which ultimately is not required to be responsive to federal government) being complicit.
Check your dollars…they are federal reserve notes, treasury has to ‘get’ the dollars from the Fed to actually print them. Cranking out a 8 trillion quarters is not possible. Silver and Gold eagles have metal values far in excess of their statutory face value. So if the Fed wasn’t goosing the money supply what could the gov’t do? Turns out the Fed was willing to go along, so we never had to find out what the Gov’t could do.
There was speculation about a possible solution though, a loophole. There was a law authorizing the Treasury to mint platinum coins, but the law did not specify the face value the way it did for silver and gold eagles or quarters. There was talk that if the Fed got uppity and did not go along with the print strategy of the Administration, the Treasury could legally mint a pair of Trillion Dollar platinum coins, and ‘deposit’ them at the Fed. As legal tender, the Fed would be obliged to take them.
It may not have had the metal value of the Aussie version, but it would have had a higher face value.
Australia’s only worry is if China moves from the First Island Chain to the Third Island Chain.
Australia has vast mineral resources as well as grain and livestock
What they need is an upgraded navy and the joint US/AUS nuclear deterrent to keep China in its box-behind the First Island Chain
ME is trivial compared to the existential threat to America from China.
We will now focus upon the Western Pacific
Funny how Ron Paul gets mocked as a fringe candidate for holding steady at 12-14% in the starter states while Romney can’t crack 20% in most recent polls but he’s oh so respectable. Top donors all TBTF bank recipients of TARP and Fed bailouts one and all.
Once again thanks to Cain being an Establishment ‘anti-establishment’ guy it looks like the party insiders aka (corporatist, big government) Rockefeller Republicans will triumph once again. Right before the whole system starts falling apart and the tea party finally revolts against the R’s when the economy stays in the toilet after they toss Obama, the supposed source of all the problems.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/2011/10/24/the-dreadful-inevitability-of-romney-ii/
I believe someone wrote a book about that subject, a general revolt against the political class.
A chill went up my back as you pulled the curtain back to exposé the future of the US Dollar in the second video… Yes Sir George will be used as Toilet Paper in the very near future. Don’t buy Gold, Buy whiskey… It’ll trade for twice its weight in Gold about 7 days into the collapse, of course you will want some weapons to keep the Whiskey yours of course… Anything you want will be fetched for that liquid money, anything you want.
Mr. X (#6) I am a betting McCain ain’t the only one in the RINO establishment that is glad he lost, one might even bring up that “Conspiracy” post of just yesterday to think it was “that way” from the start…
“ME is trivial compared to the existential threat to America from China.”
I beg to differ. China has a lot of warm bodies. IN a kinetic dispute between the USA and China, they will quickly become cold bodies. The PLA is a paper dragon. Right now China cannot manufacture precision weapons that work. They cannot manufacture the precision tools to manufacture modern weapons. They are struggling to build run of the mill tools. One of the basic steps to a high tech military is turbines. You need them for Military aircraft, warships and heliocopters. China buys theirs because they cannot build them. Nothing high tech about it. The west has been building turbines for over 5 decades.
That is what worries me about the EU getting a bailout from the Chi-coms. What will they want in return? Machine tool technology? Both Germany and France are right behind the USA in tool making. The UK is there too.
The Islamic crescent is Not a threat now or in the near (100 years) future. They can kill people but that is all. While the 3,000 dead from 9-11 were/is tragic for the families involved, to be hard about it 3,000 is not much of a chunk out of 300 million.
Despite the rough times and troubles in the USA, our position relative to the rest of the world has actually improved. Yes, most of the world dislikes, maybe even hates America. Who do they call in an emergency? Who do they hope keeps the nasty neighbors away? America. China will never catch up with us as long as they are communists, or even any other sort of statist government. A slave state will never out produce a nation of freemen. The trick is staying free. Everybody gets another shot at that in Nov, 2012. Send the Marxist bath-tard back to Chicago.
“Once again thanks to Cain being an Establishment ‘anti-establishment’ guy it looks like the party insiders aka (corporatist, big government) Rockefeller Republicans will triumph once again. ”
hey thanks for smearing folks paulbot.
“In 1539, the Knights Templar of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels …”
They had to guard and insure all that gold anyway, and that costs money. Now they can use this “big coin” gimmick to make a few bucks.
So from what I’ve read, historically economies with currencies that are backed by metal have booms and busts but those booms and busts are not as extreme and the economies are more stable and prosperous than those that have fiat currencies. That lesson never seems to stick though.
The unexpected Black Swans have morphed into the all too predictable domestic turkeys.
The ones that legend has gazing upward in to the falling rain with their beaks open and drowning. Witness the move by Brussels to impose a tax on financial transactions.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.78bd1932c8482f7cb8afcbc7455003ec.8e1&show_article=1
It seems everywhere you look the central command is in a state of panic and cross purposes. Threatening wars both external and internal if they don’t get their way.
I’m wondering when someone will honor their threats and make pre-emptive moves. I figure it is just a matter of time before mainland China gets cyber-bombed by someone in retaliation big time. Then what?
StrategyPage claims Stuxnet 2.0 is in the works and on the way. Maybe wire transfers are the next target?
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20111027.aspx
stoicheion (#9) Great optimism but not factually true, China is a great external physical threat and will grow to be our equal in few years if everything goes their way, but life does have a way of intruding into everyone’s plans and the Chinese have a lot of “internal” problems that can threaten to deeply humble such a large giant, militarily over all China is lagging But! Intellectual Military China is very close to par, they suffer many fewer strategic Technological weak points as we do and a 21st century military such as ours becomes 2nd and 3rd rate when our Military Intellectual advantage is taken away (not to mention what happens to Civil society when a 21st century country is thrown back into 19th century life) Islam is a close 3rd with Russia, but Islam has not conquered thru great Military force in a hundred years, in fact the new working model is what you see pretty much now, gain enough political clout in their host country till it bends to their will then as they explode population wise they take over thru brutal intimidation till it morphs into a Islamic state. The countries in the Middle East aren’t “Arab” they are Muslim the ones that don’t claim outright Islam are just playing the part our Western Leaders want to see and hear, Islam has adapted to the West and will use its advantage (the West weakness – Multiculturalism – ) to overcome our advantage on the battle field. Yes history is in the process of making a full circle the question is does the circle end with the new one having man progressing in life and living standards (cycling upward) or will the circle mark the downward cycle?
I got what you intend,bookmarked , really decent site.
Perth’s mint has discovered a novel way to get gold-hoarders to ponder the differences between commodities and currencies. They frame the question neatly: if gold was as easy to tender as currency is, then would Perth’s mint have calculated a 1:55 value difference between the two?
Gold’s got problems. Gold’s value fluctuates day to day, so a buyer must carry fractions of gold coins or ingots with him to market. These fractions themselves fluctuate as different vendors exhibit a variety of scales and prices. So gold-carriers must be prepared to cut or shave their coins precisely to pay for goods. These problems with its calibration compound gold’s portability problem.
Otherwise, an hoarder could stash his gold, and go to market offering ‘credits’ backed by his gold. But then we’re back to currency, aren’t we? The credits presumably would be in the form of portable paper, or some other uniform, slim token, and the hoarder’ll require a protection force to stay on the farm to guard the gold. And the value of the individual hoarder’s credits will depend on the loyalty and fighting ability of his private army.
Let a million Fort Knox’s bloom?
I think Gold’s hit its wall this month. It may tick up a bit if the ME war turns hot, or if it looks like the Dems’ prospects in elections might improve. And, don’t get me wrong, having exchangeable commodities on hand in an emergency is an essential part of any disaster-preparedness plan. But, and I think Perth’s mint intends to send this message, gold-hoarding’s beginning to get a bit out of hand.
OT—
Are there any other hot-spot volcanos besides Hawaii?
You miss the point, steveaz.
Of course we need currency– no one is arguing that. The difference is: what stands behind the currency?
#19, Jake,
Reread my missive, friend. I don’t “miss the point.”
We agree that a currency’s backing is important to what determines its value (duh?), so, (instead of restating the obvious) I stressed the plight of individual hoarders expecting to use gold as tender in stead of national currencies.
A perhaps less obvious fact is, a nation could use a multitude of proveable commodities, including its human capital, to underpin its currency. A diversified regime of “backing” that, yes, includes gold, makes more sense to me. And in an endowed, mobile and hyperkinetic nation like ours there are many to choose from: Gold is not the only backing available.
But still, at the street level, in the Bazaar, markt, marchet or market, gold’s got problems.
I hope that by pointing out that, for individuals, gold is an inefficient proxy for currency, then the need to consolidate gold stashes behind a common protectorate, what some might call a “nation,” will become as glaringly obvious as currency’s need for backing is.
…#4. Mugged: The Federal reserve is a creation of the Congress. They are only as independant as Congress will allow. As to printing ( or coining ) money, Refer to Art.1, section 8.
..If the Fed is gone wild, it’s time to yank Congress’ rectum strings. Changing the chairman is just smoke and mirrors.
DM@4: There was speculation about a possible solution though, a loophole. There was a law authorizing the Treasury to mint platinum coins…As legal tender, the Fed would be obliged to take them.
There’s also Ron Paul’s suggestion that USA forgive the debt we owe ourselves, $1.6 trillion out of $14.3 trillion total debt.
RE: The Dreadful Inevitability of Romney (link@6)
I nominate that as the most amusing headline of the year, possibly the campaign.
At (long) last, some poignant analysis (not exactly the right word but I’m still smiling at the Country Club Angst). Romney could have won in 2008. (My working theory has always been that the Repubs ran a sure loser in 2008 to pin the economy on the Dems.) The race would have been close because the Repubs then – and now, apparently – have little conscious awareness that a majority of the country rejected Bush, how he governed, and what he represented…
The 2008 presidential election was one of the largest anti-incumbent votes in the history of this country. It was a vote of Rejection, not Embrace. 2012 is very likely to be a repeat performance – this time against the Dems (much too early to tell, imo), but the Dems seem to understand these things better (and more quickly) than the Repubs who will mistakenly see Embrace over Rejection.
Do they also offer toilet seats?
#4 Daedalus Mugged
My memory is slightly different. As I recall, the scam with the face value of a platinum coin was not to be used if the Fed got uppity. Bernanke and the Fed have been active, willing principle accessories before, during, and after the commission of the crime. None of this could have happened at all if they had not agreed over at Treasury, the White House, Maiden Lane, the Fed, and the PPT.
The idea as I remember it was a fallback for if the expected new Republican dominated House actually put its foot down after the 2010 elections. This would enable the “printing presses” [ok, computer keystrokes today] to keep running uninterrupted. However, Boehner and the Institutionals who control the Republican Party proved that they have the total testosterone count of a gerbil when it comes to fighting either the Left or their own crony capitalists.
I find it interesting that both the Institutional Republicans and the Democrats are promoting the nomination of Romney. That does not bode well for any changes if he is nominated or elected.
#17 steveaz
I agree that there is a problem with storing all your wealth as gold. There is a difference between using it to act a a preservable storage of value, and as a trading currency. Any serious proponent of pulling back into precious metals has to deal with that problem. From what I understand; it is best to hold your gold in fractional gold coins of a known and accepted denomination [and there is the known problem of Chinese government counterfeiting of all the world's bullion coins with partial base metals] for major transactions; and the use of similar government minted for circulation silver coins [pre-1963 US coinage is good for that] for small scale transactions, and silver bullion coins for mid-grade transactions that overlap the storage of value function. And yes, the determination of a rate of exchange amongst all that is going to have to develop at the time, and it is something that is not subject to advance determination at the time.
As #7 CharlesWhite says, barter of commodities is going to be an important part of any future where fiat currency collapses. I would also note that possession of barterable skills will be an important thing, to produce barterable commodities or services. I have some in mind, but of course everyone will have their own opinion.
YMMV.
As far as the minting of the “Golden Kangaroo” is concerned; the demand for gold and silver has skyrocketed worldwide. In India and China, they have been acquiring gold and jewels in anticipation of “interesting times” for millenia; and the demand is way up. Not as currency, but as a way to preserve wealth. In the ME and Europe, gold vending machines are turning up. Mind you, the price is well above spot market, but if you use cash to purchase there is a benefit of not being traceable. And given history, that is no small benefit. [q.v. Presidential Executive Order number 6102]
One does wonder at the amount of attention that any one who does get possession of the Golden Kangaroo will draw from the revenue agents of Australia or any country that can claim a relationship with them. Unless their name is Soros.
Subotai Bahadur
If the nominee is Romney, he will lose. Yes, I know that Obama should lose the election to any Republican. However, it will not be a two way race, and that is, I believe, by design.
Obama cannot possibly win in a two way race, the same way that Bill Clinton had no realistic chance in 1992. Clinton won because Perot ran, and siphoned off enough GOP and independents to allow Clinton’s minority Democrat party to win. That’s Obama’s plan.
If you see a third party conservative or “centrist” run, the election is over, and Obama wins his second term. When you hear about Trump running based on “conditions”, remember that Trump WAS an Obama supporter, and I believe, still is a core Democrat. He runs to pass the baton to Obama one more time.
On the other hand, returning to Romney, if he is the GOP’s “ordained” nominee, Tea Party conservatives will bolt. I WILL NOT sacrifice principle one more time to vote for another RINO like McCain or “good ol’” Bob Dole.
I truly do not know who I’ll support for the GOP nomination at this point. Cain is OK, but I’m not sure he can win. Same with Perry. Bachmann – not so much. Gingrich – he’s no worse an egomaniac than most past Presidents, and in particular, the last two Democrats. Gingrich might be one of the best Presidents ever, if he doesn’t forget he’s a conservative, and forgets about trying to please the NYT/WAPO editorial boards. Ron Paul – I’d slit my wrists first. Some nice ideas, some wacky ones too, but certainly not up to the CINC office. Huntsman? Why not any Democrat instead?
Wild cards? Palin – would be nice, but I think she’s burned out on the 24/7 character assassination of her and everyone in her family, including the pet dog and dead moose. However, I could see her running as a third party candidate if the only option were Romney, or if Trump runs third party. I mean, if we’re all going to lose and Obama is an engineered re-elect, Palin might as well run on principle. All those disaffected conservatives and some libertarians need someplace to go.
Jeb Bush – I don’t worry about the “anti-another-shrub” campaign that would be arrayed against him; I worry that as well has he’s done in Florida, and as much as he’s the most conservative one in the Bush group, he’d still revert back to the Bush “compassionate conservative” standard and we’d be back into the social spending binge. But I like Jeb Bush personally – a real nice, honest guy – and I’d pull the lever for him, particularly if the other “likely” name on the ballot were Romney.
Rubio? Not yet.
Bobby Jindal? Wow, I’d jump on board almost immediately – i.e. I have a few questions about where he stands on national defense and foreign policy – but this smart guy gets things done. He’s EXACTLY the kind of guy America needs to dismantle our social welfare state.
I don’t know who I’ll vote for. Today, probably Cain. However, I know that I’ll never, ever vote for Romney, and about 10 of 15 conservatives I know are in the exact same position. He hasn’t cracked over 25% of the GOP electorate in polling, because the GOP will not support him – period. Romney has no integrity. Romney is the epitome of the “anti-Tea Party Candidate”. Tea Party voters demand integrity, but if Romney lived to be 150 years old, his record on that would still be tarnished.
If you liked Arnie Schwarzenegger’s performance in taking both California and the California GOP into the sewage tank, you’ll LOVE what Romney can do for America.
Oh..and this thread was about the Perth Golden Kangaroo – sorry Wretchard; I’ve gone and done it again – off-track. Yes, I’ll take one, and don’t bother gift wrapping it – I’ll bring my own crane. Which government form do I complete to apply for my free Golden Kangaroo?
Have a good-day, mates!
Mr X (6), you usually write credible stuff here, so what’s up with this:
#25 Old Salt
Make that 11-16 conservatives. Romney is in, supported by both the Institutional Republicans and the Democrats, specifically to guarantee Obama wins. The Institutionals hate the base. They have polite cocktail party disagreements with the Democrats. My formulation for Romney is: “Romney 2012- Win or lose, Obama’s second term.”.
I’m supporting Cain since Palin dropped out. I could vote for, work for, and contribute to him. I can vote for anyone but Romney and Paul; for the same reasons as you. I assume that Huntsman is really a Democrat slumming in the Republican primaries to draw conservative fire away from Romney.
I will differ with you on Jindal. After he signed the bill [stand alone, not part of something else that had to be signed] banning transactions involving cash by second hand and antique stores [at the same time exempting pawn shops] I have soured on him. Much of the underground economy that people depend on to survive is cash based, and almost none of the transactions involve stolen goods as claimed by the sponsor. The government does not need to track every purchase and sale by everybody in the name of “making things easier for the police”. Note that I am a retired Peace Officer.
That said, assuming that the elections take place and votes are honestly counted [With a number of Administration appointees and elected supporters publicly calling for reducing the amount of democracy in the political system and/or canceling the 2012 elections, the issue is now in doubt even for those who are not conspiracy theorists. That, plus their unanimous support for the #Occupy movement.]; this is probably the last chance to restore America short of crossing the Clausewitzian “=” sign.
Subotai Bahadur
I must respectfully disagree with Charles White at #15. China may someday be a military threat-they aren’t now. Whatever the intellectual quality of China’a military, they haven’t fought a war since 1962, and have only had two relatively undistinguished border skirmishes with neighbors in 1969 and 1979. These are not the guys who fought a civil war, fought the Japanese, and battled the US to a draw in Korea. The US has been at war for over a decade now. We’re incredibly skilled and experienced and have several million capable veterans we could call back if circumstances dictate it.
Experience matters. If the Chinese are smart they’ll wait a long time to tangle with us and find a way to get their forces blooded first, rather than bloodied.
18. Gordon—
Cancel, cancel—there are millions of them.
Subotai: “Make that 11-16 conservatives. Romney is in, supported by both the Institutional Republicans and the Democrats, specifically to guarantee Obama wins. ”
Make that 12-17.
Romney and Obama support the same program, they just present different window dressings. Both are puppets of the Oligarchy. There is not one single conservative cause that Romney has consistently embraced over the years; he just a fair weather poser conservative.
I wish Cain would get an epiphany about the TBTF, but I afraid beneath all the pseudo Tea Party bluster,Cain is a tried and true corporatist Pub. Still he is far preferable to Romney.
I wish Perry would have the same TBTF epiphany and the cajones to do something about it. If he would do that and focus on a simple straighforward pitch to save the economy he could come roaring back in the two months before Iowa.
I really don’t think Paul wants to be President or really do anything about the Fed or the TBTF. All he wants to do is give the same talk about fiat money currency and Gold that he been giving for years. He has been given the means as Monetary Policy subcommittee Chairman to expose the Fed, the SEC, the FDIC and all the rest of the Crony Fraud, but except for a few things here and there, hasn’t really gone after them as he should.
But I like ,X and Subotai, am afraid this campaign has been choreographed, rigged and frontloaded to give Romney the nomination no matter what the base thinks or wants.