Differing Views of Wealth: How Insiders and Outsiders Approach the World of Money

What’s the latest news? The great battle continues… Dow down 53. Gold up $23.

Up vs. Down

Zombies vs. Producers

Inflation vs. Deflation

The feds vs. the market

Expansion vs. contraction

Centralization vs. decentralization

Bull vs. Bear

And no one knows exactly how it will work out. Some are betting on a ‘recovery’ and a new bull market. Others have put their money in gold or cash…expecting more crises and more calamities.

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Warren Buffett’s Worst “Investment”

Warren Buffett is a gifted investor. No doubt about it. Over a career spanning roughly six decades, he’s amassed a fortune for himself upwards of $50 billion. As the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the “Oracle of Omaha” has also done well for his investors. Those who bought shares of his investment company back in 1990 have since made over seventeen times their money, or more than 14% per year. Even though that return has fallen to about 5 or 6% per year over the last decade, Berkshire has still handily outperformed the market. As such, his annual shareholders’ meeting draws an adoring crowd large enough to make most rock bands blush.

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A Few More Reasons for Gold-Backed Money

Charles Kedlac here at The Daily Reckoning asks, “What, then, should we make of 13th century theologian Thomas Aquinas’ claim ‘…one man cannot over-abound in external riches without another man lacking them’?”

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When the Ruling Classes Can No Longer Buy Off the Mob

“I think Marx was basically right. History is largely a class struggle,? said another friend last night.

“Back in the 18th century, people wondered how society could function without divinely-appointed kings to hold things together. But then came the American Revolution and the French Revolution…and then they booted out Napoleon…and turned kings and queens into celebrities. The ruling classes realized they had to find a way to keep a lid on the public.

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Higher Taxes are Coming. Head for Your Bunkers.

In the calming environment of the Big Mogambo Big Is Better Bunker (BMBIBB), I can finally relax by sitting, armed to the teeth, amongst my puny trove of gold, silver and oil, idly trying to say, “Big Mogambo Big Is Better Bunker? five times quickly until my seething, vaguely homicidal rage at the Federal Reserve and the socialist/fascist/ communists in the White House and Congress that have destroyed us all.

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5 Ways to the US Government Can Fix the Economy

A pop quiz: How much money did the US government inject into the American “financial system? from June 30, 2009, to June 30, 2010?

Drumroll…

$700 billion.

That's right…the same amount promised to the financial system in TARP, back in 2008, when they were literally on the brink of destruction. Over the last 12 months, as the S&P 500 rose as much as 30% (up about 15% now, after the summer correction), evidently banks, brokers and lenders needed another $700 billion… just trust ‘em…really.

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US Economic Outlook: Bad and Getting Worse

It was raining outside, and so I was stuck inside the house, listening to my family remind me that I was just a worthless, penny-pinching, hateful old man who loves gold, silver and oil more than I love them, which I hasten to add is not exactly true in all respects, but you gotta admit that gold, silver and oil will treat me very nicely as they soar in price along with inflation in prices because of the insane levels of money creation by the Federal Reserve so that the loathsome Obama administration can deficit-spend us into hyperinflation, whereas spouses and children will be just a heavy millstone around my poor, aching neck, dragging me down, down, down by forcing me to spend money on them for their food and medical care and all the rest of that expensive crap.

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The Day FDR Tore Up The Constitution

With the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Elena Kagan last week, it's time once again to open up our “Pocket Constitutions.?

Kagan has already faced questions on the constitutionality of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell? and the classic “Right to Bear Arms.? But the major question that nominees always face during these events is whether the Constitution should be open to interpretation or if it is a literal document. And that got us thinking…

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Minimizing the Impact of Next Year’s Tax Increases

Just so you know, your taxes are going up next year. Yes, the Bush era tax cuts are due to expire at the end of 2010. Among other taxes, the federal estate tax – aka the ‘death tax' – is coming back in 2011. In a perverse way, it creates an incentive to check out in 2010, but I’m not encouraging anyone along those lines. Move at your own pace.

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