We recently stumbled upon some tips-for-life imparted by Benjamin Franklin at the Dumb Little Man website. There, we found an author who goes by the name Mr. Self Development who introduced seven of the Ben’s life lessons along with another author, Thea Easterby , who shared and introduced 14 of Franklin’s tips for life. We thought it prudent to provide these pearls of wisdom as an elegant introduction to what we will share hereafter.
Here is Thea’s introduction:
“Benjamin Franklin was a man of action. Over his lifetime, his curiosity and passion fueled a diverse range of interests. He was a writer (often using a pseudonym), publisher, diplomat, inventor and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His inventions included the lightning rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove. Franklin was responsible for establishing the first public library, organizing fire fighters in Philadelphia, was one of the early supporters of mutual insurance and crossed the Atlantic eight times. Self-development was a constant endeavor throughout his incredible life. Benjamin Franklin was clearly a man who knew how to get things done.”
Here are all of the action-inducing lessons from Franklin as presented by the above listed authors:
Prudent Measures
We trust that you have readily consumed with delight, the sage wisdom imparted by Mr. Franklin. His simple common-sense lessons are a perfect prelude to inspiring each of us to act upon the prudent measures that we shall discuss from this point forward.
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008, a growing number of people are beginning to question seriously the reliability of financial markets, paper currencies, politicians, and governments.
The vast majority of us are far too busy with day-to-day obligations to comprehend adequately the pending consequences that are most assuredly destined to manifest from our most recent wake-up call in 2008.
Three years following the 2008 crisis, which nearly brought us to the brink of total collapse and martial law, and as we now approach the end of 2012, those in power continue to do absolutely nothing to repair the structural flaws responsible for our recent brush with total catastrophe. The writing is on the wall.
In fact, the extraordinary measures taken by TPTB (the powers that be) to kick the can down the road a bit longer, have only made the entire system that much more vulnerable to the next inevitable shock.
Considering the looming fiscal cliff in the US, the surge in global unrest, unsustainable budget deficits, astronomical debts, unfunded future liabilities of governments that they cannot possibly pay back, with each passing day, the odds for experiencing another systemic shock are growing exponentially.
In light of this very real and disturbing situation, how might people protect themselves from an out-of-control social system that is growing ever vulnerable to massive disruptions, global conflicts, civil unrest, severe shortages, rampant inflation, and the plausibility of total chaos and collapse?
What should rational people do?
One of the most important and first things people typically are concerned about safeguarding in the face of such economically induced types of crisis is their wealth, which is measured in money. After all, money makes the world go round, right?
Let’s face it, money is the absolute center of all power, and the most potent of motivational drivers. Reflexively, in a normalized linear world, money is the only available resource one needs to provide a commensurate level of security for their family’s well being, survival, and standard of living.
If one makes the right investments ahead of time, one can reasonably expect to protect and preserve their hard-earned wealth. Further to this point, if one is a bit lucky, one can amass a rather handsome profit to boot.
The problem with the above reflexive thinking is twofold. Firstly, though we may perceive it as normalized from year-to-year, over the long run, the world is most definitely NON-linear. Secondly, it is the very nature and intrinsic value of the government issued money that is the root cause of these existential threats. Having said that, it is clearly appropriate for us to discuss first, what one should consider when it comes to the government money they earn and the money they have amassed throughout their lifetime.
Finances: one of five Silver Bullets to consider
If you are not already acutely aware that government issued money is pretend money, consider yourself hereby informed. Government money has value simply because governments have the power to pass and impose by force, legal tender laws, which dictate what type of currency they demand and accept for the payment of taxes.
We mentioned earlier that despite year-to-year perceptions of normalcy, the world is changing faster than otherwise perceived by general populations. For example, up until 1934 in the US, all government issued paper money was redeemable in the constitutionally defined money of gold and silver.
Following World War-1, amidst the aftermath of a non-linear world event known as the great depression of the 1930’s, the US government was essentially bankrupt. At the time, in order to maintain power in the face of national bankruptcy, the government somehow got away with confiscating all of the gold from its citizens. The government declared a banking emergency, and shortly thereafter-imposed legal tender laws upon its citizens, forcing them to accept exclusively, an irredeemable or pretend paper currency.
Yessiree, shortly thereafter, the “New Deal” dawned and unbeknownst to all, planted the demon seeds that are now spawning the zombie-governments and economies that we see failing miserably one-by-one all across the globe.
Not only was the US bankrupt in the 1930’s, but it had the audacity to impose clandestinely that all future debt obligations would rest upon the backs of its citizens by imposing that they accept a valueless debt-based paper currency in exchange for their labor. This non-linear event also led to World War-2 by 1939.
Following World War-2, the victors established what many now perceive as an ill conceived and diabolical set of global power structures such as the IMF, World Bank, and the United Nations.
Insofar as Gold was concerned during this period, under the established Bretton Woods Treaty, trading with other nations remained on a quasi Gold Standard. Since constantly moving gold around the world to settle trade was considered impractical, it was established that the victor of the War and its paper dollar would become the world’s reserve paper currency, which was as good as gold because other nations could redeem US paper dollars for actual gold, which was the real-money.
When US trading partners wished to exchange their reserve currency paper surplus for gold, the US was legally bound to oblige such requests. This arrangement kept global trade somewhat balanced for a time.
Although the other countries with which the US traded had their own local versions of paper money, global trade between nations continued to ultimately settle and reconcile accounts using the tried and true Gold Standard.
With the amazing grace of the innocent and uninformed masses, this new global monetary system ushered in more than a quarter Century of widespread prosperity for the Western industrialized world. However, because of this scheme, yet another non-linear world event reared its ugly head 1971. We will talk more about Nixon’s 1971 closing the gold window later.
Having the extraordinary advantage of possessing the world reserve currency, the US soon began to abuse its financial prowess by creating out of thin air, far more paper dollars than it was willing to part with in relation to the commensurate amount of gold those excess dollars represented. As one would expect, the other countries trading their goods and labor for US dollars became concerned that perhaps the US might not have enough gold reserves to back the paper dollars they were creating with such reckless abandon.
This brought about yet another non-linear event in history in the 1960’s. When the French sent ships to US shores to exchange their reserve currency dollars and to collect their gold in kind, the US refused to honor their agreement and denied their request.
We trust you can now see that despite life appearing normal from one year or decade to the next, history proves conclusively that extraordinary NON-Linear events of major import are in constant development, though to most people, such shocks generally appear to manifest overnight.
As a growing number of nations questioned the fiscal health of the US in terms the gold it owned relative to the extraordinary volume of paper dollars it continued to mass-produce, there was in effect, a major threat of a global bank run looming on US gold reserves. If the US were to honor the growing demands for gold redemptions, its gold reserves would have dwindled down to nothing resembling any facsimile of a viable superpower with global influence.
Since no wars arose from the refusal of the US to meet its fiscal obligations in delivering its gold on demand, one must assume that the US silently agreed to other political arrangements in order to smooth things over.
Shortly thereafter in a state of national emergency, Nixon announced a temporary closing of the global gold window, which remains closed to this day, some 42-years later. Since 1971, for the very first time in modern history, the entire world has been running both national and global economies with 100% pretend money.
In effect, what we have for global monetary systems is a dying Ponzi-scheme. It is the best and most successful Ponzi-scheme ever run, but a Ponzi-scheme nonetheless. If this mass charade does not implode within the next few years, we will most assuredly bear witness to its collapse within our lifetimes.
So, are there any questions remaining as to why “money” lies at the root cause of every modern day imbalance, injustice, dispute, disruption, or dislocation?
BUY SILVER & GOLD to INSURE YOUR WEALTH
For thousands of years, from the trial and error of collective populations, gold and silver ascended organically as the absolute best and most reliable form of money ever known to serve the needs of humankind. As such, any rational human being should be compelled to take whatever steps necessary to round up 10% of all they are worth in pretend money, and spend that pretend money to purchase actual money as historically represented by the physical possession of gold and silver.
Relative to gold, the case for silver is even more compelling. Historically, it has taken anywhere from 10-to-15 ounces of silver to buy just one ounce of gold. With a gold price of $1700 pretend dollars an ounce, silver should be valued in kind between $170 and $255 per ounce. Thanks to the imprudence of government interventions, you can buy silver today for less than $40 per ounce in pretend money. Folks, this is a no brainer.
I know, I know, I know, paper money is not pretend because it buys anything we want and need. This is true, but when one considers price inflation, which is simply the loss of purchasing power of these pretend paper dollars, one begins to wake-up to the illusion of pretend paper money.
If you still cannot wrap your head around this just take a look at the chart below. The top half of the chart shows the declining value of the US dollar from 1980 to present. The bottom half of the chart illustrates the complete opposite trajectory of the price of gold within the same period. Overall, since the inception of the Federal Reserve in 1913, the dollar has lost more than 95% of its purchasing power.
If you are thinking that there is some long-term reversal of fortune just around the corner, and that pretend paper money will suddenly reverse its long-term secular downtrend and eventually recuperate much of its lost purchasing power, consider this first.
In the entire history of humankind, every single civilization that has experimented with use of fiat currency (pretend money) has inevitably found out the hard way that in all cases, 100% of the time, those fiat currencies FAIL and wind up worthless and replaced with another medium of exchange.
Throughout all of human history, the ONLY form of money that has maintained its value and purchasing power for several thousands of years is that hard-money, which is in the form of Gold and Silver.
Much, much more than just Gold, and Silver
With history as our most accurate and reliable guide, and given the trajectory of our current state of affairs, one must realize that even if one had a million dollars worth of gold buried in ones backyard, that one would not be able to sufficiently insure the security, health, well being and standard of living for themselves or their families.
There are a couple of big problems with relying exclusively upon the assurances gained by acquiring a moderate portion of gold and silver. Firstly, you cannot eat your gold or silver to stay alive and healthy, and secondly, your gold and silver holdings will not serve in providing adequate defense measures to protect your family and property from potential threats.
In response to the ongoing fallout from the financial crisis, this is why we have created Prudent Measures. The Prudent Measures website is a companion website to our existing webpage’s, which are devoted to financial markets and the economy.
Prudent Measures provides a one-stop critical resource menu of highly recommended products, and essential services designed to safeguard, insure, and protect you against come what may in the months and years ahead.
Organized by category, this site will provide a well-researched collection of all that one may need in order to make critically important common-sense choices in these uncommon times.
After exhaustive research and endless comparisons, and in practicing what we preach, we personally use the services and products of many if not all of our chosen resource and service providers.
Within a modestly planned budget that is within ones means, review and research each of the page tab recommendations and decide for yourself what you would consider necessary and prudent measures for you and your family.
Food Reserves :: Prep & Security :: Power :: Gold & Silver :: Safes :: Guns & Ammo :: Bonus
In parting for now, let us embrace, remember, and heed the sage advice as presented by our esteemed Benjamin Franklin who advises us to:
