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Well ...First ... there is a difference between GLD ... and GOLD ...You may not be able to buy a slice of bread with the first ... but I can assure you ... you can buy a bakery with the second ...Gold is a hedge against fiat currency debasement ...The next question is what is causing and/or will cause that debasement ...Perhaps it is inflation ... which will likely cause a temporary spike ... and then wane ...Perhaps ... you live in a country that is so fiscally irresponsible ... that they will soon find themselves in a situation where they have no choice to embark on a long, methodical program of orchestrated inflation through currency debasement in order to reduce the debt to a manageable level relative to GDP ... (or maybe you don't live in the US)In essence ... it is a default on debt ...If I borrow $100 from you ... and pay you back $50 ... and tell you that I'm not paying any more ... then you would have no problem recognizing that as a default ... right ?But ... if I borrow $100 ... and then do something to make the money only have half the buying power that it had when you loaned it to me ... and then pay you back $100 ... I've screwed you just the same ... and it represents the same type of default ...The US only has one way out .. and that is default ... and since they are never going to openly default ... they must do it through orchestrated inflation ...They can't agree on spending cuts that average less than $400M per year ... and they are spending $1.4T-$1.6T more than they are taking in ..You want to own physical gold ... in your possession ... not in a repository somewhere ...Estate taxes are 45% over a $5M exemption ...But they don't tax what they can't find ...It's easy to move to a new jurisdiction ... Etc ...
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Don't sell yourself short John ...
In Rosetta Stone ... each lesson is between 30-45 minutes (depending mostly on you) ... and with just that investment in time every night ... you'll find yourself functional in 2-3 weeks ... and mildly conversational in 5-6 weeks ...
Watching Spanish TV will also help immensely ... after you reach that level ...
I'm still looking for just the right property ... though I'm closing in ... as I've been down 3 times in as many months ... looking for just the right little piece ... 7-10 acres ...
Land selling in the $60K-$100K/acre range ... though it is actually sold by the sq meter or hectare ,,,
At first I thought this may be a bubble ... but with a bit of research I found that real estate sales in the Atenas area over the last 10 years have been 95% cash ...
And to be honest ... knowing much Spanish really isn't a requirement ... as there is such a huge expat community there ... you will find most vendors, menus, etc to be bilingual ...
The president of Costa Rica just recently bought a 20 acre property in Vista Atenas ...
Mel Gibson recently bought a small mountain in the area ...
If you're the type of person that wants to live in a gated community with public water, public power, paved roads, etc ... you can get ~2.5 acre lots in communities like Vista Atenas, Hacienda Atenas, Roca Verde, Bella Luna, etc ... in the $140K range ... or even fully developed ... virtually new homes on these type lots starting in the 400K range ... all the way up to $1.25M range ...
Personally ... I'm more of an "out the country" type ...
My biggest problem is getting a flight ...
There is a direct flight to San Jose every day out of CLT ... leaves at 11:20am ... returns at 8:50pm ...
With very, very few exceptions ... that flight is booked through the end of the year ...
And it smells like a bank vault every time I take it ...
Folks are building lifeboats for themselves and thier families ... and they don't really care what it cost to build their families a lifeboat ...
If Costa Rica is out of reach ... you may want to look at the areas of Cuenca or Loja in Ecuador ... which are still fairly inexpensive ...
Costa Rica has been virtually untouched by the recent economic downturn because of the huge expat inflows ...
But Ecuador ... who no longer even has it's own currency ... but instead uses the US dollar ... was hit severely ...
And if the economy turns down again here ... they'll get hammered again ...
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I have so enjoyed your comments and wisdom ... over what has been nearly two decades ...
Best wishes on a speedy recovery ...
And to Peter, Chris, & Jon ... my thoughts and prayers are with you as well ...
R/C ...
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QUOTE (ben2k9) The next data point after that is what happens with tax rates
As it stands now ... a person's who makes enough to be wealthy according to Obama's criteria ... will pay 7.5% lower federal income taxes ... if they sell ... and nail down their gains in 2010 ...
And given that the estate tax exemption is unlimited this year ... I suspect that quite a few high net worth individuals ... will be assessing just what the rest of their life is worth ... if Congress adjourns with no action ...
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Oct 01, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCWD) announced today that its ticker symbol has temporarily changed from "YRCW" to "YRCWD" as a result of its reverse stock split. This is a standard NASDAQ practice. The symbol will revert back to YRCW on October 28, 2010.
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Ever wonder why union employees feel like they need an organization to help them keep their job ?
www dot youtube.com/watch?v=SWi6IlmSO_o
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I'm afraid they're toast ...
One of my guys worked for Yellow full time ... and me part time ...
He had about 12 years seniority ... and still got the ax ... no call backs ...
I put him on full time when he got laid off ... as he's too proud to draw a check from the govt ... and hates a union nearly as bad as I do ...
They took themselves through something of quasi-bankruptcy ... giving their debt holders 95% of the common stock in exchange for the debt ... reducing the previous shareholders position to 5% of the company ...
And even with that ... they're bleeding cash ... and taking on more debt ...
Just another great company that a union has strangled to death ...
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QUOTE (davidjohnhall) I also see the large emotinal focus. Thatrealization is great for me.
But ... in the end ... what isn't emotion ?
What ... does the average person do (or rerain from doing) in a day's time that is NOT driven ... alomost entirely ... by either fear or greed ??
No one really wants money ....
They want what they can trade money for ... or the status that having money affords them ...
And ... not all greed is greed of money ...
It could be related to companionship ... etc ...
Everyone yearns for something that they "think" that they want ... but do not yet possess ...
How many million is enough ?? ... as you are NEVER gonna have ALL of the money ...
What drives us ... the greed of money ... or the challenge of the game ??
Once that you have all that you will need for the balance of your lifetime ...
Why do you keep playing ??
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But isn't logic and reasoning unnatural ... and insticnt and emotion natural ?
Don't we have to expend great effort to overcome primordial urges ?
Give a teenager a scale ... a bucket ... a bag ... a shovel ... and a pile of rocks ... and tell him to put 25 lbs of rocks into the bag ...
He'll set the scale for 25 lbs ... and put the bag on the scale ...
First ... he'll get about half a shovel full of rocks and put them in the bag ...
When that isn't enough ... he'll get a full shovel full of rocks ...
And when that still isn't enough ... he'll get a heaping shovel full ...
And now he's gone over the target weight ...
Logic dictates that with each pebble ... you are getting closer to your target weight ... and should be slowing down ...
But somehow ... that just isn't natural ... isn't instinctive ... just isn't how the human brain is wired ...
One thing that I learned in flight physiology ... many years ago ...
There is a pathway (I forget the name) between the left and right sides of the brain ...
In women ... it is twice as wide as in men ...
In men .. the pathway allows only for half-duplex data transfer ... whereas in women ... it allows for full duplex ...
What does this mean ?
It means that if you put a man in a highly emotional situation ... it jams the pathway with data ... making it nearly impossible to make a logial decision ...
Whereas a woman can be crying her eyes out ... and still access the logical/rational area of her brain ...
Some theorize that this allowed mothers the ability to protect the young when they were threatened ...
But ... I'm not really sure that they "why" is as important as knowing that the condition exists ...
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Interesting ...
I also noticed that we are in a period of progressively declining tops ... which in the past has seemed indicative of a slightly downward sloping sideways market ... similar to 2005 ...
Which culminated in a respectible rally ...
I refer to the T2118 religously ...
In fact ... for my 401(k) ... I only make about (4) position trades/year ... and use the relative position of the T2118 to help guage the time frames for those trades ...
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