Sunday, March 1, 2009

financial advisory (revised 3/1/09)

the current US treasury debt is now $10.8 trillion & this year's federal budget deficit is expected to be over a trillion dollars… next year's deficit is expected to be worse: $1.75 trillion if the scenario is as rosy as predicted.. where is today's 15 year old going to get $120,000 to pay off his share in 10 or 20 years? the only answer can be is by hyper-inflating the currency, so those government bonds can be paid back to wealthy retirees, foundations, and foreign sovereign wealth funds in worthless dollars… tomorrow's clerks & burger boys will be drawing $1,000,000 annually each, so their $150,000 in taxes can be used to pay down the debt & interest…today's smart money is already moving to hard assets… and the OPEC arabs want to reinstall the gold dinar (one of the 5 pillars of islam) as the world's currency.
3 dozen years ago gasoline was retailing for 19 cents a gallon… after the first OPEC oil spike, the Fed turned on the greenback presses (i.e. loose credit) & inflation went to 20% with 18% interest rates, gold went to $800 from $35 & silver dollars sold for $50 (before falling back), and those same poetry chapbooks which were selling for 50 cents or $1 are now selling for $25 to $250 or more...we therefore recommend investors buy poetry as a hedge against inflation. it has consistently outperformed gold, the stock market & real estate, and has the additional advantage in that in can be an inspirational read, & what One reads becomes internalized; it cannot be taxed or confiscated by the state. furthermore, "Old Masters" mimeo poetry is scarcer than other investments because they ain't making any more of it.
we expect the poetry you buy today for $25 will sell for $500 in a dozen years, at which time you can sell it for a tank-full of gasoline. those who don't own poetry will be unable to afford gasoline & be unable to travel. they will have to park their automobiles and let them rust.