“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. ... This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard.”

Wow. He fell like Anakin Skywalker or something.

Wow! Robert Kiyosaki is right. We better take care of our futures now. The value of our money will just keep lowering as long as the Govt. keeps printing. Lets be on the offense instead of on the defense. Lets not rely on savings alone.

I think the big question is: Is there any gold even left in the gold reserves? Here's a (humorous) look at Reserve Banking from Australia : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIfH0vY2ANA&eurl=http://westernstandard.blogs.com/

Wow, and Anonymous, I really like the Skywalker analogy.

I think this quote by Greenspan is 100% correct. We have been exchanging nothing{worthless Paper} so long for something. I!m surprised it lasted this long. But why didn!t He do something to influence those nut-heads in Congress to return to gold standard when he headed Federal Reserve? Read my octogenariansblog.com

Greenspan was ideologically in the Austrian economic camp until the power to print money became his, then for some reason, being constrained by the gold standard began to look silly to him.

The greatest scam in our history was when the government declared it to be illegal to own gold. Americans , being goot little citizens, went to the banks and swapped gold for paper. We've been paying for it ever since.

If gold is so great and of steady value why does it keep going up and down on the stock market just like oil, corn and beans and all of the other commodities. Gold is about as useful as seashells on a barren island.

Waffler, FYI, a given amount of gold would buy approximately the same amount of goods (corn, beans, other commodities) in 1808 as 2008. The fiat theft system, stocks, perishables, etc. vary so radically, because they are based on inconsistent or changing standards, Your question is a bit like Ptolemy's theory of planet earth being the center of the universe. Ptolemy almost proved his perception through a physical working model. Your working model doesn't include all the facts correctly. Gold stays fairly consistent while that which circles around it goes up and down in value.

I think it may not be long before we are on a beans, rice, guns and ammo standard. The entire fiat currency system was created to stabilize the economic boom/bust cycles that had happened every ten to twenty years. That was how it was sold, anyway. How has that worked out for us? A fiat currency is designed to inflate, and inflation is simply taxation without representation. Reserve systems worldwide can print at will with no accountability whatsoever, and it becomes a tax on everyone who saves or risks capital to produce goods and services. It is a tax on the producers, the creators of jobs, the creators of all the necessities of life as well as the luxuries we have come to expect. When you tax something, you get less of it: fewer savings, fewer goods and services, and fewer jobs.

I think it may not be long before we are on a beans, rice, guns and ammo standard. Ken, Allyn, WA I know hundreds of people who have been stocking up for some time. And a quick check this morning puts gold and silver at some very good prices...if you can find it.

And Waffler....it goes up and down like everything else because its being valued by a worthless paper currency...like everything else.

"Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth." Understand that, and you will understnad the scam -- who benefits? Who are we in debt to? While the US is trillions in debt, the Fed is trillions in the black -- thus a handful of people (the identities of which are not published) are able to control the destiny of a nation (and indeed the world). The value of gold is not going up and down, the value of the fiat currency we are calling 'dollars' is going up and down. A 'dollar' is a unit of measuring WEIGHT. A dollar is one troy ounce. Where is the gold? Well, the Fed got all the gold certificates for gold held in Fort Knox and other storage vaults a long time ago -- it is theirs, not ours. Waffler, here is someone who agrees with you: "Gold is not neccesary. I have no interest in gold. We will build a solid state, without an ounce of gold behind it. Anyone who sells above the set prices, let him be marched off to a concentration camp. That's the bastion of money." -- Adolf Hitler

The purchasing power of gold has not changed in over 2,000 years. What HAS changed has been the value of the fiat currency in exchange to the dollar. Of COURSE the price of gold is going to go up against the dollar when the Fed pumps out more fiat currency; the price of gold will also come down as the fed takes fiat currency out of the market! An ounce of gold has had the basic purchasing power in ancient Greece as it had 150 years ago and what it still has today. Factcheck before you spew. Gold, unlike US bills, is still a rare commodity; even at times when gold became more prevalent in society (which makes the price go down; simple supply and demand economics), it has still maintained its basic purchasing power, because of the increased society and industry upon which the increase of gold was been introduced. Gold's "value", before the federal reserve, as measured in dollars, was much lower than it is now; however, this does not mean that the purchasing power of gold has gone up or down. You have to pull your head out of your ass and actually take a look at the facts and the world around you to find that gold has maintained its purchasing power against hard commodities, while trivial fiat/paper currencies have fluctuated, inflated, and bubbled out of any reasonable means. The same amount of gold that would have purchased a brand new 1965 Mustang (which was sold for around $2,800 then) would purchase a brand new 2009 Mustang today. However, the Mustang today is sure a hell of a lot more expensive than $2,800! Why? Because the dollar has NOT maintained its purchasing power and has become inflated! Why/how has it become inflated? Because there's nothing backing the dollar except the people's trust in a high-tech piece of paper that has some images of dead presidents on it, and the GDP of the US (anyone here.. ANYONE.. with any formal/academic education in economics knows that basing a currency on a country's GDP is sloppy). Have I said it enough? Gold maintains it purchasing power; fiat currencies become quickly inflated and lose their purchasing power. It's not a hard concept to understand; any village idiot can understand it.

The village idiots were the ones that got rich in the California Gold Rush while most of the searchers for gold either never got any or lost all they had by paying $5 for an egg etcetera. Gold ain't for shit! It is worth about as much as the old saw "a republic not a democracy". Of all of the commodities in the world I can think (oil, coffee, corn etc) I would prefer any of them over gold anytime.

Bryon Morton: you have pegged Alan Greenspan exactly right. As soon as He was Fed Head he forgot what he'd written about Gold way back when. Alan Greenspan is as guilty of the monetary problems as anyone else, if not more. It was Greenspan, along with Bob Rubin and Larry Summers who fought regulations of the derivatives. All three of these men fought off their critics. Reckless, willful and arrogant, all three of these men. But Greenspan is the worst. It's interesting, I think, that Greenspan's wife, who works at NBC/MSNBC never, ever brings up Greenspan's name nor do any of the people who work there. Andrea Mitchell is her name. The gal's got power it appears.

I don't know if he fell, if you think about it, clinton had greenspan over to the whitehouse, I believe weekly or every other week, which was unprecedented and our economy was AWESOME. I've bush voters ask me what was so special that clinton did for the economy, this is my answer. Although I do like the anakin analogy, I'm 'unusually optimistic' :)

greenspan told the truth when he made the quote above. remember it was guoted in 1966. when he became head of the federal reserve in 1987 he had a change in heart and started lieing to us. yes, the jewish rothschilds, leaman, lazards, goldman sach's will bankrupt the u.s and the world. all your saveings will become worthless thru hyperinflation. then they will usher in the new world order. anyone who opens their mouth to complain will starve.

Like what Robert Kiyosaki advise - to take charge of our future and not rely on the government to save us. I may not be an American but this crisis affects us all worldwide. IF you'd like to PRESERVE & CREATE YOUR WEALTH, I'm sharing with you another option but before we go into details. I suggest that you listen 1st in our webinars at http://www.youniquewealth.com/karen. Registration is free! All you need to do is listen. I'll also be listening. You can search me on Skype: ken2xval

"What fools these mortals be!"

William Shakespeare in Puck.

Mr. Greenspan & Co. are the captains of our Ship of Fools floating in an ocean of fiat money.

Massive deflation and then on to hyperinflation. Nice work Alan.

Waffler, sometimes I wonder if you are just some kind of plant a provocateur whose job it is to come in here and say ignorant stuff to stimulate conversation among those who have actually studied extensively and understand what's going on, your display of pure ignorance regarding our dishonest money system is a prime example the things you mentioned "oil, coffee and corn" are commodities which must be processed or grown they don't just sprout up out of the ground on their own ready to use unlike gold who when found is worth something right out of the ground, it's been the standard of wealth for thousands of years.

A lot of people respond to you but I get the impression that you hardly even read what they say and that's sad because it is truly your loss however I will try to point you in the right direction so you can educate yourself on the subject, you probably won't watch it all but I offer it anyway because it is accurate even though it is animated it puts a fun spin on a very serious subject!

https://m.youtube.com/?reload=2&rdm=15p0fj6sg#/watch?v=mII9NZ8MMVM

It's hard to pay for anything when all you have is debt instruments.

Credit based economies ? Not wise, and never were. Fraud perpetrated upon the born free sovereign. When will man learn not to oppress ! One would do well to read ( Ezekiel 7: 19 thru 27. ) They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed. ( Because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity ). Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. Gold removed, for it is likened unto the Word of God. Sure and stedfast. Likened unto glory. No wonder people worship the sun. Gold and silver are idols of the heathen. wealth is measured in many way. In the same breath as wisdom is worth more than gold, also to consider thy neighbors needs. The unjust knoweth no shame ! Consider Zephaniah 3:8, Malachi 4:5 and I Thessalonians 4:16.