Monopoly Money vs. US Dollars

Everyone has played the game Monopoly at one time or another on a rainy day. A key feature of the game is the paper money used to buy everything from properties to railroads and pay rents and luxury taxes. In the "real world" we use the US Dollar for the very same purposes. I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the two paper currencies to see how they stack up against one another.

US Dollar - A paper fiat currency unbacked by any commodity like silver or gold. Backed solely by the "good faith and credit of the United States" government.

Monopoly Money - A paper fiat currency backed by the good faith and credit of Parker Brothers.

US Dollar - accepted on some level in most of the 195 countries of the world. The world's reserve currency...for now at least.

Monopoly Money - Played with by people in 103 countries.

US Dollar - About $829 billion dollars in circulation.

Monopoly Money - About $3.8 billion dollars in 250 million games sold.

US Dollar - The Federal Reserve Notes first issued in 1913 have fallen victim to inflation in the last century and have lost 97% of their buying power.

Monopoly Money - In the Monopoly Here and Now edition all dollar values are multiplied by 10,000, so a player collects $2,000,000 for passing go instead of $200. Another way of looking at this game change is that the Monopoly Money has lost much of its value as well.

US Dollar - When the Fed wants to tinker with the economy it just prints more money and floods the market with devalued dollars sparking inflation, and perhaps someday hyperinflation.

Monopoly Money - When Parker Brothers needs more money for their games they just print more.

US Dollar - All paper fiat currencies backed by nothing have eventually lost value through inflation. Many have been hit by hyperinflation and lost all buying power, becoming worthless pieces of printed paper. The US Dollar and the current policies of the Fed seem custom-designed to hurry the US Dollar to this same ignominious fate.

Monopoly Money - The game money only has value while the game is in play. When the game is complete, the money reverts to its inherent worthless status as pieces of colored paper valued by none.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, Silver American Eagles and APMEX Gold and Silver.

Rick

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Silver Liberty Dollar = Terrorism?!

The creator of the Liberty Dollar and NORFED (National Organization to Repeal the Federal Reserve Act), Bernard Von Nothaus, was recently convicted of counterfeiting and faces thousands of dollars in fines, $7 million dollars of copper, silver, and gold bullion confiscation, and 15 years in prison! The silver & gold Liberty Dollars along with precious metal certificates were conceived by Von Nothaus as an alternative currency backed by PM's and competing with the US fiat money. Von Nothaus had hoped to play a part in restoring the US to a sound monetary precious metal standard. Unfortunately, the Federal government with its printing presses busily flooding the country with trillions of dollars of green funny money, felt threatened by the tiny organization and its gold and silver medallions.

The Fed's case rested on the similarity of the Liberty rounds to US coins, with obverse figures "emblematic of Liberty" and a "Trust in God" inscription instead of "In God We Trust". Reverses of the Liberty Dollars featured recommended dollar values as well. Differences like a website address on the reverse of the Liberty Dollars obviously weren't sufficient to avoid his prosecution, or is the proper term "persecution"?

After the verdict the Federal prosecutor, Anne Tompkins, said, "Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism. While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country. We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption, and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government."

It is sheer nonsense and unabashed hyperbole that Von NotHaus engaged in behavior that is a “clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country.” But that’s a pretty good description of Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve and his actions to date.

Rick

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

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6000 Years of Gold Fever!

4600 B.C. Ancient civilizations begin to use gold as jewelry because of its beauty.

1500 B.C. The gold-bearing regions of ancient Nubia make Egypt a wealthy nation.

1323 B.C. Egyptians create Tutankhamun's funeral mask, a triumph of gold craftsmanship.

1200 B.C. Egyptians master the art of beating gold into leaf and develop the lost-wax jewelry casting technique, still used today.

1091 B.C. Squares of gold, about the size of postage stamps, become a form of money in China.

560 B.C. The first gold coins are minted in Lydia, now a region in Turkey, after a refining breakthrough ensures consistent purity.

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Funeral mask of Tutankhamun (14th century B.C.)

334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross the Hellespont into the Persian Empire, sezing gold now valued at up to $980 million.334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross hHellespnt into the Persian Empire, seizing gold now valued at up to $980 million. 334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross the Hellespont into the Persian Empire, seizing gold now valued at up to $980 million.

334 B.C. Alexander the Great and his army cross the Hellespont into the Persian Empire, seizing gold now valued at up to $980 million.

218 B.C.–202 B.C. The Romans gain access to Spain's gold-mining region during the Second Punic War.

58 B.C. Julius Caesar conquers ancient Gaul, acquiring enough gold to repay all of Rome's debts.

50 B.C. The Romans issue a gold coin, the aureus, which circulates for almost 400 years.

309 A.D. Roman Emperor Constantine launches the gold solidus. It circulates for nearly 1,000 years in various forms..

696 An Islamic gold coin, the dinar, is minted in Damascus.

1284 Venice introduces the gold ducat, whose weight and purity remain unchanged for 500 years.

Money Museum

Aureus (Rome, 128 A.D.)

1492 Christopher Columbus discovers the new world, leading to the Spanish Conquest. By 1510, Inca gold from Colombia and Peru pours into Spain.

1663 The Guinea, named after Africa's "Gold Coast," is first minted in Britain and becomes its main circulating coin.

1694 The Bank of England, the first central bank to have gold reserves, is established.

1700 Gold is discovered in Brazil, which becomes the world's largest gold producer by 1720, tripling the world's output.

Money Museum

Solidus (Byzantine Empire, 705-711 A.D.)

1717 Sir Isaac Newton, master of the Royal Mint, fixes the price of gold at £3.17s.10d, essentially putting Britain on a gold standard until 1931.

1787 Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith, strikes the first U.S. gold coin.

1792 The Coinage Act places the U.S. on a bimetallic silver-gold standard.

1817 Britain introduces the sovereign, a gold coin valued at one pound sterling. It becomes the dominant coin in international trade for the next 100 years.

1837 Gold weight in the U.S. dollar is lessened so that an ounce is valued at $20.67.

Money Museum

Dinar (Gupta Empire, 375-414 A.D.)

1848 John Marshall finds gold flakes while building a sawmill near Sacramento, triggering the California gold rush. The discovery transforms world gold production, which escalates tenfold during the next decade.

1852-1853 Britain and France mint substantial quantities of gold coins from California and Australia. Gold begins to take over from silver as the most widely circulating currency.

1862 The Latin Monetary Union is established, setting standards for silver and gold coins in France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and, later, Greece. The countries accept each other's coins as legal tender.

Money Museum

Ducat (Venice, 13th century)

1871 Germany issues the mark, a new currency based on gold. Ten more European countries join the gold standard during the 1870s, leading to a collapse in the silver price, as nations disposed of silver coins.

1873 The U.S. adopts an unofficial gold standard after silver is eliminated.

1887 John Steward MacArthur patents the MacArthur-Forrest process for using cyanide to extract gold from ore, leading to the extraction of gold in South Africa.

1896 William Jennings Bryan urges a return to a bimetallic system in his "Cross of Gold" speech at the Democratic national convention.

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Gold Washing in California, an 1896 engraving

1898 Prospectors discover gold in Klondike, Alaska, prompting the century's final gold rush.

1898 Prospectors discover gold in Klondike, Alaska, prompting the century's final gold rush.

1900 The U.S. adopts the gold standard through passage of the Gold Standard Act.

1913 The Federal Reserve Act requires backing Federal Reserve Notes 40% in gold.

1931 Britain abandons the gold standard.

1933 President Roosevelt prohibits private holdings of gold coins, bullion and certificates to alleviate a banking panic.

1934 The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 gives the government permanent title to all monetary gold and halts minting of gold coins. Only Federal Reserve Banks may hold certificates, putting the U.S. on a limited gold bullion standard. President Roosevelt reduces the dollar by increasing the gold price to $35 per ounce.

Money Museum

Stater (Tribe of the Parisii, 120-100 B.C.)

1935 Construction begins on the bullion depository at Fort Knox, Ky.

1944 The Bretton Woods agreement establishes the basis of the post-war monetary system. The U.S. dollar is set to maintain a conversion rate of $35 to one ounce of gold.

1961 Central banks of the U.S., U.K., and six European countries form the London Gold Pool and agree to buy and sell at $35.09 per ounce.

1968 The London Gold Pool collapses, leaving the U.S., Britain and other European nations unable to maintain the gold price at $35. The gold price begins to float freely for the first time.

1971 President Nixon closes the "gold window," stopping all gold sales and purchases and ending conversion of foreign-held dollars into gold.

1973 U.S. devalues the dollar and raises the official selling price of gold to $42.22 ounce. Dollar selling continues, which leads to currencies being allowed to float freely.

1975 Americans are allowed to hold gold other than jewelry for first time since l933. Krugerrand sales and gold-futures trading begin in the U.S.

1976–1980 The International Monetary Fund abolishes its official gold price, freeing governments to trade gold in private markets.

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Bloomberg News

Gold futures are traded on the Comex floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

1980 Gold reaches an intraday high of $875 on Jan. 21 but falls to $591 by year-end.

1981 The U.S. forms a Gold Commission to make recommendations on government policies about the role of gold in domestic and world-wide monetary systems.

1999 The euro is introduced, backed by a new European Central Bank holding 15% of reserves in gold. The Bank of England sells half of the U.K.'s gold stocks, pushing down prices to $250 an ounce.

1999 Europe's central banks enter the Central Bank Gold Agreement, which limits their annual sales of gold into the market. This action stimulates a rise in the gold price during the next decade.

2009 Central banks return to buying gold for the first time in two decades.

2011 Gold hits an intraday high of $1,445 on March 7.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

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How Would You Invest $100,000?

How would you invest a $100,000 windfall? Well, if you're like the Chief Investment Officer of Sprott Asset Management you'd do the following:

"I would probably put 80% in precious metals, 10% in energy, and another 10% in agriculture, as well as special situations stocks. In the precious metals area, I would put at least 60% into something oriented toward silver. I think silver will appreciate on a percentage basis way more than gold over the next decade and trade back down to a gold-to-silver ratio of 16:1, where it has historically been. It’s something like 48:1 now. In the energy sector, I’d own some oil and gas and uranium stocks, while in agriculture, it would be potash and phosphate."

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

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How I Survived Hyperinflation!

Earlier this evening, I received an email from a man who lived through the great Yugoslavian inflation (1993-1994).

Given the debt situation here in the U.S., hyper-inflation can certainly not be ruled out as a possibility. His comments on how he survived the hyper-inflation, and what it was like might become valuable to US citizens like you and me.

He said, of course, that once he got paid, he spent the money immediately, as in a week the value of the currency would be half. “It was a lot of paper,” he said.

He said you quickly learned to buy things with credit cards. If you bought some furniture, you put it on the credit card and by the time it came time to pay the credit card bill, what it cost you for the furniture was now what it cost to buy a pack of cigarettes, because of the quick devaluation of the currency. Since wages climb up roughly as fast as other prices, to pay off the credit debt becomes a minor cost.

He said you learn to drag out and not pay your utility bills, like the telephone and electric bills, until the last minute as the currency would have depreciated so fast that the bills become inconsequential expenses.

He said everyone lived poorly except for those who had foreign currency or gold. He said if you had access to even only ten German marks per month or gold and silver coins you could live like a king because everyone valued anything that offered price stability.

The man lives in the U.S. now and he says he never wants to live through that again. He says he now divides his savings into three parts. He puts a third into the dollar, a third into the euro and a third into gold and silver.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

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Buying Silver for Dummies!

Whether you decide to buy silver for investment purposes, hyperinflation, or economic collapses your choices can be numerous and confusing. My goal for this article is to give a beginner the 10 basic facts they need to know to make the best silver purchase without getting scammed by the many sleaze merchants out there today.

1. Buy from reliable sources. APMEX.com APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles has been in business for decades and is widely respected. Gainesville Coins or eBay are good as well. When buying on eBay make sure the seller has excellent reviews and use PayPal to secure your purchase.

2. Start buying "junk silver". Junk silver is any US dime, quarter, or half dollar dated 1964 or earlier. These coins were once circulating currency and contain 90% silver. $1.40 face value of junk silver equals one troy ounce silver (approx). Check out Coinflation.com for updated coin pricing based on silver content.

3. Avoid Goldline International like the plague. They have an "F" rating with the BBB and use high pressure sales and scare tactics to rip off the newbies.

4. Buy American Silver Eagles after you've built up a junk silver reserve. They are the single most respected and popular one pure ounce silver coin in the world and is a real US dollar.

5. Avoid silver rounds and bars which are made by private companies. Bars have to be assayed when sold (adding to costs) and rounds are unknown to most Americans.

6. Buy US coins only! Stay away from European and even Canadian coins.

7. Buy Gold only after you're satisfied with your silver stockpile or unless you feel you'll need to flee the country. Gold is easy to smuggle through customs when emigrating, but is impractical for day to day trading.

8. Keep your coins where you can get to them quickly. Safe deposit boxes are vulnerable to fire, theft (government and otherwise) and banks can be ordered closed during economic chaos. Don't pay your coin seller to hold your coins for you. Scams in this area are rampant.

9. Store your silver in non-polyurethane containers away from moisture which can cause tarnishing and/or corrosion.

10.Remember silver and gold have been valued by human society for 5000 years! Let's see how long the US Dollar lasts!

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles

Rick

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You're Never to Old to Prepare for Hyperinflation!

At a recent friendly dinner a senior citizen friend of my wife asked whether she was too old to be concerned about the teetering economy and approaching hyperinflation. After all, her tried and true conservative investments had gotten her this far, so why not count on them to take her a little further?

Well, first I told her the heart-breaking story of Lott Hendlich a German war window from WWI who lived through the 1922-1923 hyperinflationary chaos (which you can review by reading Hyperinflation and Broke Billionaires) an article I wrote back in December 2010.

My reply was that economic paradigm were changing so fast that strategies that may have worked for decades here in the US were in danger of becoming useless as economic models. The German woman Lott, had in the 1920's thought she'd has enough to maintain an upper class existence for the remainder of her life, only to eventually discover to he horror that her life savings could barely buy a postage stamp a few hyperinflationary years later.

I can't tell anyone for sure when and how economic change and chaos will descend, I'm not a psychic. What I can tell you and what I assured our dinner guest was that doing nothing and hoping everything turns out for the best is not a solid investment strategy. The American government and our Federal Reserve Banks are making the very same mistakes that the Germans made in the early twenties. If things continue as they are progressing our unbacked fiat paper money will eventually revert back to its native worth...zero!

What did I advise her to do? The same thing I'd told my readers to do. Get you hands on as much physical gold and silver coins as you can afford. Remember, buy for maximum bullion content, junk silver pre-1965 US dimes, quarters, halves, bullion versions of American Silver Eagles or Gold Eagles. DO NOT get conned into buying super rare or super high quality burnished or first strike coins. You just get less precious metals for your money and the dealer gets higher profits.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles

PS. I have a article I've written on using IRA money to buy silver and gold hyperinflationary edges as well.

Rick

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Hyperinflation Can't Happen in the USA...right?

Hungarian Street Sweeper Cleaning up Discarded Paper Money - 1946

Many Americans when they think about hyperinflation (inflation of more than 50% per month), invariably see it as a foreign problem that could never happen in the USA. History, of course, contradicts this false assumption with very real examples of hyperinflation that occurred right here during the American Revolutionary War and in the Southern Confederacy during the American Civil War. Indeed, history further tells us that anytime a nation introduces unbacked paper "fiat" currency inflation, hyperinflation, and complete economic collapse is only a matter of time. Other examples of hyperinflation from around the world and time include Ancient Rome (when they lowered the silver content in their coins), China (the first country to introduce paper money), Russia, Hungary, Weimar Germany, Iceland, Argentina, and Zimbabwe to name a few.

The root of the next faulty conceit I've encountered is the belief that "Big Brother" or the government will somehow prevent the worst from happening and pass some laws to protect US citizens and our wealth. Certainly, it seems the US government is doing nothing nowadays to disabuse any citizen of this childlike trust and dependency. More and more we're being seduced by governmental promises that assure us that medical care, retirement, health, food and housing costs will be taken care of by our good 'ole Uncle Sam if worse ever comes to worse. If we make a mistake by buying a house we can't afford or invest stupidly (Madoff scam), the government will rush to our rescue and have our back. Finally, the blind belief in the power of the government to "make it all better" extends to the terrible threat of hyperinflation.

A typical governmental reaction to fast rising prices in hyperinflation is to implement wage and price controls. Nixon did as much in the early 70's to control inflation with dismal results. The basic theory behind the pricing controls is that the government can stop rising prices in a market economy merely by mandate. Of course, as always theory never works as well in practice. History tells us that if the price controls are not rigidly enforced with real penalties they are soon ignored by both seller and consumer. However, when the laws are rigidly policed, product scarcity quickly results and thriving black markets are created. Scarcity of commodities results as sellers become reluctant to sell their products at the low governmental prices as they would lose money in the transaction. Factories often curtail production or close down altogether rather than manufacture and sell their items at a loss. Black markets and even worse price gouging then begins to thrive as a means to fill the gaping demand for goods created by the ill-considered governmental attempts to control the free market.

In the final analysis we see that the US with its busy money printing presses and skyrocketing multi-trillion dollar debt can and quite possibly will experience hyperinflation within the next few years. Further, if and when that economic catastrophe befalls us the average American will NOT be able to rely upon their Uncle Sam to ride to their rescue and feed their families with laws and dictates.

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

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Chicken Little Hates Gold & Silver!

A recent article in Fortune entitled Don't Believe the Rosy Forecasts confidently predicts the popping of the "alleged" gold and silver bubble. See the following excerpt:

"From 1983 to 2004, gold prices averaged around $400 an ounce. Today, the price for an ounce stands at $1390, or 3.5 times its historic average. The rub is that the production cost of gold is still in the $400 range. It's a combination of speculative demand and a temporary shortage of supply because of the long lags in mining the yellow metal that accounts for the surge. The spread of gold ATMs and ads luring people to sell their jewelry are sure signs of a bubble. Look for gold prices to drop sharply, and silver, copper and other metals to follow."

I've been reading articles like this daily for the last two years that have conveyed much the same Chicken Little "the sky is falling" advice. Luckily, I've paid the advice no mind and my portfolio is up 79% this year! If silver and gold are truly in a peaking bubble then all of our investor friends and family should have precious metal stakes, right? Do me a favor, go ahead and conduct your own informal survey. You'll find that 98%-99% of your investment buddies own zero gold and silver, especially the real physical bullion.

What many writers and talking heads fail to realize is that we are in a totally different investment paradigm now. The old tried and true methodologies that were based on a strong dollar and sound economic policies have been scrapped in favor of the money printing press and multi-trillion dollar deficits. The US dollar is headed for the trash heap of history and the very real possibility of hyperinflation is now no more than two years in our future.

I'll take precious metals like gold and silver that have been valued by all human societies for over 5000 years over your green paper funny money any day of the week!

Time is running out fast! Hyperinflation seems unavoidable as fiat paper money is being printed as fast as the US presses can run. To protect your wealth and your family, buy gold and silver now from these top companies, APMEX Gold and Silver and Silver American Eagles.

Rick

CLICK ADS BELOW FOR FREE DISCOUNT!