gold Archives - Zenconomics

The Only Debate Topic That Matters

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Only Debate Topic That Matters

September 29, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“Loading up the nation with debt and leaving it for the following generations to pay is morally irresponsible. Excessive debt is a means by which governments oppress the people and waste their substance. No nation has a right to contract debt for periods longer than the majority contracting it can expect to live. ” – Thomas Jefferson

The S&P closed out Wednesday at $2,171. Gold closed at $1,327 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $47.12 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.57%. Bitcoin is trading around $605 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Nearly one-third of all Americans – almost 100 million people – tuned in to watch the first presidential debate earlier this week. This represents an increase in viewership by nearly 40% from the 2012 presidential debates, and it almost rivaled television’s biggest draw – the Super Bowl – which received 112 million viewers last year. Apparently the debate was aired on television throughout Europe as well.

I see these numbers and the first thing that pops into my head is a question: how in the world do the ratings agencies know how many people are sitting on the couch in front of a given television?

I didn’t spend too much time with this, but all of the numbers I have seen reference “viewers” and “people”, not “households”. They are very specific about this.

I can’t help but think about poor Winston in George Orwell’s 1984 – he sits down in front of his telescreen and while he is watching it, it is also watching him… Continue reading “The Only Debate Topic That Matters”

The Zenconomics Report August Issue

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Zenconomics Report August Dispatch

August 31, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,176. Gold closed at $1,314 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $46.42 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.57%. Bitcoin is trading around $573 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

The August issue of the Zenconomics Report has gone out to members of our network. In this issue:

Low trading volumes and little volatility in the financial markets this month… The state of the sovereign debt markets… Two large banks pass on negative interest rates to clients… The latest on monetary-financed fiscal programs in Japan… Global investment demand for gold the highest on record for the first half of 2016… All eyes on the Federal Reserve next month… A quiet change to IMF’s special drawing right currency… A correction hits the gold stocks sector… the Zenconomics Report Model Portfolio updates… Two new additions to our model portfolio

This month we added two new positions to our model portfolio which is constructed according to the Beta Investment Strategy. This portfolio is designed to capitalize on the prominent macro trends in the world of finance, and it is built to be fluid and flexible when trends change.

The Zenconomics Report is 100% independent, and all opinions are our own. It is also 100% free, though it is only available to members of our network. For access, simply sign-up using the form below or at https://www.zenconomics.com/report.

New members receive access to all previous monthly issues, and we will also send you two free reports as a ‘thank you’ for subscribing.

Assess, Mitigate, Implement, and Prosper is a report detailing the concept and implementation of asset allocation. Asset allocation is about strategically spreading your capital out across several different asset classes, and it is a critical part of the Beta Investment Strategy. This report also covers the ins-and-outs of managing an investment portfolio, including the risk management techniques that everyone should understand before putting a dime into the stock market.

The Zenconomics Guide to the Information Age is a 28 page report covering money, commerce, jobs, Bitcoin wallets, peer-to-peer lending, Open Bazaar, freelancing, educational resources, mutual aid societies, the Infinite Banking Concept, peer-to-peer travel, Internet privacy, and numerous other Information Age tips and tricks with an eye on the future. This guide is designed to be very practical – each section is loaded with action items – but it is also written to be entertaining as well.

To financial freedom!

Monetary History in Ten Minutes

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Monetary History in Ten Minutes

August 23, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“Money, moreover is the economic area most encrusted and entangled with centuries of government meddling. Many people – many economists – usually devoted to the free market stop short at money. Money, they insist, is different; it must be supplied by government and regulated by government. They never think of state control of money as interference in the free market… If we favor the free market in other directions, if we wish to eliminate government invasion of person and property, we have no more important task than to explore the ways and means of a free market in money.” – Murray Rothbard

The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,183. Gold closed at $1,343 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $46.81 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.58%. Bitcoin is trading around $585 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Little Maddie is rapidly approaching her second birthday, and I swear she is going on twelve. Like her mother, Madison is quite adept at the art of talking, and she communicates with us very well. This makes life so much easier when she tells us exactly what she wants for dinner; it makes life just a touch more difficult when she wakes up in the wee hours of the morning and tells us she wants to watch Mickey Mouse.

While this seems terribly inconvenient to her parents now, I can only imagine how immaterial it will seem when Maddie is a teenager and we just hope she comes home before the wee hours of the morning. Nevertheless, it all makes perfect sense when she looks up at us with her blue eyes shining bright and says I love you sooo much!

Moving on to finance… Continue reading “Monetary History in Ten Minutes”

Ten Things To Do Instead of Voting

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Ten Things To Do Instead of Voting

August 4, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” – H.L. Mencken

The S&P closed out Wednesday at $2,163. Gold closed at $1,364 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $41.08 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.54%. Bitcoin is trading around $584 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Election season is now in full swing here in the U.S. – much to the agony of those of us who believe in human liberty, voluntary association, and participatory networks.

Once again the intelligentsia have convinced people that their future hinges directly upon the outcome of the next presidential election, and inevitably we non-voters are denounced for lack of patriotism by the 40% of the population who still place their faith in the voting booth. Naturally, our first reaction is to stand up for ourselves and explain our position:

“The essence of politics is coercion and, if necessary, violence…”, we attempt to explain in vain. Continue reading “Ten Things To Do Instead of Voting”

The Beta Investment Strategy

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Beta Investment Strategy

July 22, 2016
Charlotte, NC

“Most people think the secret to making money by investing is to find the stock that will go up. They all want to be an alpha investor, the big man on campus… That’s the whole game, they believe – seeking alpha… But the trouble with alpha is that it is unreliable… In the long run, it’s beta that makes fortunes, not alpha. Every study proves it… A beta strategy is completely different from an alpha strategy. Instead of trying to beat the market, you make the market your friend. It’s not your enemy. You don’t try to beat it; your just want to join it. And go along with it.” – Bill Bonner, Family Fortunes: How to Build Family Wealth and Hold on to It for 100 Years

The S&P closed out Thursday at $2,165. Gold closed at $1,332 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $44.56 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.56%. Bitcoin is trading around $655 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Wife Rachel and I are back in the Queen City for the weekend with little Maddie in tow. Accustomed only to mountains, pastures, and the wide-open spaces of the countryside, Madison stares up in awe at the tall buildings that loom overhead. Accustomed only to backwood country roads, her father tries very hard not to curse at all of the other motorists he shares the highway with.

We travel back to the city of our marriage this weekend to celebrate a soon-to-be new addition to the world of humanity. Friend Wade will soon be a poppa!

Rachel comes bearing gifts for the mother-to-be Kristi and her soon-to-be son, Thomas. I come to share a stiff drink with Wade and tell him how amazingly hard child-rearing is. Madison has been instructed to wake up crying at 3:00 am to hammer home my point. Continue reading “The Beta Investment Strategy”

The Future of Money

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Future of Money

May 18, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“Just like the Internet gave information back to the people, Bitcoin will give financial freedom back to the people. But that’s only the first step… Bitcoin will allow us to shape the world without having to ask for permission. We declare Bitcoin’s independence. Bitcoin is sovereignty. Bitcoin is renaissance. Bitcoin is ours. Bitcoin is.” – Julia Tourianski

The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,047. Gold closed at $1,280 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $48.54 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.759%. Bitcoin is trading around $457 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Wife Rachel: Honey, look! Madison has a pet caterpillar in this jar! She put leaves and twigs in there so it can eat and turn into a butterfly…

Philosopher Joe: Oh… why does it look like all of the oxygen has been sucked out of the jar?

Wife Rachel: What do you mean…?

Philosopher Joe: Did you punch holes in the top to let air in?

Wife Rachel: Wha… oh crap.

Spring is in full swing here in the mountains of Virginia. The caterpillars are crawling, the butterflies are flying, the wildflowers are blooming, and the all-encompassing green foliage is a bright celebration of new life! Continue reading “The Future of Money”

A Golden Reset?

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
A Golden Reset?

April 15, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” –Thomas Jefferson

The S&P closed out Thursday at $2,082. Gold closed at $1,226 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $41.50 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.78%. Bitcoin is trading around $430 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Last week we examined a potential path to the Great Reset triggered by the global adoption of negative interest rate policies (NIRP). The entry was not just speculation, however, but it was prompted by a report outlining a meeting in Manhattan between some major players in the world of finance and a source sitting at the nexus between government policy and the financial industry.

This meeting was not about the possibility of negative interest rates in the U.S., however. The unnamed source assumed NIRP was already baked into the cake. According to him it was not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. Continue reading “A Golden Reset?”

The Path to the Great Reset

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Path to the Great Reset

April 6, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

But if government manages to establish paper tickets or bank credit as money, as equivalent to gold grams or ounces, then the government, as dominant money-supplier, becomes free to create money costlessly and at will. As a result, this ‘inflation’ of the money supply destroys the value of the dollar or pound, drives up prices, cripples economic calculation, and hobbles and seriously damages the workings of the market economy.
–Murray Rothbard

The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,045. Gold closed at $1,229 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $35.89 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.78%. Bitcoin is trading around $423 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

I began writing a book titled The Individual is Rising back in 2013. The first edition was published in the summer of 2014, and then the updated, expanded, and revised second edition was published in August of 2015.

The central thesis of the book was that a financial “Great Reset” was on the horizon specifically due to the gross abuse and mismanagement of the monetary system that grew progressively more blatant over the course of the past century. Continue reading “The Path to the Great Reset”

The Majesty of Mindfulness

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Majesty of Mindfulness

March 11, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“What if you could be more than you ever thought you could be? To be better than you thought you could be? Would you do it?”
– Paul Rosenberg, A Lodging of Wayfaring Men

The S&P closed out Thursday at $1,989. Gold closed at $1,273 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $37.84 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.93%. Bitcoin is trading around $412 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

The 2016 presidential election cycle is now in full-force here in the United States. The yard signs are out, the politicians are demagoguing, the talking heads are raving, and the neighbors are arguing.

“We need a socialist in office!”, some say. “We need to stick it to the Chinese!”, say others. “We need a knowledgeable leader who can get things done!”, others chime in. “We need more irish creme in my coffee!”, says I.

In my view, politics is a distraction for individuals at the micro level and the bane of human civilization at the macro level. Politics runs on fear, anger, hatred, envy, and intolerance – the emotions that bring out the absolute worst in people. Continue reading “The Majesty of Mindfulness”

Decentralization and Spontaneous Order

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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Decentralization and Spontaneous Order

November 25, 2015
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,084. Gold closed at $1,074 per ounce. Oil closed at $42.87 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 2.25%. Bitcoin is trading around $324 per BTC today.

Not much action in the markets this week as Wall Street humanoids are gearing up for the big holiday on Thursday. Only the high-frequency trading machines remain to trade back-and-forth with one another for a few days. Despite this calm, I get the sense that a big move is brewing…

Also worth mentioning, I appeared on the SovereignBTC podcast with host John Bush last week. We had a blast talking about many of the topics I often muse on here in the Journal. If you would like to listen to the interview, you can find it at the LTB Network here.

Dear Journal,

“That was really sweet what you wrote about Madison…” wife Rachel said after reading my previous journal entry. “But the only thing you said about me was that I wouldn’t read past a certain point!”

“Well did you read past that paragraph?”, I asked with a wry grin on my face.

“No, that’s as far as I got…”

My last entry discussed the potential for the family unit to act as a sovereign institution in light of the burgeoning Great Reset, much to the benefit of both the sovereign family and the local community. The underlying theme of that entry, and of many recent journal entries, has been decentralization.

I seek to offer my unfiltered perspective when I sit down to write these journal entries, and I only write them when motivated to do so for that reason. That’s why the Journal follows no set schedule whatsoever, though I try my best to post a weekly entry. Sometimes when I re-read my unfiltered entries, however, I get the feeling that readers may come away with a more negative sentiment then I intend to convey. Continue reading “Decentralization and Spontaneous Order”