break the bank

“You can fool some of the people some of the time – and that’s enough to make a decent living.” – W.C. Fields, philosopher

Price of an ounce of gold over the past 160 years:

1850 – $18.93
1940 – $33.85
1972 – $58.42
1973 – $97.39
1974 – $154.00
1979 – $306.00
1980 – $615.00
1985 – $317.00
2006 – $603.00
2008 – $871.96
2009 – $1,112.90

It’s interesting to see (below) what happened after August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard: in one year the average yearly rise in the price of gold jumped 2,900% from the 2.3% yearly average of the previous 32 years, or 3,924% of the 1.7% yearly average rise for the previous 122 years.

1850-1940 – 0.9% annual increase for 90 years
1940-1972 – 2.3% annual increase for 32 years
1972-1973 – 66.7% annual increase for 1 year
1973-1974 – 58.1% annual increase for 1 year
1974-1979 – 19.7% annual increase for 5 years
1979-1980 – 101% annual increase for 1 year
1980-1985 – 9.7% annual DECREASE for 5 years
1985-2006 – 4.3% annual increase for 21 years
2006-2008 – 23.8% annual increase for 2 years
2008-2009 – 27.6% annual increase for 1 year

What can I say? Numbers don’t lie, although CEOs, Politicians and The Rich do.

I’ve always wondered why Republicans are considered to be the conservative balance-the-budget party when most of the financial damage to this country was done by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the two Bush leaguers.

“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” – Warren Buffett, billionaire