Chapter 1

I am going to offer a series of posts (chapters)
starting at the "beginning". We will use simple logic
and common terms to explain "what has happened"
along this "journey through time". Another will edit it
for direction (as he has this post). This will be a long
process, and I hope it will offer a real value for
"thoughtful minds". As many are now starting
to discover that most of the Western ideas of
gold investment were flawed from the beginning,
so too will they find their present (gold) portfolios
"unprepared" for the storm that approaches!
-FOA 6/19/99

I know you have all read "The Gold Trail", right? But have you ever read chapter 1?

ANOTHER showed up in 1997 with earth-shattering projections from an ancient but inexorable perspective on wealth. Two years later, he and FOA decided to explain this perennial perspective with paramount modern implications "starting at the beginning… as a journey through time". "The Gold Trail" is the result of that decision, but its first step was taken seven months before they came up with the idea of separating it from the regular discussion forum as a stand-alone archive.

Consequently, the first chapter, or perhaps we could call it the Gold Trail pilot episode, languished in obscurity while the famous Gold Trail actually began on chapter 2.

"The first step is taken and thus defines the trail…"

"For people who demand solid facts and figures to make investment decisions, I submit; we are not trying to create reasons to invest, rather our purpose is to build a background for the understanding of these Thoughts. In this light, all that read this will become the pioneers of new insights."

So now, with the proper frame of mind, and without further ado, here's chapter 1:

ANOTHER (7/10/99; 17:35:55MDT - Msg ID:8633)
Gold: Saving Real Money In A Time Of Transition

Introduction

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A gentleman leans over the fence and tells his neighbor that gold is going to rise in price from its current $300. As the person on the other side of the fence thinks differently, they both agree to a binding bet. In three months, we will settle up with a payment of the change in the price of one hundred ounces of gold. Whatever it rises, the "bull" collects that amount. Likewise, whatever it falls, the "bear" collects from the bull. Each puts a $1500 payment guarantee into a common shoe box and gives it to another neighbor for safekeeping.
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As an observer of the above, we have just witnessed the creation of a wager not unlike a comex futures contract. On each side of the fence stands a long and a short, that together create an open interest of one contract. Neither has any intention of buying gold, nor do they expect physical gold to be a part of this bet. Yet, at cocktail parties and on public internet forums, one claims to have "bought gold" and the other states that he "sold gold".

To build a further understanding of this transaction: Both of these gentlemen, probably don't have the $30,000+/- to buy or deliver 100 ounces of gold. Human nature being as it is, if they did have that much, they would most likely increase the bet to ten or twenty contracts. Clearly, the intent of this paper market, is to bet on the price of gold as it is determined by the buying and selling of other physical traders. The western public should take these trades for the concept they truly represent. ""I (the long side) bet on the "price" of gold not because we need or want the physical metal. Rather, my wager is that others will need real gold to protect themselves from bad monetary systems. In fulfilling that "need to own", these others will drive up the dollar price and I will make money while working within the confines of our good monetary system.""" The shorts make the opposite bet, in that they think the world monetary system will work itself out and induce "the others" to sell all their gold. That is, gold they bought in the first place, because they did not know that our money managers could repair the world financial system.

Yes, today Western longs and shorts are playing out these two views of the gold market. Yet, both sides are using paper gold bets to represent their beliefs. Truly, the major majority of this market does not buy or sell physical gold to represent their investment concepts. There are a few that buy coins and bullion, but, even in their large amounts, it is only a drop in the paper gold bucket.

This, my friends, is the very nature of western trading of gold. The mindset is to treat it as a concept for making currency, not protecting existing wealth. The exact same mentality exists when one invests in the gold mining industry. Even when these players see the faults in the dollar, and loudly proclaim its inflationary downfall, the largest part of their assets go into the business of producing real gold in exchange for more of the same paper currency. It is a means to build wealth through paper asset appreciation, using the very financial system the "concept" says will fail without physical gold.

There are many mental angles and philosophical side steps one can take when understanding the above. But, in this concept lies the very basis of the flaw in the current gold market. A paper market, built upon world misconceptions of currency values and the historical reasons for owning gold. The present deployment of world assets into a paper system of valuations is likened to traveling a trail of no return. History has shown that the assets accumulated in this way will never be transformed into "the things of life"! The paper wealth you currently own is nowhere near the real value your currency says it is. With the above introduction, we have begun close to the end of this journey. In the upcoming chapter one, we return several miles to walk ground already well traveled. We will observe concepts on the right and the left, not discussed by other guides. The very sights that make such a trip, "worthwhile".

"You will see this trail thru the eyes of history and feel old ways as new Thoughts!" Another

FOA


(( 1. )) Thinking Gold: A montage of views


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Pioneers:
"the first step is taken and thus defines the trail, a second step brings others and upon this journey we do now make sail"
"pioneers bring light, for directions long unknown, new spirits shine like stars, so bright the seeds are now all grown"
"quickly to the heights we climb, even the top of the mast,
for there I see the end of knowledge, as it was written in the past"
--------


To fully understand the past and present concepts of gold as money, we are going to have to use logic and common sense. In addition to these attributes, the ability to place oneself into the context of the moment of history will also be helpful. For people who demand solid facts and figures to make investment decisions, I submit; we are not trying to create reasons to invest, rather our purpose is to build a background for the understanding of these Thoughts.

In this light, all that read this will become the pioneers of new insights. Travelers in search of new vistas that best present the lost concepts of money. The real money that this generation has never known.

In our introduction, we witnessed two friends with a fence between them. Neighbors, betting on the "price direction" of gold. Not its future impact on their daily lives or the use of gold as money, but rather how much currency would other people use to buy gold at any given time. Contrast that perspective to our concept of gold and you will see that a wide gulf of understanding stands between our "minds from different worlds".

-------- "They never said it wasn't money! Only, that they could no longer use it as money for their purposes" ------

The author of that statement is unknown, but it was spoken sometime after the "Smithsonian Agreement" of the early 70s finally closed the door on using gold as part of the world monetary system. The old Bretton Woods articles were then officially dead and the dollar would no longer be a "contract currency" for the delivery of gold. Shortly after this event, banks, governments and large investment entities still agreed that gold was real money, but it should be held only in reserve. So, instead of using the dollar as a contract for gold, the world would substitute it as real gold in the currency system and thus sent it down the road of being "demoneyized".

From the 1920s to the 1970s (with striking similarities to today), gold loans between private and official sectors had periodically become so great that they simply couldn't be paid. The world economy was being built upon a debt of gold that no one could pay off.

Early on, it was agreed that because the repayment of loans in real money would break the banks, payments in newly created real money substitutes would suffice as gold. Over time, the reaction to this concept was easy to understand. Every thinking person knew that creating more (inflating) paper currency to cover existing debts would lead to devaluations of such fiat currency. Therefore, we will all hold gold in reserve, while these bankrupt deals are worked out with fraudulent money payments. Money that was no longer "contract currency". Later, gold will be revalued upward to balance these newly created money substitutes. In time, all world currencies would finally be officially devalued against gold. That, my friends is why so many investors continued to buy and hold gold as a long term savings asset throughout the 1970s. It was perceived that the world would eventually return to using gold as the money for payment of debt, instead of using paper money substitutes.

This perception was extremely prudent because history had proven, through the actions of countless generations that creating paper money to save governments and banks from bankruptcy eventually destroys the "concept" of using created money for currency. No one ever expected the general populace to continue using and saving "non contract dollars" for any extended period of time. Mostly, everyone expected the citizens to patriotically continue to use the "new inflated paper legal tender" as asset savings until price inflation exposed that they were sharing their life savings with the state. A process that would require five years at most. Never the ten to fifteen years that have passed. In the end, it made little difference how long it took, as the adjustment in value always compensated for the inflation plus interest. The only investors that didn't think gold would outlast this new system, were the ones with a "short life of little history experience".

Again, from the failure of Bretton Woods to this present day, there is an ongoing event being further played out from the early twenties. By now (2000) the world can no longer use gold as money because to do so would require virtually every debt to fail. But, what is never considered is that a fiat currency system always "fails" the debts anyway. When the price inflation begins, old currency debts lose value at the same rate as the inflation. A history lesson soon to be performed today right before our eyes. We have but to watch and learn!

But, why do we nowhere read that it would be OK for these banks and businesses to fail, thereby allowing others to buy them up for pennies and save the system? Truly, this was the same real problem with the use of honest gold money as it forces "the important" people to fail. People of influence and prestige. Persons that will not allow their debt assets to fail, even if they gain only a few years. For them the world cannot function without an "expandable monetary system"! An ages old scam that is presented to each new generation as a new and improved currency system. Custom tailored for their own technological advances and special time in world History. A special system that will force the average worker to "share" in the loses but still retain this new generations wealth! With this system, any government can then borrow or print money to inflate (expand) the money system so as to bail out failing businesses and foreign entities. Does this sound like the present IMF?

Yes, gold was our money back then (pre- 1920s). But, the bad business debts and wars of the world had "used up" much of those gold savings. Over time, the savings stock of much of the gold that every citizen, business, government and bank had, was borrowed to finance expenditures. It is imperative to understand that using the expression "gold used up" meant that it was "lent out"!

Of course, back then, even if gold is "lent out" it went somewhere, and from that new savings account (somewhere) it can be borrowed again. However, if the world financial strains become great enough, failing governments and businesses could not borrow gold at all. Therein lies the solid law of real money that scares governments today. We must totally fail and start again.

"It is to say, the gold you thought be in your bank, was not. In your account, the real money was lent and the credit claim represents your wealth" Another

It was here, in the 20s 30s 40s, in that context of time, that we witness the harsh reality that wars and governments are financed by borrowing real savings assets and spending them. When gold is used as money, it effectively demonstrates the real risks in lending one's life savings. That being: you may not get your money back. Is it any wonder that many families decide not to lend their savings? A compelling truth, that allows one to separate their money from the state and not share in the losses of others. In this light we confront the real issue of why so many governments always move from using gold as money, to using fiat currencies as money. It enables them to force you to lend!

During the time (1930s) that the American government called in gold from its citizens, it would have been very simple for the US treasury to revalue gold upwards into the $300 +/- range (from the low twenties). Yes, many major financial players would have fallen from this dollar devaluation. In addition, America would have lost much international prestige. However, the real productive assets of this great country would have been kept, "intact"! Those assets were much of the private savings of working people, and most of it was in gold, in their hands. Again, in that time, it was the only money not lent out. This unprecedented action of devaluing the dollar would have clearly identified the losses from wars and poor lending decisions. It would have forced the large wealth holders and governments to lose assets in proportion to their size. As it was, the small citizens were forced to share in balancing the destroyed assets by turning in unlent gold.

History has shown that "some great leaders" have taken the honest gold "deflation" route when they are not under the influence of "money lenders". In these situations, the context of deflation is not the destruction of the money supply, which was gold, rather it was the destruction of the debt securities held as assets. Assets, due to be paid in gold, and cannot! Deflation, in these terms is a far different animal than what is discussed today! In our time, all currency assets are debt securities. That is why any form of price deflation or price inflation, today, will destroy the entire world monetary system. Forcing people back into using real gold, the only money that cannot be deflated!

"It is the clear view for an honest eye, yes?" Another

The Bretton Woods system was bound to fail because the world governments continued to pursue a strategy of saving the integrity of all debts. Even while holding an international pledge to use the dollar as a "contract currency" for gold as money. After the US had robbed its citizens in the 1930s (of gold money) to help balance the books, the stage was clearly set to proceed into currency inflation. They continued to print "dollar currency contracts" as the dollar was a legal contract to deliver 1/35 of an ounce of gold. They did this knowing full well that this process would further demoneyize the dollar. The final destruction of Bretton Woods was but a further step to no longer using gold as money: not using gold because its use required debts to fail. If the debts are "to never" go away, the currency substitutes must be continuously inflated. Thus, the savings of workers must be diluted in order to always save the system from default. As long as the next generation believes that their money assets are growing, they will accept the currency and the fraud it represents. The price inflation (that history shows will always follow this process), is totally dependent on how many currency units the citizens will hold without spending them! If the world population can hold one trillion dollar debt units, and ten years later hold ten trillion without spending them, then no price inflation will show. However, even though each person thinks they have ten times more assets (and are as much more wealthy), that wealth is quickly degraded if and when such currency savings are exchanged for real goods. Again, history shows that only the spending of a small percent of such highly inflated currency holdings will quickly jump the price of things to such a level as to revalue the remaining existing currency. It then becomes equal to real world buying power, not the fiction in your savings account. This, my friends is the realm of price inflation and currency destruction! No currency has survived even a short time, once this spending process begins from the money inflation levels that exist today.


Now you have read some many views of the old dollar and gold. We will discuss these much further in other chapters. So, how do we (myself and Another) view gold?

I want to openly state that we have absolutely "NO" faith in gold! None! We do have "absolute", "unending" and "complete" faith in the judgment of our fellow humans. Because we travel this life journey as a society of like kind, our success over time depends on the ability of people to deal fairly with each other. There is nothing to gain in this life but the honest productive efforts we bestow upon each other. These are represented as the goods and services each of our special talents can produce. We also believe that no one, in this life, should be cheated out of any portion of their savings and will act to protect themselves from losses. This act of protection can and does take many forms as the "lessons of a long life" become the "tools of a families defense". For most of us, indeed, money is "the" lifelong lesson.

I believe, that in the time just ahead, most people will use their natural good judgment and leave the "world monetary system". Mostly because they will begin to lose savings from price inflation. If the history of human kind is any guide, they will return to the safety of the past. They will use the only "conservative money" the world has ever known that cannot be deflated or inflated. They will do this until the currencies are correctly revalued against gold. Gold will then become the de facto world money as currency will be used only for commerce and trade. Its value in trade closely governed by its exchange rate into gold.

To this end, we do not hold gold for any currency return. We hold it as money. No return of any kind is expected because it is not lent or invested. What is expected is a continuation of an open world market for the purchase of gold at lower paper substitute exchange rates. These values of world currencies, as expressed in gold will be governed by the "tolerance" of world savers to hold ever increasing amounts of paper currency as savings. In addition, the ability of governments to keep the market open with physical gold at lower prices are necessary for the continued use of the present currency system.

It is our current perception that the performance of both of these functions is coming to an end as the dollar currency creation process has ended. As this progresses, the value of gold will be best judged by its ability to purchase real things. Out of necessity, the failing paper market place presently called the "gold market", will price gold at ever lower values even as their ability to deliver gold is failing. This situation is not unlike the massive gold loans of years past. Using dollar "contract currency" as a proxy for gold, the world found out that the promise to pay at even $41=/- per ounce was a fraud! We shall see.


In chapter ((2)) we will build upon the workings of the gold market as it represents oil, the most strategic world commodity.
Thank You FOA and Another

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The Trail continues here!

Sincerely,
FOFOA