Nobody Knows How to Speculate

Nobody Knows: I was reading today, while waiting in my doctor’s office, about John Maynard Keynes. A man I had never even heard of before last year, unless I was watching some money-market program with the usual financial pundit, who would be trying to explain…just why President Bush had to come and save the world…

From the speculators.

You see, Keynes was the man, right around the end of the First World War, who preached that the gold standard (you know, all money being backed by gold) was not only an unsustainable concept, but he also thought it all rather silly. It was a novel idea back then, but now, as I understand it, almost all the money floating around is NOT backed up by gold. None of it is real…until the Fed says you owe them.

They…press a button, and you owe them. They just take it out of your paycheck. Never mind that Sam Adams believed that no taxes should be imposed on a people without their consent.

It’s just…oh…so…easy!

Forgive me…I rationalized that I’m better than Judge Judy at math, but this whole notion of playing around with money that is just in thin air, and speculating on what the value of the dollar is going to be at any certain time in space, is much like our local weathermen guessing about the weather five years from now.

And while it was the speculators that caused this world depression…and some of them “lost,” most of them came out much richer from the fall.

Why? Because the government let the poor Joe Plumbers pick up the tab of those that were greedy and goofing around and just…“lost.”

Yes, a handful of men, have made billions, just from speculating. When Michael Moore says that 1% of the population is worth as much as the sum total of the other 95%, he tells the truth. Some men are worth more than many countries.

So-- I was surprised to find out that…Keynes (Who is considered the Holy Moses by many who understand the whole market thing.) made his fortune as a currency speculator!

You see, before 1914, currencies had been fixed, and opportunities to profit from the instability of exchange had been almost nonexistent. But AFTER the war it became possible to make large returns (or lose large amounts) by betting on the directions of the currencies moving up or down.

That’s how Soros makes his billions, it is said he broke the bank of England, and likes to destroy countries that way…..how does he sleep at night?

What do you think?

Anyway, Keynes did well on his first speculation; he bought the currencies of the countries that had sat out the war. He bet on the Norwegian and the Dutch kroner, the U.S. dollar and the Indian rupee. In the first three months he made $30,000. Then, he tried again and quickly made another $80,000.

But then, he lost all of it in four weeks…and went bankrupt, and guessed who bailed him out? His father.

I mention this only because, our father, China, threatened Obama today. He was told that if he passes his Health Care Reform, then China might be forced to cut off all those lucrative markets to the automobile companies.

(Maybe all those Daddy Bush years in China are paying off.)

Which brings me to my point: It doesn’t seem to matter what system of government you have now…the greedy and the powerful always manage to find a way to enrich them and their families, and the millions below them, become their slaves.

The communism of China now trumps the United States in making money because, they can get slave labor, and we can’t compete with slave labor. So, the “speculators” have betted against the United States, (simply because slave labor is MUCH cheaper!) and unless we get on board with slave labor here, we will not be able to compete with China.

And when you have a government that works for the rich, then America, to them, is just plain “so, who cares?” Our multinational companies are out for the world!

It’s the market baby!

Someday, when people get really tired of it, someone is going to figure out a system, where the rich and greedy, cannot keep grabbing the spoils for themselves. Our Constitution is worthless, if none of the men have to abide by it. Our founders all said it would take educated citizens, and honorable men to keep the republic, neither of which we have at this point in time. (Some of us are catching up on that education part.)

They just give themselves Czars, and make up hundreds of Departments to get whatever they want, whenever they want…and continue to gather everyone under the government dole.

Anyway, it was just a thought. I wish I knew more about how to lie, cheat, and steal…then I would see more clearly how it was all done.

In the meantime, most of us have no other alternative but to speculate, what in the world is going to happen next?