The latest coinage debasement news, this time from The Philippines: Coin hoarding soon a crime? JWR’s Comment: With orchestrated currency inflation there comes the inevitable day when seigniorage costs advance to unacceptable levels, and the metallic value of any given coin greatly exceeds its face value. Rather than doing the honest thing–knocking a few zeroes off their paper currency–governments often resort to bans on coin melting and coin exportation. Anti-hoarding laws are much less common in First World countries as there are typically no limitations on the amount of a currency that someone holds in an ostensibly “sound” currency regime. The root of the problem is inflation. Honest money, pegged to–and redeemable on demand for–specie, is the solution. Debasement and the laws that go along with it, are just stopgap measures, designed to perpetuate larcenous governments. I use the word larcenous because inflation is a covert method of robbing us of the buying power of our savings. Currency inflation is effectively a hidden form of taxation.
B.B. sent this: Greek Depositors Withdrew $898 Million From Banks Monday
From J.B.G.: Moody‘s Investors Service has downgraded 26 Italian banks
Items from The Economatrix:
Jim Rogers: Get Out of Stocks; Buy Gold, Silver and Agriculture