Who Do You Trust II ?

I'm more convinced that the market needs to sort out this mess on its own. The War on Terror enabled civil rights to be thrown out the window. Today, Americans can be eavesdropped on, arrested, and held without due cause. There exists a state of martial law in the US.

Now the executive branch of the government is holding Congress hostage over the Bailout Bill. This bill would eliminate any congressional oversight and not be subject to challenge in the courts. The President appoints the Treasury Secretary - whom serves at his pleasure.

I can't believe it, but it looks like Senators have resisted the pressure to just hold their nose and vote for the Bailout. If this Bill is not signed the Stock Market is going to experience the Great Mother of all Runs as investors move their assets offshore. The market will survive. It may be 10 or so years before it flushes the rot out of the system and recovers, but it will happen.

The real threat is - and has always been the 'shadow value' of the American Dollar. America needs to go back on the Gold Standard and throw Bretton Woods out the window. If I had money to invest I would buy gold and silver - and not certificates but stuff I could hold in my hands. Gold will go to $2,000 by Christmas - the dollar will be worth .50c; that's my prediction. I would also spread my liability around by buying commodities like oil (Canadian Oil Sands), copper, and food ( not dairy, because that has been artificially inflated in value by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and will fall to its real value very soon ) . Buying Asian currency would also be a safer bet than buying T Bills at 0% interest.

I have a long-shot prediction that things will decline so rapidly that the 2008 elections will be suspended, even if it takes a war with Pakistan or Iran to cement the issue. I think George W. Bush will serve a third term. I know it sounds nuts, but there it is.