An alternative voice on Economics

[skiracer]

My grandmother had a cafe from the late 1950's to the early 1970's and she retired on the silver coins she collected. Also had alot of dollar peices, what were they called certificates or something,so the story was told this summer @ our family reunion. Marlin

they used to make dollar bills that were different in that they were called silver certificates. we have a number of them stashed away. whenever we came across one we would save it. them and two dollar bills. you never see either of them anymore.

[MEA_1956]

Fwiw

My grandmother had a cafe from the late 1950's to the early 1970's and she retired on the silver coins she collected. Also had alot of dollar peices, what were they called certificates or something,so the story was told this summer @ our family reunion. Marlin

[IIC]

Back during the silver boom I had a bunch of silver dollars...They were buying them for 26 or 27 dollars and selling them for 30 to 32 dollars...So I sold 'em all to my Dad for 30 bux each...He's still got them.

[billyjoe]

Jiesen,
I've got nice uncirculated silver that my aunt used to hide away from 1946-1964 and some is worth more melted down than for numismatic value, but the sentimental value is priceless to me.

--------Another story to bore you with. As a grade schooler, when coins were real silver, the nice lunch lady would let me exchange my coins for one's I'd spot in her change tray. Sometimes I'd give up my lunch for the coins but it was well worth it to me. I got all but the very rarest of the Walking Liberty Half Dollars with the prize being a very fine 1910-S Morgan Half. I've still got every one of those coins as well as an 1865 Indian Penny and an 1864 2cent piece I found in the dirt under the porch of the priest's rectory during recess.

-------------billyjoe

[jiesen]

The alltime high for silver was in 1477...Over $800 in 1998 dollars:

http://goldinfo.net/silver600.html

.

and that's another way to look at it... I guess hundreds of years ago, trading bits of shiny metal had much more to do with the economy than it does now.

[billyjoe]

The alltime high for silver was in 1477...Over $800 in 1998 dollars:

http://goldinfo.net/silver600.html

Doug,
You're older than I thought.

---------------billyjoe

[jiesen]

Yep, I stand corrected. For a moment I was thinking the run from $4 to $17 was so impressive, but forgot that it actually had run to $50/oz once in 1980. Now that is sickening! But just imagine what it would do today, if someone tried to buy up all the silver once again...

[IIC]

The alltime high for silver was in 1477...Over $800 in 1998 dollars:

http://goldinfo.net/silver600.html

.

[billyjoe]

Jiesen,
Not to nitpick but silver was higher around 1978 or was it '79? The Hunt Brothers tried to corner the market. I remember selling some cull siver dollars for 27X face value about a week before it all collapsed. You should have seen some of the treasures being melted at that time. Ornate stuff from the late 18th century. It was sickening. Gold in the 900's is at an alltime high I believe, though.

-----------billyjoe

[jiesen]

And this sure isn't helping any, either:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080209/bs_afp/opeccommoditiesoilcurrency

[jiesen]

maybe I'm just in a bad mood today, but...

interesting stuff on both parts. in our travels my wife and i are antique hounds and are always stopping at flea markets and yardsales. you would be amazed at how many gold rings and earrings and all kinds of gold artifacts and jewelry that are laying on these tables. some look really bad an need attention but it is still gold and silver. the private homeowner yard sales are the best because you can bargain and lots of times they don't know the value or that it is gold. the last couple of years we have been buying any old gold coins or jewelry that we come across and putting it away. and one of the reasons is what you stated about the problem in dealing it if you had to. or melt it down into a bar.

Silver is back over $17, highest price ever. Oil is bouncing back over 90 again, but I think we're just experiencing a further drop in the USD. After all, if the gov't is just going to bribe everyone by giving us all $600 this time, (how about a cool grand next time?) I have a feeling we haven't seen the end of this period of inflation, and likely won't until there are people in the streets with wheelbarows full of Benjamins hot off the presses. To top it off, the CPI will still read a low 3%/year, but will only include Chinese refrigerator magnets and gov't cheese.

"Helicopter Ben" has yet to truly live up to his name, but my bet is that he will.

[jiesen]

No...C is Citi Bank...Guess I made a mistake

it's ok Doug, you get a "B" for the effort.

[IIC]

Doug,

Thanks for pointing this out. I did a search for the post and found it on
ski's slopes. Is this the "C" thread? If so, I missed that one. LOL.

No...C is Citi Bank...Guess I made a mistake

[mimo_100]

Scroll down and look at the right side...you'll see a chart of the non-borrowed bank reserves I mentioned Monday on the "C" thread

Doug,

Thanks for pointing this out. I did a search for the post and found it on
ski's slopes. Is this the "C" thread? If so, I missed that one. LOL.

[IIC]

If you would like to read an alternative voice on Economics, here is a link to
the Shadow Government Statistics website.

http://www.shadowstats.com

John Williams reveals the true CPI, inflation, etc. Look to the right and click on one of these:

Primers on Government Economic Reports
What you've suspected but were afraid to ask.

1. Series Master Introduction
2. Employment and Unemployment Reporting
3. Federal Deficit Reality
4. Consumer Price Index
5. Gross Domestic Product

Scroll down and look at the right side...you'll see a chart of the non-borrowed bank reserves I mentioned Monday on the "C" thread