whoa fellers, we're not talking about someone's wife or kids here, it's just investing and all the different ways to skin a cat.

true, some folks have some significant sums invested in different vehicles and with casting the die that heavy in one direction we can certainly get emotional about our investments as our loved ones are depending on us to take care of them in all types of economies.

just think this is a really useful discussion for me and perhaps others that don't think they've got it "nailed" on how to invest.

I'd hate to lose any participants in the discussion because it just gets too nasty to participate.

not telling anyone what to do mind you, just asking for civil behavior so we can find points we agree or disagree on without becoming disagreeable with each other.

with that said, MacLorry or others, if you'd be so inclined, I'd really appreciate how you think our economy grows or booms again especially in light of the ever increasing Fed debt (which I've noted I believe is understated)

the first thing that comes to mind for me is balls to the walls domestic energy extraction and production, it's an industry that requires white collar workers, i.e. engineers, and a highly skilled blue collar work force (often supplied by yes, dare I say it, UNIONS, lol)

that would help grow the economy significantly, add many jobs, add to the tax rolls without necessarily increasing taxes, or smaller increases if needed to start to whittle down our debt

but the debt is very, very large and we've lived in a large portion of a false economy based upon gov't spending of money they don't have

if we're to have serious debt reduction, we must both raise revenue at this point whether by increased economic activity, or higher taxes or some combo of both AND significantly cut gov't spending

it's all possible the above, but it will require real change from our current policies, not just sound bytes for a political campaign.

with change comes uncertainty for many folks

my analysis to date leads me to believe if we are to undertake the changes we need to seriously address our spending problem, then we'll see some of that uncertainty.

my best guesstimate is gold will indeed benefit from that uncertainty.

I never ever thought I'd consider buying gold at these levels.

but I am, though I'm always looking for another way to skin the cat, and the TIPS gig may have some merit, more due diligence is necessary on my part.

I'm lucky that my breakeven point on the small amount of gold I hold is very, very low by todays prices.

I can't tell you for certain if we've seen a top in gold though, it's had a bit of a parabolic rise these last few years which can be an indication of a top

but there's also a case to be made that it is indeed the next APPL.

guys that bought APPL not that long ago at <$30 probably thought they'd seen a top too, when AAPL hit $150, after all it went up 5 times or more in value much as gold has.

buy low, sell high is simple but not easy, first one has to figure is the price high or low, often a more difficult task than seen at first glance just based on the examples above.

it would surprise me not much at all to see gold pull back 2-400 points, but it also wouldn't surprise me to see it in the low 2000ish an oz. based upon fundamentals, either before or after a pullback from current levels.

the guy I've read that has been scary accurate about financial affairs for a very long time, has a vested interest in gold climbing.

he's done his analysis, and has been extremely accurate in his calls.

still I have to wonder, (just skeptical by nature I guess) if his real analysis leads him to dump everything at 2K an ounce even though he claims it may go much higher than that.

I'm always glad to get others perspectives and analysis on current events, especially financial events.

tis evident to me MacLorry is no "novice" investor and I hope he'll continue to share his insights with us and his strategies for both wealth preservation and creation.

don't get me wrong, I've invested fairly heavily into pm's for my family's (hopeful) benefit, but I welcome the guys that poke holes in my analysis rather than just looking for guys that say "yeah buddy, sounds good to me" YMMV


I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.