Reader Mail – 09/16/2012 To 09/22/2012

Progressquest commented on Rise Of Legends - No Patch Server! - v2.5 patch.
Thank you. I re-installed this game after several years and was looking for the patches.

commented on Gold In Italy.
Actually, it was a very poor analogy. They did not dare address the issue of counterfeit.

someone commented on Is It Morally Acceptable To Walk Away From A Mortgage?.
"If Ben Bernanke said “I’m printing more money and giving it to my bankster friends!”"

This is incorrect. No one can print money. One can print paper, do note the difference. Money, can be a piece of paper that has a value.

Can one print value? No. If one could, then we would not need to work, there would be instant communism. We would just concentrate our best efforts on creating the most powerful printing press in the world, and live happily ever after.

Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for Bernanke, value can not be printed up. But, it can be stolen. Every freshly printed note that is spent into circulation or deposited in the bank to replace the missing reserve, immediately steals it's value from everyone of us, who holds similar notes.

So, you should have asked:

If Ben Bernanke said “I’m stealing more money from the people and giving it to my bankster friends!”

You are confusing money and wealth.

The Federal Reserve can create money.

The Federal Reserve does not create wealth. Ben Bernanke claims that stealing via inflation "stimulates the economy" and creates real wealth. He is wrong.

That's the "advantage" of paper money. In a paper monetary system, insiders can always steal via inflation.

With metal money, theft via inflation does not occur.

Richard Gadsden commented on Is It Morally Acceptable To Walk Away From A Mortgage?.

Except with the discovery of large, easily mineable resources of the metal - whereupon the owner of the resources can steal value via inflation.

Potosi isn't going to happen again, as the world's gold and silver resources have been rather more carefully examined than they had been in 1492, but making over-general statements can result in malicious nit-picking, rather than the friendly sort I'm trying to use.

I'd much rather take the risk that someone will find a huge undiscovered gold mine (unlikely) than the risk that Ben Bernanke will print a lot of new money and give it to his bankster friends (guaranteed).

Even if a huge new gold mine is discovered, labor is required to extract and refine the gold, limiting the inflationary effect.

Even if someone discovered a cheap and efficient way to convert lead into gold (unlikely), people would drop gold and switch to something else. Until that extremely unlikely event, I'm sticking with gold.

The point is that people should be free to choose whatever they want as money. I choose metal. If you want to pay me in Bitcoins or paper or whatever, I'll accept it, adding on the transaction fee for converting to my preferred money. In the present, State laws and State violence force people to use State paper.

If your preferred choice of money is genuinely liquid, it should be easily convertible to my preferred choice of money.

Anonymous Coward commented on SEO Progress - Ranking For My Own Name.
> For example in Google chrome its called incognito mode.

Beware of the evil Google clowns.

The Google Clowns took the HTML renderer from the already written Open Source browser Konqueror which was available on Linux over a decade ago.

It is wrong for the Google Clowns to take all the credit for their clownish Google Chrome browser as it was based on Konqueror.

The Google Clowns are good at being clowns and less so at actually new software development now.

The Google Clowns bought into the StreetView renderer.

The Google Clowns bought the Android operating system from another company.

When you want software written, you go to a software developer not an evil, sinister clown.

someone commented on Flash Game Design Defect - Action Points.
or may-be these action points are designed to keep your boiling desire to continue, while giving you some time to relax, instead of just having you burn out, waste a week on nothing but games, and then quit for good.

I think it is offensive for them to "manage" my behavior either way, though, cooling me down or pushing me, so I take offense no matter what management they are trying to pull on me.

I don't play that stuff specifically because I have noticed they have started to manage my behavior. No one manages me. It is always either my way or highway.

Thought you'd take this view into an account. No matter my feelings, the point is they are trying to manage your behavior, by cooling you down.

Robert commented on Quantitative Easing 3.
Great post. You are a lot more succinct than I remember back in 2007. You have gotten sharper as a writer. Keep it up FSK!

I agree that my writing is better. That's one reason I plan to rewrite my old popular posts, rather than import my archive. I look at some of my old stuff, and my reaction is "Yuck! I wrote that?"

That's one value of the rule "1 post per day!" You learn by doing. I also get feedback from comments and my Piwik analytics stats.

I'm slowly working on filling in my FAQ section, hopefully turning it into a book.

Robert commented on Quantitative Easing 3.

A book would be awesome! I must say that just in the last few years I have met a lot more people who volunteer libertarian/agorist ideas before I have said anything about my views, which to me is the most honest metric to use when forming my objective opinion that I think more people are becoming more aware of the evils of the Federal Reserve and the fallacies of big government. That said, I mention your blog to all of them and others. Furthermore, I really think blog could become one of the leading liberty/economics web sites on the Internet one day. I have seen that you rank well already with certain stats you have posted. It's one of those things that sometimes explodes over night.

Robert commented on Quantitative Easing 3.

Meant to say "I really think your blog could become...." Sorry.

I get about 150 readers per day according to Piwik, ~500 per day according to my raw Apache logs.

When I do publish a book, my goal is to earn enough royalties to cover my hosting costs for a year. My plan is to compile my FAQ posts into a book, and add some editing, so you can read it for free if you want.

I'm still nowhere near as popular as or Stefan Molyneux. One key is persistence. If I keep publishing stuff, I should gradually grow my audience. The more posts I have, the more "long tail" searches that direct people to my blog.

Someday, I want to expand to videos and comedy.

Robert commented on Chicago Teachers' Strike.
This is an article I found, what are your thoughts?

Vote in the upcoming U.S. elections if you want to endorse, approve of, and support a power beyond your control and over which you have no control whatsoever, a power that can you to any extent it wants to and by any means it chooses to,

...take any amount of your wealth and transfer it to whomever it pleases or use it for any purpose it pleases,

...draft you into a fighting force if it

decides to,

...tell you what to eat,

...control who appears on ballots,

...borrow any amount of money,

...itself decide what is legal for it to do,

...enter warfare with anyone it chooses whenever and wherever it chooses,

...interpret the Constitution as it sees fit,

...regulate any product in any way it chooses,

...regulate commerce no matter how insignificant,

...take property for any use it wants to, you at its pleasure,

...restrict your ability to own weapons,

...restrict your ability to defend yourself,

...make it a crime to own weapons and defend yourself,

...make it a crime to use a wide range of drugs,

...make it a crime to buy many goods or produce them,

...control all communications,

...control all transportation,

...arrest you without warrant,

...spy on you by any means it chooses,

...postpone elections and declare martial law if it chooses,

...hold you in prison without trial,

...kill you, short, pass any law it pleases and enforce it on you and against you.

Vote in the elections if you wish to stand up for, confirm, subscribe to and sustain a power that holds you in its grasp and can hold you totally in its grasp if it so decides.

A vote for either the Democrats or the Republicans is a vote for this power, which is the power of either party and both parties together.

Vote in the elections if you have been brainwashed into thinking your vote makes a difference.

Vote in the elections if you have been brainwashed into thinking a vote for a given party makes a difference.

Vote in the elections if you have been brainwashed into thinking that this is your duty, or that this is a patriotic act.

Vote in the elections if you have been brainwashed into thinking that you have no right to complain unless you vote.

Vote in this election if you think you are voting for the lesser of two evils, rather than thinking you are endorsing evil and have another option, which is not to endorse evil.

Vote in the elections as a statement that you kneel before, acknowledge and accept a power that controls your life, your liberty, your property, and your pursuit of happiness.

Vote in the elections as a sign and confirmation that you place little or no value on your life, liberty, property and pursuit of happiness, and that a power beyond your control may do as it wishes with you.

Vote in the elections if you want to endorse and confirm your own status as a slave who is subject to this power.

Vote in the elections if you want to acknowledge that you are little more than a trained dog whose freedom is limited and controlled by its master.

I saw that. It was interesting.

Politicians claim the power to tax and control you, whether you vote or not. If you don't vote, they'll say "If you're too lazy to vote, that's your problem."

People dependent on the State vote in blocs to support their candidate. Unions are one example. Theoretically, if you don't vote, it's easier for such groups to influence the election, but voting is a fake choice anyway.

In an honest election, one of the choices on the ballot would always be "I do not consent to the current form of government."

Voting is a waste of time. It's a fake choice between insider-screen candidates.

However, if there was a serious libertarian candidate on the ballot, it's only a small bit of effort to vote and support him. I didn't waste my time changing my registration from Democratic to Republican so I could vote for Ron Paul in the primary.

It's better to focus your energy on other tactics than voting and electing less-corrupt candidates. You can't reform a corrupt system by working within the system. However, if there is a promising candidate on the ballot, it isn't too much of a loss to vote.

Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.
Just my uninformed opinion, but Australian gold and silver bullion coins from the Perth Mint would be hard to fake because they are just so good. The kangaroos have detailed fur and the Kookaburras have detailed feathers. Some coins have 3 - 4 different textures on the coins - smooth and shiny, matt/satin, fur or rippled.

Bullion coins have the Queen's head shiny on matt and their proof coins have a matt head on a very shiny reflective gold background.

You have to go through hoops to buy a bullion coin direct from the Perth Mint, otherwise a reseller is easier. Their proofs coins cost quite a bit more than the melt value and that's why you should go to a Perth Mint reseller to get a bullion coin.

It's stupid to pay a high premium to bullion for State-issued coins. If the quality is high, a small premium is reasonable.

According to this page, $2800 (US$) for a 1 ounce coin is ridiculous. Spot gold is $1775/oz right now. That's more than a 55% premium to spot gold. Ideally, you should never pay more than a 10% premium.

In the USA, American Eagles are typically 5%-10% more than generic bullion. That's the highest premium I would pay for State coins instead of generic bullion.

Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

Oh dear. I think you missed what I was trying to say.

The Perth Mint only makes it easy to buy the more expensive _proof_ coins from them directly. They are more expensive. Proof coins are made to a higher standard and have a mirror like shine to them.

However you can buy _bullion_ coins from the Perth Mint if you are willing to jump through their identification hurdles. Bullion coins are just over the spot gold price.

As I said before you can buy a sensibly priced bullion Perth mint coin from a gold coin reseller. I won't mention any by name as I don't want to be accused for advertising, but they are very easy to find with Internet searches.

Even Perth Mint's bullion coins are of a very high quality and still have 3 - 4 different textures on each coin.

Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

Just to make it explicit.

There are two kinds of coins you can buy from many mints.

*PROOF* coins are much more than the gold spot price. They are very shiny and produced to a high standard.

*BULLION* coins are always close to the spot price.




Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

The URL for cheaper bullion coins is

Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

So from your post, I take it you will be buying the Perth Mint 1 tonne gold coin!

I was confused, proof vs. bullion. However, the website was misleading. The links direct you to proof coins, and you have to dig deeper to find the bullion.

That's a common trick among sleazy gold dealers, leading people to proof coins instead of bullion.

According to this page, the bullion coins are $1805/oz, a reasonable premium. It's only slightly more expensive on APMEX, $1835/oz. That's only $18/oz more than generic bullion on APMEX. Can I buy directly from the Perth Mint from the USA, or do I have to use a US-based dealer like APMEX.

Here is another post on tungsten-filled gold.

Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

You can directly buy from the Perth Mint even though you are in the USA, but you will have to pay for the FedEx delivery. A while ago if you ordered over a certain amount, the FedEx delivery charged will be waived.

I would also check that there is no import tax on gold for the USA. I don't live there and so I don't know.

I would buy from Apmex as the delivery charges should be cheaper than having stuff sent over from Australia. But who knows? Put it in your shopping cart and see what the charges are.

If buying bullion, it will be easier from Apmex as the Perth Mint require you to send identification over to buy bullion coins. It is a hassle. For proof coins, everything is easy from the Perth Mint.

I just mentioned the Perth Mint because their coins are one of the best. I think it will be better if you buy from Apmex though.

Anonymous Coward commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

> Can I buy directly from the Perth Mint from the USA, o

So you are going to buy their 1 tonne gold coin?

Gullveig commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

Gullveig shudders at the thought of gold plated tungsten.

When your paper money turns to dust, Gullveig will be reborn again.

sth_txs commented on Gold-Plated 10 oz Tungsten Bar.

I've used a lab version some years ago. They were as big as a washing machine and required liquid nitrogen.

Richard Gadsden commented on The Reality Show Economy.
If that manager-behavior is more likely to result in promotion than the opposite (which certainly seems to be empirically verified) then senior managers in large corporations, who have risen through the ranks (either of their corporation or of other corporations) are highly likely to behave in this fashion.

Start-ups are likely to be the exception - startup founders are not subject to being replaced from below, because they are owners, and they compete company-to-company, rather than for promotion within their company.

This seems to be an adequate explanation for the lifecycle of successful companies.

Actually, startups can be even worse. A computer illiterate owner can hire someone incompetent to implement version 1.0. They can burn through a lot of capital, especially if the founder or VCs have deep pockets.

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