Now is the time to buy gold

My dad just gave me a quick economics lesson.
Now is the time to get a hedge against inflation such as gold or real estate.
The reasons for this can be found in this quick economics lesson:

When the government wants to get more taxes but doesn't want you to know you're being taxed, what do they do?
Well one thing they do is they tax someone other than the nice people that voted for them, like lets say... the energy companies! So they say, "We won't tax you, instead we'll tax those evil energy companies in order to cut down on emissions because it's the green thing to do". But what do the energy companies do? They still need to make their percentage, so they just raise energy prices and pass the buck onto the consumer... that means you! So now through this third party you are being taxed by the government.
But some people can figure out this shell game, so what's another way they can tax you without you knowing? Well they can print money and basically borrow from themselves which is called monetizing the debt, the definition in short is "printing more money, which causes inflation". But this also means that if there is more money but the same amount of goods and services then you just do the math and the same goods and services will now cost more in dollars. But it won't hit the entire economy right away which is good because you have time to buy hedges against inflation before the effects actually hit. People say "But how will we pay off all of this debt?" Oh they don't pay it off, they just print more of what passes for money these days(lets say t-bills), so the debt will always be there.
The fact is that most people are just too stupid to know when they're being taxed. And they think that the government is stupid but, they aren't and they know exactly what they're doing and what's going on.
They had to have known about the housing bubble. Here's why. When the house lending industry was deregulated(actually meaning regulations mandating that unqualified buyers be accepted for loans. Yes this is backwards but correct). This made it so that there were now more people bidding on the same house, when there used to be only 2 qualified buyers there are now 2 qualified buyers and 8 unqualified buyers, all bidding on the same house which because of supply and demand means that the house prices went up. And when the bubble burst this was called a housing "market correction". Where all of the unqualified buyers are now not buying houses the demand went way down and so did the prices.
But houses are always a good investment even if the dollar becomes worthless because even then your renters will just pay in whatever currency is around then. And as they say, "They aren't making land anymore".
But in short whenever they say "We're monetizing the debt" you should run out and buy gold or real estate, because those are hedges against inflation. But with real estate you have leverage so that should be the main thing to buy now especially right after a market correction like this in Florida.
But the one thing I'm not sure of is that if one bar of gold now will buy the same number of loaves of bread per ounce as in the future then you're not actually making money, unless maybe you have the power of leveraging, like with houses. At least you want to retain any money you have already by converting your cash into hedges.

Reasons to buy a house

1. Rent it out for 100$ less than the mortgage payment and in a year you can raise it as it appreciates. But the 100$/mo you pay out of pocket will be worth any built up equity.
2. There is always demand for rental property, and if you are 100$ less/mo than the competition, then they will always come to you first and you can choose who you rent to.
3. Fix it up to flip it if you have left over monthly income you can fix it up while living in it. Mostly you just want a house that could just use a good updating and TLC and is in a up and coming good neighborhood, next to a hospital or something. And if you can't sell the house to flip it then just rent it out and wait.
4. If you buy a house in your 20's and somehow never miss a payment over 20 years because you have a secure income, then the appreciation from when you first bought it to 20 years later will be huge. Also rich neighborhoods only turn into richer neighborhoods over time if you're lucky enough to get there before they're a rich neighborhood. Buy multiple houses with the equity from the first, all in different neighborhoods then rent them out, and one is bound to be in a rich neighborhood sooner or later.
5. May just live in the house in the end anyway.
6. Best to start early in the rental business because you will have more profit on the rental price ever year as rental rates go up but your monthly mortgage payment stays the same.
7. $500 per month on a $50,000 house is 12% per year return on investment.
8. I like money more than people now anyway. Think up any evil thing and people have done it, but money buys stuff that can make you happy.
9. They're monetizing the debt which means that it is an absolute certainty that house prices will rise. And as inflation sets in, your mortgage will stay the same price which means you can rent it out cheaply in a year and still make a profit. And because of leverage you will have more equity on money you never spent. Gold has no leverage, so it's not as good of a hedge against inflation.
   

Reasons to not buy a house:

1. Hidden structural flaws that you find out about after buying the house, when you open up the walls.
2. Won't be able to sell the house in this economy(just rent it out)
3. Will be foreclosed upon if you loose your job.
4. Perpetually have to buy stuff for the house.
5. Tenants ruin the house and you can't get the money out of them for repairs.

Here's a good landlord video.

R - Value In Alaska

The wiki page I got this info from was"R-Value (insulation)" which is otherwise called heat resistivity. Not to be confused with U-Value which is otherwise called heat retention.

The best spray foam is Closed cell polyurethane spray foam. And a close 2nd is open cell polyurethane spray foam. These are all better than wood as an insulator

The following R-values are average per inch, based on available results:

Straw Bales: R-1.45
Wood Panels: R-2.5
Open Cell Polyurethane Spray Foam: R-3.6
Closed Cell Polyurethane Spray Foam: R-5.5
Silica Aerogel: R-10 (Best possible insulation for a window material. Hope it's available someday on the mass market.)

So if living in Alaska it would be wise to spend a tiny bit more to use spray foam in your cabin instead of wood. Spray foam is also easier to work with and can be sprayed onto a geodesic dome, with shingled plastic for water proofing utilizing "grip clips". The floor of cabins in Alaska are often dirt floors, but before installing any type of floor, just prevent flooding of a that floor in the geodesic dome, by halfway burying a solid water barrier material sheet around the perimeter of the dome.

You could also add heat retention(A.K.A. U-Value) to the already well insulated structure by putting moss or dirt on top of the geodesic dome. This is free, and only adds to the insulation quality, and also the natural woodsy look. But just spray foam or air foam should be enough insulation. And fire proof it all with a stucco coating.

Most cabins in Alaska are very small also because of the hassle of collecting more wood to heat bigger sized cabins. So a small one room cabin is normal in Alaska which means the cost of spray foam would be minimal, from such a small surface area to be insulated. Just be sure to make a sturdy geodesic dome out of hardwood(bamboo?) or metal bars so that the house can't collapse ever.

But there's nothing stopping you from making the same type of house in Florida with a total construction cost of about 300$. In other words anything that they do in Alaska to live independently can also be done anywhere else in the U.S.. But you would have to consider an outhouse and how to clean clothes. I discuss all of these considerations in my post called "permanent fort or camp". Also other posts are useful in constructing an independent homestead like the artificial aquifer post, and also earlier posts like the utopia now post, for info on an ideal community(Which is not possible). Or my old version of an independent homestead was the utopia list post, for more personal independence ideas, however outdated they are. But for diagrams of devices go to "New house design pics".

Free Stuff

• Free rentals: Go to Gamestop and buy used games or DVD's and then return them within the 7 day return policy in order to have free DVD and game rental. In fact you can essentially rent portable games like DS, which may not be done at some video stores. This only works on used games though.
• When buying a car, if you pay in cash 600$ but you put on the title that it only cost 200$ then you only have to pay tax on the 200$.
• Having money in money market earns 6% a year of free money. If you have a million dollars then put it into municipal bonds for better and more secure interest, for free money. Also dollar cost averaging earns an extra few percentage points per year when buying shares of mutual funds on a monthly basis.
• Instead of buying a magazine of million dollar homes just to ogle the homes, you can get the same exact thing from free news stand luxury home ad magazines(at 7-11, or a store front), that have almost the same thing, and it comes out weekly.
• Youtube.
• Download an emulator of any video game system that you used to like to play, then download the ROM of any of the games that you used to like to play, all of this for free. See: my post done on this.
• Playing pranks on people.
• Sailing is free transportation, also the newly invented wave powered boat is, and eating fish that have caught is free food.
• Solar power is infinite energy. For free energy after initial investment.
• Camping at state and national parks is free. There are some rules though if they can enforce them.
• CLEP tests and final exams(If you're home taught), are a good way of earning credit for having learned a class without ever having to have taken the class at all, as long as you already know the subject or have at least taken 1 hour to skim through a book on the subject to get a passing grade. This is how Doogie Howser M.D. became a doctor without taking 8 years of college.
• One red paper clip. He used the principle of creating value where no extra value had previously existed. Are they willing to pay you more than what you paid for it. The value is in the mind of the buyer. Just like building devices out of raw materials that people are then willing to pay more than the value of the materials, after the device has already been made. This is just a fancy way of saying buy low, sell high. These are two ways of expressing the same thing, which is, how to get rich. His way was more deal making than buying and selling.(Later Added:) What creates value? Rarity, and work put into creation, unless it's an outdated/old item. So supposedly good items worth trading are 1 of a kind items, that people want because of the exclusivity, and fun factor. They could either be collectibles, or things to have fun with friends or by self with, that are one of a kind, are good to trade. Trading more and more exclusive items becomes easier as you have more valuable items, because rich people will easily make an uneven trade of one exclusive item for another that they really want more. The concept is that, they never price things when they buy them either. But this only works in cross category exclusive items because if you're trading an exclusive video game for another exclusive video game, then they may not want to part with what they already like collecting or make a bad trade and lessen their collection. So they have to be trading an exclusive item that they don't want anymore, to you, for a one of a kind item that they really do want. And if they don't want to trade for this exclusive item then find a more willing collector, or a more "fun factor" oriented person.
  
• Water is free, and it even falls out of the sky for you. But it just needs purifying. See my artificial aquifer. Or boil it with free wood.
  
• Free wood from fallen trees, either on your property or an adjacent forest next to your property. On a large scale though this leads to degradation of some species habitat.
• Low speed vehicles do not require very much insurance. And can get you to everywhere except out of town, for only pennies a day if it's an electric vehicle.

The ideals that we seek is shown in things like these. Free things and no more need for money would be ideal. If we had robots doing all work for us one day, that would also be ideal, from no more need to work. Also, having infinite energy in the future from fusion, if it works would be another ideal situation. As to whether we will every reach any ideal scenarios, and most importantly make them work(instead of having another "summer of love") is still up to debate.

News To Keep Track Of, For Further Advancements.

Type the following into "google news" search engine, if the links don't work, and read the latest developments. Also if you bookmark this post it's a turn key way to follow the news if these topics interests you.

Optical memory or optical data storage or wiki: Will lead to denser data storage

Optical computers: Faster more powerful less need for cooling computers. Watch light wave logic stock.

"Super laser" or "National ignition facility" or "(NIF)" or "Super Marx generator" : For new infinite energy or space travel or ray guns, etc.

"John Kanzius" : This is for the cancer cure of the Kanzius machine. Which is now getting funding for further testing. Also see: His organizations website.

"EEstor" Or, "Zenn Cars" : For developments in ultracapacitor technology.

"Mimic Resveratrol" : For new anti aging medications and how they work is currently being studied. We may live as long as the Japanese soon.

"Biometrics" : If and when they discover a type that you cannot forge, then identity theft will be a thing of the past, as banks adopt this, as well as grocery stores.

"Nuclear Fusion" : This technology is currently being developed by the top scientists in the world for infinite clean energy. But this is "vapor ware" that they may or may not have a breakthrough in for a while.

"OLED" : This is going to be the next type of TV and also lighting for every room in the house and will be very, very cheap to buy, eventually. Invest in GE or Fraunhofer Institute, for OLED lighting, for dividends not for growth. This market will be massive when the tech is here. Also see a prediction post.

"Solid state fan", or "Electro- aerodynamic pumping" : This is a new technology that may invest in if possible, and which may one day be used for hover boards, or rocket packs, if enough thrust is possible. This is the same technology as "lifter" technology that is shown on youtube, and which the "Mythbusters" proved is NOT anti-gravity(See: Antigravity episode).

"Active Building Envelopes(ABE)": A new theoretical form of passive temperature moderation over any structure except the windows. made out of thin film solar panels combined with thin film peltier effect materials. Being made at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). And the National Science Foundation is supporting them.

"Artificial gecko hairs or skin" or "gecko tape": Huge advances are being made in this field.

"Solid State Drive(SSD)" : Made out of flash memory drives and is solid state and efficient, but for now it is very expensive.

"Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter System", or Google it for more news/info : This I found in Vol.185 ,No.11 issue of popular mechanics. Its a solid state thermoelectric generator, and may be more efficient than a sterling engine. Or the most efficient thermoelectric conversion possible (or "ideal" efficiency)within the second law of thermodynamics. If this is as compact, and light weigt, and compatible as solar panels then it could make a solar heat powered car!!

"Acoustic fridge", or "Thermoacoustic refrigeration" : Currently cost $10,000, but hopefully one day will replace the modern fridge when mass produced because they are solid state with no moving parts, and are quiet, and efficient, and eco-friendly.

On youtube look for:

"Variant edition" Or, "Comicbook reviews" : To save you the trouble of buying and reading bad comics(Sort the videos by date added). Also go on "myspace darkhorse comics"(free comics)