Hoeman00: Went & weighed my gold reserves. Gee, just not enough. Guess I will have to stick to gravel & concrete. The state of the economic system can be clearly visualized when you pile up in front of you, say, $10k in paper money using 20s, then, next to it put $10k in gold equivalent (about 27 coins, each one what WAS equal to a $20 bill). Each $20 bill represents SOMEONE's debt-all money comes into existence as a loan from the banking system. We then trade this "debt" among ourselves. It can NEVER be repaid (if it were, there would be no "money" to use for trading). The FED has learned its lesson-from 1929 through 1933 the "money supply" representing the inflation of the 1920s was reduced 30%+. The money/debt has to continually expand since all debt carries an interest burden and the supply has to increase at least enough to cover the interest burden. A few years ago they were talking about "paying off" the national debt-unbelievable ignorance. If that were done you would see an unbelievable contraction (aka deflation). Someone must have told the politicians and you may note that idea has been dropped like the hot potatoe it was. Repeat, you are using monetized debt as your money. So much for the economics lesson. JEH