RE: BONELAND
It takes a person with a weak, insecure mind to think that altering historical events to fit the political environment of today is a good thing to do. Facts are facts, and they should not be erased and replaced with "what they really meant was..."
If you look at the language used by educates people in the mid-1800's, their vocabulary was very large and their phrasing far more sophisticated than the short sentences filled with little words we see now. I f people paid that much attention to their writing, I'm certain they wrote exactly what they meant to write, so why not believe that they knew what they were doing?
Too many groups of people think Old = IGNORANT. Old ideas, old books, old writings, old stories: none can be relied on because...what could they know we sophisticates of today do not know?
A lot, probably.
A lot, indeed! We have become such an ignorant society. I would worry that we are a lost cause, except that I know too many brilliant young people who are overflowing with ideas. I think they will save the world!
I wish I shared your optimism. Most young people with ideas are not running businesses that are making the bad decisions or have a grasp of how complicated the mess we have created is, or how much it will cost economically and socially to correct the accumulated mistakes of the past.
In any case, I don't think we have the time left to correct things. Things are reaching peak "bad"day-by-day.
I believe the future will look far different than any of us old folks can even imagine. I'm still clinging to hope.
I hope and I wish, but I keep thinking about Hell and handbaskets and wonder how much time we have left with the financial system ready to collapse. There has been far more credit created than there is money and there is no solution for that, no matter how hard one wishes. Just not at all optimistic here.
Iam sure you are right, but I tend to bury my head in the sand because I am not comfortable dealing with finances. Jim took care of all of that before he died and I have been happy to leave it the way he left it. I probably do need some good financial advice so that I am better prepared.. The bulk of my money is in an IRA and my home.
I understand your reluctance to get into it. Melinda, especially in the aftermath of such a loss.
Take some time and google Venezuela inflation and imagine that Boulivars are the Dollar in a few years. We have borrowed 22 trillion dollars and our annual interest payments will be a trillion dollars a year by next year! Just paying the interest is a major burden and we can never repay the borrowed money, and inflation will happen to us just as it is to Venezuela today.
IRAs are valued in dollars and inflation will decrease their purchasing power because the number of dollars will not change while the number of dollars needed for purchasing a gallon of gas (and everything else) will skyrocket.
At least look at what happens in a hyperinflationary period.
I do follow what's going on in Venezuela, and regularly send packages of needed supplies to one of my eSteem friends there.
I can easily see hyperinflation happening here...it's tax repercussions of taking money from the IRA and then what to do with it that I have not figured out. I draw some from the IRA every month to live on...it is still making a good amount of interest, and I draw from that without touching the principal. Maybe I need to hire a financial planner? But will probably just be told about traditional investments, right? Maybe Steem will save me!
I took the hard bite on the taxes and closed my IRA a few years ago. I was concerned that a major banking or financial event would result in a larger loss than the tax man made. At least PMs are "outside" dollar-based investments and their value will appear to float with inflation and stocks etc will not.
I also said adieu to the financial adviser who firmly believes the financial system is stable and going ever upward even though all indicators dispute that. I suspect that a dollar 's purchase of Steem will be worth more than a dollar bill in the future; as will a dollar spent of the top cryptos, or ounces of silver or gold. Fiat has never survived a hyperinflationary period. Period. Fleeing anything based on the dollar seems like the only safe alternative.
Anyone - or country - holding a piece of paper that promises to pay you a million dollars or Bolivars for it is going to be miffed when a million dollars or Bolivars will not pay for a cup of coffee. That is the ONLY way the US can pay its debt!
Run, run! Flee!