The Real Cost of Government Protection

Gold last traded at $1,908 an ounce. Silver at $23.90 an ounce

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose sharply Thursday on bargain hunting and a weaker dollar. U.S. stocks climbed as investors monitored lawmakers' negotiations on further fiscal stimulus.

Bonner/Rogue Economics---"Look around you. Have you ever seen so many fearful people? People who have lost courage... lost faith... and lost their minds. They are willing to be frisked every time they get on an airplane... as protection against the almost negligible chance that someone will want to blow it up. Even young, healthy people are willing to submit to house arrest... rather than face the risk of getting sick. They are afraid that the 'planet is angry' and that it will be consumed by the fires of Hell unless we stop using fossil fuels. Do civilized adults need the government to tell them how to protect themselves from a virus? The New York Times reluctantly admits that they don't: 'Vilified Early Over Lax Virus Strategy, Sweden Seems to Have Scourge Controlled'. Sweden let people decide for themselves. Those who were afraid of the virus could stay at home. Those who were not could go about their business. The U.S., meanwhile, panicked, shutting down large parts of the economy (U.S. second-quarter GDP fell 31%!). But the death rate for both countries was about the same. And now, Sweden appears to be way ahead of the game, with very few new cases. Aging Americans see a future full of bogeymen. And they want the government to protect them. But the protection comes at a cost...Their heavy-handed attempts to hold off the virus crippled the economy... and resulted in collateral damage - depression, suicide, stunted careers, etc. - which will be tallied later. But what concerns us here at the Diary is the cost of protecting against the financial future. That is where the real risk lies. Having bent and distorted the economy for its own benefit, the Baby Boomer elite now faces a reckoning. In an effort to protect itself from the risks of old age, it has promised itself health and pension benefits, unfunded, worth over $200 trillion. It would be impossible to keep up with those obligations, even with a healthy economy."