Yeah, Ebbie, I think my opinions are evolving. They've been evolving for as long as I can remember. I am always willing to consider a new angle on things.

Besides...I'm also aware that I don't know for sure about a lot of this stuff. How could I? I don't have access to all the relevant information...and I have to get that information from other people who also probably don't know for sure about a lot of the stuff they say.

Guest, nobody in particular - Yes, I am the one referred to in people's posts as LH. Cheers!

pdq - you are quite correct about FDR's 1933 actions in regards to making ownership of gold illegal, and also about the later elimination of silver coinage from circulation in the 1960s. That happened after John Kennedy was out of the picture. Those 2 actions, along with Nixon's 1971 termination of the Bretton-Woods version of the gold standard have turned the entire world's national currencies into worthless fiat money that is backed up by nothing real, and the bankers have used that circumstance along with fractional reserve lending to enrich themselves through what amounts to a gigantic Ponzi scheme. And who has paid for it? The general public has...through taxes levied to pay down (a portion of) the interest on the ever-growing national debt, and through inflation. This is particularly hard on old people, people on fixed incomes, poor people, and the rapidly eroding middle class. It's a bubble that must someday burst.