Monday, November 13, 2017

Kim Jong-Un cartoon:



“Rocket Man”

Kim Jong-Un delivered what he perhaps thought was a supreme insult. He called President Trump, “old.” Trump took it in good humor. While he did return a barb by calling Kim Jong-Un ‘short and fat,’ he didn’t rule out the possibility of friendship with the North Korean dictator. “If that did happen, it would be a good thing for North Korea,” said Trump.

Solving the stalemate with the hermit state would be the cornerstone of Trump’s presidency, but it remains extremely unlikely. Kim Jong-Un must have a boogey man to keep his populace distracted with fear. A country constantly preparing for war is less likely to revolt, hence the dictator’s incessant saber rattling. Trump wants progress, not provocation. 

Trump’s Asian tour has been a resounding success. He was especially popular in China. To get China to agree to put the sanctions hammer down on their North Korean puppet is indeed an accomplishment.

—Ben Garrison

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

King Dollar Continues His Reign:




I read this today:

https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-11-08-cryptocurrency-vanishes-user-error-10-reasons-gold-better-than-bitcoin.html

I like Mike Adams, and once upon a time I would have wholeheartedly endorsed what he has written here….but not any more. I went 'all in' on silver and silver futures in 2011 and I got wiped out. I no longer believe in the gold and silver narratives such as 'gold and silver will go to the moon when the petro dollar collapses any day now!' It never seems to happen. Even G. Edward Griffin expressed surprise that the entire debt dollar system hasn't collapsed by now.

I could have bought Bitcoin in 2011 and I'd be a billionaire now, but at the time I believed in what Adams preaches in his article. I even drew pro-silver cartoons such as the one shown here. I thought the dollar would collapse and gold and silver would go up exponentially. Didn't happen.

If such people know gold and silver are set to reach fantastic highs similar to Bitcoin, why all the selling? Many precious metal outfits are hawking gold and silver coins as a safe haven--and that's fine...but again, why are they even selling? Why not wait for those higher prices? Are they being egalitarian in their desire to help the average Joe get rich? I think not.

Just for grins, I’ll see if I can counter each of his arguments:

#1) Gold has been around for over 13 billion years and is a fundamental element of the cosmos. Bitcoin has existed fewer than 13 years and hasn’t even come close to standing the test of time.

The Internet has been around for about 50 years and only used by the general populace for about 30 years. The Internet is an unprecedented achievement that has fundamentally changed the way humans interact with each other. It has had more impact and is perhaps a more important game changer than was the Gutenberg press. It’s only natural that money adapts to the way humans interact with each other economically. So his argument is specious. He’s overreaching here, because humans have only been on the Earth for a short amount of time—the 13 billion years thing is irrelevant. Then he tosses in, ‘Or maybe you don’t understand the Table of Elements' line as a needless insult.

#2) Unlike Bitcoin, gold cannot be created or destroyed by human beings.

Human beings can destroy themselves into extinction and render gold worthless. Human beings may not be able to create gold, but they DO create the desire for gold because of its natural qualities of permanence, malleability, rarity and beauty. Bitcoin resides in the memory of computer banks. Humans determine its value of gold in the memory of their minds, and can also control or destroy its value. Look at the videos in which Mark Dice offered people a gold coin for $20. There were no takers. Their minds are already changed. Look at the paper shorts that rule gold and silver. The modern perception of gold is that it’s an archaic, cumbersome form of money that is difficult and expensive to store and offers no interest. Sure, there have been times when gold and silver had bubble-like runs in the modern era, but they were very few, very short, and the prices always collapsed back into a bear or stagnant market.

#3) When the power grid goes down, gold is still gold. But Bitcoin becomes worthless.

It depends on how long the grid goes down. If it goes down permanently, then Bitcoin will be worthless. That doesn’t necessarily mean gold and silver will become worth much more. The priorities would be fuel, food, ammo, medicine and so forth. Ammo, cigarettes or those small liquor bottles may make a better medium of exchange than gold.

#4) Physical gold cannot be stolen through the internet

But it can be stolen, lost, or confiscated by the government.

#5) The value of any single Bitcoin depends on the entire Bitcoin infrastructure continuing to operate

The value of any single NYSE stock depends on the continued operation of that infrastructure, too. The ATMs depend on the grid, too—not just Bitcoin. Money transactions are increasingly taking place electronically. The day of putting a silver dollar into an old fashioned cash register and getting a hand written receipt are over. Nowadays cards are swiped into electronic gadgetry. US debt dollars are created by a keystroke. Too bad the infrastructure at the Fed isn’t wiped out and they go away, too.

#6) When you try to burn gold, you just get melted gold. When you burn Bitcoin wallets, you lose all your Bitcoins.

This argument is kind of a howler and holds no water. He’s comparing golden apples with digital oranges. Burn your wallet and your credit cards and cash are destroyed, too. Burn down your uninsured house and you'll also lose everything. You can’t burn a Bitcoin; that’s part of it’s advantage. Everything is backed up supposedly. 

#7) Owning gold is truly anonymous. Your gold cannot be detected, and if you move it around, nobody else knows. 

Until you cash in that gold for good ‘ol debt slave bucks. Then the IRS can perhaps detect it if the amount is substantial. Unless you want to carry around a large amount of cash, they’ll want to know where that $100k came from when you deposit your gold sale winnings into a bank account. Especially if one buys gold online. Records are kept. Try traveling with a large amount of cash and the police will confiscate it as ‘drug money.’ Gold can get confiscated at airports. Unless the gold owner lives in Shangri-La, he’s subject to the same problems all non-anonymous people have.

#8) Gold has practical industrial, medical and scientific applications that grant it inherent value. Bitcoin can be replaced tomorrow by a better cryptocurrency.

Gold has far less practical value than silver. Mostly, gold is old fashioned money and a store of value. Or jewelry. Bitcoin has, in effect, replaced gold as a medium of quick exchange and far more practical when paying people at a distance. J’ever try to mail people gold or silver? I have and it’s a big pain. It’s heavy. It must be insured. Easily lost or stolen, etc. He says Etherium is better, but we know what happened there. Crypto currency is in its infancy and will have to sort itself out over time. Also, he confuses owning Bitcoin with mining. You can buy Bitcoin and trade it without having to set up super computers to mine it. Gold requires a ridiculous amount of energy in its own mining process. That’s part of what makes it valuable. Same with Bitcoin. The more time and expense required to mine it only means much higher prices for it.

#9) Gold is universally recognized and accepted as valuable in every culture on our planet. Bitcoin is unrecognizable to most humans living today.

This is somewhat equivalent to the ‘ad populum’ argumentative fallacy. That is, since more people know about gold and silver than they do Bitcoin, it must mean that Bitcoin is not tenable? What it suggests to me is that it has barely scratched the surface. His argument does not obviate the fact that gold and silver prices have remained stagnant for the past 6 years, while Bitcoin has gone from a few cents to $7,000 in the same time period. It is snowballing and the more people find out about it, the more likelihood of higher prices.

#10) Most people buy gold to protect value, yet most people buying Bitcoin today are speculating on a “get rich quick” scheme that will blow up in their faces.

Probably true for the time being, but most people who bought silver during its ‘mania’ stage expected much higher prices. Instead, those ’stackers' who bought high are still stuck and steaming. I remember there were many shills coming out of the woodwork and claiming silver would go to $1,000 per ounce or higher. So sure—let’s talk about ‘protecting’ value. Buying a gold coin has been proven to do that, but many want a better return on the dollars they earn. That’s human nature. Hence, both the stock market and Bitcoin continue to make new highs, while precious metals continue to languish. 

--Ben Garrison


Monday, November 06, 2017

MAGA Christmas Cards:

I know it's way too early, but Christmas cards are now available at the GrrrGraphics.com store.

A 2018 calendar is also being offered.

The cards are shown here on a real Montana tree with real snow. Tina designed the ad and she took the photo. She even drew one of the cards (the reindeer).

This blog post is a cheap sales pitch, I know...but a guy has to try to earn a living.

Thank you,

Ben Garrison




Sunday, November 05, 2017

Ordering Glasses Online:

It looks like one of my posts complaining about a certain online eyeglass company was deleted from this site. About a year ago I made the mistake of trying to buy a cheap pair of glasses online and since this particular company had 'USA' in its title, I thought it might be reliable.

It was anything but.

After about a month's wait,  I received a chirpy email from them asking how I liked my new glasses. I never got them. I wrote and complained.  I was bluntly told my glasses had been made in 'Europe' (later I found out they're made in Israel) and shipped via DSL. I was told two attempts were made at delivery, but "I wasn't at home." Bull. I'm always at home. I work at home. They left no message telling me when delivery would be attempted again because there was no attempt in the first place. The online glasses company were liars. There is no DSL delivery here in Montana. I asked if they could be sent via USPS. NO! I was told they take ZERO responsibility once the glasses are shipped.

They sent me a tracking number and it was bogus--didn't exist in the system. In short, I was completely ripped off. No glasses, no apology--and then my blog post was censored. These jerks display outright contempt for their customers, whom are probably considered 'marks.' Never again will I order glasses online.

To make matters worse, Google keeps pushing the online glasses company ads with "USA" in the title. I keep trying to tell them I'm not interested in seeing the scam company, but the ads persist. 

Folks, don't order your glasses online. Spend a bit extra at your local eyeglass store and get them done right. You get what you pay for and in the case of the online glasses company with "USA" in the title...you may get nothing at all.

BG

Saturday, November 04, 2017

"Abandon Hillary, The Sinking Rat"



When the Clintons left the White House in 2000, Hillary claimed they were ‘dead broke.’ Now they’ve amassed a fortune of $240 million. Doing what? Speaking fees, ‘consulting’ and book sales are cited, but what the legacy media ignores is the real money maker: The mass of red flags that is the Clinton Foundation. It was established for egalitarian reasons in 2001, but its real purpose is the enrichment of the Clintons and their cronies. Money brings power and HIllary used it in an attempt to buy the presidency.

As Secretary of State under Obama, Hillary gained even more money and power by means of ‘pay for play,’ Nations lined up to donate mega millions to the foundation in exchange for her favors. The foundation collected over $2 billion in revenue. That money was used to buy supporters by means of first class travel tickets, bloated salaries and bribes. Clintons also used their ‘charity’ as big tax write off. The foundation is a loudly spinning, corrupt and clanking money laundering machine crying out for an investigation. Even the New York Times stated, “It’s hard to tell where the foundation ended and the State Department began.”

Hillary used part of her new fortune to buy out a financially struggling DNC. Then she proceeded to dominate it. It should be renamed the "Hillary Party." She stole primaries from Bernie Sanders outright. Sanders fought back hard against her corruption. Oh wait. No, he obsequiously supported Hillary instead. Only recently has he stated, “The fix was in against us.” Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren also stated the obvious. That is, the system was rigged in Hillary’s favor. Donna Brazile described Hillary’s rigging in some detail and said Hillary treated her like a ‘whipping girl,’ a slave. She even felt fear for her life after Seth Rich was murdered.

Hillary outspent Trump by a margin of 2 to 1. Her campaign ads outnumbered Trump’s 3 to 1. Hillary spent a record $1.2 billion to buy her presidency and still lost. Will she run and lose again in 2020?

Some prominent Democrats are wearily starting to wise up. They’ve grown tired of Hillary’s drama and are speaking out against her. It may be dawning on them that Hillary is unelectable even though she still maintains her iron-clawed grip on their party. She’s seen not as a supporter of the working class, but rather part of the big money global corporation and central banking class. The one percent. She didn’t even bother to campaign in the rust belt states, which may have cost her the election. Hillary didn’t want to campaign at all—she seemed contemptuous of the process. Instead she wanted to purchase her coronation outright.

On various political message boards I read pronouncements containing the line, 'rats deserting a sinking ship.’ Some urged me to draw a cartoon using that metaphor. The real rat is Hillary and she deserves a good sinking. If the Democrats have any smarts or integrity left, they will let her sink.

Lock her up!

—Ben Garrison