Not that I fully or even hardly agree with crazy nut bags like Alex Jones or even slightly less nutty Ron Paul.. but... they have some very damn good points.
At least in the past the value of the US dollar and our banks were backed by the physical resource of gold. Now.. holy hell.. it's a giant quagmire of bullshit that determines how much America's currency is worth. Now I'm sure things were never that simple.. but it's practically magical ether that keeps those pieces of paper in your pocket supposedly worth money. And those ones and zeroes in your bank account is even more ethereal. Any money you got in the stock market? Whelp.. that's even more of a crap shoot.
Also.. I find it hilarious and frightening in Looper that everyone is using Chinese currency in America in the future. HA.
One of the reasons gold has been use as currency is it is very easy to determine its purity; anyone with the right kind of rock can easily see through any such debasement shenanigans.
What I did was take the liberty of drawing comparisons between similar grumpy libertarian gripes to illustrate a general picture of irrational malcontent fostered by negative language. Much like you attempted to draw a picture of me as a limpwristed Marxist know-nothing by claiming my ability to stay on-topic is related to my understanding of economic principles. Nice try though. It's easier to win when you're open to the possibility of being wrong.
Alex Jones is actually an Kaufman-esqe performance given by Bill Hicks who faked his death.
Or at least that's the conspiracy theory some conspiracy theorists have about conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. (Yo dawg, I heard you like conspiracy theories..)
Now Jones does work with a company set up by Hicks, something I never knew until I heard that theory. Joe Rogan also does work with the company, Sacred Cow Productions.
It's.. an interesting theory.. especially for fans of Hicks who was no stranger to conspiracy himself. Though I'd wager Hicks was a bit more leftie libertarian and Jones is a bit more right.. though.. not really. He's kinda raging against government and corporations. And Hicks didn't care for Clinton either before he died. It's a pretty crazy fustercluck Jones talks about. Both of them actually.
One thing that jumped out at me when I was watching Looper was that they were working awfully cheap. I would estimate those silver bars to be about 10 ounces each. With four bars and silver has been hovering around $35 an ounce lately, that makes each human life worth about $1400 to these loopers. I don't know what the current market price for hitman services would be but that strikes me as particularly low. A local doctor made news recently for paying a man 300 ounces of silver to kill his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend, or around $105K.
I'd say those bars were a lot more than 10 oz. 10 oz of silver is a cube about 2.5 in on the side. I may be misremembering the size, but I think they were about 2.5" x 5" x 1", or 12.5 in^3. The density of silver is about 6 oz/in^3, so each bar would be around 75 oz. Strangely, for 4 bars, that's exactly 300 oz. I swear I didn't plan it that way.
A cube with 2.5" per side has a volume of 15.625 in^3. You correctly state that 2.5"x5"x1" yield a volume of 12.5 in^3, less than the 2.5" cube. There is no way that those bars were over 4.5 lbs each. I have a 4 oz bar of silver that is about the same length and width but considerably thinner (it is slightly larger than an American dollar bill). I guesstimated the bar to be about 2.5 times as thick as this silver bar of mine and that is where I got the 10 ounces.
However the main part of the storyline of Looper is still set further in the future. It is not too unreasonable to expect that the price of other semi-precious metals has also become heavily inflated.
I myself have done the smart thing. I just bought fifty issues of Batman #13 with a die cut Joker cover. FUCK GOLD! I got comics! Buy DC Comics trick and variant cover comics! Those are gonna be worth their weight in platinum someday!! I'm gonna be rich, bitches!
You can't wipe your butt with gold.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's about the only thing a dollar is good for these days.
DeleteButts will always need wiping.
DeleteSure you can. Use gold leaf for the easy jobs. If that's not up to the task, grab some coins and use the old "three seashells" trick.
DeleteYou're thinking of that other film, "Pooper".
DeleteIf Alex Jones is to be believed, Gold is the only substance of value on the planet.
ReplyDeleteWell, unlike toilet paper currency, governments can't steal the value of your savings by inflating their way out of their debts by printing more gold.
DeleteSo gold has that going for it.
I don't know. I think a case might be made for things like water, air, food and so on being intrinsically valuable. But maybe that's just me...
Delete@Diane
DeleteBut those things are commodities. They have utility, but only gain value when there isn't enough of them to go around.
Government did that all the time, mixing gold with silver or copper.
DeleteNot that I fully or even hardly agree with crazy nut bags like Alex Jones or even slightly less nutty Ron Paul.. but... they have some very damn good points.
DeleteAt least in the past the value of the US dollar and our banks were backed by the physical resource of gold. Now.. holy hell.. it's a giant quagmire of bullshit that determines how much America's currency is worth. Now I'm sure things were never that simple.. but it's practically magical ether that keeps those pieces of paper in your pocket supposedly worth money. And those ones and zeroes in your bank account is even more ethereal. Any money you got in the stock market? Whelp.. that's even more of a crap shoot.
Also.. I find it hilarious and frightening in Looper that everyone is using Chinese currency in America in the future. HA.
SAROE: Look up what a "touch stone" is.
DeleteOne of the reasons gold has been use as currency is it is very easy to determine its purity; anyone with the right kind of rock can easily see through any such debasement shenanigans.
I'm consistently bemused by libertarian language. It sounds exhausting to file your taxes under the belief that you're being robbed.
DeleteI'm consistently irritated by liberal socialist idiots who try to score points by COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT.
DeleteNobody said anything about taxes. This is all about currency debasement through inflation.
Small wonder liberal socialists can't comprehend basic economic concepts; they can't even follow a simple conversation.
What I did was take the liberty of drawing comparisons between similar grumpy libertarian gripes to illustrate a general picture of irrational malcontent fostered by negative language. Much like you attempted to draw a picture of me as a limpwristed Marxist know-nothing by claiming my ability to stay on-topic is related to my understanding of economic principles. Nice try though. It's easier to win when you're open to the possibility of being wrong.
DeleteHonestly though, what's up the Alex Jonsian language. I can't tell for sure if he's sincere or a goofy shock jock. He definitely asserts himself to be an honest freedom fighter or whatever, but the sort of language and psychological technique he uses is the same as any old pundit, like Rush Limbaugh for example. Find a good thought-terminating cliché, juxtapose with a topic you want people to react to, repeat ad infinitum. Really tiring stuff. Same technique as any brainwasher, ironically.
Alex Jones is actually an Kaufman-esqe performance given by Bill Hicks who faked his death.
DeleteOr at least that's the conspiracy theory some conspiracy theorists have about conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. (Yo dawg, I heard you like conspiracy theories..)
Now Jones does work with a company set up by Hicks, something I never knew until I heard that theory. Joe Rogan also does work with the company, Sacred Cow Productions.
It's.. an interesting theory.. especially for fans of Hicks who was no stranger to conspiracy himself. Though I'd wager Hicks was a bit more leftie libertarian and Jones is a bit more right.. though.. not really. He's kinda raging against government and corporations. And Hicks didn't care for Clinton either before he died. It's a pretty crazy fustercluck Jones talks about. Both of them actually.
By weight... a US 50 dollar bill is worth more than it's weight in gold.
ReplyDeleteSlightly out of date there. USD 50 note is about 1 gram. In gold that's currently worth USD 56.72.
DeleteWow... not sure where I was getting my gold prices... so, replace "50" with "100" or "worth more" with "worth nearly".
DeleteOne thing that jumped out at me when I was watching Looper was that they were working awfully cheap. I would estimate those silver bars to be about 10 ounces each. With four bars and silver has been hovering around $35 an ounce lately, that makes each human life worth about $1400 to these loopers. I don't know what the current market price for hitman services would be but that strikes me as particularly low. A local doctor made news recently for paying a man 300 ounces of silver to kill his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend, or around $105K.
ReplyDeleteI'd say those bars were a lot more than 10 oz. 10 oz of silver is a cube about 2.5 in on the side.
DeleteI may be misremembering the size, but I think they were about 2.5" x 5" x 1", or 12.5 in^3. The density of silver is about 6 oz/in^3, so each bar would be around 75 oz.
Strangely, for 4 bars, that's exactly 300 oz. I swear I didn't plan it that way.
To Anon 1:04 -
DeleteA cube with 2.5" per side has a volume of 15.625 in^3. You correctly state that 2.5"x5"x1" yield a volume of 12.5 in^3, less than the 2.5" cube. There is no way that those bars were over 4.5 lbs each. I have a 4 oz bar of silver that is about the same length and width but considerably thinner (it is slightly larger than an American dollar bill). I guesstimated the bar to be about 2.5 times as thick as this silver bar of mine and that is where I got the 10 ounces.
However the main part of the storyline of Looper is still set further in the future. It is not too unreasonable to expect that the price of other semi-precious metals has also become heavily inflated.
DeleteUh...yes. In the future.
ReplyDeleteCue Conan and Andy: "In the year 2000..."
DeleteI myself have done the smart thing. I just bought fifty issues of Batman #13 with a die cut Joker cover. FUCK GOLD! I got comics! Buy DC Comics trick and variant cover comics! Those are gonna be worth their weight in platinum someday!! I'm gonna be rich, bitches!
ReplyDeleteGold is nothing more than pretentious lead.
ReplyDeleteYeah.. but people don't revere lead so much.
DeleteUnless they do it ironically.
Wait.. gold.. silver.. bronze.. then way down in value is lead..
So we're in the Lead Age of comic books now?