I'm really sick and tired of everyone's bad decisions making them into "victims". However, it does give the government a reason to investigate and regulate. Its all about control. I always find it amusing how people willy nilly invest in coins they know nothing about and expect it to turn out well...."hey, its gold and its old....what could go wrong!" They also expect to turn a profit immediately. Hilarious. For Goldline. I don't buy gold or gold coins from Goldline because I'm not an idiot. All those commercials you see on TV cost money. Guess what? They pass that cost on to their clients. Just like any other business. When I buy gold I look at spot price, mintages and grade. I only buy slabbed coins and I buy them at coin shows from weekend warrior dealers with no overhead. That's how I get the best price.
The same logic can be applied to the stock market. Regular folks who want to invest employ "Ameritrade" or other investment firms like it. When they don't do their "homework" and lose a bundle they cry foul. The Feds step in and say they want to excersise closer scrutiny in regard to all this. What a joke. Don't folks take responsability for their actions any more? We need "Big Brother" to protect us? Sad....and scary.
Green - buy too much house? You're a victim of predatory lenders!! Buy a plasma tv and a hummer instead of saving enough cash to pay 6 months expenses? The system screwed you over, man!! Uneducated, unskilled and lazy and no one will pay you $25 an hour just to get out of bed in the morning? It is the fault of unscrupulous small business owners!! Personal responsibility is a thing of the past. In fact, today it hurts you. Buy a modest home that you can afford? Guess what? You're paying the bills for the guy who bought the McMansion on the good side of town. Sucker.
I'll try asking agian, in case you know the answer: Your comment makes it sound as if he bought gold bullion that had little or no numismatic value, and that it would have been extremely easy to ascertain a fair price - is that actually the case? If so, I'd be very surprised that Goldline would charge so much above market on bullion coins. And if not, it appears that you have unfairly characterized the situation. Either way, sadly, I have heard of many similar examples over the years - it's not nearly as uncommon as you seem to think.
I did a bit of checking online to see what i could figure out Mark and it sounds like it was bullion investing...My guess from what I've read sounds like they talked him into buying fractional gold coins at a serious markup price. If anyone can add more details that would be great.
He was being sarcastic I'm sure, and not directing that at you. He was trying to convey the selfish and superficial attitude of Americans. At least I think :|
If that be the case then I owe him an apology. Otherwise, he earns the distinction of being the first person I've ever placed on my "ignore" list....
Lol.....I too think He was being sarcastic and actually agreeing with You about personal responsibility being a lost art.
From B. Traven's book "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", published in 1935: Anyway, gold is a very devilish sort of a thing, believe me, boys. In the first place, it changes your character entirely. When you have it your soul is no longer the same as it was before. No getting away from that. You may have so much piled up that you can't carry it away; but, bet your blessed paradise, the more you have, the more you want to add, to make it just that much more.
Green - I was being sarcastic. I am and was agreeing with you 100%. There is no personal responsibility anymore. Everyone is a victim. The Goldline investor bought mostly bullion. The fact that it is so hard to find this out, in the age of the internet, makes it even less likely that its not a set up to bring down Goldline, the conservative voices who shill for it and PM purchases by citizens. They don't want us investing in PM's. They want us to be 100% dependent on fiat currency that they can manipulate and inflate. If we don't play with the government's monopoly money they no longer have control - the whole scam breaks down. That scares the beejeezus out of the political elite.
I found an article in the far left magazine, Mother Jones. This guy bought bullion, not coins. Plus, he bailed when gold was at $1300 oz. instead of riding it out. Who thinks they are going to buy gold and start seeing potential profits right away? This guy is a plant by liberal democrats who want to scare people into not buying gold. All this guy had to do was check spot price. It takes, literally, five seconds to do it. "The Republicans on the committee tried to get Bazan to admit that it was his own fault that he'd gotten taken. Whitfield said his staffers had checked the price of another gold coin at the US Mint similar to those Bazan had bought from Goldline and discovered the Mint marked up the coins by $300" http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/beck-Goldline-Congress-washington
I'm not sure I follow your point here...unless it's intentional misdirection, in which case, well played. Are you suggesting that it is somehow more "fair" to fault the doctor if his purchase was "bullion-based", and less so if it was numismatic?
I was suggesting that if the purchase had been for coins other than bullion, it would have required more than just knowing the spot price of gold and multiplying that by the number of coins, in order to ascertain a fair price to pay. Thanks to everyone who replied to my question.
It is from "Francisco's Money Speech" a monologue in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. You can read the speech read here on Capitalism Magazine, if you care to.