Financial Sense University ~ No Notes. Bullion Coins Only, Please. by Dave Tribble 08/06/2004

Web Note: Dave Tribble sent an email to Jim this morning recommending an interview with the authors of "The Coming Generational Storm." I wrote back that Lawrence Kotlikoff, one of the co-authors, was actually this weekend's guest expert! In reply he sent another email. I'm posting it in FSU, because Dave seems to exemplify the whole point of Financial Sense and Financial Sense University. He's looking to understand the past, the present and the future of our economy and be prepared for the storm ahead.

Dear Jim,
I really love your articles because they are so well written and economically sound.
You mentioned the amount of the Debt the United States
is facing in this article (51 trillion or so). I recommend the book
The Coming Generational Storm by Lawrence Kotlikoff & Scott Burns.
It talks about this and the principles of Generational Accounting.
You may want to go your doctor first however, to get some anti-depressants.

I would love it if you could calculate (based upon the size of a Federal
Reserve note) how much landmass on earth would be covered by such a large
amount of money? Do you think we would have any farmland left? Do you
think it would cover just the United States or other continents? Better
yet, I wonder how deep the money would be if isolated to just the United
States?

Thank you so much for your articles, because they have really helped me
understand the fundamentals of economics.

I read that book last month and I have already lent it out to another friend. It was excellent! I am currently reading the "Dollar Crisis" by Richard Duncan and then I have "Financial Reckoning Day" by William Bonner. I have also read "The Oil Factor" by Stephen Leeb, "The end of Oil" by Paul Roberts, and "Maestro', by Bob Woodward, all since May of this year. Who needs the book of Revelations when books like this are being published? Each one basically says the same thing: we are in for major trouble. Some point to our money system, some to our Energy outlook, and others to our Aging population. All three are highly inflationary problems coming to a head very soon. The Energy issue appears to be leading the pack right now as the first major crisis to hit.

For amusement, I have calculated out the landmass required for these 51Trillion dollars of money, if printed in the following denominations:

$1	190,559 sq. miles
$5	38,111 sq. miles
$10	19,055 sq. miles
$20	9,527 sq. miles
$50	3,811 sq. miles
$100	1,905 sq. miles
$1 = 15 square inches

Now at $1 = 15 sq. inches, we do have enough landmass in the form of the states of Nevada and Utah to accommodate this paper (combined sq. mileage = 195,477 miles). What is sobering is that even in the form of $100 bills, it is still something that can be clearly seen from Outer Space. However, if we stack it up on large pallets, I am sure this amount of money can be managed.

I feel so much better now. Before I was wondering if there would be a square inch of the planet left not covered in a dollar bill! There is plenty of landmass not only for the dollar, but for all the other currencies too.

My God, I am only 35 years old. I live in California just 1 hour away from the Mother Load country. I may one day see the return of the Local Assay Office!

The opinions of FSU contributors do not necessarily reflect those of Financial Sense.