Staff writer
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| RICK THOMAS/Press "Mogambo Guru" Richard Daughty, left, gets a salute from mining investor Hap Butler of Post Falls following Daughty's presentation Friday at the Silver Summit held at the Coeur d'Alene Inn. Also sharing thoughts with Daughty was Bill Horky of Nevada. |
'Mogambo Guru' says country should return to using silver, gold
COEUR d'ALENE -- You might as well spend all your money now. Better yet, borrow as much as you can and spend it fast, because it will soon be worthless. Or still better, invest in silver or gold, which will always be precious.
Richard Daughty, also known as the "Mogambo Guru," was the keynote speaker Friday at the Silver Summit at the Coeur d'Alene Inn and made that prediction. He thinks Alan Greenspan is out of his mind.
"They ought to put a retarded chicken in charge of the Fed," he told more than 200 mining company executives and investors. "Create money. Create money. A retarded chicken could do that."
Daughty, general partner and COO for Smith Consultant Group, serving the financial and medical communities, and the writer/publisher of the Mogambo Guru economic newsletter, calls himself "the angriest guy in economics." He said the country and the world should return to the gold standard or international economies will come crashing down, with the U.S. falling hardest.
"You cannot get rich by going into debt," Daughty said. "Money should only be silver and gold. The government cannot print silver and gold."
A dollar was worth $1 in 1913, he said, and is now worth "two freaking cents."
"People want to know why I'm so mad," he said. "That's why."
He described "fractional banking" as a system that allows a bank to loan $100 with a $1 deposit. In only four cycles, that dollar means $1 million in loans.
"This is not right," he said. "All money is debt."
That growth of debt threatens the fabric of society, he warned.
"We owe $34 trillion, and have a $74 trillion financial liability," he said. "Where are we going to get $74 trillion out of 120 million people? You'll never make that much money."
He said the U.S. dollar is being held up by Chinese currency, the yuan, and when that country's economy changes from an export to a domestic focus, the dollar's value will collapse.
"People will dump dollars and hoard silver and gold," Daughty said.
And barring a corrupt market manipulation, oil will also not go down in price, but will cost "hundreds of dollars per barrel."
His solution: "Get plenty of silver and gold and a large-caliber weapon to dissuade people from trying to take it away."
Daughty's pithy and hilarious comments had the crowd howling with laughter. The presentation was video-taped for David Morgan of silver-investor.com and will be available at that Web site sometime after Oct. 7, said Morgan.
"Wasn't that great?" Morgan said.
The Silver Summit, in its second year, drew 460 from all over the world, up from about 100 last year, said David Bond, organizer of the program. It concludes today with a tour of mines in the Silver Valley and other events.
Rick Thomas can be reached at 664-8176, ext. 2005, or e-mail thomas@cdapress.com.
