It is inevitable that everyday Americans will turn to gold and silver investment as the means to preserve their wealth. We have already taken a big step towards financial independence, despite everything we have been led to believe.
That can be seen in decreased lending in the first quarter of 2012 following almost a year of growth, and it raises “deepening questions about the recovery and confidence of borrowers and bankers,” says the Wall Street Journal. Considering that “lending to larger commercial and industrial customers rose as it has for nearly two years,” the $56 billion drop in loan balances is most significant.
For one thing, small business loans have declined in light of the uncertainty of future demand. More telling, however, is the “5.6% decline in credit-card loan balances.” That, coupled with a 1% drop in single-family residential mortgages and 2.2% decline in home-equity lines of credit, strongly suggests that American households are adopting the mentality of austerity that Europe has rejected.
Even with mortgage rates reaching record lows, Americans seem reluctant to take the bait. They have come to understand that debt erodes wealth and cannot enhance it.
According to a recent Rasmussen survey, a full 64% of American voters want less government and lower taxes. They are ready to face the challenge if only their elected officials would let them. They ask only that their government make the same sacrifices that they are willing to make.
In just four years the electorate has put aside its prejudices and voted in the most historical administration ever and then put a grass roots revolution in control of Congress. But nothing changed. Unrequited fervor always ends in apathy, and that would be our greatest loss.
Perhaps our leaders are not yet ready to accept the brutal facts of reality today, and they will continue to ignore what the people truly desire. But we should not let that stand in our way. And we should not revert to the wasteful ways that threaten our wealth.
We have seen the folly of ever increasing debt and are now taking a stand against it. If we fail to yield to the pressures and instead take a strong defensive posture in gold and silver, perhaps our leadership will at last get the message.
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