President Obama Wants to Confiscate Your Gold

Buried deep in the 956-page healthcare reform bill is a little-known provision that could set the stage for the federal government to take away your gold. By 2012, it might not be safe to own gold bars, rare coins or ETFs.

But there is one safe gold investment class that could make you 9 times your money in the next 18 months.

Learn about this gold investment. 

Changing Eating Habits

Americans are certainly unique in the way that we eat, but the world’s tastes and consumption are changing as well. If you look at the chart below from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, you can see demand increasing and more and more countries consuming proteins (China), which puts demand not only on meat prices, but on grains to feed the livestock.

Global and Regional Per Capita Food Consumption (Kcal Per Capita Per Day)

The Raw Cost of Food

Looking at average prices, based on a four-person household, of several food products for my estimates, most data is taken from USDA, futures prices and retail food websites. I am using a blend of prices, based on an average of different food products in each group. The point of the data here is to show the potential increase in costs for the average family. These figures do NOT include dining out or premium items.

Annual Food Expenditures for a 4-Person Family (Conservative Estimate): $11,974.92
 (Remember that we are now in an economic downturn)

I found that about 24% of the average household’s income is spent on basic food needs. For most of us, that number is probably higher because many of us dine out and pay premiums for prepared foods. But here’s what we really need to think about: When food prices rise, that cuts into our savings and other spending… and we need to protect our savings from getting eaten up by food prices!!

A 10% increase in the cost of food would mean another $1,200 jump in annual costs ($100 per month) on average, per year in this case. Food is not something we will stop spending money on — IT’S A NECESSITY OF LIFE.

By the way, corn, wheat, sugar and other commodities are all up way over 10% in the past couple months.

Inflation here in the U.S. or even the precursors to it can drive commodity prices higher, and since many commodities are denominated in U.S. dollars, that means a weak dollar = higher commodity prices.

The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) estimates that:

• The world population is expected to grow by 50% by 2050.
• Food production will need to rise by 50% by 2030 to meet growing demand.
• There are about 500 million small farms in developing countries, supporting almost 2 billion people — one-third of humanity.
• From 2007 to 2008, the number of undernourished people in the world rose by 40 million to a total of 963 million.
• There is a food crisis out there for many people around the world.