Friday evening, December 4, 2009 my wife and I will be honored to hold a reception for the world’s most popular congressman, Ron Paul. The good doctor will be in the Phoenix area in support of Campaign for Liberty, an educational organization that sprang from Dr. Paul’s exhilarating 2008 campaign for the presidency.

Earlier Friday, Dr. Paul will address the Arizona State University chapter of Young Americans for Liberty at ASU’s Hayden Lawn. Following the address, he will sign copies of his bestseller, End the Fed. The reception will be held at our home 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A $250 donation to Campaign for Liberty earns entrance. Attendance will be limited to 80 persons.

I’ve often joked about why I should support Ron Paul’s efforts when, if he were successful, his programs would effectively put me out of business. Dr. Paul believes in the gold standard, under which people could redeem their paper dollars (digital dollars nowadays) for gold at their local banks, as was the case before Roosevelt’s 1933 Executive Order # 6102, which called for all Americans to turn in their gold and gold certificates to the government.

Prior to 1933, U.S. paper currency was freely redeemable in gold coin coins, the most common of which were Double Eagles ($20 Liberties and $20 St. Gaudens), Eagles ($10 gold coins) and Quarter Eagles ($5 gold coins). Yes, that means that before Roosevelt’s dastardly deed, a $20 bill could be exchanged for a $20 gold coin. Today, a common-date circulated $20 Double Eagle carries a paper dollar price of about $1500.

Actually, though, if Ron Paul were successful and there were no need for CMI Gold & Silver Inc. to be in business, I and my staff would have to find other forms of employment. Maybe I would become a furniture maker and increase the wealth of our country (and the world) ever so little. As is it, my economic activity creates no wealth.

I’m not apologizing for making it possible for Americans to convert their dollars into gold. I see the ownership of gold (and silver) as essential to financial survival nowadays. But, if the nation were on the gold standard and banks redeemed paper money for gold, I would have to do something else, and maybe that something else would be positive, like producing something to be consumed.

Further, and obviously, Dr. Paul wants to End the Fed, as his bestseller is titled. Because the Fed is an inflation machine, ending the Fed (at least its money creation ability) would also lessen the need for gold bullion dealers to exist, thereby possibly adding more workers to the productive sector.

For those readers who live in Arizona and would like to attend the reception, I urge them to make the $250 donation ASAP. (Be sure to mark the $250 Event Ticket radio button at the bottom of the page.) I’m optimistic that we will reach the 80 person limit, and I am certain it will be an exciting evening with great conversation with a lot of good people.

By now probably everyone reading this has seen the news about the mid-air news helicopters collision that occurred in Phoenix today about 12:50 pm MST. The copters collided about a half-mile north of our offices, which are only stories below the height at which the collision occurred. We’re on the 14th floor. Several of our staff had a bird’s eye view of the horrific accident.

Mike had called Kelly, our office manager, into his office, asking why are those helicopters up there. Kelly watched the copters, and Mike’s attention was drawn to the street where many police cars, their sirens sounding, were involved in a car chase, which in recent years have become the rage with the TV media.

Kelly said one copter did a hard bank north and hit the other one solidly, maybe head-on, maybe in the side. There were at least four copters following the chase, circling for position to film.

I heard the collision, and immediately looked to the street, thinking it was a major auto accident. Then my eyes were drawn upward as the copters fell straight down behind a parking garage. A huge black smoke stack rose immediately.

Mike was talking on his cell phone as he watched the chase. His view of the collision was peripheral, but Kelly, whose husband is a pilot, watched the copters. There was no crash landing. The helicopters fell like rocks. Fred in shipping also witnessed the collision.

Our offices gave those watching a prefect view of the chase. The police had shot out the tires on the chased vehicle, which turned out to be a construction truck, which the driver ditched in a vacant lot only yards from an FBI building. The driver jumped in another construction truck, which, by happen stance, must have had keys in the ignition.

The second truck had a small cement mixer on the back; the chase headed east on a street one block north of our office building. That was when the collision happened, and no one in the office continued to watch the chase.

As this is written, the smoke has dissipated, the police guard the ditched truck, and the news is nationwide, probably worldwide. We can see that the truck’s tires on the passenger side are flat. The way the truck is sitting, the driver side tires may be flat also.

Obviously, no news copter continued with the chase, which ended miles west of the crash site. Mike tells me that the guy being chased can be criminally charged with the deaths of the newspersons in the copters. Not a good way to start a weekend.