Wednesday 4 December 2013

Going Back to the Gold Standard - Ridiculous


Not long ago, I was reading a piece in the Wall Street Journal which stated that the GOP was debating on whether or not putting the US back on the gold standard should be part of their political platform. Whereas, I realize that there are a number of independents that think this is a good idea, it simply is not possible, if we were to do that then gold would spike to $35,000 an ounce, and all the mining companies in the world would be busy digging it up creating a mining bubble.
For those that think this might be a good idea, perhaps you should read some of Greenspan's older essays about the gold standard, and some of the research reports done by the Federal Reserve and others as to why this can no longer work. Yes, it would be nice if our currency was backed by something other than the faith of the citizenry, and global markets, but gold is not the answer, neither are tulips. I found it interesting that Ron Paul was pushing this concept during the Republican debates, and also interesting because many of his campaign contributors were in the business of buying and selling gold coins.


Interestingly enough, Mitt Romney the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for 2012 has been careful to stay away from this issue, but I suspect that he is wise enough to know that it can't work, and won't work, therefore doesn't wish to put his name on it. Another thing I'd like to point out is that gold is a metal which is used in manufacturing, and if we went to the gold standard and the price of gold spiked that high, it would be a significant burden on those types of electronic equipment that use gold because it conducts electricity quite well.
Now then, I understand people are angry at the printing of money, but we also need to get more money into the system not only for our own citizens, but the rest of the world as well. As more and more people are entering the middle class in their own societies and, those nation's economies are often dealing in dollars because their own currency is not stable. It might be okay for a smaller country with less currency afloat to base their currency on a gold standard as it gives them credibility. But it just can't work with the US dollar, as it is now a global currency. Do you see that point?
We just don't have enough gold out there to keep the price where it is without building a bigger gold bubble if the price were spiked like that, nor would we actually solve the problem that those who are requesting a return to the gold standard believe we need to solve. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Economic Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net


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Thursday 17 October 2013

A Return to the Gold Standard


With all of the currency financial instability there is a lot of talk about international financial reform, and one idea proposed by some is a return to the gold standard. What is it? It is a monetary system in which paper notes are backed by gold, that is to say, the notes simply represent the gold that you own and can be converted into fixed quantities of gold freely. Such a system stands in contrast to fiat currency, which is a currency with no guaranteed value in gold. A fiat currency has no intrinsic value, but the government declares it to be legal tender, meaning that it must be accepted as a means of exchange.
One of the main benefits of the gold standard is that it protects citizens from hyperinflation and the debasing of the currency through excessive government spending. With a fiat currency, a government can print as much new money as it likes to pay for spending. This leads to a gradual decline in the value of the currency and the citizens' savings. In 1966 Alan Greenspan said
under the gold standard, a free banking system stands as the protector of an economy's stability and balanced growth... The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit... In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.
John Maynard Keynes, "The Father of Modern Economics", similarly stated
By a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method, they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some.
The problem with the gold standard system is that a country's gold reserves are limited, and in times of crisis when countries need a critical supply of money, gold can run out. A fiat currency on the other hand can be produced when needed, and even though this decreases the relative value of the currency, it provides the country with a supply of needed money. Examples of times when such supplies are needed are wars and times of severe economic depressions.
A brief history of the gold standard.
The United States had some form of gold-backed currency in the 1800s, with a fully gold-backed currency adopted in 1900 with the Gold Standard Act. This came to an end in 1933, when President Roosevelt made the private possession of gold illegal, forcibly buying all privately owned gold at a price of $20 an ounce, and then revaluating gold at $35 an ounce. This was done as a source of reserve funds during the Great Depression.
During the Second World War, a need for a system that allowed for access to emergency money supplies while still insuring the integrity of currencies and international economic stability resulted in the creation of the Bretton Woods in 1944. This system essentially pegged all currencies of signatory states to the
US dollar, which was convertible into gold at a fixed rate. In order to keep currencies within 1% of their fixed exchange rates, countries agreed to buy or sell US dollars to whatever extent was necessary.
The collapse of the gold standard came in 1971 when President Nixon canceled the Bretton Woods agreement, cutting the link between the US dollar and gold. This was done because the United States no longer had enough gold to buy back all the US dollars held by foreign countries, and with the Vietnam War raging on, the United States was running a trade deficit for the first time in the Twentieth Century. The cancellation of the agreement eliminated fixed prices of gold at $35 per ounce, and eliminated fixed exchange rates amongst the world's currencies, which are now mostly "floating" (having variable exchange rates determined by market factors).
All major currencies now consist of fiat money, whose value are determined by market forces and the control of the government and central banks. Some people such as Ron Paul are calling for a return to some form of gold standard currency as a way of curbing government spending and maintaining the integrity of our currency and savings.
For more information about gold visit http://the-gold-market.blogspot.com.


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Thursday 4 July 2013

The Advantages of a Gold Standard


Gold is money.

And if you live in a country on a gold standard your money is gold.
Today there is considerable discussion about whether or not we, the countries of the world, should embrace a return to the gold standard. To solve the economic problems of today. Yet perhaps it is time that we move on from the debate... and on to a demand for its return.
Global economy solution
In this short but sweet outline on the gold standard and its advantages, you will learn why it is essentially the grand solution our global economy is seeking.
Gold Has Got Your Back
Being on a gold standard means the national currency is fully backed by physical gold. And thus, its citizens can freely exchange paper notes for a set rate of gold.
When a government embraces a full gold standard, they are effectively declaring that gold is the highest unit of trade. And that the currency is merely a tool for people, businesses, government and foreign investors to facilitate gold transactions more conveniently than trading physical bullion.
And therein lies a key to a truly free market economy. Gold is a rare, heavy mineral that nobody can print out of thin air. Making it difficult to manipulate. And allowing the principals of production, savings, capital and economic growth to create natural prosperity. Uninhibited by the clutches of politicians and central banks.
Tremendous Economic Stabilizing Power
A gold standard provides the stability needed to foster greater prosperity and productivity throughout the world.
The limited supply of gold creates a stabilizing effect on international trade & the business cycle. Effectively preventing potential for economic collapse by limiting over expansion, inflation, and major imbalances before they spiral out of control.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, as a young and ideologically different man, best explained, in an article he published in 1966, why a gold standard fosters economic stability at home and abroad.
"Even though the units of exchange (the dollar, the pound, the franc, etc.) differ from country to country, when all are defined in terms of gold the economies of the different countries act as one-so long as there are no restraints on trade or on the movement of capital. Credit, interest rates, and prices tend to follow similar patterns in all countries. For example, if banks in one country extend credit too liberally, interest rates in that country will tend to fall, inducing depositors to shift their gold to higher-interest paying banks in other countries. This will immediately cause a shortage of bank reserves in the "easy money" country, inducing tighter credit standards and a return to competitively higher interest rates again.
Periodically, as a result of overly rapid credit expansion, banks became loaned up to the limit of their gold reserves, interest rates rose sharply, new credit was cut off, and the economy went into a sharp, but short-lived recession. (Compared with the depressions of 1920 and 1932, the pre-World War I business declines were mild indeed.) It was limited gold reserves that stopped the unbalanced expansions of business activity, before they could develop into the post-World Was I type of disaster. The readjustment periods were short and the economies quickly reestablished a sound basis to resume expansion."
Gold Enforces Responsible Government
A gold standard is necessary to the economic freedom of mankind. It acts as a tool for limiting the actions of governments and their ability to exacerbate economic problems.
Father of the legendary Wall Street investor Warren Buffet, made clear the correlation to a gold and its power to enforce responsible government. Warren's dad Howard Buffet, a serving congressmen at the time, stated in his 1947 speech:
"When the people's right to restrain public spending by demanding gold coin was taken away from them, the automatic flow of strength from the grass-roots to enforce economy in Washington was disconnected...The gold standard acted as a silent watchdog to prevent unlimited public spending."
Without a gold standard, the government is free to create an unlimited number of paper notes & dollars. Allowing inflation to spiral out of control. As they selectively bail out banks and other institutions, regardless of a poor track record. Or spend billions of dollars on unproductive social programs. Or to wage war overseas.
The Gold Standard Produce Prosperity
Sound money cultivates prosperity. And under a gold standard you have sound money. There is no inflation. And alternatively, consumer prices are constantly falling. Which increases the purchasing power of the people. Improving the standard of living of everyone.
For about 120 years, between 1790 and 1910, with the exception of wartime, prices for Americans fell almost continuously.
In times such as in the Civil War, when the government temporarily resorted back to printing money, inflation became rampant again. Yet as soon as sound money was restored, prices would fall back down, reducing the cost of living, and improving living standards.
Savings is at the root of economic growth and capital formation. And a gold standard encourages savings. Because when the prices are constantly falling, the value of money is constantly rising. And people are more inclined to save money that is increasing in value. Under a gold standard, savers are rewarded for having saved money. Because the money that they have saved has more purchasing power.
Lady Justice
The most prosperous period in American, and even British, history was when these counties were under a gold standard. And even though a truly free & consistent gold standard was never achieved worldwide, it is clear that the power of gold, in combination with capitalism & human ingenuity, served as the basis for the Industrial Revolution.
While mankind has lost its way, it is not too late to turn back. And now, more than ever, it is compelling to reverse the tides of inflationary money policy. To shift the focus from debate to a demanding roar that can be heard worldwide. To return to the proven model that is the gold standard.
Learn more about the gold standard at the Open Gold Exchange.


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Thursday 9 May 2013

An Explanation of the Gold Standard


The gold standard is a system of using gold as the root of a monetary system. This monetary system has been used in almost every country in the world at one point or another. There are three different ways that gold can be used within a monetary system. These three ways include the gold specie standard, the gold exchange standard and the gold bullion standard.
Gold Specie Standard
The gold specie standard was used mainly in the Byzantine Empire. Later it was used in the British West Indies and then Britain. When Britain switched to this type of gold standard, the rest of the civilized world was using the silver standard, but most soon followed Britain to begin using gold.
The gold specie standard is when an actual gold coin or other currency was used as the main monetary system. For example, the USA used the American Gold Eagle and Germany used the gold mark.
Gold Exchange Standard
The gold exchange standard is when the currency used is backed by actual gold. The currency used may not be gold, but the currency has a value equivalent to gold. This type of gold standard started being used towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. Countries that were still using the silver standard starting adapting their currency to the gold standard by equat ing their silver coins to the gold of the U.S. and Britain.
Gold Bullion Standard
The gold bullion standard started around World War I as treasury notes started to replace the current currency in circulation. This gold standard is when the government agrees to sell gold bullion for currency upon request by citizens. It did not last too long since economic issues soon led most countries to abandon gold standards completely.
Abandoning the System
There have been many situations throughout history where countries have been forced through economic hardship to suspend the use of the gold standard. Most of these situations were the result of war. Instead of using gold, countries would use treasury notes or something similar as the basis of its monetary system. This was most dominant during the Great Depression when countries started converting to new systems to help get them out of the economic slump.
Eventually better monetary systems were adopted and countries started using these other systems instead of the standard even when there was no war or other economic issues. Today most countries use a monetary system called fiat money. It is rare that any country today has enough gold reserve to cover all the currency that is in circulation. The world market relies upon the value of the U.S. dollar as the basis for the monetary systems in each country.
There is some movement to try to reestablish a monetary system that uses gold. Some countries are considering returning to gold since there are some concerns about the value and stability of the U.S. dollar. There is a lot of discussion and plenty of opinions on the matter, so it remains to be seen if the gold standard will ever become the standard again.
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Wednesday 13 February 2013

Money, Gold and the Gold Standard


1. Introduction
Croesus, King of Lydians (Asia Minor), has been the symbol of wealth and power since ancient times. 650 BC he implemented his idea of making money from gold by having coins minted which then became official currency.
A new "era" had begun. The new small and handy exchange objects soon spread throughout the cultural area of the then Greek world and the adjoining regions.
Money represents the joint measure of all economic transactions. On the one hand, it is the (interim) means of exchange, which simplifies the exchange of goods (trade) amongst one another and, on the other hand, it embodies the function of the maintaining of value as well as a calculation unit.
Then, as today, money is a generally accepted means of payment prescribed by the state. The Latin word for money is "pecunia" and was derived from "pecus" = cattle.
When browsing through the history books of mankind, different objects (such as incense, wheat, metals, salt, stones, furs, shells, cigarettes, alcohol, paper money, etc.) were used as money medium, depending on the era.
Gold and silver were particularly significant here. This was and is not coincidence, because they are an ideal exchange and value maintenance medium due to their properties.
Wheat is only a luxury item in the event of a famine, but may rot and is thus not durable.
A diamond is durable and beautiful to look at, but arbitrarily divisible and similar.
Gold can be divided and melted arbitrarily and is in limited supply and has been known for centuries.
The history of money can be broken down into several steps, which may be by topic very different, but cannot be held apart in terms of time. In general, we distinguish the following steps: Natural exchange (goods for goods), natural money (a good, e.g. wheat or shells, was defined as money), metal money(full-value coins made from precious metals, expert term face-value coins, inferior to uncovered coins, expert term secondary coins),
cash (covered paper money and coins), as well as bank money is also called bank money (out money today, which is based on the creation of credit).
2. A glance into the past
In old Mesopotamia (3000 to 2000 BC) there was a money system that could be called the predecessor of the gold standard.
To be precise, the name "wheat standard" would be more befitting, because the underlying was not gold but wheat. It was defined that 1 shekel = approx. 170 grains. The word "she" roughly means wheat and "kel" was a measure similar to a bushel.
(The word "shekel" still exists in Hebrew as the name for the Israeli currency.)
Already back then, the attempt was made to define the exchange good (= money) by specifying money to the weight of the underlying (wheat) per unit. However, this money system was unsuccessful because wheat is entirely unsuitable as the underlying for a money system. (rotting, difficult storage, differing harvests, etc.)
In ancient times pieces of metal were finally applied as sign or emblem. Initially, every lump of gold had different measurements and weights, meaning that the value determination of every individual piece had to be re-established when trading; this meant that finally the idea was born to standardise the dimensions and weight of the metal pieces - the coin was born.
The thus minted coins made of gold (and silver) represent a gold currency, because they embody the value of the money in the form of firmly defined gold or silver proportion.
The fact that countries with a gold currency existed longest in history is remarkable.
The Eastern Roman Empire existed after introducing the solidus by Constantine the Great in 324 for more than 12 centuries, the Republic of Venice for half a millennium after starting to mint the ducat in 1284.
When introducing a gold coin currency, Julius Caesar saved Rome from a demise which would have occurred 400 years earlier. Rome only collapsed when the successors to Caesar continuously reduced the gold content of the coins.
Gold or silver coins of that time did not only have many benefits, but also drawbacks. Some drawbacks were the weight, storage and transport - in particular of large amounts over long distances.
Also the many centuries of attempts to dilute and minimise the precious metal content of the coins, had an adverse effect on money stability.
After several attempts, the gold deposit standard was implemented in Europe in the 17th century. It could be regarded as the predecessor of the gold standard, although it involved silver and not gold.
The historic gold standard, which is generally referred to in the publications and vernacular, started its global triumphal procession from England in the 19th century.
Here, an exchange rate set by the state was agreed. The value printed on the paper money was deposited in gold. The paper money was re-convertible at any time back into gold, while the exchange rate was the same.
A gold standard, i.e. a partial cover of the state money by gold, no longer exists globally. Some countries do have gold reserves (e.g.: USA 8,146 tonnes, Germany 2,960 tones, Switzerland 2,590 tonnes decreasing, France 2,546 tonnes, etc.), but they are in no way related or proportional to the relevant national currency.
If must, however, be noted that countries such as Mexico or Russia announced in 2001 to issue official currency money with silver or gold coins. On the internet numerous private providers, such as eGold or eDinar, offer a gold-covered currency on the basis of a clearing account.
2.1. The two forms of the gold standard
In the late Middle Ages, gold coins were the currency with the highest nominal value. Goldsmiths were regarded as particularly suitable to check whether the coins were pure and genuine. In addition, they had stable cassettes, in which they could protect the gold securely from thieves; this meant that private gold was deposited for safety reasons. Goldsmiths issued a receipt for the coins and charged a small safekeeping fee. If the owner wanted his gold back, he redeemed the receipt.
Over time, it was regarded as safer and, in particular, far more convenient to pay open invoices simply with such receipts. This means that the receipts of the goldsmiths became pledges to pay for the promise. And as soon as someone accepted the receipt as payment, he implicitly concluded a purchase agreement with the goldsmith, who thus fulfilled the function of a bank.
Summary: This type of gold standard is the gold deposit standard, where gold or silver was saved in a central clearing office (collection office), which corresponded to a gold coverage of 100%. In turn, the businessmen were issued with a voucher (=money substitutes) in paper form. With this credit, further transactions could be made in terms of accounting or exchanged for other goods and services.
The gold deposit standard, although based on silver, was used by private clearing banks, which played a major role in Venice, Genoa, Nuremberg, Amsterdam and Hamburg from the 17th century. In the 19th century there were more than 30 private so-called "note banks", which all issued vouchers. The Hamburg-based clearing bank (Hamburger Banco) had its own currency for more than 300 years, the so-called "Mark Banco", which was always linked to the specific silver price and thus fully stable.
However, Hamburger Banco nearly collapsed in 1857 when the businessmen had to withdraw silver and the bank was devoided of its precious metal. The crisis was avoided through major silver supplies from Austria-Hungary. A couple of years later, the private bank was closed by the state.
(It must be noted that this currency was simply a calculation currency which was never minted.
Mark was an old German weight measure, approx. half a pound).
A slightly different variant was the Banque Royale in France, founded in 1716 by John Law, which went down in history as the first state central bank. Law promised to cover bank notes with gold. The gold owners (mainly noble men) gave their gold to the bank and received shares in Banque Royale in return. Compared to interest-free gold, the shares promised a dividend. The gold served as the basis of trust for the issue of bank notes (livres). The notes were issued as credit to the state.
A couple of years later, John Law founded the Mississippi Compagnie, whose shares were sold for livres. Their business purposes was to promote the extraction of gold in Louisiana, which was a French colony at the time. In reality, the continuously increasing equity capital was diverted to the state treasury for consumption purposes. The more notes John Law's central bank brought into circulation through state loans, the higher the share price of John Law's Compagnie rose. As all bank notes were used for state consumption, they did not have any real value, except for the original gold amount.
In 1720 the first run on Banque Royale occurred. John Law was forced to undertake exchange control. He banned the private ownership of gold and jewellery in order to increase the gold stock of the bank. But the bank nevertheless went under.
The first central bank with strict rules for the gold cover of the bank notes in circulation was the Bank of England. Established already in 1694, it was forced to compete with private issue bank for the issuing of loans to the British state in the first 150 years of its existence.
Its main competitor was the South Sea Company, which in 1720 redirected the capital flowing out of the Mississippi Compagnie into its own shares. The money was partly invested into some opaque projects and partly in state consumption. The South Sea Company turned out to be as equally dubious as the company on the Mississippi, and its share prices and the trust in pound notes ended in a South Sea bubble.
The Bank of England survived the competition. The issuing of notes was subjected to a strict limit in 1844 as a result of the negative experiences, meaning that notes for a maximum of 14 million pounds were allowed to be uncovered. (Peel's Bank Act). This trust contingent was covered by state securities, but did not have gold as the underlying. Every additional pound could only be issued if purchasing gold.
This resulted in the classic gold standard as the first internationally valid currency system with paper money on a gold basis, with which issuing banks were allowed to issue more vouchers (money) than they held in stock in the form of gold (=partial gold cover).
A 100% cover with gold, as with the gold deposit standard, no longer existed, but a minimum cover was introduced. Gold hence only played the role of a regulative, because it was not possible to lend more than permitted by the cover threshold ("golden break"). We will come back to this later.
When fixing the parity, Sir Isaac Newton made a mistake in 1707 (the gold-silver exchange rate was wrongly calculated), with the result that gold and not silver became the standard.
At the start of 1800, Britain was regarded as the world's leading trade nation and thus the classic gold standard became the global system in the following years, after a short interruption.
Due to the war between Britain and France, which erupted in 1802, the Bank von England had to suspend the gold redemption of its bank notes. The gold prices subsequently rose strongly. (On the real reasons of this process, the banker David Ricardo informed the public in 1810/11 in his famous thesis On the High Price of Bullion.) After the end of the war in 1815, Britain reverted to the gold standard.
Other countries (France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland) founded on 23.12.1865 in Paris a common coin association, which went down in history as the Latin Monetary Union. 3 years later (in 1868), Greece joined the association. Other countries, such as Austria, Finland, several small European states, some states in Central and South America, the colonies of contracting states, the German Empire (officially in 1873) and other states assumed the rules and regulations of the Latin Monetary Union.
The objective of the monetary union was to create a common money exchange as well as eliminate exchange rate fluctuations in order to establish in the long term a global currency covered with precious metal on the basis of the franc.
An outstanding figure in the 1870s was Britain's Prime Minister Disraeli (in office: 1868 and 1874-1880). It is more or less thanks to him and his connections to the Rothschild family that the international gold standard was established and London became the centre of the international currency system.
It must also be mentioned that the Rothschilds were the world's leading gold dealers.
Another important factor for the success of the gold standard were Britain's domestic policies. The link of monetary and employment policies was little known, the influence of trade unions and socialist parties insignificant. National bankers were able to implement their monetary policy in a strong currency and low inflation without any consideration.
The strict policy of a stable currency gave national banks a lot of trustworthiness. Therefore, they had the opportunity to influence the behaviour of the investors - which was particularly beneficial in times of crisis.
Every currency was - in line with the British model - simply a national name for a certain amount of gold, while the gold price (per troy ounce) was specified by the intervention policy of the Bank of England at its London gold market. It remained (unchanged) for nearly a century at 3 pounds 17 shillings and 9 pence.
(parity rate: 1 kg of gold = £ 136.57 = M 2,790 or £1 = M 20.43).
This resulted in fixed, unchangeable exchange rates of the currencies amongst one another.
This means that there was a global currency, gold, which was circulated as different paper money throughout the world, but interlinked through fixed exchange rates.
With a gold content of the pound of 9 grams of gold and of the thaler of 3 grams of gold, everybody knew that 3 thalers = 1 pound and 1 thaler = 1/3 pound remained such, because the monetary laws could be changed by parliaments but not by markets.
It must again be pointed out here that not money but gold is the measure.
Money is measured by gold and not the other way round. (Money was always devalued compared to gold, an increasing amount of money units had to be handed over per gram of gold.)
The gold standard was until 1914 a guarantor for international stability, stable prices and full employment for nearly a century.
The gold standard's stability was based on the strict compliance with national laws and cover provisions and the trust of the world of finance in the reliability of the system.
This is all the more remarkable as there were no international regulatory and monitoring authorities (IMF, World Bank, etc.).
(A couple of interesting calculation examples regarding gold then and today can be provided by Dr Timmermann.)
In addition, it should be mentioned here that employment rose and unemployment decreased during the era of the gold standard. Unfortunately, as the images prove, this fact is often presented differently.
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Monday 10 December 2012

Christmas Cards At The Click Of A Button


Christmas is a time of year that we all enjoy. But, Christmas can also be a stressful time. There are so many things to do! Thank goodness, most stores will gift-wrap for you!
One little job that can be hectic is sending Christmas cards. If you are "organized" like me, you probably have your little list that you pull out each year. People move and addresses change, and the simple task of sending a tiny card in the mail can become a monster!
This is why many people have started sending e-cards. Like e-mail and e-everything-else nowadays, e-cards are sent through the internet, rather than by the old "snail mail."
You simply choose the card you like, and send it from your e-mail account to another. You don't need to spend all that time writing addresses and buying stamps and so forth. And, it's easy to manage your Christmas card list because you can keep it all on your e-mail account, updated and ready to go!
Now, some people might think that sending e-cards is somewhat impersonal. Getting the mail is half the fun, right? Actually, the ease and convenience of e-cards means that you can send MORE Christmas cards. I send e-cards to acquaintances and co-workers who I otherwise might not send a Christmas card to.
I send regular Christmas cards from the store to my family and close friends, and for everyone else I send e-cards. This way I can send a Christmas greeting to everyone!
Besides all that, you can personalize your e-card. There are sites all over the Web where you can find e-cards that are ready-to-send. They allow you to write your own messages, choose a font you like, and some even let you put your own pictures on them.
The Internet offers us many easy ways to keep in touch with the ones we love. E-cards are a quick, convenient and cost-effective way to send your seasons' greetings!


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Saturday 1 December 2012

Little Known Facts and Details About the Most Awaited Time of the Year - Christmas


According to the US Census Bureau and the Evangelical Alliance UK, there are many "facts for features" we would all be interested in knowing about the Yuletide season and possibly these will change our perspective about the Christmas celebration as well. This is a season for family, friends, and colleagues to get together and celebrate, to exchange gifts, to contemplate, and to give thanks.
o Please Check The Mail
As much as 20 billion (yes, that's 20 billion) cards and letters were delivered between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2008. The Royal Mail, on the other hand, was expecting 750 million Christmas cards to be posted approximately on the same period. The US Postal Service also predicted that December 17th will be their busiest mailing day while the Royal Mail expected December 15th to be the day with as much as 123 million cards, letters, and other items being mailed.
o Gifts, Presents, Giveaways
In the UK, survey had determined that an average person spends £384 on gifts. In the US, department stores experienced a 42% increase in retail sales as compared to the previous months. Other stores and shops which experienced the same increase are book stores, clothing stores, jewelry stores, electronics stores and sporting goods stores. The items sold on these establishments are often the gifts and presents one buys for his or her family and friends, as well as for oneself.
o Christmas Is For The Children
Can you remember the time when you were a kid and you left stockings by the fireplace or milk and cookies by the Christmas tree for Santa Claus? Sometimes you even leave a Christmas card with the cookies. Many believe that Christmas is a time for children, a magical time for elves, reindeers, and wishes coming true.
In the UK, children considered Christmas as the celebration of Jesus' birth and approximately two-thirds of children associated the season to giving rather than receiving gifts. They save up for this time of the year to buy presents for their loved ones.
o Christmas Trees And Decorations
Will Christmas be Christmas without a tree or even a wreath? It has been a tradition not only in the US but all over the world to have a real tree or, when this is not available, an artificial one inside our homes. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the top choice for a Christmas tree is the Fraser fir, a native southern fir.
Handmade Christmas ornaments are also very in demand and decorating the Christmas tree is a family custom in many homes. The most common ornaments and decorations are candles garlands, ribbons, tinsels, and poinsettias. Some of these decorations are even heirlooms passed down from generation to generation.
o Christmas Food Delicacies And Specialties
This may sound harsh to those who love giving out fruitcakes during Christmas because according to a survey in 2006, almost half of the people interviewed say that they will chuck a holiday fruitcake in the trash with second thoughts, and approximately one in every ten person surveyed are willing to rewrap a fruitcake and give it out as a gift.
Mince pies are also a Christmas tradition in the UK wherein children leave a drink and mince pies for Santa Clause instead of milk and cookies.
These are very interesting bits and pieces of information aren't they? They certainly made you more fascinated about the time of the year we all love and that is Christmas. So maybe it's time to make that Christmas list as early as now. You wouldn't want to be caught up in the hassle and bustle when the Yuletide season comes around, like what happened last year.
Jo is a writer for 'Festive Collection' (http://www.festivecollection.co.uk), the leading corporate Christmas card range of Qubic Print Direct. Festive Collection offers one of the largest selections of personalized corporate Christmas cards in the UK. If you want to send your customers and business associates these unique and personalized Christmas cards they'll remember or if you like to go one step further and design an entirely bespoke card, print your own company logo, and signature at a nominal additional charge then you should check out Festive Collection.


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