As 2010 quickly approaches, I can’t help but think what kind of year we should expect: will it be more economic turmoil, will it be more democrat vs republican, left vs right, more global warming alarmists vs deniers, more crises in the middle east, more drought, more floods? Probably.

The world will quickly change, yet stay the same. This is in the grand scheme of things. However, we can do a lot to better our lives and change the lives of those around us. We can continue to seek truth and inform others of the same. I believe that the only way the West will return to prosperity and not get left behind by Asia is to go back to becoming more productive. We need to work harder, we need to save more, we need to push our governments to drastically reduce taxes by becoming more responsible and trimming government programs. Government programs, while beneficial in the very short term, drain revenue and force governments to inflate their currencies, rack up debt, and worst of all increase taxes. Taxes are smothering the economies of the developed world. Taxes are making it hard for our entrepreneurs to set up shop and work on their ideas and innovate. Without this innovation and drive, we can no longer employ our populations in stable, productive, and useful jobs to produce THINGS we can sell to the rest of the world. We need to get our competitive edge back and return to a manufacturing base – this can only happen if the governments get out of the way of small business potential.

This is why I believe that 2010 should mark a start to when we begin to produce quality. We need to encourage the manufacturing and consumption of quality goods that benefit us and the world. With savings and subsequent investment in R&D we can focus on being known once again for making quality goods that will stand out in the global marketplace.

We are really excited to begin work on a variety of new glass pipes and glass bubblers in the coming weeks and months. Although it will cost us more to make these we believe that our superior product quality will stand out even more than before. We are a small business with a lot of happy customers. We do our best to make sure every single customer is happy, and to us this means: quality products, quick and free shipping world-wide, 7 days a week customer service (our customers know that we check our email at all times during the day), and the friendliest service. The bottom line is that we enjoy what we do and it shows.

That being said, enjoy the holidays and be safe and happy – and make sure to give it your all in 2010 and make every experience a quality experience with hard work and passion

You must imagine our title is being read out loud by “Gold Member” from the Austin powers movie. Otherwise it just makes me sound like a greedy bastard, which I’m not – at least I don’t think so…

The main thing I wanted to mention is that I have been watching gold prices for a long time, well for about 5 or 6 years now. It was always hard to understand what was creating the volatility in the price of Gold until I ran into the Austrian school of economics, Dr. Marc Faber’s work, and other real experts – none of that phony Nobel prize Krugman and Bernanke crap.

It turns out that there is no need for a complex explanation on the price fluctuations in Gold. The main thing to consider is that for nearly a decade, helicopter Ben Bernanke has done nothing but shovel out cheap federal reserve notes, aka US Dollars, not backed by anything. In reality he has been pumping trillions of dollars in to the “fake” economy of banking and financial firms who take the cheap money and speculate. The main thing to remember is that the Federal Reserve has destroyed the economy through its artificially low interest rates. These interest rates are the rates that the Fed lends to banks and financial institutions, who are in return to lend to the economy. With super low interest rates, the big players find it more profitable to put their money in equities (stocks) or commodities and precious metals like Gold, Silver, Palladium, copper, etc. driving their prices up. This is one of the reasons for the over-inflated stock market prices that keep rising. Most people are confused because the stock market keeps going up while unemployment keeps increasing, foreclosures mount, and debt strangles more of the real economy. It is, therefore, important to understand the flow of cash from thin air at the Fed to the speculators and financial firms to assets, equities, and commodities that have yields or value, unlike the US dollar or pretty much any currency around the world.

With money printing gaining speed due to Ben Bernanke’s extraordinary capability as a printer of last resort, we can expect prices of pretty much everything, and of course Gold and other metals, as well as commodities and equities, to go through the roof. Although it may take several years to happen, it is bound to happen because for the first time in history the US and many countries around the world are at risk of defaulting on their loans as there is no real way for them to pay back their loans without inflating their money/currency. We could see gold prices go over $2000/oz or more, but if it doesn’t at least we will have something of value, unlike the dollar which has consistently lost value from day one.

We have all heard of the impact of the current world recession on employment and standards of living, but has anyone actually looked at some of the indirect effects of the economic downturn?

One of the problems with having a banking system which refuses to lend to smaller businesses is that sooner or later those businesses who cannot secure funds from other sources, and who have exhausted all other sources of cash will have to pack up and close shop. Thousands of small businesses are going broke and leaving more zombie corporate conglomerates to service their industry.

Mere Decades ago people had a strong relationship with their local businesses. They had a favorite local grocer, local electronics store, diner, and so on; all of them small in size with a real owner. Today this is seldom found, unless you visit one of the beautiful small towns around the country. Today, we buy from corporations who claim to be friendly and who claim to have “great customer service”, but of course this is far from the truth. Just do a search for banking horror stories on Youtube – customers are fed up with made up fees, huge hikes in interest, shutting off of credit lines, or search for how United Airlines broke this guy’s guitar and then lost his luggage on the next flight. To make matters worse they refused to pay for the guitar – but you expect that. Imagine what would happen if they weren’t “customer oriented” or didn’t have a phony “we love our customers” logo everywhere.

In today’s world, you buy fast food from teenagers who make your food on an assembly line, you get a haircut from a guy you don’t really want to talk to but who won’t stop talking to you, who gives you a generic haircut. No dear friend, today you wait on the phone for 2 hours so you can answer question to a computer who hears no better than your great grandmother, the one who still gives you a quarter and tells you to buy something nice.

I guess the point of this hopeless rant is: support your small businesses. They are backbone of the economy and the road to prosperity, freedom, and healthy communities. They will give you better customer service and they’ll be sincere about it. That is something we strongly believe in. We love our business but we also love the feedback we get and how happy people are with good service and a real person to deal with.