rdubya

February 12, 2011

"contractor welfare recipients"? Many of us are former military and served our country in other wars. And as I am sure you know many of us made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq to be there in support of our military and nation. I ran convoys the whole time there and thank God the regular Marines I worked with respected and valued our service. After all we are on the same side. Bluto~~~~~

Well, what else would you expect from a winger??

February 11, 2011

You are right the Marines are out of there, maybe a couple left. I was at AL Taquaddum 2005-2006. Fallujah 2004. All rough places. Transited thru Al Asad.

I was part of OPF in Fallujha '04. Camp cupcake was our R&R spot... The POG's stationed at Cupcake got to go to Dubai for R&R, what kind of crap was that?!?

Anyway, who where you with over there?

Nope, SSGT but acted like a gunny.

Don't all staff???

January 17, 2011

rdubya --

Thank you for the post.

Yes, this post is disconcerting.

However, the responder's opinion

is a calculated one that takes

many factors into account,

but not all factors.

No one could do that.

Many things in life

have some element of Ponzi

in them.

I dare say this opportunity

has more than its fair share.

However, every successful

investment started with

a successful dream and taking chances.

It takes a great deal of

imagination not just hard

work [ as well as luck ]

to be successful at many

lucrative opportunities.

Many fail.

But many are successful.

It pays to try to envision

where an investment opportunity

realistically can go

before getting involved in it.

I have previously described

an experienced dealer who

told me before I got involved

that we have a decent chance

of making a small profit

on this opportunity

and a small chance of making a killing.

He also stated he owned a substantial

amount of this financial instrument.

Honesty from a dealer.

Interesting.

Back in 2004, did anyone envision

that in Jan. 2011 Iraq would move

towards a unified governing body ?

Sure, maybe they envisioned this

but at this time ?

With all the factions in Iraq,

who could say for certain this would happen

at this time?

Who knew exactly when Chapter 7 would be

partially or totally lifted ?

My vision is that if Iraq can get to 5 million bpd

within the next 5 to 8 years,

they would have the ability to increase values of

any of their resources [ including their currency ]

in a meaningful way should they choose to do so.

What is your vision ?

The responder's vision may be a negative one

indeed.

And maybe the odds favor his.

The odds do not make an opportunity

successful.

Otherwise, the Patriots would have

beaten the Jets.

Nearly 2 years ago, there was a little

known company that developed

pharmaceuticals / drugs / medicines.

All the so - called financial

market experts bad mouthed this opportunity.

The stock for this company had a short

position in it at one point near 50 % .

The stock was trading for around $ 4 a share.

I claim that experience and vision could

have led a properly motivated, due - diligence investor

to this opportunity.

Within a relatively short period of time,

the stock price rose many fold.

All the experts had huge egg on their

face.

Now I am not recommending we take

fliers on every bad-mouthed stock.

But a little vision and hard work

could have helped an experienced investor

to the stock above.

The name of the corporation is Dendreon.

No one knows for certain if IQD will be the next

Dendreon or not.

But one thing is for certain :

With no investment in IQD,

I guarantee the opportunity can not be a

Dendreon.

I have chosen my side.

This is just all IMHO.

I am not a currency expert.

Just a regular person with

an optimistic , hopeful outlook.

I remember when the blind monkey beat the financial expert at

trading the financial markets.

I just hope I am not too blind.

I truly respect your stance on this. I share a similar one. With the recent flurry of rumors and the pain it was causing so many people, I felt the need to try and help. While this isn't what the majority on this site want to hear, it's a touch of reality injected into the veins of confusion.

Again, I wish everyone the best in this and every investment. My advice, don't even open the Rumor sections unless it's only for a laugh.

-Dub

January 17, 2011

Thanks for the post rdubya. I think I know who this guy is, and he is well qualified to give his opinion on forex trading, but if he is who I think he is this investment isn't something he's very familiar with since it's a speculative investment with physical currency. This investment may or may not be a "scam" in the sense that unsophisticated investors are being convinced that they'll received $2-3 million for every $1000 they invest. (And of course there are plenty of scammers out there pumping for dinar dealers or trying to suck naive investors into other schemes like MLM.) The only way we'll know is to wait and see how this plays out, but it certainly isn't a scam in the sense of being sold a worthless product. It's just like exchanging your USD for the currency of any other country except that you have to pay the upcharges to the dealers.

I discussed the nuances involved when referring to this as a "scam" with him. This isn't a scam in the same sense as the Nigerian Princess emails, but it's a scam non the less. Now please here me out and finish reading what i have to say before you jump to conclusions.

This is a scam only because of how the Dinar is presented. It's advertised using misinformation and guerilla marketing tactics. There are inaccurate comparisons made between this and other circumstances. Now this ALL falls more onto the buyers responsibility than the seller but unfortunately many people allow themselves to fall victim because they don't know any better. They see the words "investment" and all the talk of how ALL these other countries have done it (RV). Well, as another member pointed out in a heated response to my post, THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE! EVER! Why in the WORLD would these dealers use that as a comparison IF IT'S NOT RELEVANT? Because, they're selling a tainted product under false pretense knowing the customer will be inexperienced in regards to foreign currency and economy.

I am glad there are some on here that understand this is ONLY an investment and a long shot one at that.

I wish everyone the best of luck in this investemnt. I just hope that those who are entirely consumed by it get back in touch with reality.

-Dub

January 16, 2011

Well guys, I know whole-heartedly you will all bash me for posting this. I could care less about the (-)’s I am about to receive, all I want is for everyone to look at all SIDES of this investment. With everyone being so caught up with all the RV rumors lately I feel many of you have forgot this is an INVESTMENT and in no way a sure thing. The more independent digging I did, the worse it looked. I decided to recruit the help of a TRUE guru, a man who specializes in foreign exchange. He is Harvard educated and extremely knowledgeable. Whether or not anyone wants to listen to what he says is entirely out of my hands. What I can control though, is MY level of involvement. I wrote this man seeking his opinion on a few different questions, which I will copy and past below.

Take this for what it is and nothing more: a different perspective from someone who lives this every day. To respect HIS privacy I will not post his name or email address. If this makes you think “I’m making it all up” then fine. All I know is I will go back to reality and not let this Dinar thing take up the amount of time in my life that it was. On the remote possibility that it happens, I’ll hear about it. If not, well it’s been a fun ride guys.

Below you will find my email exchange with this man; I suppose to get the full idea you would have to start at the bottom and read up (MY first email to him, followed by response, etc, etc.). Believe what you will. I wish everyone good luck.

------ EMAIL RESPONSES COPIED BELOW------

From: (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 2:24 PM

To: Ryan (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Subject: RE: A few questions from a young USMC veteran

Hi Ryan,

Hey – strong work with the JPY trading! I am definitely not “in” with the IRS but you should know that currency gains get very favorable tax treatment compared to other kinds of investments (for future reference.)

Holding the dinar as a long term investment is a good question. The assumption many people will make is that a currency’s value will rise relative to the dollar when an economy improves. This is actually not the case. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won’t – usually they don’t. It would not be in the best interest of the Iraqi government to allow their currency to appreciate (or deflate) and fortunately for them there are some very effective tools they can use to make sure its value doesn’t rise. If you are interested in making a bet on the Iraqi economy I would look for a business investment rather than a currency investment. Unlike the relationship between a stock and revenue or profits; currencies don’t have a positive relationship to GDP. Currency values are subject to supply of the currency (money printing) and interest/inflation rates. All of those things tend to go wayyyy up when an economy does well, and inflation and money-printing tend to be very bad for value against other currencies.

I know it is quite popular to pick on a weak dollar these days in the press but the facts don’t support it. The dollar is relatively strong compared to other major currencies (the Chinese Yuan being an exception). That doesn’t mean the US has sound fiscal or monetary policy it just means that most of the other major systems are messed up as well. The dollar is about as valuable today versus global currencies as it has been over the last few decades. Slightly weaker but not by very much. If I had a gun to my head and I had to bet against either the US or the Iraqi currency it would be the Iraqi currency.

Before you make your decision you have to separate the connection that some people make between a growing economy and a currency’s value. They are not positively correlated like many people think. I mentioned Turkey and Venezuela in my last note because they are classic examples of very robust, growing economies (with massive natural resources) that suffered from insane levels of inflation at the same time this decade. If you think there are prospects for oil or whatever in Iraq – great, buy a stock that will benefit from that or speculate in oil, because the dinar is just as likely to fall by 50% as gain by 50% as the economy grows.

(REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

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From: Ryan (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 11:07 AM

To: (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Subject: RE: A few questions from a young USMC veteran

Mr. (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY),

I truly appreciate the time you took to answer my questions. I can only imagine how many emails you get daily requesting your opinion or advice. In all honesty, I didn’t expect a response; but as the old cliché goes… You never know until you ask.

I have dabbled in currency investing before, though on a very small scale. While I was stationed in Japan I would play the day to day Yen (JPY) changes. I would go to the Base Exchange while the rate was hovering around ¥116 and exchange $2,000 or so. Then, I would stash that away and forget about it until the rates would drop to around ¥100. After that I would monitor the exchange rates closely; on more than one occasion I was able to turn roughly $300 or more profit. On a side note, I hope you’re not “in” with the IRS; as I’m unsure whether that would be considered capitol gains, which I never claimed. While not much, it was easy money and provided a couple “free” trips to Tokyo or Osaka (I was stationed in Iwakuni, just south of Hiroshima); which leads me to another question, if you don’t mind. Before I decide to frame the Dinar as a memento to my glamorous vacations in Iraq, I thought I should ask you; would holding the Dinar as a long term investment be worth it?

I understand the predictability of a nation in Iraq’s volatile circumstance is miniscule. However, what would hold a nation with as much potential GDP as Iraq has from slowly appreciating against the Dollar? With the Dollar’s current weaknesses and the IMF’s SDR including the lowest Dollar percentage in a decade, what is stopping a(n) (hypothetically stable) Iraqi economy from gaining? Regarding potential GDP, while it has long been suspected that Iraq’s oil reserves are around 150 billion barrels, the majority of their prospective reserves are unexplored and not yet appraised. Being in hydrocarbon exploration gives me a slight insight to this. For example, Gulf Keystone (London based Exploration Company) recently announced a completed appraisal in the Kurdish regions of Iraq. They revealed the appraised prospect at up to 2.2 billion barrels, calling the resource “massive”.

Again, I am NOT pinning my retirement on the outcome of a war tattered country located at the heart of one of the World’s most conflicted regions. I have my 401k, and a small college trust that went unused and continues to while I reap my G.I. benefits. The largest factor I foresee preventing the Dinar from slowly appreciating is the proposed Middle Eastern version of the Euro. However, I have very little knowledge on forex matters; I know only what I’ve been able to dig up these last two weeks. While majoring in engineering, the only economic class I’ve taken is…. None. Given that, my knowledge of economics is limited to what I’ve taught myself. So I’m quite positive there are factors in play regarding foreign economies that I am unaware of.

While not surprised, I am definitely disappointed about the Dinar. With your permission, I would like to copy your previous response (contact info undisclosed of course) on a forum I frequent. However petty it may be, playing devil’s advocate always brings joy. Okay, so that’s only part true. Honestly, I’ve read people’s posts that were seriously hurting from overextending themselves in this Dinar scam. Instead of buying their kids presents, these people invested in Dinar. I read one post where a man has forgone his mortgage payment for three months, buying Dinar because he believed “gurus’ who stated that the revaluation has happened. I’ll most likely be heavily chastised for posting it but I could care less as it already goes inline with every other post I’ve made. If I can help ONE person think rationally about this “investment” then I feel I’ve already made a difference.

I think the most painful (or pitiful) thing is the fact that the majority of the “gurus” use Christianity as a means to push Dinar. They claim this is God’s will and that God will return wealth to Christians; this of course, will be done through Iraq’s currency. I am not mocking religion here by any means, I’m Episcopalian and believe fully; I’m merely emphasizing the absurdity of their claims. To claim God will intervene on an Investment. They prey on people’s irrationality and misinformation. Like shady Three-card Monte hustlers the Dinar dealers use misdirection and slight of hand to systematically induce an information cascade geared at the would-be-investor. I of course cannot prove that the gurus are connected to the dealers but gut instinct tells me I’m correct.

Since stumbling across your Dinar article (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY) I have read many of your other writings. I thoroughly enjoy reading you and appreciate the information that you provide.

Thanks,

Ryan

----------------------------------------------------------------

From: (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 8:35 PM

To: Ryan (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Subject: RE: A few questions from a young USMC veteran

Hi Ryan,

Its funny you would send me this note today. I just finished an interview with a reporter doing some background for an article on the same subject. Allow me to answer your questions directly….

Your instincts are correct, the dinar scam is still a scam. Currencies are not “revalued” like you read about online in the dinar forums. They are usually remonetized in much the same way that a reverse stock split is done. The purchasing power is not increased because the dinar is merely revalued with fewer zeroes. This has happened in a few other economies recently (Venezuela and Turkey to name two). For example, if you had 1,000 dinars today worth $1 (or whatever) and they revalued to be 1 Dinar to $1 dollar they would do that by exchanging your 1,000 dinars into 1 new dinar not 1,000 new dinars.

As you can imagine, I have been in this business long enough to see several versions of this scam come and go. This one bothers me particularly because many of the victims are young men and women in the armed forces who are very intelligent but don’t have international currency trading experience. The scammers take advantage of that lack of knowledge and build on a common optimism about the eventual re-emergence of the Iraqi economy. All the past revaluation examples they use (German Mark, Kuwaiti Dinar, etc, etc,) didn’t happen the way they say. Revaluations are extremely disruptive; they don’t increase the total purchasing power of the currency you are holding; and usually result in an immediate price-shock of lower overall value. It is the last resort of an economy trying to get back on its feet.

Based on your note you sound like a sincere, intelligent person who has bigger things going for them than this dinar stuff. I would suggest you stick the dinar back in your boxes as a souvenir and not worry about the scam. I have tried many times to talk friends out of the scam but once they decide to believe its like some kind of weird religion, so if you have a buddy bugging you about it I would just leave it alone. Otherwise, you just get sucked into the vortex of internet scammers and rumors.

Bottom line: Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) investing in the currency market is very boring but it does offer a moderate return to traders willing to take some risk. It is also very complicated because the big players (governments and central banks) hold all the aces so to speak, but it can be interesting if you ever want to learn more.

I get a lot of letters like this and I usually don’t have time to reply; however, I your questions were coming from the right place and I wanted to support you with what I have to give. If you have specific questions I would be happy to either answer them for you or direct you to reliable sources for further research.

Best wishes,

(REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

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From: Ryan (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 8:35 PM

To: (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Cc: (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

Subject: A few questions from a young USMC veteran

Mr. (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY),

To start off, I would like to say I appreciate your insight and knowledge in investment; specifically your depth of understanding in forex. Now, let me get to the point. I am 29 year old Marine Corps Veteran; currently I am enrolled in the University of Houston’s Mechanical Engineering program and work full time for a seismic oil and gas exploration company. My question is this: Do you still hold your belief regarding the strength (or weakness) of the Iraqi Dinar “investment”? (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY) a few years back and at first paid very close attention to it. After a few months of hype, I gave up on keeping abreast and stored the Dinar away, almost forgetting about it.

It wasn’t until a family friend started talking about it that I even remembered my “stash”. With a little digging (and a WHOLE lot of sifting through the rubbish) I was able to come up with some interesting correlations between current events and a plausible (though most likely highly improbable) revaluation. I’m a fairly levelheaded individual; being such, I don’t allow myself to get wrapped up in pipe dreams regarding instant wealth or “guarantees” of 1000X returns. That is probably why I work 50+ hours a week and attend 15+ hours of class a semester. However, if there is a CHANCE that the outlook of the Dinar has changed, I would be extremely interested in hearing it.

REAL news regarding the matter is darn near nonexistent. I attempt to sift through the rumors that are out there but have really only been able to come to one conclusion. You see, there are forums and “news” sites specifically aimed towards the Dinar. All of them contain Dinar “Gurus” who speak of “intel” they have that says the Dinar has/is revaluing RIGHT NOW. EVERY week it’s “the Dinar has revalued; you will be able to cash it in at your local bank by Monday”. My take on this, is that all these “Gurus” are actually compensated from the Dinar sellers for getting their followers amped into a buying frenzy. Everyone wants to buy just a little more before it revalues so their eminent wealth will be that much greater.

Again, let me stress that I do not buy into this one bit. Although an actual investor’s perspective would be truly refreshing. I appreciate any response or insight you can give in this matter. Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Ryan (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY)

January 13, 2011

I think there are people on here that just WANT to be negative. If you dont believe in this investment..

then leave these sites. Door let the door hit u in the A$$

Wow.. look at the newbies with all the info huh?? YOU ARE 100% correct?? Really??? Hmm... wow.. do you work for the IMF, CBI or UN?? Do you know EXACTLY what the IMF can and CANT do???

Wow, you bashed negativity and REPRESENTED IT, ALL IN THE SAME POST

I'm impressed, really.

How about a round of applause for the day’s BIGGEST jackass.

January 13, 2011

I'm glad to see a lot of folks are starting to wake up and not fall for this anymore.

I tried to say that on every posted rumor when I joined. However, the more 'seasoned' Dinar vets (and I use that term lightly) bashed me relentlessly for attempting to inject a sense of reality. They fought it off like a dope fiend fights withdrawals. I hap my posts/topics deleted, bashed, questioned even called suspicious because I didn’t spell-check my posts first. Any and every little thing these ‘Vets’ could pick at they did. The funny thing was I had been involved in the investment LOOONG before the majority of those who bashed me. I just really didn’t keep up with it. I mean, I did my due diligence before investing and plenty of independent research prior and immediately following my investment but then lost interest.

I hope, not for myself but for those who live on the words of these Gurus day in and day out, that they wake up and realize the inherent crap that is being spewed from the mouths of these pushers. I PRAY they realize that NOTHING and NOBODY can speed this thing up. It’s like a run-a-way train inching through a blind curve, the end of the curve leads to a massive cliff where the bridge has been out for weeks; nobody onboard knows how long the curve is or when they’ll reach the drop, they just know they will. No “INTEL” will be out there when this happens. It will just happen.

My personal opinion: Cancel your subscriptions of email/text message alerts, if you’re paying for them. You will know when the RV happens the SAME time DD and the rest of the world will find out. DD will probably find out from one of ya’ll to be honest. This is how it’ll go down (my little take on how the scenario will play out):

DD awakens abruptly; lazily he wipes the sleep that’s been accumulating in his eyes. As his vision begins to adjust and his mind kick starts into cognitive thought he recognizes the all-to-familiar piercing clatter that’s disturbed his slumber. He reaches over his three-hundred pound wife carefully, as to not disturb her, for that would lead to him having to get up and make her a midnight snack; he really didn’t feel like getting the deep fryer going this early in the morning. As his fingers collapse around his brand-newish Moto Razor, he silences the phones “Beverly Hillbillies” text notification and retrieves the complicated technological device.

As he crack opens the phone, A pale blue haze surrounds his face. The words “one new message” appear on the device’s display. He reads: “From: OldBoyOkie: HEY YAZ RED NECKS SOB! JST GOTZ WORDS DAT DA D-NARS HAZ RVed!! ONE THEMZ CITY SLKERZ FROM DINARVETZ DONE TXTED ME AND TOLD ME, SEND OUTZ OUR MESSAGAS, NUFF SAID”

DD, now wide awake, stumbles out of bed in an incoherently orchestrated attempt to get to his computer. As he reaches his keyboard, Mrs. DD begins to stir.

“Honey” Mrs. DD mutters. “Yuz awake? Yuz got my deep fried bananas cooked yet? You know them docs said I haz to be eating more fruit.”

Amazed, DD turns around and bellows “YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH WOMAN! THE RV DONE HAPPEN, NOW GET BACK TO BED. I GOSTA SEND OUT THESE TEXT MESSAGES THAT I CHARGE THESE PEOPLE ALL THESE MONIES FOR SO THEY DON’T THINK I’M RIPPING ‘EM OFF!”

Ok, so maybe not exactly like that, but you get the gist. Sorry about the tangent, once I get into creative writing mode, It’s hard to stop

January 13, 2011