I live in the 32nd Congressional District of Texas. I am represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Pete Sessions, a Republican (for better or for worse). Recently, Congressman Sessions sent an email to me and other constituents in the 32nd District giving us greater detail on the Republican counter-proposal to the current Bush-Paulson-Bernanke proposal asking Congress for unlimited authority over $700 billion to buy bad debts from Wall Street firms at U.S. taxpayer expense. At the end of his email, Congressman Sessions invited me to share my comments on the counter-proposal with his office in Washington, D.C. Below is the text of my faxed comments to Congressman Sessions. For all Americans, it is our civic duty to let our voices be heard in the political process through our representatives. I encourage everyone to contact their representatives in Congress to let them know their own thoughts and feelings on the current economic crisis and the multiple proposals to remedy the situation currently floating around in Congress.

Congressman Sessions:

It's tough being a millionaire in the United States today. After all, a million bucks doesn't buy as much as it used to. Our famous millionaire forefathers like J.P. Morgan, H.L. Hunt, and J. Paul Getty had it so much better. They lived in the best of times for the U.S. dollar.

For example, in 1916 J. Paul Getty made his first $1 million running his own oil company in Tulsa. Back then, Getty confidently knew his $1 million would hold its value in the future thanks to the financial terra firma of the times: Congress fulfilled its mandate under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution to peg the value of the dollar to a fixed weight and measure. Getty knew $100 would always equal 4.84 troy ounces of 99.9% pure gold by U.S. federal law. Oh, to be such a confident millionaire!

As the price of a barrel of crude oil continues to rise past $140 a barrel, one begins to wonder, is the price of oil primarily rising due to the strong global demand for oil, or due to the U.S. dollar [USD] falling so much in value?

One way to solve this riddle is to travel back in time to the 20th Century when after World War II the USD was considered 'as good as gold' because the exchange rate between the USD and gold was fixed by U.S. federal law at 1 USD = 1/35th of an ounce of gold; that is, until President Richard M. Nixon shocked the world by unexpectedly yanking the USD off the gold standard on August 15, 1971. Or, travel even further back to a time centuries ago when men and women the world over used gold as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account. Back then, prices of almost all goods and services were quoted in units of gold. Looking at the price of oil from this historical perspective, a new question arises: Would the price of crude oil be rising so much if the world were paying for a barrel of oil with ounces of gold instead of the currently 'goldless' USD?

Many Americans believe that real estate can do no wrong as an asset class upon which they can build wealth. I disagree. Building wealth through real estate depends on your ability to distinguish among the three types of real estate ownership – investment, speculative, and personal. If you don’t know the differences, you may soon discover that you don’t own real estate, real estate owns you.

Investment Real Estate Puts More Cash in Your Pocket Than It Takes Out