These are probably the same people who, no matter what the economic forecast, insist in their ads that "It's a great time to invest in gold!"

I’m not able to access this fellow’s website from work but just a couple of thoughts.

One, I have to agree that this ad done by Hugh Hewitt does play on “Patriot listeners' presumed right wing. . . sympathies” . . .but find me a Patriot ad that *doesn’t*. It’s not quite as bad as the never-ending “diversify your portfolios with gold bonds” ads that pretty much run with each of the nationally syndicated Patriot shows while playing on the presumed right-wing gold standard sympathies of the audience.

Second, I’m not sure about the merits of speculating in the Iraqi dinar but I wouldn’t put much stock in any investment that said it might yield “many, many times the value of your investment.” To me that’s a red flag that the announcer hawking the product doesn’t know beans about the product and/or I have to wonder about any company that sells its product/services that way.

Finally, while I agree with you that I wouldn’t go to the City Pages for investment advice, I have to (not very reluctantly since this has been a pet peeve of mine about the Patriot for a while) agree with their criticism about being wary of some of the investment products that are being sold on the Patriot based on their blatant appeal to their audience’s presumed prejudices. That doesn’t mean that these are or aren’t good products or that the companies behind them are necessarily fly by night operations, but it’s a bad idea IMO to put your money in something because you like the celebrity who is being paid to endorse the product/service and/or because the ad plays on your basic values.

Kris wrote:
“These are probably the same people who, no matter what the economic forecast, insist in their ads that "It's a great time to invest in gold!"”
I was thinking almost the exact same thing (but I think it’s a different company even though the appeal is quite similar). There are a number of conservatives out there for whom the fact that we left the gold standard is and will remain a major issue for them and no doubt they believe (rightfully or wrongly) enough to put their money where their mouths are. BTW is it just me or has anyone else noticed that they have been running these ads for *years* and they seem to keep referring to the same article in Barron’s? I wonder how old the article is.

If you want to buy a car, get your roof fixed, or refinance your mortgage you can do good by patronizing radio advertisers. But if you rely on radio advertisers for your investment advice or health and wellness information you get what you deserve. Caveat emptor.

When you listen to the streaming broadcast of Hugh's show on KRLA, they have a guy who comes on just after the top of the hour to pitch gold. No matter what happened in world news or the stock market that day, he spins it as a reason to invest in gold.

The worst part of the Iraqi Dinar ad is the line that says something like "if you understand the profits that were made on the German Deutschmark after World War II, then you know how great this opportunity is". It plays on the insecurities of not being informed, the fears of being left out of the next big thing, and uses a dubious historical analogy to boot.

Here's some further insight into why this might be a bad idea. I hear that this guy is offering 1,000,000 dinar for $2500. Go on eBay right now and you can find several people selling the same amount for $800-$1000. I understand having to cover your advertising costs, but this is a little ridiculous. It just puts you that much farther behind when trying to recoup your "investment."

I have written a longer piece inspired by this, see the trackback. On the particular of Northlands Trading Co., I have no idea who they are, and I'd like to assume they are legitimate. That does nothing to my claim that this is simply a bad investment. There's no law against selling bad ideas -- just watch the Kerry campaign!

A couple of things I found from going to the company website and doing a little internet detective work:

Company Site:
http://www.northlanders.com

First, the company’s official name is “Northlanders Trading, Inc” and it is NOT registered with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office which (while not necessarily proof of shadiness since you can incorporate in any of the 50 States you like) is pretty unusual in my experience.

Second, the guy provides what appears to be a home phone (google the phone number and you find out the owner which is different than the name on the company website and details about the home) and a cell phone which usually raises a red flag that you’re dealing with a guy trying to sell stuff out of his basement.

Third, note the disclaimer:

“Northlanders.com is not an investment company. All information on this site is opinion.
Just like the stock market, every investment has risks and we encourage you to research before investing.”

Caveat Emptor indeed.