Silver Dollar Bar
50 North Glenwood St.
Jackson, WY
I swear it was a coincidence.
I’m not stalking Ben Bernanke.
But it is true that “Helicopter Ben” and I were in the same tiny western town of 8,000 people on the same night.
The most dangerous man on planet earth and his cadre of Federal Reserve banksters and financial elitists were just flying into Jackson Hole, Wyoming on their private jets the night I happened to arrive in town.
These self-styled Masters of the Universe come to Jackson every summer to plot the destruction of the world economy – far away from the prying eyes of the great unwashed they’re robbing every day with manipulated interest rates and devalued fiat currency.
I guess I must be one of the many unwashed suckers because my plans for dinner at Jackson’s famed Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse were thwarted when I read the sign on the front door stating it was closed for the night for a “private party.”
Hmmm.
Well cowboys, gamblers, and bank robbers have been hiding out in this far-western Wyoming town for over a century.
Glad to see the tradition continues.
Ben Bernanke and his Federal Reserve predecessor, Alan Greenspan, are the most prolific bank robbers in human history.
It was right here in Jackson Hole exactly one year ago that Bernanke announced his QE2 scheme – a second round of trillion dollar money printing (politely named “quantitative easing”) – to enrich the federal government-owned big banks and impoverish everyone else by making the counterfeit green paper in our wallets worth less and less.
In fact, it was Bernanke himself who is responsible for his “Helicopter Ben” nickname – during a speech in 2002, he wholeheartedly endorsed Milton Friedman’s theory that the Fed Chairman can always boost the economy by throwing dollar bills out of a helicopter.
A good deal for the lucky ones who scoop up those dollars – not so good for the purchasing power of the dollars in everyone else’s wallet.
Now, one year later, the Wall Street barons feeding at the federal trough are waiting with bated breath for Bernanke to announce another “QE3” helicopter drop here in Jackson Hole.
Yep, even MORE money printing. Even MORE interest rate manipulation.
Nevermind the fact that interest rates are already at the lowest in American financial history.
Nevermind that artificially low interest rates and money printing is exactly what caused the current financial crisis Bernanke is trying so desperately to fix.
How ironic then that the dinner plans Bernanke thwarted brought me face-to-face with 2,032 of the only weapons available to thwart his economy-destroying schemes.
Welcome to Jackson’s famous Silver Dollar Bar in the historic Wort Hotel.
The huge bar top is inlaid with 2,032 uncirculated 1921 Morgan Silver Dollars.
That’s a lot of coin.
And thanks to Helicopter Ben, each of those silver “dollars” now costs almost forty bucks.
Think about that for a moment.
In 1921, you could exchange one of your dollar bills for one silver dollar coin. Eighty years later, it takes almost 40 dollar bills.
What changed?
Not the silver dollars. Those coins have been imbedded in this Jackson Hole bar for eighty years. They haven’t moved.
Bernanke can’t just print more silver.
It’s the value of that green paper we call cash that’s changed. It’s lost 98% of its value.
It makes me mad enough, I want to march right down to the Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse and demand those robbers give me my money back.
But I think I’ll have a beer first here at the Silver Dollar Bar.
After my first sip, I appreciate the locally brewed flavor and realize I just laid my Grand Teton Amber on top of a bar that’s worth nearly 100,000.
That’s a heck of a successful investment for a bar that hosted illegal gambling up until the Wyoming bureaucrats stepped in during the 1950s.
The gamblers and cowboys have been replaced mostly with tourists who come in to gawk at the silver loot.
Like any good western tourist bar, the Silver Dollar serves up some good local brew.
In addition to the Grand Teton Amber, I tried the Mighty Bison Brown Ale, brewed just over the Teton Pass in Victor, Idaho by Wildlife Brewing.
My bartendress from Boston said it was her favorite.
I have to say, she has good taste. For a Yankee.
Nutty and malty, the Mighty Bison had a good strong flavor for a brown ale.
Even though it was 85 degrees out, I couldn’t pass up one of the Silver Dollar Bar’s most famous dishes – the corn chowder.
Chock full of bacon, potatoes, corn, onions, and vegetables, and topped with a thick layer of melted cheese.
Really good. Especially with my Mighty Bison Brown.
Speaking of bison, you just don’t see the big, wooly animal on menus every day.
That’s why I couldn’t wait to bite into my main course – a big old bison cheeseburger with a sweet and zesty homemade potato salad on the side.
The bison burger was cooked to a perfect pink, but was still a bit dry.
That’s the only problem with bison. It’s really too lean of an animal to make good burgers.
That’s why God invented big fatty cows – to make drippy, greasy burgers out of them.
Bison should really get out of the burger business. They should stick to what they do best – standing in the middle of the road and posing for pictures from out-of-town easterners like me.
Being the most powerful man on the planet, I wonder if Ben Bernanke ever drives around Jackson Hole snapping picture of these big, hairy native animals. Or is he too important to do anything but sit around plotting the destruction of the world?
As it turns out, Helicopter Ben’s big Jackson Hole speech ended up being a big dud.
No QE3.
The lamentations of the Wall Street bankers could be heard all the way out here across the Tetons.
But not to worry. Interest rates keep falling. The Fed keeps issuing more debt. And the Masters of the Universe keep working toward the destruction of the world.
Helicopter Ben won’t let them down.
There may be no QE3 announcement in Jackson Hole this time, but it is coming my friends, it is coming.
And then QE4. And QE5. And QE6. And QE23…
My advice?
Drink lots of beer. And buy some silver coins.
Rating: Seriously Thought About Buying Shirt.