A very public suicide note from an ex-sports reporter, gold investor

A Kansas City man's website explaining why he killed himself yesterday morning along with a debunked treasure map has gone viral (mirror website).

Martin Manley, who covered sports for the Kansas City Star, explained why he decided to kill himself at the age of 60. The detailed explanation, along with a weigh-in on US economy and conspiracy theories, has been picked up by the Business Insider,Mashable, Gawker and the front page of Reddit.

Coordinates to a possible treasure stash were posted within his Suicide Preface. Overland Park Police, which confirmed Manley's suicide, said on Facebook that the claim was a hoax

Manley said he wanted to commit suicide while he was in full control of his faculties, claiming that health, depression or other external factors were not pressing.

"I’ve planned to end my own life for as long as I remember. I didn’t put a date on it, however, until June 11, 2012," writes Manley.

"I never accepted the (what I would call…) archaic notion that I should simply die at some point – either in a long drawn out miserable death or in an instant for which I was not prepared. That was an insane thought in my orderly world and I knew the only way I could be confident about going out the way I wanted was to do it at a relatively early age."

Finances were not issue, and he invested heavily in gold before the bull market.

"I had no financial problems. I sold my house which was completely paid for in 1998. The same year I bought $30,000 in 1/10 ounce gold coins and pre 1965 silver coins. Gold was $300/ounce when I bought it and silver was $4/ounce. Gold went up to $1,700 and Silver to $44 making my stash worth over $200,000."

Manley did leave some parting shots at conspiracy theorists.

"Conspiracy theorists don’t want to face obvious questions. Somehow, they would rather revel in the excitement of the mystery of what is (or might be) happening in some secret room. Presumably, it confirms their belief that they are smarter, or at least more perceptive, than the masses – when, in actuality, the masses are LTA’sO."

He also took a shot at politicians in his section Financial Collapse.

When the fiscal cliff crisis came about, the bozos in Washington actually decided to try to find a way to cut $1 trillion in debt over the next 10 years. Of course, they have failed miserably in their attempt to do that. But, let’s say they were successful. All that means is $100 billion per year! Big deal. That’s a drop in the ocean and they can’t even come up with that. The U.S. is adding at least a trillion every single year to the debt!

The estimates are that our present $17T in debt will be $22T by the time Obama leaves office. I seriously doubt if it will only be $22T because I see no evidence the federal government will do anything to stem the tide of massively spending more than it takes in. But, it doesn’t matter if it is $22T or $25T or $30T, the notion of slowing annual deficits – thus slowing the rate the debt increases – is laughable. These bozos can’t even find a way to cut one cent off the debt when facing financial calamity.

And, that doesn’t even count the $124 Trillion “unfunded liability” – Social Security, Medicare, Prescription Drug program, Federal pensions..