The
world will not end on December 21, 2012 or anytime soon. I think the
Mayan calendar indicates the end of a very long-term cycle that has a
gradual impact upon the world, just as other long-term cycles make
significant but gradual changes. Increases and decreases in solar output
(a long-term cycle) may create ice ages or droughts that slowly and
gradually change the world.
I’m also
not worried about the other “end of the world” that we continuously
hear about – The Fiscal Cliff. That topic has been worked to death. But
the important information is simple:
- Politicians brought the United States into our current fiscal mess, with the help of The Federal Reserve and bankers.
- We have entrusted politicians to
solve the problem. Really? The same political elite who created the
problems will solve them? And what is your current belief structure
regarding the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy?
- We have way too much debt and far
too much government spending. The supposed plan is to increase debt
forever and without end (sounds like a prayer) and to marginally
decrease the rate of increase in spending – and call it a spending cut.
If I call a donkey a mosquito, is it really a mosquito, or just a
renamed donkey? If I have a debt and spending problem and my plan is to
continue spending excessively, should I expect my problem to persist or
disappear? If I have a serious drinking problem, should I expect to cure
it with vodka?
- So, the world is not going to end on December 21 or January 1. More of the same will beget more of the same.
But what
does worry me are the actions that we, the supposedly most intelligent
species on the planet, have made over the past several hundred years.
Actions have consequences. Consider these actions:
Creation
of Fractional Reserve Banking: This allows bankers to create money
“from thin air” and loan it to businesses, individuals, and governments
and collect the interest on that created money. The result is that debt
increases, additional interest must be paid, and the financial services
portion of the economy increases at the expense of the manufacturing
economy. The paper shufflers won, and the manufacturers of useful and
valuable products lost.
Creation
of Central Banks: Central banks, not the free market, currently control
the money supply and interest rates, enable politicians to spend
excessively and government to expand more rapidly than the productive
economy. Consequently, the economy becomes overburdened with debt,
interest payments, and government regulations. What could go wrong?
Corporate
control over the government and regulatory process: If a business owns
many politicians, it can purchase the legislation and regulation it
desires. The US tax code is an estimated 70,000 pages of legislation and
regulations, as purchased by wealthy and powerful special interests.
Intelligent action or payoff action?
Demonetization
of gold and the use of unbacked paper money: When paper money is not
backed by gold (silver, oil, etc.), then the total quantity of money in
circulation can increase almost without limit. Hence, the purchasing
value of the money decreases and prices rise. Consumer price inflation
is guaranteed.
Politicians,
bureaucrats, and bankers control markets and make decisions that should
be left to free markets. Another writer likened that process to handing
a Stradivarius to a gorilla. Freer markets do a better job of managing
the economy, money supply, interest rates, prices, and production. How
do we know? Ask the survivors of the hyperinflations in the last
century.
The
world will not end on December 21, 2012 or anytime soon. I think the
Mayan calendar indicates the end of a very long-term cycle that has a
gradual impact upon the world, just as other long-term cycles make
significant but gradual changes. Increases and decreases in solar output
(a long-term cycle) may create ice ages or droughts that slowly and
gradually change the world.
I’m also
not worried about the other “end of the world” that we continuously
hear about – The Fiscal Cliff. That topic has been worked to death. But
the important information is simple:
- Politicians brought the United States into our current fiscal mess, with the help of The Federal Reserve and bankers.
- We have entrusted politicians to
solve the problem. Really? The same political elite who created the
problems will solve them? And what is your current belief structure
regarding the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy?
- We have way too much debt and far
too much government spending. The supposed plan is to increase debt
forever and without end (sounds like a prayer) and to marginally
decrease the rate of increase in spending – and call it a spending cut.
If I call a donkey a mosquito, is it really a mosquito, or just a
renamed donkey? If I have a debt and spending problem and my plan is to
continue spending excessively, should I expect my problem to persist or
disappear? If I have a serious drinking problem, should I expect to cure
it with vodka?
- So, the world is not going to end on December 21 or January 1. More of the same will beget more of the same.
But what
does worry me are the actions that we, the supposedly most intelligent
species on the planet, have made over the past several hundred years.
Actions have consequences. Consider these actions:
Creation
of Fractional Reserve Banking: This allows bankers to create money
“from thin air” and loan it to businesses, individuals, and governments
and collect the interest on that created money. The result is that debt
increases, additional interest must be paid, and the financial services
portion of the economy increases at the expense of the manufacturing
economy. The paper shufflers won, and the manufacturers of useful and
valuable products lost.
Creation
of Central Banks: Central banks, not the free market, currently control
the money supply and interest rates, enable politicians to spend
excessively and government to expand more rapidly than the productive
economy. Consequently, the economy becomes overburdened with debt,
interest payments, and government regulations. What could go wrong?
Corporate
control over the government and regulatory process: If a business owns
many politicians, it can purchase the legislation and regulation it
desires. The US tax code is an estimated 70,000 pages of legislation and
regulations, as purchased by wealthy and powerful special interests.
Intelligent action or payoff action?
Demonetization
of gold and the use of unbacked paper money: When paper money is not
backed by gold (silver, oil, etc.), then the total quantity of money in
circulation can increase almost without limit. Hence, the purchasing
value of the money decreases and prices rise. Consumer price inflation
is guaranteed.
Politicians,
bureaucrats, and bankers control markets and make decisions that should
be left to free markets. Another writer likened that process to handing
a Stradivarius to a gorilla. Freer markets do a better job of managing
the economy, money supply, interest rates, prices, and production. How
do we know? Ask the survivors of the hyperinflations in the last
century.
