Pity the poor statists. They got their global crisis, but by the time it arrived they had squandered all the public trust. Yeah, we know it’s broken, but we sure as hell don’t entrust the solution to the people who broke it.
Big Government a Bigger Threat to Us than Big Business
It's no different with money and its market price. The only thing keeping the dollar from crashing is that the Euro is even worse. We are the least dirty shirt.
Theft by Government is Still Theft
Recent Gallup polls show a fall to barely 41 percent in the number of Americans who see their county as divided into “haves” and “have-nots.” Some 64 percent of Americans -- and 48 percent of Democrats -- see “big government” as a greater threat to the country than “big business,” a number near record levels. (Clive Crook – A Crisis of Leadership)It's a pretty good article Clive Crook has written, but he stumbles in a few places, such as when he questions free markets (why do people like him never question government interventions?)
Orthodox economics, according to recent reports, says markets are always right. Really? (Clive Crook – A Crisis of Leadership)Yes, really. The market was right when house prices crashed. Free money stoked rampant speculation and irrational exuberance, and the walls came tumbling down. The markets are "right" in the same cruel way that the grocery store cash register says the groceries you bought add up top $210 when you only have $200 in your pocket.
It's no different with money and its market price. The only thing keeping the dollar from crashing is that the Euro is even worse. We are the least dirty shirt.
Since the abandonment of Bretton Woods, the dollar has lost 77% of its value against the GDP deflator and 97% of its value relative to gold. In October 2011, real wages for ordinary workers were 6.7% lower than they had been 39 years before. This is all the cumulative effect of 1% lower growth rates for decades.
How can we reverse course? A modern version of a link to gold for the dollar is known as the “price rule.” That means the Fed is to be guided in its monetary policies by the market prices of a basket of price sensitive commodities, such as gold, oil, silver, copper, and other precious metals and minerals. When those prices start to rise, that signals inflation, and time for the Fed to slow down the money expansion. When those prices start to fall, that signals deflation and recession, and time for the Fed to step up money expansion.
The Fed would then be guided by markets, rather than by progressive bureaucrats who think they know it all and should rule over the rest of us in their wisdom (see, e.g., disastrous inflation/recession cycles of the 1970s). That would have the added advantage of enabling the Fed to dismiss most of its troublemaking staff, which could mostly be replaced by a few interns monitoring market prices. (The Monetary Foundations of Economic Prosperity)
The US Government is devaluing our savings and purchasing power while food and energy costs have risen around 10% over the past 18 months. That's why you're feeling poorer despite the lollipops and sunshine being peddled by the Obama hallelujah choir in the press. Government theft is eating us alive.
