Not our Fault (part one)

There are a lot of things in life, that are our fault, and ours alone. We get ourselves into hopeless debt, do stupid things behind the wheel of a car, drink too much, do drugs, smoke, or a host of other damned stupid things humans are wont to do, and usually regret afterwards. Last week, a gal roared past me in a 30 MPH zone. I was doing 35, and she was probably doing 50. I said to myself, "OK baby, you take that chance, not me." Half block away, a cop was coming in the opposite direction, with radar on, and he immediately made a sharp U turn with lights on, and that gal had been busted. Her fault entirely. I sort of grinned as I passed.

There are millions of kids today, who will grow older with horrendous ear problems because listening to loud rock music at 120 decibels, and the ear simply will not take that without being ruined. I am sure they have been warned by their 'stupid' (they think) parents and others, but of course kids know everything. One of Mark Twain's funniest lines was, "When I was sixteen, I thought my old man was the stupidest man in the whole world, and I am amazed at how much he has learned in the past five years."

We are all suffering from several critical problems, which are none of our own faults, and they are killing us slowly. In big cities, it is the air. Millions of cars on freeways have caused us to be dependent on foreign oil, and the air created by them, is really slowly killing the breathers of that pollution. (In Los Angeles, the freeways are largely built on the old rights of way of the non-polluting Pacific Electric lines, which ran over 1100 trains a day, and were deliberately sabotaged by National City Lines, owned by GM, Firestone, and Mobil). It has been said that merely living in LA is the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. If you have to live there for a job, you can't help breathing the air, and it isn't your fault.

Lost your job to a foreign factory or company? Hoover vacuums is leaving Ohio for Mexico soon, and 700 jobs will be gone. I wrote about Electrolux refrigerators doing the same thing last year. It isn't the worker's fault. They, I am sure, performed admirably and efficiently, but Mexicans will work for less, so "off with their heads," might be the attitude of the bosses who answer to stockholders rather than workers. The bosses would lose their jobs if they didn't perform, and cutting costs might be their way of staying employed. Maybe it isn't the bosses' fault totally. Maybe neither boss, workers, nor union leaders are at fault. Maybe everyone is doing as best as they possibly can, and what happens is beyond their control. It isn't their fault. When people work faithfully, promptly, and seriously at a job, it used to be that they could look forward to a comfortable retirement and a bit of ease in their old age. A reward for faithful performance, contributing to a retirement plan and Social Security, used to mean an old age of comfort. No more, and it isn't the retirees fault. Old codgers are now having to work for slave wages at the local Wal-Mart, greeting customers and shuffling push carts around. Geezers are using remaining credit card reserves, just to survive, knowing that when those reserves are gone, they will be bankrupt, old, and with an unknown future. It isn't their fault.

Thrifty shoppers, housewives, and mothers do their best to make the shrinking paycheck go as far as possible, and often it isn't enough. Many oldsters, who depended on pensions, have had their pension cut by 55% because the management of the pension funds invested in the wrong places, the government took over the pension and cut it by 55%. Those of you who have a choice, please, for goodness sake, take a cash out, and place it in gold and silver! Salaries, Social Security, and interest, have not kept up with inflation, which means those depend on them, are in trouble, and it isn't their fault. Consumer prices are far ahead of incomes, in 100% of the cases, and it isn't our fault. Not only is it not our fault, but there's nothing we can do about it. Then, whose fault is it?

I say the following without a single doubt as to its truthfulness, authenticity, or veracity. The fault, 100% of the time, is political. Throughout all of history, it has always been the politicians who have destroyed nations and civilizations. The Washington D.C. "gang:" as I call them, are 100% responsible for our turmoil, and it is just as much Republicans as Democrats who are at fault. If the currency is being debased, all of the above happen, invariably, and without exception. Neither you nor I debase the currency. The currency of any nation, is always debased by that nation's government, which policies and laws are voted upon and set by its politicians, regardless of party affiliation.

When the dollar is debased, as it has been by 98%, the entire economy goes topsy-turvy, out of kilter, unbalanced, and uneven. A few may possibly be helped, but most are harmed. When the dollar is debased, salaries must be raised, so that workers can eat, pay their bills, and stay alive, because all prices of food, fuel, and living costs are rising. The more dollars there are, the more dollars everything must cost. Put another way, the more dollars there are, the less they will be worth (Stott's Law). In Seattle, there is usually so much precipitation, that everyone is sick of it. In Phoenix, they'd love to have some of it. In Seattle, they'd give it away, and in Phoenix they'd love to pay for it. If there were a million Model A Fords around, they'd be selling for a hundred bucks probably, or less. Supply and demand are simple economic equations and factors, which everyone should understand. Things in short supply cost more, and things plentiful are cheap. Dollars are plentiful, so they buy ever less and less. Living beyond one's means causes bankruptcy, which everyone should understand. The more dollars there are, the less they will buy, which everyone should understand.

How do the dollars proliferate, and what's the result? Once again, it is so basic, that everyone should understand. But they don't understand, and of all the educating that should be done, how the dollars proliferate and the results, should be prime education in all schools, and all adults should be made to understand these simple economic basics. Dollars proliferate, and their numbers grow, because of only one reason. GOVERNMENT SPENDING MORE THAN IS RECEIVED IN TAXES. When did this start? Governments are always doing it, but it got out of hand during the War Between the States, when both sides printed their respective currencies (Confederate dollars in the South, and Greenbacks in the North) so much, that both became worthless. Wars can do that, and have throughout history.

The next step in currency devaluation, or dollar debasement, occurred during FDR's Presidency, and has kept growing ever since. This is the welfare system, and all of its tentacles, which include reckless spending by politicians to glom votes. This is it, for all practical purposes, but the criminality of the votes is all encompassing. When a politician votes for something which will please his constituency, and costs far more than the local economy can afford, or would want to afford, the government pays for it, the dollar supply is increased, and the dollar is debased. If a politician sees that a fancy bridge would make everyone happy and glom votes for his re-election, he will work hard to make other politicos vote for his bridge. In return for their vote, he promises to vote for their pet project, and on it goes, till the end is reached. This doesn't even get into welfare, wars, and other spending.

Taxes must pay for spending. Over the decades since FDR, politicians have kept spending, warring, and welfare handouts, regardless of party affiliation, and to pay the bills, hundreds of hidden taxes have been levied on and paid by us, and we can't avoid them. It isn't out fault, in other words. Huge taxes on income, gasoline, alcohol, telephones, electricity, homes, interest, purchases, etc. are all paid by us, and it isn't our fault. It is the fault of the politicians who placed those taxes on us to attempt to pay for their reckless spending. The more they spend, and can't collect revenue to pay for the spending, they go into debt for by loaning dollars to any who will loan, and thereby incur interest charges. The borrowing, places more dollars into circulation, and thereby not only increases the number of dollars, but the interest charges have to be added, thereby further increasing the dollar supply. More next week, but protect yourself.

April 5, 2007

Don Stott has been a precious metals dealer since 1977, has written five books, hundreds of columns, and his web site is www.coloradogold.com