Rock-A-Bye Baby

I am certain that 98% of Gold Eagle readers are parents. Perhaps your kids are grown, or still young, but the principle remains: Keep the kids calm and secure, no matter what is going on outside, or even in the family. I have been through tough times, as have all of you. While the kids are babies or young, we never tell them the bad things, because it would scare them, and even warp their future personalities. Kids need to grow up in warm, secure homes, with both parents, and lots of love and assurances that, "everything will be OK," even if they might not. My kids are grown, and turned out fine. However, when they were tykes, I am certain their mother and I calmed them, when things became unsettled or stormy.

We are all molded by childhood impressions. I love trains, probably because my Dad gave me my first Lionel train set when I was two, and kept adding to it every year at Christmas. We also went out to dinner every Sunday, and ended up at Silver Spring (Md) Station to watch three B&O trains come in. I still remember trains # 5, 19, and 23, the Ambassador, Capitol Limited, and Columbian. The Columbian was still steam powered, and I just love to smell, listen to, and watch steam locomotives, undoubtedly as a holdover from childhood. So here I am, in love with things that run on rails, and especially if they are steam or electrically powered. The Mt. Pleasant streetcar line ran past my Dad's drug store, and at an early age I was allowed to ride to one end of the line and back again, with no adult present. I then became hooked on trolleys, and still am. What's this got to do with anything? A lot.

From infancy, Americans have been brought up on powerful government, and its money, which we have been conditioned to believe cares for its subjects in all ways, and that its dollars are valuable. We have been inculcated to believe that when we go to war, it is for a good purpose, that our foes are evil, and we are righteous. Innocent Americans by the hundreds of thousands have "died for their country," overseas. Pearl Harbor Day is Saturday, Dec 7th, and I will fly the flag and mourn the 365,000 American deaths in World War II, even though I know that Roosevelt got us into it deliberately, after all his efforts at ending the depression failed. Roosevelt promised, when he ran for re-election, not to go to war, (rock-a-bye-baby) but he gave the Japanese no choice, after his actions in denying them steel, the use of the Panama Canal, and oil, plus other outrages, caused them to attack. This is not about war, but about America's trust in government, its money, and what it does; many times in error, or with deliberate deception to save face.

Rock-a-bye-baby has been sung to babies hundreds of millions of times, to prevent upset. By the time the baby has achieved adulthood, if childhood was conducted well, the adult will have a happy, prosperous life, and be able to withstand most of life's troubles.

Rock-a-bye-baby, and other siren songs have been sung to Americans by their government for many years, and especially since the days of Woodrow Wilson, who got us into WW I for no good reason. The rock-a-bye baby song has been sung to us by the federal reserve, treasury, and other assorted bureaucracies for many decades, in order to soothe us, and gloss over the basic troubles in the American economic system. If they can convince us all is OK, the trouble will go away…they hope. Not a chance, but they continue to try.

The American economic system of today, can easily be likened to the NASDAQ of a couple of years ago, when the stock brokers and network broadcasters kept up the rock-a-bye-baby line, telling all that the future was bright, stocks would go forever, and "trust us," because we have inside information and experience. $8 trillion was lost. I talk to people on the phone all day long, and the number of tragedies that have occurred is phenomenal. Went to dinner at friends house last night, and the wife has lost over $100,000 in the stock market. Everyone has been trained to believe what supposed "experts" tell them. Rock-a-bye-baby. The stock market is still a terrible place to invest, because the same symptoms that caused it to crash before, still exist.

But forget the stock market, and think about childhood influences, which always carry over to adulthood. Is there anyone out there who hasn't been raised to trust the dollar? Haven't we all been influenced by experience, childhood allowances, odd jobs, salaries, and prices of everything being in dollars? We have been told since childhood, that dollars are safe, sound, and trustworthy. Rock-a-bye-baby. When I pointed out in a service club speech a couple of weeks ago, that the dollar is a failing measuring device, and not to be trusted; everyone got the point, but were startled and mystified. I illustrated it well, by saying that the dollar looks the same, and is used the same, but that prices keep "going up." Are prices "going up?" No. The dollar is "going down." This is kind of difficult to accept, because everyone keeps thinking and hearing that "prices are going up." When prices are raised, aren't prices going up? Maybe, but the goods remain the same, so aren't the "dollars going down?" Since childhood, our influential impressions, practice, and every part of our life, has been denominated in dollars. We think and live dollars, because like rock-a-bye-baby, we have had it ingrained in our craniums, and it is difficult to remove. Maybe a dollar lobotomy is needed.

I don't want to stop loving trains and trolleys, even though my fond ones are long gone, other than in operating museums or special trips. No one builds my favorite Victorian style houses any more either, but these don't concern my welfare. The currency we live by and use, does, and it does you too.

We MUST shake the dollar savings habit, and that's as plain as I can put it.

We have been raised on the dollar, loved it, used it, worked for it, and saved with it, but the latter must stop, and stop NOW. The fancy engravings of former presidents, do not give them value or legitimacy. Some of the things we were raised with, are still good and true, such as table manners, good grammatical usage, and daily bathing. We can have hobbies of whatever, and enjoy them, but we must get out of our heads and thoughts that the dollar has value. The rock-a-bye-baby siren song of the dollar must be eliminated, because it is a habit and melody designed to lull us into trust, when such trust is unwarranted. A massive dollar lobotomy is needed.

Further, trust in government to make all things OK, must be eliminated as well. Our government, like all governments, has but two desires and goals, and they are to (1) enlarge itself, and (2) protect itself. Protecting you, or looking out for your interests, are not priorities nearly as much, as re-election, and enlargement. Bush 43, ran on, "reducing the size of government," as have countless past Republicans and Democrats, but the exact opposite always occurs. The money supply increases by 8% a year, while the government says inflation is "contained," which is a total impossibility, and a damned lie. Rock-a-bye-baby. A new bureaucracy dedicated to homeland security will protect us? More of the same rock-a-bye-baby. The dollar is the only way to be secure? Nonsense. The rock-a-bye-baby assurances we have been raised on, must be eliminated from our thoughts, as these thoughts will expose us to harm. Like an addiction, the dollar is difficult to eliminate from our savings habits, but you must do it. You must do it for your own sake, and those who come after you. Leave your kids something of value, not worthless bookkeeping entries, or passbooks denominated in a fiat currency whose numbers are increased daily, at the whim of its producer. When I hold a one ounce, solid silver, coin, which can be purchased for around $5, knowing its price in dollars will eventually go through the roof, I cannot understand a savings account. Protect yourself!