If you are of advanced age, as am I, you must remember Jack Benny. Jack’s reputation as a supreme tight wad is unsurpassed. Perhaps the longest laugh he ever got, (on radio) was his answer to a robber, who held a gun on him, and said, “Your money or your life.” His answer, after a pregnant pause, was “Hmmm.” The laughter lasted for 45 seconds. He was being held up, as are Americans, and for than matter, all of the world. Benny knew what was going on, and loved his vault full of money so much, that he hesitated, even when his life was involved. During radio days, and when that show was broadcast, the dollars were indeed backed by gold and silver, could be redeemed for such at will, and were valuable.
For probably the first time in history, the entire world is being robbed blind by their respective governments which issue the various fiat currencies. No one is escaping. Not even the Swiss, whose francs are not backed by anything, as are none of the other currencies. During the Iraq invasion, looters were shown throwing worthless Iraq “money” in the air, and stealing sinks, sofas, and TV sets. They knew the “money” was worthless, but a tangible of any sort had real value. How many Iraqis had saved their surplus assets in Iraq banks? How many hundreds of millions of the earth’s inhabitants, save their surplus assets in their respective banks, which savings are denominated in their respective nation’s currencies? Why do they do it? Easy. Because like everything else we have been inculcated and programmed with since childhood, those habits and “knowledge,” stay with us for the rest of our lives. It is said that 90% of Americans die within a few miles of where they were born. How many people ever change religions? How many people ever change their various life style habits, such as table manners, dress preferences, food likes, or even pet breeds? Few. We have all been raised to love those greenback dollars.
When I point out that they are virtually worthless, compared to 75 years ago, people get huffy, say I am lying, exaggerating, and trying to sell gold and silver. Not so. Just look at the evidence, is all I ask. Look at what your parent’s house was bought for years ago, and what it is worth now. Look at what cars used to sell for, say before World War II, and what they sell for now. Look at McDonald’s hamburgers even, for the last 40 years. How can anyone say, with a straight face, that the dollar, or any other currency, for that matter, have not lost most of their purchasing power, over the past 75 years? Magazines are $4, $5, or even more, and when I was a kid, the Saturday Evening Post was a dime. Newspapers were 3 cents, and now are 50 cents, or a lot more. Everything, in all currencies in the entire world, have “gone up” radically, over the last 75 years, and the process not only continues, but is accelerating. The stuff that is priced is the same. Only the “money” used to buy it, is becoming worthless. McDonald’s makes the same hamburgers!
Another funny bit on the Jack Benny radio show, was when he needed money to pay a bill, he entered his vault. He went through various heavy doors, passed guards, etc. to get at his valuable dollars. Sound effects were wonderful on old radio shows. Your mind worked, and you imagined things, because there were no visuals, as in TV. Imaginations seem to have failed in the last few decades, thanks to TV. When radio was the family entertainment, you’d shut your eyes and picture Benny and his Maxwell chugging down the street, playing his squeaky violin, entering his vault, or doing anything the show wanted you to imagine. Crime shows had gun fights, police chases, and sirens. Imagination ruled, but it seems to have failed with today’s generation. Can you imagine your parents buying a brand new, shiny 1941 Ford for $650? Can you imagine buying a large home for $5,000? Can you imagine riding a streetcar for a dime fare? Can you imagine a doctor visit for $3? Can you imagine, in short, the dollar buying an incredible amount of goods and services, compared to today? Shut your eyes and try to imagine such things.
You’d better, because it may mean your future security. If you can’t imagine such phenomena as I have mentioned, you probably have a savings account at your local bank. You have been programmed by your government into actually believing the paper dollar is worth something, is backed by something, and will endure forever. It won’t, and neither will any of the other fiat, paper “monies,” posing as value around the world. Everything has to die eventually, and that seems to be true with paper currencies. They seem to have a certain life span. They live until the politicos kill them, or war kills them, as was the case in the previous three busts. The Revolutionary War, and War Between the States on both sides, were fought with paper money that eventually was used to take to the out house, or paper the walls.
Jack Benny had to die, and Bob Hope will be 100 on May 29th. The great statesmen, comedians, actors, and everyday genuine fathers mothers, aunts, uncles and grand parents all have to go eventually, and it is a shame. The dollar didn’t have to go, but it’s gone so far, and politicians aren’t about to change their spots, and more than a leopard, so you might as well kiss it goodbye too.
Like Jack Benny, we are daily being robbed of our substance and sustenance, by eroding dollars. The fed doesn’t say to us, “Stick ’em up,” as did the comedy robber on the Jack Benny show. It’s far more subtle, but its robbery just the same. This robbery steals from all incomes the same way, and in the same percentages. It’s about 12% a year, for every single dollar everyone owns, whether they are in a bank or in your wallet. The theft process continues, night and day, for rich and poor.
Use them to buy Cheerios, gasoline, and paint. Use them to go to the movies too, which happens to be another evidence of inflation, which simply means printing monsoons of bucks. As a kid, I could go to a matinee for nine cents. When in the theatre business, my normal admission was 75 cents. This was in a movie palace with pipe organ concert, goldfish in the lobby pond, stars flickering overhead, and three curtains. My Lansdowne Theatre was a 1927 movie palace, a showplace, and the admission was 75 cents. It’s gotten up to ten bucks in some places, I hear, and this is in an orange crate “theatre,” with no class or showmanship. Check out the popcorn which used to be a dime. I am damned glad to be old, and remember decent dollars, movie palaces, ornate architecture, trolleys, and standard gearshifts, which fortunately, kept a lot of people off the road that shouldn’t be there even now. Protect yourself by saving in anything but dollars. See, I don’t care if you buy gold and silver from me just get the hell out of dollars, francs, pesos, pounds, or whatever your local government prints by the tons because they are doomed to continue their descent.