I think the word ’gradualism’ maybe the correct one. In previous columns I have shown how the dollar has been degraded endlessly by various welfare programs, increased bureaucracy, wars, handouts, Medicare, Social Security, earmarks, and endless spending. It has happened because politicians have been unable to get re-elected without continual promises of largess from the public treasury. “Let the government pay for it,” without any consequences, is the absolute belief of 99% of the foolish American voting public, as history has shown. (Should I delve into the mentality of the voters, and especially since they don’t have to be able to read, own property, or hold a job to vote? Shouldn’t they? Is it in politicians’ interest to continually lower voter qualifications so they’ll vote for endless shallow and foolish promises? Of course!) The degrading and debasement of the nation’s currency has nothing whatsoever to do with labor unions, greedy corporations and businesses, nor careless housewives. It rests solely with the D.C. Gang, as I call them. I don’t print dollars, and neither do you. The dictionary definition of inflation is simply, “An increase in the currency supply.” Look it up for yourself.
But it is not just raised prices that are the result of inflation, which is better defined as the debasement of the currency. When a currency is debauched, thanks to politicians, the effects are so numerous and virtually impossible to correct, that the downfall of a nation has to be the ultimate result. This is where the word “gradualism” comes into play. When prices go up a bit, say for gasoline, butter, lumber, electronics, or any item used, we can usually ’grin and bear it,’ as the old comic strip was titled. A few cents extra at the filling station, or for a pound of butter can be overlooked as insignificant. If lumber costs a bit more, the builder can just raise the price of the house a few bucks, and no one will notice the difference. A few cents per hour raise for employees to meet the increased cost of living won’t bankrupt a company. I bought McDonald’s hamburgers for 13 cents in 1962. For 150 years, the value of the dollar remained the same, and price fluctuations were solely because of supply, demand, and efficiency of manufacture. These are legitimate reasons for prices to go up or down.
Unfortunately, once the process of currency inflation begins, ever so slowly and gradually, it always increases in speed and volume. This is just as certain as the sun rising. It may take decades, or many decades even, but the process of national destruction, thanks to currency debasement, is writ in stone, and no nation in history has ever been able to stop it.
Inflation, caused by politicians constantly promising more from the public treasury, can only be stopped if they stop spending more than they take in, balance the budget, and cease the endless printing of dollars to pay their bills and for their handouts. This is impossible to happen, because the glory and prestige rewarded by public office at any level, is unmistakable, and especially at the federal level. A senator or representative who didn’t promise to satisfy his constituents desires from the public treasury, would be quickly replaced by one who would. It is ridiculous to imagine 535 members of congress unanimously voting “no” on all spending bills. It will simply never happen, even though the destiny of the United States of America hangs in the balance. It’s all so easy to make the citizenry not be responsible for their own welfare, protection, and prosperity, while at the same time robbing them by debasing their currency. It gets votes, even though it is a total fraud.
As prices and wages rise, the basic needs of the public remain about the same. They need a car, groceries, hardware, clothing, entertainment, and a place to live. They also need jobs to pay for these items. As prices increase, due to the debasement of the currency, it becomes obvious that an American manufacturer must increase his employees’ salaries by enough so that they can maintain their standard of living and pay their bills. Many things then happen. Nations with hugely lower standards of living will be tempted to make the needs of Americans at much lower cost than is possible in America. In the sixties, it was Japan, and now it is China, India, Philippines, and other nations in the Orient. They have no Social Security, income taxes, Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment taken from their 50 cent an hour wages. Their workplaces are similar to America’s of a hundred years ago, as are their wages. The result is that hoards of foreign made merchandise floods America, costing Americans millions of jobs.
It happened gradually, and has now reached a hurricane level. It was small at first. A few transistor radios from Japan and a few two cylinder cars was all that was imported. A few Volkswagens from Germany, and then Japanese motorcycles, cameras and film. Eventually foreign companies built factories here, in non-union areas of the south, thus costing highly paid union auto workers in Detroit their jobs. The profits go back to Japan of course, and a lot of the parts are made in Japan. Now Mercedes is building cars in the south. China now makes just about everything America uses, and all major auto manufacturers are building plants in China. America used to export its goods which were wonderful; and now imports thousands of containers each month, full of goods made elsewhere. They return empty to be loaded with more American bound goods.
It so happens that most Indians (from India) are taught and speak English from childhood, and even though it is spoken with a distinct accent, unlike the Chinese, Indians can communicate with Americans. There are intense schools in India which teach the natives to speak with an ’American’ accent, so they can earn $2 an hour speaking to Americans about their credit card balances, bank statements, and utility bills. Indians also make travel arrangements, and perform any telephone related task which used to be done by Americans. The phone bills are easily offset by the huge savings in labor. Not only are American factories shuttered, but even simple telephone answering and messaging can be done in India at huge cost savings. No one ever realizes that when we have no jobs or manufacturing capability, we will eventually have no money to buy foreign goods. Washing each others clothes and paying each other for their ’service,’ which is what the boob economists say is our salvation, is a nursery rhyme.
On top of this, the politicians are constantly figuring new ways to satisfy their constituents by ’giving’ them more and more ’protection’ and ’help’ from the public treasury, with no seeming cost. There is always a bit if babble about budgets, but it never reaches first base. I have already pointed out that the actual official national debt is $9 trillion, plus another $30 trillion or more in future promises. These debts cannot be repaid. It is as if a minimum wage worker was asked to pay a billion dollar debt. The fact that it would be impossible, is minimalizing it. Absurd would be more like it. On top of the actual debt, there is the interest to be paid on the debt, which is now more than is taken in in taxes. Some say the interest payments are more than covered by taxes, but that is another government lie. You figure 4% of $9 trillion for yourself and compare it with government stated interest payments.
The fact that we have lost millions of jobs makes Americans angry, is obvious. The problem is that they don’t know why this has and is happening. The most common scapegoat is the unions who demand high wages, or the greedy corporations who will do anything to make a profit. Now stop and think: For well over a hundred years, no one complained about unions or greedy corporations which made autos, sheets, refrigerators, furniture, cameras, TV sets, and light bulbs. Union strikes were about raising workers standards of living, not because of shrinking value currency making wage increases mandatory. Sears catalogs of a hundred years ago had thousands of items in them, all made in America. The reason there were no job losses is because our currency was stable. A man could work for Bendix, Chrysler, AT&T, Montgomery Ward, or General Electric, and know that if he put in many years of satisfactory service, he would have his job as long as he wanted it, and could retire comfortably. He could make payments on his home and know that the neighborhood was stable. He could attend the same church as his parents attended, go to the same restaurants, and buy his car from the well established dealer who had been in business for many decades.
America was a nation of peace, stability, low crime, prosperity, and affluence. Many times homes were passed down from parent to children, so stable were neighborhoods and cities. The trolley cars ran, busses ran, trees grew, flowers bloomed, houses were maintained, factories made things, and people bought and ate things made, grown, and mined in America. Citizens carried silver and gold coins in their pockets, and could save in banks, knowing that all was secure and stable. America was as solid as the well known Rock of Gibralter. My, how this has changed! No, I have not finished, and if you didn’t get the first segments, I did save them, and will be glad to forward them to you by e-mail. gold@gwe.net.