I saw a column on The Drudge Report a few days ago, which noted that the federal government spends $2,007,611,200,000 on various welfare handouts, such as public everything, highway funds, Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, section 8 housing, ’Obamaphones,” et al. This does not include “Administrative Costs,” such as fuzz brained bureaucrats, check writing machines, postage, etc. As I have written over and over again, there is NOTHING in our Constitution, which gives government the right or duty to take our money, and disburse it as it pleases. For that matter, Kentucky didn’t vote for the 16th Amendment either, so even the IRS is unconstitutional; hence they have no right to take our money, although the Supremes says the 16th is legal. It isn’t. Over $2 trillion then, is given out in welfare payments. How much other spending does the federal government do? According to official documents, the D.C. monstrosity spends $3.9 trillion each year. How much then, does the federal government take in from Social Security, gas tax, diesel tax, income tax, and the myriad other taxes on absolutely everything we buy and use? It takes in $2.2 trillion from all sources. Simple 3rd grade arithmetic then, says that if you spend $3.9 trillion, and subtract $2.2 trillion coming in from all sources,, and there is a deficit of $1.7 trillion.
Since there is a deficit of $1.7 trillion, the money to pay the bills has to be borrowed. When the money is printed or generated by computers, it is technically ’borrowed,’ and interest must be paid on the ’loan.’ The interest per year is $385,000,000. To whom is it paid? To bond holders at home and abroad, plus to the Federal Reserve, a privately owned bank, which creates money out of thin air to loan to the U.S. Treasury, which pays the bills and administers the various ’programs.’ I despise the word programs. The supply of money, obviously, increases by roughly $2 trillion a year. The current U.S. debt is about $17 trillion, and the debt for future commitments, already in law, such as Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, etc, is said to be close to $175 trillion, an amount simply impossible to comprehend.
Not to be an alarmist, but stop and think: How could 309 million people, the citizens of the United States, possibly ever repay a debt such as this? America’s personal debt in mortgages, credit card, etc, is close to the $17 trillion in federal debt. America is trying to service its own debts with what’s left after paying through the nose for income taxes, fuel taxes, telephone taxes, electricity taxes, indirect taxes on everything we use, etc. It’s not easy, and with actual unemployment approaching 17%, jobs are hard to find. Our family income has decreased radically since Obama took office, as has out standard of living. All the while, the Congress and President give away money. Are there are no consequences? Maybe not to them who give it away, but to us, as our dollars keep buying less as prices go up. We’re in bad condition, and that is a very mild understatement.
If a business sold doughnuts for 50 cents, and it cost 90 cents to make them, how long would the doughnut shop stay in business? If a home builder sold homes for $150,000, and it cost $200,000 to build them, how long would he stay in business? If a government took in $2.2 trillion, and spent $3.9 trillion, how long could it stay in business? The answer is that government is not a business, although it should be. The people who run the government, have no concept of profit and loss, efficiency, or the Constitution, which they swore to uphold. After World War One, which should have never happened, a war we should never have entered, and a war which gave birth to Hitler, Germany was told to pay for the damage she caused. She was broke from fighting a war, and her treasury was empty. “Pay anyway,” were the instructions. She paid with printing press reichsmarks, which at the beginning, were worth a U.S. silver quarter. By the end of 1924, they were worthless. A cup of coffee might cost a million reichsmarks, and a second cup a million and a half. Finally, they became useful only to start fires or used as insulation. That happened in just a couple of years in post WW I Germany. In America, it has happened so slowly, that the majority of the citizenry just takes it for granted that prices will always go up. They never seem to realize that a savings account paying one half of one percent interest, is decapitalizing them by several percent a year. Inflation, if it happens slowly, leaves the majority in ignorance. If you are out in the sun, without sun screen, you are unaware of what it happening to you, till you are burned and in pain. It all seemed so great to be enjoying the lovely sunshine, till it was too late, and you suffer from lack of preparation. Similar to America’s inflation, whose rate is one of the most blatant lies being broadcast by the feds?
It is all so important to prepare for inflation. Not by storing dollars under your mattress or in a savings account. The object is to GET OUT OF THE DECAYING DOLLARS, since it is impossible to stop their decay, or losing buying power. How do you get out? By investing the decaying dollars into non dollar things, which go up in prices, as dollars go down. Lots of choices. Real estate other than a home? Maybe, if you don’t mind paying insurance, taxes, and collecting rents from tenants who possibly are such bad credit risks that they couldn’t buy a home. Antiques? Our home is full of them, since my wife and I own a 1887 home, and it should be and is full of beautiful antiques. Could we sell them at a profit? Not a chance, but we do enjoy them. I have owned 99 cars in my life, from 1918 to 2014, and have had fun with them, but I never showed anything but a loss in 90% of them. Stocks? Not me, because I’d rather gamble elsewhere if I were going to gamble, and owning a millionth of GM, Ford, or Procter and Gamble, is not my cup of tea, because the stock price is dependent on so many things, including efficient manufacturing, competent CEO, good advertising, union wages and contracts, and a host of other items, all of which make me shy away from stocks, which have corrected of late. Stamps, old books, jewelry? Up to the individual, but of course my kids and I deal in precious metals, which cannot go up in smoke, are not dependent on any government for value, and have been real, honest to goodness, actual money in all nations for thousands of years. I am well aware of the fact that gold and silver were over-priced when they were higher than they are now, but consider that 14 years ago, gold was $275, and silver was $4. They’ll go back up, believe me.
I think silver is grossly underpriced now, with a ratio of 65 to 1. In other words, gold is 65 times as expensive as silver. Throughout history, and even in 1980, the ratio was 16 to 1. Were it 16 to 1 now, we would have $81 silver, not $21 silver. We do believe that the historic ratio will return to 16 to 1. Maybe not next year, but eventually, which makes silver a bargain. Except that silver requires 65 times as much storage space as gold, which may make a decision in favor of gold. Both are fine. Owners of gold and silver could leave them to their kids too, which may make them desirable. Naturally, everyone should pay all the taxes levied upon them, but if you have physical things you wish to leave to your kids upon your death, such as books, china, antiques, etc, why shouldn’t gold and silver be part of your bequest? You paid taxes on your income when you bought them. That’s an individual decision. It’s just that having real money, seems to me to be a lot better than having pieces of paper with ink on them, which can and are being duplicated by millions every day. Gold and silver require exploration, mining, milling, smelting, manufacturing, and distributing. Capital expenditures and experts in may fields, in other words, not just pushing the “Go” button on a printing press.
P.S. As an aside, compare Illinois with Oklahoma. Illinois is totally Democrat in all offices. Illinois has the worst school system, is totally bankrupt, murder capital, highest crime rate, highest taxes, strictest gun laws, welcomes illegals, and Obama won Illinois hands down. Oklahoma is 100% Republican in all offices, is solvent, loves for people to carry arms and in their cars too, sends illegals back after they do DNA and forwards it to other states, prints all documents in English only, and no driver’s licenses unless applicant can read and speak English, low taxes, low crime etc.. Where would you like to live?
P.S. to P.S. What has happened to the tens of thousands of troops which have left Iraq and Afghanistan? Are they still on the payroll? Why haven’t they been sent to the Mexico border? They would seal it as tight as a drum, and if they’re still being paid…why not?