It’s a rather bold statement I admit, but just go back 85 years, and try to picture what was NOT going on then. No Social Security, no Medicaid, Medicare, Section 8 housing, public housing, food stamps, or handouts of any kind to anyone. People worked for what they got, and there was no welfare of any kind. There was no inflation, and hadn’t been for over a hundred years. No ID required to cash a check, board a plane, or do any business. No ‘Press one for English,’ no illegals crossing the border, and the federal bureaucracy was minuscule compared to now.
If you accept the truth of the title of this piece, you will have to admit that it all began with government welfare. Even Social Security has turned out to be broke and a fraud. Before Social Security, people worked and saved in stable dollars for their retirement. A new car cost $600, gas was 20 cents a gallon, and a doctor’s visit was $3. It would still be that way but for inflation. What is inflation? “An increase in the money supply,” according to a dictionary definition. How and why has the money supply increased? Because of the handouts of a thousand different types, and a thousand percent increase in the size of government. Printing press money to pay the bills, ‘help’ everyone who should help themselves, and from an anonymous quote: “What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.” This is partially true, because inflation (price increases and increase in money supply), is a huge tax on everyone, and this has gone on for 85 years.
Think about the ruined cities, huge crime rate, drugs, filth, and total lack of care for anything or anyone by the underclass. There was no underclass 85 years ago. Any help needed, was supplied by private charities run by churches, parents, relatives, or volunteer groups, which usually required work to be performed by the recipients. No graffiti, abandoned homes, cars, and even neighborhoods. The South Bronx was a marvelous Jewish community, full of wonderful apartments, schools, and appurtenances. Now it is a no man’s land. Everything went down the tubes because of government handing out printing press ‘Monopoly’ money to ‘help’ the poor, and run its ever increasing bureaucracies. The first public housing project was in 1935, and there have been millions of units since, most of which have been torn down and replaced, due to ruination by their occupants. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed by public housing, whose occupants should not be alive actually, because of their worthlessness.
85 years ago, if you didn’t make it by yourself or couldn’t get help from parents, church, or find a charity to help, you were out of luck. If you tried crime, you were not treated with kid gloves. Capital punishment was the rule, and jails were not country clubs, as many are now. Jail and prisons were punishment, not holding places. Juvenile delinquency was unknown, and if it reared its ugly head, it was squelched pronto. There was no minimum wage, and taxes were a fraction of their current rate. Honesty prevailed in the business world. Public schools taught and disciplined, and were not ‘baby sitters,’ passing on those who had acquired no education or skills. There were no credit cards, and if you wanted to buy a $2500 home (a common price then), you had to have a 20% down payment.
All the worthless underclass we witness now, simply didn’t exist, because those who make us lock our doors and buy guns to protect ourselves, hadn’t been formed by welfare, laziness, and subsequent worthlessness. They didn’t get free rent in public housing, food stamps, Obamaphones, and handouts of any and all sorts. People had to work if they wanted to eat and live in a home or apartment. There were no hood locks on cars, and most didn’t find it necessary to lock their doors. Americans could shop in wonderful downtowns, and walk streets at night without fear of mugging; a word which had not yet been invented.
Look people I am 83 years old, was born and raised in Washington D.C., and it was SAFE then, and not full of bureaucrats, lobbyists, hangers on, and criminals of white or blue collar kinds. I rode my Schwinn bike many miles in summers in all neighborhoods, and no one stole it or threatened me. I rode streetcars everywhere and to Glen Echo amusement park at age 12, by myself. Glen Echo is long gone, because of shall we say ‘trouble’ caused obviously by welfare recipients. Most of America’s amusement parks are long gone because of this. I grew up in my Dad’s drug store at Mt. Pleasant and Irving Sts. N.W. He had it for 36 years and was never robbed. I am well aware that most readers of this screed are far too young to remember or even believe this, but it is true.
It is no exaggeration to say that inflation, crime, lawlessness, the underclass, and our general insecurity, is all caused, either directly or indirectly, by FDR, the father of the welfare state, and his Democrat Congress, who gladly passed his debilitating bills. Mark Twain once said, at the time the Democrats were passing the FDR bills: “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.” Another quote of his at the time, was: “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” Since I am on a quotation roll, try this from P.J. O’Rourke: “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
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We now have one ounce silver rounds for 28 cents over spot and 10 ounce silver bars for 23 cent over spot per ounce. Check the web site for pictures! No one else can meet these prices. Our supplier bought a mint! Check the web site. – Don Stott.
My books, “Consequences,” or “I Hold These Truths,” can be had by sending a check for $9.95 for each, to Don Stott, 222 S. 5th St, Montrose CO. 81401.
The views and opinions expressed in these posts are those of the author only and do not reflect the policy or position of Colorado Gold.