Money is a man made commodity. It is nothing but a symbol of value.. a representation of the goods or services offered in exchange for other goods or services. So Man, whether in positions of govt power or not, has the ability to 'create' this symbol. The true wealth is the goods or services provided by human labor.
This System of money has evolved in the human animal over thousands of years. It is a better solution for storing & carrying the wealth we have created than the items themselves. The problem lies in the nature of the storage unit. It lends itself to corruption & manipulation by unscrupulous charlatans. Money has ALWAYS been counterfeited by crooks & scoundrels. Whatever the storage unit, it has been faked. And the problem becomes exponentially worse when the ISSUER of the currency/money is complicit in the faking. This is what has happened with the American dollar. It was once a stable currency, with the full force & confidence of the American System of government. But thieves & scoundrels have infiltrated this system, & manipulated the currency for their own enrichment & their cronies. They have, in essence, counterfeited the dollar. By printing more than the value it represents, they dilute the real value of the dollar, which causes inflation. But all that does is steal from those who own these symbols of wealth, by behind the scenes meddling with the currency. Instead of providing a stable, consistent, reliable symbol of American wealth & production, they print out billions of paper symbols with nothing but reputation & nostalgia to back them. It is like a ponzi scheme.. a bubble of their own creation that will burst at some time, if drastic steps are not taken to bring stability & security to this global currency.
Debt itself is not a major problem. Absurd, astronomical debt is obviously a problem, when the ability to pay it off becomes untenable. Govt induced debt, filled with corruption, redistribution, & cloward-piven strategies of overload, use the system of money to accomplish their dirty deeds.
This, IMO, is not a flaw of the system.. it is the Nature of Man. When the citizens of a nation of self rule do not keep a watchful eye on the administrators of the collective organizational system, it is too easy for unscrupulous scoundrels to weasel their way into positions of power & use it to enrich themselves & their cronies. Bankers & other money related industries are too happy to go along with the corrupting practices, as long as they can work the system too.
I don't know of a better way to prevent abuses of public currency management except a system of checks & balances, like the American Experiment. But even it has become corrupted, as charlatans have taken over EVERY phase of the system. There are no watchdogs to warn of these subtle, behind the scenes meddlings. And the currency is a critical part of any society. EVERYONE is affected by the currency manipulations. Those on the inside, with connections to the power mongers, can profit from monetary policy. But everyone else loses. It has become a corrupt system of looting the working man.. stealing his labors with invisible, behind the scenes juggling of the money supply.
When a currency is stable, those who create things become wealthy. Interest rates are moderate, & provide capital for investment. Nobody gets rich by shuffling money around. A successful business MAKES something, or provides a useful service. But when a currency is inflated & unstable, the creators of wealth are robbed by the issuers of the currency. A cursory check of our current system shows that money shufflers are the ones getting rich, now. Most people getting 'rich' now have not created anything, but merely expanded their money stores by shuffling it around.. speculation.. insider trading.. political maneuvering. The farmers, builders, manufacturers, & workers who actually CREATE something are slowly being fleeced by the diluting process of monetary policy.
Wall street loves this. Money shufflers have exploited the system for nearly a century, now, to get rich without doing any productive work. Govt insiders love it too. They do not call politics 'the revolving door to riches' for nothing. It is a method of getting rich by fleecing the producers, the favorite tactic of thieves & scoundrels for all time. They do no work themselves, but merely TAKE from those who have. What is most insidious about them is their pretense of being 'public servants'. They act like they ache with compassion for the plight of the working man, while they rob him blind of what he has worked for. They are not even honest thieves.
Solutions? It will not be easy, or pretty. JUSTICE will have to be applied to deter thievery.
1. Strict & swift penalties for public corruption.. confiscation of property, capital punishment, labor camps, guillotines.. something negative that will deter corruption in the public administration.
2. Management & administration of the currency by ELECTED officials, held accountable by other ELECTED officials in an open, transparent forum. End the FED. Remove the management of the American currency from special interests & private bankers.
3. Link the money supply to actual production. Formulas can be calculated to determine the proper amount of money to 'create', based on the actual production of the nation. Voodoo economics & subjective opinions or ideology are removed, when the currency is tied to real numbers.
4. Phase out the old, & establish the new. The old dollar has been ruined & corrupted by the FED & those managing it. Let the Congress mint a stable currency, as they have been charged to do by the constitution. The old FED issued one can be phased out, & has become less viable & useful as a national currency. A lot of money shufflers will be screwed by this change, but they were complicit in the corruption of the dollar so they should bear the brunt of the collapse. The working, TAX PAYING American citizen should be given priority in the initial exchange of old to new dollars, then the banks, investors, foreign nationals, & anyone else who has profited from the manipulations of the dollar.
IMO, with the fundamentals of the currency in such shambles, it will not matter who is elected as president. Pick your poison. We are in a downward death spiral, & putting a new pilot in the cockpit will not make a difference. Unless & until we can make DRASTIC changes to monetary policy, & return the management of the currency to elected officials who have some accountability to the public trust, the plunder of the treasury & the working man will continue.
Philosophical Musings
Monday, May 9, 2016
Saturday, May 7, 2016
The Greatest Mystery of the 21st Century: Money
At least so far... We are still relatively early in the 21st century.
This spring i've been dealing with a lot of collective organizations. ..attending commencements, interacting with police, fire depts, insurance companies, charitable fund raisers, etc. I am always amazed at the levels of entitlement among people involved in public institutions. The widening chasm in the American Discourse is also a matter of great concern to me, as entitlement sweeps the next generation, & each new crop of young people seem more entitled than the one before. Why? What is the source of this mindset? Why do people believe that other people owe them a living?
I have been a philosopher & a student of the human animal all of my life. I am constantly intrigued by the root motivations of people, & the source of thinking & the evolution of philosophical agendas. The more i observe humanity, & analyze the thinking processes, motivations, & mindset of people, the more i have concluded that there are core differences in our perceptions about Reality. There are misconceptions that build upon each other, to arrive at a mythical view of Reality that has no basis. The fundamentals are flawed, & the subsequent conclusions are based on faulty assumptions.
Myth: Govt creates money.
IMO, this is the central flaw of modern progressivism. This is where leftist thought begins in their perception of reality, & where all other flaws in their thinking & conclusions originate. The reason is that this is not really a myth. Govt DOES print money. But they do not create the SOURCE of wealth.. they do not originate the True Source of money. Unfortunately, this myth is not only with the progressive left. It is sweeping the thinking of conservatives & other philosophical world views.
Money is merely a symbol of wealth. It is a means of exchange. All wealth in the human collective is created by Labor. Somebody has to work to create wealth, which is then represented by govt printed money. The ONLY source of wealth is in productive labor. The engine that drives the Human Economic Train is productive labor for the survival needs of humanity.
Sustenance: Food & water
Protection: Housing, clothing, defense from the elements & predators.
Those are the essentials. You can live without a smart phone, but not without water. You don't need tv or music, but you won't live long without food. EVERYTHING that we do is predicated on someone working for these essentials, & the rest of us buying their products with the fruits of our own labors.THAT is the Human Economy: You work & produce a needed commodity. Someone else does the same. You trade your products. ALL of the wealth generated in a society is done at the survival level. Luxuries & incidentals come later. Observation of many 3rd world countries, all of the animal kingdom, & the history of man should make this plainly obvious, but for some reason, it is increasingly mysterious, & the source of wealth is seen as coming from a Magical Provider: The Govt.
Bastiat wrote of this in the 1800s:
"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." ~Frederic Bastiat
For the most part, people do not see themselves as mooching off of other people. They believe that Govt has a Mystical Ability to provide all the necessities of life: Food, clothing, housing, health care, pensions, & jobs. But that is a flawed perception of govt. Human governance is merely a collective action for justice & social protection. That is its prime directive. The working people of the land provide their hard earned wealth to PAY someone to administer justice & protection in society. That is the essence of Govt. And when those in this protective role use their assigned power to plunder & exploit the working man, they have failed in their basic duty, & no longer provide a useful service. They have become complicit with the looters of the working man, & no longer protect his labors. They have joined with the predators & eventually the working producers of the land cast them out & organize a new collective system of govt. Historically, the changes in human governance have not always brought periods of freedom & prosperity. Most of the time, it has been, 'Meet the new Boss... same as the old Boss'.
The Reality is that SOMEONE has to work & produce the necessities of life. Govt does not create food, housing, or clothing. They can only TAKE from those who have. That is why redistribution has a look & feel of Govt as the source of these things. The recipients of the free stuff do not see the force employed in taking it from someone else. They imagine huge warehouses of stuff.. a goose that lays golden eggs, or a money tree that generates the necessities of life automatically. They do not see themselves as mooching off of other people, but merely taking their fair share from the govt.
But it is a lie. It is Fiction. Govt has NOTHING, except what they take by force from someone who has worked. The champions of govt like to portray it as govt making things fair. The evil corporate exploiters of the working man are the targets of their Social Justice, not the actual working man. But that is a diversion. The corporate exploiters of the working man are ALMOST ALWAYS complicit with the govt looters. They work together in harmony to fleece the producers of the nation, to enrich themselves & to empower themselves with votes from useful idiots who believe the Lie. But they do not actually fleece the evil corporatists. All they ever do is plunder the working man.
As long as this perception of money & wealth remains, entitlement & collectivist delusion will continue. People do not see their survival needs coming through productive interdependency, but from a Magical Provider. Govt has become the new god, & the free stuff is manna in the wilderness.
This spring i've been dealing with a lot of collective organizations. ..attending commencements, interacting with police, fire depts, insurance companies, charitable fund raisers, etc. I am always amazed at the levels of entitlement among people involved in public institutions. The widening chasm in the American Discourse is also a matter of great concern to me, as entitlement sweeps the next generation, & each new crop of young people seem more entitled than the one before. Why? What is the source of this mindset? Why do people believe that other people owe them a living?
I have been a philosopher & a student of the human animal all of my life. I am constantly intrigued by the root motivations of people, & the source of thinking & the evolution of philosophical agendas. The more i observe humanity, & analyze the thinking processes, motivations, & mindset of people, the more i have concluded that there are core differences in our perceptions about Reality. There are misconceptions that build upon each other, to arrive at a mythical view of Reality that has no basis. The fundamentals are flawed, & the subsequent conclusions are based on faulty assumptions.
Myth: Govt creates money.
IMO, this is the central flaw of modern progressivism. This is where leftist thought begins in their perception of reality, & where all other flaws in their thinking & conclusions originate. The reason is that this is not really a myth. Govt DOES print money. But they do not create the SOURCE of wealth.. they do not originate the True Source of money. Unfortunately, this myth is not only with the progressive left. It is sweeping the thinking of conservatives & other philosophical world views.
Money is merely a symbol of wealth. It is a means of exchange. All wealth in the human collective is created by Labor. Somebody has to work to create wealth, which is then represented by govt printed money. The ONLY source of wealth is in productive labor. The engine that drives the Human Economic Train is productive labor for the survival needs of humanity.
Sustenance: Food & water
Protection: Housing, clothing, defense from the elements & predators.
Those are the essentials. You can live without a smart phone, but not without water. You don't need tv or music, but you won't live long without food. EVERYTHING that we do is predicated on someone working for these essentials, & the rest of us buying their products with the fruits of our own labors.THAT is the Human Economy: You work & produce a needed commodity. Someone else does the same. You trade your products. ALL of the wealth generated in a society is done at the survival level. Luxuries & incidentals come later. Observation of many 3rd world countries, all of the animal kingdom, & the history of man should make this plainly obvious, but for some reason, it is increasingly mysterious, & the source of wealth is seen as coming from a Magical Provider: The Govt.
Bastiat wrote of this in the 1800s:
"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." ~Frederic Bastiat
For the most part, people do not see themselves as mooching off of other people. They believe that Govt has a Mystical Ability to provide all the necessities of life: Food, clothing, housing, health care, pensions, & jobs. But that is a flawed perception of govt. Human governance is merely a collective action for justice & social protection. That is its prime directive. The working people of the land provide their hard earned wealth to PAY someone to administer justice & protection in society. That is the essence of Govt. And when those in this protective role use their assigned power to plunder & exploit the working man, they have failed in their basic duty, & no longer provide a useful service. They have become complicit with the looters of the working man, & no longer protect his labors. They have joined with the predators & eventually the working producers of the land cast them out & organize a new collective system of govt. Historically, the changes in human governance have not always brought periods of freedom & prosperity. Most of the time, it has been, 'Meet the new Boss... same as the old Boss'.
The Reality is that SOMEONE has to work & produce the necessities of life. Govt does not create food, housing, or clothing. They can only TAKE from those who have. That is why redistribution has a look & feel of Govt as the source of these things. The recipients of the free stuff do not see the force employed in taking it from someone else. They imagine huge warehouses of stuff.. a goose that lays golden eggs, or a money tree that generates the necessities of life automatically. They do not see themselves as mooching off of other people, but merely taking their fair share from the govt.
But it is a lie. It is Fiction. Govt has NOTHING, except what they take by force from someone who has worked. The champions of govt like to portray it as govt making things fair. The evil corporate exploiters of the working man are the targets of their Social Justice, not the actual working man. But that is a diversion. The corporate exploiters of the working man are ALMOST ALWAYS complicit with the govt looters. They work together in harmony to fleece the producers of the nation, to enrich themselves & to empower themselves with votes from useful idiots who believe the Lie. But they do not actually fleece the evil corporatists. All they ever do is plunder the working man.
As long as this perception of money & wealth remains, entitlement & collectivist delusion will continue. People do not see their survival needs coming through productive interdependency, but from a Magical Provider. Govt has become the new god, & the free stuff is manna in the wilderness.
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