We are what our elected officials make us out to be
Despite all the stimulus plans and fiat currency pushed into the public sector by our President and Congress, the economy remains dormant, at best, or still in a downward trend. The European debt crisis has the markets in a position without direction, and our debt crisis here is no better. At the same time, third world countries are growing at rates that put the first world to shame. Why? Because the third world nations never depended on debt in order to grow. China, India, to name but two, are growing at rates which will, if nothing changes, allow them to overtake first world nations as world leaders in industry, exports and quality of life. The reason is that when you own something, such as your home, and you have no mortgage, you need not worry, when times are hard, because you are not forced to sell or simply abandon your property. Therein lies one of America’s major problems. Past administrations, such as the Clinton years, encouraged us to own our own homes but at the same time encouraged mortgage debt, debt which it appears now that many of us could ill afford.
You know things are not good when Europe, which boasted of a strong Euro for so many years, is now looking to the U.S. dollar and gold for a safe haven. The Euro, the currency of those debt ridden nations such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, Spain, is tanking, as those economies are failing, due to intolerable debt. By turning to the dollar, these nations actually believe that they are secure. The truth of the matter is that since Nixon unlinked Gold from the dollar in 1971, the United States has been printing a fiat currency with abandon, while at the same time, borrowing from investor nations, so that there is nothing backing our dollar and our treasury bonds but the full faith and credit of the United States. Personally, as an investor, I have little faith in either.
As a result, precious metals, such as gold and silver, along with other commodities and other tangible investments, have been rising to record highs. As a result of our out of control spending and borrowing, America is traveling the same road as Europe has been traveling. We are just not as far along on that road to hell.
There are nations in Europe, such as Germany, whose economic condition is still sound, but as such, Germany is being called upon to bail out the debtor nations to an extent which may cause the Germans to balk. If this happens, then the European Central Bank will begin to print Euros just as we have been printing dollars, for the last 60 years, and it would not surprise me to see the rioting in Europe increase and spread to the U.S. The demise of the European welfare state, a form of government which the liberals have been trying to create here in America since our government took over our education system, is inevitable. Unfortunately, that same educational system, which has made most Europeans socialists, is at work here in the U.S., as demonstrated by our election of President Obama.
If you were born after 1970, you probably do not realize that you were born into bankruptcy. Your federal government has planned, since your birth, to take every cent you make for use in this welfare state. However, the current economic patterns across the world are finally allowing the young blind statists, educated by a system which praised big government and downplayed individualism and entreprenurialism , to realize the error of their ways. The welfare states corruption and ill devised plans are too enormous to hide.
Other nations have suffered the same fate. Just look at Chile 1970’s, when socialism, hyper inflation and annual price increases of 150% or greater led to rioting, a military coup and the death of the president of Chile. Argentina, at the same time, had prices rising at 5000% per year, and that was with government instituting price controls. Rioting by both the poor and the middle class were the result. Brazil has no middle class – you are either rich or your are poor, and that is the direction being taken by this administration, as we continue to spend and borrow beyond our means.
I realize that what I am saying is drastic, but were it not for the precedent of prior national examples, we might not recognize all that is occurring around us. Just because we have been top dog for the last century does not mean that we have a right to remain at the top. Sooner or later, the end result of all these government spending and borrowing programs, in addition to the billions we are spending on nation building in war torn nations, which may never be democratic no matter how much we try, is going to come back to haunt us. You think that we could never go the way of the Soviets. You believe that our Constitution can protect us from any abrupt changes in our system of government. Do not kid yourself. We are what our elected officials make us out to be, and so far, this administration is doing little to impress me with their vision.
JLK
