Monetary Base and the Theft of our Savings

Here's what's been happening to our monetary base:

From the St. Louis Federal Reserve 1910 - 2010

And here is a close-up since we abandoned the gold standard:

This money creation is a reckless ignoring of the fact that paper money is not wealth. Only production creates wealth. Not the government. Not the Fed.

Yet, this country's producers are being hobbled by regulations and taxes which discourage innovation, risk taking, and job creation at the same time ours savings are begin eroded by inflationary increases in the money supply. Government spending continues to sky-rocket--and remember:

Governments only consume wealth; they do not produce it.

If the government was not inflating away the value of our savings, there would be little need for massive entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Oh wait--if there were not massive entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government wouldn't have to inflate our money.

More info:

Medicare + Social Security = 1/3 of federal spending.

Though this 1/3 is only now. Just wait until more people retire:

Or looked at another way:

So--do we vote in people who will keep promising everything to everybody?

Or is it time to vote for representatives who will cut spending by paring government back to its essential, proper (and Constitutional) limits?

Tuesday.

November 2.

Your choice.

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Peace through Commerce

I recently came across a very interesting blog, Ideas Matter.

The first post which caught my attention was "Hiring a Milkshake" which is a video clip worth watching ...but then so are several of the posts which precede it. I liked these posts so much that I added it to my Google blog reader, and today's entry is the best yet.

In particular, I love this quote in the clip by Johan Norberg, who is already one of my heroes:

"If goods don't cross borders, soldiers will."

Just one of several gems...but see for yourself.

The clip came from another interesting site: FLOW. This just happens to be the site of John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods and author of a pretty good Op-Ed piece giving a real-life functioning alternative to ObamaCare. I am not expecting to find 100% alignment with my beliefs, but some of this stuff is down-right inspirational.

All-on-all, not a bad day on the internet.

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San Fransisco Examiner Endorses John Dennis

It's about time.

[A]fter years of singing the virtues of patriotic dissent against Bush administration policies, Pelosi falsely branded dissenters on Obamacare as Nazis “carrying swastikas and symbols like that,” then denouncing those who challenged their members of Congress in town hall meetings as “drowning out opposing views” and therefore “un-American.”

The Examiner does not believe that Pelosi has ever been drowned out, given the enormous power and speaking platform she possesses. Further, we view her attempt to demonize dissenters as far more dangerous to democracy than anyone’s protest. Therefore, we encourage voters in the 8th Congressional District to support her opponent, John Dennis — an anti-war, pro-marijuana Republican.

A vote for Dennis will send a strong, clear message that dictatorial policymaking, the lavish and unnecessary spending of tax dollars on wasteful programs and personal perks, and demonization of the political opposition are unacceptable behavior for officeholders of any party or philosophy.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/San-Francisco-Examiners-state-nation-election-recommendations--105962408.html#ixzz13iasGdYp

Please support John Dennis.

No matter where you live in the country, this is one election which effects us all.

He's the first candidate in a long time that not only has a chance to unseat Mrs. Pelosi, but he would be a fabulous boost to the cause of liberty and a return to constitutionally limited government. I have had the pleasure of interacting with him on several occasions and find him to be honest, sincere, dedicated, easily approachable, and perhaps most important of all, a principled believer in individual rights.

Every dollar helps.

The materials to support volunteers are very expensive. Every volunteer must be fitted with push cards, stickers, literature, door hangers and yard signs as well as transportation. That is why we are asking you to help keep our volunteers going.

$24.00 supports a volunteer for 1 day.

$48.00 supports a volunteer for 2 days.

$96.00 supports a volunteer for 4 days.

And that's what we have left.

Four days.


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Where Wealth Comes From

Many of you will have already seen this over at One Reality, but for those of you who haven't, it is spot on with the major theme behind this blog--and too good not to pass along.

Four Ways to Spend Money

When you go to the polls next week, think about which way the candidates and the initiatives propose to spend money...and then remember that the most cost-effective way to spend money is when you spend your own money.

Vote accordingly.

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A Shameless Political Appeal

Hi folks.
I haven't been writing much these days. Too busy putting my face and voice to work for the issues I believe in. Time to move out from behind my keyboard and be a lot more public.

At the beginning of this month, I flew to Washington DC to work with

Docs4PatientCare at the scientific convention of the American College of Surgeons. That was relatively easy as it primarily involved standing at a booth and talking to people who approached us with questions.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been making phone calls on behalf of John Dennis who is running for Congress against Nancy Pelosi. That's a lot harder because I have to insert myself into other people's lives whether they want me or not. But--I just keep telling myself it's important to act on my values in order to have a chance at effecting a change.

If we can just get the word out about John, I think he would have a real chance of winning. Pelosi is at an all time low in the polls, and John is a unique Republican who is both a fiscal conservative, and a strong supporter of several traditionally liberal social issues. That's because John is a principed believer in individual rights.

In talking with John this weekend, his main difficulty is getting the word out about himself. He is just now starting to get some national attention. with more help, he could pull off a "Scott Brown" and unseat Pelosi.

So....If there's anyway for you to contribute---money, phone calls----please do. Now is the time to send Washington a big message: stop spending our money and stop controlling our lives.

Here's a few video clips to get you inspired to act:

2081 and Social Justice

A movie about the logical conclusion of implementing "social justice."



HT Joshua Lipana

Disturbing discussions to nationalize private retirement accounts

Too busy with other things to write a in depth comment or analysis but want to be sure folks know this:

[L]ast Thursday, a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on retirement savings and security... The point of the meeting was to figure out ways in which private 401(k) plans could be more "fairly" distributed as taxpayer-funded pensions. Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee, hand-picked the witnesses for the meeting. Who did he chose? People advocating "Guaranteed Retirement Accounts"...It is a plan created by Theresa Guilarducci and it would seize private retirement accounts, set up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax, and then use the money from the tax and seizure to distribute it "fairly" to Americans."

Read more here.

One quick note---consider the fact that if the government could not devalue our money, saving for retirement would be much easier. Fiat money and legal tender laws give government the power to erode the value of the dollars we earn so that simply putting them in a bank is an inadequate strategy to save for the future. In order to just stay even, one has to invest.

Here's a chart of the increase in the monatary base (i.e. creating money out of thin air) since 1910:

Now look at the purchasing power of those dollars:

Key dates to remember:

1913: The Federal Reserve was created .

1944 Bretton Woods and the creation of the International Monetary Fund.

1971: Nixon defaulted on the gold standard, ending convertibility of the dollar to gold.

Looking at the purchasing power chart, it is glaringly obvious that each of these government manipulations of our money was followed by a severe plummet in the value of our dollars.

A dollar earned in 1910 would only be worth $.04 in 2009.

A dollar earned in 1950 would only be worth $0.11 in 2009.

This is out right theft by the government---which then uses the fact that people have a hard time saving for their retirement to justify the "need" for programs like Medicare and Social Security.

These acts should be considered crimes!!

And now, the covert theft of our savings is inadequate to fund the bloated beast of government spending, and they want to confiscate our retirement funds outright.

Where is the outrage?

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