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If you've read the following post on another thread, please ignore. It does, however, relate to the subject of this thread and Jefferson's wisdom and foresight are absolutely spot on!

Today's jobs situation is the result of departure from our constitutional foundations. It has been brought about by the so-called "progressives'" takeover of the reins of government.

There's a lot of talk about "job creation,"--just think about it. The most successful "experiment" in job and wealth creation is the one which began in 1776 in America, was protected and "secured" by a written Constitution that severely limited government, and it thrived for over two centuries. It provided an example of more liberty and opportunity, more productivity, and more goods and services than the world ever has seen.

It happened under what James Madison called "the benign influence of a responsible government."

While Europe struggled with oppressive government intervention, the genius Founders of America recognized enduring truths about human nature, the human tendency to abuse power, and the possibilities of liberty for individuals. Richard Frothingham's 1872 "History of the Rise of the Republic of the United States," Page 14, contained the following footnote item on the condition of citizens of France:

"Footnote 1. M. de Champagny (Dublin Review, April, 1868) says of France, 'We were and are unable to go from Paris to Neuilly; or dine more than twenty together; or have in our portmanteau three copies of the same tract; or lend a book to a friend: or put a patch of mortar on our own house, if it stands in the street; or kill a partridge; or plant a tree near the road-side; or take coal out of our own land: or teach three or four children to read, . .. without permission from the civil government.'

Clearly the government of France laid an oppressive regulatory and tax burden on citizens, robbing them of their Creator-endowed liberty and enjoyment thereof. Frothingham observed that such coercive power constituted "a noble form robbed of its lifegiving spirit."

Thomas Jefferson warned Americans:

"To preserve [the] independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:39

Note Jefferson's very last thought here. He declares that when government taxing and debt have reached certain levels, in order for individuals to survive, then their chosen "employment" becomes "hiring ourselves to rivet their (the government's) chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers."

Consider: in 2009, where are America's levels of employment highest? Is it in the once-thriving private sector, or in the ever-increasing government sector?

Have we reached that final phase of what Jefferson described as a logical end to what begins as letting "our rulers load us with perpetual debt"--a state where we actually become participants by "hiring ourselves" to make slaves of our fellow citizens?

Where to, America?

Solution is obvious.

End our role as the sole superpower world policeman providing money, jobs and troops for world wide nation building. Our quest for the ‘American Century’ through trade and force has to be sustained by borrowing.

While others may certainly disagree with my sentiments, might be the best thing for us, IMHO.

How to spot a "crackpot conspiracy hypothesis"

It is likely the government will continue on its spending path until market forces terminate this behavior. The first sign of market pushback will come in the form of a failed Treasury auction. Perhaps such an event has already occurred, albeit covered up by primary dealers buying the shortfall amounts or other slight of hand practiced by the Fed. Regardless, the deficits are so large that at some point, a shortfall will be too large for chicanery to cover.

In the age of the Internet, the number of people that would have to collectively agree to suppress "such and event has already occurred" is beyond imagination.

Go back to Adam Smith. Economic actors act in their own greedy self-interest. The collective acting in ones own self-interest is the best ingredient for a robust economy. No one from the POTUS on down is excluded for the club of people acting in their own greedy self-interest. The basic economic problem occurs when someone (or a group) makes others act in concert with that former group's own greedy self-interest; thus, unbalancing the system.

As to the premise of the piece, CLEARLY this is the case. We ARE on a trajectory that will CRASH the dollar, if nothing is done. China and Japan will determine that day, when they FINALLY stop loaning us money.

So the question is: What are you doing to prepare for that outcome?

We've been deemed doomed.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

Monty Pelerin has an archive of articles following a similar theme located here: http://www.americanthinker.com/monty_pelerin/