Posted on 11/05/2013 10:28:46 AM PST by SatinDoll
Part 3.
At the end of the day, any currency is backed not by physical commodities or a collective abstraction called “a government”. No. A currency is backed by the character and integrity of men that constitute the issuing nation or body. In short, WE ARE THE GOLD. We are the bearers of the “full faith and credit” which backs our Federal Reserve notes today. And that, dear readers, is why this country is not going to turn itself around anytime soon, and is almost certainly doomed in the short-run.
Every text I read over the last few days always included a very brief caveat that all of the preceding theory was, of course, contingent on a moral society with a functioning rule of law, honest regulation and a populace that was mostly honorable and trustworthy. This caveat was phrased differently in each instance, but it was always there, hanging over everything else like a fine mist. If you have a nation of moral degenerates, all bets are off. If the people are more dishonest than honest, and the government is nothing more than a mafia, then all economic systems and all postulations fly apart at the seams. If there is no rule of law, and if theft, graft and looting are the prevalent systems of economic activity, then no matter what your banking system, no matter what your currency – fiat or commodity-backed, your system and your economy will absolutely, positively fail eventually.
Sadly, that is where we are in this country. Sure, there are still good people, but as a percentage it isn’t even remotely enough to bear the burden of the massive moral degeneracy of the others. Even among those people who would never steal or loot, there is a decided lack of courage to stand up to those who do steal and loot. The MF Global confiscation proves this. People have mostly rolled over and taken having their money stolen, shrugging their shoulders and telling themselves that there is nothing they can do – and then going back for more, continuing to patronize the very exchange that facilitated the theft and fraud. To my knowledge, only one broker has exited the field on purely moral grounds in a pre-emptive action to protect clients, and as a protest to the injustice of the system itself.
Our government is saturated with corruption, looting and outright treason and criminality, and yet most people simply cannot be bothered to care, much less to act, and are thus passively complicit. A non-trivial percentage of the population are planning and maneuvering to best “benefit” or profiteer from the criminality and fundamental dishonesty of the paradigm. Others are attempting to enter the oligarch class themselves under the guise of running for political office – and make no mistake, this encompasses both the so-called left and the so-called right on the political spectrum. The degeneracy is everywhere.
The fall of a society can happen very quickly. Our society has taken roughly 50 years to topple. If the previous example of the Russian culture is any example, we can expect it to take many multiples of 50 years to undo this damage, if and only if the pendulum has reached its maximum amplitude and now begins to swing back, which I fear has not yet happened. Morality cannot be legislated. Cultures cannot be purged of evil, selfishness and sloth overnight – even with a war. I cannot lie to you and tell you that short of Divine Intervention, this situation will resolve itself in any of our lifetimes. We had “it.” We had “it”, and we squandered “it”, and now “it” is gone, and no governmental, economic or monetary policy will get “it” back. “It” can only come from God, dwelling in the hearts of men, and God only comes to men if they specifically ask Him.
We, the people, always have been and always will be the ultimate backing commodity of our currency, because at its core, money is merely the representative device for a man’s capacity to produce and create. Dishonest men do not create or produce. They steal. Thus, the currency of a morally degenerated society is by definition degenerate itself. The currency of a degenerate society is the proxy not for a man’s ability to work and think, but rather a proxy for a man’s capacity to steal and evade work.
We used to be like gold – beautiful and warm. Now we are like pig iron – cold, brittle and good-for-nothing. And THAT is what constitutes the “full faith and credit” that backs the U.S. Dollar. So long as our culture remains degenerate, our currency can never be anything but spiraling, worthless trash.
It explains why, unless the general public gets religion quickly, we're not going to make it as a nation.
Yes, morals matter.
I was wondering where she went.
Been trying to point this out to people for a long time.
The bonds that create the currency are backed by the income tax...and that gets paid by us.
You can’t have a fiat currency without collateral.
So who did they mortgage when they passed the 16th amendment?
Us.
We’re tax slaves. Literally. To the government and the reserve bank, we are no more then a production asset that has one purpose: service the debt they created.
And if you don’t go along with it...into the cage you go.
It may not be chattel slavery, but it’s feudalism for certain. And no one ever thought that was “freedom”.
PING!
“If My people, who are called by My nameAnn Barnhardt ping
...not the unsaved, not the non-church-goer, not the atheist, and not those who belong to other religions....will humble themselves
...we Christians better start getting used to the idea that we're part of the problem. Yes, we helped make this mess...and pray
...if we're not asking for His help, we might not get it...and seek My face
...He's not just our Savior, He's supposed to be our Lord. We need to find out what He wants us to do. We don't tell Him what we want to do...and turn from their wicked ways
...again, we've been part of the problem all along. If we don't admit it, and we don't change what we're doing, don't expect the things around us to change either...then will I hear from heaven
...notice it's an if/then equation. If we don't do all of the above, He makes no promise to hear us...and will forgive their sin
...we need to recognize that our country's problems are ultimately ethical problems. God [the Person you are praying to/seeking the face of] sets the rules....and will heal their land."
...note that this comes only at the end of everything above. If our priorities are out of whack, we'll probably think that God needs to heal this land first.We who are Christians need to repent. This is the only thing that will free this country again.
From the closing lines of her article:
“We used to be like gold – beautiful and warm. Now we are like pig iron – cold, brittle and good-for-nothing. And THAT is what constitutes the “full faith and credit” that backs the U.S. Dollar. So long as our culture remains degenerate, our currency can never be anything but spiraling, worthless trash.”
BRAVO, Ann, BRAVO!!!
“Seek FIRST the kingdom of God, and these things shall be added unto you.” - Jesus Christ our saviour and Son of God (Be praised and thanked and exalted forever!)
If the currency is backed by our character, then we are fool’s gold.
I kind of agree. Not the fool's part, the backing part.
The thing is that 90% of the U.S. dollars are issued by private banks, and every penny of those dollars are backed with people's homes, businesses, and cars. OK, so with coining money congress really does have a say in "the value thereof" but there's no way around the fact that general prices have been darn stable for quite a long time now.
“there’s no way around the fact that general prices have been
darn stable for quite a long time now”
Say whaaaa? Inflation seems to have been pretty significant and constant for years, at least to me. I don’t trust the government statistics on this one, because they are known to game them, and personal experience just does not reflect anything close to the CPI.
Sounds like you're talking about your personal experience.
Many of us who're buying & selling in the market place have to deal with many other people's personal experiences. So, regardless of whether we're looking at the CPI from the BLS, the PCE from the BEA, international currency exchange rates, or doing your own tracking of over all market prices, most people are finding smaller price swings than those America's historically had.
Yes, of course it is my personal experience. I simply can’t accept a statement that the reality is something other than what I’ve experienced, no matter what authority is telling me that. It’s not true, at least, not for me.
As for this:
“most people are finding smaller price swings than those America’s historically had.”
What are you talking about exactly? Smaller price swings in the last few weeks, the last few months, the last few years, the last few decades? And, if you are comparing that to historical data, then you can’t compare your personal experiences to that, because then it is apples and oranges. If you have to use some index for comparison, then the integrity of the index needs to be considered. I know, for example, that CPI is not calculated today the way it was 30 or 40 years ago.
...inflation seems to have been pretty significant and constant for years...
Maybe we're talking about the same thing here. What I'm reporting is how for decades U.S. price changes in general have been rising by about 2-1/2 % per year. The reason I said that was "darn stable" is because this has been an era of the smallest annual changes ever. Of course this is based on actual receipts for thousands of purchases over many decades and your personal experiences can easily differ.
Yes, if you are saying that inflation is steady and constant, instead of prices bouncing around, then I would agree. However, I don’t agree that such a situation is really economically a good thing. Volatility scares businesspeople and investors, but constant, never-ending inflation is probably an even worse economic situation, in the long run.
It's like a hurricane and most folks just stay at home and don't plan on doing anything in the market until they're sure it all blows over.
Something else is the deflation part of the wild swings; borrowing money and then finding income slashed means default. Inflation does the reverse to the loaners. Being able to count on an annual change of a couple % makes all the difference for anyone working for a living.
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