All We Like Sheep

Joseph Sobran column ^ | 01-01-04 | Sobran, Joseph

[boris]

"Things in general now cost ten to twenty times as much as they used to."

As I point out frequently, a dollar was defined as 1/35 of an ounce of gold...before Nixon devalued the dollar by stealth. Now gold is $400+ per ounce, meaning that every "dollar" is worth less than a dime, relative to the pre-Nixon dollar. It is not suprising, therefore, that 'things in general now cost ten to twenty times as much as they used to.'

--Boris

[NeoCaveman]

That sheep's a damn liar....

Sheep lie!

[palmer]

All we thank thee for ping.

[NeoCaveman]

All sheep you like are belong to us!

Oh ewe....

[waterstraat]

It is going to get much worse if we continue to have half a trillion dollar federal budget deficits, and another half a trillion dollar balance of trade deficits. Time magazine will be a bargan at $50 a copy, esp if it is printed in china.

Any time a country prints more money than it takes in in tax revenues, and any time a country imports more than it exports, its currency will fall in value.

We must balance our federal budget and balance of trade, and get healthy surpluses in both of them. The easiest way to do that, is to get all the unemployed back to work and get them to make/produce american made products and get them to pay income taxes again.

[ArrogantBustard]

Finally! Somebody recognises the origin of the the headline:

All we like sheep have gone astray...

[50sDad]

The Bilderburgers are only a front group for the Masons.

My God, the Greys got to you too!

[B4Ranch]

Put $1000 in the bank. They are paying about 1.5% interest. Inflation is about 4%. So you are losing in the value of your investment, 3% per annum.

[RipSawyer]

""

--Boris

As I point out frequently, a dollar was defined as 1/35 of an ounce of gold...before Nixon devalued the dollar by stealth. Now gold is $400+ per ounce, meaning that every "dollar" is worth less than a dime, relative to the pre-Nixon dollar. It is not suprising, therefore, that 'things in general now cost ten to twenty times as much as they used to.'

--Boris


No, but what is surprising is that some Freepers believe the
inflation adjustment figures that say that $517.21 in 2002 had the same purchasing power as $100.00 in 1968, the year Nixon was first elected.

[waterstraat]

yep, gold is the best measure, esp in world prices. Cars, property taxes, college tuition, and houses have went up more than 5 times since 1968.

[Axenolith]

Spot on dude, Inflation benefits the first to get the new money.

[Galatians513]

Our forebears would have seen this as a moral issue — a government conniving in the defrauding of its own citizens.

Isaiah 1

21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22 THY SILVER IS BECOME DROSS, thy wine mixed with water: 23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them

Yup, it's a moral issue, all right...

[r9etb]

No, but what is surprising is that some Freepers believe the inflation adjustment figures that say that $517.21 in 2002 had the same purchasing power as $100.00 in 1968, the year Nixon was first elected.

The best rule of thumb I've ever seen for questions like this is the price of breakfast at Denny's. The question for you is: can you get the same breakfast today for $5.17, that you got for $1.00 in 1968?

The answer is, of course, "Yes You Can."

[asformeandformyhouse]

Put $1000 in the bank. They are paying about 1.5% interest. Inflation is about 4%. So you are losing in the value of your investment, 3% per annum.

But the fact that you and I may have $1000 to put in the bank in the first place makes my point exactly: as my father commented; he didn't even have a nickel. My comment was to the relative ineffectiveness of a price comparison argument, not to the very real problems with the monetary system.

[r9etb]

Cars, property taxes, college tuition, and houses have went up more than 5 times since 1968.

What have incomes done in the same period?

[Tauzero]

" Sure, it sounds really nasty when you see that Time Magazine's cover price is so much higher than it used to be. "

And it is nasty.

But like Joe said, it's hard to get angry about, because it has been gradual.

That's the great thing about inflation, from the ruler's standpoint, in comparison to a direct tax.

[headsonpikes]

The inflation of the currency is obvious - the U.S. dollar is worth only about a nickel to a dime in real money. Some folks benefit largely and consistently from this debasement.

Anyone interested in taking up Sobran's point ought to Google up Franz Pick, an Austrian economist who understood the central banking methodology.

'Certificates of Guaranteed Confiscation' is how he styled Government bonds. ;^)

[Orangedog]

If the dollar has lost half its value, why haven't prices doubled? I think your statement is overbroad.

Try buying something that isn't made by Asians of the third world: Gasoline, natual gas, steak (even before mad cow), chicken, gold, silver, copper, all flavors of insurance, electricity. Pretty much, those things and just about everything that you NEED to live have gone up considerably.

[philosofy123]

"So when the government tells us it’s protecting us from the world’s most ruthless criminals, we ought to wonder if perhaps we need to be protected from criminals a little closer to home"

WorldCom took billions of dollars from our public, swindled it on its corporate thieves, and then went bankrupt. The Dept. of Defense decided that it is the only company good enough to do the Iraqi telecom infrastructure! Go figure!