As awful as the exporting of our jobs -- and the rewarding of mediocrity and punishing of excellence in the American workplace -- are, I believe there is something even more insidious going on behind the scenes that is destroying the economic security of us all, and making the fact that we work to build ourselves a secure economic future almost laughable.
Are you at all familiar with the E.S.F. (the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund)? If not, you may want to do some research on it. It is a government arm (created and originally financed by the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 to contribute to exchange rate stability and counter disorderly conditions in the foreign exchange market) whose operations are conducted through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The original Gold Reserve Act authorized the E.S.F. to deal in gold, foreign exchange, securities, and instruments of credit, under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Treasury subject to the approval of the President. The E.S.F. is not accountable to Congress, and therefore not accountable to the American people either.
Our own (said tongue-in-cheek) E.S.F. has been very instrumental in the decades long manipulation of the price of gold, and in gold swapping -- just two of its many activities geared, with the ascent of the Fed, to paint a picture of American economic ‘prosperity’ at the expense of the ignorant (not meant in a derogatory way – simply in an uninformed way) American worker. The E.S.F. has participated (and even invented itself) many a budgetary shell game – working hand-in-hand with the Fed – in order to deceive the American people into believing that the obscene deficit, the exporting of our manufacturing jobs, and the growing worthlessness of the dollar are simply silly mirages painted by people suffering from economic/financial paranoia.
What is even more frightening is that, when the U.S. adopted the revised articles of agreement of the International Monetary Fund in 1978, Congress amended the Gold Reserve Act to provide that the dealings of the ESF were to be consistent with U.S. obligations to the IMF. So not only is a (pretty much surreptitious) branch of our government working feverishly against its own citizens’ economic well-being, but it is also, in part, answerable to the infamous IMF.
The E.S.F. is an institution not consistent with a republican form of government, and is accountable to no one but those few whose agenda is anything but America-friendly. Its current function has little to do with its original definition, and it is used by the Treasury Department and the Fed to circumvent Congress in an effort to shore up the worthless dollar (at the expense of a free and un-manipulated economic market).
As you know, John, I am invested in gold and gold stocks as a defensive play against what I see as an approaching economic calamity. But, even there, there is no guarantee that what you see is what you get. We are at the mercy of both government, and corporate, power and money-brokers whose last consideration is the genuine health and prosperity of America and her people. And they have reduced world economic theory to a board game in which they control virtually every roll of the dice.
I own a little gold, too, but am realistic about how much it will help me and my family if things really go to hell (economically speaking). If gold ever reaches $2500 per oz., the government will simply confiscate it like they did last time. By "confiscate", I mean thay you will not be able to sell it (legally) to buy the things you need.
A secure home in a remote area will be more valuable than all the gold in the world.