Posted on 09/08/2016 6:35:13 AM PDT by blam
Darryl R Schoon
August 8, 2016
If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will… The Grateful Dead, The Wheel(lyrics)
In the world of phenomena, everything has a beginning and an end; and today, the bankers’ endgame is moving closer to its inevitable resolution and demise. The question is no longer if, it is when and how.
The relationship between paper money and gold is causal in central banking’s collapse. When paper money was backed by gold, it (1) gave the bankers’ paper money its value and (2) constrained the ability of governments to print limitless amounts of money, as governments needed money backed by gold to balance trade deficits, i.e. value for value.
The importance of this constraint, i.e. “golden-fetters”, became clear when escalating military spending caused the rapid loss of US gold reserves; and in 1971, the US withdrew the gold-backing of the US dollar and the US balance of trade permanently went negative.
With gold no longer limiting how much money governments could print, after 1971 the global money supply exploded.
In capitalist economies, because money enters the money supply as loans, the explosive rise in the money supply led to an equally explosive rise in debt.
Today, this is the central bankers’ final—and fatal—conundrum: Aggregate levels of debt are now so high, credit can no longer induce sufficient economy expansion to pay off or even service capitalism’s constantly compounding debts.
Central bankers’ efforts to revive economic growth, e.g. quantitative easing, low, zero and negative interest rates, are like pouring more and more gasoline into an already flooded engine hoping the additional gas will cause the stalled engine to go faster.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at marketoracle.co.uk ...
I’ve always said I prefer deflation because it has a floor that can’t be budged while you can always push the ceiling higher. Wages will fall behind inflation but will also fall behind deflation so a wage earner will make out better in a deflationary spiral than an inflationary one where your wages are forever chasing rising costs.
Need any more proof how harmful inflation is than to see that Obama and the Democrats are all for it?
Let governments unleash freedom, in all its forms, on the people - watch world economies expand in a way not seen since the roaring 20’s if ever.
The free market and freedom in general cures all.
Problem solved.
To quote the last scene from "Trading Places," why can't we have both? A hyperinflationary depression, such as occurred in Weimar Germany, is the worst of both worlds.
Deflation is bad for governments and people in debt. Inflation is bad for people on fixed income and savers.
The Bible says it will be inflation. Check out the description of the Third Seal from the book of Revelation.
Revelation 6:5-6
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds[a] of wheat for a day’s wages,[b] and six pounds[c] of barley for a day’s wages,[d] and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
This is a description of hyperinflation.
The era we are living through today reminds me of the ancient Rome. I just can't figure out whether we are at 90 BC when the Republic collapsed or the 5th century right before the barbarians (what the Romans called illegal aliens) took over.
Buy gold or silver, bury it in a safe place not too far from home and give the location to your kids. Hint, don't rely on the GPS system being up and running when they need it.
“This is a description of hyperinflation.”
Not necessarily, the denarius was the smallest coin available at the time. It contained 3.41 grams of silver, at today’s prices that would be $2.18. I think what this verse is describing is deflation: prices are low but money is scarce. This is how my grandparents described the Depression.
As for the gold standard, the current system of a dollarized global economy has substantial economic and strategic benefits for the US that would be lost with a full return to gold as a formal monetary base. The most likely scenario is that if it becomes necessary, the US and other heavily indebted developed economies would issue bonds backed by gold as an assurance against inflation. In that instance, gold would function not as money but as a commodity hedge against inflation.
Moreover, advocates for the gold standard ought to recognize that the fundamental reason why the gold standard was abandoned was its role in extending and deepening the Great Depression through persistent deflation. As it happened, the US and France both adopted policies of gold accumulation that effectively withdrew many tons of gold from the world's monetary base. The result was to foster a crippling wave of deflation throughout the world.
A return to the gold standard would thus make the US and world economies vulnerable to manipulation in ways that are little recognized. In effect, a country or alliance of countries could generate deflationary pressures by buying up gold and not issuing equivalent currency. Do we really want to give our adversaries that kind of power?
Not necessarily, the denarius was the smallest coin available at the time. It contained 3.41 grams of silver, at today’s prices that would be $2.18.
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Inflation is correct. The denarius did not retain the same weight of silver throughout the years of Roman rule:
https://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2012/02/28/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-denarius.html
Relevant excerpt:
The denarius began as a 4.5 gram silver coin and had stayed that way for centuries under the Roman Republic. After Rome became an empire, things began to turn sour for the denarius and, by extension, the Roman economy. Base metals, such as copper were blended in with the silver and so even though the coin itself weighed the same, the amount of silver in it became less and less with each successive emperor. Throughout the first century the denarius contained over 90% silver but by the end of the second century the silver content had fallen to less than 70%. A century later there was less than 5% silver in the coin and by 350 AD it was all but worthless, having an exchange rate of 4,600,000 to a gold solidus (or nearly 9 million to the original aureus).
Two points: the denarius wasn’t debased at the time Revelation was written.
Secondly, if you subscribe to the theory that this represents hyper-inflation because the denarius became virtually worthless centuries later then what you are saying is the verse is implying that a measure of wheat becomes worthless because the denarius is worthless. The wheat cost ONE denarius not wheelbarrows full as was the case in the Weimar Republic. If that is the correct interpretation, then the verse is saying that in the end times food is extremely cheap. I don’t think anyone believes that is the message of this verse.
Two points: the denarius wasn’t debased at the time Revelation was written.
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Revelation was written for a Roman audience that had just started to experience devaluation of their currency.
It is prophecy, not a description of contemporary situations. It was asking the reader to imagine what hyperinflation was going to be like, given their only experience with currency, which was a precious metal currency and not a fiat currency.
Notice it spoke of a day’s wage, not X number of denarii. As in, “you’ll have to work an entire day to pay for this food staple”, etc.
I’d appreciate less of an aggressive tone, as well. If you can’t calmly discuss the OP and wish to argue angrily about an issue tangentially related to the OP’s thesis, then you’ve got a problem I can’t address.
“Notice it spoke of a day’s wage, not X number of denarii. As in, “you’ll have to work an entire day to pay for this food staple”, etc.”
Read the text in the original Greek. It specifically states a choenix for a denarius. The term “day’s wages” is an English translation. Same with the term “scales” the original Greek is always translated “yoke”. Yoke is associated with submission or bondage. I think it is painting a picture of economic bondage associated with a great depression.
I was wrong, the KJV speaks of a “penny”, which you are correct, is a denarius which was a manual laborer’s standard daily wage in the reign of Tiberius.
I blame my mistake on Sunday School. LOL!
I found 4 different Greek New Testaments in Bible Gateway, and I am not fluent in Greek at all, so I have to use study guides, therefore I have nothing to add there. I don’t know which version(s) would have the subtext about balances and yokes; I don’t know if it even matters to tell the truth.
Here is something to think about in reference to the devaluation of the Roman denarius, which began happening many years after the death and resurrection of Christ.
Internally to Rome, you’re correct, it wouldn’t mean anything. A denarius is a denarius; a Roman ditch-digger would get paid a denarius a day no matter what.
However, as soon as the hypothetical ditch-digger tried to buy foreign goods, the silver in the denarius becomes crucial. A foreign merchant or a Roman merchant that dealt in foreign goods would suddenly find his customers paying him less and less - even though the number of denarii would remain the same.
Essentially the Roman coins would become a fiat currency, not backed by any truly precious metal.
At any rate, depression, deflation, inflation, whatever, I simply posted a link to an article about the historical situation. It made sense to me; you can respond to the guy who wrote it if you have a different opinion. Here it is again:
http://dailyreckoning.com/the-fall-of-the-roman-denarius/
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