The following is a letter to the editor from our very own Sue Mojica (a very dedicated member of the Boston Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group) which was published in the MetroWest Daily News on August 10th. We are publishing it here in its entirety; the last paragraph (in italics) was omitted.
Share This Sphere: Related ContentTo the Editor:
A bridge rated “structurally deficient” collapses and speculation abounds…how could this have happened? As our hearts go out to the people affected by this terrible tragedy, I would like to offer a little-discussed but very basic reason for the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. We have too much money.
A surprising statement, I know, but consider this: when an economy is based solely on fiat money, as ours has been for forty plus years because of a process set in motion some fifty years before that, there is never enough, because there is always too much. More units of currency = less value per unit = prices rise = calls for more currency = more units of currency = less value, prices rise, etc., a literal death-spiral to any society.
Consider what happened during the last decade of the 18th century when France tried such a system. The first several issues of paper money had a good effect, but after that it was all downhill to a ruined economy and a demoralized society. Their only recourse was to destroy the machinery, the plates and the paper, which they did on February 18th, 1796. No wonder our founders saw fit to prohibit the use of paper money as a tender in payment of debts (Art I Sec 10).
As I write this, I fear that we are now nearer to the end than the beginning of the inevitable course of fiat money. As the currency depreciates so do our values and the very stuff of our lives. There was enough money to build the Minneapolis bridge some forty years ago, but now there isn’t enough to either maintain the original or build a new and safer one if necessary. That doesn’t make sense, until you understand not only what has happened to our money but also how our relationship to government has changed.
During these last thirty to forty years our previously somewhat limited government has become very much unlimited. This is not surprising since as the money depreciates we all become needier, and the Federal Government, having given itself unlimited capacity to print currency, steps in to help. So, Minneapolis bridge, get in line with all the rest of us who no longer have the means to take care of ourselves. There is no money for you THIS year.
As it turns out however, that last statement might soon no longer be true. I wrote this on Friday morning and by that evening reports were coming in that there may be money for the Minneapolis bridge this year after all. Congress is currently considering an appropriation for emergency repairs and reconstruction, but first members of the House of Representatives must agree to waive the $100 million limitation on such appropriations in order to approve the estimated $150 to $350 million price tag for this one bridge alone. Something is seriously wrong here.
There is a silver lining however, and that is the one candidate in the 2008 Presidential election campaign who publicly acknowledges our predicament and promises to do something about it. His name is Ron Paul and his depth of understanding offers true hope for America.
Susan Mojica
Framingham
(Amazon)
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This is one of the most important issues of our time.
We have already seen, in the past twenty years or so, several instances of ‘liquidity’ pumped into the markets after mutual funds and other investment vehicles ran into trouble.
Each time, major losses were pinned on the donkeys of the market - that - in my own way of speaking, is what the individual retirement-planning ‘not so rich’ person is - the donkey - every time.
Sue is on the case of the casue of financial difficulty and the likely (more than likely) monetary emergencies to come. The question that it raises for me involves presidential authority, the ’state of war’, and the destruction (confiscation) of private property.
I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, and I do not think that the devils in washington are plotting to steal our wealth. Already, I fear, most of it has been appropriated through the dishonest money system.
My fear is that when the train stops, there will be no means for us to protect our (lost) freedoms as we will be poorer still and preoccupied with survival.
Stealthy encroachment on our rights - through the extra-constitutional jurisdictions created in all the commercial ‘law’ and regulation which congress foists on us, the degradation ofour money, the alienation of us from our system of justice …
Now we find ourselves facing teh harsh reality that the country which we were told was ours; where every man and woman was free (improvements in the explicit law have been made there) to pursue his/her own potential; where the virtues of honesty and fairness were common and nothing less was tolerated; where charity and voluntary association were practiced universally; has become corrupt shadow of its former self.
Money is not the root of all evil, but I think evil is the root of phoney money.
Great job Sue! Looking forward to discussing ‘The Case For Gold’ next time.
Rich
Rich, speaking of that (The Case for Gold by Rep. Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman), the heart of the matter came clear to me on p. 39 with an observation concerning the inflation during and after the War of 1812-15:
“But more important than this inflation, and at least as important as the wreckage of the monetary system during and after the war, was the precedent that the two-and-a-half year-long suspension of specie payment set for the banking system for the future. From then on, every time there was a banking crisis brought on by inflationary expansion and demands for redemption in specie, state and federal governments looked the other way and permitted general suspension of specie payments while bank operations continued to flourish. It thus became clear to the banks that in a general crisis they would not be required to meet the ordinary obligations of contract law or of respect for property rights, so their inflationary expansion was permanently encouraged by this massive failure of government to fulfill its obligation to enforce contracts and defend the rights of property.”
So government agents fail to enforce the law, and the people don’t correct them. Something is seriously wrong here…