Reform #2 Demand that We Restore the Broken Economic System

We need to elect leaders this who can take the lead in repairing our economic system. The ones there now certainly aren’t doing it and seem to be owned by Wall Street. President Obama seems to think the group that he appointed to explore directions on resolving the national debt will give him answers in December. They won’t. Congress and the President keep digging the hole they are digging even deeper.

In April, over a year ago, this blog predicted that this recession would be long, long. The reason is simple. Washington is trying to mend a system that was broken in the first place. You don’t mend it, you end it. Pretty long recession, isn’t it?Let’s go back and look at the American Constitution. The government is supposed to follow that. Right?

“No State shall enter any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant letters of Marque and Reprisal, coin Money, emit Bills of Credit, make anything but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.”Article 1, Section 10

ONLY gold and silver coins? How long has it been since you’ve seen one of those? FDR removed the Gold Standard, requiring citizens to sell their gold to the government in return for valueless coins – the first step toward virtual money. If you had $5 in 1913, you could get about ¼ oz. of gold for that in 1913, with gold selling at $23/oz. Today that same 1/4 oz. is worth about $300. That is called inflation, and inflation is a hidden tax. That $600 Model T Touring car in 1913? That’s 29 oz. of gold at that time. Today, that same gold is worth $34,286 in today’s dollars. In other words, you are saving with money and being paid for your work with money that continues to be worth less. Yet prices keep going up. That’s inflation – a hidden tax.

“Raising the denomination of the coin [is] a measure which has be disapproved by the wisest men in the nations in which it has been practiced, and condemned by the rest of the world. To declare that a less weight of gold or silver shall pass for the same sum, which before represent a greater weight shall pass for a greater sum, are things substantially of one nature. The consequence of either of them is to degrade the money unit; obliging the creditors to receive less than their just dues, and depreciating property of every kind. …The quantity of gold or silver in the natural coins, corresponding with a given sum, cannot be made less than heretofore without disturbing the balance of intrinsic value, and making every acre of land, as well as every bushel of wheat, of less actual worth than in time past.”Alexander Hamilton, Report on the Subject of a Mint, 28 January, 1791

Was Hamilton wrong? I don’t think so. He was a smart cookie.

“You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God… “Lev 19:35-36a NKJV

The virtual money concept has been expanded today. A paper dollar isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

DOLLARS or UNITS – each to be the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy one grains and four sixteenth parts [371 ¼] of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver.”Excerpts from the Coinage Act of 1792, Chapter XVI

A troy oz. is 480 g, so a dollar is about .7734 oz. of silver or worth $13.14 today at $18/oz. of silver. As I write this, gold is about $1,296.30 an ounce. Two years ago it was about $900 an ounce. (Tip: If you want to invest in real money, don’t buy commercial gold or collector coins as you start. Purchase coins for their inherent value. A good start are the Morgan dollars. The Morgan dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921. Buy for silver content at about $20-$30 at current prices. Check local coin stores.)If I have a paper dollar, I should be able to go into the bank and get the gold that is behind that dollar. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist. I can’t do that. The derivatives on Wall Street are another form of this virtual money. The bank reform was not reform. The Senators that led that should be home and in jail.It can be fixed. Constantine I had to initiate monetary reforms after he experienced runaway inflation and the use of fiat (virtual) money to pay public expenses. He returned his empire to a gold standard. Initially the rich benefited the most from the stability of his gold piece while the poor had to cope with the worthless fiat money. Later emperors imaged themselves as advocates for the poor and insisted on a just minting of a copper currency,At the present time the current economic system holds us as slaves. How much of the year, for example, are you actually working for the federal or state government? Check it out. Remember to add in these expenses that you worked for:School Tax (to schools that teach humanism)Liquor TaxLuxury TaxExcise TaxesProperty TaxCigarette TaxMedicare TaxInventory TaxReal Estate TaxWell Permit TaxFuel Permit TaxInheritance TaxRoad Usage TaxCDL license TaxDog and Cat License TaxState Income TaxFood License TaxVehicle Sales TaxGross Receipts TaxSocial Security TaxService Charge TaxFishing License TaxFederal Income TaxBuilding Permit TaxIRS Interest ChargesHunting License TaxMarriage License TaxCorporate Income TaxPersonal Property TaxAccounts Receivable TaxRecreational Vehicle TaxWorkers Compensation TaxWatercraft Registration TaxTelephone Usage Charge TaxTelephone Federal Excise TaxTelephone State and Local TaxIRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge TaxTelephone Federal Universal Service Fee TaxGasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)Utility TaxesVehicle License Registration TaxTelephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge TaxesTelephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges TaxThis is only the short form of the list. Some of these are justifiable (such as the gas tax, cigarette tax), but others are not. Many taxes are not managed well. If from Oregon I drive to California, I pay 10% more for my gas there and (unlike Oregon) I have to pump it myself. So why are the California roads a disaster to drive on? Where does the money for the gas tax in California go? Into somebody’s pocket.Time to vote these people holding us prisoners home. In some cases they should be sent to jail. Give us a stable economic system based on just weights.Note: Some people (yes, many politicians and judges) actively embrace what is referred to as a Living Constitution. That means they want to twist the Constitution around to support what they believe. There is nothing “living” about that concept.The only “living” one is the one the founders wrote. Also, some of the founders didn’t necessarily live an exemplary life. Don’t look at their character, look only at what they wrote.

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.Ronald Reagan

The main problem is that for the last years evangelicals have consistently voted on economics instead of values. I hope and pray that people vote on values this time. Seems strange, doesn’t it? Economics, however, is the Effect. Values is the Cause. You better get that right when you vote.

It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.John Adams

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.C. S. Lewis

What is your opinion?(This paper is not copyrighted copy and you can circulate (with the picture)at your own risk. )